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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100401128.html
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Bush Signs Homeland Security Bill
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- President Bush on Wednesday signed a homeland security bill that includes an overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and $1.2 billion for fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border to stem illegal immigration.
Standing before a mountainous backdrop in Arizona, a state that has been the center of much debate over secure borders, Bush signed into law a $35 billion homeland security spending bill that could bring hundreds of miles of fencing to the busiest illegal entry point on the U.S.-Mexican border.
Bush said enforcement alone will not stop illegal immigration, and urged Congress to pass his guest worker program to legally bring in new foreign workers and give some of the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants a shot at U.S. citizenship.
"The funds that Congress has appropriated are critical for our efforts to secure this border and enforce our laws, yet we must also recognize that enforcement alone is not going to work," Bush said at the bill-signing ceremony tucked into his three-day campaign fundraising trip to the West. "We need comprehensive reform that provides a legal way for people to work here on a temporary basis."
Among other things, Bush said the homeland security funding bill deploys nuclear detection equipment to points of entry, raises safety security standards at chemical plants, provides better tools to enforce immigration laws and provides vehicle barriers, lighting and infrared cameras to help catch illegals trying to cross the border.
"It's what the people in this country want," Bush said. "They want to know that we are modernizing the border so we can better secure the border."
Outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox, who has spent his six-year term lobbying for a new guest worker program and an amnesty for the millions of Mexicans working illegally in the United States, has called the barrier "shameful." He compares it to the Berlin Wall.
Some Democrats criticized the homeland security spending bill as too meager.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the homeland security spending bill does not improve screening of cargo carried on passenger planes, does not provide money to buy and install advanced explosive-detection equipment and does not include strong enough security requirements to protect against a terrorist attack on chemical plants.
"There are nightclubs in New York City that are harder to get into than some of our chemical plants," Markey said.
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The latest news and analysis from the Washington Post on the national debate over immigration.
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Rice Cites Concern for Palestinians, But Low Expectations Mark Visit
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RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct. 4 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged Wednesday to "redouble" U.S. efforts to alleviate the economic plight of Palestinians facing escalating tensions and the threat of a humanitarian crisis. But U.S. officials cautioned not to expect any significant breakthroughs as prospects for a renewed Arab-Israeli peace process seem further away than ever.
At a joint news conference here with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, Rice said the Bush administration was "very concerned" about humanitarian conditions and the economic situation in the Palestinian territories. "It is a great sadness, during this time of Ramadan, that Palestinians, many of them, are deprived of basic needs," she said.
Abbas, underscoring the dire state of the peace process, said talks with the Hamas movement on formation of a national unity government are dead and suggested he may dissolve the Palestinians' seven-month-old government.
"The dialogue now does not exist," Abbas said. If Hamas continues to balk at forming a unity government, which would force it to recognize Israel's right to exist, Abbas said, he was prepared to use his constitutional powers to resolve the political deadlock. "All options are open," he said.
"The only option I reject is civil war," Abbas said, noting that clashes between Hamas and his Fatah party over the past week have been the deadliest since the Palestinian Authority was created in 1994.
On Wednesday, a Hamas official in the West Bank town of Qalqilya was assassinated by four masked gunmen who fled the scene. Asked about the killing and the recent violence, a senior Palestinian police official at the presidential compound in Ramallah called Hamas "donkeys," reflecting the deep-rooted antipathy between the two largest Palestinian factions.
Rice, on her sixth trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories as secretary of state, has come with fewer prospects for major progress in the near future than on any previous visit. She is struggling just to revive an agreement to open border crossings between the Gaza Strip and the outside world that she brokered in November after all-night negotiations.
The agreement gave Palestinians some control over their own border for the first time since the 1967 Middle East war. But according to Palestinian and U.S. sources, the border has been closed for all but about seven days since June 25, when Palestinian guerrillas captured an Israeli soldier. It reopened Wednesday and was scheduled to be open Thursday, U.S. and Arab sources said, coinciding with Rice's trip and Palestinian requests for relief during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
During their one-on-one discussions, Abbas gave Rice a lengthy document detailing the Palestinians' needs on cross-border movement and ways to push implementation of the 11-month-old accord, according to the Palestinian president's chief of staff, Rafiq Husseini.
Rice is trying to win agreement from the Israelis to ensure that the pivotal Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel is open for Palestinian exports in time for the harvest, which begins in about three weeks, according to U.S. and Western sources.
After she held talks over dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, the Israelis indicated willingness to open Karni in the near future but did not give a date. Rice is scheduled to hold talks Thursday morning with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
Another Palestinian proposal on the table, backed by the United States and its allies, calls for almost doubling Abbas's presidential guard to about 6,000 members and widening the force's mandate for security purposes. A senior State Department official said the presidential guard has proved to be the Palestinians' most effective security force and is already deployed at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct. 4 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged Wednesday to "redouble" U.S. efforts to alleviate the economic plight of Palestinians facing escalating tensions and the threat of a humanitarian crisis. But U.S. officials cautioned not to expect any significant...
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Ga. Mother Seeks Harry Potter Ban
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ATLANTA -- A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools.
Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction books are an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion.
Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban "Macbeth" and "Cinderella."
"There's a mountain of evidence for keeping Harry Potter," she said, adding that the books don't support any particular religion but present instead universal themes of friendship and overcoming adversity.
In June, the county's library board eliminated the $3,000 that had been set aside to buy Spanish-language fiction in the coming fiscal year. One board member said the move came after some residents objected to using taxpayer dollars to entertain readers who might be illegal immigrants.
Days later, the board reversed its decision amid accusations that the move was anti-Hispanic.
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ATLANTA -- A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools.
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Unencumbered Joys Of 'My Fair Lady'
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Signature Theatre's fighting-trim "My Fair Lady," performed on a bare stage with only a pair of pianos as its orchestra, feels in the opening moments as if we might have stumbled into a mere rehearsal. But once adjusted to the ultra-slight scenic design and musical accompaniment, the eye and ear turn to the happy task of savoring the other pleasures of Eric Schaeffer's keenly persuasive revival.
Chief among these is the vibrant clash Signature makes of the sparring match between Eliza Doolittle, the gutsy flower girl who's coached into the ranks of high society, and Henry Higgins, the emotionally pinched professor who gives Eliza her refined new voice. Sally Murphy and Andrew Long play Eliza and Higgins in what you might call delectable disharmony. They rub each other like flint and stone.
In other words, the sparks fly to just the right heights for this celebrated story of a sour pedagogue who is taught lessons about women, love -- and loving women. Murphy, possessed of a supple soprano, makes the fairy-tale pivot from cockney urchin to Belgravia princess with a beguiling self-possession. And Long cultivates abrasiveness as if he were born to a life of cantankerous self-righteousness.
By the time Murphy delivers the show's penultimate number -- her fie-on-him anthem, "Without You" -- we are all fully vested in Eliza's plan to devastate Higgins by deserting him. Long's response, a hushed, delicate rendition of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," is as tender an exhibition of bewitched masculinity as you come across on the musical stage.
The lack of embroidery pays off royally: Long sings portions of the sublime "I've Grown Accustomed" just above a whisper. For the job of tapping into deep emotion, the assistance of a swelling assortment of strings and horns turns out to be optional.
"My Fair Lady" is Signature's last production in the converted garage it has called home for more than a decade; the company moves later this year to a splashy new two-theater complex less than a mile away in the Village at Shirlington. It seems apt that Signature should douse the lights on its industrial-style space with such a crystalline musical classic. Like Eliza herself, Signature is shedding a gritty facade for something more elegant.
Schaeffer reminds us, too, with a simple design -- only Jenn Miller's costumes are meant to reflect aristocratic panache -- of the mark his company has often tried to make, paring musicals back to their heartfelt essentials. He has adapted a skeletal approach to the Lerner and Loewe musical that was also used four years ago by Chicago director Gary Griffin, who staged Signature's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" in 2003. Schaeffer, in fact, uses the same orchestrations that Griffin did, for two pianos.
Set designer James Kronzer lays a faux-tile floor on a thrust stage and deploys only a few furnishings to denote dingy London streets and posh interiors. Higgins's study, for instance, is suggested by a pair of towering bookcases holding the primitive devices he uses in his work as a dialect expert.
Even the lush overture has been done away with. So why impose on this rich material such economical constraints? For one thing, the size of the theater is just better suited to a chamber piece. For another, the muting of some of "My Fair Lady's" opulent theatricality brings it closer in scale and tone to the play that is its source, George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion."
Not everything that Schaeffer attempts here is totally successful, however. The opening number, "Why Can't the English?" in which Higgins stands with the trusty Colonel Pickering (a charming Harry A. Winter) outside Covent Garden and sings of his contempt for lazy British accents, is marred by moments of unintelligibility. This dulls the show's wit at a critical early juncture. Long sings some of the lines that Rex Harrison famously spoke-sung; but in Long's lower register, the words sometimes become inaudible -- a sin when what's being muffled are Alan Jay Lerner's glorious lyrics.
Some self-conscious bits go awry: The decision to have the nose-in-the-air society types model Miller's gorgeous frocks as if they were walking the runway adds a false note to an otherwise smooth version of "Ascot Gavotte." (What, by the way, is with Higgins's sleeveless butlers?) And even if you do grow accustomed to the production's spartan musicality, a few numbers also convey the sensation that they are underdressed.
Ah, but one of the charms of this "My Fair Lady" is its uncanny ability to transcend the limitations that have been set up. You see clearly at Signature that no matter how good your lighting designer is -- and Mark Lanks does a fine job here for Schaeffer -- a performance can be illuminated from within. Will Gartshore's Freddy Eynsford-Hill is a prime example. When Gartshore walks onto an empty stage to sing "On the Street Where You Live," he helps you to imagine an exciting universe at Eliza's doorstep.
Is there any musical this guy doesn't make more memorable? Freddy is often played as a forgettable handsome twit, an upper-class loser who is on hand to sing one soaring number and be discarded by Eliza. Without a hint of overplaying, Gartshore manages to convey the idea that Freddy thinks this is a musical about him.
Dana Krueger is an endearingly pitch-perfect Mrs. Higgins, Henry's worldly-wise mother, and Maureen Kerrigan's Mrs. Pearce, Henry's housekeeper-in-chief, radiates both competence and warmth. Terrence P. Currier offers up an impishly agreeable Alfred P. Doolittle, Eliza's pub-crawling reprobate of a dad. Vocally, he might want to dial the power up a notch or two, and perhaps he will, as he and the role become better acquainted.
Currier gets the evening's best dance number, the ebullient "Get Me to the Church on Time," for which choreographer Karma Camp has put together a spunky series of steps. In such a cramped space, this is no small accomplishment.
All of these elements combine fluidly around the two rock-solid central performances. You're never in doubt in Murphy's portrayal of Eliza's willingness to stand up for herself -- or her weakness for a man of contrarian stubbornness. Long, who is in the midst of an extraordinary year, having played to bloodcurdling effect the killer in Studio Theatre's "Frozen," is unsparing here in his portrait of a man all curled up inside himself. As a result, this revival touchingly reaffirms one of the truest laws of human chemistry: Opposites do attract.
My Fair Lady , book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner; music by Frederick Loewe. Directed by Eric Schaeffer. Sound, Tony Angelini; music direction, Jenny Cartney. With Thomas Adrian Simpson, Matt Conner, Priscilla Cuella, Dave Joria, Eleasha Gamble, Stephen Gregory Smith, Lauren Williams, LC Harden Jr. About 2 hours 45 minutes. Through Nov. 19 at Signature Theatre, 3806 S. Four Mile Run Dr., Arlington. Call 800-955-5566 or visit http://www.signature-theatre.org .
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Yup, it's loverly. Signature Theatre's fighting-trim "My Fair Lady," performed on a bare stage with only a pair of pianos as its orchestra, feels in the opening moments as if we might have stumbled into a mere rehearsal. But once adjusted to the ultra-slight scenic design and musical accompaniment,...
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Mishandling Has Spiked Since Liquid Ban Reduced Carry-Ons
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The rate of lost or mishandled baggage spiked by nearly 25 percent in August as airlines struggled to handle a surge in checked luggage after authorities banned most liquids and gels from passenger cabins, according to a government report released yesterday.
In the days and weeks after officials enacted the restrictions, several major carriers had said there was nothing unusual in terms of mishandled bags -- even as 20 percent more luggage was checked.
Yesterday's release of statistics, contained in a monthly report issued by the Department of Transportation, is the first independent analysis of how airlines fared. The report reveals an industry that had difficulty keeping up with the flood of luggage.
The rate of mishandled bags was the highest since December 2004, rising to 8.08 per 1,000 passengers in August from 6.5 in July, according to the report, which can be found at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/ .
The rate in August last year was 6.4 mishandled bags per 1,000 fliers.
The government bases its luggage report on complaints filed with the country's 20 largest airlines about bags that are lost, damaged, delayed or stolen.
The report also revealed that the on-time performance of airlines improved in August, despite the security measures: 75.8 percent of flights arrived on time, up from 73.7 percent in July.
United Airlines had a sizable increase in mishandled bags during the month. The rate jumped by almost 35 percent -- from 5.4 per 1,000 passengers in July to 7.28 in August, the report showed.
A United Airlines spokeswoman said the airline, which operates a major hub at Dulles International Airport, could have done better at handling the increase in the flow of baggage.
"We're looking at our processes to find the best way to improve," said the spokeswoman, Megan McCarthy. "We're focusing on how we can better serve customers."
Delta Airlines, which indicated nothing out of the ordinary in the days after the scare, mishandled 36 percent more bags in August than in the preceding month.
Gina Laughlin, a Delta spokeswoman, yesterday blamed the performance on the large increase in checked bags due to security measures.
She said that the spike in luggage was compounded by a major storm that caused havoc at the airline's Atlanta hub in the days after the ban was enacted.
"That was enough to create a fairly significant backlog of baggage in Atlanta that we had to deliver to customers throughout the rest of that weekend," Laughlin said.
American Airlines' mishandled-baggage rate jumped 19 percent from July to August.
Authorities implemented the ban on most liquids and gels because they said they were worried about an alleged plot in Britain to blow up airliners with liquid explosives.
Last week, officials began allowing passengers to carry on small amounts of toiletries in a one-quart plastic bag.
Some airlines have since reported a decrease in checked bags. The Transportation Security Administration has tracked a "slight drop in checked bags" across the country since it eased some of the restrictions last week but could not provide any statistics yesterday, an agency spokeswoman said.
Security officials at Reagan National Airport have noticed a 10 percent drop in checked bags since last week, TSA officials said.
Outside analysts said the increase in mishandled bags in August is not surprising because carriers cut back on staffing during a recent industry-wide economic downturn and were surprised by the wave of luggage.
"This creates all sorts of operational difficulties," said Darryl Jenkins, an analyst who closely tracks the airlines. "I don't think any of the airlines have their hands around it yet."
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The rate of lost or mishandled baggage spiked by nearly 25 percent in August as airlines struggled to handle a surge in checked luggage after authorities banned most liquids and gels from passenger cabins, according to a government report released yesterday.
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Toyota's U.S. Sales Surge As General Motors Stalls
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Sales of Toyota vehicles soared 25 percent last month compared with last September. General Motors Corp.'s sales dropped 3 percent, and the automaker announced more production cuts for later in the year.
The sales figures were released as GM's board of directors met to discuss the status of the talks on a possible alliance between GM, Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA. Battling the growing global clout of Toyota has emerged as a central theme in the discussions.
Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian is pressing GM to step up the negotiations even as the company's executives remain wary of a big new project that they say could divert attention from their restructuring plans. The talks are scheduled to end in mid-October.
Matthew D. Collins, a transportation industry analyst at St. Louis-based Edward D. Jones & Co., said that in the short-term GM will benefit from falling gas prices and its updated sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks.
"You put those factors together, and GM could be in better shape than most would have expected," Collins said. "What that means is less urgency to do a deal with Renault and Nissan."
Analysts say Toyota's sales were lifted by truck discounts and surging sales of small cars, including models from Scion and Lexus. Jim Lentz, a Toyota executive vice president, ascribed the company's gains to the "breadth of our lineup."
Toyota reported sales strength in many areas. Sales of the Prius hybrid rose 28 percent, to 10,492. The automaker also sold more Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs.
Jesse Toprak, an analyst with Edmunds.com, said incentives helped boost sales of Toyota's trucks. "Toyota certainly is keeping their momentum," he said. "They will continue to grow."
Toyota has increased its sales and profit forecasts this year, and some analysts say it is on the verge of overtaking GM as the world's No. 1 automaker.
GM and Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, are moving through a brutal restructuring period that includes tens of thousands of job cuts and dozens of plant closures.
Other Japanese automakers reported weak U.S. results. Honda Motor Co.'s sales declined 4 percent, and sales at Nissan were down nearly 6 percent.
Among the U.S. automakers, Chrysler Group, the Detroit-based division of DaimlerChrysler AG, reported a nearly 4 percent decline in sales. Ford sales rose almost 5 percent in the month, a break from an otherwise weak performance so far this year.
Overall, U.S. consumers purchased 1.35 million new cars, pickups, SUVs and minivans in September, up 1.9 percent from last September.
Some analysts have questioned the rationale behind an alliance of GM, Nissan and Renault. Nissan and GM have overlapping vehicle lineups in the United States, which seem to make them better suited to be rivals than partners. A similar problem exists in Europe. And GM has a corporate culture all its own, rooted in the automaker's long-held spot as the world's No. 1 automaker.
But other executives in the industry say Toyota is closing in fast. High-level executives from Renault argued in Paris last week that a GM-Nissan-Renault alliance would give the three companies a defense against the strength of Toyota. Renault executives said they had seen enough potential synergies among Nissan, Renault and GM to justify a partnership.
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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.
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Many Leaving Welfare for Jobs
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A decade after welfare reform, tens of thousands of poor families in Maryland have left the rolls of public assistance for jobs.
"I'm making it. I'm doing okay," said Melitta Fulton, 32, a mother of three in Baltimore who is now an administrative assistant in a child-care center and a nursing student.
She doesn't have much money after she pays her bills, but her children are thriving, and she is proud of her progress, she said. She is one of many former welfare recipients across the region climbing out of poverty, according to a detailed new report presented to state legislators yesterday.
"Our program seems to be working. People are going to work," Kevin McGuire, state Family Investment Administration executive director, told members of a joint committee on welfare change. Last year, he said, 74 percent who left the rolls did not come back. And many of those found jobs paying an average of $8 an hour.
As the second decade of welfare change begins, however, new federal rules limiting federal support for people weaning themselves off welfare have officials in Maryland and throughout the region worried about sustaining the successes they have achieved, not only in reducing welfare caseloads but in working with families to help ensure their long-term success.
Under the new welfare change reauthorization handed down by Congress this year as part of the Deficit Reduction Act, state officials and advocates for the poor say much of the flexibility granted under the welfare changes of 1996 has been removed.
Federal officials have defended the new measures, saying that under the old rules, too many welfare recipients were often receiving support -- such as child care, drug treatment and cash assistance -- when they were not engaged in substantive job training or work.
The greater supervision and reporting required will help ensure that states are helping each person in their caseload move toward self-sufficiency, said Wade F. Horn, an assistant secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department who oversees the federal program.
"You should have 100 percent of your clients doing something," Horn said in an interview. "I really believe that the only way you can help people is if you engage them."
But before Maryland legislators yesterday, Catherine E. Born, a University of Maryland welfare researcher, delivered the results of Maryland's annual study of people who leave welfare and offered a harsh critique of the changes to the program handed down by Congress.
"I think this Deficit Reduction Act," with its new rules for welfare, "is one of the most cynical pieces of legislation I have ever seen," she said.
Born's body of research, known as the nation's oldest state study of those leaving welfare, has found generally positive outcomes for the more than 11,000 Maryland families it has studied since 1996. Although initial earnings may be low for workers just leaving welfare, they increase steadily, the study found.
The vast majority of families continue to receive food stamps and medical assistance as they make the transition to self-sufficiency. Children seem to fare better, with fewer experiencing abuse and neglect after the parent leaves welfare, the study found. But access to affordable and convenient child care remains a critical issue, the study found.
In 1996 in Maryland, more than 50,000 adults, most of them single mothers, received welfare. About 11,000 now do. In Virginia, more than 40,000 adults were on the rolls a decade ago, and about 9,000 are now. In the District, nearly 30,000 adults were on assistance in 1996; that number has dropped to 9,000.
Born stressed that much of Maryland's success results from the care with which it was designed and the flexibility the federal government allowed in implementing it. With the new requirements, she said, "the federal government is reneging on a deal."
In the first 10 years of welfare change, the federal government gave states a block grant and flexibility based on their success in reducing their rolls. The law required that 50 percent of recipients be training or working, but states that had greatly reduced their rolls could lower that percentage to allow the remaining people more time for specialized training or treatment.
Advocates for the poor say the new requirements will effectively limit the amount of time for such activities.
States that fail to meet the new standards can face from thousands to millions of dollars in fines. Maryland needs to put 2,766 more people to work or increase their work hours, according to figures supplied by HHS. In Virginia, 5,539 more people must go to work or work more hours. And in the District, 2,819 recipients must go to work or work more hours.
The last thing that the remaining families need is to be rushed into work to meet a quota, said Lynda Meade, chairwoman of Welfare Advocates, a statewide coalition of service and church groups. "We don't have many families left," she said. "Those remaining have multiple issues."
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A decade after welfare reform, tens of thousands of poor families in Maryland have left the rolls of public assistance for jobs.
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Rocket Monopoly Approved
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U.S. antitrust authorities yesterday approved a plan by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. to merge their government rocket businesses, creating a monopoly in a multibillion-dollar market that the Federal Trade Commission acknowledged will probably lead to higher prices and lower quality.
The decision came 16 months after the plan was announced, several months longer than both firms expected, signaling the concern within the Defense Department and FTC about eliminating competition in yet another part of the military market. Defense industry consolidation has already squeezed competition out of various parts of the market -- since the 1990s the number of aircraft makers has fallen to three from eight, for example.
"Monopolies almost always lead to higher prices, lower quality and inferior services," Michael R. Moiseyev, assistant director of the FTC's bureau of competition, said in a July letter that was made public yesterday. "Here, the competition that would be lost is significant, and the economic benefits that may materialize are unlikely to trump the transaction's harm to competition."
The Defense Department has expressed concerns that with only a few rocket launches each year, one of the two companies could have been pushed out of business. Loath to be dependent on one type of rocket, the Defense Department argued for the joint venture, to be known as the United Launch Alliance.
Under the agreement, both Boeing's Delta and Lockheed's Atlas rockets will still be produced. The companies will consolidate production at Boeing's Decatur, Ala., facility, while Lockheed's Denver office will serve as the headquarters and house the engineering and administrative functions. Some jobs will be eliminated.
The joint venture will launch a variety of larger satellites, including weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, science satellites for NASA, spy satellites for the National Security Agency and communications satellites for the Air Force. The firms have a similar joint venture to manage the day-to-day operations of NASA's space shuttle program.
The companies have said they expect the joint venture to generate $1.5 billion to $2 billion in revenue per year from the government and save it $100 million to $150 million a year.
Pentagon and FTC officials said the cost savings do not offset the impact of the loss of competition.
The department's "careful review of those savings leads us to conclude that the cost savings, while attractive, are not adequate to support the loss of competition," Kenneth J. Krieg, the Pentagon's acquisition chief said, in an August letter to the FTC.
Yet, in the end, Defense Department officials were more concerned that they could be left with only one company capable of launching their satellites, which have become an increasingly important part of fighting wars. Under the joint venture, there will be a busier single workforce and the firms can integrate their technologies, Krieg said.
"DoD has concluded that ULA would improve national security and that the unique national security benefits from the joint venture would exceed any anticompetitive harm," the FTC said in a statement yesterday.
Currently, Boeing and Lockheed are the only two U.S. companies that launch the heavier satellites needed by government agencies, though other companies can launch smaller versions. Approval was contingent on an FTC consent decree ordering the companies to cooperate with potential competitors such as Northrop Grumman Corp., which makes satellites but does not launch them.
Ordinarily such an agreement would not be considered an effective remedy to anticompetitive concerns, FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour said in a concurring statement. But, she added, "I lack the technical expertise to second-guess DoD's conclusion that allowing the formation of ULA is the best way to preserve national security and protect the public interest."
Lockheed and Boeing gave no timetable for closing the deal. "The FTC action is the final step in the government's regulatory process and brings the ULA closer to the goal of meeting the government's need for reliable, lower-cost launch services for national security, civil and scientific payloads," Boeing said in a statement.
The joint venture also will end a three-year legal battle between the Pentagon's largest contractors in which Bethesda-based Lockheed accused Chicago-based Boeing of cheating to win rocket launch work. Lockheed and Boeing agreed to drop countersuits over a 1990s rocket launch competition once the deal is finalized. In 2003, Boeing admitted that some of its employees had proprietary Lockheed information during the competition. That prompted a lawsuit from Lockheed and a 20-month launch suspension from the Air Force.
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U.S. antitrust authorities yesterday approved a plan by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. to merge their government rocket businesses, creating a monopoly in a multibillion-dollar market that the Federal Trade Commission acknowledged will probably lead to higher prices and lower quality.
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Screening of Mail at Federal Prisons Lags
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Three terrorists imprisoned in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing were able to send more than 90 letters to alleged terrorists overseas because U.S. prison officials do not screen all correspondence from the most dangerous inmates as required, according to a report released yesterday.
An investigation by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine found that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons does not have enough translators or intelligence analysts to properly screen incoming and outgoing communications, including mail and telephone calls.
The report also said that the proportion of mail monitored has decreased in recent months amid tightening budgets and staff reductions, despite incidents in recent years when incarcerated terrorists were able to communicate with sympathizers overseas. One of the letters was eventually used as a recruiting tool for suicide bombers in Spain, officials said.
"We found that the BOP has not effectively monitored the mail of terrorist and other high-risk inmates," the report said. ". . . Consequently, the threat remains that terrorist and other high-risk inmates can use mail and verbal communications to conduct terrorist or criminal activities while incarcerated."
The prison bureau said in a statement issued yesterday that it agrees with Fine's recommendations for changes but that implementing improvements "will require significant additional resources, primarily staff."
"The most dangerous and sophisticated inmates are housed in the most restrictive conditions allowed in order to ensure that they cannot influence others or use other inmates to send or receive messages," the statement said.
Fine's investigation was requested by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in early 2005, after NBC News reported that scores of letters had been sent overseas by three men convicted in the World Trade Center bombing and housed at the Administrative Maximum U.S. Penitentiary, or Admax, in Florence, Colo. The facility is home to some of the most violent and dangerous prisoners in the federal system, including terrorists, drug lords, gang leaders and others.
Fine's report said more than 90 such letters were sent by inmates Mohammed Salameh, Mahmud Abouhalima and Nidal A. Ayyad between 2002 and 2004. The recipients included Mohamed Achraf, alleged leader of a plot to blow up the National Justice Building in Madrid, and others with links to terrorists suspected in the March 11, 2004, attacks on commuter trains there.
At least 14 letters were exchanged between the Colorado inmates and the Spanish terrorist cell, the report said, and one suspect arrested in Spain used the letters in recruitment efforts. In one letter published by an Arabic newspaper, Salameh wrote: "Osama bin Laden is my hero of this generation."
Fine's investigators found that the prisons bureau "does not have enough proficient translators to translate inmate mail written in foreign languages" and lacks sufficient staff trained to analyze communications for suspicious content. For example, the report said, staff members in Florence failed to notify the FBI about the letters to extremists in Spain because they did not understand the possible ramifications of the correspondence.
The inspector general also found that the problem has worsened: Prison officials read a smaller percentage of mail now than they did a year ago at seven out of 10 facilities surveyed by investigators. During one week in November 2005, the report said, two mailroom staffers at Florence were able to read only 1.8 percent of 2,464 pieces of incoming mail.
The BOP statement said that the bureau had already implemented many of Fine's recommendations.
In response to the report, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted prison officials yesterday as "incompetent when it comes to detecting possible terrorist activity in federal prisons."
"Given past evidence of terrorists communicating with live terror cells from inside prison walls, it is inexcusable that the BOP is not monitoring high risk prisoners more closely," Schumer said in a statement.
Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
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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.
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The Leaders We Have
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While leading the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in the summer of 2003, David Kay received a phone call from "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff, who wanted a particular place searched: "The vice president wants to know if you've looked at this area. We have indications -- and here are the geocoordinates -- that something's buried there." Kay and his experts located the area on the map. It was in the middle of Lebanon.
This story from Bob Woodward's "State of Denial" would be hilarious were it not about war. The vignette is dismaying because it seems symptomatic of a blinkering monomania that may have prevented obsessed persons from facing facts.
Some will regard "State of Denial" as Katrina between hard covers, a snapshot of dysfunctional government. But it is largely just a glimpse of government , disheartening as that fact may be to those who regard government as a glistening scalpel for administering social transformation.
Once, when President William Howard Taft was listening to an aide talk about "the machinery of government," Taft murmured, "The young man really thinks it's a machine." Actually, government is people, and not a random slice of the population. Those at government's pinnacle generally are strong-willed, ambitious, competitive, opinionated and have agendas about which they care deeply. That is why they are there. And why almost any administration, carefully scrutinized, looks much like a teaspoon of pond water viewed under a microscope -- a teeming, disorderly maelstrom of sometimes rival life forms. That is especially true of an administration staffed with such canny Washington survivors as Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. A government of rookies or shrinking violets would be more harmonious. So, how much of a virtue is harmony?
"State of Denial" will take a toll on government collegiality and the candor of its deliberations. It is based on astonishing indiscretions -- current and past officials making private memos and conversations public for motives that cannot be pure.
The book is hardly a revelation about supposed hidden chaos in Washington that produced the obvious chaos in Iraq. It does demonstrate that President Bush and others were shockingly slow to recognize Iraq's complexities and downward spiral. But we already knew that.
The book does not demonstrate that the president is in a state of denial. His almost exclusive and increasingly grating reliance on the rhetoric of unwavering resolve may be mistaken. It certainly has undermined his reputation as a realist. But he believes a president must be "the calcium in the backbone" of the nation, so the resolute face that he thinks he must show the nation does not preclude private anguish.
The book's central figure, however, is not Bush, whose lack of inquisitiveness is a defect, but Rumsfeld, whose abrasive inquisitiveness is supposedly a defect. The prologue begins with Rumsfeld's selection as defense secretary. The 45th and final chapter contains much about Bush but revolves around an interview with Rumsfeld.
The book actually includes one heartening story that should enhance Rumsfeld's reputation. On Veterans Day 2005, the president traveled to a Pennsylvania Army depot to deliver a speech announcing the new military policy for Iraq, the policy of "clear, hold and build." Woodward says Rumsfeld, having read the speech, called Andy Card, the White House chief of staff, a half-hour before Bush was to deliver it, and said, "Take that out." Card replied that the three words were the centerpiece of the speech, not to mention the war strategy. Rumsfeld replied, "Clear, we're doing. It's up to the Iraqis to hold. And the State Department's got to work with somebody on the build."
At last, a division of labor that uses the U.S. military only for properly military purposes and assigns responsibilities in a way that will force Iraq's government to grow up. In the name of counterinsurgency, there has been too much of what today's military argot calls "full-spectrum operations" -- operations that go beyond killing insurgents to building schools, connecting sewers and other civil projects that keep the training wheels on the Iraqi government's bicycle and keep the United States chasing the chimera of "nation-building."
"Where's the leader?" Bush, according to Woodward, has exclaimed in dismay about the Iraqi government's dithering. "Where's George Washington? Where's Thomas Jefferson? Where's John Adams, for crying out loud?" For a president to ask that question about Iraq, that tribal stew, is enough to cause one to ask it about the United States.
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'Where's the leader?' President Bush, according to Bob Woodward, has exclaimed in dismay about the Iraqi government. For a president to ask that question about Iraq is enough to cause one to ask it about the United States.
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No Spinning Past This Scandal
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Even when damage control seems a lost cause, I suppose you have to follow the playbook. So Mark Foley resigns his House seat in a nanosecond, then explains those creepy electronic messages to young congressional pages by declaring himself an alcoholic, effectively blaming it all on demon rum. House Speaker Dennis Hastert promptly calls for a really thorough -- meaning really slow -- investigation. The rest of the Republican leadership declares itself shocked and/or saddened, but agrees that the time has come to move on, folks, nothing to see here.
These practiced responses have long served politicians, but you don't get the sense that anyone thinks they'll work this time. There's really no effective spin you can put on the Foley scandal, no way that even the Republican Party's image-making geniuses can make people feel good about a 52-year-old man discussing masturbatory techniques with a male teenager via instant message.
About all the party leadership can do is hope the whole affair is so unsavory that some voters will be too grossed out to pay much attention. Then maybe it wouldn't sink in that House leaders were told in November 2005 -- that's almost a year ago, for anyone who's counting -- about an inappropriate e-mail that Foley had sent to a House page. The situation was handled with nothing more than a quiet warning.
The leadership didn't launch an investigation, which probably would have unearthed the much more explicit instant-message exchange between the Florida Republican and another young male page that surfaced last week. House leaders even let Foley continue to serve as co-chair of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, an irony too sad and unforgivable to properly enjoy.
Hastert doesn't remember ever being told of any problem with Foley, but others remember telling him about the e-mail incident. That's one of the questions -- What did I know, and when did I know it? -- that Hastert wants investigators to get to the bottom of. Eventually. Certainly after the November elections.
Former speaker Newt Gingrich suggested over the weekend that House leaders may have worried last year that if they pursued the Foley matter, they'd be "accused of gay-bashing." Clearly, in terms of his spinning skills, Gingrich has lost a step. The issue was whether a congressman was having improper communications with a child, not whether the congressman was gay; it would have been just as troubling if the e-mail had been sent to a female page. And anyway, it's a little late for the Republicans to denounce gay-bashing after raising it to an art form.
I don't know whether the Republicans will lose control of the House this fall, but I know that they deserve to. That judgment has nothing to do with party politics; there have been times when the Democrats were in control and allowed Congress to sink to a similar level of corruption. But that's surely where we are now, and since the Republicans are the ones in charge, they're the ones who deserve the blame.
We've had the Jack Abramoff scandal. We've had the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandal. Congress -- especially the House -- has made immigrants into scapegoats. House Republicans didn't even clear their throats in objection when the White House demanded, and eventually won, the right to decide what is and isn't torture. For years now the House has legislated primarily to shovel pork, pork and more pork to the folks back home.
And now, however it happened -- either because of a deliberate political decision or because the institution is so degraded that it couldn't stir itself to action, like an overstuffed aristocrat crippled by gout -- we learn that the House has countenanced a congressman's sick advances toward teenagers.
Congressional pages tend to be idealistic, patriotic young people who wholeheartedly believe in America. Many are contemplating a career in politics, and they are thrilled to have the chance to come to the U.S. Capitol and witness the workings of our great democracy.
Those who came in contact with Mark Foley certainly got a lesson, didn't they?
Famous quotations are the last refuge of newspaper columnists and other scoundrels, so I try to avoid them, but at the moment I can't help thinking of what Oliver Cromwell said to the so-called Rump Parliament in 1653. Voters would do well to send the same message to the House of Representatives next month:
"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"
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Even when damage control seems a lost cause, I suppose you have to follow the playbook, but it is hard to imagine that anyone thinks the standard steps will work with the Mark Foley scandal.
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Hastert Rejects Calls To Give Up Leadership
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House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) yesterday rebuffed calls to resign his leadership role, which have come from conservatives and liberals alike, but public ruptures in the ranks of the House Republican leadership continued to surface in the wake of a page scandal.
Hastert and fellow House Republicans stressed that they will contain the fallout from revelations that senior GOP leaders had known for months about the inappropriate communications between former representative Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and at least two teenage male pages. But several conservative organizations, including the editorial board of the Washington Times, have now called on Hastert to step down, charging that he was derelict in not investigating the "over-friendly" e-mails that his staff had been aware of since late 2005.
A public show of support for the speaker by many House members masks fears that Hastert's hands-off management style since 1999, when he ascended almost accidentally to one of the highest offices in the land, may finally end his career. Just five weeks before midterm elections, most House members said Hastert will almost certainly not step down before voters go to the polls. But a GOP political disaster in the wake of the Foley revelations could usher him out of the post and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) into the speakership.
"I think Speaker Hastert's done a pretty good job under trying circumstances regarding our members. He has stepped up," said Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), a close ally of Hastert's. But he added that the ultimate responsibility rests with Hastert. "The truth is, if you want to be a page, you have to be appointed by the speaker. This is the speaker's program."
Hastert's critics say the Foley episode is the latest in a long line of Republican leadership failures. Hastert largely stood on the sidelines last year as legal peril mounted for his top lieutenant, then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). Then he intervened to try to save DeLay, first by trying to change House rules to allow an indicted member to maintain his leadership post, then by helping to purge the House ethics committee of members and staffers who had challenged DeLay's bare-knuckled tactics. Neither effort worked.
It took months for Hastert to respond to the influence-peddling scandal triggered by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and, even then, his personal pledge to tighten the rules governing congressional lobbying did not produce significant legislation. House GOP leaders seemed to have been blindsided when Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) pleaded guilty to accepting millions of dollars in bribes. And after pleading guilty to corruption charges, Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) remains in the House.
Hastert continues to say that his staff's failure to thoroughly investigate the initial e-mails from Foley to a 16-year-old Louisiana boy was understandable, given the vague, friendly nature of the exchange. But others see a pattern. "I think what has been revealed about the way in which the Republican leadership, and Hastert in particular, has handled this matter is fully consistent with his prior behavior as speaker," said Thomas E. Mann, a scholar on Congress at the Brookings Institution and author of a critical new book on the decline of Congress's role in governance." This is a man who has never taken seriously his institutional roll as a constitutional officer of the United States and the head of the whole House, not just the head of the Republican Party."
In a round of interviews with conservative talk show hosts, Hastert said he intends to lead a Republican majority in the next Congress. Fellow House Republicans fell in line. "For a normal political leader, it would be difficult to withstand this, but Hastert is seen as a grandfatherly figure in the House. He's seen as having our best interests at heart," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.).
"We've been through far worse," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference. "This is not a problem. This is not anything that's going to tear up the leadership."
Still, such tears are growing increasingly evident. Last week, House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said in an interview with The Washington Post that he told Hastert about Foley's inappropriate behavior last spring and was told that the issue was being dealt with. Boehner then sought to deny that he had said it. Yesterday, he returned to his original contention, emphasizing Hastert's responsibility for the page program.
"I believe I talked to the speaker, and he told me it had been taken care of," Boehner told a Cincinnati radio host. "And my position is it's in his corner, it's his responsibility. The clerk of the House who runs the page program, the page board -- all report to the speaker. And I believe it had been dealt with."
At issue, say some former Republican leadership aides, may be Hastert's leadership style. Affable and approachable, Hastert emerged seemingly from nowhere to become speaker in 1999. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) had been drummed out of Congress after a disastrous election season, and his heir apparent, Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), resigned amid allegations of an extramarital affair. DeLay, who was then majority whip, engineered Hastert's rise from chief deputy whip to speaker.
From the start, Hastert, 64, took on the role of father confessor, a shoulder to cry on as DeLay knocked heads and kept the House moving. But two former House leadership aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of hurting their relationship with the speaker, said DeLay's undoing may have been Hastert's -- and, in retrospect, may have allowed Foley's alleged behavior to go unchecked.
Under indictment and out of the leadership, DeLay was fighting for his political career when Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) brought Foley's suspicious e-mails to the leadership in November 2005. That same month, Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes.
With DeLay gone and Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.) serving as both majority whip and majority leader, the House leadership simply lacked the bodies to forcefully take on the Foley issue, the former aides said. The page program was the speaker's domain, but the speaker, already disposed toward delegating responsibility, was getting tired of all the scandals.
"The speaker has been preoccupied and distracted for more than a year," one former leadership aide said.
"Frankly," said the second, "he was tired."
Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean disputed that assertion. Hastert was unaware, until last week, of the sexually explicit instant messages that set off the firestorm, Bonjean said, and when they surfaced, the speaker immediately condemned the behavior, called for a criminal investigation and set up a hot line for pages and former pages. As for the previous scandals, Bonjean said: "People want to go into hindsight, to armchair-quarterback, but the fact of the matter is, the speaker has successfully navigated members through a very, very difficult Congress."
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House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) yesterday rebuffed calls to resign his leadership role, which have come from conservatives and liberals alike, but public ruptures in the ranks of the House Republican leadership continued to surface in the wake of a page scandal.
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The Redder They Are, The Harder They Fall
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Sex scandals involving politicians are as old as Thomas Jefferson, but the outcome seems to depend on which party you represent. In recent years, for the most part, Democrats have been able to survive their sordid escapades while Republicans have paid with their political lives.
The latest example: Mark Foley, a Republican congressman from Florida, who abruptly became an ex-congressman from Florida last week amid revelations that he had sent sexually explicit e-mails to teenage boys who were serving as House pages.
Foley's creepy behavior might have done him in even if he'd been the most liberal of Democrats. But that's not assured. With a Republican at the center of the seamy scandal, however, it was almost a slam-dunk that Foley would have to quit.
That's how it usually turns out for members of the conservative, traditional-family-values party. Just ask Bob Livingston, Jack Ryan, Bob Packwood, Dan Crane or others in the GOP who've watched their careers go pffft! with salacious disclosures. Or ask Bill Clinton, Gerry Studds, Barney Frank and other Democrats who've withstood embarrassing revelations to govern another day. Consider, for example:
· Packwood, from Oregon, resigned his Senate seat in 1995 amid repeated allegations that he had sexually harassed women. A few years earlier, Rep. Jim Bates, a Democrat from the San Diego area, faced similar allegations by two female staffers. Bates refused to resign and won reelection (he eventually lost his seat to Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who ran into his own ethics problems last year, and resigned after being convicted of bribery).
· In 1998, Livingston won the Republican Party's blessing to succeed Newt Gingrich as speaker of the House. But Livingston, of Louisiana, never served a day in the job. He was sunk by revelations that he'd had an extramarital affair, a disclosure that carried the additional baggage of hypocrisy since, at the time, Livingston was leading the Republican impeachment of President Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton, of course, ultimately survived impeachment.
· Rep. Thomas Evans (R-Del.) was voted out of office in 1982 after he publicly regretted his "association" with a lobbyist named Paula Parkinson, who later posed for Playboy; Evans and two other Republican House members (including one named Dan Quayle) had shared a Florida cottage with Parkinson on a junket. Contrast this to the reaction to allegations of an affair between Sen. Chuck Robb (D-Va.) and Tai Collins, a former Miss Virginia. Robb claimed that Collins had only given him a back rub in a hotel room. Robb won reelection three years later.
· The clearest illustration may be in the divergent outcomes of the cases against Crane (R) and Studds (D) in 1983. Both men were censured by the House for having sex with underage congressional pages -- Crane with a 17-year-old girl in 1980, Studds with a 17-year-old boy in 1973. Crane, of Illinois, apologized for his actions, while Studds, who declared he was gay, refused. Crane lost his reelection bid the next year; Studds, of Massachusetts, kept winning his seat until he retired in 1996.
A double standard? And if so, by whom?
"The reality is that Democrats seem to get away with more," says Chuck Todd, editor in chief of the Hotline, a daily political journal. "They can have an affair and bail [themselves] out. There's a lower threshold for Republicans. I guess it's more of a hypocrisy thing," he adds, because such scandals put Republicans at odds with the party's socially conservative image.
Todd thinks he knows who's to blame for this: "It's the media, to be honest. What is the standard 'gotcha' story in the media? It's hypocrisy. If we can prove hypocrisy, we have a story. . . . So in a sex scandal, the bar for Republicans is lower."
He cites the case of Jack Ryan, the Illinois Republican whose bid for the Senate was derailed in 2004 when his wife, actress Jeri Ryan, alleged in divorce papers that he had taken her to sex clubs and had asked her to engage in sexual activity in front of other patrons. "What's amazing is that his candidacy hit the wall not because he had sex, but because he was thinking about having sex," says Todd.
But it's tough to blame the media when it's the electorate that determines who stays and who goes.
In Studds's case, he happened to represent a liberal (and apparently quite forgiving) district, while Crane came from a conservative rural district. Ditto with Barney Frank, who was reelected in his liberal Massachusetts district after it was revealed that he hired a male prostitute in 1985 to work in his District apartment, and the young man used the apartment to run a prostitution service. Clinton, meanwhile, was elected president twice, which may have had something to do with his ability to survive the storm over alleged extramarital affairs.
"A scandal's a scandal and the media will jump on it, no matter what party," notes Michael Farquhar, author of "A Treasury of Great American Scandals." On the other hand, notes Farquhar, a reporter who is on leave from The Post, "there's probably that extra twinge of delight [in the media] when, say, a gay-bashing Republican gets caught soliciting sex in a men's room, or a pious espouser of family values sleeps with his secretary."
There are exceptions, of course. A few Democrats have lost their jobs as a result of scandals. Wayne Hays, a Democrat from Ohio, resigned his House seat in 1976 after the disclosure of his affair with Elizabeth Ray, the curvaceous blonde who "worked" in Hays's office despite no evident secretarial skills. Gary Hart, who famously dared reporters to follow him around to prove he was squeaky clean, blew up as a Democratic presidential candidate in 1984 after reporters found him leaving a Capitol Hill townhouse after spending the night with a woman not his wife. And Gary Condit, a conservative Democrat from Modesto, Calif., lost his seat in 2002 following saturation coverage of his relationship with murdered intern Chandra Levy.
It's also true that Wilbur Mills, the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in the 1970s, lost his chairmanship after cavorting in the Tidal Basin with Fanne Foxe, "the Argentine Firecracker."
What's forgotten, however, is that Mills won reelection after his Tidal Basin romp; he was stripped of his chairmanship only after he appeared on a stage in Boston with Foxe, apparently drunk. House Democrats demanded his resignation, and got it.
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Sex scandals involving politicians are as old as Thomas Jefferson, but the outcome seems to depend on which party you represent. In recent years, for the most part, Democrats have been able to survive their sordid escapades while Republicans have paid with their political lives.
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2 in U.S. Win Nobel Prize for Research of Universe's Origin
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Americans John C. Mather and George F. Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics yesterday for producing the first tangible evidence that the universe began billions of years ago with the long-theorized big bang.
Using pioneering data from a NASA satellite they helped design and create, the two produced measurements that confirmed an essential aspect of the big-bang scenario -- that a cosmic bath of microwaves emanated from that original event and has been expanding and cooling ever since.
VIDEO | John Mather of Maryland and George Smoot of California won the Nobel physics prize for work that helped cement the big-bang theory of the universe.
The Nobel committee praised their findings as a scientific turning point, one that changed cosmology from a theoretical science into one in which precise measurements and conclusions are possible.
Mather, 60, a Hyattsville resident and a senior astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, was the principal investigator for the groundbreaking Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite and experiments in 1989. Smoot, 61, an experimental astrophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., played a key role in the highly complex work of analyzing the data.
"They have not proven the big-bang theory, but they give it very strong support," said Per Carlson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics. "It is one of the greatest discoveries of the century; I would call it the greatest. It increases our knowledge of our place in the universe."
The research propelled Mather and Smoot to instant scientific renown, with some describing their findings as evidence of a moment of "creation." At a 1992 news briefing on their discoveries, Smoot famously said that "if you're religious, it's like seeing God."
Mather put it differently yesterday. "What we're looking at is a tremendous mystery," he said of the beginnings of the universe. "We can work to describe it, but we cannot really explain it. . . . What we found is traces of the very earliest moment of time."
With the help of the COBE experiments, a scientific consensus has formed that the universe is about 13.7 billion years old.
Mather is the first NASA civil-servant scientist to win the Nobel Prize, but he is hardly the first federal employee to claim the most prestigious award in science. About one-quarter of the 270 Americans who have won Nobels were employed by the government.
Since 1986, Americans have won the physics prize, or shared it with people from other nations, 15 times.
The COBE satellite experiments resulted in the first detection of faint temperature variations in the cosmic microwave background, the haze of radiation representing the first light able to move freely after the big bang.
Those tiny differences in temperature are essential to explain how stars and galaxies formed. If the energy and radiation emanating from the big bang had been uniform, scientists theorized, the universe would not have materialized as it did. Before COBE, however, attempts to find temperature variations or "ripples" in the microwave background had failed.
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Americans John C. Mather and George F. Smoot won the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics yesterday for producing the first tangible evidence that the universe began billions of years ago with the long-theorized big bang.
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The Bush administration urged the Supreme Court to declare that legal immigrants can be deported for drug offenses that are felonies in some states but only misdemeanors under federal law, as the court heard its first oral arguments of the new term yesterday.
At issue are provisions of the 1996 immigration law that require any noncitizen guilty of an "aggravated felony" to be sent back to his country of origin, with no chance to ask for leniency. The law defines "aggravated felony" to include any drug-trafficking offense that is a "felony punishable under" federal drug laws.
Federal appeals courts, however, have differed as to that language's precise meaning. Some have upheld deportations based on state felonies, such as simple drug possession, that would not be felonies under federal law.
The seemingly technical dispute could have real-world consequences for thousands of green-card holders. In 2005, the United States deported about 77,000 immigrants with criminal records, of whom about 9.5 percent had arrests for drug possession, according to the Justice Department.
A Justice Department lawyer, Edwin S. Kneedler, said the court should read the statute to require deportation for felony state drug-possession convictions.
"Because the petitioner's underlying conduct here was punishable under [federal law], and was a felony under state law, they were properly found to have committed aggravated felonies," he told the justices, according to a transcript of the argument released yesterday by the court.
It was the first time the court has released same-day transcripts of oral argument on its Web site, http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ , under a policy announced last month.
But several justices asked Kneedler whether that was a strained reading of the statute.
"[I]t must give you pause that your analysis is of a term, 'drug-trafficking crime' or 'illicit trafficking,' and your theory leads to the conclusion that simple possession equates with drug trafficking," Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said.
Kneedler replied that "a lot of state statutes dealing with drugs do not, are not patterned directly after the federal statute, and there is no reason why Congress would have insisted that they do so in order for this statute to operate sensibly."
The case is an appeal by Jose Antonio Lopez, a Mexico native who entered the United States illegally 20 years ago to pick tomatoes. He became a legal resident in 1990 and later opened two small businesses in South Dakota.
In 1997, state prosecutors there indicted him on charges of cocaine distribution and of aiding and abetting cocaine possession. He pleaded guilty to the possession charge and served 15 months of a five-year sentence. Since his release from prison, federal authorities have been trying to deport him under the aggravated-felony law.
Lopez, who has a wife and two U.S.-citizen children, voluntarily left for Mexico earlier this year. But his case is not moot, because if he wins, he would be permitted to seek a cancellation of his deportation order and return legally to the United States.
Lopez's attorney, Robert A. Long Jr., told the court that the administration's position would undermine the uniformity of national immigration rules, because "what it is arguing is that states can banish noncitizens and can do so by enacting drug laws deciding to make a simple possession offense a felony."
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Continuing coverage of the Supreme Court nomination and confirmation process from The Washington Post.
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Who, Me? A Yogi?
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Well, now there's a sight I never thought I'd see: my own butt, from underneath and behind, without a mirror!
I'm standing in a variation of a pose called wide-legged forward bend (Prasarita Padottanasana I, in the traditional Sanskrit appellation), my torso draped toward the floor, my hands holding the ankles of my outstretched legs, the crown of my head reaching between my feet.
We can help you find the right work environment with competitive benefits.
Five years ago such a stance would have been unthinkable. Literally. Not only could my body not have managed it, but I didn't have the capacity to picture myself engaging in what I thought of as a lunatic-fringe practice: yoga.
In its purest form, yoga -- the word derives from the Sanskrit term meaning "to join" or "to yoke" -- is supposed to unite the individual self with the universal self, essentially doing away with the self-conscious "I." So I hate to admit that the next 2,000 words of this article are going to be mostly about Me. (Ask Jennifer more about this article and yoga in her live discussion)
But I hope that when I finally shut up, a lot of other middle-aged, slightly pudgy, crazy busy and distracted women (and men, too) who think yoga's only for wispy little waif-girls who eat two cubes of tofu and a granola bar for dinner and burn aromatherapy candles while uttering mystical prayers will think again and, maybe, give it a try.
Before this whole yoga thing happened to me in 2003, millions of people over the past several thousand years beat me to it. Yoga's long been touted, particularly in its native India, as a philosophical and physical system that brings calm and balance to the body and brain. But until recently in Western civilization, yoga has been on the fringes, lumped with other alternative approaches to health and well-being, such as macrobiotic diets and primal scream therapy.
In the past couple of decades, though, brought into the limelight by celebrities such as Sting, Madonna and Mariel Hemingway, yoga has moved toward the mainstream.
A February 2005 Harris poll commissioned by Yoga Journal, the leading American yoga magazine, found that 7.5 percent of U.S. adults, or 16.5 million people, practice yoga; that's an increase of 43 percent from 2002. Of the 16.5 million people now practicing yoga, the poll revealed, 41.6 percent were between 35 and 54 years old.
I joined their ranks three years ago when a neighbor who had had her yoga-teacher training at the renowned Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Mass., put up a sign in the local library, offering cheap, weekly yoga classes right there in the community room.
I still cringe when I think of the get-up I wore to those early yoga classes: a pair of big baggy culottes whose elastic waistband kept slipping floorward and a T-shirt that billowed, also floorward, covering my face and exposing my belly and bra with each downward dog.
The teacher, appropriately, was starting us out slow, easing us into a dozen or so of yoga's most basic poses -- or asana. I felt immediately tapped into the ancient tradition. Creaking my way through my first-ever sun salutations, I couldn't believe that this -- these straightforward, intuitive positionings of torso and limbs -- was what yoga was.
My teacher ceased the library classes after a few months, turning her attention to building her own studio. She continued to teach at the local Y, though, so I signed up there. YMCAs are a great place to get exposed to a variety of teachers (whose personalities shape the way they teach) and styles of yoga (of which there are many -- too many, say some who think the whole field, fueled by individual egos, has grown unyogically complicated).
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Well, now there's a sight I never thought I'd see: my own butt, from underneath and behind, without a mirror! Which leads us to the million-rupee question: Just how effective is yoga as a form of fitness training? My neighbor ultimately opened her beautiful, intimate studio close to my home. I...
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Opinion Focus
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Today's Article: No Spinning Past This Scandal (Post, Oct. 3)
Eugene Robinson is also author of " Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban Revolution ."
Eugene Robinson: Hello, everybody. It should be a lively hour, because there's no shortage of news to talk about. Today's column was about the Mark Foley scandal, which continues to dominate the news -- the Washington Times, of all papers, called today for Dennis Hastert to resign as Speaker of the House. Last Friday's column was about George Allen and his continuing macaca-related problems. And in between, Bob Woodward's book came out and told us, well, that pretty much everything we feared about this administration and this war is true. As we speak, Condi Rice is still trying to remember that meeting in July 2001 at which George Tenet apparently sounded the alarm about al Qaeda...
Bethlehem, Pa.: Sure, sure. The Republicans covered up Foley. End of story. What about your brethren -- the two newspapers who didn't run the story at all when they had it? One said it didn't want to make a gay Congressman look like a pedophile. And, the parents asked the Republican Congressman for whom the the page worked not to say anything.
Where's the tolerance you always yearn for? Face it, you'll jump on the Republicans at any opportunity, no matter if you haven't thought things through.
Eugene Robinson: The newspapers that didn't run the story dropped the ball too, in my opinion. The first e-mail that came to light was ambiguous, but a little digging might have led to the more explicit instant-message traffic with the other page, and almost certainly would have unearthed all this stuff we're now hearing about Foley's eye for very, very young men -- and his ongoing interest in the House pages. That failure, however, doesn't absolve the House leadership of its responsibility.
Rockville, Md.: To me, the oddest part of the whole Rep. Foley scandal is that Foley was head of a House committee on missing and exploited teenagers, as yet this fact seems to be rarely mentioned. Isn't this a crucial aspect of the story?
Eugene Robinson: Actually, that fact gets mentioned a lot. Amazing.
All this sudden belated attention to the obvious fact that the Bushies, especially Rice, were warned about the gathering menace of Bin Laden repeatedly, and did nothing for eight months because they had, to use Cheney's phrase, "other priorities."
Well, good morning, main stream media.
I seem to recall that dangerous radical leftist Michael Moore making this exact point in Fahrenheit 911.
Talk about a prophet without honor. Doesn't Moore now have the right to say "I told you so?"
And for the fiftieth time, why are we still getting better reporting from comedians and entertainers these days than from most of our so-called journalists?
Michael Moore did make that point, as I recall. The Bush administration wasn't focused on al-Qaeda before 9/11. That's now abundantly clear.
I sighed because you are not getting better reporting from comedians and entertainers than from journalists. Where do you think the comedians and entertainers are getting the material for their bits? I love watching Stewart and Colbert, but I haven't seen either of them dodging roadside bombs in Baghdad or trying to pry information out of nervous sources at the Pentagon or the CIA.
Washington, D.C.: I'm infuriated by the news clips I've seen of Tony Perkins (Family Research Council) and Newt Gingrich speculating that the House leadership may not have acted on the earlier Mark Foley allegations for fear or being branded "homophobic" or "gay bashers." Have others been saying this as well -- i.e. does it seem to be one of this week's GOP talking points? More to the point, since when has the Republican party EVER worried about the perception that their policies and actions are hostile to gay people?
Eugene Robinson: I think the answer to your last question would be approximately "never". I did mention this irony in the column today.
Baltimore, Md.: Eugene: How out of touch with reality must Foley have been to put these thoughts of his into e-mail and IM form. After all the corporate malfeasance convictions based on recovered e-mail, you would think Foley and others would know that this stuff never really dies--especially if the recipient can save it to his hard drive or print it out.
And I wish, just once, some politician or celebrity would just get caught and says, "Whoops, ya got me," without having to check into rehab.
As an alcoholic with 20 years of sobriety, I actually get offended when people suddenly decide "the booze made me do it." The booze made me do a lot of stupid things (like lose jobs), but it never made me do anything of a sexual nature that I would not have done stone cold sober.
Eugene Robinson: Thank you. It's become standard procedure, when caught doing something wrong, to declare oneself an alcoholic or drug addict or sex addict or whatever. That's an insult to those who fight these addictions without being compelled to, say, steal public funds or put the moves on 16-year-old House pages.
New York, N.Y.: Do you see any significance in Chris Shays statement that anyone in leadership position who knew about the Foley emails should step down? Is this perhaps an opportunity for more moderate Republicans to install more moderate Congressional leadership?
Eugene Robinson: The Republican caucus in the House is not moderate, and I doubt it will accept moderate leadership.
Silver Spring, Md.: This morning on C-SPAN, one caller explained that the whole Foley scandal is really Bill Clinton's fault because of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Former Defense Dept. Spokesperson Tori Clarke said that she "wouldn't connect the dots in that way" but did carry her disagreement with that assessment any further. Do you think that a "Blame Clinton, Gays, and Demon Rum" approach will work very well for the GOP at this point?
Eugene Robinson: Wow, I missed that one. I can't imagine what the connection might be. In any event, no, I don't think that will work.
Richmond, Va.: Who's happier about the Foley scandal, Bush and Rove, because it gets Iraq and Woodward off the front pages, or the Democrats, because they don't have to offer anything to the electorate, hoping the Republicans continue to implode?
Eugene Robinson: From the way you know how to load a question, I'd say you have a promising future as an opinion columnist. Well done. I'd say the Democrats must be happier, because Iraq and Woodward are still on the front pages anyway. The book is flying off the shelves. I don't think the White House can be happy at all. For one thing, losing the House would mean that Democrats would be armed with subpoena power and could call hearings on extremely inconvenient topics.
Baltimore, Md.: Liked your piece this AM, as I usually do.
But I'm confused as to why The Post and the other major papers aren't playing the following AP wire story up big time:
(AP) U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and urged support for efforts to bring "people who call themselves Taliban" and their allies into the government.
The Tennessee Republican said he learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield.
"You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government," Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. "And if that's accomplished, we'll be successful."
THIS IS NUTS! The Taliban started this whole thing off, before Flight Suit Boy sent our troops into Iraq. And now we're asking them to sit down at the table?
I wish I was making this up.
Eugene Robinson: I saw a wire on this but haven't seen a full story that explains what in the world might have been on Frist's mind. If this is a way of establishing his foreign policy credentials, he should stick to heart surgery.
Fairfax, Va.: So this is what it takes to politically unite Americans: an unambiguously repugnant act of sexual predation by an adult politician against minors; a sort of poetical reality TV show that keeps everyone tuned in. Now both right and left want a pound of flesh.
But what about the political crimes of the current Administration ruining many, many more lives through imposed war policies, economic redistribution from the middle to the upper class, or continued denial of medical insurance coverage? Could a vigilant, bold media get people united against, for example, blatant manipulation of gas prices which as soon as the election is over will return to price-gouging levels? Or will it take a courageous politician, now nowhere to be seen, to help the voters recognize what the true political "reality" show is all about?
Eugene Robinson: I'm not sure exactly what you'd want the "vigilant, bold media" to do. The war has certainly been written about. Economic redistribution, through tax cuts for the rich, has been written about. The health insurance crisis has been written about. And it is easy to understand why people react more sharply to the Foley scandal than to any of the above. Anyone who has a 16-year-old son, daughter, niece, nephew, brother or sister can relate to the Foley story in a very personal way.
Arlington, Va.: Senator Allen's paid speech last night asked the voters to forget character and consider the issues. Putting aside where he stands on issues as he tried hard not to decide whether he supported Bush or John Warner on the torture bill, the Foley mess and whether the White House lied according to Woodward leans me to believe that it is hard to forget the character issue.
Eugene Robinson: I thought that was a bizarre move on Allen's part -- people do consider character when voting, no matter what he advises; and anyway, he's fighting the tide of public opinion on a lot of the issues that people think are most important. I had assumed that Allen would probably eke out a slim victory anyway, even post-macaca, but now I think he must be really worried.
Alexandria, Va.: I find it fascinating that the GOP and its right-wing media echo chamber think they can spin pedophilia. Tony Snow: "simply naughty emails." Ben Stein: "-Foley is a poor misguided Republican man who had a romantic thing for young boys. He sent them suggestive e-mail. I agree, that's not great." Matt Drudge: The "16 and 17 year old beasts" were "egging him on"
This reaction strikes me as nearly as bad as the crime. Do they think this will work?
Eugene Robinson: I can't imagine that this will work, and in fact it seems to particularly enrage some sectors of the Republican base. Tony Snow did a quick about-face -- by mid-afternoon he had dropped the "naughty e-mails" shtick and was furrowing his brow in sorrowful concern. I imagine somebody told him how his blithe dismissal of the whole thing had sounded.
New York, N.Y.: Any idea on how Brian Ross got the info in the first place? He seemed to suggest to the NYT that he got it from a Republican, squashing the idea that this was a politically placed and well-timed scandal
Eugene Robinson: I don't know how he got the original tip, but I saw that same quote suggesting that it came from a Republican.
Re: Sec. Rice: In the face of incontrovertible evidence from so many people that Sec. Rice was indeed warned about al Qaeda and a possible attack pre Sept. 11, can you explain how she can keep denying these truths? Is this sort of denials/can't remembers a set-in-stone strategy that allows the WH has to get away with so many of its tragic blunders -- and why the country seems to just let it go after a period of time?
Eugene Robinson: I don't know why Sec. Rice gave such a categorical denial when asked about that July 2001 meeting with George Tenet and Cofer Black. She went way out on a limb, and then her spokesman had to acknowledge that yes, said meeting did in fact take place. I don't know if this selective recollection is part of an organized strategy or not.
Washington, D.C.: Re: the Fairfax, Va. post
You know I've been saying that it's a terribly sad commentary on our country that this sex scandal/possible crime is what it takes to rattle people. I suspect it will affect the GOP races this November, but this is not what it should take. It should take the American people saying, if you vote with Bush on everything, especially the war (since a huge majority of us oppose it), then I am NOT voting for you.
It's not the media people, it is the people...
Eugene Robinson: I see where you're coming from, but I have a slightly different take. The Foley scandal is not just a sideshow. I think it's a vivid illustration of how corrupt the Republican leadership in Congress has become, in the original sense of the word -- deteriorated, spoiled, debased. For whatever reason, either because of political calculation or an inability to function, no one bothered to investigate that first e-mail, which certainly should have sounded alarm bells. That's an important thing for people to learn about this Congress, it really is.
Bethesda, Md.: It amazes me just how stupid members of Congress can be, sending these emails and IMs, and these are the people that are in charge of our government?
Eugene Robinson: Really. In part, it may be a generational thing. But at this point, even we ancient Boomers should know enough to assume that e-mails and instant messages basically live forever.
West Palm Beach, Fla.: A little upset over the lack of nuisance in exploring the Foley scandal. Any pondering over why Foley would take up the issue of exploited children so vehemently? Appears to be in part out of guilt over his own self-deception. There hasn't really seemed to be much commentary on the different shades of Foley - principally the WHY behind the story. Any idea why he was so effective at being a good Congressman, while being an renegade human?
Eugene Robinson: As we speak, reporters are looking deeply into Foley's whole career -- the L.A. Times had an interesting piece this morning about longstanding rumors concerning Foley's interest in very young men. There will be more such stories, including some that will attempt to answer your "why" question.
I enjoy your work. I am curious as to your assessment on what impact Woodward's book will have on how the GOP prosecute this war and whether or not the administration will finally be held accountable by Congress, i.e. answer the questions on the intelligence, what strategy do they have (the specifics). Will Congress finally perform their duties with respect to oversight? Will the public finally become so outraged that they will demand answers? Thank you.
Eugene Robinson: Thanks. I think the president has been clear. According to Woodward, he said he'll stay the course in Iraq (whatever that course might be) even if Laura and Barney the dog are the only ones who support him. This Congress has already demonstrated that it doesn't intend to oversee anything. And as for the public, that depends on... the public.
Thanks, everyone. My time is up for today, but I'll be back next Tuesday. See you then.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online 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.
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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.
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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. Find other Lean Plate Club members at www.frappr.com/leanplateclub .
Sally Squires: Welcome to the Lean Plate Club! I really enjoyed meeting some of you this weekend at the National Book Festival on the Mall. What a great event! (And I'm very honored that Secrets of the Lean Plate Club was featured at it.)
Today, we're talking about couples who instill healthier habits together. So if you've ever tried losing pounds with your significant other, we'd love to know how it went.
The LPC e-mail newsletters should be in your electronic in-boxes right now. In today's issue, find links to news about NYC's proposal to stop use of trans fats in restaurants. And they're also pondering requiring restaurants to supply calorie counts for menus. What do you think? We'd love to know.
Also: You'll find links to a walking workout and to a neat site that allows you to plot your own running or walking route. You'll also find the latest on spinach from the Food and Drug Administration and of course, the popular feature "What's for Dinner Tonight?" will take you to great-tasting, healthy recipes.
If you'd like to subscribe to this free, weekly feature you can do that at www.leanplateclub.com. And if you do subscribe and don't get your copy, please let me know at leanplateclub@washpost.com.
For those who are interested, I also have free, electronic spreadsheets to count Weight Watchers points. And others in Word to count calories. If you'd like a copy, just zip me an e-mail and please include which one you'd like in the subject line.
"Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," by Brian Wansink, PhD. (Bantam)
"Get the Trans Fat Out: 601 Simple Ways to Cut the Trans Fat Out of Any Diet," by Suzanne Havala Hobbs (Three Rivers Press)
"Fat-Burning Kickboxing Workout for Dummies with Kelli Roberts" (DVD)
"Get Moving with Chris Freytag." (Prevention Fitness Systems) DVD
"Real Food: What to Eat and Why," by Nina Planck (Bloomsbury)
Here's the deal: tell us about losing weight with a significant other. Assist another LPCer on this Web chat. Share a healthy food find or great tasting recipe or a better way to workout and one of these prizes could be yours. (In making this offering we are not endorsing any volume or exercise program. It's just a way to show you the wide range of resources available to you. Winners are announced at the end of each chat.)
Now on to the chat!
Both my significant other and I have successfully lost significant weight before we met. But together we're having problems. Mostly it's different approaches. In the past, he used a low-carb approach. I've used a calorie-counting approach and allowed myself to eat lots of carbs as long as they fit in my calorie allowance -- as a matter of fact I cut meat to let the carbs fit. Now that we're combining meals, we've got the worst of both possible worlds -- he's eating more carbs and I'm eating more meat and we're both gaining weight. Any suggestions on how we can make this work?
Sally Squires: Yep. Sure do, Harrisonburg. You want to help him reach for lean cuts of meat, poultry and fish. You want him to help you reach for healthy types of complex carbs. So think beans, whole grains (wild and brown rice, whole-wheat couscous, whole-wheat bread, crackers and cereals) and of course, plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Soups, stews and salads may be just the thing for both of you. They're high volume which will help you both feel fuller on fewer calories. And you can have small amounts of meat, poultry or fish in all of them. Portion sizes -- and counting some calories -- will also likely be quite wise for both of you. Plus, find ways to be active together.
I loved hearing the anecdote from one of the couples in today's column: they lost weight together -- and sometimes fell off the wagon together -- but they also got back on...together!
Trying for baby No. 2: Hi Sally,
I've submitted this question a couple of times now and I hope you'll be able to get to it today. My husband and I have a 2-year-old and would like to have a second child soon. We're in our mid-30s and don't want to wait much longer to have another child. My problem is that I haven't menstruated since before getting pregnant with our son. I had thought this was because I am still nursing our toddler, although we're down to a morning and evening nursing session.
Both my OB/GYN and a lactation consultant I know have told me that my amenorrhea is more likely due to my weight (too thin?) than to the nursing. I'm about 5-foot-3 and weigh around 110 pounds. My body fat is about 17 percent. I exercise four to six times a week and consider myself fit and healthy, but not overly thin. I've been told that putting on up to 10 pounds will help solve my problem. My question is, how do I do this in a healthy way? Eating pizza and cheeseburgers every day doesn't seem like the right way to do it. Any advice for how to add some pounds without sacrificing my fitness and health?
Sally Squires: We get a lot of questions, as you can probably imagine. But I don't recall seeing this one before, so thanks very much for being persistent and re-submitting.
You're definitely at a healthy weight. Since this amenorrhea has lasted a while, it might be wise to get a second opinion. Low progesterone levels -- and other things -- can sometimes account for problems with ovulation.
As for putting on pounds -- you're right, eating extra helpings of high fat food won't cut it. So you want to have healthy stuff: think nuts and dried fruit. Or extra servings of anything that is wholesome and filled with good nutrition. So that could be extra yogurt, extra milk, extra cheese as well. You get the idea. And in terms of numbers, about an extra 100 calories per day will add about 10 pounds in a year. So that gives you a frame of reference. Good luck and please let us know how it goes. Thanks!
Berwy Heights, Md.: I have a co-worker who recently has read an article about adding a teaspoon of olive oil between meals to curb your appetite and increase weight loss. It seems faddish to me. Thoughts?
Sally Squires: You'd have to really like that olive oil, wouldn't you? And also be certain that you're only consuming one teaspoon, which has about 40 calories. I suspect that this may have originated from the recently published Shangri-La Diet. Hope that helps.
Atlanta: Really great idea to ban trans fats in restaurants. Some of the oil they use should not be consumed by any human being. Zero trans fats should really be zero, unlike to current unseemly law that allows food manufactures to label something zero trans fats when it really have 1/2 gram per serving or less of trans fats!
Sally Squires: Okay, so I'm keeping a count. That's one vote for the NYC Health Department's proposal to ban trans fat in restaurants. Thanks Atlanta!
Albuquerque, N.M.: I've been thinking about buying a pair of walking poles. Since they are a fairly expensive investment, I wonder if you know if they work as well as they claim. Any advice would be appreciated.
Sally Squires: There are so many great walking shoes available these days that I suspect you can find a good pair without breaking your budget. Biggest thing is to look for shoes after you have been walking for a while, since feet tend to swell. Also consider some pairs of comfortable socks. And be sure to go somewhere that will measure your feet so that you get a good fit. Also, there are plenty of orthotics to help if you need some extra cushioning.
I don't know if you have a Nordstrom's near you--and I have no connection to the store -- but they will take shoes back without any questions asked. Other good shoe store suggestions out there for this LPCer who wants to let his/her feet do the walking?
Arlington, Va.: Sally please help! Do you know anything about prednisone/steroids? I was on it for a month, started with a high dose and went down each week. While on it, I gained about 7 pounds. I believe it is mostly water weight as it came on overnight and I was careful to watch what I ate. So the problem is, I have been off the prednisone for three weeks now and although I increased my exercise (I have always been active) and closely monitor what I eat (food log/Weight Watchers) I have still not lost an ounce. I am so frustrated and really don't know what else to do.
Sally Squires: This is a very common side-effect of prednisone and steroids, Arlington. So stay the course. Things should go back to normal. But it might also be worth it to give your doctor a call to let her/him know that this weight is lingering. My understanding is that it can take a while. But you can use that time to continue to pursue your healthy habits. Let us know how it goes. Hang in there!
Arlington, Va.: In regards to working together with your significant other to lose weight, I find that it's such great motivation. If I'm sitting on the couch watching TV and eating a snack, and I see that my boyfriend is going to go for a run, how lazy do I feel if I see him going and I'm just sitting there! I make it a point to cook healthy and he'll eat whatever so he doesn't really notice on the food side of things. All in all it works really well for us!
On a side note, one of the easiest meals to make for the two of us when we are in a rush: semi-cook two links of hot turkey Italian sausage with an onion, then add a can of Italian style diced tomatoes and a can of white cannelini beans (drained and rinsed), and either frozen baby broccoli buds or spinach to the pan with some garlic powder, hot pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and whatever else we have on hand. It takes absolutely no time to cook and if we are craving and extra oomph to our dinner, we'll put it on a whole wheat warmed pita.
Just wanted to share, hope your enjoying the warm weather!
Sally Squires: Yum. I'm getting hungry. Do you cater? Just kidding...And what you've just described so well is the "ripple effect." That's when one partner does something and the other partner is motivated to try it too. Works well, don't you think? Thanks for weighing in.
Chicago: Love your columns, Sally -- thanks for all the great recipes and tips! Today's was very time-appropriate as I've been discussing getting healthy as a couple with my boyfriend. I've recently joined Weight Watchers in the hopes of shedding about 13 pounds and he wants to get in shape. However, he wants to turn it into a competition rather than a team thing! My instincts say it won't work, but I'm wondering if anyone else out there has had success with a competitive significant other? I'm thinking that slow and steady is going to see me to my goal, but I'd like to work with my boyfriend as a team toward our goals without the element of competition. Does anyone out there have any thoughts on a compromise?
Sally Squires: I've never been a big fan of competition in weight loss, Chicago. It just didn't feel right. But...when I reported on competition in recent years, I was surprised to find that it can work pretty well -- with some key ground rules.
Since men and women lose weight at different rates -- sorry, gals, it's sad but true that men lose faster than we do! Life IS unfair -- you definitely want to focus on healthy habits. Or workouts. Or if you must, percentage of weight lost. That's the only fair way to even the playing field.
You might also set up something like this: each week you put a buck in a pot. You each agree to add some healthy habits. Maybe it's eating the recommended amount of fruit and veggies. Maybe it's going for a pre-specified walk. You get the idea. If you both meet the goals, you split the pot. If you don't, the one who does, gets it. If neither of you fulfills the contract, the money stays put. Or make up your own rules. You get the idea. Good luck. Hope you'll let us know how it goes. Thanks!
Woodbridge, Va.: Sally, my husband, oldest son and I belong to a gym but my youngest son is too old for the daycare and not old enough to join. What are some suggestions that we can keep the younger one involved in physical activity?
Sally Squires: You might want to check out the LPC Family Challenge -- archived on our Web site -- where you can learn about a bunch of local parks in the area that would be great for all of you.
Trips to the playground are another option. You and your husband can take turns walking the perimeter while the other watches your son.
Pools can offer great activity for everybody. And you might get him started on tossing a ball. We used to play balloon ball indoors which was good for hand-eye coordination -- and working up a little sweat.
That's just for starters. Bikes would be another way to get activity for everybody. Other thoughts out there?
Carrollton, Tex.: My husband is on a low-carb diet and I'm on a balanced diet. I offer him what I am having, if he doesn't want that, he fixes his own meal. I don't want to be tempted by what he is having. I would like to be on the same diet, one that we could live with long term, but he thinks that it is too difficult to track what he is eating. He isn't losing weight very well and is getting frustrated. I think tracking what you eat is key to success. I have lost 55 pounds in 10 months. It has been slow and some weeks I have trouble staying strictly on plan. When I deviate, I just get back on plan and persevere. I feel so much better and am enjoying a wonderful Toning class at the local rec center three mornings a week and walking about three mornings a week. At 55, I feel younger than I have in years!
Sally Squires: Looks like the ripple effect hasn't yet affected your husband, Texas. But stay the course. Those 55 pounds speak much louder than words. And you might keep encouraging him with helpings of healthy things that you can both enjoy: salmon or other fish; berries (even Atkins includes those in later phases); plenty of veggies. Good luck and congratulations on what you've accomplished. Well done!
Staten Island, N.Y.: Hi Sally,
As a resident of NYC, I can tell you first hand how badly we are losing the fight for a healthy weight and life style. It is disheartening to see school children, just off the bus or train, pop into a fast food restaurant for a 1,200 calorie after-school "snack." Too often, their dinners will be more of the same. No wonder the city councilman from inner city neighborhoods are tempted to support this proposal. It is well intentioned, but forbidding foods rarely if ever works. Indeed for teenagers, it increases its attractiveness. We would be better served if we put our money and energy into education, similar to the anti-smoking ads so often seen on NYC TV stations. We need to teach children and adults to make better choices, not be the food patrol.
Sally Squires: You make some good points. It will take a concerted effort on many fronts to change things. So if I read you correctly, that's one vote for the proposed measure to ban trans fat and one against. Thanks for weighing in.
Clinton, Md.: Are baked potatoes high in calories?
Sally Squires: Not really -- unless you slather it with butter or sour cream. A potato that is two inches by about 5 inches has 145 calories. That includes three grams of protein, by the way, and a pretty good slug of vitamin C.
Chicago: I have never technically been overweight, but joined Weight Watchers in April to lose about 20 pounds. When my husband (who was slightly overweight) saw the results, he decided to follow the program himself. It took no prodding on my part -- a perfect case for leading by example! He has also lost about 20 pounds and several pants sizes.
Also, count me as a NO for the trans fat ban. I think it's a ridiculous Band-Aid measure targeting one substance that is only partially responsible, if at all, for the obesity crisis.
Sally Squires: Perfect example of the ripple effect! Together, you are 40 pounds lighter. Very impressive. And the tally is now two votes to one for that trans fat proposal in NYC. Thanks for weighing in.
San Diego: If fast food restaurants really wanted to improve their image, they would eliminate the trans fat in their food willingly, without waiting for local health departments to pass ordinances. After all, I can purchase fries, chicken nuggets, etc., from the grocery store that have no trans fat. I stopped taking my kids out for fast food months ago after explaining that trans fat is poison (language that a 6-year-old can understand) and they don't miss it at all.
Sally Squires: Okay, that evens the votes. Thanks for weighing in San Diego.
Arlington, Va.: Sally, I think you answered a question about poles with an answer about shoes. I think he's talking about walking sticks.
Sally Squires: Yep. You're (sadly) correct. Don't know how my eyes read walking shoes instead of walking stick. But there it is. As for the sticks, I better ask here which kind this LPCer means. If it's the traditional kind, you can also find them at various prices. (My husband and his family swear by these.) If it's the kind that look like ski poles without the skis, they are a little pricier, but they will give you some upper body workouts while you walk. I see a number of people using them in my neighborhood. I've tried them once -- and they seemed fine -- just weren't my cup of tea. But they're kind of hard to use while walking the dog!
Moonbat, Richmond, Va.: Recommendations on lowering cholesterol through diet? Especially quick and easy breakfasts and lunches on the run?
Sally Squires: You bet! Start with oatmeal, which can be made the night before, put into a container and popped in the microwave wherever you are going. (Or put in a thermos to keep hot.) But that's just for starters. David Jenkins at the University of Toronto has developed a diet plan that contains cholesterol-lowering foods. Paul Williams, our producer, has found a link to a Lean Plate Club column on this very topic. I'll post. It should give you a lot to munch on! Enjoy.
washingtonpost.com: Portfolio Diet: Tough to Stay Invested In (Post, March 21, 2006)
Sally Squires: Here you go!
New Orleans: My (now ex-) wife and I traveled frequently on business, each often going in different directions on the globe. On one of her extended trips, I suggested we shed some pounds, and she agreed.
Since we were both in locales of poor or expensive communications, we didn't discuss the issue at all. A few months later, we met again at her project. I had lost 40 pounds, she had not lost any. That was the beginning of the end. Rather than a congratulations, I was encouraged to undo my success.
Lessons learned: communicate often if you must diet at a distance; be supportive of a spouse's success, even if you are not as successful.
Sally Squires: Congratulations on those 40 pounds, but very sorry about the end of your marriage. Thanks much for chiming in.
Nay to the ban: I would have to say nay to the ban of trans fats. There should be a limit to the amount of legislating concerning personal choices -- especially where food is concerned. Of what nutritional value is candy corn? I say the restaurants should have the nutritional value of their food available but I don't care to see it on the menu. Sometimes you just want to throw caution to the wind and have a nice meal with butter and gravy. If it is staring you in the face you might not enjoy it and will feel guilty for eating it.
Sally Squires: All good points. We're now running 3 to 2 against the ban. But please double-check my math...Thanks!
Working at it in Arlington: My significant other is very dedicated to fitness and exercising, and has been his whole life. Me, not so much. We're both in our later 20s and while I'm not in bad shape (5-foot-4, 140 pounds, fairly strong), being healthy is an important issue for our relationship. I've recognized that committing to fitness is good for us, and it's good for me. What's really worked for us -- really brisk walks outside four or five times a week, for 35-45 minutes. I also found a weight routine that we can both do together two or three times a week. We eat healthy together -- lots of veggies and healthy meals. It's really helped me stay on course to have a motivator and partner. He's found that walking works him very differently than running and it's refreshing. Most men don't strength train their lower body so that has been good for him too. Sometimes it's frustrating that he's so in shape and any activity is easy for him, but he's willing to be my partner and do things at my level, while giving me a little push to do more. It's worked. I feel better than ever and really look forward to our time working out together. I would recommend to anybody that's struggling to find something you can do together and both enjoy, set up a schedule and stick to it.
Sally Squires: Couldn't have said it better myself, Arlington. Keep up the great regimen. Thanks for being an inspiration!
"Healthy" Competition: A group of us at work decided we all could use to lose a few pounds. We did our first weigh-in on a Monday and every Monday after that for eight weeks. For each pound you lost you put in 50 cents. For each pound you gained you put in a dollar. The person who lost the most weight at the end got the pot. It was very motivating and the competition really helped. Some people did try to sabotage the others by bringing in treats though...
Sally Squires: Oh, that's kind of nasty, isn't it?
But the idea of working together as an office is quite motivating. And let's face it, many of us spend more hours -- or at least equal hours -- at work as we do at home. Thanks for weighing in.
Dresher, Pa.: Looking for good-tasting, low-salt dinner recipes due to diet restrictions. Can you help?
Sally Squires: You've come to the right place, Dresher. We'll post a link in a minute to the online cookbook by the American Heart Association. The AHA also publishes "Low-Salt Cookbook: A Complete Guide to Reducing Sodium and Fat in Your Diet." It has plenty of low-sodium recipes.
Also, check out Dean Ornish's cookbooks. They're all low in sodium.
And you don't want to miss the DASH Diet -- an example of your tax dollars at work. DASH has been clinically proven to lower blood pressure with diet and exercise. We'll put up links in just a minute to that too.
Sally Squires: Here's one link for the Lean Plate Club member looking for help with blood pressure lowering.
Greek Yogurt Convert: Hey Lean Platers,
I have discovered the awesomeness of Greek strained yogurt. If you like sour cream, try subbing fat-free Greek yogurt (Total makes a good brand that is on sale at Whole Foods). I made a curry beef stew and added cilantro and Greek yogurt and it was delish. It would be a great tangy topping for baked potatoes or fajitas. It's super low calorie too!
Sally Squires: I am a huge fan of that yogurt too. In fact, I've got some in my lunch today, which I hope to eat with fresh raspberries and a few slivered almonds. Yum!
Total yogurt can be a bit pricey, however. So Trader Joe's now has its own brand of Greek yogurt. To my taste buds, it's not quite as good, but it's a whole lot cheaper and would certainly work in cooking. It comes in both full fat and nonfat versions.
Anybody else try this new product out there? We'd love to hear what you think.
Sally Squires: Here are the DASH recipes from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for lowering blood pressure. Enjoy!
Bethesda, Md.: Do you have any suggestions for safe, quick weight loss? I overindulged in the last 10 days, and have put on 2-3 pounds.
Sally Squires: Nope. Sorry. No quick fixes.
But...if you just over-indulged in the last 10 days, most of that weight is water retention. Go back to healthy habits. Drink plenty of fluids. Start moving more and the weight will drop off again. Good luck.
Charlotte, N.C.: My wife (and business partner) and I use a diet tracking software to record our food and exercise every day. Doing this together has been a big plus - when one of is is feeling a little lax, the other provides a nudge.
Just paying attention to diet quantities and quality, using the treadmill, and walking the dog, has us losing a pound and a half a week for the past four months.
Sally Squires: That's a great use of technology together. Bet your dog is loving these new habits too, right? Thanks for weighing in.
Oklahoma: I changed my eating habits in May of this year. My husband soon joined me when he was ready. We have lost a total of 100 pounds together. I love to cook and I am enjoying the challenge of coming up with new ideas and making some of our old favorites healthy. He helped by setting up a spreadsheet and data base for me. The data base consists of all the foods and ingredients we use and I can add new ones. I just have to copy and paste the food into the spreadsheet, input the amount and it calculates the fat, kcal, sodium, etc. I always hated to write down what I ate and calculate the calories. This has helped me stay focused and not get lazy. We also own a good digital scale. We are really enjoying the new lifestyle and are now starting a good exercise program. Thanks for the chat!
Sally Squires: You're quite welcome and thank you -- and your husband -- for the wonderful inspiration!
Washington D.C.: Hi Sally and LPCers: Today's LPC column raises an issue that is the opposite of the challenge in my house: my husband Jack Sprat has difficulty maintaining a healthy weight, whereas I have lost 45 pounds and intend to keep it off permanently. I'm trying to figure out ways to increase his calories without necessarily increasing mine. But how much grated cheese and chopped nuts can you sprinkle over a dinner plate?
His problem seems to be a complete lack of awareness of hunger, even when he hasn't eaten. So it's hard to motivate him with tempting snacks. His doctor is not worried about him, so maybe I should just leave him be. Thoughts?
Sally Squires: You've answered your own question. If he's in good health -- and his doctor is not concerned about his weight -- and your husband is happy with his weight, then let it go. By the way, congratulations on your very impressive 45 pound loss. That's wonderful.
Pittsburgh: I have a 4-year-old who goes through phases when she only eats bread and lollipops. At least the bread is whole wheat. We have lots of healthy food in our house and very little "junk food," but the odd birthday party contributes to a small candy jar. She used to eat spinach leaves dipped in raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I've been having problems getting her to eat other types of fresh greens. But, since there's no more bagged greens for us, we got a salad spinner. And, she looooves it. She made salad for the whole family and pretended to be my little bunny last night while eating hers. I guess we found her new toy.
Sally Squires: Sounds like it! (And thank goodness your family -- and many others -- dodged the recent spinach bullet.) Your message underscores how kids go through eating phases, both good and bad. But it sounds like you already have that figured out. Thanks for weighing in.
Gaithersburg, Md.: My fiance and I are dieting together. We are reading labels, trying to eat lower calorie food, and joined a gym with a pool. We try to exercise most days. We are encouraging each other to stay on track and the pounds are coming off.
Also, I think the idea of having every restaurant post their caloric info. is wonderful. I think the government is overstepping the bounds by requiring a low trans fat menu.
Sally Squires: Okay, so by my count that four against the trans fat proposal, two for it. (And congratulations to you and your fiance on getting married and the good habits! That's a great way to start a new life together.)
Winona, Minn.: My question is about salt? How much is too much? Sodium is listed on almost all packaged foods and it looks like so much. Example: 115 mg in a honey almond flax Kashi bar...it is 5 percent of your daily allowance, but it seems like a lot. Also, is there a minimum amount of salt a person needs? Can you go totally salt free or would you get sick? Thanks Sally.
Sally Squires: Estimates are that 80 percent of the sodium consumed in the U.S. comes from processed and restaurant food. So even if you take the salt shaker off the table, odds are that you're getting more than enough sodium daily.
Even the new lower sodium soups by Campbell's and Progresso have about 400 milligrams per serving (and more.) Since recommendations are to eat 2400 milligrams or less (for those 50 and younger) just 1,500 milligrams or less per day for those 50 and older, plus African-Americans and people who already have blood pressure issues, you can see that it's possible to reach those levels faster than you can shake a salt shaker. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)
Bottom line: low sodium -- except in the case of some medical problems -- is not likely to be a problem. One less thing to worry about!
Washington, D.C.: This is for "Trying for No. 2," who is having problems conceiving and was told that gaining 10 pounds might help. I am 5-foot-3 and probably about 115 pounds and also still occasionally breastfeeding my first child. I wanted her to know that I didn't start ovulating until I stopped breastfeeding almost completely. She might want to consider that instead of gaining 10 pounds.
Sally Squires: Yes. If she is still breastfeeding, that could indeed play a role. Thanks for weighing in.
Reston, Va.: I am confused about the difference between body fat and BMI. If I have a good BMI but am close to the "overweight" category for body fat, what does that exactly mean? Thanks!
Sally Squires: It does get confusing, doesn't it? Percentage of body tells you roughly how much your of what you're carrying around every day is, well, fat.
Body mass index uses a mathematical equation that takes into account your height and weight and delivers a number.
We'll post a link in a minute to an online BMI calculator.
In the meantime, here are the BMI ranges to pay attention to:
Obesity: BMI of 30 or greater
Remember that BMI is a screening tool. It gives you one data point. And there is some suggestion that there are ethnic and racial differences in BMI. We'll post a link for you to read more. Plus BMI doesn't take into account percentage of body fat. So some elite athletes may look overweight, when they're not. But most of us mere mortals don't fall into that category.
Sally Squires: Here's the link to calculate your BMI -- another example of your tax dollars at work!
Alexandria, Va.: I have been on a plateau for two months! I've lost 40 pounds so far but I have a lot more to lose. I didn't expect such a long plateau so early. I have tried just about everything I can think of and have been recommended. I am eating different foods, more lean proteins, less sugar, I'm eating a lot of fiber, I changed up my exercises. What else is there? I'm afraid tonight's weigh-in will be more of the same. I'm not to the point of giving up; I know it could take two years to loose the weight the right way. But it is very depressing to hate getting on the scale when I'm working so hard.
Sally Squires: It is discouraging, isn't Alexandria? But as you already know, it is not uncommon. So what can you do? Make sure that you are not experiencing any calorie creep. So you might just re-double your efforts at weighing and measuring everything that passes your lips. At least for a few days or a week.
Try to get more active throughout the day. So even if you just get up and walk around the office for five minutes of every hour, you'll add some calorie burning. Do you wear a pedometer? It can sometimes be a motivator and reminder to move more. If you're not doing weigh training, that's something else to add.
And then if you can view this plateau as a way to hone your healthy habits, you will be ready for the day when you have reached your goal and you will be striving to maintain your healthy weight. The more practice you have at that --which is essentially what you are doing right now -- the better. So in a way, you're ahead of the curve, even if it doesn't seem like that right now!
Hang in there. Please let us know how it goes.
washingtonpost.com: One Number Doesn't Fit All (Post, July 5, 2005)
Sally Squires: Here's the other link for the Lean Plate Club column on ethnic and racial differences in BMI.
Couples WW: I joined Weight Watchers and told my boyfriend; a week later he said he'd do it with me. We turned it into a game/contest of who could stay within their points. It would have been much harder if he hadn't done it too, because we stopped ordering pizza and Chinese, filled the house with healthier choices and got excited when we found new things that were good and low points. The other great thing about it is that when you're slowly (healthily)losing weight, though your clothes fit a little differently and you see the scale numbers go down, it's really hard to look at yourself and see a big difference sometimes, but easier to see in other people, so we'd motivate each other that way. We also didn't pick on each other if one of us went overboard one day, didn't matter, just get back on track the next.
We still sort figure out maintenance points, still get excited about low point/healthy finds (which there are more and more every day!) and now are really into motivating each other to exercise. Usually one or the other of us is in the mood to go to the gym so we motivate the other one, and if we're both not, then we take that as a sign that we should take a break that day.
Having someone (significant other, friend, etc.) working on weight loss with you, I think makes SUCH a big difference because you can motivate each other when one is losing some! I'm so excited you wrote about this, because in our case I think having each other made all of the difference.
Sally Squires: Hear, hear! Thanks very much for weighing in.
Arlington, Va.: I need help with the other side of the couples equation -- one I'm sure many women especially are familiar with. I'm so happy in my relationship, and content with my boyfriend's positive attitude toward me and my physical appearance (regardless of what size I am!) that I've been overeating. And eating poorly. And matching him bite for bite when we're together. How do I motivate myself now? I don't WANT to gain weight, I know this mentally, but every time it comes time to eat/sleep in instead of exercising, I just kind of let myself do as I please... I don't know what to do, as I love this positive-self esteem I've gotten from him, but at the same time don't want to reap negative body benefits...thanks in advance!
Sally Squires: Sounds like you've found a great guy, Arlington. One who is worth his weight in gold. But you want to be around for him, don't you? And you want to be able to enjoy doing lots of things with him, don't you? As you already know well, putting on lots of weight reduces your odds of being around for him.
So...you start where everybody starts. One step at a time. One small change that you know you can do. Maybe it's eating an extra serving of veggies or fruit while he has something more fattening. Maybe it's walking with him. Maybe it's biking with him. Maybe it's getting another exercise partner to get you motivated. Whatever it is, you want to eat smart and move more, one meal at a time. Let us know how it goes.
Lancaster, Pa.: In my attempts to lose those pesky 10 pounds, I'm trying to cut more bread from my diet. I bring a sandwich to work each day. Would exchanging my bread for a tortilla wrap help cut down on what contributes to weight gain? Thanks very much.
Sally Squires: It's not the bread -- or the tortilla wrap -- that does it Lancaster. It's the total calories in versus total calories out. It's how much you move during the day. It's the total package -- not any one food. So look at the big picture, not at any one food. And let us know how it goes. Good luck with your efforts.
Lynchburg, Va.: I began a serious lifestyle change around two years ago to lose weight and improve my physical fitness, and have been relatively successful at it. I prepared regular meals, making sure that there were plenty of healthy items on the menu, and just ate less or none of certain foods that my husband still enjoyed eating -- primarily white starches, high-fat items and desserts.
After about one year into my "new lifestyle," my husband, who was more than a little out of shape himself, began to copy my diet and fitness activities. As a couple, we switched completely from white to whole-wheat breads, cut out high-fat foods and empty starches, switched to more salads with minimal or low-fat dressings and so forth. He also began a joining me in my daily walks. This should have been good news. My husband, however, is a very competitive person, and things quickly deteriorated into a "contest." I was content to walk a certain route daily, slowing trying to increase my speed, but not worrying about it. He, on the other hand, had to keep track of the time of every quarter mile, and constantly worked to improve the time, an effort I found onerous. The end result is that we no longer exercise together. He does his thing and I do mine, but we have lost the special togetherness of walking with each other.
We still continue to eat healthily and to share healthy meals together, but even that has moved into the contest realm (of the "I'm eating less than you are" variety -- it's very subtle, but it's there). My husband is the sweetest man in the world, but when there's a challenge presented, he becomes a competitive monster. My only recourse has been to concentrate solely on my own fitness goals and distance myself from his as much as possible. And yes, a little envy has crept into my feelings, because he has been able to lose weight so much more easily than I. I'm glad my husband has lost weight and improved his fitness, but it has come at a very high price, I think, in terms of our relationship.
Sally Squires: It sounds like it has indeed, Lynchburg. Any chance that you can address these issues directly with your husband? Maybe even show him the message that you posted if you feel comfortable doing that? In the meantime, continued success with your habits -- and in motivating your husband's changes. Please let us know how it goes.
Sally Squires: Thanks to all for a wonderful and wide-ranging chat. You all make my job very easy.
Winner today are: New Orleans; Lynchburg; Oklahoma; San Diego and Charlotte and Working at it in Arlington. If Dresher will contact me after that chat, I'll pass along another tip. Winners: please e-mail me at leanplateclub@washpost.com and please put winner in the subject line. Don't forget to include your name and address in the message. Thanks to all!
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online 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.
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Post health and nutrition writer Sally Squires talks about how to eat healthier.
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Mayoral candidate Adrian M. Fenty and interim Metro head Dan Tangherlini announced Monday that Tangherlini will become the District's city administrator if Fenty is elected mayor and that he is withdrawing his name as a candidate to head Metro.
Read More: Fenty Taps Metro Chief as D.C. Administrator ( Post, Oct. 2 )
Tangherlini was online Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss his departure from Metro and his jump into politics.
Dan Tangherlini: Thank you for joining me today. I look forward to your questions and comments.
Bowie, Md.: Do you feel like you let the Metro employees down? When you came aboard Metro, there was a lot of hype over you stopping by and visiting all the Metro locations while slapping backs and shaking hands. Those people actually felt like the tide was turning and things were going to get better. So much promise, and now, you're up and outta there before making any sort of impact.
Dan Tangherlini: I am going to start here because, frankly, this is the toughest question of the bunch -- so far. I didn't make this decision lightly. It is really a great opportunity to carry the spirit of employee/customer involvement to another level. However, I have been deeply impressed by the employees here at Metro. They have given me excellent suggestions and a lot of support. I feel terrible if my decision let anyone down, but I do think that my new position will help me to "make it up" by allowing me to influence WMATA from the jurisdictional sponsor side. Remember, the Mayor gets two appointees to the Board, and I plan to stay in close touch with them.
Arlington, Va.: Can you give us an update on when we will start seeing the newest rail cars on the line? Things seem to be a bit less crowded lately, but obviously the more cars we have in operation the better.
Dan Tangherlini: I just got off the first 6-car train comprised entirely of new (6000 series) railcars. They are smooth and quiet and the operator I spent some of the ride with in the cab LOVED it. We should have at least 50 by December, allowing us to get to nearly 20% 8-car trains and get rid of half of our 4-car trains. And there are more on the way...
Arlington, Va.: Congratulations! Moving from Metro, a regional organization, to be the next D.C. City Administrator, to what extent will you keep a regional perspective while performing your new duties? You have worked closely with the Greater Washington Board of Trade in the past. Will this continue? Best wishes on your new job but very sorry to see you leave Metro.
Dan Tangherlini: Absolutely. The only way this region can thrive is by working together. We compete nationally and globally. We need to stop competing against ourselves. I like to point out that if you want proof that this region can work together and achieve great things you need not go further than one of our 86 Monuments to Regional Cooperation - we call them Metro stations.
One of the great assets you brought to Metro was your ability to connect with the riders. They saw you as one of them. Will the Board be able to find a new manager with this quality? Does the Board even realize how inportant this is in a manager?
Dan Tangherlini: I think the Board recognizes those qualities as key to doing this job successfully.
Washington, D.C.: Lately, national economic trends are leading the housing sector downward because increased interest rates. The last similar period D.C. endured was in the early years of the Sharon Pratt Kelly administration, when D.C. tax revenues fell due to housing sector declines. How would a Fenty administration react to this situation if it reoccurs?
Dan Tangherlini: It's a good question, but I think the best way to react is to recognize it and take action as you see signs of softening.
Fairfax, Va.: Hi Dan. If anything, I think the Metro board let you down. It's a shame that your position got held hostage by inter-jurisdictional polictics. Metro lost out on a talented administrator that could have gone a long way toward restoring the financial stability it so needs. My questions is: what element or function of D.C. government do you most look forward to tackling as City Administrator?
Dan Tangherlini: I look forward to the whole project. Just as much as I have enjoyed this job.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Dan, This is Gabe Klein from Zipcar. First off, congratulations on the job. I think the city needs you. WMATA does too, but in my mind, some discipline, process and fiscal responsibility needs to be introduced to many of the city agencies urgently. I think your business viewpoint and focus on customer service for the residents will be a breath of fresh air.
My question though, is, how much did the WMATA funding issues, specifically the lack of funding and movement on that front in this years general assembly (Virginia specifically) contribute to your decision to make this move?
Dan Tangherlini: Not at all. I knew there would be funding issues coming in. If you read Zach Schragg's book, "The Great Society Subway" you would realize that the history of Metro is a history of funding problems! But it is a proud and significant history nonetheless. $10 billion in investment spawned $25 billion in development - a pretty darned good ROI.
Washington, D.C.: Mr. Tangherlini, thank you for doing this forum today. Will you bring the same open-mindedness and creative problem solving abilities to city governemnt? And more importantly, will you still listen to community concerns as you did while at Metro?
Dan Tangherlini: I hope to. Community involvement and customer involvement are the same thing and both serve anyone in a position of this sort extremely well.
Arlington, Va.: I applaud the improvements big and small you have made to Metro. I do hope before you go that you can figure out why tourists insist on using the "handicapped" lane only to enter and exit Metro.
Dan Tangherlini: I think its a nice big entrance, and so people unfamiliar with the system naturally shoot for it. I am interested in doing more to make our system more user friendly for the infrequent user. I think our roll-out yesterday of SmarTrip Only lanes is a step in the right direction for people who have places to get to quickly.
College Park, Md.: I know the newer Metro cars with fewer places for sitting passegers are popular in the city but for suburban riders who may have to stand for up to an hour they're a pain in the foot and legs; what do you say to somebody like me who simply cannot stand for that long on his way to work but who'd like to ride Metro rather than drive?
Dan Tangherlini: We want you to take Metro, but we also have to strike a balance between those who want seats and those who just want to get on. If you have a physical limitation that makes it necessary for you to sit during your trip, we do have the priority seating. Don't be shy about asking someone for a seat. I've found Metro riders to generally be considerate - if approached.
Washington, D.C.: Congratulations on your new position. I realize you are leaving Metro, but I have a question about Metro. On the WP transit chats and from customer service complaints, Metro is aware of many complaints that appear that they could be cheaply and easily addressed: putting up signs when the second in a series of escalators is out of service; having buses pull to the curb when space is available; putting up no smoking signs (and removing ashtrays from non-smoking areas); having clear, accurate announcements (I don't know what 'service disruption' means -- just say EXACTLY what the issue is); better communication; and did I mention better communication? Yet these have not been addressed. Did you attempt to address these during your tenure? Why haven't they been addressed?
Dan Tangherlini: I believe we have been working on many of these suggestions, but there is plenty of work that needs to be done. I believe the creation of the Riders' Advisory Council is a major ste p forward toward making the system more accountable, responsive and user friendly.
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: From your experience as interim Metro head, what do you think is the likelihood or necessity that the Blue and Yellow Lines through the District will eventually need to be run on separate track systems? Are there any feasibility studies on Metro's drawing board looking at such a possibility?
Dan Tangherlini: Hmmm. The blue and yellow lines DO run on separate track systems in the District. Actually, we are exploring separating every other blue line train from the orange line at peak and running them, instead, on the yellow line. It's called the Blue Line split and will be discussed with the Board in the next few months, so stay tuned.
Silver Spring, Md.: On a number of occasions I have noticed the customer ahead of me touching their SmarTrip card against the reader, and receiving a "touch SmarTrip card again" message, or a "see station manager" message. But becuase the gate opens, they don't notice, and move on through. Do they get stopped on the other end?
Dan Tangherlini: Employee cards create that reading. Otherwise, they may or may not depending on what happened. I think it's a fair rule that if the gate opens, you can go.
Washington, D.C.: When will metro open up wireless phone service to all, or more, providers?
Delighted you will be the new city administrator. I think Bob Bobb did a great job and I hope you follow in his footsteps.
Dan Tangherlini: We are working on getting all the providers in right now. I think that is a very important issue. But we also want to make sure we get the technology right, so it works.
As for Mr. Bobb's footsteps, I don't HAVE cowboy boots! But I think he makes an excellent role model. If the boots help, I'll get some.
Fairfax, Va.: Since you going to the District government is contingent on Fenty winning, why mention it now and let the news out? Does it give the appearance of getting votes for Fenty because of your good rep? So is it all a political move? Why not just sit on it and not say anything until and if Fenty wins?
Dan Tangherlini: I wanted to make sure that the Board could make a decision on the search candidates with all the information.
Washington, D.C.: Just wanted to tell you what a difference you had made in your brief tenure as interim chief. I remember when a major incident happened on one of the lines in the a.m., you were online at noon taking questions.
That said, is the Board still going to enact some of your suggestions, better customer service and accountability, and music inside stations?
Thanks, and the Metro will miss you.
Dan Tangherlini: I think the Board shares all those interests. For the most part I was simply moving forward their agenda, the agenda of our riders (and the RAC) and the ideas of our employees. I believe that will continue.
Orange Line Rider: Dan, please tell me there won't be any single-tracking when the extensions to Tysons, Dulles and other places are done! With all that room and Metro's vast experience with the horrors of single-tracking, there's no excuse for that to be the case now. I can't fathom sitting for two hours in Herndon because of a single-tracking issue Tyson's Corner. There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever not to allow each train to run on its own line.
Dan Tangherlini: I can think of a few hundreds of millions of reasons. Look at the aerial versus tunnel debate.
Silver Spring, Md.: Why doesn't Metro have system maps on ALL platforms? At Silver Spring and Braddock Road, for two, once you go up the escalator you can't find a map or times or fares any more.
Dan Tangherlini: We are installing bus maps at every rail station - so that's an extra map for you. However, I will look into the two stations you mention.
D.C. Resident Traveler: Where are the bathrooms at Metro stations and do you have to be in an emergency situation in order to be able to use them? Are they at every station?
Dan Tangherlini: There are two stations where bathrooms are off-limits for safety and/or security reasons. The other 84 station bathrooms can be accessed by asking the station manager to let you in.
Chevy Chase: Mr. Tangherlini, I just wanted to comment on how smoothly Metro operated on Sunday! I went to the Nationals game with my Metro-phobic mother in tow, who had nightmares of hordes of sports fans crowding the system and whatnot. To my delight and her surprise, the trains ran smoothly, there were 8-car trains from RFK, and not once did we get stuck in a tunnel, which my mother is eternally grateful for. I hope that what you've instilled at Metro will carry over and even my mom will become a willing metro rider.
Dan Tangherlini: We welcome your mom to keep riding - in fact she may qualify for our elderly and disabled discounts. Check out our website: Metroopensdoors.com. I think she will find that our new low-floor buses are convenient too.
Dan Tangherlini: Thanks for joining in, I am going to take a look at all the questions I didn't answer. I'll admit I didn't really take on too many of the city questions - I am still the Metro Interim General Manager and the election hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, thanks for your continued support - and ridership - of Metro!
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online 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.
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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.
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New Leipzig School Provides a Study in Hype
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The New Leipzig School of painting is being billed as just about the biggest thing in art since oil paint began to come in tubes.
Ever since the movement's "discovery" in 2003, when Miami collectors Don and Mera Rubell went on a shopping spree in the former East German city, the New Leipzig School has been the talk of the art town.
Prices have soared. Where the Rubells buy, others are sure to follow. A painting by Neo Rauch, the senior member of the school, recently sold at auction for close to a million dollars. (You could get a Renaissance altarpiece for a tenth that money.)
"Life After Death," a touring show of the Rubells' Leipzig holdings, is on view at American University's museum at the Katzen Arts Center. Washingtonians now have a chance to see what this New Leipzig School's about.
They're likely to discover that it doesn't quite exist.
The New Leipzig School is not much of a school. There isn't any shared agenda among its artists or even much in common other than an education at the conservative Leipzig Art Academy. (One thing they do have in common is their male sex. The only Leipzig women on view at the Katzen are in the paintings. They're often nude.)
The Leipzigers work in media as varied as acrylics, charcoal and oil paint. Some favor a dry, crisp style, with perfectly smooth surfaces. Others shove thick paint around. Some like to show off the banal figurative skills they got by studying at an academy that once promoted socialist realism. Others seem to push back against those skills. One picture can have a big dose of surrealism, while its mate across the gallery goes for a moody, pregnant realism in a kind of updated Edward Hopper mode. Though all these artists make more-or-less figurative work -- as most other painters do today -- you wouldn't be surprised to find they'd come from all around the globe.
That "New" is a big problem, too. Sometimes they're not that far from paintings of the 1980s, the last time Germany produced a crop of market-pleasing, supposedly rebellious figurative painters. None of them would have looked much out of place over the past five or 10 years in any high-end New York gallery. The bright colors, aggressive brushwork and childlike distortions in a number of the Katzen pictures have analogues, for instance, in the canvases of Dana Schutz, a best-selling young star on the New York scene who had a painting in the last Corcoran Biennial. The generic anomie and surrealism lite that are in vogue among the Leipzigers is standard art-school fare. How many young artists don't feel that they're somehow out of sync with modern life and that they've spotted its melting clocks?
Even when the Leipzig paintings speak about the way that modernism failed to deliver the utopia it promised -- the common thread among them, if there is one -- it feels like one more cliche of contemporary art.
Matthias Weischer shows us a tidy working-class interior decorated in modern 1960s styles -- the Jetsons meet "The Honeymooners" -- and then uses messy paint to make it read as tawdry and pathetic. Instead of representing peeling wallpaper, it's Weischer's paint itself that's falling apart. His imagery must have particular resonance for an audience caught up in the aftermath of East Germany's spectacularly failed utopia. But modernism has had so many failures everywhere that noting them has become a standard device of postmodern art.
Leipziger Martin Kobe begins with what could be artists' renderings of the grooviest of 1960s architecture -- an office lobby, say, from "Austin Powers" or "The Avengers." He then pulls those slick renderings apart, so that walls don't meet with floors and beams seem suspended in midair. The art that results tips its hat to the current taste for midcentury design -- any Kobe would look great over a vintage Eames sofa -- while conveniently protesting that it's about the collapse of that same style. This, too, is a standard move in today's most fashionable painting: the combination of surrender to a stylish past and a superficial opposition to it.
There's certainly nothing especially wrong with any of these made-in-Leipzig paintings, and some bits are undoubtedly good. (I'm especially fond of how Weischer's paintings of interiors begin with blank walls, which he renders in an almost random smear of paint, then uses a crisper style to depict other pictures hanging on them -- a naked photographic centerfold, say, or a banal canvas of a Gothic church. It's as though, for Weischer, the world comes into sharpest focus when it's seen in a picture, at one remove.) But none of these Leipzig works are of such special note that they deserve to be shown or bought or talked about as some novel phenomenon.
And here's something really strange about the buzz around the New Leipzig School. For all the art world's constant Leipzig talk, more of it seems to be outing the movement as hype than spotlighting it as a genuine Next Thing. The interest feels more like it has been manufactured by a few powerful players than like something coming up from the grass roots -- grass roots now griping that they're being sold a bill of goods. Hackles are raised even higher when the show that is supposed to represent the new movement is drawn entirely from one powerful private collection, which stands to profit from the institutional exposure and imprimatur. (To avoid this conflict, major museums try to show only private collections that are on the way to joining the museums' own holdings; as part of an academic institution, a gallery such as the AU Museum might want to aim for this higher standard of independence.)
The holy grail of the art market -- and of many buyers and viewers of contemporary art -- is a new movement in painting that would, once and for all, disprove the rumors of the death of paint at the hands of photography and video and installation art. Painting is still the medium that sells, and there's a huge nostalgia out there for an era when it was clearly on top -- for a time when you could hang a hand-painted object on the wall and still be sure of being resolutely up to date. Hence "Life After Death" as the title of this show.
I'm convinced that there are too many smart painters out there for some fresh paradigm in painting not to spring up somewhere, someday. But Leipzig, now, hasn't turned out to be the place and time.
Life After Death: New Leipzig Paintings From the Rubell Family Collection runs through Oct. 29 at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Call 202-885-1300 or visit http://www.american.edu/museum .
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Son's Arrest in Death Of Father Puzzles Family
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Dail W. Brown Jr. seemed like a young man still searching for something in life and feeling increasingly unhappy that he had disappointed himself and so many others, family members said yesterday.
But his mother, Patti R. Brown, said her son, 35, did not seem capable of violence, let alone killing his father, which Fairfax County police have charged him with doing.
Yesterday, as the telephone and doorbell in the family's Vienna home rang with people calling to express condolences or to see how she and her daughter were doing, Patti Brown talked about her deep sorrow for her husband and empathy for her son, whom the family called D.J., and how they were struggling to answer the question that everyone seemed to ask: Why?
"I have been praying a lot, and God has a way of helping," Patti Brown said.
Her friend, Susan Quinn, who has known the Browns for more than 30 years, interjected: "I have to tell you, this is a typical, normal family. D.J. was a happy child. Dail was a great guy. This is . . . "
"Devastating," Patti Brown said, finishing her sentence.
The dismembered body of Dail W. Brown Sr., 64, a former top official in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was found inside a family car late Wednesday at the family's home on Carrhill Road. Police searched the premises after Patti Brown and her daughter, Bonnie, 30, discovered signs of a bloody struggle and both men missing.
Dail Brown Jr. was arrested Friday at a hotel outside Columbus, Ohio, after authorities secured a murder warrant. A search warrant affidavit filed yesterday by police in Fairfax Circuit Court said that when Patti Brown came home about 2 p.m. Wednesday, she found a handwritten note saying that its author -- signed "Dail" -- was going to Seattle for a possible job. She did not recognize the handwriting and was unaware of any travel plans. She told police that she had last seen her son and husband about 6:30 that morning.
About 6:30 p.m., Bonnie Brown arrived home and found what appeared to be bloodstains on the stairs leading from the family room to the basement, and the women summoned police, the affidavit says.
Investigators saw more bloodstains, including indications of an injury caused by a gunshot in the basement, and more stains in the garage, the affidavit says. They also smelled cleaning agents and observed that someone had tried to clean up the bloodstains.
Police said they recovered firearms, ammunition and cutting tools.
Although neither Patti Brown nor her daughter has been in contact with D.J. Brown since his arrest, each described him as a young man who seemed to be doing fine until he went to college and began a frustrating search for identity.
Quinn recalled how joyful the son had been to see his father dancing at the wedding of Quinn's daughter in 2001. No one, including D.J. Brown, expected his father, with one leg impaired since a childhood bout of polio, to get up and boogie. D.J. Brown made sure to get it all on film.
"He was so excited to see his dad dancing with me. You could see he was so happy. He said, 'This is worth everything,' to see his dad doing this," Quinn said. "None of this computes."
At James Madison High School, he had been a popular student who played league soccer for a team that traveled to England. He also played tennis and joined a Christian youth group.
After graduation in 1989, he attended Virginia Tech hoping to be an engineer, then transferred to the University of Arizona to study film. He returned to Virginia Tech, where he earned a degree in international studies. He served in the U.S. Marine Forces Reserve for a time, they said.
But something seemed to happen in Arizona, where he disappeared for a time and lost contact with his family. He returned in a bus that he planned to convert into a film studio and had a similar scheme for a property in Winchester. But nothing worked out, they said.
Both women said they hope that he receives help for his mental problems. And they believe his father would have felt the same way.
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Dail W. Brown Jr. seemed like a young man still searching for something in life and feeling increasingly unhappy that he had disappointed himself and so many others, family members said yesterday.
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Thriving Under the Microscope
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A week ago, amid a groundswell of support for Jason Campbell, quarterback Mark Brunell reeled off an NFL-record 22 straight completions to help secure the Washington Redskins' first victory of the season. On Sunday, nursing a sore elbow and facing one of the league's elite defenses, Brunell was even better.
He may have thrown a sloppy interception on his first attempt against Jacksonville, his former team and offseason home, but he did an about-face and led Washington to a 36-30 overtime win with a game-winning, 68-yard strike to Santana Moss. It was a familiar script for Brunell in this city, and the latest fairy-tale comeback from a player many believed was fit for retirement when Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs acquired him in 2004.
A year ago, Brunell was seemingly playing for his career after losing his starting job midway through 2004. He performed at a Pro Bowl level much of 2005, but was injured and ineffective in the playoffs and, like the entire offense, had a feeble start this season. Now, yet again, scrutiny becomes him, with Brunell's Week 3 performance in Houston perhaps his latest rebirth. He has a 122.7 passer rating in Washington's consecutive wins, with the offense compiling 976 total yards in two weeks.
"When you get later in your career, everyone doubts you, whether you're too old, whether you can't do it no more," Moss said. "All I have seen since Day One is a guy who goes out, goes to work, don't say much, don't complain much, and he's the guy. And until he's not the guy, then you can say what you want about him. But he's our guy, and I'm always sticking to his side, because I know that without him we wouldn't be the Redskins offense that we are."
For all of the accuracy and efficiency Brunell displayed against Houston, the performance came against a porous defense. Associate head coach Al Saunders called a preponderance of screen passes and quick slants near the line of scrimmage that did not tax Brunell's arm. The Redskins pointed to the game against Jacksonville as a true test for Brunell, and the matchup against his former team was particularly emotional for the Redskins quarterback.
He responded with possibly his best outing as a Redskin. It was the first time Brunell threw for 300 yards or more in a Washington win -- there was no padding of stats with the game out of reach -- and every pass was crucial to the outcome. Brunell completed passes of 19 yards or more to five teammates after Washington struggled to mount any such gains in the opening weeks, and his 117.2 passer rating was his best in any game in which he had attempted at least 30 passes since early in the 1998 season. Over Brunell's final 29 attempts after the interception, he posted a 135.6 rating and tossed three touchdowns to Moss.
"After the pick, he was on the sidelines saying, 'Let's go, we've got to score, we've got to put up points,' " tailback Clinton Portis said. "And we went out and did that."
After two weeks, Brunell ranked dead last among starting quarterbacks in some areas; now he is 10th among current starters in passer rating and eighth in third-down passer rating. Sunday was a synthesis of his Redskins career, with all that Gibbs prizes most in him -- experience, leadership, moxie -- rising to the fore. He threw the initial interception, completed just 8 of 16 passes in the first half, then went 10 for 14 for 202 yards in the second half and overtime.
"That's a credit to him and the kind of person he is," Gibbs said. "I think he continues to fight all the time. He doesn't seem to let criticism or anything else bother him, which is part of being a good quarterback. If you can't deal with that, chances are you're going to have a tough time dealing with everything else that comes from playing quarterback."
Brunell had thrown six straight incompletions on third-down passes by the midpoint of the third quarter, then located tight end Chris Cooley for a first down on third and nine, hit wide receiver Brandon Lloyd down the sideline for 33 yards on third and six, and the Redskins completed that drive by going ahead, 20-17.
On the ensuing possession, Brunell completed an eight-yard touchdown pass to Moss on third down for a 27-17 lead in the fourth quarter.
"I've done that so many times in my career, start with an interception," Brunell said. "I've been doing this a long time, and sometimes in the first series you throw one and have a turnover, but you can't let it bother you. You go out and keep fighting and don't lose confidence and just keep things going, and we were fortunate to have a good night."
Brunell was playing with several stitches in the elbow on his throwing arm after suffering a deep laceration against Houston, and only returned to practice Friday. He wore a bulky pad but eventually got used to it -- Brunell expects to wear it again Sunday against the New York Giants -- and it certainly did not hinder his delivery on the final throw of the game, when anything other than a big-league fastball would have likely resulted in an interception or Moss absorbing a crushing hit from two converging defensive backs.
"Mark put it on a rope," Moss said. "I made a comment that his arm looked like it was really rested come Friday of last week, and I'm glad it was, because he put it in there and all I could do was just make a play out of it."
The ending left Brunell unable to reconnect with his many friends on Jacksonville's sideline, but before the game he shook hands with the team's owner and exchanged pleasantries with trainers and the equipment staff. A few moments after that final throw, Brunell was one of a group of players leaping into the crowd behind the end zone. He was stuck in a precarious headlock at one point, but wiggled free.
"It was pretty ugly in there," Brunell said. "I'm going to find that fan, too. He wouldn't let me go. I couldn't even breathe because I ran down the whole field, but it was pretty fun."
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Info on Washington Redskins including the 2005 NFL Preview. Get the latest game schedule and statistics for the Redskins. Follow the Washington Redskins under the direction of Coach Joe Gibbs.
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Personal Ad Uncovers Story of Romance and Death
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KALISPELL, Mont. -- Teenage lovers from Canada, they were flying south to elope and begin new lives in the United States.
Their plan was to ditch a small, rented Cessna in a remote lake here in the Flathead Valley of northwest Montana. They had packed a rubber dinghy and extra clothes in watertight bags, along with about $20,000 in cash.
Dianne Babcock, 18, of Vancouver, B.C., sank with the plane to the bottom of Bitterroot Lake. When sheriff's deputies fished her out of 244 feet of water, she still had her seat belt on. That was 24 years ago.
Jaroslaw "Jerry" Ambrozuk, 19 in 1982, fled with his extra clothes and the money, which had been withdrawn from the young woman's savings account in Vancouver, according to Flathead County Sheriff James R. Dupont.
And Ambrozuk stayed vanished -- even after charges of negligent homicide were filed against him, even after being featured on two episodes of "America's Most Wanted."
Until late August. That's when police in Plano, Tex., a wealthy Dallas suburb, arrested him at his home. There was a $70,000 Dodge Viper in his driveway and a swimming pool in his back yard.
He had found his way to Texas just a few days after the plane sank in Montana. For 23 years, he had used a generic American name, Michael Lee Smith.
He was single. For the past six years, he had been living in Plano on a wide residential street that one neighbor described to reporters as resembling Wisteria Lane in "Desperate Housewives," with big houses, big cars and young moms at home. He reportedly ran a company out of his home that designed computers for racing cars.
Smith told police his real name was Ambrozuk and asked for a lawyer. Late last month, a Montana deputy sheriff fetched him back to Kalispell, where he is being held without bail. He is due in court on Thursday to enter a plea on the negligent-homicide charge.
A personal ad on Yahoo, it seems, did him in.
"A couple of things about me: I am honest and don't cheat or play games," Ambrozuk, a.k.a. Smith, wrote in a man-seeking-woman ad that was posted until late August. He listed his age as 34 in the ad, although he is 43. "I also believe that there are people that you come across in your life that are very special, but there are very few of them that you can call 'soul-mates.' "
A woman who remains anonymous read the ad and met the man who wrote it. He told her his real name and his real date of birth. She Googled him and found a year-old online story from the Daily Inter Lake, a newspaper here in Flathead County, about the mystery of the girl at the bottom of the lake and the boy who vanished. She telephoned Dupont in Kalispell on Aug. 28.
"She was very legitimate sounding and knew things that only Jerry could have known," said Dupont, 59, who intends to retire at the end of this year and whose career had been vexed by his long hunt for Ambrozuk. Within two days, Plano police had Ambrozuk in handcuffs.
As a deputy sheriff, Dupont was at Bitterroot Lake when Babcock was pulled up. She was pretty, with long brown hair, he recalled, and the cold, deep water had preserved her beauty. Her seat belt was fastened, its buckle turned inside out, but it was not jammed. He easily unsnapped it. Her collarbone had been fractured, but he said there was no indication -- her fingernails were unbroken, her hands unscratched -- that she had panicked and fought to try to unsnap the belt. An autopsy found that she had drowned; it also found signs of a recent abortion, Dupont said.
"He managed to get himself out, but he didn't manage to get her out," Dupont said. "Why did he run, and why has he been missing for 24 years? What deep, dark secret does he have that he doesn't want anybody to know?"
Answers to those questions may emerge as Ambrozuk deals with the felony charge of negligent homicide. Conviction could result in a 10-year prison term. He also faces federal charges of having a fraudulent U.S. passport.
Ambrozuk, who immigrated to Canada from Poland at 12, did try to explain the death of his girlfriend to at least one person. In the weeks between the crash and the discovery of her body, he placed several calls -- from Montana, from New York and from Dallas -- to a friend in Vancouver.
That friend notified the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and when the last call came in, from Dallas, on Sept. 11, 1982, it was recorded. The rambling 71-page transcript suggests that Ambrozuk, a novice pilot, had made a hash of the landing in Bitterroot Lake.
Flying into Montana from British Columbia on a "pitch dark" night, he was using instruments, dodging canyons and could not see the lake before the plane hit water and flipped over, he said. "I am not sure which way I came out," said Ambrozuk, but he said that within three or four seconds he was free of his seat belt and outside the aircraft, which began to sink.
His girlfriend was upside down in her seat, and "she said she could not take the belt off," he said. He said he could not save her before the plane went under.
He did not mention in that phone conversation how he managed to get his baggage and the money out of a fast-sinking plane.
More than anything, those are the questions Dupont wants answered -- along with why the 19-year-old ran away to Texas, changed his name and stayed gone until police knocked on his door.
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KALISPELL, Mont. -- Teenage lovers from Canada, they were flying south to elope and begin new lives in the United States.
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Border Fence Called Impractical
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Building a fence in an attempt to secure the U.S. border with Mexico is impractical and would simply lead illegal immigrants to cross elsewhere, according to former U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and other experts.
And the Mexican government agreed in a diplomatic note sent yesterday to the U.S. government, warning that the fence would damage relations between the two countries.
The Senate voted Friday to build about 700 miles of double-layered fence with access roads, lighting, cameras and sensors, to try to block five heavily used crossing points along the 2,000-mile border.
The plan, which awaits President Bush's signature, includes a sweep of fencing along most of the Arizona border, where about half of the almost 1.2 million people arrested crossing from Mexico last year were caught.
The fence would also stretch through parts of California, New Mexico and Texas.
Former U.S. customs agents who have hunted drug traffickers in the mountains and deserts near the Arizona border said the new barrier would be defeated by the rugged terrain.
"You can't build a wall across the mountains of southern Arizona, as much of the terrain is inaccessible even on foot," veteran agent Lee Morgan said as he stood along the proposed route of the fence, east of Douglas.
The barrier would have to traverse the rugged Huachuca Mountains and other craggy ranges west of Nogales, Ariz., which are marked by bluffs and ravines that make them inaccessible to vehicle traffic, Morgan noted.
Another former customs special agent said the fencing would also struggle to bridge hundreds of creek beds spanning the Arizona-Sonora border, which are prone to flash floods from May to October.
Republican backers of the proposal contend it is necessary to prevent entry to the United States by illegal immigrants and extremists, and to prevent smuggling of weapons and drugs.
Mexican President Vicente Fox, who leaves office Dec. 1, has called the barrier "shameful" and compared it to the Berlin Wall. His spokesman yesterday urged Bush to veto the bill.
"This decision hurts bilateral relations, goes against the spirit of cooperation needed to guarantee security on the common border, creates a climate of tension in border communities," Ruben Aguilar told reporters.
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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.
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Lawyers for Detainees Challenge Bush Plan
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Attorneys for 25 men being held in Afghanistan have launched the first legal challenge of President Bush's plan for prosecuting and interrogating terrorism suspects.
Documents filed yesterday in federal district court here demand that the men be released or be charged and allowed to meet with attorneys. Such a filing, known as a habeas corpus petition, is prohibited under the legislation approved by Congress last week.
That bill says the military may detain enemy combatants indefinitely and, if officials choose to bring charges, the cases will be heard before a military commission, not a civilian judge.
Bush has not signed the bill but expects to do so soon. Supporters say it is a necessary tool in the war on terrorism.
Yesterday's filing initiates what is likely to be a drawn-out legal fight similar to the one over detainees at a U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Detainees there have dozens of petitions pending.
In civilian courts, the government is required to tell people why they are being held and allow them access to attorneys. People accused of crimes are then afforded speedy trials before juries of their peers.
"With the move that Congress made, the capitulation it made to the president, those rights are in danger of being curtailed," said Vincent Warren, executive director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the petition.
The new law protects detainees from blatant abuses such as torture but does not require that they be granted legal counsel. It also allows prosecutors to use evidence, such as hearsay, that wouldn't be allowed in civilian courts.
Though the petition was filed before the bill was signed, the law was written retroactively, so a judge would have to strike down at least some of the law in order for the detainees represented by the center to prevail.
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, who, in a Guantanamo Bay case last year, ruled that Congress had authorized the president to order the detention of "enemy combatants" for the duration of the war on terror. Leon did not set a hearing date for the new case.
The detainees named in the case are being held at Bagram air base north of Kabul, according to court papers.
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Attorneys for 25 men being held in Afghanistan have launched the first legal challenge of President Bush's plan for prosecuting and interrogating terrorism suspects.
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Outside Groups Shoveling Cash Into Tight Races
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As the race for control of Congress turns toward its final sprint to Election Day, independent organizations with ideological or commercial stakes in the outcome are pouring record amounts of money into the closest contests -- in some cases eclipsing the spending of the candidates themselves.
In Ohio, Rep. Deborah Pryce, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, was attacked by nearly $1 million in negative commercials this summer. But her Democratic opponent, Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, did not pay for any of them.
They were bankrolled instead by trial lawyers, labor unions and the liberal group MoveOn.org. In fact, outside groups appear to have spent more in that period than Pryce and Kilroy combined, a pattern that is being duplicated in some of the most competitive campaigns across the country.
Politically active groups on both the left and the right are shelling out dollars faster than in any previous midterm election and focusing them intensely on the races that are up for grabs. Even with five weeks to go in the campaign, the $34 million in "independent expenditures" so far is nearly double the amount spent in the entire 2002 midterm election, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.com.
This year's figure includes spending by the parties' House and Senate campaign committees, which unlike in 2002 are no longer allowed to coordinate directly with candidates for major ad buys, and by the "527" groups that emerged after an overhaul of funding laws that year.
Independent spending by political organizations -- such as the George Soros-funded liberal group America Coming Together and the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which took aim at Democratic nominee John F. Kerry's Vietnam War record -- was a defining force in the 2004 presidential campaign. What's notable this time, with control of Congress and many governorships at stake, is how such spending has migrated to elections for lesser offices.
During the 2004 election, Democrats seemed to benefit most from independent spending. Now the balance appears to be tilting rightward: America Coming Together and its companion group, the Media Fund, are largely shuttered. Meanwhile, a leading backer of the Swift Boat group, Texas developer Bob J. Perry, has donated $5 million focusing on top GOP target races.
But in Maryland, as in some other places, Democrats are still benefiting. The Maryland Fund, a 527 led by several national Democratic operatives with ties to the state, started airing television and radio ads last week critical of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who is being challenged by Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D). The ads seek to link Ehrlich to President Bush, whose approval ratings lag behind the governor's in the state.
Stephen R. Weissman, associate director for policy at the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, predicted that "in some key races, this outsider spending will be decisive."
Expenditures by outside interest groups have ballooned largely in reaction to the 2002 law banning "soft money," the uncapped contributions that previously filled the coffers of both political parties. Once those unlimited donations were outlawed for the parties, lobby groups started handing out the big money.
In Hawaii, for example, the National Association of Realtors spent more than $600,000 in support of Rep. Ed Case, who lost the recent Democratic primary for the Senate to the incumbent, Daniel K. Akaka. The Realtors' eye-popping gift -- the group's largest ever in a primary -- nearly matched the entire amount raised by Case. "Mr. Case has a really strong record supporting issues important to Realtors," a spokeswoman for the group explained. "We decided to go all out."
MoveOn.org has also spared little expense. The liberal group's political action committee has laid out $3.5 million on commercials attacking GOP candidates in six congressional districts. It spent $465,000 against veteran Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.) in late spring and summer, while her Democratic opponent, Chris Murphy, doled out $181,000. MoveOn.org also expended $245,000 against Rep. Chris Chocola (R-Ind.) during the same period, while Joe Donnelly, his opponent, spent roughly half that amount.
Organizations, sometimes with mysterious origins, are cropping up everywhere and spending massively in the toughest races. A group called Softer Voices is boosting Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) with an expenditure of nearly $700,000. A group called Campaign Money Watch is attacking Pryce and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) with $200,000.
Labor unions are betting especially big. The AFL-CIO alone is helping Democratic candidates with a $40 million get-out-the-vote effort, its largest ever during an off-year election. Labor's nemesis, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is devoting an equal sum to elections this autumn and is concentrating on efforts to bring voters to the polls.
One of the Democrats' leading architects of the independent-spending movement, former White House aide Harold Ickes, recently started what he calls the September Fund. Erik Smith, the fund's president, said, "There was a belief by those of us who organized this that one side of the argument -- the Bush administration and its allies -- would have a lot more resources than the other." But he added: "We're not going to make up the shortfall."
To help Democratic candidates, the September Fund intends to raise at least $10 million and buy ads that criticize Bush. But several Republican-leaning groups have already purchased millions of dollars of airtime supporting Bush's policies and, by inference, GOP candidates. They also have money available to buy even more commercials, and they plan to do so.
These groups include Progress for America, a major player in 2004 that has been on the air this year in Ohio and Missouri, states in which incumbent Republican senators Mike DeWine and James M. Talent, respectively, are in tough fights to keep their jobs. Another, the California-based Economic Freedom Fund, has spent more than $700,000 opposing Democratic Reps. Leonard L. Boswell (Iowa), Alan B. Mollohan (W.Va.) and Jim Marshall (Ga.), three members of a small circle of Democrats at any risk of losing their seats this fall. The fund was boosted by a $5 million gift from Perry.
The intervention of outside groups, especially at high levels, can be a mixed blessing. Maureen O'Brien Donovan, spokeswoman for Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.), asserted that MoveOn.org's commercials against her boss have backfired. "Its intervention and its volunteers aren't from here, and that's well known to the general public," she said. "People who have lived here all their lives find those types of things suspect."
At the same time, candidates cannot control the groups' messages or their delivery, which sometimes causes voter confusion. "Nobody knows who these guys are, and voters have no way of judging their interests or their donors," said George Rasley, Pryce's spokesman.
In addition, the independent efforts are sometimes heavy-handed and irritate the voters they are supposed to attract. The Chocola campaign, for instance, received complaints from voters who were annoyed by automated phone calls they had received from an outside group that was supporting his reelection.
The number of independent organizations, some of them anonymous, has multiplied. On the left, a patchwork of innocuous-sounding organizations has sprouted, including Majority Action, which wants to unseat 10 to 15 Republican congressmen, and America Votes, which is trying to prevent Democratic-leaning groups from duplicating one another's work. Large sums are flowing from these and more established groups. Emily's List, which helps female, pro-abortion-rights Democrats, expects to spend about $10 million this year, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a labor union, anticipates spending $22 million.
On the right, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to allocate $20 million to help federal candidates and another $20 million for state and local races. The American Medical Association is also a serious player. It recently reported $307,125 spent in support of GOP Rep. Johnson in Connecticut.
The generally pro-Republican Business Industry Political Action Committee has a more elaborate scheme. By using companies' electronic communications systems, it has delivered 40 million messages to employees urging them to cast their ballots for pro-business candidates. It has also helped a million citizens register to vote and another million apply for early voting forms.
All of these efforts are sure to make a difference. "When you have the ability to spend one to three million dollars down the stretch in a particular House or Senate race, that kind of spending can really drive the election," said Michael E. Toner, chairman of the Federal Election Commission. "That can decide who wins or loses on Election Day."
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As the race for control of Congress turns toward its final sprint to Election Day, independent organizations with ideological or commercial stakes in the outcome are pouring record amounts of money into the closest contests -- in some cases eclipsing the spending of the candidates themselves.
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At the Head of Some Classes, Desks Dismissed
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Years ago, in a classroom that had chalk, blackboards and students seated in neat rows, teacher Lee Dorman had a desk of her own. But she found herself constantly roaming to oversee projects and answer questions. She never used the desk, so she got rid of it
"I just never figured out how on earth to teach sitting down," said Dorman, 58, a veteran teacher at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington County. She calls herself "a walker and a stalker." She carries what she needs in her pockets and keeps students in what she considers a useful state of alertness because they are never quite sure where she is going to be.
Here and there, a small but growing number of teachers is following Dorman's example, educators say, abandoning the traditional classroom power center. To them, a desk is really a ball and chain, distancing them from students.
"You're always moving around. I think you need a desk or something," a student complained to Aaronthomas Green, a middle school science teacher who works without a desk in Los Angeles. Green said he took the remark as a compliment.
With the new emphasis on raising achievement for all students, many teachers say they have to stay mobile to make sure they are reaching everyone in their classroom.
The no-desk movement seems to have had little visible impact on schools so far. David Horn, director of marketing communications for the School Outfitters Web site, said he saw no sign of teacher desk sales falling off. There appears to be no research on how many instructors have abandoned their desks and, in a field replete with specialist groups, there apparently are no declared associations of deskless teachers.
Judy Fedinick, a deskless third-grade teacher at St. Anne's Day School in Annapolis, joked about the need for more outreach. "Maybe we could travel like Doctors Without Borders to other countries and educate them on the value of eliminating the desk," she said.
Still, success stories among deskless teachers appear to have influenced plans for some charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently operated. Deskless teachers are more common in such schools because the schools themselves tend to encourage experimentation. Some charter school principals have banned teacher desks from classrooms and placed teacher workstations in group offices to facilitate lesson planning.
A pioneer of the movement is Rafe Esquith, who teaches at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles. He is nationally known for turning inner-city fifth-graders into Shakespearean actors. His small classroom is devoted to play rehearsals and other projects. Esquith said he discovered 20 years ago that he wasn't using his desk anymore.
"So one day we just left it outside," he said. "Like everything else at Hobart, it was gone by morning."
At the KIPP Aspire Academy in San Antonio, Director Mark Larson decided that none of his teachers would have desks when the charter middle school opened three years ago. Math teacher and assistant director Joyce Boubel said, "All the teachers work in one large room, thus allowing much more time for collaboration. When we are doing our planning, we are within shouting distance of all the other teachers to find out how we could integrate our lessons."
Ian Guidera, a founding teacher and associate director of the KIPP Academy of Opportunity public charter school in Los Angeles, said he ditched his desk because it seemed at odds with his image of what he should be doing. "I was either sitting with a group, teaching at a board, conferencing with a student or doing everything a teacher should do -- which is certainly not sitting at a desk when students are in the room," he said. The mental picture of a sedentary teacher "kind of makes me nauseous, actually," he said.
Green, who works at the same school, said he lost the need for a desk in his first year of teaching. Because he shared a room with another teacher, he kept his materials on a little table with wheels and sat on a nearby chair. But the table was needed for science demonstrations, and the chair was given to a new student. He abandoned the idea of a desk, he said, and "never looked back."
One of the most prominent no-desk advocates is Jason Kamras, the 2005 National Teacher of the Year. When he arrived at Sousa Middle School in the District 10 years ago, Kamras put his desk in a corner and used it only to grade papers. Then he moved to a different room and was able to redesign its layout. He removed the desk and installed file cabinets for documents and tables for lesson materials. Students, too, used tables rather than desks.
"Whenever I needed to sit down to grade, have a conference or plan, I would use one of the student tables," he said.
Kamras said he has seen many excellent teachers who have desks. What matters most, he said, is how teachers use them. "Does the teacher sit at it all day?" he asked. "Is it the central element in the room?"
If teachers wish to create "a less hierarchical, less traditional, more interactive and informal environment," education author Alfie Kohn said, one way to reach that goal is to shove desks "over to the side and [use] them more to store things than to sit behind."
At Kenmore Middle, Dorman moved into a new classroom two years ago. It had a desk. Her principal refused to let her get rid of it. So Dorman did exactly what Kohn suggested. She shoved the thing into a corner and uses it as a dumping ground.
"There comes a time when I am not sure if there might not be a student on my desk, covered with papers and junk mail," Dorman said. She said she makes sure nothing alive is trapped under the debris, tries to tidy up a bit and then returns to pacing the room, happy that she has no comfortable desk and chair to tempt her to slow down.
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Years ago, in a classroom that had chalk, blackboards and students seated in neat rows, teacher Lee Dorman had a desk of her own. But she found herself constantly roaming to oversee projects and answer questions. She never used the desk, so she got rid of it
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Bible-Reading Student Gets Lesson in Litigation
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Amber Mangum was a frequent reader during lunch breaks at her Prince George's County middle school, silently soaking up the adventures of Harry Potter and other tales in the spare minutes before afternoon classes. The habit was never viewed as a problem -- not, a lawsuit alleges, until the book she was reading was the Bible.
A vice principal at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Laurel last month ordered Amber, then 12, to stop reading the Bible or face punishment, according to a lawsuit filed Friday by Amber's mother. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, alleges that the vice principal's actions violated the girl's civil rights.
"Amber's a new Christian, and she's trying to learn all she can," said Maryann Mangum, the girl's mother. "She reads her Bible and she goes to Sunday school. . . . It really upset me when she was not allowed to read it on her own time."
John White, a spokesman for the school system, said administrators learned of the lawsuit Friday and were not prepared to comment on its claims. "We're just beginning to look into it," he said.
Mangum said her daughter was reading her Bible on Sept. 14 when Vice Principal Jeanetta Rainey approached. According to Mangum and the lawsuit, Rainey told Amber that reading the Bible violated school policy and that she would face discipline if she continued to do so.
Later that day, Amber recounted the episode to Mangum, who is her adoptive mother and also her biological grandmother. James Baker, a family friend, sent a note to the school asking that the principal identify any policy barring students from reading the Bible during their free time.
The note quoted a section of the school system's administrative procedures, saying that students "may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray before tests to the same extent they may engage in comparable, non-disruptive activities."
The principal, Charoscar Coleman, did not respond, the lawsuit says. A friend at Mangum's church suggested that Mangum contact the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit legal organization specializing in cases that involve issues of religious and civil liberties.
The institute's president, John W. Whitehead, said yesterday that the law is clear and that Amber's rights were violated. He said the lawsuit does not specifically seek monetary damages but rather that a judge declare that students cannot be barred from reading the Bible during free time at school.
"This is a seventh-grader who's probably overwhelmed by what's going on around her," Whitehead said. "This is a chance for her to get some comfort during the day. . . . What would you rather have a kid doing, throwing spit wads or sitting there silently reading a few passages from the Bible?"
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Amber Mangum was a frequent reader during lunch breaks at her Prince George's County middle school, silently soaking up the adventures of Harry Potter and other tales in the spare minutes before afternoon classes. The habit was never viewed as a problem -- not, a lawsuit alleges, until the book she...
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Next Year, Anywhere But in Grim Baghdad
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BAGHDAD, Oct. 2 -- As the sun set on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar Monday night, the last rabbi in Baghdad sat down for his last Yom Kippur dinner in Iraq: a piece of cake and two glasses of milk.
Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, begins with fasting and ends with a celebratory feast. But there was, Emad Levy confessed, very little to celebrate this year.
Today, barely a dozen members of the 2,600-year-old Jewish community in Baghdad remain to observe Yom Kippur. Most are afraid to gather for holidays, and besides, they figure, how can one rejoice in a place like this?
Emad Levy sat alone in his home on Monday night picking at a dessert-as-dinner, with vicious sectarian killings serving as the background music to the holiday. He had just finished chanting the hopeful lines at the end of the Yom Kippur service, he recalled in a phone interview.
"May we be sealed," he sang plaintively in his bedroom, "for a good year in the book of life."
Levy knows his prayers for peace will not be fulfilled in Iraq. Although the bloodshed plunging this country into a civil war has mainly claimed the lives of Sunni Arabs and Shiite Muslims, no group is more terrified -- or a more vulnerable target -- than the tiny Jewish community.
The capital's only remaining synagogue, a pink and yellow building with no identifying marks, has been boarded up since it was denounced more than three years ago as "the place of the Zionists." Most Jews barely leave their homes at all for fear of being kidnapped or executed. And even Levy will not directly mention Israel on the telephone, just because he never knows who might be eavesdropping.
"It's like I'm living in a prison all the time," said Levy, who is 41. "I have no future here. I must go out to have a life for myself."
Even for the long-suffering Jewish people, exiled to Babylon in what is now central Iraq 26 centuries ago by Nebuchadnezzar, the current conflict here has become unbearable. Levy's family survived the increasing anti-Semitic attacks after the founding of Israel in 1948; the 1969 execution of about a dozen Jews accused of spying for the Jewish state; and incessant spying by Saddam Hussein's regime.
After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, though, Levy's father fled to Israel. Levy planned to leave, too, but remained in Iraq to take care of an ailing Jewish octogenarian with diabetes. Now the sick man is staying with friendly Kurds, and Levy plans to leave as soon as he can sell his house. He won't use a regular broker, who might defraud him or worse, so he waits for a friend to return to the country in the next few months to manage his affairs.
"We must be careful, and then God will bless us," Levy said.
In the meantime, he prays.
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BAGHDAD, Oct. 2 -- As the sun set on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar Monday night, the last rabbi in Baghdad sat down for his last Yom Kippur dinner in Iraq: a piece of cake and two glasses of milk.
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What's the Deal?
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· Pay for at least four nights at one of 13 Bermuda hotels and receive a Visa gift card worth $300 that can be spent at any Bermuda restaurant, shop, attraction or hotel that accepts Visa. Rates vary at the participating hotels (including Cambridge Beaches and Grotto Bay Beach Resort). Book by Oct. 27 and travel by Oct. 31; blackout dates Oct. 4-7. Deal based on double occupancy. Info: 800-BERMUDA, http://www.bermudatourism.com/ .
· Hotel Caesar Augustus, a luxury property on the Italian island of Capri, has 20 percent rate discounts during October for stays of at least two nights. Nightly rates now start at about $366 including taxes; usual rate starts at $457. Info: 800-448-8355, http://www.caesar-augustus.com/ .
· Stay for two nights at Zion Lodge in Utah's Zion National Park and get the second at 50 percent off, or stay for four nights and get half-price rates on the second and fourth nights. The "Awe-some Autumn" package applies to stays Nov. 1-21 . Regular room rates start at about $141 (plus 9 percent taxes). Info: 888-29-PARKS, http://www.zionlodge.com/ .
· Swan Hellenic, a Carnival Corp.-owned cruise line, will cease operations next spring and is offering U.S. travelers a special farewell fare. Balcony cabins on the "Blue Mountain Majesty" cruise Nov. 30-Dec. 14 have been discounted by 70 percent . Price for a balcony cabin on the 15-day Caribbean itinerary aboard the Minerva II is $2,499 per person double. Cruise departs Barbados and sails to New Orleans, with interim stops at six Caribbean Islands. Price includes all shore excursions, tips, entrance fees and taxes. Book at 877-800-SWAN. Cruise info: http://www.swanhellenic.com/ .
· Carnival has sale fares on four- and five-night cruises next spring from New York to Canada. Four-night cruise departing June 12 starts at $329 per person double plus $48 taxes (five-night cruise departing June 16 starts at $469, plus $55 taxes); usual fare for both starts at $899. Info: 888-CARNIVAL, http://www.carnival.com/ .
· Crystal has two-for-one fares on several Caribbean sailings aboard the Crystal Serenity this winter. Price on the seven-night Dec. 15 cruise, for example, starts at $1,965 per pe rson double (plus taxes and fuel surcharges of about $178). Info: 866-446-6625, http://www.crystalcruises.com/ .
· American has sale fares to 11 Caribbean islands and destinations in Mexico. For example, fly round trip from Reagan National to St. Kitts for $343 (plus $67 taxes); fare on other airlines starts at $564. Purchase by Oct. 11 and travel through Dec. 15. Blackout dates are Nov. 17-22 for departures and Nov. 24-27 for returns. Seven-day advance purchase is required. Buy at http://www.aa.com/ or pay $10 more by calling 800-433-7300.
· Fly from Washington to Tel Aviv for $775 round trip (plus $92 taxes). El Al has sale fares for travel Oct. 23-Dec. 31; deal not available for travel Dec. 17-24. Fare on other airlines is about $983. Buy no later than Oct. 19 at 800-223-6700. Airline info: http://www.elal.com/elal/english/states/usa .
· Central Holidays has winter specials to Italy. A four-night package to Rome, for example, including round-trip air on Lufthansa from Washington Dulles and lodging with breakfast at the three-star Hotel Veneto, is $539 per person double (plus $296 fuel surcharges and taxes ). Priced separately, air would cost about $687 each, and the hotel about $187 a night, for a total savings of about $452 per couple. Info: 800-539-7098, http://www.centralholidays.com/ .
· The French Government Tourist Office has teamed with TNT Vacations to offer a discounted one-week package to Martinique. Price from Reagan National with round-trip air on Delta, junior suite accommodations at the Karibea Resort Sainte Luce Hotel Amyris, breakfasts and transfers is about $2,484 per couple with taxes . Priced separately, the package would cost about $2,832 per couple. Book by Oct. 4, and travel Dec. 16-23 or Jan. 6-Feb. 3. Book at 888-GO-TNT-GO. Info: http://us.franceguide.com/ or http://www.tntvacations.com/TZ_Martinique.jsp .
Prices were verified and available on Thursday afternoon when the Travel section went to press. However, deals sell out quickly and are not guaranteed to be available. Restrictions such as day of travel, blackout dates and advance-purchase requirements sometimes apply.
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Snag deep discounts to a luxurious resort on the island of Capri, a winter package to Italy, flights to St. Kitts and more.Â
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A Backlash Against Bickering
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CONCORD, N.H. -- Republicans have been scratching their heads in frustration. Why has a relatively good economy not been helping either President Bush's approval ratings or their party's electoral cause?
One answer is that economic growth is helping people at the top far more than anyone else. Another explanation can be discovered here and in other well-functioning states around the country: To the extent that voters are expressing gratitude this year, they are saying thanks to their governors. That does not stop them from yelling irately at Washington, D.C.
Consider the latest WMUR Granite State Poll by the University of New Hampshire's Survey Center. Asked the classic question about whether "things in New Hampshire" were going in "the right direction" or were "seriously off on the wrong track," an astonishing 79 percent saw their state moving the right way; only 14 percent saw it on the wrong track.
But when asked exactly the same question about how their country was doing, according to findings released yesterday, only 34 percent of New Hampshire residents said "the right direction"; 56 percent said "the wrong track."
That is good news for Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat who leads his Republican opponent, Jim Coburn, by a margin of 69 to 14 percent in the latest survey. It is bad news for Bush, whose approval rating in New Hampshire is 36 percent.
Lynch is among a cadre of moderate Democratic governors around the country who find themselves in commanding positions -- even outside Democratic-trending New England. Among them: Kathleen Sebelius in Kansas, Dave Freudenthal in Wyoming, Janet Napolitano in Arizona and Brad Henry in Oklahoma.
For his part, Lynch can hardly utter a sentence without including the word "bipartisan." He prides himself on having worked well with a Republican legislature and speaks with amazement at how Washington has become a place of "ongoing partisan bickering."
It may be no accident that Lynch's ratings are high while Bush's are low. Nick Clemons, the executive director of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, sees voters here consciously contrasting the peaceable political kingdom their state has become with what's happening several hundred miles to the south. "Washington," he says, "is the foil for New Hampshire."
The success of Democratic governors such as Lynch (and, for that matter, of that rescripted and now-moderate Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger in California) also reflects a default by national Republicans on domestic issues.
The president's relentless focus on terrorism, combined with growing disenchantment with his Iraq policies, pushes voters to seek leadership from state and local politicians on issues such as education and health care.
Tom Rath, one of the state's most experienced Republican power brokers, loyally insists that Bush is still "personally" liked here. But Rath sees Iraq taking a huge toll on the president, partly because so many in New Hampshire's National Guard have served there and "the repetitious call-ups are disruptive to people's lives."
Rath recently announced his support for Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. His rationale is surprisingly similar to the explanations that Democrats give for the popularity of governors such as Lynch or Sebelius: Voters are in a mood for less "doctrinaire" politicians who can fix things.
Of the federal government, Rath said: "There's a feeling that this great big thing doesn't work very well." He said Republicans need to win back voters who feel they gave "the keys to the car" to their party only to have it driven "into the back of the garage." Rath sees Romney as the GOP's repairman.
If New Hampshire offers a model for a new wave of moderate Democrats, it is also a test case for how badly Bush -- and, now, the scandal surrounding former representative Mark Foley -- will wound incumbent Republican House members.
Politicians in both parties here see Rep. Jeb Bradley as having a substantial advantage over Carol Shea-Porter, an underfunded antiwar Democrat, and Rep. Charles Bass, to whom the words "nice guy" cling like a second title, leading his Democratic foe, Paul Hodes.
But Hodes, an indefatigable campaigner, has advertised heavily in an effort to demonstrate Bass's support for Bush's Iraq policies. The fact that Bass is stressing his "independence" and responded immediately with advertising of his own attacking Hodes on Iraq suggests that Republicans know how vulnerable the incumbent could become if Hodes succeeds in yoking Bass to Bush. In principle, Bradley could face the same problem.
The irony is that Bush has fostered a backlash against himself, against ideology and against partisanship that, as a former governor, he should have seen coming.
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To the extent that voters are expressing gratitude for an improving economy, they are saying thanks to their governors. That does not stop them from yelling irately at Washington, D.C.
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'Old Order' Culture of Amish Schools
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Amish schools, which are commonly small operations serving 25 to 35 students in a community, have generally been safe places without a history of violence, according to Donald Kraybill, a leading national scholar of Amish communities.
He recalled one or two cases of arson in Amish schools, but no shootings or hostage takings. The shooting at a school in the Nickel Mines farming community of Lancaster County, Pa., "is going to be a real shock to the Amish school system," he said. "I think this is really an aberration."
Kraybill, a senior fellow in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, has written numerous books on "Old Order" Amish, Mennonite and other communities in the United States.
Most Old Order Amish children are educated at schools only through the eighth grade. There have been controversies with states over how long Amish children have to stay in school. But in 1972, according to Kraybill, the U.S. Supreme Court gave its blessing to the eight-grade Amish school system.
As of 2001, Kraybill wrote, the Amish operated about 1,200 private schools for 32,000 Amish children. Many of the schools were one-room operations with 25 to 35 students, and one teacher for all eight grades. Teachers received about $25 to $35 a day.
Kraybill says there are about 150 one-room school houses in Lancaster County.
"The ethos of the classroom accents cooperative activity, obedience, respect, diligence, kindness and interest in the natural world," Kraybill wrote. "Little attention is given to independent thinking and critical analysis -- the esteemed values of public education. Despite the emphasis on order, playful pranks and giggles are commonplace. Schoolyard play during daily recess often involves softball or other homespun games.
"Amish schools exhibit a social continuity rarely found in public education. With many families sending several children to a school, teachers may relate to as few as a dozen parents. . . . Amish schools are unquestionably provincial by modern standards. Yet in a humane fashion they ably prepare Amish youth for meaningful lives in Amish society. . . . They reinforce Amish values and shield youth from contaminating ideas afloat in modern culture."
Bible reading and prayer open each school day, but religion isn't formally taught in the schools, Kraybill says. The curriculum includes reading, arithmetic, spelling, grammar, penmanship, history and some geography.
Classes are conducted in English, and both English and German are taught, Kraybill writes.
Among the things not in the schools, he says, that are schools outside Amish communities: Sex education, science, sports, dances, cafeterias clubs, bands, televisions, guidance counselors and college recruiters.
Kraybill speculated that the community in Nickel Mines in reacting to the shooting today will likely concentrate on the tragedy of those killed rather than answering questions -- among themselves or to throngs of reporters -- about the gunman.
While the Amish aren't known to carry handguns, they are no strangers to firearms. "They go hunting, there are guns around," Kraybill said. "Seeing a gun, at least a hunting rifle, is not an unusual thing."
While Amish are private about their Old Order customs, and don't like having their pictures taken, they are hardly separate from society. They do business with non-Amish, whether performing services such as installing kitchen cabinets or selling them quilts or other goods. And tourists regularly drive through their communities -- in Lancaster County and elsewhere, such as St. Mary's County in Southern Maryland. Still, all the media attention around the shooting certainly likely will annoy the Amish, he said.
"There's an enormous feeding-frenzy right now," Kraybill said from his office as the details of the shooting in Lancaster County was unfolding this afternoon. "It's going to be an enormous encroachment on the Amish community itself. . . . They feel like this is a tragedy here, yet they're being overwhelmed by these people coming in and taking their pictures."
While Kraybill likes to point out the apparent contradictions in the Old Order Amish lifestyles -- they will use other peoples phones, but not keep phone in their house, they'll take rides from non-Amish, but won't own cars -- he also admires the way Amish have been able to hold onto their values and traditions.
The total Amish population also has been growing -- generally their population in the United States doubles every 20 years.
In one of his books, "On the Backroad to Heaven," published in 2001, Kraybill estimated there were more than 180,000 Old Order Amish residents across 25 states and Ontario. The largest host states, in order, were Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Wisconsin. Maryland, with its settlements in St. Mary's County, placed 16th. Virginia placed 19th.
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Should He Stay? - washingtonpost.com
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After President Bush won reelection in 2004, White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. got out an 8 1/2 -by-11 spiral notebook, half an inch thick, with a blue cover. He called it his "hit-by-the-bus" book -- handy in case someone in the administration suddenly had to be replaced. He had intentionally used a student notebook, something he had bought himself, so it wouldn't be considered a government document or presidential record that might someday be opened to history. It was private and personal.
A second term traditionally leads to personnel changes. The question was whether one of them would involve Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Card had to approach the issue with delicacy. Iraq was the centerpiece of everything now, and the president was clearly predisposed not to do anything that would disrupt the war effort. If Rumsfeld left, what would the impact be on overall momentum and on the morale of those who were doing the fighting? Rumsfeld had a virtual monopoly on defense contacts with the president, so there was no way the president could get independent information to answer those kinds of questions.
The champions of change at the Defense Department included Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser who would soon be nominated to become the new secretary of state; her replacement as national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley; and Card himself.
Card had the names of 11 possible Rumsfeld replacements in his "hit-by-the-bus" book, among them Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), who had been Al Gore's vice presidential running mate in 2000 and was a staunch defender of the Iraq war, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
But Card thought the best replacement for Rumsfeld would be James A. Baker III, who had been White House chief of staff and Treasury secretary under President Ronald Reagan, then secretary of state and chief political adviser to the president's father.
Card floated the names to Bush over the course of several weeks, all the while underscoring the advantages of change. But his focus was on Baker.
"Mr. President, this is my quiet counsel," Card said. "Put a diplomat in the Defense Department."
The president seemed genuinely intrigued.
"You don't have to rush to make a decision," Card advised.
Card spoke with Rumsfeld, who talked as if he presumed there would be no change. One of Rumsfeld's minions told Card, "Nothing will happen until the war is over."
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This is the second of two articles adapted from the book "State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III" by Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster, New York, © 2006.
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White House Aides Take to Talk Shows to Dispute Book
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The White House intensified efforts yesterday to limit the political damage caused by a new book portraying the Bush administration as divided to the point of dysfunction over the war in Iraq, as top officials took to network talk shows to rebut the book's suggestion that President Bush has misled the nation about how dire the situation is there.
Counselor Dan Bartlett, a top aide to Bush, said that despite assertions in "State of Denial," by Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward, the president has been forthright with the public about the challenges in Iraq.
"What's interesting about this book is that he doesn't connect his own dots," Bartlett said of Woodward on ABC's "This Week." In fact, "he references throughout the book time after time after time where the president was being presented with the bad information, was pushing the internal process to make sure we were adapting to the enemy, and he was sharing this news with the American people."
Bartlett appeared on three network news shows as part of a larger administration effort to push back against criticism being generated by the book. It draws a portrait of Bush growing increasingly isolated in his determination to stay the course in Iraq while his inner circle rejects recommendations to change direction.
Five weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm elections, and days after the disclosure of a National Intelligence Estimate that concluded that the Iraq war has increased the global terrorism movement, Democrats have seized on the book's disclosures to underscore their position that the administration has clung to its strategy regardless of the facts it faces.
"I think there's an evidence-free zone in the White House and the top levels of the Pentagon," Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said on "Fox News Sunday."
The White House has issued long news releases disputing assertions made in the book, and current and former White House aides have taken to the airwaves to dispute or play down the significance of incidents reported in the book.
Bartlett took issue with the book's assertion that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was then national security adviser, failed to take action after then-CIA Director George J. Tenet warned her, during a meeting on July 10, 2001, of intelligence pointing toward an impending al-Qaeda attack. The book reports that Tenet and his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, left the meeting feeling brushed off.
The previously undisclosed meeting was not mentioned to members of the Sept. 11 commission, who did an exhaustive investigation of the events leading up to the deadliest terrorist attack in the nation's history. The White House acknowledges that the meeting occurred but disputes the book's depiction of it.
"I spoke to [Secretary Rice] this morning," Bartlett said. "She believes that this is a very grossly misaccurate characterization of the meeting they had."
Speaking on Fox News, former chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr., who is reported in the book to have suggested twice that Bush fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, acknowledged that he sat for long interviews with Woodward "more than a handful of times." He did not dispute that he recommended Rumsfeld's removal, although he added, "I did not start a campaign."
Card added that it is an "overstatement" to say that first lady Laura Bush joined any effort to oust Rumsfeld. The first lady's office has disputed the assertion.
Bartlett added that Rice proposed a turnover of Bush's national security team before his second term began, but that the president decided against making wholesale changes.
The book depicts Rumsfeld as a difficult and alienating figure. At one point, he would not return Rice's phone calls, Woodward reports. White House spokesman Tony Snow said Rice dismissed that assertion as "ridiculous."
Asked whether things were truly that bad, Card said on Fox: "Well, I would not describe that as bad. We are all human beings. There are Type A personalities running around in this government, and that's good. And sometimes a chief of staff or somebody else has to help bring people together to provide counsel to the president."
Despite the controversy that follows him, Rumsfeld continues to have the backing of Bush. "The president has full confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld," Bartlett said. He "is doing an enormously difficult job fighting a war. . . . We recognize he has his critics."
Traveling in Nicaragua yesterday, Rumsfeld said that he is not considering resigning and that the president had called him personally in recent days to express his continued support, the Associated Press reported.
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Latest politics news headlines from Washington DC. Follow 2006 elections,campaigns,Democrats,Republicans,political cartoons,opinions from The Washington Post. Features government policy,government tech,political analysis and reports.
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FBI Knew in July About Foley E-Mails to Teen
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The FBI acknowledged yesterday that it did not begin an investigation in late July after receiving copies of e-mails sent in 2005 by then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to a Louisiana teenager -- messages that troubled the boy's parents.
Key House Republicans learned of the e-mails in 2005 and chose to deal with Foley privately, warning him to cease contact with the 16-year-old former House page. Top aides to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) did not inform him about the incident, Hastert said yesterday, and he defended their actions in a Capitol Hill news conference.
VIDEO | House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Monday denied having knowledge of Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mail conversations with a former congressional page until last week. (AP)
But the GOP's handling of the Foley matter has rocked the party since it was revealed last week that Foley had sent far more sexually explicit electronic messages to teenage former pages in 2003 and 2004.
Many Democrats and some Republicans sharply criticized the decision by key House GOP members to handle the matter of the Louisiana e-mails so quietly that only one of the three lawmakers who oversee the page program knew anything about it. The other two -- one Democrat, one Republican -- expressed anger yesterday that they had been kept in the dark.
Also yesterday, ABC News posted on its Web site instant messages -- reportedly between Foley and another former House page -- in which the lawmaker repeatedly tried to set up a dinner date and indicated that the boy had spent time with him in San Diego. Previously disclosed messages had not indicated that Foley was trying to make personal contact with the boys, who had served as runners and helpers for a year in Washington.
Foley abruptly resigned Friday, and his attorney David Roth said yesterday that the six-term lawmaker is now at an alcohol-treatment center in Florida. In a statement faxed to news outlets Sunday night -- Foley's only public comments since his resignation -- he said: "I deeply regret and accept full responsibility for the harm I have caused."
Roth, interviewed last night on CNN, said that Foley is "absolutely, positively not a pedophile" and "has never, ever had an inappropriate sexual contact with a minor in his life." He said Foley wrote the e-mails "under the influence of alcohol" and was "suffering from mental illness."
Officials from the liberal-leaning group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said yesterday that they received copies of the Louisiana e-mails on July 21 and turned them over to the FBI the same day. Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director, said she spoke with a special agent in the Washington field office, and she questioned yesterday why the FBI did not investigate Foley weeks ago.
An FBI official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the field office concluded that the e-mails "did not rise to the level of criminal activity." The bureau announced Sunday that it would begin a preliminary investigation into Foley's more explicit electronic exchanges with teenagers.
Some House Republicans said yesterday that the FBI and House leaders erred in not considering the e-mails -- and the concern they raised among the recipient's parents -- as justification for an inquiry.
"This thing should have been looked into months ago," said Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.), who said he is "disgusted" by his leaders' response. "That's abnormal for a 52-year-old man having those kinds of e-mails going to a 16-year-old child."
In a written statement, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) said the Republican leadership needs to be shaken up. "If they knew or should have known the extent of this problem, they should not serve in leadership," he said.
Hastert, as the House's top officer and the man in line after the vice president to succeed the president, has been the main target of questions and barbs from both parties. He reiterated yesterday that he recalled hearing nothing about Foley's e-mails until last Friday, but he does not dispute the assertion of Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) that he informed the speaker last spring.
"If Reynolds told me, it was in a line of things, and we were in the middle of another crisis this spring, so I just don't remember that," Hastert told reporters. He defended the decision by several top staffers to handle the Foley matter without telling him. "I see no reason to bump it up to me at that time," he said.
Hastert noted that the 2005 e-mails to the Louisiana teenager were ambiguous. In one, Foley asked the boy to send a picture of himself, which reportedly alarmed the youth and his parents. Hastert agreed yesterday that an adult's request for a teenager's photo "would raise a red flag." But he said he would not second-guess his party's handling of the situation.
The boy's parents approached the office of Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) in late 2005, asking that Foley stop contacting their son and that the matter be kept quiet, according to House accounts.
Reynolds, who chairs his party's House campaign committee, and Majority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) were among prominent Republicans who also knew of the parents' concerns earlier this year. But the matter was left to Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), who chairs the House Page Board, and then-House clerk Jeff Trandahl, also a board member.
Shimkus has said that Foley assured them that the e-mails were innocent, and that they closed the discussion by telling him to respect pages and to cease contacting the Louisiana boy. Trandahl, now executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, did not return phone calls yesterday.
Hastert said that he and other House leaders knew nothing of the instant messages between Foley and former pages in 2003 and 2004, which, ABC has reported, were much more graphic and discussed topics including masturbation.
ABC reported yesterday that Foley used the screen name "Maf54" and wrote a former page: "I miss you lots since san diego," to which the teenager responded, "ya I cant wait til dc." The youth asked, "did you pick a night for dinner." Maf54 replied, "not yet . . . but likely Friday."
In another exchange, Maf54 wrote, "I want to see you." The teenager replied, "Like I said not til feb . . . then we will go to dinner." Maf54: "and then what happens?" Teenager: "we eat . . . we drink . . . who knows . . . hang out . . . late into the night." When Maf54 pressed further, the teenager wrote, "hmmm, I have the feeling that you are fishing here . . . im not sure what I would be comfortable with . . . well see."
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Shimkus's fellow Republican on the Page Board, said she knew nothing of Foley's electronic exchanges until last week.
"As a member of the Page Board -- and, more importantly, as a mother -- I am appalled by Mark Foley's despicable conduct," she said. "I deeply regret not being made aware of this situation as a member of the Page Board."
White House spokesman Tony Snow contributed to the political firestorm yesterday when he told CNN the scandal involved "simply naughty e-mails." Democrats assailed the comment, and Snow later called the messages "disturbing," "appalling" and "reprehensible."
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The FBI acknowledged yesterday that it did not begin an investigation in late July after receiving copies of e-mails sent in 2005 by then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to a Louisiana teenager -- messages that troubled the boy's parents.
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FBI to Examine Foley's E-Mails
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The FBI announced last night that it is looking into whether former representative Mark Foley (R-Fla.) broke federal law by sending inappropriate e-mails and instant messages to teenage House pages.
The announcement came hours after House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert asked for a Justice Department investigation into not only Foley's actions but also Congress's handling of the matter once it learned of the contacts.
In his letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Hastert (R-Ill.) acknowledged that some of Foley's most sexually explicit instant messages were sent to former House pages in 2003. That was two years before lawmakers say they learned of a more ambiguous 2005 e-mail that led only to a quiet warning to Foley to leave pages alone.
Foley, 52, abruptly resigned Friday, and Democrats have since been hammering Hastert and other GOP leaders. They have accused Republicans of covering up the matter and allowing Foley to remain as co-chair of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus instead of launching an inquiry and possibly uncovering the raunchier communications.
As the scandal broke, Hastert contended he learned of concerns about Foley only last week. But after Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) said Saturday that he had notified Hastert months ago of Foley's e-mails to a 16-year-old boy, the speaker did not dispute his colleague, and Hastert's office acknowledged that some aides knew last year that Foley had been ordered to cease contact with the youth.
Republican leaders continued to insist yesterday that it was understandable that the "over-friendly" Internet e-mails they had seen did not set off alarm bells. But one House GOP leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, conceded that Republicans had erred in not notifying the three-member, bipartisan panel that oversees the page system. Instead, they left it to the panel chairman, Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), to confront Foley.
Also yesterday, a former House page said that at a 2003 page reunion, he saw sexually suggestive e-mails Foley had sent to another former page. Patrick McDonald, 21, now a senior at Ohio State University, said he eventually learned of "three or four" pages from his 2001-2002 class who were sent such messages.
He said he remembered saying at the reunion, "If this gets out, it will destroy him."
House officials have already removed Foley's nameplate from his Cannon Office Building door and shut down his House Web site, while in Florida, GOP leaders prepared to meet at an Orlando airport hotel today to select a replacement candidate for the November election.
Foley has said nothing since announcing his resignation. Yesterday, a statement purportedly sent by Foley to news organizations, including The Washington Post, said he has entered an alcohol-treatment facility in Florida. The Post could not confirm the statement's authenticity, and none of Foley's former aides has responded to messages since his resignation.
In his letter to Gonzales, Hastert said Foley's electronic messages crossed state lines, so "there should be a complete investigation and prosecution of any federal laws that have been violated."
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko declined to elaborate on his announcement of the agency's investigation of Foley. A law enforcement official who requested anonymity so he could discuss an ongoing case said the probe will be handled by the FBI's Cyber Division, and could involve agents from the Washington or Miami field offices.
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Latest politics news headlines from Washington DC. Follow 2006 elections,campaigns,Democrats,Republicans,political cartoons,opinions from The Washington Post. Features government policy,government tech,political analysis and reports.
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Haynesworth Suspended Five Games
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PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 2 -- The NFL suspended Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth for five games without pay for Sunday's incident during the Titans' loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Nashville.
Haynesworth kicked Cowboys center Andre Gurode twice in the head, once after Gurode's helmet was knocked off, following a third-quarter play. Haynesworth was ejected from the game and received two 15-yard penalties, the second for throwing his helmet in anger as officials escorted him off the field.
There were conflicting versions about how much the suspension will cost Haynesworth. One NFL source said Haynesworth would lose about $470,000, or five-seventeenths of a $1.6 million salary. But Haynesworth's salary for the season is listed in players' union records as $646,251, meaning he would lose $190,073.
It is the stiffest penalty in NFL history for an on-field incident. The previous record, according to the league, was a two-game suspension levied on Green Bay Packers defensive end Charles Martin for body-slamming Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon in 1986.
"There is absolutely no place in the game, or anywhere else, for the inexcusable action that occurred in [Sunday's] Titans-Cowboys game," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.
Usually, disciplinary action resulting from on-field incidents comes later in the week. Ray Anderson, the NFL's senior vice president of football operations, attended the game, watching from the press box. He was on the phone with other league officials immediately after the incident. The league announced that the penalty was imposed by Gene Washington, the NFL's director of football operations.
The league announced that the suspension would begin immediately. NFL Players Association officials could not be reached to determine whether there would be an appeal.
A spokeswoman for the Davidson County district attorney general's office said that the office would consider possible charges against Haynesworth for the incident if Gurode wanted to file a complaint. "We're aware of the situation," the spokeswoman, Susan Niland, said by telephone. "If anything along those lines would come to pass, we would look at it. Independent of a victim's complaint, we would not pursue it independently."
No complaint had been filed in the case as of Monday afternoon, Niland said. Representatives of the district attorney's office and the Nashville police department reportedly contacted the Cowboys on Monday regarding the issue of whether charges will be filed against Haynesworth. A Cowboys spokesman said the team had no comment about possible charges stemming from the incident.
Haynesworth said after the game that he had disgraced himself, his team and the sport. Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said there was no excuse for Haynesworth's conduct.
Gurode, who received stitches in the locker room to close a gash on his head and returned to the Cowboys' sideline late in the game, said there had been no physical or verbal exchanges on the field to prompt Haynesworth's attack.
· SEAHAWKS: Seattle's charter plane made an unscheduled stop late Sunday to get medical care for Ray Rhodes, a special defensive assistant and former NFL head coach. The team said upon its return from a 37-6 loss at Chicago that the stop in Rapid City, S.D., for Rhodes was "precautionary" and was done on the advice of team physicians on board.
The exact nature of Rhodes's situation was not immediately disclosed.
· BUCCANEERS: Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms was released from St. Joseph's Hospital on Saturday, six days after undergoing surgery to remove a ruptured spleen.
· SCHEDULE CONCERNS: Minnesota will move its game against Detroit from Sunday to Monday night if the Twins and Athletics go to a fifth game in their first-round baseball playoff series. The Vikings-Lions game is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Metrodome, but Game 5 of the Twins-A's series also will be Sunday at the Metrodome.
News services contributed to this report.
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The NFL suspends Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth for five games Monday for stomping on the head of Dallas center Andre Gurode.
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Bush Backs Turkey's Entry to E.U.
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President Bush voiced support for Turkey's entry to the European Union yesterday after meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a long session that also focused on ways to counter extremism, instability in the Middle East and the continued violence in Iraq.
The meeting between the two leaders lasted nearly two hours -- almost an hour longer than scheduled -- and White House aides called this a reflection of Turkey's critical relationship with the United States.
"Our desire is . . . to help people who care about a peaceful future to reject radicalism and extremism," Bush said after the Oval Office meeting. "I made it very clear to the prime minister I think it's in the United States' interests that Turkey join the European Union."
Speaking through an interpreter, Erdogan thanked Bush for the endorsement, adding that "the United States is a strategic partner, a very important strategic partner for Turkey."
Last fall, the E.U. began talks with Turkey with the aim of having the country join the 25-member bloc. But those talks have gotten off to a rocky start, as the E.U. has pressured Turkey to cooperate in reaching a comprehensive settlement for the reunification of Cyprus and on rights for Turkey's Kurdish minority as conditions of membership.
Many European countries are experiencing a surge of anti-immigration sentiment, causing some anxiety around the prospect of admitting a 99 percent Muslim nation that has more than 70 million citizens, many of whom are poor by European standards. Membership in the E.U. can come with relaxed immigration rules.
Meanwhile, support for E.U. membership is beginning to wane among Turkish citizens, although a sizable majority still favor joining.
In an interview, Erdogan said the majority of Turks still view E.U. membership as something that would produce economic benefits and improve their quality of life. At the same time, he said, the European position on the Cyprus issue is causing a backlash against the idea of joining.
"At times, the statements made by the E.U. have a negative impact on Turkish public opinion," Erdogan said.
Cyprus, divided into ethnic Greek and Turkish zones since a 1974 invasion by Turkish troops, was admitted to the E.U. in 2004. Turkey refuses to deal with the Greek zone, which is administered by the island's internationally recognized government. Meanwhile, the Turkish zone, recognized only by Turkey, has been subjected to a widespread diplomatic and economic boycott.
When it came to terrorism, Bush and Erdogan did not explicitly mention the simmering tension caused by a paramilitary group that has been battling to establish an autonomous Kurdish region near the intersection of Turkey, Iraq and Iran for more than two decades. Fighters for the Kurdistan Workers' Party often cross into Turkey from northern Iraq to launch terrorist attacks, causing Turkey to complain that the United States should do more to clamp down on the group.
The United States has pledged its support in cracking down on the rebel group, but officials worry that a military offensive would alienate Iraqi Kurds, the group most supportive of the U.S. presence in Iraq. The United States and Turkey have designated envoys to work on a plan to resolve the situation, and in the interview, Erdogan said he is willing to let that process play itself out.
In his statements after his meeting with Bush and in the interview, Erdogan said he is committed to battling terrorism. But he scolded those who link the Muslim religion to the terrorism of al-Qaeda and other extremists who perpetrate violence in the name of Islam.
"The coinage of such terms as 'Islamic terrorism' or 'Islamo-fascism,' these have injured the Muslim people in the world, and it is best to avoid such characterizations," Erdogan said.
Asked whether he planned to communicate that to Bush, who frequently invokes such phrases in speeches, he said he has in the past. "In the same way as we consider anti-Semitism a crime against humanity," he said, "Islamo-phobia is also a crime against humanity."
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President Bush voiced support for Turkey's entry to the European Union yesterday after meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a long session that also focused on ways to counter extremism, instability in the Middle East and the continued violence in Iraq.
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Georgia Returns Four Russian Officers
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MOSCOW, Oct. 2 -- Georgia handed over four Russian military officers it arrested last week on espionage charges to an international mediator Monday, in a move to defuse tension with Russia that has been escalating since the men's detention five days ago.
"The message to Russia is: 'Enough is enough,' " Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told reporters in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, on Monday. "We want to have good relations. We want to have dialogue. But we cannot be treated as a second-rate back yard of some kind of emerging empire."
But Russia continued to escalate pressure on Georgia. It severed all transportation links with its southern neighbor, including commercial flights and train service, even though a deal was imminent. Officials also cut off all mail between the two countries.
It was unclear whether confirmation of the officers' release would lead Russian authorities to scale back the retaliatory measures.
For now, the bad blood generated by the affair appeared to linger and complicate other issues between the two countries, particularly the status of two breakaway regions inside Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which receive support from Russia.
Russian news agencies said President Bush called Putin on Monday to discuss Georgia, as well as Iran.
"As far as Georgia is concerned, the Russian side emphasized that any steps taken by third countries that could be interpreted by the Georgian leadership as encouragement of its destructive policy are unacceptable and threaten peace and stability in the region," the Russian presidential press service said in a statement on the conversation.
The four officers, handcuffed and wearing civilian clothes, were brought from jail by Georgian police officers. At a brief ceremony at the prosecutor's office, the four were handed over to the chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Karel De Gucht, who is the foreign minister of Belgium.
The four were then taken in an OSCE vehicle to the Tbilisi airport, where a Russian Emergencies Ministry plane had landed earlier Monday in anticipation of the release.
Two other Russian servicemen sought by Georgia left Russian military headquarters in Tbilisi and were taken to the airport by OSCE officials. The Russian plane took off for the 2 1/2 -hour flight to Moscow about 7 p.m. local time.
"Neighbors should be on good terms, and we hope Russia will lift the embargo against Georgia," De Gucht said after meeting with Saakashvili.
Russia has maintained a military presence in Georgia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and currently has about 4,000 troops at two bases and a headquarters. It is scheduled to withdraw all its forces by 2008. An additional 2,500 Russian troops serve as peacekeepers in the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Georgia had previously moved to prosecute the four officers, ordering them held in a pretrial detention center for two months. But Russian authorities, including President Vladimir Putin, reacted with open fury.
Some Georgians, while not expressing doubt that there was evidence of spying, wondered if Georgia had played into Russia's hand by prolonging the affair rather than immediately expelling the men.
"On the whole, it damages the prospect of any resolution of the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia," said George Khutsishvili, director of the International Center on Conflict and Negotiation in Tbilisi. "The government wanted to announce internationally that there is an uncompromising strong power in Georgia that will follow its own agenda. But the government could have prevented some of the negative outcomes, as I see it, if they had done earlier what they are doing today."
Georgian officials remained unapologetic and continued to insist that the Russian officers, who did not have diplomatic status, were involved in spying and had also recruited Georgian citizens to gather information about the country's cooperation with the NATO military alliance.
Saakashvili has steered the former Soviet republic away from Russia and is pressing for membership in NATO as well as closer ties with the European Union.
"We really did not want any scandal, and the release shows our goodwill -- that we really wanted to solve this," Nino Burdzhanadze, speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said in a telephone interview. "But they are not diplomats. It was an absolutely clear, legal and normal decision on our side to arrest them. Russian spies should know they will be put in jail."
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MOSCOW, Oct. 2 -- Georgia handed over four Russian military officers it arrested last week on espionage charges to an international mediator Monday, in a move to defuse tension with Russia that has been escalating since the men's detention five days ago.
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Here Comes the Bride
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On Tuesday, the Style Network premieres its fifth season of "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" -- just one in a trove of television shows about the Big Day. Oxygen and TLC also offer takes. And WE has an entire programming block -- "Wild Wedding Night" -- devoted to documenting the joys, trials and loss of rationality that often come with this (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Why so many wedding shows? Because viewers like them, says Steve Cheskin, WE's senior vice president of programming. "Everybody is interested in them," he says. "If you're married or if you're not married, you still care about wedding shows, because you've either gone through it, you know people who are going through it or you're looking forward to going through it -- all of those combinations."
Wedding shows and their surplus of information -- sometimes helpful, sometimes bizarre -- can be downright alarming. To help brides- and grooms-to-be searching for a little guidance or some comic relief from the stress of planning the Event of a Lifetime, here's a rundown on nuptial programs -- some new shows, others living only via repeats -- on the tube.
Bride vs. BrideWE, Times vary
Summary: Two bridal parties in full wedding attire battle through nuptial-themed games (Appetizer Obstacle Course, Toss the Bouquet) that often require diving into colored liquids to win cash and prizes. The ultimate goal is to find a ring inside a wedding cake the size of a compact car to win a honeymoon package. Interspersed throughout are mini-interviews with team members.
Typical quote: "He just always surprises me with romantic dinners. And he's romantic." -- Kristen, describing why fiance Ed is "the most romantic"
Bridal takeaways: Fake teriyaki sauce is easier to wash off silk organza than fake honey mustard dressing. . . . Ask your fiance to don a corset and pantyhose and risk never seeing him as "most romantic" again.
Summary: Cameras follow high-strung brides, like this one at right, as they wreak havoc on fiances, family members, clergy and random passersby in the days leading up to their weddings. Sobbing, plundering in SUVs and kicking furniture are par for the course. Three "Gayzilla" episodes will air this month.
Typical quote: "Will she become an over-spending, card-maxing, attention-grabbing, out-of-control BRIDEZILLA?" -- narrator Mindy Burbano Stearns
Bridal takeaways: If fake eyelashes go missing, perhaps it's not wise to castigate the family. . . . Just because your fiance wears a "Yes . . . You Look Fat" T-shirt doesn't mean he won't get his teeth whitened by a "celebrity" cosmetic dentist.
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On Tuesday, the Style Network premieres its fifth season of "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" -- just one in a trove of television shows about the Big Day. Oxygen and TLC also offer takes. And WE has an entire programming block -- "Wild Wedding Night" -- devoted to documenting the joys, trials and loss...
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The Right Man For Fox News
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NEW YORK -- Ten years after he created Fox News Channel, Roger Ailes says he still avoids mentioning his place of employment in certain circles.
"It's just not worth going through the hassle at an elite party," he says. And: "The only reason I know we're doing the right thing is that we're widely criticized." And: "I've never felt out of the mainstream in America. I've felt out of the mainstream at Le Cirque."
If the paunchy 66-year-old executive sounds as though he still harbors sharp resentments toward a liberal-leaning world, that bristling attitude is embedded in his network's genetic code as well. Ailes says he recently considered retiring but rejected the idea because, well, there are too many things that still tick him off.
Never mind that he got a big promotion last year, with owner Rupert Murdoch putting him in charge of Fox's local television stations as well as what has become the top-rated cable news channel. The onetime Republican operative remains acutely sensitive to any slights, pulling out of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences after Fox News was repeatedly shut out in Emmy nominations. Ailes wrote the academy head in 2002 that the award-winning stories were "those that reinforce the views and prejudices of your judges. . . . Earth to academy: your bias is showing."
Vanity Fair recently pegged Ailes as No. 44 on its New Establishment list, calling him "the most powerful news executive in America." But it also called him "the man who gives the Bush administration a major media outlet" and described Dick Cheney -- who demands that his hotel TVs be preset to Fox -- as his "big loyal friend."
"Vanity Fair is a left-wing rag," says Ailes, adding a moment later that its editor, Graydon Carter, is a friend. Ailes says the magazine's item is "just blatantly false" because he has met Cheney only a half-dozen times. Responds Carter: "Roger is the smartest guy in TV. Unfortunately, he's working for the wrong side."
The Cheney reference was based on the vice president's decision to grant his only interview after accidentally shooting a hunting companion to Fox's Brit Hume. Ailes says Hume asked all the necessary questions, and "the only thing he didn't do was be disrespectful to him, which is what the left wants."
The liberal view was crystallized last week when Bill Clinton unloaded on "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, who had pressed him about his record in fighting al-Qaeda. Clinton defended his tenure and accused Wallace of conducting "a nice little conservative hit job."
"I wouldn't want to be a waiter in a restaurant and bring him the wrong dish," Ailes says. "When you lean in and poke at journalists and try to intimidate them, it's a mistake."
While Fox remains No. 9 among all cable networks, some slippage in the ratings over the past year has Ailes concerned. For the last three months, Fox is down 28 percent from the same period last year, compared with declines of 21 percent for CNN and 12 percent for MSNBC.
Ailes responded with a recruitment ad that included such lines as "Can You Work Well With People Without Being a Territorial Jerk?" and "When You're Tired, Can You Keep Going Without Whining or Making Mistakes?" He also summoned executives to a 5 a.m. meeting to critique morning programming. "Sometimes we get ourselves thinking our job is to send memos to each other. I wanted to make them justify their paycheck."
Fox executives have been touting a proposed business channel, but Ailes has resisted the idea unless the new network can get distribution in at least 30 million homes. Fox has now cut a deal with YouTube to provide the Web site with video of "the craziest moments in news."
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NEW YORK -- Ten years after he created Fox News Channel, Roger Ailes says he still avoids mentioning his place of employment in certain circles. On Friday afternoon, a strategist for Rep. Mark Foley tried to cut a deal with ABC's Brian Ross. Linda Greenhouse, the New York Times' Supreme Court...
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Nats' Robinson Bids a Fond Farewell
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Frank Robinson first donned a major league uniform on April 17, 1956, a skinny 20-year-old rookie outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds. Among baseball men of a certain age and mien, the act of putting on that uniform is a cherished rite, never to be taken for granted. And late yesterday afternoon, in his dimly lit office beneath an empty stadium, nearly an hour after the Washington Nationals' second season in the nation's capital and Robinson's 51st in baseball had come to a close, he stood up at his desk behind a closed door and removed his uniform for the last time.
Anyone who has been in the public eye for more than half a century surely fears nothing more than being forgotten, and Robinson, who last week was let go as the Nationals' manager, need not worry. A Hall of Famer as a player, and the first black manager in major league history, Robinson was honored at RFK Stadium yesterday afternoon, a day in which the most touching moments were the ones that were the least scripted.
"It was everything and more than I thought it would be," Robinson, 71, said at the end of a long answer to a short question that could have been about the day, the two-year stint in Washington or the entire 51-season run as a baseball player, executive and manager. "It's been a good ride. It's been a good ride."
The Nationals' season-ending 6-2 loss to the playoff-bound New York Mets before a crowd of 29,044 -- a drama-less affair that contained scarcely a memorable moment itself -- began with a speech from Robinson near home plate and ended nearly three hours later with Nationals closer Chad Cordero, of all people, looking at a called strike three for the final out.
The loss, fittingly constructed on awful starting pitching and numerous failures in clutch situations, ended a season in which the Nationals went 71-91 -- a 10-game decline from their uplifting inaugural season in Washington -- and which saw them get new owners and break ground on a new stadium, developments that hopefully portend a better future, one that will go forward without Robinson.
"I don't want people feeling sorry for me," Robinson said when it was over, stressing his desire to remain involved in baseball, whether with the Nationals or elsewhere. "If they want to use me, my brain, my knowledge, whatever, then you might see me again."
Minutes before the scheduled first pitch, and with both teams on the top steps of their dugouts, everyone -- including Robinson and his family -- was treated to a video montage of his career, shown on the giant screen above right field. When it was over, Robinson moved slowly and gingerly to the microphone to address the crowd.
"I don't have any regrets about anything that has happened to me in this game," said Robinson, who did not prepare remarks, at the end of a gracious 10-minute speech in which he thanked the fans, his players and his family, and congratulated the Mets on their division title. "All I asked for was a chance, and I got that chance. . . . I've never done anything harder than what I have to do right now, and that's to say goodbye."
The crowd roared, and within seconds, Robinson was engulfed by players from both teams -- with the Mets, somewhat oddly, arriving first to embrace Robinson.
Earlier, in a pregame briefing with the media, Robinson said he expected to "put a little more value on each out, each play" as the game unfolded. "You try to remember what happened, just kind of take it all in."
Asked about his legacy, Robinson said: "It's really up to you all to say what my legacy is in baseball. All I know is I've been very fortunate to spend 51 years . . . "
And then he stopped, tears welling up in eyes. "I said I wasn't going to do this today," he muttered, slightly embarrassed at the display of emotion. Finally, he was able to continue: ". . . doing something I really love. There's not too many people [who] can say that."
Baseball is unique among America's major team sports in that it has no clock, yet as the shadows crept across the field yesterday afternoon, Robinson could feel the minutes and seconds ticking away. In the final innings, he spent the moments between innings tossing souvenir baseballs to the fans near the Nationals' dugout.
And when Cordero, forced to bat for himself in the bottom of the ninth because Robinson had run out of players, struck out to end the game, Nationals players streamed out of the dugout carrying hats, balls and bats, which they tossed into the stands. Each player also removed his jersey, to be presented as a gift to pre-selected fans.
But Robinson's uniform stayed on for quite some time -- even as he doffed his cap to the remaining fans, then took one last glance at the field and ducked into the tunnel.
"When you take off your uniform and put on a suit," Robinson had said earlier, "it's not the same."
His uniform -- bright red, "Nationals" on the front, "Robinson" on the back -- was still on when he addressed the media one final time.
"You retire when there is nothing else you want to do and you want to go home," he said. "But I don't. . . . I still think I have something to offer baseball itself. And as long as I feel that way and someone wants me around, I would like to be around the game and be involved. For anybody to understand what I'm saying right now [they] would have to be in this game for a while. It gets in your blood."
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Frank Robinson used the phrase "In closing ..." four times, yet kept speaking. Who could blame him?
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Unwarranted - washingtonpost.com
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You buy a $119 cordless phone system at Wal-Mart. As you're checking out, the cashier asks if you'd like to put another two years on the manufacturer's warranty. Cost: $29.
While consumer groups and common sense would urge you to resoundingly reject the offer, an entire industry has been built on the likelihood that you will act on impulse and say, "Yes."
Each year, millions of people gladly pay an additional 10 to 50 percent of a product's original price to extend a warranty. These snap purchases help fuel a booming, $15 billion-a-year business and feed a lucrative profit stream for retailers that sell the warranties and companies that underwrite them. Many consumers do so because they say the plans provide them with peace of mind.
The decision to buy an extended warranty, however, defies the recommendations of economists, consumer advocates and product quality experts, who all warn that the plans rarely benefit consumers and are nearly always a waste of money.
"The things make no rational sense," Harvard economist David Cutler said. "The implied probability that [a product] will break has to be substantially greater than the risk that you can't afford to fix it or replace it. If you're buying a $400 item, for the overwhelming number of consumers that level of spending is not a risk you need to insure under any circumstances."
Extended warranties, first introduced in high-pressure fashion by big electronics stores in the late 1980s, have become a core product sold by all kinds of retailers, covering everything from bicycles to wedding jewelry.
The warranties, often marketed as service plans, are technically insurance products on which the premiums are paid in a lump sum at time of purchase. Extended warranties generally lengthen the coverage provided by the manufacturer's own warranty on a product. The plans are backed by an insurance company that promises to repair or replace the covered item should it break or malfunction. While terms vary widely, the plans typically last from one to three years.
In terms of service, most warranty providers use third-party contractors to repair broken items, and consumers do not get to choose who performs a covered repair. Many policies do not cover accidents or normal wear and tear -- the most common causes of breakdowns in common household goods.
But most important, consumer advocates say, the vast majority of extended warranties are never used, simply because most products do not need a repair or, worse, the extended-warranty provider refuses to cover the repair or makes it such a hassle that it makes more sense to pay for it on your own.
"All you have to do is see how aggressively these things are sold at the point of sale," said Jean Ann Fox, director of consumer protection for the Consumer Federation of America, a District-based nonprofit association of 300 consumer groups. "It's not a good buy under most circumstances."
Many consumers who normally would resist the hard sell on the warranties occasionally give in. Adam Weiner, a 24-year-old computer engineer who lives in Arlington, last month bought a 37-inch Sharp LCD television for $1,644. He paid $450, or an additional 27 percent, for a five-year extended service warranty.
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You buy a $119 cordless phone system at Wal-Mart. As you're checking out, the cashier asks if you'd like to put another two years on the manufacturer's warranty. Cost: $29. Many consumers who normally would resist the hard sell on the warranties occasionally give in. Adam Weiner, a...
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Bright Idea of Tire Reef Now Simply a Blight
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Now the idea seems daft. But in the spring of 1972, the dumping of a million or so tires offshore here looked like ecological enlightenment.
From the scrap tires, artificial reefs would grow and fish would throng, or so it was thought. A flotilla of more than 100 private boats with volunteers turned out to help. A Goodyear blimp christened the site by dropping a gold-painted tire.
"A potential grouper haven," a county report opined. Artificial reefs made from tires "appear to be the next best thing to recycling."
What happened instead is a vast underwater dump -- a spectacular disaster spawned from good intentions. Today there are no reefs, no fishy throngs, just a lifeless underwater gloom of haphazardly dropped tires stretching across 35 acres of ocean bottom.
It's not just a matter of botched scenery. Because they can roll around, the tires are pounding against natural reefs nearby.
"It's depressing as hell," said Ken Banks, a reef specialist for Broward County, who recently explored the site. "We dove in and swam for what seemed like an hour and never came to the end of it. It just went on and on."
Robin Sherman, a professor at Nova Southeastern University, led a project a few years ago to retrieve some of the tires most directly damaging Fort Lauderdale's natural reefs.
Two months later, she dived in the area again.
"It was completely recovered with tires -- it was even hard to find where we had worked," she said. "That's when I realized we have to clean up the whole thing."
So, after years in which the site was studied and then neglected, officials here are planning to clean up the environmental experiment gone awry.
Coastal America, a partnership of federal agencies, state and local governments and private groups, is trying to organize a cleanup using military salvage teams that would use the tire retrieval as a training exercise. Once the divers pulled the tires up, they would be disposed of by the state at a cost of about $3 million to $5 million.
The scale of the project -- some say there are as many as 2 million tires below -- and the number of different specialties required had prevented previous bureaucratic efforts from going forward.
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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.
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DHS Reviews Claims Of Contract Conflicts
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The Homeland Security Department is reviewing whether managers with ties to Oak Ridge National Laboratory improperly influenced the decision to give $20 million to the laboratory since 2004 to help develop a list of the nation's top potential terrorist targets, according to DHS officials.
Officials are examining the roles played by two former Energy Department employees who were working for DHS as well as an Idaho National Laboratory employee who was on assignment to the department, said Undersecretary for Preparedness George W. Foresman.
Among Homeland Security's concerns is whether the men's relationships with the Energy Department inappropriately influenced funding decisions. There is little in the way of records to show how funding decisions were made, officials said.
The national labs are owned by the Energy Department and independently managed.
One of the staffers has been reassigned, nearly $40 million more destined for the lab has been placed on hold, and a team was sent Sept. 15 to Oak Ridge, Tenn., to scrutinize its work and determine whether to refocus its efforts, department officials said.
Foresman said the department is acting in an abundance of caution because of recent complaints by Congress and watchdog groups about potential conflicts of interest among DHS contractors awarding research to their home institutions. In June, the DHS inspector general issued a sharply critical review of the target list program.
"There is no indication of any type of misconduct, but this is very much about making sure in the context of everything that we're doing we reflect the highest ethical standards," Foresman said.
The department created the target list, formally known as the National Asset Database, in 2003 and named Oak Ridge to host it, with little or no paperwork. A Congressional Research Service report this month warned that the 77,000-item list remains incomplete and is of limited value.
The scrutiny comes during infighting over poor financial management and budget cuts at Homeland Security's infrastructure protection office, which oversees the database, and which Secretary Michael Chertoff recently reorganized. The unit has been criticized for being slow to complete priorities such as securing chemical plants, helping first responders prevent bomb attacks and finalizing industry plans to protect vital facilities.
At least twice in the past nine months, critics have warned of potential ethical lapses in how DHS awards research grants. Congressional auditors reported in December that such grants lacked adequate documentation and could pose conflicts of interest.
Short of staff after its troubled 2003 launch, DHS placed employees loaned by the national laboratories in charge of five of 16 research programs. Auditors found that in 2004, 23 percent of DHS's $761 million science and technology directorate's research budget went to national laboratories.
James F. McDonnell, former head of the DHS risk management division and one of the former Energy Department employees under scrutiny, said the actions he and others took "were perfectly appropriate."
The department faced an urgent need to identify targets and lacked the computer capacity to do the job, said McDonnell, a career officer in the Navy and now a senior fellow at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute. McDonnell said he approached Oak Ridge National Laboratory and asked "if they would take it on and we would fund them to do it, and they said, 'Sure.' "
DHS can award work to national labs as if they are part of the department, skipping formal contracting requirements, McDonnell said, and the lab produced high-quality classified work. But private vendors have long wanted a bigger share of federal research, Foresman said.
Frank H. Akers Jr., a retired Army brigadier general and Oak Ridge associate lab director for national security, said, "We have followed federal guidelines for securing these work contracts."
The shuffle comes amid tension at the department's infrastructure protection and information system's unit, headed by Assistant Secretary Robert B. Stephan since April 2005 and placed under Foresman last fall.
The Homeland Security inspector general in June castigated the division's slow progress at identifying critical facilities and producing a national plan to secure them despite two presidential security directives since 1998. The database has grown from 160 items in 2003 to nearly 80,000 today, but it contains such entries as petting zoos and popcorn stands, doughnut shops, small-town parades and rural bean festivals. DHS officials said the list is only a reference source for a more selective list of 600 critical assets.
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News about the U.S. military from The Washington Post and washingtonpost.com. Full coverage of defense budgets,Army,Navy,Air Force,Marines and the Pentagon.
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Iraqi Premier Offers Plan to Stop Violence
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The four-point plan, which emerged after talks between both sides, aims to resolve disputes by giving every party a voice in how security forces operate against violence on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.
Local committees will be formed in each Baghdad district -- made up of representatives of every party, religious and tribal leaders and security officials -- to consult on security efforts. A Sunni representative, for example, could raise a complaint if he thinks police are not pursuing a Shiite militia after an attack. A central committee, also comprising all the parties, will coordinate with the armed forces.
"We have taken the decision to end sectarian hatred once and for all," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said. "We have vowed before almighty God to stop the bloodshed."
In a possible boost to the effort to rein in the violence, a radical cleric who leads one of the most powerful Shiite militias, Moqtada al-Sadr, has ordered his followers to put aside their weapons temporarily, a Sadr spokesman said.
Maliki announced his plan hours after gunmen abducted 14 computer shop employees in a bold midday attack in downtown Baghdad, the second mass kidnapping in as many days.
The bodies of seven of the 24 captives seized Sunday at a frozen-meat factory were found dumped in southern Baghdad.
Sunni politicians blamed Shiite militias for both mass kidnappings and demanded the government take action.
Maliki is under increasing pressure to stop the violence, which has killed thousands since February. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad warned this week that Maliki must make progress within the next two months to avert a crisis.
But Maliki's administration has been plagued by growing mistrust between its Shiite and Sunni members, who each accuse the other of fueling the bloodshed.
When Maliki took office in May, he announced a 24-point reconciliation plan that laid out ways to tackle violence -- including an amnesty for militants who put down their weapons as well as security crackdowns. So far, the plan has done little to stem the daily killings.
Sunnis accuse the Shiite-led security forces of turning a blind eye to killing of Sunnis by Shiite militias -- some of which are linked to parties in the government. Sunnis have accused Maliki, a Shiite, of being hesitant to crack down on the militias.
Shiites, meanwhile, accused Sunni parties of links to terrorists after a bodyguard of a Sunni party leader, Adnan al-Dulaimi, was arrested by U.S. forces Friday and accused of plotting al-Qaeda bombings. Some Shiite politicians demanded a government reshuffle to push out Sunni parties.
The local committees aim to resolve these disputes.
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World news headlines from the Washington Post,including international news and opinion from Africa,North/South America,Asia,Europe and Middle East. Features include world weather,news in Spanish,interactive maps,daily Yomiuri and Iraq coverage.
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More Infant Deaths Found to Be Due to Premature Birth
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Scientists now say one-third of infant deaths are because of premature births -- a much larger percentage than previously thought.
In the past, "preterm birth" has been the listed cause of death in fewer than 20 percent of newborn fatalities. But that rate should be 34 percent or more, said researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That's because at least a dozen causes of newborn death are actually problems that go hand-in-hand with premature births, such as respiratory distress syndrome caused by underdeveloped lungs.
"This brings preterm birth, as a cause of death, to the kind of level that we think it deserves," said the CDC's Bill Callaghan, the lead author of a study appearing today in the journal Pediatrics.
The revised statistic might lead to greater efforts to counsel pregnant women about taking care of themselves and avoiding actions that can lead to preterm births -- such as smoking and drug use.
It also may help organizations lobbying for more research into why some women who follow medical advice still have preterm babies. The March of Dimes is advocating to expand federal research into preterm labor and delivery and the care and treatment of premature infants.
"Preterm birth" generally describes infants who are born before 37 weeks gestation, and the term is also used as an official cause of death. Two-thirds of infant deaths occur in children who were preterm, but their cause of death is often attributed to one of the several specific problems that can occur in preterm babies.
Callaghan and other researchers examined birth and death certificates for about 28,000 U.S. infants who died in 2002.
More than 4,600 of those were attributed only to preterm birth. But the researchers also grouped in thousands of other deaths that were attributed to preterm-related conditions, including respiratory distress syndrome, brain hemorrhage and maternal complications such as premature rupture of membranes.
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Scientists now say one-third of infant deaths are because of premature births -- a much larger percentage than previously thought.
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More Poor Results For Charter Schools; Janey to Intervene
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Only one of the D.C. Board of Education's 13 public charter school campuses reached academic targets in both reading and math, prompting Superintendent Clifford B. Janey yesterday to announce his intention to intervene and mandate remedial steps to improve scores.
Janey's proposal to introduce and oversee special programs at 42 troubled charter school campuses was immediately denounced by charter school advocates as illegal. They assert that the law authorizes the Board of Education and a second chartering agency -- not the superintendent -- to manage the publicly funded, independently run schools.
The plan could exacerbate a heated debate over whether the school board should relinquish its role of authorizing and monitoring charter schools. But Janey said so many schools had mediocre scores that drastic steps are needed.
Data released yesterday showed generally dismal results for charter school students. Only the Kamit Institute for Magnificent Achievers Public Charter School in Northwest Washington made adequate yearly progress in reading and math on the April assessment. The Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Northwest made adequate progress in reading. The 11 other campuses overseen by the school board made adequate progress in neither subject.
The results are similar to scores posted recently by the traditional public school system and schools under the second chartering agency, a shortfall some school officials attribute in part to a new, more rigorous exam. In the traditional system, 118 of 146 schools failed to make adequate progress, as did 30 of 34 campuses overseen by the D.C. Public Charter School Board.
Applicants for charter schools may seek authorization from either the Board of Education or the Charter School Board. The two boards monitor the schools they charter and can close those failing academically and financially.
Janey has authority over charter schools as chief state schools officer, a role typically held by a state school superintendent overseeing local school districts. He said he intends to introduce teacher training programs and quarterly assessments at the 42 troubled charter campuses overseen by both authorities. He also said he would monitor improvement plans drafted by principals and teachers and put one of the Board of Education charter schools on a year-round calendar.
"I want to get much more involved in the charter schools authorized by the Board of Education," Janey said in an interview. Peter G. Parham, Janey's chief of staff, later said the superintendent intends to intervene in all troubled charter schools.
"This will happen in October," Janey said. "We will have an approach consistent with what we do with [failing schools] in DCPS as a school system."
Robert Cane, executive director of Friends of Choice in Urban Schools, a charter school advocacy organization, questioned whether Janey has the legal authority to do that. The charter school law, he said, gives oversight power only to the authorizing board.
"This is illegal, and we'll fight against that," Cane said. Moreover, he added, "It is unethical for the superintendent to involve himself in the operation of a charter school with which he competes."
The debate over the school system's dual roles and its authority over charter schools ignited during the summer.
In June, the school board imposed a moratorium on charter school applications and decided to start discussing whether to relinquish its authority over charter schools. Some members have agreed with criticism by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that the board lacks the resources and expertise to supervise charters.
This year, the board closed the Jos-Arz Therapeutic Public Charter School, and the board's charter school office is under federal investigation into possible misuse of public funds. Brenda L. Belton, who headed the office and is the target of the investigation, is on paid administrative leave.
In July, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation requiring the school board to give up state-level functions, including setting proficiency levels.
Sponsors of the legislation, who serve on the D.C. appropriations subcommittee, said they acted because of the school system's designation in April by the U.S. Department of Education as "high-risk" for mismanaging federal money and because of concerns that the dual role is a conflict of interest. The Senate is expected to vote on the legislation this fall.
School board member JoAnne Ginsberg, who serves on a committee overseeing charter schools, said Janey's proposal for charter schools is not a takeover.
"We have schools that need help now," she said.
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Only one of the D.C. Board of Education's 13 public charter school campuses reached academic targets in both reading and math, prompting Superintendent Clifford B. Janey yesterday to announce his intention to intervene and mandate remedial steps to improve scores.
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Senate Approves Detainee Bill Backed by Bush
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Congress approved landmark changes to the nation's system of interrogating and prosecuting terrorism suspects last night, preparing the ground for possible military trials for key al-Qaeda members under rules that critics say will draw stiff constitutional challenges.
The Senate joined the House in embracing President Bush's view that the battle against terrorism justifies the imposition of extraordinary limits on defendants' traditional rights in the courtroom. They include restrictions on a suspect's ability to challenge his detention, examine all evidence against him, and bar testimony allegedly acquired through coercion of witnesses.
The Senate's 65 to 34 vote marked a victory for Bush and fellow Republicans a month before the Nov. 7 elections as their party tries to make anti-terrorism a signature campaign issue. Underscoring that strategy, the House last night voted 232 to 191 to authorize Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, with GOP leaders hoping to add it to their list of accomplishments even though it has no chance of Senate passage before this weekend's scheduled adjournment. On the final wiretapping vote, 18 Democrats joined 214 Republicans to win passage. Thirteen Republicans, 177 Democrats and one independent voted nay.
Democrats resisted both measures and nearly amended the detainee bill to allow foreigners designated as enemy combatants to challenge their captivity by filing habeas corpus appeals with the federal courts. But Republicans held fast, gambling that Democrats will fail in their bid to convince voters that the GOP is sacrificing the nation's traditions of justice and fairness in the name of battling terrorists and winning elections.
"As our troops risk their lives to fight terrorism, this bill will ensure they are prepared to defeat today's enemies and address tomorrow's threats," Bush said after the vote.
With control of both houses possibly at stake this fall, yesterday's debates were often impassioned and deeply partisan. House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) called Democrats "dangerous." Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the nation is losing its "moral compass."
The Senate approved the detainee legislation after Bush's allies narrowly fended off five amendments. The vote on final passage drew support from 53 Republicans and 12 Democrats, while 32 Democrats, one independent and one Republican -- Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.) -- voted nay.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) voted for the bill after telling reporters earlier that he would oppose it because it is "patently unconstitutional on its face." He cited its denial of the habeas corpus right to military detainees. In an interview last night, Specter said he decided to back the bill because it has several good items, "and the court will clean it up" by striking the habeas corpus provisions.
The Supreme Court triggered the congressional action by striking down in late June Bush's earlier system for trying suspects in military commissions.
The new bill is designed to legalize military commissions and to clarify interrogation techniques that CIA officers may use on terrorism suspects considered "unlawful enemy combatants," who are granted fewer protections than are prisoners of war. Hundreds of such detainees have been held for several years without trial at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while others were held at secret prisons overseas.
The new measure, which the House approved 253 to 168 on Wednesday, rejects Bush's earlier bid to narrow U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions in the treatment of such detainees. But it grants the executive branch substantial leeway in deciding how to comply with treaty obligations regulating actions that fall short of "grave breaches" of the conventions.
It would bar military commissions from considering testimony obtained through interrogation techniques that involve "cruel, unusual or inhumane treatment or punishment," which the Constitution's Fifth, Eighth and 14th amendments prohibit. The bar would be retroactive only to Dec. 30, 2005 -- when Congress adopted the Detainee Treatment Act -- to protect CIA operatives from possible prosecution over interrogation tactics used before that date.
Yesterday's main drama involved Specter's bid to amend the bill to grant the habeas corpus right to foreign detainees. Habeas corpus appeals -- a legal cornerstone -- allow prisoners to ask a judge to rule on the legality of their detention.
Specter and his allies said the habeas corpus right must apply to all persons -- including noncitizens -- held in U.S. custody. Most other Republicans said foreigners designated by the military as "unlawful enemy combatants" do not deserve habeas corpus protections.
Specter's amendment failed, 51 to 48. Senate Republicans voting for the habeas corpus amendment were Specter, Chafee, Gordon Smith (Ore.) and John E. Sununu (N.H.). Ben Nelson (Neb.) was the only Democrat who opposed the amendment. Four amendments drafted by Democrats also failed, mostly along party lines.
Republicans, especially in the House, plan to use the military commission and wiretapping legislation as a one-two punch against Democrats this fall. The legislative action prompted extraordinarily blunt language from House GOP leaders, foreshadowing a major theme for the campaign. Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) issued a written statement on Wednesday declaring: "Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and 159 of her Democrat colleagues voted today in favor of MORE rights for terrorists."
GOP leaders continued such attacks after the wiretapping vote. "For the second time in just two days, House Democrats have voted to protect the rights of terrorists," Hastert said last night, while Boehner lashed out at what he called "the Democrats' irrational opposition to strong national security policies."
Democrats tried to deflect such attacks by focusing on the newly released National Intelligence Estimate, partially leaked on Saturday, which concludes that the Iraq war has become a "cause celebre" for terrorists. But Republicans maneuvered their attacks toward that issue as well.
"The Democrats' jubilance with the national intelligence leak over the weekend underscores just how dangerous I think my friends on the other side of the aisle are when it comes to national security," Boehner said yesterday.
Democrats said they will take the high road. "There will be 30-second attack ads and negative mail pieces, and we will be called everything from cut-and-run quitters to Defeatocrats, to people who care more about the rights of terrorists than the protection of Americans," predicted Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "While I know all of this, I'm still disappointed, and I'm still ashamed, because what we're doing here today -- a debate over the fundamental human rights of the accused -- should be bigger than politics."
Democratic leaders stressed that the attacks will not work. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, cited polling that he said suggested that matters such as warrantless wiretapping and military commissions are "secondary issues," lagging well behind Iraq in the public's mind. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said it is "beyond [his] ability to comprehend" how a member of Congress could be accused of supporting terrorism.
But Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a prominent Democratic polling firm, tried to raise alarms yesterday with the release of focus group findings that suggest that the attacks would work if not countered forcefully. "Attacks on Democrats for opposing any effort to stop terrorists . . . were highly effective," the pollsters' memo stated.
Under the House surveillance bill, the National Security Agency could conduct electronic surveillance of international communications for up to 45 days without a warrant, but the administration would then have to obtain permission from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and, in most cases, would have to notify lawmakers.
But the congressional intelligence committees could recertify any warrantless wiretapping repeatedly, in 45-day increments, without referral to the court. And restraints on the program could be suspended in the aftermath of a terrorist attack or when the president determines that the country is under "imminent threat." The "imminent threat" provision was added at the insistence of the Bush administration.
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Congress approved landmark changes to the nation's system of interrogating and prosecuting terrorism suspects last night, preparing the ground for possible military trials for key al-Qaeda members under rules that critics say will draw stiff constitutional challenges.
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On Display at HP Hearing, Many Ways to Say 'Shocking'
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The corporate spying scandal at Hewlett-Packard was so shocking that lawmakers had trouble even describing it as they grilled company executives yesterday.
"As I reviewed all of the documents for this hearing today, I felt like I was looking at a proposal for a made-for-TV movie," announced Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) at the start of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing into HP's use of "pretexting" to get phone records.
On the contrary, said Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), HP's wrongdoing "unfolded like the plot of a third-rate detective novel."
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) had a different take. "Calling the folks who did or allowed or participated in this Keystone Kops is an insult of the grossest sort to the original Keystone Kops," he said.
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) took Dingell's objection into account. "The evidence we've seen shows that this investigation is part 'Keystone Kops,' it's part 'Mission: Impossible,' and perhaps part of 'All the President's Men' all tied together," he proposed.
Perhaps, but it put Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in the mind of "Hogan's Heroes." "HP might be suffering from Sergeant Schultz syndrome," he diagnosed, referring to the rotund concentration-camp guard remembered for the refrain "I know noth -ing!"
When it comes to technology, Congress is frequently a mouse click behind the times. Not long ago, the Senate commerce committee chairman, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), sagely declared that the Internet is "not a truck; it's a series of tubes." The difficulty grappling with technology surfaced again yesterday in two simultaneous House hearings.
As they probed HP in the Rayburn Building, lawmakers argued among themselves about whether pretexting -- using a phony identity to gain access to personal records -- is actually illegal. Or, as Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) put it: "Pretexting is pretending to be somebody you're not to get something you probably shouldn't have to use in a way that's probably wrong." The lawmakers were united in wondering why a bill making pretexting illegal, which the committee passed unanimously five months ago, still hasn't been taken up by the full House.
Next door in the Longworth Building, the House Administration Committee assembled to watch a Princeton computer scientist hack into electronic voting machines -- the same machines that counties across the country spent billions of dollars on to satisfy new standards imposed by Congress.
The computer wiz, an appropriately geeky academic named Edward Felten, demonstrated how, by dipping a virus-tainted voting card into a Diebold voting machine, he could reverse the results in a theoretical election pitting George Washington against Benedict Arnold.
"Every record in the machine is consistent with this fraudulent result," said Felten, claiming he got the key to the voting machine from a jukebox supply company. The professor repeated the demonstration at a news conference after the hearing. "There is really no limit to the amount of mischief that could be done," he said.
But lawmakers couldn't be too outraged. They were the ones who, reacting to Florida's paper-ballot fiasco in 2000, passed a law in 2002 giving jurisdictions $3 billion to buy new equipment full of bugs. "What we've got on our hands here is a Model T Ford," said Keith Cunningham, an Ohio elections official. "Can it be improved? Absolutely. [But] who's going to pay to fix it?"
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The corporate spying scandal at Hewlett-Packard was so shocking that lawmakers had trouble even describing it as they grilled company executives yesterday.
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Heralded Iraq Police Academy a 'Disaster'
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BAGHDAD, Sept. 27 -- A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, U.S. investigators have found.
The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S. efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country's security, was so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks. Floors heaved inches off the ground and cracked apart. Water dripped so profusely in one room that it was dubbed "the rain forest."
"This is the most essential civil security project in the country -- and it's a failure," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an independent office created by Congress. "The Baghdad police academy is a disaster."
Bowen's office plans to release a 21-page report Thursday detailing the most alarming problems with the facility.
Even in a $21 billion reconstruction effort that has been marred by cases of corruption and fraud, failures in training and housing Iraq's security forces are particularly significant because of their effect on what the U.S. military has called its primary mission here: to prepare Iraqi police and soldiers so that Americans can depart.
Federal investigators said the inspector general's findings raise serious questions about whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has failed to exercise effective oversight over the Baghdad Police College or reconstruction programs across Iraq, despite charging taxpayers management fees of at least 4.5 percent of total project costs. The Corps of Engineers said Wednesday that it has initiated a wide-ranging investigation of the police academy project.
The report serves as the latest indictment of Parsons Corp., the U.S. construction giant that was awarded about $1 billion for a variety of reconstruction projects across Iraq. After chronicling previous Parsons failures to properly build health clinics, prisons and hospitals, Bowen said he now plans to conduct an audit of every Parsons project.
"The truth needs to be told about what we didn't get for our dollar from Parsons," Bowen said.
A spokeswoman for Parsons said the company had not seen the inspector general's report.
The Coalition Provisional Authority hired Parsons in 2004 to transform the Baghdad Police College, a ramshackle collection of 1930s buildings, into a modern facility whose training capacity would expand from 1,500 recruits to at least 4,000. The contract called for the firm to remake the campus by building, among other things, eight three-story student barracks, classroom buildings and a central laundry facility.
As top U.S. military commanders declared 2006 "the year of the police," in an acknowledgment of their critical role in allowing for any withdrawal of American troops, officials highlighted the Baghdad Police College as one of their success stories.
"This facility has definitely been a top priority," Lt. Col. Joel Holtrop of the Corps of Engineers' Gulf Region Division Project and Contracting Office said in a July news release. "It's a very exciting time as the cadets move into the new structures."
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BAGHDAD, Sept. 27 -- A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, U.S. investigators have found.
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Colo. Gunman Said to Have Attacked Some Pupils Sexually
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BAILEY, Colo., Sept. 28 -- The gunman who killed a student and committed suicide during a standoff at a high school Wednesday methodically selected six girls as hostages -- apparently favoring blondes -- and sexually assaulted at least some of them, authorities and witnesses said Thursday.
Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said the assaults went beyond touching or fondling.
"It was pretty horrific," Wegener said, without elaborating.
The killer was identified as Duane Morrison, 53, a petty criminal who had a Denver address but apparently had been living in his battered yellow Jeep when he walked inside the school with two handguns and a backpack that he said contained a bomb. Investigators did not immediately say what was in the backpack.
Authorities said they knew of no connection between Morrison, his hostages or anyone else at Platte Canyon High School in this mountain town of about 3,500.
During the siege, he took the girls hostage in a second-floor classroom and eventually released four of them. Still holding two girls, he soon cut off contact and warned that "something would happen at 4 o'clock," authorities said.
About half an hour before the deadline, a SWAT team used explosives to blow a hole in a classroom wall in hopes of getting a clear shot at him, but the officers could not see him through the gap and blew the door off the hinges to get inside, said Lance Clem, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
Morrison fired at the officers, shot Emily Keyes, 16, in the back of the head as she tried to run away, and then killed himself, authorities said. During the gun battle, police said, they shot Morrison several times.
A sorrowful Wegener defended the decision to try to take Morrison by force.
"My decision was to either wait, with the possibility of having two dead hostages, or act to try and save what I feared he would do to them," the sheriff said. "We have confirmed he did traumatize and assault our children. . . . This is why I made the decision I did.
"We had to go try and save them."
Classes were canceled for the rest of the week as the community tried to come to grips with the bloodshed, which evoked memories of the 1999 shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, less than an hour's drive away, that left 15 dead.
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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.
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Jim McGreevey's Night Out With His New Constituents
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You see him on TV, all earnest with Matt Lauer, all plaintive and kind of creepy with Oprah.
And you think, Oh gawd. He's so slick, so self-promoting, so insincere .
Then you walk downstairs to the basement bookstore on Dupont Circle, and find about 80 people, most of them men, are waiting to meet Jim McGreevey, the 49-year-old former "gay governor" of New Jersey.
As it happens, McGreevey is not the only one here who knew he was gay but got married anyway.
Two years ago, after the governor found himself at the center of a scandal involving a male staffer who threatened to sue for sexual harassment, the boyishly good-looking politico confessed, "I am a gay American." Standing at his side in the glaring lights at the news conference were his mom and dad and his second wife. His was the only face not wearing a strange expression.
Now here he is, in a dark suit and booming, buoyant voice, facing all those men at Books-a-Million who want him to sign copies of his autobiography, "The Confession."
Chris Massicotte, a 31-year-old longtime political aide who now sells political software, hands McGreevey a book. He used to be married, too, he says. But he came clean two weeks after the governor's confession.
"You did?" McGreevey looks up from signing with a black Sharpie and stares at the guy in the light blue polo shirt. "You came out two weeks after I did?"
Massicotte nods. Then he hands over another book "for my friend who was married, too."
"I bought the book on Thursday," Massicotte continues, "and I stayed up the entire night reading it."
"What'd you think?" asks McGreevey.
"It was hard," Massicotte answers slowly, "to read the thoughts I had as a kid written right back to me."
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Search Washington, DC area books events, reviews and bookstores from the Washington Post. Features DC, Virginia and Maryland entertainment listings for bookstores and books events. Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/print/bookworld today.
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The Democrats' Charisma Doctor
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It's one thing for Ben Cardin to joke about his charisma deficit. "Who says I'm not flashy?" he quips in a campaign commercial when a supporter suggests: "Ben's not flashy, but he never stops."
It's quite another for him to invite Mr. Democratic Charisma himself onstage for a rally yesterday in the Cardin quest to become U.S. senator from Maryland.
Barack Obama didn't even have to open his mouth to have a crowd of a few hundred under a powerful spell in a grassy outdoor amphitheater at the University of Maryland in College Park. The junior senator from Illinois -- part Kenyan, part Kansan -- stood tall and youthful and bronze in a black suit and a baby-blue tie, his eyes half-closed, studying the audience with a kind of seductive lassitude. His arrival sparked an ovation, and he shot a quick amiable wink to the many pols and hopefuls crammed behind him on the stage, mute witnesses to the magic.
Beside Obama stood Cardin. Comparisons aren't polite, but the Democratic congressman from Maryland was asking for it: He looked older, shorter, pudgier and pinker.
Suffice it to say, when Cardin delivered his speech ahead of Obama -- the candidate was the warm-up act for the superstar -- a female voice from the crowd did not interrupt him with the ecstatic cry, "We want to meet you!" Obama won that populist bouquet. Squinting, pretending he didn't hear it, he continued his passionate call to "put on your marching shoes" to elect Cardin.
So the man lacks charisma, fine: He can borrow it. That may have been the point of this sunny morning tableau on the campaign trail. In his race against the current lieutenant governor, Republican Michael Steele -- who has been featuring a puppy in his campaign commercials -- Cardin contends he is running a campaign of substance over style. Cardin's style is anti-style, the recitation of issues, the requests for debate.
"We're bringing in charismatic popular leaders to show their support for Ben Cardin," says Oren Shur, the campaign's spokesman. "It's still our banner they're standing in front of. . . . People like Barack Obama transcend politics. They attract people and engage people into political events" they otherwise might ignore.
Obama, whose fans say he delivers substance with style, has been electrifying Democrats since his 2004 presidential convention keynote address, before he was even in the Senate. Cardin admires that speech so much he quoted a line in his own yesterday: "I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs, and that we stand on the crossroads of history."
Sprinting Dems everywhere have been demanding an Obama jolt of energy, inspiration, star power. In the past two weeks, the senator has addressed campaign events in Kentucky, Iowa, West Virginia and Virginia, where he rallied supporters of Senate candidate Jim Webb against incumbent Republican George Allen, and he'll quicken his pace as Election Day approaches, said Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs. To many of the party faithful, the question is not if, but when, Obama himself will run for president.
The air in College Park was thick with Obama thrall.
"I've just always admired everything Mr. Obama says," said Kate Turner, a Maryland student who attended the rally on her 19th birthday just to hear him. "I'm excited about politics because he's involved."
Turner lost her sandal chasing Obama after he left the stage. She wanted a birthday picture with him.
"It's your birthday?" said the senator. "Where's your shoe, though?"
Cardin will get her vote, Turner says, but Obama will enjoy a far more personal honor. The snapshot of Obama and her will become her new Facebook picture.
"I decided to take time off from work to see my role model," said Joseph Eyong, 43, a native of Camaroon living in Silver Spring.
"Dude, I shook his hand."
That's Robert Hardin, 20, a Maryland junior from Fort Washington, to Alan Coleman, 20, a junior from Silver Spring. The night before the rally, one of their friends said he'd never heard of Obama. So they logged on to YouTube.com and had a viewing of the 2004 keynote speech.
"We were inspired to get up at 9 o'clock" for the rally, Coleman said. "If Obama wasn't here, I'm sure we wouldn't have half the turnout. I support all the politicians who are up there, but I don't know if I'd come out and hear them speak."
And what of that shortish white guy onstage with Barack Obama? After the speeches, Cardin was mobbed by a different crowd. Mostly reporters. But, his spokesman Shur affirmed, some people did seek Cardin's autograph on the back of campaign signs.
"If you talk about stentorian speaking," said Frank Bell, 80, of Kettering, ranking the rally speechifiers, "Obama's first, [Kweisi] Mfume's second, [retiring Sen. Paul] Sarbanes is third, and Ben's is somewhere down the line. . . . If he wins . . . it's going to be because he's standing for things people desperately need." (Bell didn't rank Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who also spoke.)
To win, Cardin is "going to have to do more," said Jennifer Lowery-Bell, 59, Frank's wife. "He can't be an Obama. We're not asking that." But Cardin will have to reach for some passion, she said, and he will have to keep pounding those issues, such as universal health care.
So, issues and passion: They matter. How they fit together is a politician's business. Sarbanes has been an issues guy, but a little bland. Obama meant it as a compliment when he said: "There aren't too many people who could replace Senator Sarbanes and not miss a beat. And yet somehow, Maryland, y'all found him." And the crowd cheered.
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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.
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Plums Flavor a Balkan Autumn
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The admonition to cook what's in season is not just idle advice in the Balkans, where residents gorge on strawberries in May and June, feast on raspberries and blackberries in July, and lament the passing of all of them by late August. Tiny, luminescently green Brussels sprouts appear in open-air market stalls in February and last the whole bleak Balkan winter. I know: I've cooked them all, from the luscious berries to the bright little sprouts, while caring for elders here.
Now, however, it's the season of the small, dusky purple Italian prune plum, or sljiva . Cooks from Belgrade to Novi Sad to Dubrovnik are making the plum dumpling dessert known as knedle sa sljivama (pronounced keh-NAID-lay sah SHLI-vah-mah), sinking pitted plums into simple-but-yummy batter to serve with tiny cups of thick Turkish coffee -- or with plum brandy, otherwise known as sljivovica, or slivovitz.
These lovely prune plums have made their annual brief fall appearance in American East Coast markets. Locally, they are available at Snider's markets, M.O.M. (My Organic Market) in Rockville and some Trader Joe's and Giant Food stores. So you might say the two continents are sharing a rare United Nations moment of culinary solidarity.
Freelance writer Joan McQueeney Mitric spends half the year near Belgrade, Serbia. She last wrote for Food about La Pasta Inc.
This dessert recipe was passed on to author Joan McQueeney Mitric some 35 years ago by the cooks in her husband's village of Lipolist, southwest of Belgrade. When the plum dumplings are cut open, the dark fruit's golden centers should be succulent and sweet.
4 to 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 to 2 cups medium or fine plain bread crumbs (may use a mixture of white and whole wheat)
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (may use light brown sugar)
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The admonition to cook what's in season is not just idle advice in the Balkans, where residents gorge on strawberries in May and June, feast on raspberries and blackberries in July, and lament the passing of all of them by late August. Tiny, luminescently green Brussels sprouts appear in open-air...
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Firm Expands Spinach Testing
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Natural Selection Foods LLC, the San Juan Bautista, Calif., processor of fresh produce that recalled bagged fresh spinach two weeks ago, said yesterday that it has begun testing spinach in the field for the E. coli bacteria.
Since early September, 187 people in 26 states have become ill from fresh spinach contaminated with a deadly strain of E. coli. At least one woman has died.
The tainted spinach has been traced to 12 fields on nine farms in California's Salinas Valley that supplied spinach to Natural Selection. The company washes and packs spinach for 30 brands, including Safeway's O Organics, Dole and Ready Pac.
So far, E. coli has been isolated in nine bags of spinach supplied by victims. All have been Dole-brand conventional spinach, according to Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said late last week that spinach grown outside of the three implicated counties -- Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara -- is safe, and grocery stores have begun restocking shelves with fresh spinach from other parts of the country. Frozen and canned spinach were not affected by the recall.
Natural Selection said the plant that processed the contaminated spinach was tested for E. coli by the California Department of Health Services, the FDA and third-party auditors hired by the company, but no sign of the bacteria was found.
At a news conference yesterday, company officials said they were "confident" the outbreak did not originate at their facilities.
However, state officials declined to rule out a Natural Selection processing plant as a source of contamination.
"As of today, we have not cleared the processing facilities in this investigation," Reilly said.
Natural Selection executives said yesterday that they had begun testing raw spinach for E. coli and salmonella before it enters a processing plant, an uncommon practice in the fresh-produce industry.
"If E. coli is found in any lot, it will be rejected and discarded," company spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said.
The company also announced plans to step up its scrutiny of farming practices, including seed, irrigation water, the use of fertilizer and the presence of wildlife, and to test water and soil for E. coli and salmonella.
Possible sources of E. coli contamination include water, fertilizer, poor worker hygiene and the presence of wildlife.
State officials lauded Natural Selection's efforts to increase testing and inspections. "It's important the farms are playing that preventive role every day," Reilly said. "Every individual facility has room for improvement."
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Natural Selection Foods LLC, the San Juan Bautista, Calif., processor of fresh produce that recalled bagged fresh spinach two weeks ago, said yesterday that it has begun testing spinach in the field for the E. coli bacteria.
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When Is a Mall Not Just a Mall? When It's a Mini-City
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Fairfax County's effort to turn Tysons Corner into a vibrant, walkable downtown might well center on the place where everything began more than three decades ago: the mall.
Next week, the owner of Tysons Corner Center, whose opening put Tysons on the map 35 years ago, will go before the county Planning Commission with plans to transform the shopping center into a mini-city. The plans entail surrounding the mall with apartments, offices and a hotel in towers as high as 350 feet, and interspersing the whole complex with broad plazas, an ice rink, sculptures, a rooftop bar and performance space -- even a biking and jogging trail.
Many other mall owners across the country are seeking continued success by turning their properties into "lifestyle experiences" with more than just stores and food courts. What sets Tysons Corner Center apart is not only the sheer scale -- few malls are adding so much housing -- but the plan's significance for the area.
Fairfax officials hope to turn Tysons from a car-clogged jumble of malls, offices and auto dealers into a true downtown where people can live and be entertained rather than just work and shop -- and where they can walk and use public transit. Keys to this overhaul are the arrival of Metrorail, scheduled to reach Tysons in 2012, the addition of an urban-style street grid and the construction of more housing. As it is, fewer than 20,000 people live in Tysons, although more than 100,000 work there.
County planners and advocates for smart growth who hope to transform Tysons generally view its two malls, Tysons Corner Center and Tysons II Galleria, as obstacles to fulfilling their vision. Sitting in the middle of Tysons, the malls greatly complicate any future street grid, draw thousands of cars to the area and embody the suburban model that Tysons was created in, rather than the urban form these planners want.
Tysons Corner Center's owner, Macerich Co., a California-based organization with 73 shopping centers across the country, argues that, with the mall's proposed overhaul, it is part of the solution. With its mix of uses and public spaces, the company says, its plan is a microcosm of what Fairfax is trying to accomplish across Tysons.
"It's hard to take a suburban area without a street grid and make it urban, but this will go a long way in that direction," said John W. Anderson, the president of Macerich East Development LLC, as he surveyed the mall from the 17th-floor balcony of the adjacent Tower Club.
So far, county officials appear to agree. After months of back-and-forth discussion, Macerich won a glowing recommendation from county planning staff. After the Planning Commission vote, the proposal goes to the Board of Supervisors.
The proposal, which spans 10 to 15 years, calls for adding as many as 1,350 rental or condominium apartments in two towers and lower-rise buildings; four office buildings totaling about 1.4 million square feet; a 300-room hotel; and 200,000 square feet of retail space, primarily ground-level stores -- such as a dry cleaner and grocery -- to serve new residents. The proposal would add about 3.5 million square feet, an increase of 150 percent, to the same 82-acre property that supports the 300-store mall, which has undergone several major expansions, most recently the addition of a 16-screen movie theater and five restaurants.
The expansion would be in four phases, all timed to mesh with various stages in the Metrorail extension, because under county zoning rules, rail access allows nearby property owners to build at higher densities. Construction of the first phase would begin when the rail extension wins federal funding, anticipated by officials sometime next year. Scheduled to open around 2010, that first phase would include a residential tower, office tower and hotel, all clustered along Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road) near La Madeleine restaurant and close to one of the four proposed Tysons Metro stations. The towers would surround a long plaza and a grand new mall vehicle entrance.
The second phase would coincide with the start of the rail line's construction and would include another residential tower and office tower, and another plaza, along Route 123 closer to International Drive. The final phases would be built after the subway is complete and would include smaller multi-story buildings on the mall's edge farther from the Metro station, along International Drive and Leesburg Pike (Route 7).
Initially, Macerich proposed more office than residential space, but the county persuaded the company to significantly increase the housing portion. The county also elicited a pledge that 8 percent of the housing units, around 100, would be affordable, and that the rest of the units would include a mix of sizes and affordability.
Macerich officials are confident that they would be able to fill the housing units. They say one of the first questions they've gotten from groups they presented their plans to has been, "When can I buy one?"
Planners praised the company for its efforts to encourage public transit use, which include limiting the amount of additional parking, providing space for a bus depot along Route 123 and agreeing to keep the mall open before and after Metrorail hours so riders can walk through the mall to the station.
County officials lament, though, that the pedestrian link between the station and mall has been complicated by the recent decision to build the rail line aboveground. To save costs, the aboveground station no longer includes a pedestrian bridge over Route 123 to the mall; riders will have to descend to the street and then go back up to a separate bridge to the shopping center.
Despite the positive staff recommendation, there are some concerns, said Supervisor Linda Q. Smyth (D-Providence). Some residents worry that the 34-foot retaining wall along Route 123 would create a fortress effect. Also, as planned, the complex will be difficult to integrate with the rest of Tysons because state plans call for making Route 123 even more of an expressway, rather than a pedestrian-friendly boulevard. Macerich officials said they would spruce up the wall with terraced steps and plantings.
Other residents say it would be better for the future of Tysons if Macerich waited to proceed until the county completed rewriting its master plan for Tysons, to assure that the mall's new incarnation reflects the broader vision for Tysons. Macerich officials say their proposal is already in sync with the county's vision.
"What we wanted to do is build a model for transit-oriented development, a pedestrian scale community that's not dominated by automobile traffic," Anderson said. "We're proud of this project."
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Fairfax County's effort to turn Tysons Corner into a vibrant, walkable downtown might well center on the place where everything began more than three decades ago: the mall.
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House Suspends Hill Telecom License
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House leaders have suspended a multimillion-dollar wireless communications license that federal prosecutors say was corruptly awarded to a Dulles telecommunications firm by Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) in exchange for gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The award of the license was one of a series of acts that Ney said he performed for Abramoff in exchange for campaign contributions, expensive meals, luxury travel and sports tickets. Ney agreed this month to plead guilty to corruption charges and is set to enter his plea Oct. 13.
The license to install antennas for cellular and wireless telephones in House office buildings was awarded in 2002 to MobileAccess, formerly known as Foxcom Wireless, which was based in Israel. The company, now based in Vienna, Va., later paid Abramoff $280,000 in lobbying fees and donated $50,000 to a charity operated by Abramoff that paid for a golf junket to Scotland for Ney.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said the license "has been suspended pending review," which could affect the wireless contract for the congressional visitors center now under construction.
"I think a company should not profit from corrupt actions," said Lofgren, who is on the House Administration Committee. "Obviously, what happened in awarding the contract was wrong, illegal, corrupt. The question is what role did the company have? Was the company a knowing participant?"
Salley Collins, a spokeswoman for the committee, said the review was underway but provided no more information. Congressional sources who spoke on condition on anonymity because the issue is under consideration said a review was prompted by the Abramoff corruption investigation.
MobileAccess employees "have cooperated fully in the investigation," said MobileAccess attorney Douglas A. Fellman, of Hogan & Hartson. "There has never been a suggestion of wrongdoing or improper conduct on the part of MobileAccess or its personnel, and after a very thorough investigation, that continues to be the case."
Abramoff and Neil G. Volz, who went to work for Abramoff as a lobbyist after serving as Ney's top aide, admitted in plea agreements this year that the wireless license was a favor for Abramoff in exchange for gifts.
Prosecutors said in charging papers that Ney took a variety of official actions for Foxcom, "including meeting with representatives of the client on or about May 10, 2001, leaking to Abramoff a copy of a letter from the client's competitor complaining about the selection process in or about September 2002, and issuing a license to Abramoff's client."
The decision had long-term implications for Foxcom competitor LGC Wireless Inc. of San Jose. The Senate also uses MobileAccess to remain consistent with the protocols of the House. LGC uses a different technology, though wireless and cellphone companies say both firms provide service that meets their standards.
An LGC official said yesterday that his company was pleased by the news of the House review.
"Given that it is public record that the House wireless job was awarded to Foxcom/MobileAccess due to Jack Abramoff's improper influence, and MobileAccess has subsequently been the recipient of follow-on business on the Hill in large part due to that initial award, we feel that it is appropriate that the license be reviewed," LGC spokesman John Spindler said. "Only in this way can competitiveness and fairness in any future government awards be ensured."
Cellphone coverage is a sore point with many members of Congress, who complain about dropped calls, particularly in the Capitol. It was a topic at the Administration Committee meeting.
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House leaders have suspended a multimillion-dollar wireless communications license that federal prosecutors say was corruptly awarded to a Dulles telecommunications firm by Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) in exchange for gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
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ID Thieves Turn Sights on Smaller E-Businesses
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Schuyler Cole needed an accessory for his Palm Treo 600 smartphone, so the Haleiwa, Hawaii, resident fired up his Web browser last month and ran a Google search.
After scanning the search results, he purchased the inexpensive item -- a USB cable used to synchronize the Treo's settings with his personal computer -- from Cellhut.com, the first online store displayed in the results that looked like it carried the cable. The site featured a "Hackersafe" logo indicating that the site's security had been verified within the past 24 hours.
Later that day, information from Cole's purchase --- including his name, address, credit card and phone numbers, and the date and exact time of the transaction --- were posted into an online forum that caters to criminals engaged in credit card and identity theft. Ostensibly, the data on Cole was posted as an enticement to other fraudsters lurking on the forum who might be interested in buying large numbers of similar records.
Other personal data posted into the fraud forum included the personal and financial information for Shane Galloway, an 18-year-old freshman at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. When contacted by washingtonpost.com, Galloway said he purchased a wireless phone from Cellhut.com shortly after midnight on Sept. 6, just minutes after the time stamp on Cole's purchase.
Another individual whose data was found in the online chat channel --- a southern California resident who asked that his name not be used --- confirmed that he bought wireless accessories from Cellhut.com at 9:15 a.m. on Sept. 7, the exact time listed in the entry that was posted into the online forum along with his credit card data and other personal information. Later, he discovered that $6,000 in fraudulent charges were made using his credit card.
While public attention has remain fixed on a series of high-profile data losses or database breaches at federal government agencies, large corporations and universities, experts who study financial fraud say hackers increasingly are targeting small, commercial Web sites. In some cases, criminals are able to gain real-time access to the sites' transaction information, allowing them to steal valid credit card numbers and quickly charge large numbers of fraudulent purchases.
Small e-businesses offer fewer total victims, but they often present a softer target, either due to flaws in the software merchants use to process online orders or an over reliance on outsourced Web site security.
Cole's and Galloway's information was recorded being traded in an online chat room by Dan Clements, co-founder of CardCops.com, a fraud prevention service that monitors underground chat rooms where criminals trade in stolen credit cards and information used to commit identity theft. Clements said many smaller online merchants use generic shopping cart software that they fail to maintain with the latest software security patches.
"Most of these merchants that get hacked do not have updated versions of the software that runs their business, they're just trying to sell widgets," he said.
Nearly 80 percent of all software vulnerabilities discovered in the first six months of 2006 involved Web-based applications produced by hundreds of different software vendors, according to a report released Monday by Cupertino, Calif.-based security vendor Symantec Corp.
"The people writing these applications often don't know very much about Web-based vulnerabilities," said Alfred Huger, a senior director at Symantec Security Response. "Many of these Web vulnerabilities are not that difficult to discover and are very easy to exploit."
Cellhut.com, like many e-commerce Web sites, features the "HackerSafe" seal on its homepage proclaiming that the site "is tested and certified daily to pass the FBI/SANS Internet Security Test." ScanAlert Inc., a Napa, Calif.-based company that sells the service, scans some 75,000 online merchants each day for thousands of known Web site flaws.
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Security experts who study online financial fraud say criminals increasingly are targeting small, commercial Web sites, where anti-hacking measures can be weaker than those employed at larger sites.
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Visas for Skilled Workers Still Frozen
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For technology companies and research institutions that have spent recent autumns lobbying for permission to hire more foreign workers, this was supposed to be the year that ended the annual rite of desperation.
A bill that passed the Senate this spring would have doubled the number of visas issued every year for highly skilled professionals, such as scientists and engineers. And it would have helped clear a backlog of applications for permanent residency from such workers.
But the attempt by Congress to rewrite the nation's immigration laws has bogged down in controversy over border security and illegal immigration. That means changes in the skilled-worker programs, while less controversial, are also in limbo.
With Congress due to recess tomorrow, advocates of the programs have given up on winning immediate change. Now they're hoping members of Congress will focus on the issue in the lame-duck session late this year.
"It is incredibly difficult to pass major legislative reforms in any areas, and they tried to bite off a lot," said Jenifer Verdery, a policy director for Intel Corp., which has lobbied for more skilled foreign workers. "We've made a strong case, and we're hoping to take that to the finish line . . . if there is any policymaking left to do after the election."
For years, many of the country's largest technology companies and most prestigious research laboratories have said they are unable to find enough U.S.-born scientists and similar workers to fill their openings. They have depended on the H-1B visa to bring overseas talent into the United States. The companies also sponsor such skilled workers for green cards, which allow them to live and work here permanently.
But only 65,000 H-1B visas are issued each year, and demand has been so high recently that all of them are taken instantaneously -- mostly with tech workers from India and China. People from those countries also face among the longest waits for green cards.
The Senate plan would have nearly doubled the H-1B quota to 115,000 a year, and it would have helped clear a backlog of green-card applications.
The technology industry mounted a huge push on the issue this year. Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates met with members of Congress. A group of computer programmers hired a lobbying firm. An industry coalition handed out fake green cards imprinted with their demands.
A few professional associations and anti-immigrant groups oppose expanding the skilled-worker programs, contending that they can depress wages, but the programs have historically drawn support from both political parties.
At Microsoft, H-1B and green card reform has emerged as the "top legislative priority right now," said Jack Krumholtz, the company's managing director for federal government affairs. "We are really at a crisis in terms of the industry's ability to hire the best and the brightest and retain them."
A company spokeswoman estimated that about 7 percent of Microsoft's hires over the past five years had H-1B visas. Of the company's H-1B employees, 20 percent a year obtain green cards. The company said the low number stems from delays in processing green cards. An estimated 500,000 green-card applications are pending nationwide.
The employees describe agonizing, life-altering waits. In some cases, marriages, home purchases and retirement investments are put off. Graduates of master's and doctorate programs describe stringing together fellowships and one-year appointments to stay in this country. A spokesman for the National Institutes of Health said those on temporary work visas have trouble qualifying for federal research grants.
Immigrant scientists call the policies crippling and said they had expected relief from a provision in the Senate bill that would have allowed favorable treatment for graduates in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
"In the midst of this whole debate, very little is said about legal immigration. And even within legal immigration, little about PhDs and scientists," said Jai Pathak, a research scientist who lives in Washington. "There are a lot of very fine scientists the government would like to keep, but their citizenship status impedes it."
Pathak cited the Hungarian roots of Intel Corp. co-founder Andrew S. Grove, whose work helped create the modern computer industry that employs millions of Americans.
"What would have happened if the United States had decided to close the doors on him?" Pathak said.
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For technology companies and research institutions that have spent recent autumns lobbying for permission to hire more foreign workers, this was supposed to be the year that ended the annual rite of desperation.
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Mars Crater Is a 'Dream Come True'
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After an arduous 21-month journey, the Mars rover Opportunity edged close enough to the rim of a large crater yesterday to send back its first photos of the bottom and rocky sides of the dramatic site. What they showed left researchers increasingly confident that their robotic explorer had reached a scientific gold mine that will dramatically increase their understanding of the planet's history.
NASA scientists said the rover came within about 15 feet of Victoria Crater's rim and was scheduled to climb over a small sand dune last night and stop right at the crater's edge.
"The pictures we got tell us there is a tremendous amount of geologic information hidden in that crater," said Steven Squyres of Cornell University, principal science investigator for the mission. "What secrets it actually holds we won't know till we begin to get the data. But yesterday's picture alone makes the voyage worthwhile."
Opportunity, which has survived on Mars 10 times as long as initially was thought possible, traveled more than six miles to get to Victoria -- a pit created by an impact that is 200 feet deep and half a mile across. It is substantially larger than any crater explored so far by the twin Martian rovers, Opportunity and Spirit.
NASA scientists were ecstatic about the day's progress and images and said more is to come. The Opportunity team is scheduled to meet today to decide which of two rock promontories -- dubbed Cape Verde and Cabo Frio -- would give the rover the best view of Victoria. The outcroppings project into the crater, and scientists said they would allow the rover to take dramatic panoramic shots in color with its high-resolution camera.
W. Bruce Banerdt, a NASA project scientist, said yesterday's images showed some of the rock stratification that geologists associate with the earlier presence of liquid water. He said Martian geology appears to be similar to Earth's, although the long absence of water allows rocks to remain unchanged for much longer periods.
"We're seeing similar features [at Victoria Crater] as what we'd see on Earth," he said. "But instead of being tens of millions of years old, these Martian rocks are billions of years old."
The black-and-white image sent back by Opportunity showed craggy rock formations on some of the crater's walls, and sand dunes at its bottom. They also showed sandy landslides down several sides of the crater, slopes that Banerdt said may be used as paths for the rover to descend into the crater.
"We not only want to get better and better pictures of those rocks, but want to get the rover close enough that it can reach out and touch them," he said.
Opportunity, which is the size of a riding lawn mower, cannot go down into the crater right now because it is winter on Mars, and the rover's solar panels would not receive enough sunlight to power its motors or operate the radioisotope generator that keeps the robot heated when temperatures plunge lower than 100 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. But the shortest days of the Martian winter have passed, and the long spring and summer lie ahead. The Martian year is about twice as long as Earth's, as are all its seasons.
Maneuvering the robot so near a sharp drop-off is daunting, especially because it is now about 230 million miles away from Earth. But Opportunity has been programmed to be "self protective," the scientists said. While it responds to radio signals from Earth, it also can override them if its cameras and computers identify dangers in its path.
Squyres said that the terrain approaching Victoria Crater has been relatively benign, and that ultimately driving around it is plausible. NASA scientists say they expect the rover to remain at the crater for months.
"This crater is so much deeper than what we've seen before, and that means much more geologic history is exposed in the rocks," he said. "For a geologist, this is just a dream come true."
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After an arduous 21-month journey, the Mars rover Opportunity edged close enough to the rim of a large crater yesterday to send back its first photos of the bottom and rocky sides of the dramatic site. What they showed left researchers increasingly confident that their robotic explorer had reached...
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With Eye on Midwest in '08, GOP Picks Twin Cities for Convention
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CHICAGO, Sept. 27 -- The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul will host the 2008 Republican National Convention, the GOP announced Wednesday in an early signal of the likely significance of the Midwest in the next presidential election.
Moving away from the coasts for the first time in 16 years -- and choosing the Twin Cities for the first time since 1892 -- the Republicans also preempted the Democrats, who had narrowed their own convention selection to three sites, including Minneapolis-St. Paul.
The Democrats will now choose between New York and Denver, a spokeswoman said.
Steven Schier, a prominent Minnesota political commentator on the faculty of Carleton College, said the timing and the tactics suggest that the national Republican Party hopes to help its Minnesota candidates this year and appeal to voters in a swath of battleground states in 2008.
"This should not be considered just a Minnesota choice," he said. "You've got three swing states: Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. We're very much a battleground state. We were in '04 and we will be in '08. Same in Wisconsin, same in Iowa."
In 2004, President Bush squeaked past Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in Iowa by 10,000 votes, while Kerry finished 11,000 votes ahead of Bush in neighboring Wisconsin. Kerry beat Bush in Minnesota by 100,000 votes out of 3 million cast. Even so, that Minnesota was competitive at all was a sign of changing times in a state that for decades was dominated by nationally prominent Democrats such as Hubert H. Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy and Walter F. Mondale.
Parties tend to consider convention locations a symbol, although the effect is often minimal. In 1980, the last time the Republicans chose the Midwest, delegates convened in Detroit to highlight Ronald Reagan's determination to win blue-collar votes, a successful strategy.
The GOP chose Philadelphia in 2000, hoping to boost Bush's chances in a tightly contested state, but he lost there in 2000 and 2004.
This time around, Republicans had narrowed the choice to the Twin Cities or Tampa after ruling out Cleveland. With memories of Hurricane Katrina still fresh, Florida's chances were hurt by the fact that the Sept. 1-4 convention comes in the heart of storm season.
The Democrats, who expect to choose a host city by the end of the year, will focus on two that have potentially serious liabilities, said one Democrat familiar with the search.
New York's principal drawback is its cost, while Denver's primary problem centers on its trade union status.
Although the Democrats see the Rocky Mountain West as an area of potential electoral growth, Denver has labor problems, including a shortage of union hotels. That could make it difficult for a party that relies heavily on union campaign money and muscle to justify choosing the Mile-High City as its host.
Officials from the party and the city are working to see if these obstacles can be overcome.
As the political leadership of Minnesota and the Twin Cities celebrated their victory on Wednesday, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (D) said he thinks the Democrats would have chosen the Twin Cities if Republicans hadn't. "The good news about the Republicans choosing us instead of the Democrats," Coleman joked, "is they have more money."
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CHICAGO, Sept. 27 -- The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul will host the 2008 Republican National Convention, the GOP announced Wednesday in an early signal of the likely significance of the Midwest in the next presidential election.
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Superintendent Agrees To Emergency Repairs Of Facilities at Dunbar
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Superintendent Clifford B. Janey has agreed to make emergency repairs to broken toilets and showers and address other "human dignity" conditions at Dunbar Senior High School in Shaw, District school officials said yesterday.
For months, student athletes, coaches, parents and community activists say they have been complaining about deplorable conditions in the sports facilities at the school, with little response from the central office.
But at a private meeting with the group late Tuesday, Janey said he was outraged by the conditions at the school and will take swift action to correct the problems, said Peter G. Parham, Janey's chief of staff. The decision follows a Washington Post report Saturday that detailed decrepit conditions in Dunbar's athletic facilities: a condemned running track, rusty weight-training equipment and moldy showers, as well as a lack of toilet paper, soap and dispensers for feminine hygiene products.
This month, Janey released a $2.3 billion, 15-year master facilities plan outlining a timetable for renovating 120 schools and closing 19. Under the plan, which has not been approved by the Board of Education, senior high schools would be renovated in 2011.
Coaches who attended the meeting said Janey had decided to move the high schools up in the master plan, but Parham said yesterday that his comments were misinterpreted and that he intends to stick to the current schedule.
The track and other infrastructure problems probably will have to wait until the building renovations, Parham said, but Janey sent a facilities department team to prepare a plan to sanitize the locker room, install doors on toilet stalls and address other hygiene-related problems immediately.
Parham said Janey said, "Let's give them the human dignity things -- the decent things -- so they'll know we're giving them an environment to succeed in." Parham said the superintendent wants the facilities "better for our kids and they deserve better."
Parham said Janey told the group he would figure out a way to get more custodians and maintenance workers to the building.
Dunbar coaches said the athletic facilities had fallen into disrepair after the school system reduced the number of custodians and maintenance workers to five from 17. About six years ago, the school system, under a previous administration, began deploying custodians and maintenance workers on the basis of a school's enrollment instead of size, a policy that resulted in a massive staff cut.
Janey told members of the group he would give them a date for the repairs at a meeting next week.
"He's expediting everything," said Marvin Parker, who coaches the girls' track team. "He apologized for things getting this bad. . . . I'm optimistic and hopeful."
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Superintendent Clifford B. Janey has agreed to make emergency repairs to broken toilets and showers and address other "human dignity" conditions at Dunbar Senior High School in Shaw, District school officials said yesterday.
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Danforth Warns of Christian Right but Says Tide Will Turn
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CHICAGO. Sept. 27 -- The potency of the Christian right in the Republican Party is limited, former senator John C. Danforth of Missouri is telling audiences this month. A lifelong Republican moderate disturbed by his party's direction, he contends that the political center has a future.
Describing himself as a "a Republican for the old reasons," Danforth, 70, is promoting a new book that describes religion as a divisive force in the United States today and accuses the religious right and its political supporters of creating a sectarian party.
The GOP leadership habitually strives to please its base at the expense of meaningful compromise, he maintains, proving to be neither humble Christians nor effective politicians. His reasoning holds that social conservatives cannot prevail because a majority of Americans do not share their views or appreciate their style.
"I'm trying to shed light on it," Danforth told a gathering of more than 100 people at Chicago's Union League Club on Tuesday, ". . . but I'm really encouraging people to get mad, to speak out on this and express themselves. That's when politics will change."
Danforth is an ordained Episcopal priest and onetime Bush administration ambassador to the United Nations. He is probably best known for ushering Clarence Thomas through the grueling nomination process to become a Supreme Court justice. Danforth served in the Senate when Republicans were outnumbered and outmaneuvered by Democrats, a point noted dismissively by opponents who dispute his argument.
Richard Land, a prominent conservative at the Southern Baptist Convention, said in an interview earlier this year that Danforth is "what was wrong with the Republican Party and why they were a minority party."
Danforth is getting some radio and television airtime since the Sept. 19 release of "Faith and Politics: How the 'Moral Values' Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together." He has spoken to audiences in Texas and New York and gave a lecture Wednesday night at the Washington National Cathedral, where he had presided over the funerals of former president Ronald Reagan in 2004 and longtime Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham three years earlier.
His book emerged by design in a political season in which the organizing strength of conservative Christians is expected to be tested by motivated Democrats and moderates dismayed by the country's direction.
This year, there have also been revealing speeches about personal faith and politics by Democratic politicians, notably Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Robert P. Casey Jr., who is seeking to unseat religious conservative Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).
"The problem with many conservative Christians is that they claim that God's truth is knowable, that they know it, and that they are able to reduce it to legislative form," Danforth writes. "The popular question, 'What would Jesus do?' can be difficult enough to contemplate with respect to everyday interpersonal relations. It is mind boggling when applied to the complex world of politics."
Although an opponent of abortion, Danforth has become an activist for a Missouri ballot initiative that would explicitly legalize embryonic stem cell research, an issue adopted increasingly by Democrats and some Republicans to show their differences with the Christian right.
He also favors government recognition of "committed same-sex partnerships." He believes the proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage amounts to gay-bashing.
Criticizing Republicans and Democrats at extreme ends of the political spectrum, Danforth told his Chicago audience that "most people don't want it to be this way." In allowing it to happen, he said, "the rest of us have been too silent."
Thomas has a place in Danforth's book. A questioner asked if he has changed his view of one of the court's staunchest conservatives.
Danforth, who has said he never questioned Thomas about serious allegations of sexual harassment, replied: "I have exactly the same view of Clarence Thomas that I have had for 30-some years. . . . I know him, and I love him as a human being. I stood by him, and I am proud of that."
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Archbishop Repudiates Expulsion
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A Roman Catholic archbishop dismissed from the Church on Tuesday for consecrating four married men as bishops said yesterday that he does not accept his excommunication and will work to have the Vatican lift its requirement that priests be celibate.
"We do not accept this excommunication and lovingly return it to His Holiness, our beloved Pope Benedict XVI, to . . . withdraw it and join us in recalling married priests to service once again," Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo said in a written statement read for him at a news conference at Imani Temple in Northeast Washington.
Milingo, 76, who was archbishop of Lusaka, Zambia, for 14 years, clashed with the Vatican once before, when he married a Korean acupuncturist in a 2001 mass ceremony presided over by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
At the news conference yesterday, Milingo was surrounded by the four men he installed as bishops Sunday at the temple, which is affiliated with the African-American Catholic Congregation, a breakaway church led by the Rev. George Augustus Stallings Jr.
The four, who were automatically excommunicated by participating in the installation, include Stallings, Patrick Trujillo of New Jersey, Peter Paul Brennan of New York and Joseph Gouthro of Nevada.
"I feel liberated," said Stallings, who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in 1989 to form a church and was excommunicated a year later.
In a communique on Milingo's excommunication, the Vatican said church officials had sought to "dissuade him from persisting in actions that provoke scandal."
But Milingo reached "a position of irregularity and of progressively open rupture of communion with the Church, first with his attempted marriage and then with the ordination of four bishops," it said, adding that Rome does not recognize "the four supposed-bishops."
Washington Archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Gibbs said: "The ordinations are clearly illicit, and I think the Vatican statement speaks for itself. We pray for his reconciliation."
The Rev. Robert Kaslyn, who teaches canon law at Catholic University, said Milingo and the four others are barred from presiding at public worship or administering the sacraments.
"It's very easy to say you're in communion with the Catholic Church, and yet if you're not recognized by other bishops," that relationship is not real, Kaslyn said. "Communion is a two-way street."
Milingo, who said he now lives in Washington with his wife, recently started the Married Priests Now! organization. He said its conference in New York was attended by more than 100 married priests who want to reenter ministry.
The conference was also attended by representatives of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, an affiliate of Moon's Unification Church, said Stallings, who is national co-president of the conference.
At the news conference, Milingo said in his statement that the 25,000 married priests in the United States could help the Catholic Church with its clergy shortage if it would lift "the medieval church-imposed regulation" requiring celibacy.
"In 20 years there will be few priests left," he observed, noting that "the average age of priests is approximately 74."
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A Roman Catholic archbishop dismissed from the Church on Tuesday for consecrating four married men as bishops said yesterday that he does not accept his excommunication and will work to have the Vatican lift its requirement that priests be celibate.
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The Big Question Democrats Are Ducking
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No matter how you slice it, the National Intelligence Estimate warning that the Iraq war has spawned more terrorism is big trouble for President Bush and his party in this election year. It goes to the heart of Bush's argument for invading Iraq, which was that it would make America safer.
Many Democrats act as if that's the end of the discussion: A mismanaged occupation has created a breeding ground for terrorists, so we should withdraw and let the Iraqis sort out the mess. Some extreme war critics are so angry at Bush they seem almost eager for America to lose, to prove a political point. Even among mainstream Democrats, the focus is "gotcha!" rather than "what next?" That is understandable, given the partisanship of Republican attacks, but it isn't right.
The issue raised by the National Intelligence Estimate is much grimmer than the domestic political game. Iraq has fostered a new generation of terrorists. The question is what to do about that threat. How can America prevent Iraq from becoming a safe haven where the newly hatched terrorists will plan Sept. 11-scale attacks that could kill thousands of Americans? How do we restabilize a Middle East that today is dangerously unbalanced because of America's blunders in Iraq?
This should be the Democrats' moment, if they can translate the national anger over Iraq into a coherent strategy for that country. But with a few notable exceptions, the Democrats are mostly ducking the hard question of what to do next. They act as if all those America-hating terrorists will evaporate back into the sands of Anbar province if the United States pulls out its troops. Alas, that is not the case. That is the problem with Iraq -- it is not an easy mistake to fix.
An example of the Democrats' fudge on Iraq was highlighted yesterday by Post columnist Dana Milbank in his description of retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste's appearance before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. Senators cheered Batiste's evisceration of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld but tuned out Batiste's call for more troops and more patience in Iraq, and his admonition: "We must mobilize our country for a protracted challenge."
Here's a reality check for the Democrats: There is not a single government in the Middle East, with the possible exceptions of Iran and Syria, that favors a rapid U.S. pullout from Iraq. Why? The consensus in the region is that a retreat now would have disastrous consequences for America and its allies. Yet withdrawal is the Iraq strategy you hear from most congressional Democrats, whether they call it "strategic redeployment" or something else.
I wish Democrats (and Republicans, for that matter) were asking this question: How do we prevent Iraq from becoming a failed state? Many critics of the war would argue that the worst has already happened -- Iraq has unraveled. Unfortunately, as bad as things are, they could get considerably worse. Following a rapid American pullout, Iraq could descend into a full-blown civil war, with Sunni-Shiite violence spreading throughout the region. In this chaos, oil supplies could be threatened, sending prices well above $100 a barrel. Turkey, Iran and Jordan would intervene to protect their interests. James Fallows titled his collection of prescient essays warning about the Iraq war "Blind Into Baghdad." We shouldn't compound the error by being "blind out of Baghdad," too.
The Democrat who has tried hardest to think through these problems is Sen. Joseph Biden. He argues that the current government of national unity isn't succeeding in holding Iraq together and that America should instead embrace a policy of "federalism plus" that will devolve power to the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish regions. Iraqis are already voting for sectarian solutions, Biden argues, and America won't stabilize Iraq unless it aligns its policy with this reality. I disagree with some of the senator's conclusions, but he's asking the right question: How do we fix Iraq?
America needs to reckon with the message of the National Intelligence Estimate. Iraq has compounded Muslim rage and created a dangerous crisis for the United States. The Democrats understandably want to treat Iraq as George Bush's war and wash their hands of it. But the damage of Iraq can be mitigated only if it again becomes the nation's war -- with the whole country invested in finding a way out of the morass that doesn't leave us permanently in greater peril. If the Democrats could lead that kind of debate about security, they would become the nation's governing party. But what you hear from most Democrats these days is: Gotcha.
The writer co-hosts, with Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria, PostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues athttp://www.washingtonpost.com. His e-mail address isdavidignatius@washpost.com.
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Neither criticizing the invasion, nor calling for a 'strategic redeployment' is enough. Democrats need to answer one very complicated question: How do we fix Iraq?
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Punch Lines for Pakistan's President
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The president of Pakistan has been in the United States lately to discuss matters of global importance and -- in his spare time -- to flog a memoir. Last night he appeared on Comedy Central's "Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, where he demonstrated both a sense of humor and a deep desire to sell "In the Line of Fire," which, incidentally, is now available on Amazon.com for the low, low price of $16.80, plus shipping and handling.
Following Pakistani custom, Stewart started off by offering Gen. Pervez Musharraf some tea. He also gave Musharraf the "American delicacy" known as a Twinkie.
"Is it good?" Stewart asked, then followed up with: "Where's Osama bin Laden?"
"I don't know," Musharraf replied, as the audience roared with laughter. " You know where he is? You lead on, we'll follow you."
Has it really come to this? In recent days, Musharraf has promoted his memoir, published Monday, on "Hannity & Colmes," "Today," "60 Minutes" and "Charlie Rose." He has engaged in long discussions of his country's foreign policy and endured the occasional moment of awkwardness in service to the greater good of book sales.
For example, on "Charlie Rose":
Rose: " 'In the Line of Fire" seems an appropriate title for your memoir, does it not?"
Musharraf: "I think so. That's why I selected it."
Last night was the first appearance of any sitting president on "The Daily Show," and the best lines, as usual, belonged to Stewart. He asked his guest ("Mr. President") about two attempts on his life, which took place on the same bridge.
"I'd come up with a new way to go to work," Stewart advised his guest.
As usual, much of Stewart's humor was rooted in criticism of the U.S. administration. If Musharraf felt such jokes put him in an awkward position with his ally President Bush -- with whom he met on Friday and is scheduled to meet again today -- he did not say so. Rather, he chuckled and played along. For example, Stewart asked Musharraf if Bush ran against bin Laden in a low-level election in Pakistan, who would win. Musharraf responded that both would "lose miserably."
Stewart asked Musharraf why he hadn't made much reference in his book to America's war in Iraq.
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Bagged Spinach Back on Shelves At Giant Today
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Giant Food plans today to resume sales of bagged spinach grown in Colorado and Canada, acting on a Food and Drug Administration advisory that spinach from areas not implicated in the deadly E. coli outbreak is safe to eat.
Giant's decision came as other supermarkets in the Washington area planned to resume selling fresh spinach, which was removed from stores after the FDA issued a warning Sept. 14 telling consumers to stop eating it because of the outbreak.
The outbreak of E. coli o157:H7, which has sickened 183 people in 26 states and killed an elderly woman in Wisconsin, has been traced to fresh spinach from three California counties: Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara. Twelve fields on nine farms in those counties supplied spinach to produce processor Natural Selection Foods LLC.
On Friday, the FDA revised its warning, clearing spinach grown outside the implicated counties and saying the industry was working on ways to label the source clearly.
"If it was not grown in those areas in California, we say it's safe to be consumed," said Cynthia Benson, an FDA spokeswoman.
Giant plans to resume selling bagged Savoy, a variety of spinach, grown in Colorado and Canada and to post signs in stores letting customers know where the greens come from. Giant will also have information on its Web site.
"We know where it comes from," Giant spokesman Jamie Miller said. "We're confident based on the information we have from the FDA."
In light of the FDA's revised recommendation, some Savoy spinach growers and processors nationwide have begun shipping again, though nowhere near as much as before the outbreak.
Verdelli Farms Inc., a Harrisburg, Pa., processor of Savoy spinach that supplies Giant, resumed operations yesterday morning, said executive vice president Daniel Verdelli. Spinach accounts for about a third of the company's sales. The company laid off 79 workers after the outbreak.
Those workers won't come back until business returns to pre-outbreak levels, the company said. On a normal day, the company processes 35,000 pounds of spinach. Yesterday, it processed 2,000.
Whole Foods plans to resume selling bunched spinach in the next week, spokeswoman Kate Lowery said. However, the Austin-based grocery chain has not placed new orders for bagged spinach, which it usually obtains from California, Lowery said.
Safeway was working on getting spinach back onto shelves, spokesman Greg TenEyck said.
Food Lion has no plans to restock bagged spinach, said spokesman Jeff Lowrance. "We are still waiting for further verification from our suppliers that their spinach did not come from those California counties," he said.
Savoy spinach has a dark, crinkly leaf and was the dominant spinach in the United States until the flat-leaf variety surpassed it in the 1990s. It is grown in the central and eastern states, including Maryland and Virginia.
Pentagon Produce Inc., a Savoy spinach grower in Colorado that distributes to Verdelli and other companies serving the East Coast, on Saturday sent out its first shipment of spinach since Sept. 14, said co-owner Dondee Lindenborn.
"We're hoping and praying it does get back on the shelf," he said. "It will take a really long time for us to get our market share back."
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'Defenses Fear Number 26'
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Carrying the unmoved posture of a perfectionist, Washington Redskins associate head coach Al Saunders was sullen in celebration Sunday. He entered the glass elevator at Reliant Stadium immediately after his team's 31-15 win over the Houston Texans, his expressionless mouth a thin, horizontal line with no hint of curling into a smile.
On the eight-story trip from the coaches' box down to the field level, Saunders's tone was low and even, unbefitting a man whose offense had just produced 495 yards. The Redskins had won their first game. The offense was dominant. His team rushed for 234 yards and his quarterback, Mark Brunell, had redeemed something of a risky short-passing game plan -- in the two previous weeks Saunders had been criticized for not throwing more often downfield -- by completing 22 consecutive passes, an NFL record. Yet Saunders seemed funereal.
"From a technical aspect," he said morosely, "we made more mistakes in that game than in the previous two."
But by the time Saunders walked down the long corridor toward the Redskins' locker room, his mood had turned. There was in him a sunburst after all. The reason was because he was talking about Clinton Portis.
In the management-driven world of the NFL, where the ubiquitous culture still often trumps the individual talent of the players, Saunders's energetic response to Portis's return was something of an anomaly. When the Redskins' defense played without Phillip Daniels, Cornelius Griffin, Shawn Springs and Renaldo Wynn at times during the preseason, assistant head coach-defense Gregg Williams would not acknowledge -- at least publicly -- the consequences of such a severe talent drain, preferring to adhere to his belief that the scheme would overcome the loss of key personnel. Success was determined more by the plan than the players.
Saunders was never as fiercely dogmatic as Williams, but for stretches seemed convinced that if put in positive situations, Ladell Betts, Rock Cartwright and T.J. Duckett could compensate without a severe reduction in productivity.
The return of Portis shattered that notion. Portis rushed for 86 yards and caught two passes for 78 more, and Saunders was clear in his admission: Regardless of his now-famous 700-page playbook, the shifts, formation changes and his genuine innovativeness, Portis was the difference-maker. He was respectful of the abilities of his other running backs, but talent won out.
"There is something about those special runners, the elite ones," Saunders said. "They have that ability to affect the whole defensive structure. They can take a play that is going nowhere and turn it into something. They can take a good play and make it a spectacular one."
Saunders spoke of a certain unscientific mathematical formula that applied to his past difference-makers -- running backs Chuck Muncie, Marshall Faulk, Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson and now Portis -- in how, in his words, they "make my job easier." A play that appears headed for zero yards turns into a three-yard gain. Three-yard plays become eight, and eight becomes 28.
"We knew they were going to try to get the ball to Portis and we still couldn't get it done," Texans defensive tackle Seth Payne said. "Anytime you let a team do that to you, we're all at fault."
In his own way, Saunders, and to a lesser extent Coach Joe Gibbs in his Monday remarks, acknowledged the victory of talent over scheme by thinking ahead to Sunday's game with Jacksonville. Without the implied threat of Portis, the Redskins simply cannot execute their type of offense. Along the Reliant runway, Saunders spoke less technically and more viscerally about the difference.
"The difference is fear," he said. "Defenses fear number 26."
That fear, Saunders said, changes the defensive approach, even subconsciously. Players move before they're supposed to, in anticipation of what Portis can do. The half-second a defensive player spies Portis -- a half-second unused on Betts or Duckett, Cartwright, all good players but of lesser ability than Portis -- may be the very span of time Santana Moss breaks free of his man or Antwaan Randle El separates in the slot. That, Saunders said, is the inherent value of having a difference-maker on the field.
Thus, much of Saunders's game plan Sunday, he said, is in allowing great players to let their talent take over. If the Jaguars have the edge in overall talent as well as statistically -- opposing quarterbacks are only completing 49 percent of their passes against the Jaguars' defense and running backs are averaging just 3.2 yards per carry -- Saunders prepares to counter those numbers not by relying on an elaborate plan, but with talent.
"These types of players make you pay such close attention to them at all times," Saunders said of Portis. "And all you want to do is find as many ways possible to put the ball in their hands."
Even Gibbs was especially taken by Portis's ability to turn a five-foot shovel pass into a key 74-yard gain. As their time together continues, Gibbs reveals a greater admiration for Portis as a player.
"I wasn't surprised. I think Clinton is an exceptional player. Here's a guy who is a proven product," Gibbs said about whether he underestimated Portis's impact on his offense. "He's 1,500 yards every year. He's very aggressive. He loves to play, and all the things we go through joking around with Clinton, when it comes to a game, he understands how to play it and is as good as anyone I've seen."
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In a league in which schemes and game plans often trump personnel, it was clear to offensive mastermind Al Saunders that the return of Clinton Portis agains the Texans clearly made all the difference.
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Detainee Bill in Final Stages
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White House national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley met with Republican senators yesterday in an effort to reach final agreement on legislation that would govern the military trials of terrorism suspects, but they did not resolve a dispute over whether the captives should have access to U.S. courts.
The complex measure, which President Bush has called a top legislative priority, nonetheless appears likely to win approval by the time Congress adjourns at the end of this week. A vote is expected in the House today on a version of the legislation that the White House supports. It was unclear yesterday evening whether Republican leaders would allow any amendments to it.
The Senate-White House negotiations centered on what is known as a "court-stripping" provision that bars U.S. courts from considering habeas corpus filings by detainees over their confinement and treatment. It affirms the Bush administration's assertion that it has an incontestable right to hold persons detained as "unlawful enemy combatants" for the duration of the battle against terrorism.
"Habeas has to be resolved," and it will most likely be addressed on the Senate floor, John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters after meeting with Hadley. Senate Republican leadership aides said that the floor debate could begin today and that the legislation setting rules for military commissions, as they are known, might be combined with a bill to create a new fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Three foes of the habeas corpus provision -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) -- introduced yesterday an amendment to overturn the administration-backed provision by allowing foreign nationals in military or CIA custody to challenge the legality of their detentions after one year.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who supports the suspension of the habeas corpus process, predicted that the Specter amendment "will be defeated, I think, in a bipartisan fashion, with a solid vote." But Graham said he has been exploring a different amendment on the matter, which he declined to describe.
Administration officials have said that the controversial provision is warranted because "unlawful enemy combatants" are not entitled to the same rights as regular soldiers or U.S. citizens; because isolation and the threat of indefinite detention aid U.S. interrogations; and because habeas corpus petitions could obstruct or delay the military trials of detainees.
But human rights groups and defense lawyers have condemned the provision as unconstitutional. They said it could leave detainees "to rot" in jail.
Thirty-one former ambassadors, including 20 who served in Republican administrations, jointly wrote Congress this week that "to eliminate habeas corpus relief for the citizens of other countries who have fallen into our hands cannot but make a mockery" of the administration's efforts to promote democracy. They also said that it would set a precedent that could jeopardize U.S. diplomats and military personnel overseas.
The negotiators also discussed yesterday a recent administration-backed change in the legislation to broaden the definition of potential unlawful enemy combatants in a way that would allow the government to detain and try a wider range of foreign nationals than envisioned earlier.
Other recent changes to the bill aroused controversy yesterday. In one, the administration and its House allies would give the defense secretary wide latitude to depart, without independent judicial scrutiny, from the rules and detainee protections the legislation would create. It would allow him to do so whenever he deems it "practicable or consistent with military or intelligence activities."
Georgetown University law professor Neal K. Katyal, who represented Salim Ahmed Hamdan in a case in which the Supreme Court overturned in June the administration's previous military-trial procedures, said the discretion, as written, is broad enough for the Defense Department to suspend a presumption of innocence for defendants. The new rules "themselves build in all the flexibility the secretary of defense needs to depart massively," Katyal said.
Other defense lawyers criticized yesterday recent changes that make it easier for prosecutors to introduce evidence without challenge and that eliminate defendants' right to examine all the evidence presented against them. The draft bill would, however, preserve defendants' right to respond to that evidence.
Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
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White House national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley met with Republican senators yesterday in an effort to reach final agreement on legislation that would govern the military trials of terrorism suspects, but they did not resolve a dispute over whether the captives should have access to U.S....
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House Passes Measure on Religion Suits
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The House passed a bill yesterday that would bar judges from awarding legal fees to the American Civil Liberties Union and similar groups that sue municipalities for violating the Constitution's ban on government establishment of religion.
Though the bill would prevent plaintiffs from recovering legal costs in any lawsuit based on the Establishment Clause, House Republicans said during a floor debate that it was particularly aimed at organizations that force the removal of Nativity scenes and Ten Commandments monuments from public property.
"Liberal groups . . . scour the country looking to sue cities and states with any kind of religious display, regardless of how popular these displays are," said Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.). Because judges often require municipalities that lose such lawsuits to reimburse their opponents' legal fees, "citizens' precious monuments are being eroded with their own tax dollars," she added.
The bill, called the Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act, passed 244 to 173 on a mostly party-line vote.
Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office, said the measure is "election-year red meat for the Christian right, because they've been complaining they haven't gotten enough from this Congress."
Fredrickson added that it appears unlikely the Senate will pass the bill.
"But we're watching it, because it is designed to do real damage to First Amendment protections," she said. "What the backers of this legislation are leaving out of the discussion is that fees are only awarded when we've been successful in showing that someone's constitutional rights have been violated."
The American Legion, the Southern Baptist Convention and other conservative groups began pushing for the legislation after a Pennsylvania judge awarded $2 million to the ACLU of Pennsylvania and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The two groups had successfully sued the school board in Dover, Pa., for requiring science teachers to teach "intelligent design" alongside evolution. The award was later reduced to $1 million.
Conservative groups were also irked when a judge awarded $550,000 to three groups -- Americans United, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU of Alabama -- after they prevailed in a lawsuit against former Alabama chief justice Roy S. Moore's display of the Ten Commandments.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. John N. Hostettler (R-Ind.), said the ACLU and similar groups are "profiteering" as well as seeking "to remove every vestige of our religious heritage from public places."
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The House passed a bill yesterday that would bar judges from awarding legal fees to the American Civil Liberties Union and similar groups that sue municipalities for violating the Constitution's ban on government establishment of religion.
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Police Stop Protest at Senate Building
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The quiet, sunny atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building was transformed into a chaotic scene yesterday when dozens of war protesters filed into the lobby, formed a prayer circle, shouted Scripture and eventually were arrested as Senate staffers hung over railings and crammed glass-walled offices to watch.
Employees in the building and longtime area activists said they had never seen police allow such a demonstration in a government office building, with activists one and two stories up reading the names of the Iraq war dead, civilian and military. The names rang loudly through improvised megaphones into the building's open center. Dozens of police streamed into the atrium and arrested about 35 people, including Rick Ufford-Chase, who until recently was a top official of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
"I've been working here nine years, and I've never seen this much police activity -- except during the anthrax scare," said an employee who did not give his name because he said he had not been authorized to talk to the media.
Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police, said: "We don't encourage people to demonstrate in the buildings. . . . I'm not aware of anything unusual about how it was handled on our end."
Thirty-five additional antiwar demonstrators were arrested yesterday around the U.S. Capitol in related protests. Hundreds of antiwar actions have taken place across the country this week as faith-based and other groups push for a timetable for the United States to leave Iraq. Thirty-four people affiliated with the umbrella organization coordinating this week's efforts, Declaration of Peace, were arrested Thursday after they refused to leave the White House without talking with President Bush.
Although leaders of major U.S. denominations have spoken against the Iraq war since it began, such proclamations are becoming louder and more prominent.
"Today was the first time national-level leaders were participating -- not just themselves but calling on members of denominations to join them," said Gordon Clark, coordinator of the D.C.-based National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance. "And there's a big difference between going to a protest and putting your body on the line and resisting arrest. And that's what they haven't been doing before."
Participating yesterday was Rabbi Arthur Waskow, head of an interfaith dialogue center in Philadelphia and a leader of the Jewish Renewal movement. Arrested in addition to Ufford-Chase was the Rev. Jackie Lynn, president of the Chicago-based Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
Senate staffers watching the demonstration showed neither support nor opposition, simply gawking and taking photos with their cellphones as protesters below sang "We Shall Overcome," read from the Book of Jeremiah and lay on the cold floor as police filed in with plastic handcuffs.
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Get Washington DC,Maryland,Virginia news. Includes news headlines from The Washington Post. Get info/values for Washington DC,Maryland,Virginia homes. Features schools,crime,government,traffic,lottery,religion,obituaries.
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Politics and the Price of Gas
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GRANVILLE, Ohio -- The price of gas is an ongoing story on the Ramble. As we've driven from district to district, we've kept a close eye out to see how low gas will go.
Last night, exiting off of Route 16 we saw the first signs for sub-$2 gas. Three stations offered fuel for $1.98 or $1.99 per gallon. By the time we reached our hotel -- in Newark, Ohio -- the cost was back up to $2.19.
(A quick sidebar: If you happen to be in south-central Ohio any time soon, make sure to stop by Natoma Cafe in downtown Newark. Named for an opera by Victor Herbert, this homey enclave wins the award for best meal of the Ramble to date. Make sure to have the baby beef -- the specialty of the house.)
The politics of gas are fascinating in these congressional districts as Democrats in nearly every one are hammering their Republican opponents for accepting donations from oil and gas companies. Despite the drop in the cost of a gallon of gas, most Democrats insist they are not concerned that it will blunt one of their key issues in the fall campaign.
Cincinatti City Councilman John Cranley (D), who is challenging Rep. Steve Chabot (R) in the fall, said the declining price at the pump made little difference to his call for a new energy policy. "The government should not be subsidizing the most proiftbale corporations in the history of the world," he said.
In the midst of the back and forth on gas prices comes a new poll from Gallup that shows large numbers of the American public are skeptical about the timing of the cost cuts. Forty-two percent of the sample said that the Bush Administration had "deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's elections," while 53 percent said the price drop had nothing to do with the President.
Don't forget that state Rep. Mike Weaver (D), who is running against Rep. Ron Lewis (R) in Kentucky's 2nd district, told your Ramblers on day one that voters should question whether the price at the pump is being manipulated.
This seems to be an issue that Democrats will continue to use because it is resonating with the voters.
By Chris Cillizza | September 26, 2006; 9:56 AM ET | Category: Ohio River Ramble Previous: Video: Immigration Impacts Ohio District 1 | Next: Ohio's 18th: Voters Consider Ethics Scandals
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Oil companies do not need the president or the republican party to ask them to take a bite out of their profit margin. They are very much aware that keeping republicans in control continues their chances of corporate tax breaks and taking a bite out of the profit margin for a few months is a drop in the bucket if it prevents higher corporate taxes. Some opinions have noted that there was no manipulation in the months preceding the election in 2004 so that should prove that there is no manipulation now. These people are hoping that the american public is just that naive. In 2004 the republicans still had strong support and were in no danger of losing either the presidency or control of the congress. That is no longer the case. There is a strong possibility that control of the congress will shift to the democrats and the oil companies are very well aware of that and it is just naive to think that they would not stoop to such tactics. Wake up America. Use your heads. Will you be mindless sheep through yet another election ?
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OK I get it George Bush and the Administration go to their "Oil Buddies" and say alright you need to lose money till after the election so we can stay in power.
OK well he is gonna be President of the United States no matter what happens and so will most members of Congress.
So what in the world would such a strategy accomplish? This question must be answered before coming up with convoluted conspiricies.
Suppose you were a friend of mine and I said "Hey I would like you to not work as hard or as many hours for the next month to earn less money so that those evil employers that hired you would not profit as much!" You would most likely laugh at me and ask if I had lost my mind. Not only would it make my family mad since they aren't eating as well, if at all, as they should, because Daddy or Mommy is not doing their job. It is also possible to be fired for such behavior.
The same could be said of the Oil Industry executives who answer to the stockholders...beleive me Exxon/Mobile is a public corporation that is traded on the open stock market and stockholder not only can vote but also liquidate their shares from the company if the results from those CEOs reflect poorly on their portfolio.
The oil prices of light sweet or heavy sour are also traded openly on the market and there are those that make their livlihood in speculation of the prices of that market, many have left the oil market as stocks have risen knowing that they will fall even further and are getting out before the final low of this market. This market can be moved by rumors of Iran cutting oil output or OPEC cutting oil output... right now it will be too late as inventories are at surlpus levels and heating oil is also, just look at headlines in your local newspaper.
The fact is that supply trully exceeds the demand for a product and in this case it is petroleum or oil
------------ ------------ Above is supply of dashes and I want $5.00 each for them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dashes for $.35 or 4 for a dollar. It is just that I have too many. See what supply and demand does?
Posted by: Steve De Marcus | October 13, 2006 8:12 PM
OK I get it George Bush and the Administration go to their "Oil Buddies" and say alright you need to lose money till after the election so we can stay in power.
OK well he is gonna be President of the United States no matter what happens and so will most members of Congress.
So what in the world would such a strategy accomplish? This question must be answered before coming up with convoluted conspiricies.
Suppose you were a friend of mine and I said "Hey I would like you to not work as hard or as many hours for the next month to earn less money so that those evil employers that hired you would not profit as much!" You would most likely laugh at me and ask if I had lost my mind. Not only would it make my family mad since they aren't eating as well, if at all, as they should, because Daddy or Mommy is not doing their job. It is also possible to be fired for such behavior.
The same could be said of the Oil Industry executives who answer to the stockholders...beleive me Exxon/Mobile is a public corporation that is traded on the open stock market and stockholder not only can vote but also liquidate their shares from the company if the results from those CEOs reflect poorly on their portfolio.
The oil prices of light sweet or heavy sour are also traded openly on the market and there are those that make their livlihood in speculation of the prices of that market, many have left the oil market as stocks have risen knowing that they will fall even further and are getting out before the final low of this market. This market can be moved by rumors of Iran cutting oil output or OPEC cutting oil output... right now it will be too late as inventories are at surlpus levels and heating oil is also, just look at headlines in your local newspaper.
The fact is that supply trully exceeds the demand for a product and in this case it is petroleum or oil
------------ ------------ Above is supply of dashes and I want $5.00 each for them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dashes for $.35 or 4 for a dollar. It is just that I have too many. See what supply and demand does?
Posted by: Steve De Marcus | October 13, 2006 8:06 PM
Route 16!! Aka East Broad St. You guys are very close to my home turf. But Newark, if anything, is east central Ohio, not South Central.
Base mobilization won't matter much when Democrats are far more enthused about voting than disenchanted Republicans this cycle. And stop using "Democrat" as if it were an adjective when you know full well that Democrat is a noun and the adjective is Democratic.
Bush did egg Israel on much too long in its war with Lebanon, and both we and Israel probably had real intelligence failures in that debacle. But I'm a lefty who does not see how Bush could be manipulating gas prices. Especially as I've seen them parallel here in Canada what they're doing in the US.
Independent Terp: Yes, I most certainly do remember in the late 90s when gas prices dipped below $1 a gallon. I drove home from college in Delaware, Ohio where I paid $.79 a gallon to St. Louis, MO where I paid $.69 a gallon. Now it's hilarious to hear Americans whining about $3 a gallon gas when Montreal gas prices recently hit a LOW of what amounts to $2.95 a gallon, from last month's high of $4.30 a gallon. In Europe they're paying $6 and $7 a gallon. In real terms, gas prices in the US are well below their all-time highs. Americans are using far too much gas, in part because it's too cheap.
Respected liberal economist: John Maynard Keynes. Respected economists who give the Laffer Curve any credibility: 0.
Posted by: Sandwich Repairman | September 28, 2006 2:37 AM
The reason most questions are not answered is that I am mostly interested in getting in my little humorous zingers. you may have assumed that there would be a debate based on some set of mutually agreed upon facts. you were wrong. I don't deal in facts, only name-calling and small-mindedness. My main purpose appears to be to drag down the level of discourse to the kindergarten level. I am not worth responding to but many seem to be easily suckered into responding to someone who has all the intellectual responsibility of a 9-year old.
Posted by: original thought hurts my brain | September 27, 2006 10:20 PM
The reason most questions are not answered is that the posters here are mostly interested in getting in their little humorous zingers. you may have assumed that there would be a debate based on some set of mutually agreed upon facts. you were wrong.
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 27, 2006 5:55 PM
What is it about "DUH!" that you don't understand?
Posted by: Nor'Easter | September 27, 2006 4:09 PM
Nor'Easter: Thank you for taking the time to fully answer why people don't answer questions, but failing to answer the questoin based on the thread. I feel so much more intelligent having visited this site today. I hope only one day that I can be as helpful to others as you have been to me.
Posted by: Independent Terp | September 27, 2006 3:58 PM
Terp - I went back through your postings to find the "questions" which you asked. There were two.
1) "I'd just like to ask why I and DavidT have both asked the forum a few questions and no one has answered any of those questions, or at least made an attempt."
and 2) You asked James, "Just curious, if I vote Democrat and they win, what do I get out of that deal?"
I believe that I am safe in answering the first question; the rules are found in the Post a Comment paragraphs at the end of the entries.
If you do not believe those rules are strict enough, then I suggest that you post those that you require the Rest of The World to follow in a current thread for comment. That could be interesting.
If you want personal service, you need to look elsewhere. (Please take a lot at your postings and notice the number of times you used "I" in them.)
If you want to grade papers, I suggest that you seek employment in the educational system. Most of us look past the form of these postings and look for the substance.
Lastly, the second question which you asked is unanswerable. I had assumed it was rhetorical, until your further postings.
Posted by: Nor'Easter | September 27, 2006 3:54 PM
Nor'Easter: That good old college education has done me quite well. It's enabled me to read for facts and information as well as for grammatical errors. If only the rest of the world could multi-task so well. I find it interesting that you didn't answer any of my questions or other peoples. Perhaps you're not able to distinguish the difference between a question and a comment. As much as people providing content is great, it would be nice of them to answer the questions that get asked in a forum. Otherwise, it just becomes a place where everyone begins to react and not think.
Posted by: Independent Terp | September 27, 2006 2:13 PM
Listen up. If the Democrats regain control of Congress, chances are a windfalls profits tax will be awaiting the oil industry in 2007. Reason enough for the industry to try to influence the election in favor of incumbants by lowering prices dramatically. No need for Bush to intervene. Now, why did the Bush administration fail to exercise any controls on prices over the past year as prices rose through the roof? Let's see, who in the Bush White House could possibly benefit from increased oil profits? Hmmm? No, not economic ties to that industry in THIS administration. Nope.
Posted by: Jeff | September 27, 2006 1:13 PM
Terp - I don't know how you read these postings. I found a lot of lack of understanding of the energy market process; but I also found a lot of pertinent information in a good number of them. Such that I know that I now have better factual information, which hopefully leads to a better understanding of the issue.
Not every poster here is throwing darts. If you're not an energy expert and didn't get something out of these that you didn't know about, then you must not have been reading them closely.
But then, maybe you were reading them looking for grammatical errors and not reading them for content.
Posted by: Nor'Easter | September 27, 2006 12:53 PM
Well said DavidT. I'd just like to ask why I and DavidT have both asked the forum a few questions and no one has answered any of those questions, or at least made an attempt. I typically don't post on these board and now I remember why. What is the point of reading all these posts as I have done just to listen to people argue Right vs. Left. I guess that's the DC area for you. I think you should all take a step back and remember that when you die, your gravestone is more likely to say "good father" or "good husband" and not "party voter for life".
Posted by: Independent Terp | September 27, 2006 10:55 AM
So what I am saying about $50.00/bbl Venezuela crude is that it is not such a bargain as the average person might suspect.
Posted by: fred | September 26, 2006 11:02 PM
I hate to confuse the issue with some facts here but here are the top exporters of crude oil to the US
1. Canada 2. Mexico 3. Saudi Arabia 4. Venezuela 5. Nigeria
Here is the website with these facts: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_top.asp
So to Rob Grey and other, we are buying crude from Venezuela. The problem with Venezuela crude is that most of it is so thick, it is very hard to refine. So the cost of this oil is about $20/bbl below the widely quoted crude oil price that we see in the news every day. BTW, Citgo is owned by the government of Venezuela.
Posted by: Fred | September 26, 2006 10:53 PM
Davidt this post is over but if you check here do not attribute to me arguments that I never made such as gas prices should have been $6-$7 p/gallon at $78/gallon. I am convinced that much like the stock market oil prices are as much about psychology as any economic reality. We lived through $8 per barrel here in Houston and saw what ridiculously low prices can do to an economy as much as $78/barrel. Its not a popular thought here, but I sincerely think that our conflict in Iraq played at least a psychological part in keepking prices at $60-$75/barrel, but the answer is for American to acknowledge that our country has a problem with a disproportionate useage of oil, that we acknowledge that we need to drive smaller more fuel efficient vehicles, and if our politicians are unwilling to take on Detroit and demand higher CAFE Standards, then we should send them a message and stop buying their vehicles. Someone above was bragging about Bush's great economy, if not you david I apologize, but it is precisely b/c the economy is slowing that fuel prices have fallen so precipitously. If that coincidentally helps the Republicans I am sure we will not hear any complaints from D.C., but while I have doubts about the honesty of this administration, I generally reject conspiracy theories, and I am not part of either "fringe" mentality.
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 8:28 PM
No hatred? You must never read or listen to what your leaders say. The never ending stream of venom from people like Dick Cheney, Condeleeza Rice, Donald Rumself,and George Bush. The republican lust for power has driven the party to new lows in integrity, and sanity for that matter. Why don't you just admit it and be done with it...we may not like it but at least we could respect your honesty.
Posted by: amused | September 26, 2006 6:46 PM
I've seen a few posts through out this thread that put a lot of different ideas out there. I'd like to clarify some of them.
Supply and Demand only effect prices by a small amount unless there is little to no supply. Supply and Demand does not effect prices enough to raise the price of gas over 100%, especially when the supply is so high.
Also, someone asked that if Bush can control gas prices, why did he allow it to get so high in the first place? Thats an easy one. The gas companies are his friends, he gives them tax breaks and they raise prices so their profits can go up.
Bush and the gas companies allowed the price to go so high because there is nothing we can do about it. We NEED gas, our lives undergo serious hardship without it. No matter how high gas goes, until we have an alternative source (electric cars or cheaper ethanol) we will buy it. When the Democrats attacked the high gas prices and the public responded, Bush and Co realized that they needed to lower the price. Some people will point at "end of the driving season" or something sbout "summer blends" but even that does not explain prices dropping a dollar. Gas prices have never dropped this much before at the end of the season. No, this is simple price manipulation by the gas companies in an effort to keep Republicans in power. Sad thing is, that now prices have dropped to 2 bucks, people seem to think prices are low, prices are still rediculously high, where the heck is the 1.20 I remember so well.
Posted by: Rob Millette | September 26, 2006 6:45 PM
I hope that nobody strikes a match around here!
Posted by: Nor'Easter | September 26, 2006 6:37 PM
Ira, you make the same mistake everyone on "your side" makes. You assign everyone to a group or side. The only side I've chosen is mine. I don't believe Bush manipulated the price of gas before the election to get votes and I do not believe the economy is booming as you said I do. The opposite is true, thus the drop in demand for oil. Bush manipulated the economy so it would suffer a down-turn before the election to lower demand for oil, to lower gas prices, to win votes? I do not like Republicans or Democrats. The left wing and right wing are both nuts. I hate Pat Robertson as much as I do Al Sharpton. So please leave the assigning of teams, sides or corners out of it, thank you. If your argument is that gas is too low compared to the price of a barrel of crude, or went down disproportionatly, then I would ask you why gas was below a dollar when oil was $10-15 a barrel but when it went to $78 it wasn't at $6-7? Did you argue then that the price of gas didn't go up enough compared to the price of oil?
Posted by: davidt | September 26, 2006 6:11 PM
You caught me off guard with Galbraith - he is liberal and he is respected. but his era was the Keynesian era with Big G manipulation of the market. these ideas are mostly discredited now, not to detract from his brilliance at the time. but he died this year and didn't practice his craft recently. Technically you have met my challenge, but is that it?
"Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everybody gets busy on the proof." - JKG
and something you should identify with "It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled sea of thought." -JKG
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 26, 2006 5:57 PM
What seems to be the problem with producing alternative fuels like in Brazil and a fazed in increase in CAFE Standards?
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 5:52 PM
shame you into it king? from your posts it is apparent that you are not capable of anything other than attacks.
What seems to be the problem with producing alternative fuels like in Brazil and a fazed in increase and CAFE Standards? Even auto makers are now supporting that concept. Why are so making blocking sensible energy independence. It is truly a national security issue.
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 5:51 PM
The only true path to energy independence is to go nuclear and forget things like solar and wind power fantasies. But who do you think will be leading the charge to derail any such effort...I wonder.
Posted by: amused | September 26, 2006 5:50 PM
If energy independence is so wonderful, why hasn't it already happened? you Libs have no sense at all for market forces or capitalism. Let's just have the Big G wish it (force)into existence. Let's have all your moral rightousness shame us into it. how about when it becomes productive, profitable and necessary, we do it? Imagine that.
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 26, 2006 5:49 PM
BTW- respected liberal economist: John Kenneth Galbraith
Posted by: jimbob | September 26, 2006 5:46 PM
Thanks to Ind. Terp for restoring a little of my faith in the sanity of the nation. I have some questions for all of you.
Shouldn't Republicans conspire to make oil prices low so we stay hooked on oil?
Shouldn't Democrats conspire to make gas cost $8 a gallon to get us to drop the habit and find alternative fuels?
If Dems love the environment and Republicans want to stop terrorism, shouldn't both of them work together to make oil of no value?
Isn't our mere use of oil a threat to national securtiy since we buy so much of it from satan?
What war, battle or bomb would do more to destroy terrorism than making oil worthless?
What if all these conspiricy nuts stop blogging and put their vivid imagination to work creating some type of synthetic petroleum?
Posted by: davidt | September 26, 2006 5:45 PM
I see some come here to rant, rave and make ad hominem attacks, without being able to concentrate or discuss the topic at hand. Your posts king, are simply worthless drivel that does nothing to advance our serious need for Energy Indendence which I presume that we can all agree is in the best interest of Red States, Blue States and even king .
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 5:43 PM
kingofzouk Seriously, you're a condescending nasty jackass who contributes nothing to any debate except vitriol and abuse. Please, leave the sarcasm and the nasty comments to Ann Coulter who, at least, is funny.
Posted by: jimbob | September 26, 2006 5:40 PM
Problem............solution 1: The war in Iraq.... run and hide 2: terrorism............ full rights for foreign killers 3: The economy...... raise taxes 4: crime................. release criminals 5. education............ NCLB - endorsed by Dems (examine the votes)funded by Rs, endless complaints by admin and teachers who got left behind
Still no facts from you fantasists.
what will you say after your next electoral loss - more victimology no doubt.
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 26, 2006 5:33 PM
davidt, again follow the discussion please. No one is arguing that there were not natural weather related and economic slow down conditions responsible for declining oil prices and that oil prices naturally go down as we reach the winter season. Although while the economy by all econmic indicators is slowing and has been relatively week for 6 years, your side argues incorrectly that we our economy is booming. Incidentally for those who follow the stock market like I have for 25 years the DOW goes up as the economy slows. What we are discussing is the extent of the precipitous drop in gas prices, huge energy profits and their close ties to Dick Cheney and the RNC, and their suspicious timing 45 days before the Nov election. Oil prices start going down after Labor Day but normally make their largest drop after hanksgiving.Incidentally it was Pat Robertson not us, who claimed he could control tornados to miss Oklahoma and strike San Francisco.
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 5:30 PM
MikeB: I think inflated gas prices are no worse for this country (and myself) than low gas prices with no forward thinking. I drive a Ford Explorer in a city area and do not complain about the gas prices (and I make a lot less than you I bet). I still travel as much as I used to, I just cut out certain things here and there to the same extent other people cut out the unnecessary trips.
Because nothing was done about the oil situation ten years ago, we are all paying for this problem now. I don't blame Bill Clinton, former Bush, or Reagan for this issue. I certainly don't blame someone that just entered office six years ago. I blame all the Americans who chose to enjoy the $1.00 a gallon days without looking at the future. You could say the same thing for the majority or our environmental issues now. The fact is we didn't care when we benefitted; now we all must suffer the consequences. Sadly, $3.00 a gallon still hasn't changed the way we do things. And No, I'm not an environmentalist. I just hate that most people in this country, especially politicians on both sides of the fence, refuse to take responsibility and look towards a long-term solution. Instead, it'd be much easier to blame the most recognizable political figure on the other side of the fence.
Posted by: Independent Terp | September 26, 2006 5:28 PM
Thanks for making my point mikeb....ZERO solutions and alternatives to problems, just blame, blame, blame.
Posted by: amused | September 26, 2006 5:28 PM
.....Problem............Reality 1: The war in Iraq.... Breading Terror 2: terrorism............ Where's Osama? 3: The economy...... Stagnent 4: crime................. Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Enron 5: education............ Left the children behind
Posted by: MikeB | September 26, 2006 5:23 PM
No hatred? You must never read or listen to what your leaders say. The never ending stream of venom from people like Howard Dean, Charlie Wrangle, Harry Ried, etc, etc, etc, is disgusting. The democratic lust for power has driven the party to new lows in integrity, and sanity for that matter. Why don't you just admit it and be done with it...we may not like it but at least we could respect your honesty.
Posted by: amused | September 26, 2006 5:23 PM
So how did Clinton get gas prices to their lowest point in history for the 98 election? Why/how did he get them even lower in 99 if it wasn't an election year? The more I read these blogs the more I realize this country is doomed by its insanity. The truth is now whatever you want it to be. That gas prices go down almost every time this year, election year or not, Democrat or Republican, is an inconvenient truth? I can't wait to read your next topic as to how Bush controls the weather and he made a huricane hit the gulf coast so oil prices could go up for once at the end of September and how he guided it intentionally to New Orleans so it would kill minorities. It doesn't matter if it's true, if enough of your type write about it, it will become the truth.
Posted by: davidt | September 26, 2006 5:16 PM
no actually we don't hate anyone amused, we just feel sorry for Bush and his woeful incompitence. We don't have time to leave our work, try to engage in intelligent discission with your side and waste it on hatred b/c Republicans will leave this country with so many economic and international problems in November to deal with that it will take Democrats years after they win in November to straighten out. No we don't hate anyone, even those like you who profess such ludicrous and straw man arguments. We will leave the hate speech to your friends Coulter and Limbaugh but don't throw that garbage out here, we came here to discuss why gas prices have collapsed 45 days before an election. Sorry you can't seem to follow the discussion here w/o attacking Bill Clinton (which we expect to hear 50 years from now) and thrwo the hate word out.
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 5:16 PM
no actually the Michigan Sentiment level of consumer confidence has been down the last 5 years and it has taken 5 plus years for the Dow to reach the 11,000 level that Bill Clinton left in 2000. How did your stock portfolio make out between 2000 and 2006? Most American investors lost a substantial sum in their mutual funds in 401ks and their portfolios after 6 years are nearly back to December 2000, and you site that as a Republican accomplishment? But of course all of this is Bill Clinton's fault as is everything on the face of the earth. What happened to the party of personal responsibility. You ignored my querry where I pointed out that red states have higher gas taxes than blue states and that Bush and McCain pander and will continue to Iowa voters. Apparently you are afraid of reasoned argument, and would rather resort to name calling.
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 5:04 PM
Thanks to all of you who post your theories about how Bush is able to manipulate the world oil market, something which even your most liberal rags know is so stupid that they don't dare try to push the theory themselves. 42% of people believe he is doing it and two-thirds of those are democrats. How can you stand to belong to such an ignorant party? Here are your solutions to the top 5 problems facing America today:
.....Problem............Solution 1: The war in Iraq....WE HATE BUSH 2: terrorism............WE HATE BUSH 3: The economy......WE HATE BUSH 4: crime.................WE HATE BUSH 5: education............WE HATE BUSH
Until you get over your obsessive hatred of our president and offer real alternatives, no one should take anything you say seriously.
Posted by: amused | September 26, 2006 5:03 PM
If the Bush administration did not manipulate the gas price, why they did not reduce the gas price before, and they wait until closing to the elected day. It is hard to believe.
Posted by: Trong Phan | September 26, 2006 4:59 PM
KingofZouk: Where are you getting your talking points? Rush Limbaugh or Anne Coulter? I've noticed the conservatives are running out of attacks these days. It's hard to play offense when you're on the defense. Can't hide from the truth. $3 Billion wasted in Iraq, Corrupt Government, Torture, Spying on Americans... May I ask, where do these issues allign with your conservative values?
Posted by: MikeB | September 26, 2006 4:58 PM
Koz- you're funny! Talk about drinking the kool-aid! The economy is doing well? We're winning the war on terror? The econom is in the toilet, home sales are cooling off, Salaries are dead in the water, have been for a while, Healthcare, education, deficit, corruption, all terrible, all on the republicans watch. Hell, you guys can't even put body armor on the troops! But we're the losers? Okay, sure. Wait 'til we win the election and get out of Iraq and into Afghanistan.
Posted by: Will | September 26, 2006 4:58 PM
bush and he buddy (the oil company in texas). as everyone known bush agenda, as soon as he became president. he and abraham(enegy-secretary). work togather to push the price of oil from $25 TO $78. CONSPIRACY ON AMERICAN PEOPLES. abraham resign, "mission accomplished".
Posted by: native | September 26, 2006 4:52 PM
ENRON. EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED WITH ENRON. THAT WAS JUST MARKET FORCES, RIGHT?
Posted by: | September 26, 2006 4:50 PM
Independent Terp: if memory serves, neither administration during 1990-2000 had execs from big business craft an entire policy, such as the current administration did with execs from the energy industry. This strategy has led to Inflated Gas Prices, Record Profits & HUGE Subsidies. Do you honestly think this strategy is good for Americans, such as yourself? I guess the electorate will answer that question on Nov. 7th.
Posted by: MikeB | September 26, 2006 4:50 PM
Simple - socialists don't understand capitalism. Name one Liberal, respected Economist.
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 26, 2006 4:47 PM
Why would an oil company wait for Katrina/Iraq/911 to push oil prices up if they had pricing power to increase gas prices before these events?
If an oil company has pricing power to raise prices from $1.50/gallon to $3.00/gallon - why wait for a hurricane/war to increase prices?
This strange charitable behavior should be explained by any conspiricist (and self respecting journalist who gives these conspiracy theories credibility).
Posted by: Mike | September 26, 2006 4:44 PM
Perception is all that will matter: Stock market hits all time high, consumer confidence surges - it's the economy stupid. what do you perceive from this news? I think I'll switch over to Libs and ruin the economy and give up on the war. that is the perception that dogs you. and in this case, perception is reality, not like your Scully and Muldar perception. and the entire country now remembers why we were so relieved that Clinton is out, all the lies, all the spin, all the victims, all the conspiracies, daily scandels, trailer-trash, classless attacks, etc. He represents you people well. See above for evidence of this point.
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 26, 2006 4:40 PM
bill your argument is bogus. I live in a Red state, Texas and we have the highest gas tax in the country. We use it to build our roads that I presume you drive on and avoid the congestion that D.C. and Virginia have and probably like to complain about. Perhaps you need to visit Mexico City some time and see if you want your community to choke on that type of filthy air which we had here in Houston had until the emissions control that want to complain about. People here in this Reddest of red states don't seem so exorcised about that tax for our roads and clean air, so where are you coming from. Incidentally I didn't hear Bush, Frist or McCain complain to Iowa voters that they want less ethanol produced. Did you? We await your answer sir.
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 4:26 PM
You don't seem to get the point of the discussion, bill. You're too busy with your tinfoil hat.
Posted by: | September 26, 2006 4:22 PM
All one has to do is go from Virginia into a blue state like Maryland. Gas is 30 cents per gallon more expensive for a simple reason; "nanny" states such as Maryland and California tax you to the hilt because they think you're too stupid to know what to do with your own money. Idiotic blending for the sake of the "environment" (read: padding the pockets of interest groups such as Iowa farmers of corn) hike up prices also in states such as Iowa and Illinois. the math is simple: it takes a gallon and a quarter of petroleum to make a gallon of ethanol.
Posted by: muskrat | September 26, 2006 4:21 PM
All one has to do is go from Virginia into a blue state like Maryland. Gas is 30 cents per gallon more expensive for a simple reason; "nanny" states such as Maryland and California tax you to the hilt because they think you're too stupid to know what to do with your own money. Idiotic blending for the sake of the "environment" (read: padding the pockets of interest groups such as Iowa farmers of corn) hike up prices also in states such as Iowa and Illinois. the math is simple: it takes a gallon and a quarter of petroleum to make a gallon of ethanol.
Posted by: bill | September 26, 2006 4:19 PM
All one has to do is go from Virginia into a blue state like Maryland. Gas is 30 cents per gallon more expensive for a simple reason; "nanny" states such as Maryland and California tax you to the hilt because they think you're too stupid to know what to do with your own money. Idiotic blending for the sake of the "environment" (read: padding the pockets of interest groups such as Iowa farmers of corn) hike up prices also in states such as Iowa and Illinois. the math is simple: it takes a gallon and a quarter of petroleum to make a gallon of ethanol.
Posted by: bill | September 26, 2006 4:19 PM
kingof bs: no one knows if prices were manipulated and never will, that is the problem. We didn't know about Enron til the crooks went to prison. Will never know about Cheney's secret energy meetings b/c he was too busy figuring a way to conceal it. When energy execs were asked to testify curiously no one asked them to raise their hands and swear on a bible that there testimony was true like the tobacco execs. Granted there were no hurricanes this summer and that accounts for a significant portion of the drop in prices and Bush's wonderful economy, which according to the Michigan confidence level has dropped precipitously, but there are reasons for voters to be suspicious of the timing and size of the drop. 42% of voters are not dumb as your side wants to urge. But in reality it is totally irrelevant whether or not there was a conspiracy b/w this Administration and the oil industry, b/c Bush's and the Republican party's credibility is so low that perception exist,and guess what, that perception is all that will matter in November.
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 4:16 PM
I'm gonna ride my black helicopter to area 51 and see if George Bush's infernal Katrina causing weather machine and oil price manipulator is still there.
Posted by: amused | September 26, 2006 4:12 PM
'all these market forces are just too much for those feeble little Lib brains'
here's the moron again with the tinfoil hat 'market forces' LOL-- my dog knows more about market forces than you, kingofbozo.
robGreg, why wouldn't they buy from Venezuela? Coz Mr. Bush has a pissy dislike for him. Everything's prsonal to a small mind.
Posted by: | September 26, 2006 4:12 PM
I don't think Bush personally is behind the falling prices. But the Big Oil companies certainly have a giant incentive to make sure the friendly Republicans stay in power for as long as possible. So if they make a few cents less profit for the short term in an effort to make sure they continue to get their free ride of course they are happy to do so.
Posted by: Glenn | September 26, 2006 4:05 PM
I saw an article where Chavez in Venezuela was willing to sell the USA oil at $50 per barrell. A set deal. Despite the the potential volatilty in the market, why did we not entertain the option? why did the mainstream media, WP included, not report this topic?
Posted by: robGreg | September 26, 2006 4:03 PM
Whoah - spooky economics is sooo mysterious. Now I understand why there are no Dem economists who don't just make things up. all these market forces are just too much for those feeble little Lib brains so instead, they use a much more interesting and digestible conspiracy. but just think about how a conspiracy like this would be accomplished. how come the NYT hasn't published a tell-all article based on some "secret" memo? Even fake but accurate? you all are just plain loony and now there is no question. we are laughing at you. but it is so much easier than thinking an issue through, so I guess this suits you Dems properly.
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 26, 2006 3:59 PM
The manipulation of price is not at the retail level. Just as Enron and the other power brokers did they manipulated the price at the market level. When you have folks trading future prices that core issue one. the futures market rise prices exponentially over a crisis that has existed since the dawn of time, never interupted oil supply, and constantly has conflicts that are more rhetoric on top of old rhetoric. OPEC controls the prices too. The controlling interest in OPEC are friends of the Admin, and the same thing happened just two years ago. Are Exxon and Mobile manipulating price, not at the retail level, but they are party to the future and OPEC levels.
Posted by: RobGreg | September 26, 2006 3:59 PM
James, I find your idea of making Republicans pay for the gasoline quite interesting. Just curious, if I vote Democrat and they win, what do I get out of that deal?
Posted by: Independent Terp | September 26, 2006 3:59 PM
MIKE B: See 1990-2000 and what we DIDN'T do to figure out why the companies are getting huge subsidies.
Posted by: Independent Terp | September 26, 2006 3:56 PM
There is something fishy going on.
I was wondering where the record oil company profits were coming from. Didn't Exxon/mobile make $10B in profit last quarter and Chevron $8B? Seemed a little strange when crude was so high.
Now crude has slowly gone down by ~17% but gas prices dropped very quickly down by ~21% just as election season begins. It is hard to believe that the price of a final product would drop more than the raw commodity unless there are other things going on.
Posted by: Trent | September 26, 2006 3:55 PM
If I remember correctly BUSH does have connections to the oil business back in Texas. It might be possible that there is a connection with gas prices. Good luck on explaining this one. My 4th grade daughter figured this one out.
Posted by: Kevin Smith | September 26, 2006 3:47 PM
If I remember correctly BUSH does have connections to the oil business back in Texas. It might be possible that there is a connection with gas prices.
Posted by: Kevin | September 26, 2006 3:42 PM
The administration definitely has a hand in the manipulation of gas prices to TRY affect the election. For anyone to think different, they are being naive. Remember back in 2001 when all the fat cat oil execs helped the administration craft their energy legislation? They now have more influence in the White House than any other industry in history. Thus, we have seen Exxon, BP, Shell, etc.. with the largest profits in history, and we (taxpayers) are paying the price twofold by giving them HUGE subsidies. What gives? All the administration has to do is make a few calls to Texas and tell their boys to lighten up prices for a few months.. something right out of the Karl Rove play book: fool Americans to think the Republicans actually DO have an energy policy that works for Americans... not just the specials interests.
Posted by: MikeB | September 26, 2006 3:29 PM
On November 8th, the day after the elections,when the gas prices start to go back towards $3.oo per gallon everyone who voted Republican should be forced to buy the gas for everyone else for the next two years until the next election.That's the only way they will understand how much this country and our government is influenced by big oil's relationship to the REPUBLICANS.Anwar,car fuel efficiency ,offshore drilling.All issues where big oil and the GOP are linked at the hip.Don't be fooled again.
Posted by: JAMES | September 26, 2006 3:26 PM
Is it true that gas prices have dropped just before the last two elections?
Posted by: Tom G. | September 26, 2006 3:23 PM
Nice to see so many knowledgeable people commenting on this blatant manipulation of prices. To see so many slap down the ignorant clownish rightwingers who tell us 'we don't underatand the marketplace' while babbling some silly incoherent theory they have that corresponds to absolutely nothing factual.
Maybe some of you are younger but I've been around a long time and can remember many, many instances when oil companies have been caught price-fixing. There's nothing new about it. Bush & Cheney don't even need to be directly involved--the oil companaies know who their friends. They also know that Democrats in power might actually look into whether there was a link this year between the highest profits ever recorded by a corporation -- the highest prices ever charged for their products. Hmm, a coincidence?
And don't give me that crap about how I just don't understand the mysterious 'market'. That's exactly what they said about Enron.
ENRON-- hear it? Which one of you wingers will talk about Enron? Which one of you will explain to me how this wasn't BLATANT MANIPULATION?
Posted by: DRINDL | September 26, 2006 3:23 PM
The oil companies manipulating gas prices? Duh. What easier way is there for these companies to make unlimited campaign contributions than to lower gas prices by at least a third before the November election? No back room, quid pro quo deals need to be made with President Bush; no meetings with Vice President Cheney need to be scheduled. By golly the big oil boys are just lowering the price because they are nice guys. Why it has not even entered their minds that if the Democrats got control of either the House or Senate that they might to roll back sweetheart legislation passed by their lapdogs Republican pals.
Posted by: Josh in Omaha | September 26, 2006 3:12 PM
We all have seen gas prices go up and down. But how many have seen the price drop nearly $1.00 within a month? I can understand prices can vary by 10 maybe 15 cents, but not by a $1.00 so quickly.
SO I do not buy into the theory that it's only supply and demand. THINK SHEEP THINK
Posted by: dm | September 26, 2006 3:05 PM
Posted by: Ross | September 26, 2006 2:59 PM
Just returned from volunteer work in Cleveland and I can tell you that Blackwell and DeWine have zero credibility when it comes to their economy and what Republican corruption has done to those fine people. I love it that Republicans are convinced that they have a superior turn out machine that will save them from disgusted voters. I really truly hope that you guys keep believing that. That is our best hope for Republican complaceny. Unemployed folks from closed Ohio factories, truck drivers,and conservative rural voters in downstate Ohio fully understand how they have been jerked around regarding fluctuating oil prices and so your insults only insult the voters you seek to attract and will drive them to vote Democrat this November. No manipulation? : Ask the people in California who suffered from rolling blackouts by Enron and the energy industry if their energy prices were manipulated.
Posted by: Ira | September 26, 2006 2:56 PM
First, on the issue at hand, I love how this is spun as a case of paranoia vs. conspiracy. Both of those ideas are ridiculous, in fact. However, there is certainly plenty of reason to speculate about this sudden and precipitous drop in the market retail gasoline prices in the past few months.
Based solely on economic information about the gasoline market, conditions simply have NOT changed as drastically in the market as the prices have.
Is it so unreasonable that oil companies, on their own accord, realizing what friends of their pockets are in office, and what threat may loom, to suppress prices on their own as a sort of insurance policy against what they fear (a Democratically controlled House and Senate)?
Given the history of oil companies manipulating prices for profit, it is absolutely not out of the question. But to suggest the administration's involvement or pushing for it does seem a bit off the wall.
At any rate, there are CLEARLY political undertones to moving gas prices. As to where they really come from, I'd say the market of politics is being played more than the market of gasoline. What will the American people think of that? I don't know, but I suspect we'll find out on November 7th.
And I don't think the oil companies are going to like how the American public feels about political manipulation. Nor will the Republicans.
Second, I had to laugh about the GOPinNC poster above suggesting that the GOP turnout operations make Democratic base turnout/stimulation a moot point.
I don't think these ostriches have any idea whatsoever the kind of freight train that is barreling down on their poorly constructed hobo houses. They're crumbling from the vibrations already, and the train hasn't even hit yet.
Posted by: Doug in Mount Vernon | September 26, 2006 2:53 PM
The point is not that prices are manipulated down before November elections ( check the last time prices were down). But that they are manipulated the rest of the time, up. This ain't no market economy sector. After November see if you can guess ( a contest?) why the the prices just had to go up.
Posted by: megit | September 26, 2006 2:43 PM
Actually there is correlation between taxes and economic growth; however, it isn't what most people think. Go back to the Reagan years. After he cut taxes, the budget deficits went through the roof. As a result, between 82 and 88 he raised taxes 4 times and the economy started to grow. The same with Bush I. He raised taxes slightly which started the boom in the economy the Clinton administration received credit for. Bush II has cut taxes and the economy has shown anemic growth and deficits have once again gone through the roof. The reason this happens it the US Government is the largest borrower in the world and the "safest." For businesses to get money, they have to pay a higher interest rate for it. Because of the tax raise of Bush I the government didn't have to borrow as much money which freed more for businesses at a much lower rate which improved growth, bringing in more taxes which lowered the amount of borrowing needed etc.
Posted by: jw | September 26, 2006 2:39 PM
Have no worries people, the price of gas is going to stay just above the cost effective price of alteritive fuels. Just the facts, sorry
Posted by: Frank from Harrisonburg, Va | September 26, 2006 2:37 PM
Have no worries people, the price of gas is going to stay just above the coste effective price of alteritive fuels. Just the facts, sorry
Posted by: Frank from Harrisonburg, Va | September 26, 2006 2:37 PM
JEP - you might want to consider going back on your meds.
Posted by: Ican'tbelieveuidiots | September 26, 2006 2:36 PM
JEP - you might want to consider going back on your meds.
Posted by: Ican'tbelieveuidiots | September 26, 2006 2:36 PM
JEP - you might want to consider going back on your meds.
Posted by: Ican'tbelieveuidiots | September 26, 2006 2:35 PM
Bush doesn't control much of anything and certainly doesn't change the price of gas. He is but a puppet and figurehead for economic and Zionist interests.
Elections are expensive and the winners are purchased with great debts to pay to their financial supporters. After all, they funded the campaigns that gave them a job and make them relevant.
Posted by: Truth Seeker | September 26, 2006 2:25 PM
Settembrini; Unless I am mistaken, the beginning of this corporate energy conglomeration wave you refer to occurred when Reagan was forced by the first neocons in the GOP to take Bush Sr. on as his VP.
This was a shotgun wedding, at the very least, and shortly after the assasination attempt on Reagan by a "crazed" Bush family associate, Texas oil interests took over California oil interests in one of the first big mega-mergers on the books, the one that virtually created the culture of energy derivitives that spawned paper tigers like Enron.
Who knows what sort of intrigue is swirling around in all these coincidences?
But we can all surely speculate that the neocon's constant use of fear and loathing is not confined to their public dealings, they are just as ruthless to each other as they are to us.
Posted by: JEP | September 26, 2006 2:16 PM
Every oil executive called to the Hill was talking about the middle east crisis, Katrina and the Chinese economy being the causes for the shortage and subsequent price increases.
Okay, the ME has calmed down for now and Katrina is long over, but did the Chinese suddenly take all 1.5 billion folks and go back to an agrarian economy? This smells, plain and simple.
Posted by: Tired of it all | September 26, 2006 2:13 PM
Every oil executive called to the Hill was talking about the middle east crisis, Katrina and the Chinese economy being the causes for the shortage and subsequent price increases.
Okay, the ME has calmed down for now and Katrina is long over, but did the Chinese suddenly take all 1.5 billion folks and go back to an agrarian economy? This smelss, plain and simple.
Posted by: Tired of it all | September 26, 2006 2:11 PM
I think that we are asking the wrong question when we ask if the Bush Administration or Republicans are manipulating the price of gas at the pump. More likely is whether the oil companies or Republican-friendly oil-producing companies are manipulating the price of gas and/or crude in the short-term so as to at least try and blunt the political impact on Republicans of high prices. It is unlikely that Bush is, or can, engage is such manipulation, but that does not mean that Bush-friendly companies and/or the "friendly" royal Saudi family couldn't be doing something like that. That would seem to me to be a much more focused and useful inquiry.
Posted by: August | September 26, 2006 2:08 PM
Hey, I did use the proper single possessive case of "who" in my post.
Posted by: Fred | September 26, 2006 1:57 PM
Hey, I did use the proper plural possessive case of "who" in my post.
Posted by: Fred | September 26, 2006 1:56 PM
Seems like there are many things people in power could do to manipulate the market. One person from the oil drum:
" Certainly most of the price change in crude is due to the change in season, inventory overhang, and a lack of disruption in the GOM. However, I can think of three things the administration could do to affect the price of crude in the short term, and we know at least two of these have taken place. 1. Avoid refilling the SPR. Actually drawing down the SPR would be too obvious, but why isn't the US filling the SPR now? It seems as though it would have made sense to begin refilling as soon as the immediate Katrina/Rita draw was over, just in case there was indeed another problem this summer.
2. Stop beating the war drums over Iran. The threat from Iran hasn't changed, so why, a few months ago, were we talking imminent threat and UN action now, only to have almost all talk of this problem suddenly go quiet?
3. What is going on with US military fuel depot supplies? I can't imagine we'll ever know. This is a fairly big consumer, largely controlled by the administration, making unknown short-term decisions. If they had topped off their tanks in the summer and cut back now, they would be another large consumer helping to move prices, and few people would be any the wiser. No doubt the level of inventory of US military depots is a high-security secret. "
Posted by: PeakOil | September 26, 2006 1:55 PM
I am embarrassed for all of you that take so much time to write up these thoughts and opinions and then fail to even check your grammar. I'm amazed at your claims to know so much about a topic, but fail to show any language skills. I read your arguments and then wonder what you say to your child's teacher when you kid fails his test. It must be the teacher's fault because you couldn't possibly have a child with poor skills. You probably make up some argument that suits your need at the time, much like making gasoline a political topic. Maybe you should let your child proofread your entries. That would be a win-win for you and your kid.
Gasoline prices are affected by the government to some extent; I don't think anyone will deny that. The person who votes for a candidate because of gas prices is just as ignorant as the person who votes for a President because the market faired well during his presidency. In fairness to the voter, you'll remember that President in thirty years for the economy. In fairness to the President, there's little correlation. You all act like the President controls the stock market, the gasoline industry, the cost of milk. Yes, he has some impact, but not nearly as much as your everyday stockholder. If it rains, do you point at the president?
I really wonder where all of you were in 1999 when prices went below $1 a gallon. Remember all those strong incentives for the companies to explore for new oil? Remember when the insane profits that oil refining brought in? Oh you don't? That's because it never happened!
Good luck in your campaigns. I hope you all run out of gas on the way to the voting booth. Wouldn't that be the perfect ending.
Posted by: Independent Terp | September 26, 2006 1:54 PM
What don't you LIKE about lower gas prices?
Posted by: Fred | September 26, 2006 1:54 PM
BP ownes Arco (and also Amoco) and this contributes to the "new world order"?
The BP/Amoco merger happened in 1998 and Arco was in 2000. Now, who was the president then? Whose Dept of Justice approved the mergers?
Posted by: fred | September 26, 2006 1:51 PM
Excuse me but back in the 70's when we were sitting in gas lines, my X-husband worked at the Exxon refinery in Benicia Ca. They had more product un-refined, sitting in ships, tanks and containers then they had space for. The reason? They wanted to jack up the prices, until the public reached the saturation point and some politicians decided to step up and ask why, then and only then did we suddenly have pleanty of oil! So, don't insult me by stating it's about economics. you have a "good oi oil boy" in the white house and Cheney, who sweats oil and holds secret meetings with the heads of the oil companies and Ken Lay, to set the "energy policy" and Bush holding hands with his good friend the Shiek. You are going to tell me this isn't political? Sorry the public isn't buying it this time, they know that this administration lies, cheats, fabricates and frankly could care less about the American Public, as long as they take care of their big doners and party loyals, so to keep them in power, we have a drop in prices. Don't worry, two months after the election there will some fabricated crises and low and behold they will have to raise the prices. Not buying the B.S. anymore. Sue F
Posted by: Grannysue | September 26, 2006 1:51 PM
The News Hour looked at a congressional race in Indiana last night. One of the people they talked to was a Republican who voted for Bush and will vote for the current Republican incumbant. She even said she hoped the gas price decline wasn't a manipulation for the election. Democrats are angry with all gas price manipulations and the huge profits the oil companies made during the $3.50 a gallon days. Everybody expects the prices to go right back up after the election. Democrats are also concerned with carbon emissions and want alternative energy. Voting Republican isn't going to help the environment or our having to do business with countries with oil and natural gas who don't like us, especially since Bush became president. We need to change the course in all the areas of government. People seem to think gridlock is a good thing when it comes to keeping Bush from dragging this country down anymore. He's done enough to make America hated in the world over the pursuit of oil and natural gas.
Posted by: ljm | September 26, 2006 1:50 PM
"They had more crude stored in ships and at the refinery then they could use, however, because it was about jacking up the prices they sat on that un refined product..."
And back in the same era, Kansas oil farmers (yes, Virginia, there's lots of oil in Kansas) were advised to cap their marginal wells, and shut down some of the biggger wells, ostensibly to wait for the price of oil to go up from under $10 a barrel to over $20 a barrel. Now it is up to over $50 a barrel, and many of those old wells are being poppoed open, acid is poured down into them to dissolve and open the oil-bearing rock, and they're pumping again.
Energy price manipulation, in order to profit from speculation, is an entirely new derivitive industry, not just part of the old model.
And a volatile one, at that, with risks even bigger than its rewards.
Posted by: JEP | September 26, 2006 1:49 PM
Those who claim oil and gasoline are strictly cyclical commodities -- down in the fall, up in the spring -- are simply wrong. Just look at some crude charts. If it was that simple, you should all be millionaires, because you could short oil and energy stocks in the fall and buy them back again in the spring. Unfortunately, this facile analysis doesn't hold true.
Countless factors go into gas prices. One of them happens to be political. Call the people who know these things conspiracy theorists all you want; you'll only make yourself look naive. As Bob Woodward showed, Bush buddy and Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar promised Bush a drop in oil prices before the election. Recently OPEC has consistently agreed to keep supply high. Coincidence? Make your own decisions. But don't spout inaccurate economic theory in support of your rebuttal.
Posted by: Settembrini | September 26, 2006 1:47 PM
scootmandubious; Saw your website and your post, nice site, and a very perceptive post, except for one problem.
"What journalists should now be doing is trying to determine if the Bush administration has done some behind-the-scenes arm-twisting to effect the current price decline, which is conveniently happening right before the mid-term elections."
The problem here, Scoot, is that this "arm-twisting" isn't being done according to just this election cycle, it was done years ago, and set up a pernicious pattern of patronage that repeats as needed by Rove and his neocon Republicans.
That vile Bush/Bandahar covenant is so obscured now by time and events that we are prevented from being able to make direct connections between the price drops and the election cycle, outside the obvious co-incidence, which is really all the proof we should need.
The real key to uncovering the truth about whether gas prices are politically manipulated, is simply to look back at "qui bono", or "who benefits."
Enough Euphrates river water has flowed beneath that blown-up bridge to look back and take stock in the obvious.
Lets see here, ...just who has profitted or benefitted from the mess in Iraq?
Who's fortunes have exploded like a mushroom cloud?(is that what Condi really meant?)
To find out all we need do is look at the oil industry profit margins after-9/11 and see how clearly those patterns reflect a very well-organized effort to create an energy-price roller-coaster so volatile that it can actually have a profound effect on the public psyche about upcoming elections.
All of this is so transparent, too bad our lawmakers can not effect good government, to prevail against this greedy, insatiable culture of corporate manifest destiny.
Posted by: JEP | September 26, 2006 1:46 PM
You may think were wierdos but I can tell you this, back in the 70's when we were sitting in those gas lines, my X- husband worked for Exxon, at the refinery. They had more crude stored in ships and at the refinery then they could use, however, because it was about jacking up the prices they sat on that un refined product until there was enough screaming by the public and politicians asking questions that they finally began to produce again. Don't tell me this is not manipulated by politics. It is, has been and always will be. When you see Bush holding hands with the Shiek, Cheney having his secret energy meetings with Ken lay, et al, there's only one conclusion and that sir is not that were all so stupid to think this is sheer economics. Not buying your B.S.
Posted by: Sue F | September 26, 2006 1:44 PM
We all saw the fake announcements by the Saudis, and know that had a lot to do with the "drop" in gas prices.
Those of us who actually invest in energy (I've owned almost every oil and coal firms shares directly at some point) also know the "big announcement" near NoLa was old news, delayed until it was useful (after Labor Day) to Bush.
Posted by: Will in Seattle | September 26, 2006 1:44 PM
There is only two things the Feds can do to maniplulate prices, thats to open up the Strategic Reserve or to rescind federal excise taxes on gas. That 42% believe Bush can may them go lower without the above mentioned items tells me 42% are extremely STUPID. Geez,I wonder what party these idiots vote for?
Posted by: bhoomes | September 26, 2006 1:40 PM
My goodness you people are thick. 11% profit is not out of line in the least. Did you known that Exxon is the world's largest company, that oil is the world's most traded commodity? Now if you have the biggest company trading the most, would you expect that the dollar figure would be high? how about the percentage then? Please repeat your high school math class before you try the more advanced economics.
Help, I didn't get my memo from Dick Cheney today and don't know how much to charge for a gallon of gas. Is this really the direction you want to take to win an election? Perhaps that is why you keep losing.
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 26, 2006 1:38 PM
Yes Ginger, I guess we really think you are that stupid if you believe the current--or ANY--administration has any power to lower gas prices.
Posted by: C-Train 50 | September 26, 2006 1:38 PM
Posted by: Fred | September 26, 2006 1:36 PM
My, my isn't it intersting gas prices have dropped, in an election year, and just months before the final vote is held. Final proof of price manipulation, of gouging for profits. But has anyone botherd to ask how mmany foreign fingers are in the gas companies pie these days. BP owns ARCO now, so it is no longer an American company, how many others are the same or well on their way; you have to ask that question first. Then ask why they want an input in our elections. Is this all just a nod from the New World Order George Bush the First put us all on notice about years ago?
Posted by: Publius 06 | September 26, 2006 1:34 PM
"If Bush could manipulate the price then why the heck would he have it skyrocket at all. The stupidity of some people, including the Democratic candidate for KY-02 apparently, knows no bounds."
Is it stupid to note that the oil industry made $36 billion last year, the most any company has made in history? And that they are (or were until recently) on track to make even more this year?
There may not be a conspiracy, but there is plenty of circumstantial evidence to support at least speculation of one, imo.
Posted by: Eric | September 26, 2006 1:33 PM
Why are all of you finally waking up to the price of gas?
It's always gone up oh, about the week before Easter. Doesn't matter if Easter is in March, or April. It goes up. Why? Because folks are driving to Grandma's.
It has everything to do with profit.
Posted by: Agast | September 26, 2006 1:28 PM
You wierdos need to find an issues that doesn't make you look so kooky. your presentations here indicate you have no understanding of market economics - something already a problem for Libs who prefer the socialist solution to free markets. Every time you bring this junk up, more and more people think about how much you would raise taxes and how you fault corporations for actually making a profit. then you send your minion slick wilie on TV to make a fool of himself, waggging his finger, acting paranoid and spouting lies about his legacy. Don't any of you understand the Internet, Lexis/Nexis and acceptable research practices. It didn't take long to shoot down bill's mendacious statements. the real problem is that if and when you find an actual issue to make something of, no one is listening anymore. you cherry pick "secret" reports only to find out that there is more to it. you complain about education reform but remain in the way. you mock fiscal responsibility but vote for more spending and irresponsible programs. you think that retreat wins wars. you always play the victim and rely on the victim population for your 'free' votes. you clearly don't understand the military so you shop for candidates, no matter how paltry, who have any inkling of some military cred. you run candidates out of the party who don't agree 100% with the most leftist agendas. Please get a grip and offer some valid alternatives to policies with which you disagree. Conspiracies, name-calling, lying and selective interpretation is not winning for you as evidenced by the ridiculous performance by good ole slick willie, poor thing.
Posted by: kingofzouk | September 26, 2006 1:28 PM
On my blog I posted a chart that listed the rise and fall of gas prices since the beginning of 2004.
I speculated that this needed to be investigated, especially in light of the administration's secret negotiations with oil companies in setting this nation's energy policy, along with the close ties of Bush and Cheney with big oil interests.
Interestingly right-wingers came to my blog spouting RNC talking points about left-wing paranoia and saying that this always occurred during this time of year.
Well, check out the chart on my site and point to me where a steep decline occured on August 1st.
It's awfully hard for the right-wing to spin when the facts are not on their side.
Posted by: scootmandubious | September 26, 2006 1:03 PM
Here's a marketing ploy for the ages...
Gas stations can't compete in the natural world of supply and demand, so they need to come up with new marketing ploys and gimmicks to help bring in the customers...
A few selected gas station pumps should have "slot machine" handles on the side, and whenever we pull up to the pump, we get a chance at winning a free tankful, just by dropping a quarter in and pulling the arm.
Gas stations once competed with each other for business, just like the grocers, the farmers, and the retail merchants must still do just to survive in a free-enterprise community.
I remember the age of gas wars, when a little independent pumper could drop his prices and dominate for a few hours while the competition rested on their laurels.
The only gas war left is the one being fought against the American people by the oil industry.
And most of our Republican lawmakers are on their side, not ours.
We talk a lot about the obvious effects lower gas prices have on voters.
But we are missing the "Chinese water torture" long-term effect the obvious manipulation has on the public psyche.
Eventually, the masses become the mob if they are treated like one.
Posted by: JEP | September 26, 2006 12:51 PM
"How do you think the poll would have turned out if the question was Bush had "something to do with," or "no influence whatsoever" over oil prices?"
This is the core issue of the "framing" debate.
Even after 9-11, if the poll questions mentioned the name "Bush" the numbers tanked, relative to the same question withouth the name attached.
When asked a question like "Do you think George Bush is doing a good job as president," the popular support numbers never crept up over 50%.
But if the question was framed "Do believe the President is doing a good job" the numbers shot right back up into the 70's.
So, ala Frank Luntz and Karl Rove, the pollsters dropped any reference to George Bush in all 9-11 polls and used only the term "The President."
Americans love their President, but apparently not when they hear his name is Bush...
Polls are too easy to manipulate, due to variable vernacular and linguistic ambiguity. In this day and age, even those poll questions are "spun," not to get to the truth, but to get the desired results.
Posted by: JEP | September 26, 2006 12:27 PM
"For the past several years the Chinese are embarked on a huge arms buildup in a bid to make China a superpower rival to the United States," the editorial read. "China's space program is a crucial part of that buildup.'
AND A BIG THANK YOU TO WAL MART!
And all your numbed-out shoppers.
Without all of you, China would have never grown into a military superpower.
Now there's a diplomatic coup.
Posted by: | September 26, 2006 12:03 PM
Where the 'intelligence' on Iran is coming from... a war criminal, a convicted arms dealer, the guy who gave us Iran Contra and who is totally discredited by every single one of our intelligence agencies:
'From time to time, I call up a longtime associate and business partner of Manucher Ghorbanifar, the infamous Iran-contra arms dealer and intelligence peddler deemed a fabricator by the CIA who lured the Reagan administration to secretly sell TOW missiles to the Tehran mullahs. This elderly Ghorbanifar associate is a former official in the Shah's government, long financially dependent on Ghorbanifar, whom he serves as a kind of dignified elderly secretary; like many Iranian exiles, he dreams that the mullahs will be overthrown and that he can soon return to his native country from his long exile in France.
Since 9-11, Ghorbanifar and his business associate, both based in France, have tried through various channels and schemes to get back on the U.S. government payroll as intelligence sources on Iran and the Middle East. Their efforts to do so have been thwarted -- until now. The associate told me that he now has channels to the U.S. government, and a response to my inquiry about this from the office of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte did not include a denial.
Last week, Ghorbanifar's associate claimed to me that the information he is now giving to Washington is from his own sources. On this point, former CIA Paris station chief Bill Murray is skeptical. "He has nobody inside Iran," Murray said, of Ghorbanifar's associate, whom he has met in Paris. "He doesn't call anybody. Nobody comes to see him. Whatever he does, he gets from Ghorbanifar."
Murray says Ghorbanifar and his associate cobble together "intelligence" using translations from regional newspapers and the newsletters put out by the cultish, formerly Saddam Hussein-backed Iranian terrorist group, the Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK), which has a large outpost outside Paris; and "then they create stuff." French and German intelligence services have also rejected Ghorbanifar and his associate's intelligence, according to Murray.
"The plain and simple fact is that no intelligence service uses as a source someone who had been proven to provide false information, or information which he cannot source," Murray continued. "This man has consistently done both."
Amazingly, however, like Chalabi and his INC defectors before them, Ghorbanifar and his associate seem to have found new channels open to the Bush administration. And there's precious little evidence that anybody is trying to stop them. '
Posted by: drindl | September 26, 2006 12:00 PM
"the GOP inarguably has the better get out the vote operation.."
You don't have to be a Democrat to vote for one..
How many of those voters the GOP gets out are actually going to vote Republican, no matter who convinces them to actually go out and vote?
A lot of smart Republicans are figuring out how badly they have been misled, so assuming that Republican voter turnout will guarantee a Republican win depends on antiquated models.
It might be true, if the culture of Abramoff/Delay corruption and Rumsfeld's ineptitude, Cheney's constant denial, and Bush's dunderheaded personality, weren't confounding the Republican base daily.
The more voters that turn out this time around, the better it will be for the Democrats, no matter who motivates them to vote.
So a Republican GOTV drive, especially this time around, doesn't assure a Republican win at the polls. It may even help the Democrats.
It is a whole new ball game.
Posted by: JEP | September 26, 2006 11:54 AM
Had to toss this in, from the Allen denial stories throughout the morning message.
Allen has gotten some rather desperate public support from some members of the non-white community lately.
But it is a relatively recent development in his entire political career. In his early days, he was much more interested in cozying up to the old White Virginia ruling class, who considered football almost on a par with war, and were glad to take on this neophyte bigot and use his family name.
Wonder when George Allen and his greedy handlers decided he might want to run for president?
Do you suppose that is about the same time he started courting black voters and other non-whites, and their respective organizations?
It might be interesting to see when Allen's conversion from bigot to philanthropist occurred, relative to his presidential aspirations.
I would guess he used his adopted bigotry in the first place to make points with the dominant southern-state-coach mentality he moved into when his old man got the Redskins job.
Obviously, even when he was in California, his festering bigotry was quite transparent. So it was easy for him to join the prejudice parade when he eventually lived in the midst of it.
That garnered him the necessary peer-support that helped him get into public office in the first place. And back in those days, southern Virginia was still a place where lauding the Imperial Wizard of the KKK was a political asset, a veritable necessity, for anyone wanting to climb the political ladder in the neoRepublican Party of the Old South.
Then, once he had his Virginia old-south constituency behind him, battle-flags a wavin, he began manipulating his image as a race-uniter. He did so by drawing in those easy-buy preachers and powerful uncle-tom politicians throughout Virginia's black community, who were glad to join the team, for a price or a trade-off that surely had much more to do with green money than with black and white racial issues.
So now, they come to his rescue when his true colors (the Confederate battle flag) start peeking out from under his phony personae.
Just plain, simple logic suggests Allen is a bigot by choice and only feigned racially tolerance, in order to get votes.
Posted by: JEP | September 26, 2006 11:51 AM
The administration itself announces over $3.5 BILLION in fraud and waste in Iraq:
'In a little-noticed report Monday, the Government Accountability Office released the latest on the wise and judicious use of taxpayer money in Iraq contracting. It's the biggest number yet in the accounting mess that is the rebuilding of Iraq.
The tally shows that Defense Department auditors have raised questions over $3.5 billion in costs that contractors have charged the government for work in Iraq.'
Posted by: drindl | September 26, 2006 11:47 AM
As you probably know, all government programs [other than those which allow contractors to make a profit without actually doing anything] have been cut, including NASA. So now, the bright idea to fund the space program is to get China involved. So that they can know all our secrets. Brilliant, huh? Hey I'm all for international cooperation, but China?
'The United States has opened unprecedented conversations with the government of China in order to create cooperation on space exploration.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin is in China at the invitation of Laiyan Sun, administrator of the China Space Agency.
Griffin issued this statement on his trip.
"My goal is to become acquainted with my counterparts in China and to understand their goals for space exploration"
The visit may be unprecedented, but it has huge political implications: Can China be trusted in space?
Houston-based analyst Mark Whittington, in an editorial in The Houston Chronicle, says no.
"For the past several years the Chinese are embarked on a huge arms buildup in a bid to make China a superpower rival to the United States," the editorial read. "China's space program is a crucial part of that buildup.'
Posted by: drindl | September 26, 2006 11:42 AM
Anyone who doesn't understand the way the oligarthchy of "Pioneers" under Bush work is simply demented. Of course they are manipulating the price of gas. The price of gas was artificially high due to the commodities market and all of those investors who were recipients pof the Republican tax cuts to begin with. There has been a concerted attempt to organize them to, now, artificially lower the price of gas. And why not? They get to feed at the public trough under Bush and the right and a two month break before the election to keep their place there is nothing. It's just a part of doing business. Immediately following the election, if Bush and his clodhoppers win, the price will go right back up again.
Posted by: MikeB | September 26, 2006 11:39 AM
The Saudi royal family has publicly agreed to keep production up, and therefor prices down before the election cycles, for quite a while now, to help Bush and his neocons keep the public's energy price frustration under very strict election patterned controls.
It is not a secret, I've seen it discussed on more than one public media outlet. I would guess Rove just expects it these days, it goes without asking.
So why do these Bush apologists deny something the Bush administration openly embraces?
C'mon, people, admit it. The price of gas is manipulated outside the standard laws of supply and demand.
Why doesn't Wal Mart sell gasoline for 20 cents a gallon less than their competitors, at all their stores?
Our entire energy market is manipulated from the first Halliburton drill bit cutting the dirt to the last drop that trickles into your SUV's engine.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is either completely ignorant about the laws of supply and demand, or they are just part of the lie.
The laws of supply and demand would have demanded alternatives decades ago.
Either believe it, or go on fooling yourself, there's no middle ground on this one: Energy prices in the 21st Century are not determined by the markets, they are determined by the marketeers.
Posted by: JEP | September 26, 2006 11:31 AM
This entire debate over gas is endemic of the problem with politics - the price goes down every Fall - the fact I have Bush is not going to change this fact
Our Republic is burning and we are still stuck on manipulation politics -
This morning the NYT reports that key former leaders of the ACLU are calling for ouster of many of the current leaders for violating the principles which they are suppose to be endorsing
The case of the ACLU is endemic of the problem - we have lost any real belief systems and now only fight for ourselves regardless of the consequences - lewt the Republic burn
The politicos love these little gas debates - it detracts from the institutionalized corruption coming from both sides of the isle which is destroying our republic
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Chris Cillizza joins washingtonpost.com as the author of a new politics blog called The Fix. Cillizza will provide daily posts on a range of political topics, from the race for control of Congress in 2006 to scrutinizing the 2008 presidential contenders.
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Chris and Jim talk about how the immigration issue is impacting the Ohio District 1 campaign and wrap up Day 6 of the Ohio River Ramble. On Tuesday the Ramble trio will be in Ohio District 18.
Click on the image below to watch.
(Video by washingtonpost.com's Chet Rhodes).
By Chet Rhodes | September 25, 2006; 9:01 PM ET | Category: Ohio River Ramble Previous: Touring Congressional Campaign HQs | Next: Politics and the Price of Gas
Posted by: Intrepid Liberal Journal | September 25, 2006 10:59 PM
So we immigrants can actually regulate the salary rates in the US? let's all ask for a raise today!
Posted by: Carlos Quiroz | September 26, 2006 06:13 AM
Welcome to the gulag. We're now on track to allow Dear Leader the ability to whimsically, capriciously, declare anyone he chooses [even an american citizen] as 'the enemy' ... to be held indefinitely, secretly, to be tortured to death, or to be 'tried' in a kangaroo court without a lawyer, without seeing the 'evidence,' without recourse or appeal.
We have squandered our greatest gift -- the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Consitution -- because we became too lazy and fearful and complacent. Because we put too much trust in big government, and now anyone who protests can be crushed. This is not America. This is a kafkaesque nightmare.
'The Bush administration, supported by House allies, has slipped a small but important change into last week's "compromise" bill on terror suspects, the Post reports. The earlier bill, worked out in negotiations with restive Senate Republicans, defined enemy combatants as those who have "engaged in hostilities," but the latest draft legislation expands the definition to include those who have "supported hostilities." The new language could boost the administration's contention that it can designate virtually anyone an enemy combatant; the Post notes it "does not rule out the possibility" that the designation could be applied to a U.S. citizen.'
Posted by: drindl | September 26, 2006 07:55 AM
From a fomer neocon's website. It's time for anyone who genuinely cares about national security to realize that Rumsfled is destroying our military:
'Rumsfeld is at war - with the U.S. Army Now, even his hand-picked successor as Army Chief of Staff is in open revolt. This is way beyond partisan politics, comrades. I'm struggling for less strident tone, but can't get there. Rumsfeld and Bush are showing terrible disrespect for, and are damaging our military.
Here's the latest. General Schoomaker, the Army Chief of Staff, has refused to submit a budget.
The Army's top officer withheld a required 2008 budget plan from Pentagon leaders last month after protesting to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the service could not maintain its current level of activity in Iraq plus its other global commitments without billions in additional funding.
The decision by Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, is believed to be unprecedented and signals a widespread belief within the Army that in the absence of significant troop withdrawals from Iraq, funding assumptions must be completely reworked, say current and former Pentagon officials.
"This is unusual, but hell, we're in unusual times," said a senior Pentagon official involved in the budget discussions.
Schoomaker failed to submit the budget plan by an Aug. 15 deadline. The protest followed a series of cuts in the service's funding requests by both the White House and Congress over the last four months.'
Posted by: drindl | September 26, 2006 09:06 AM
I'm not saying that immigration does not have an impact, but in terms of what is really going to affect this country long term, I think the fact that we're managing to lose two wars simultaneously, gut our military, burn the Consitution, and spend 300 million dollars a day doing it, well, I think that's going to hurt us, big time, don't you? What will be left standing in the wreckage of this couuntry when this katrina of an administration, this nightmare of incompetence and destruction, is finally over?
'Not long after NEWSWEEK's visit, U.S. and Afghan National Army forces launched a major attack to dislodge the Taliban from Ghazni and four neighboring provinces. But when NEWSWEEK returned in mid-September, Sabir's fighters were back, performing their afternoon prayers. It is an all too familiar story. Ridge by ridge and valley by valley, the religious zealots who harbored Osama bin Laden before 9/11--and who suffered devastating losses in the U.S. invasion that began five years ago next week--are surging back into the country's center. In the countryside over the past year Taliban guerrillas have filled a power vacuum that had been created by the relatively light NATO and U.S. military footprint of some 40,000 soldiers, and by the weakness of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's administration.'
Posted by: drindl | September 26, 2006 09:16 AM
And finally tonight, a Special Comment about President Clinton's interview. The headlines about them are, of course, entirely wrong. It is not essential that a past President, bullied and sandbagged by a monkey posing as a newscaster, finally lashed back.
It is not important that the current President's "portable public chorus" has described his predecessor's tone as "crazed."
Our tone should be crazed. The nation's freedoms are under assault by an administration whose policies can do us as much damage as Al-Qaeda; the nation's "marketplace of ideas" is being poisoned, by a propaganda company so blatant that Tokyo Rose would've quit. Nonetheless.
The headline is this: Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done, in five years. He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration.
"At least I tried," he said of his own efforts to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden. "That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They had eight months to try; they did not try. I tried."
Thus in his supposed emeritus years, has Mr. Clinton taken forceful and triumphant action for honesty, and for us; action as vital and as courageous as any of his presidency; action as startling and as liberating, as any, by anyone, in these last five long years.
The Bush Administration did not try to get Osama Bin Laden before 9/11.
The Bush Administration ignored all the evidence gathered by its predecessors.
The Bush Administration did not understand the Daily Briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S."
The Bush Administration... did... not... try.
Posted by: | September 26, 2006 09:33 AM
Bush's Own Church Has Called For The Withdrawal Of Troops From Iraq
United Methodist Church leaders helped launch a week of protest and civil disobedience against the war in Iraq by signing a declaration of peace in the capital, urging President Bush to pull US troops out of the country. The Declaration of Peace, signed on 21 September 2006, is described as a call for nonviolent action to end the war in Iraq. The Washington DC event was one of 350 staged nationwide to promote the peace initiative.
More than 500 groups, almost half of them faith organizations, are involved in the declaration of peace effort, which recently retired Bishop Susan Morrison said includes "acts of moral witness to seek a new course for our country."
By signing the peace document in front of the White House, the United Methodists and other protesters also hope to influence congressional races in November 2006 by forcing candidates to outline where they stand on the war. Speakers at the Washington DC rally accusing the President of lying about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction and launching what they called an illegal offensive.
"Our demand as a movement is to end the war now," said Bishop Morrison. The declaration calls the situation in Iraq "an endless fire consuming lives, resources and the fragile possibilities of peace."
Posted by: | September 26, 2006 09:41 AM
You're still claiming that immigrant bashing appeals to unions in Cincinnati!
While I'm sure you can find union members here and there for whom this might be true, it is simply not, on balance, true of organized labor that we're blaming immigrants for low wages and clamoring for mass deportations. The position of organized labor is to support comprehensive immigration reform. Dividing and demonizing workers does not appeal to us. This is all as true in Cincinnati as anywhere else.
Again, SEIU, the Carpenters, the Laborers, the UFCW, UNITE-HERE, the list goes on and on are active in pressing for comprehensive immigration reform. Please, gentelmen, drop the easy, unattributed throw-away line and do some basic research. Stop misrepresenting the position of labor.
Posted by: Union in Cinti | September 26, 2006 10:46 AM
"The position of organized labor is to support comprehensive immigration reform."
Lockstep with George W. Bush.
Dude, who are the lobbies behind this? They want to increase profits be depressing wages they have to pay more. It's very simple. They're not spending money to lose money. Drop the lefty-lib indentity bagage and get down to supply and demand.
The Democrat party is alienated from the people, concerned with only uppermiddle class white issues.
Posted by: Joe | September 26, 2006 03:41 PM
"Again, SEIU, the Carpenters, the Laborers, the UFCW, UNITE-HERE, the list goes on and on are active in pressing for comprehensive immigration reform. Please, gentelmen, drop the easy, unattributed throw-away line and do some basic research. Stop misrepresenting the position of labor."
Shows how the union elites are united with management these days. Some are just fatalists thinking they have to accept this because much of the Democrat party has joined the wage depression lobbies.
Just think for a moment and say to yourself "Why am I allied with George Bush?"
Posted by: Joe | September 26, 2006 03:52 PM
We could drive up wages by purging the disabled and elderly from the workforce as well. Or we could expel all the undocumented immigrants (of course we couldn't really, but as long as we're pretending...) and employers could get back to pitting blacks against whites.
I've got all sorts of ideas what we could do if the only ethic were the laws of supply and demand.
Posted by: Union in Cinti | September 26, 2006 03:54 PM
Uh, what? Increased labor pool for so-called "unskilled" (or any other) presses down wages. If you are talking about consumer demand, no.
"We could drive up wages by purging the disabled and elderly from the workforce as well."
Besides being a an irrelevant analogy I don't think the disabled and elderly are a big part of the workforce.
"Or we could expel all the undocumented immigrants (of course we couldn't really, but as long as we're pretending...)"
George Bush's line. Then he admits he expelled over five million. Ignorance = strength.
"and employers could get back to pitting blacks against whites."
Ah yes, a recognition of my argument casting a distraction about what someone will do in the future based on your prior prejudices.
"I've got all sorts of ideas what we could do if the only ethic were the laws of supply and demand."
By gosh you must be Karl Rove! A brilliant appeal to the dilletanteish identity politics of rich white liberals mixed rightwing libertarian circumlocutions about economics.
Nah, I think you're just another sucker. Too bad. If you are Karl, I congratulate you how you stampeded the Democrats into "comprehensive" reform, giving them the bogeyman of "conservatives" as the barrier to truth, justice and the American way. Left those union leaders gasping "Hey, we didn't agree to extra worker programs! Just the amnesty! We had a fantasy if we agreed to amnesty we would increase our memberships and the honorable Bush wouldn't still cut wages be non-enforcement of immigration laws!"
Posted by: Joe | September 26, 2006 04:04 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
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Chris Cillizza joins washingtonpost.com as the author of a new politics blog called The Fix. Cillizza will provide daily posts on a range of political topics, from the race for control of Congress in 2006 to scrutinizing the 2008 presidential contenders.
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No Silent Majority for Bush
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What could prove to be the most important factor in the 2006 elections is overlooked because it is unseen: The Republicans cannot try to curry favor with a "silent majority" that favors the Iraq war because a majority of Americans, both vocal and quiet, have come to see the war as a mistake.
President Bush's defenders have cast opponents of the war as weak on terrorism. Yesterday, Vice President Cheney accused Democrats of "resignation and defeatism." But the charges have not taken hold, because most Americans don't agree with the premise linking the war on terror with the war in Iraq.
And blame for the failures in Iraq has fallen not on some liberal coterie supposedly holding our generals back but on the choices of civilians in a conservative administration. Those civilians, and their allies outside the administration, find themselves under increasing fire from leaders of the military and the intelligence services for bad planning, flawed analysis and unrealistic expectations.
Moreover, the tone of the opposition to this war is quite different from the tenor of some sections of the movement against the Vietnam War. Reaction to "hippie protesters," as the phrase went, allowed President Richard Nixon to pit a hardworking, patriotic "silent majority" -- it was one of the most politically potent phrases of his presidency -- against the privileged, the young and the media, whom his vice president Spiro Agnew memorably characterized as "effete snobs" and "nattering nabobs of negativism."
As the historian and Nixon biographer Stephen Ambrose noted, tiny minorities -- "they numbered less than 1 percent of the demonstrators," he wrote of a 1969 rally -- "waved Viet Cong flags . . . and even burned American flags" and served as "magnets to the television cameras." They were used to exemplify an entire movement.
By contrast, critics of the Iraq war, deeply influenced by the post-Sept. 11 climate of national solidarity, have been resolutely patriotic and pro-military. They have often chastised the administration for offering American troops too little in the way of body armor and armored vehicles, and for shortchanging veterans.
Among the most visible critics of the administration's approach have been generals, vets, parents with sons and daughters in the military, and foreign policy realists who think of themselves as moderate or even conservative opponents of what they see as the administration's radical direction.
That is why news over the weekend of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq is especially troublesome for Republican electoral chances. By finding that the war in Iraq has encouraged global terrorism and spawned a new generation of Islamic radicals, the report by 16 government intelligence services undercuts the administration's central argument that the Iraq war has made the United States safer.
Nor is there any way to dismiss the assessment as partisan, left-wing or unpatriotic. That high-level government officials have offered their own criticisms of the war's impact makes it difficult for Republicans to force the argument into a classic "he said-she said" framework in which facts can be set aside and the claims of critics dismissed as political.
It is no wonder that the administration immediately insisted that news reports were "not representative of the complete document," in the words of a White House spokesman. The phrase was a classic instance of the non-denial denial, a defensive response from an administration that has tried, with some success, to remain on offense on the terrorism issue all month.
The conventional, and accurate, view of this fall's elections is that Iraq is a Democratic issue and the broader war on terrorism is a Republican issue. Accordingly, Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid were understandably eager to point to the report as a commentary on the president's "repeated missteps in Iraq and his stubborn refusal to change course," as Reid put it Sunday.
But beneath the conventional account is a more revealing truth: that over the past four years, the burden of proof on the Iraq war has been turned on its head.
During the 2002 election campaign -- before the war had actually begun -- Democratic candidates all over the country fled the Iraq debate and feared raising any questions about Bush's national security choices. In 2006 it's the administration trying to keep Iraq out of the campaign and to move the public conversation to anything else as an alternative to an accounting for its war decisions that so many middle-of-the-road Americans now regret. There is no silent majority to bail the president out.
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What could prove to be the most important factor in the 2006 elections is overlooked because it is unseen: The Republicans cannot try to curry favor with a "silent majority" that favors the Iraq war because a majority of Americans, both vocal and quiet, have come to see the war as a mistake.
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Wiretap Bill Moves Closer to Passage
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Last-minute changes to legislation authorizing the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program have won the support of three balking Senate Republicans, improving the chances that a bill expanding the Bush administration's surveillance authority will pass Congress this week.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill this month that would allow, but not require, the administration to submit its warrantless wiretapping program to a secret national security court for constitutional review. But three Republicans who last year helped delay the renewal of the USA Patriot Act -- Sens. Larry E. Craig (Idaho), John E. Sununu (N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) -- combined forces again to express strong misgivings about the bill's implications for civil liberties.
The senators announced yesterday that those concerns had been met by three changes to the bill, although critics said the changes would not have the impact that the lawmakers claimed.
The first change removes explicit language referring to the president's inherent "constitutional authority" to pursue national security programs. According to the lawmakers, a second major change would clarify that a decision by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court upholding the warrantless surveillance program's legality would not give blanket authorization for the president to pursue wiretaps without court approval.
The lawmakers say a third change is aimed at ensuring that warrantless surveillance of an agent of a foreign power does not include an American. Under the change, the lawmakers said, the administration would be expected to obtain a warrant if the attorney general cannot certify a "reasonable expectation" that the warrantless surveillance will not involve a U.S. citizen.
"We believe the changes we secured will not only uphold . . . vital individual rights but will also ensure that Congress retains its authority to regulate and provide oversight throughout the surveillance process," the three senators said.
But civil libertarians and surveillance experts say the changes are less significant than the senators believe. Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the legislation still amounts to a sweeping rewrite of federal law to allow the president to conduct "massive warrantless surveillance of Americans" with no court oversight.
Also yesterday, former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster, former FBI director William Sessions, and 12 other former national security officials released a statement opposing the latest Senate proposal, saying it would return surveillance law to "murky waters."
Quick passage of the bill will still be difficult. Republican leaders were struggling yesterday to win the blessing of Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.), the author of competing legislation in the House. If Wilson and other House Republicans agree, the House and Senate may bring up identical bills by week's end in hopes of sending legislation to the president before the November elections.
If the two chambers pass different bills, there will be no time to broker a compromise and pass it through the House and Senate again before Congress recesses Friday.
A White House spokeswoman said the administration is pleased with the agreement.
Staff writers Michael A. Fletcher and Dan Eggen contributed to this report.
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Latest politics news headlines from Washington DC. Follow 2006 elections,campaigns,Democrats,Republicans,political cartoons,opinions from The Washington Post. Features government policy,government tech,political analysis and reports.
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Ebbers Starts 25-Year Term For Fraud at WorldCom
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Former WorldCom Inc. chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers reported yesterday to a federal prison in central Louisiana to begin serving a 25-year sentence for his role in the $11 billion accounting fraud that laid low the nation's second-largest telecommunications company.
Ebbers, 65, arrived at 1:18 p.m. at the low-security facility in Oakdale, according to a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons. The facility, which has 1,400 inmates, is more than 200 miles from Ebbers's family's home outside Jackson, Miss. Officials said Ebbers will probably be housed in a double-bunk cell with a steel door.
For the onetime billionaire, prison marks the end of an extraordinary arc, and it left former WorldCom employees and investors wondering whether the weight of the punishment suited the crime. A former milkman and high school basketball coach, Ebbers built a tiny Mississippi long-distance company into a powerhouse and dazzled Wall Street with down-home rhetoric and extraordinary profit margins. During the late 1990s, rival phone companies were excoriated by Wall Street for failing to match WorldCom's dizzying growth.
But it all came crashing down when the company announced in June 2002 that its chief financial officer, Scott D. Sullivan, had been boosting the bottom line by secretly reclassifying the firm's operating expenses as capital expenditures. WorldCom filed for bankruptcy protection the next month, and eventually 20,000 jobs were wiped out, including 4,000 in the Washington region. Hundreds of thousands of investors lost billions of dollars, and the fraud -- along with the 2001 collapse of Enron Corp. -- helped spark a major revision of corporate accountability laws.
Ebbers will spend at least the next 21 years in prison. The federal system does not have parole, but inmates can receive up to 15 percent off their sentences for good behavior. Ebbers is appealing his conviction and sentence to the Supreme Court.
Sullivan, 45, cut a deal with prosecutors and became the chief government witness at Ebbers's 2005 trial. He is serving a five-year sentence at a medium-security facility in Jesup, Ga., and is scheduled to be released in 2010.
The contrast between Ebbers's sentence and that of Sullivan and other high profile white-collar felons, such as former Enron finance chief Andrew S. Fastow -- who was sentenced yesterday to six years in prison -- preoccupied Ebbers's attorney Reid H. Weingarten.
"A very, very sad day," Weingarten wrote in a brief e-mail. "That sullivan gets 5 and now fastow 6 and bernie faces 25 makes me crazy . . . somehow, someway justice will be done here."
Former WorldCom employee Gayle Dennis, 39, has mellowed somewhat in her views toward Ebbers in the years since the fraud was revealed, but she still says he belongs in prison.
"He may not have actively said, 'Book these fraudulent entries,' " she said. "But he created the environment and the culture to encourage that behavior and almost require that behavior."
Dennis, who worked in the company's finance unit from 1993 to 2006, estimates that she lost $50,000 to $100,000 in retirement savings and stock options. And after the fraud was uncovered, she spent a spent a year helping clean up the books, working seven days a week, often until midnight.
"During those times, I was very anti-Bernie as well as anti-Scott Sullivan," she said. "They weren't my favorite people at that time."
In Clinton, Miss., where WorldCom had its headquarters before the scandal and which once proudly claimed to be the smallest city to host a Fortune 500 company, Mayor Rosemary Aultman took a more charitable view.
"I feel for his family," she said, adding that Ebbers's sentence seemed excessive compared with the penalties handed to other top executives convicted of similar crimes.
Ebbers had originally asked to be sent to a prison in Yazoo City, Miss., which is much closer to his family's home in Ridgeland, just north of Jackson. But yesterday, he left his home in the gated community of Bridgewater shortly before 8 a.m. and reported to Oakdale Federal Correctional Institution a little more than five hours later.
In addition to serving a lengthy prison sentence, Ebbers has also been forced to forfeit assets to a restitution fund for WorldCom investors and former employees. Liquidating Ebbers's assets, including a timber farm and a variety of other businesses, has raised $40 million so far, according to lawyers who are preparing to distribute a fund totaling $6.2 billion. That fund also includes money from settlements with WorldCom's bankers, accountants and directors, along with assets forfeited by Sullivan.
A team of class-action lawyers led by John P. "Sean" Coffey has processed 1 million WorldCom claims and found about 700,000 to be valid. The checks are expected to start rolling out in late October or early November, Coffey said. Holders of WorldCom stock will receive only pennies on the dollar for their losses. Bondholders will do far better because WorldCom's underwriters paid large settlements to avoid being on the hook for the company's default. Some bondholders will receive as much as 66 cents on the dollar. WorldCom, which emerged from bankruptcy protection as MCI Inc., has since been bought by Verizon Communications Inc.
There is a second pot of settlement money: the $750 million recovered by the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of its settlement with WorldCom. The distribution plan for those funds has been challenged by a group of WorldCom creditors and is tied up in litigation, SEC spokesman John Nester said.
No matter how those claims are processed, former WorldCom employee Andy Sharp said he felt a sense of relief yesterday as he heard Ebbers was about to start serving his sentence. "I'm less bitter about it . . . and even a little less bitter today now that he's arriving at jail," he said.
Sharp started working for WorldCom subsidiary UUNet Technologies Inc. in 1997 and left in June 2003 because he worried every morning that he would be laid off. His wife, Kristen Stahl-Sharp, who also worked there, was let go in 2002.
Andy Sharp, who now works in business development for a software company in State College, Pa., said he has tried to forget about how much money the two of them lost. He views his tumultuous years with WorldCom more as an experience and less as a catastrophe.
"When things were good, they were good," he said. "It's just too bad it had to end the way it did."
Special correspondent Katherine R. Dougan in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report.
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Former WorldCom Inc. chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers reported yesterday to a federal prison in central Louisiana to begin serving a 25-year sentence for his role in the $11 billion accounting fraud that laid low the nation's second-largest telecommunications company.
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Allergy Season Switch
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It could be a tough fall allergy season, and not just because of the ragweed count. Another problem, say some experts, is an ingredient many drug companies have begun putting in nonprescription decongestants in place of pseudoephedrine.
The active ingredient in Sudafed and other oral decongestants, pseudoephedrine will be subject to new federal sales restrictions starting Saturday. Officials hope the limits -- which require that all pseudoephedrine products be kept behind store counters or in locked cases and that buyers show an ID and have their purchases logged and limited to a few each month -- will curb illegal production of crystal methamphetamine, an addictive drug that is commonly made with pseudoephedrine.
But decongestant manufacturers aren't willing to gamble that millions of people with allergies and colds -- who together spend more than $400 million a year on oral decongestants -- will put up with such inconveniences at the sales counter. So drug companies have been taking the pseudoephedrine out of many over-the-counter products and replacing it with an older ingredient, phenylephrine.
Call it a step up for phenylephrine, which previously had been relegated mostly to shorter-acting decongestant nasal sprays, such as some Neo-Synephrine and Vicks Sinex products.
Phenylephrine had been on the market for decades when the Food and Drug Administration in 1972 reviewed all nonprescription ingredients being sold. An agency review panel published a report in 1976 classifying the drug as "generally recognized as safe and effective" at a 10 milligram dose without calling for any new studies.
But phenylephrine may not have the punch of the star performer it is replacing. Writing in a prominent allergy journal, two University of Florida research pharmacists recently questioned the effectiveness of the 10 mg dose and the clinical evidence offered in support of the review panel's decision.
In their peer-reviewed letter, published in July in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Leslie Hendeles and Randy Hatton report they were able to track down 11 of the 13 phenylephrine studies -- most of them unpublished -- that the panel reviewed. Of these 11, they found, only four showed the drug to be effective at the 10 mg dose.
After submitting the letter, Hendeles and Hatton found four additional studies. Two, Hendeles says, showed the drug ineffective at the 10 mg dose, one showed borderline effectiveness, and one showed effectiveness at 25 mg, but not at 10.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) the ranking minority member of the House Committee on Government Reform, has asked acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to decide whether new studies are needed. The FDA's response, for now, is no, because, according to David W. Boyer, the agency's commissioner for legislation, the FDA is not aware of any data that refute the 1976 report.
The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), which represents nonprescription drug manufacturers, has issued a statement defending phenylephrine's effectiveness. "No new data has been presented that disputes FDA's conclusion," wrote the group.
But some experts say data published since the '70s on phenylephrine do raise relevant questions. Some of this data concerns phenylephrine's effect on blood pressure.
Phenylephrine was first marketed as a drug to treat low blood pressure, which it does in the same way it relieves nasal congestion, by constricting blood vessels. A 1988 review article in Medical Toxicology found it would take at least 45 mg of oral phenylephrine to begin to raise blood pressure, an indication of the dose at which the drug starts working.
And a 1982 study in the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found that only 38 percent of a phenylephrine dose gets into the bloodstream. William Barr, head of the Center for Clinical Drug Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, and other researchers say enzymes inactivate much of the phenylephrine dose in the gut, before it reaches the bloodstream from where it travels to the nasal passages -- suggesting a larger dose may be needed to be effective. Pseudoephedrine reaches the bloodstream at about 90 percent of its original strength.
Linda Suydam, president of CHPA, says that with many drugs, a far lower percentage of a given dose than 90 percent is sufficient to be effective.
Questions about phenylephrine's effectiveness stand to affect not only allergy sufferers. Many airline passengers use pseudoephedrine to fend off ear pain when a flight starts its descent. "Ten thousand feet and dropping is no time to find out phenylephrine doesn't work for you," says David Eisenman, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who specializes in conditions of the ear.
Meanwhile, other experts have weighed in.
Richard Herrier, a professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Arizona, and Rohit Katial, program director of allergy and immunology at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, reviewed the sources cited by Hendeles and Hatton and concluded that the data do not show phenylephrine to be effective at the 10 mg dose. Editors of the 2006 edition of Drug Information, a professional resource published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, were "not able to answer the question as to whether it's as safe and effective as pseudoephedrine," based on published medical literature, according to associate editor Elaine Snow.
Results are due shortly from a 36-patient study testing a 12 mg dose of phenylephrine against pseudoephedrine and placebo. The study was funded by Schering-Plough, which for now has replaced pseudoephedrine in only one decongestant product: a Coricidin version. It has left pseudoephedrine in its Claritin-D (for decongestant) line. One likely reason: Phenylephrine is not available in a long-acting formulation -- it must be taken every four hours for continued effectiveness, according to its label -- while pseudoephedrine is sold in four-to-six-hour, 12-hour and even 24-hour versions.
Erica Jones, a spokeswoman for Pfizer, maker of Sudafed and the newer Sudafed PE (for phenylephrine), says the company has seen repeat sales of the newer product, indicating satisfied customers. But some health-care professionals say they have been getting customer complaints.
"Almost without exception [patients] say, 'I want my Sudafed back,' " says Eric Schenkel, an assistant professor of medicine at the Hahnemann School of Medicine in Philadelphia and director of Valley Allergy and Asthma Treatment Center in Easton, Pa.
And a Web information page about Vicks's reformulated decongestant DayQuil ( http://vicks.com/pseudoephederine_faq.shtml ) includes this comment, which DayQuil spokesman Ashoke Mitra says customers have left on the company's consumer hotline: "The new version of DayQuil doesn't work as well for me as the old version."
(The reply posted by the company: "We replaced the decongestant pseudoephedrine, used in the old version of DayQuil, with the decongestant phenylephrine in the new version. Both decongestants have been approved by the FDA and are considered safe and effective when used as directed.")
Patients with stuffy noses who are dissatisfied with phenylephrine and unwilling to put up with the inconvenience of buying pseudoephedrine after Sept. 30, may want to try nasal saline spray, which is available at all pharmacies, suggests Larry Sasich, a consulting pharmacist to Washington-based advocacy group Public Citizen. Nasal decongestant sprays are another alternative, says Schenkel, who advises people to limit use to three days or risk making their symptoms worse. Allergy-caused stuffy noses may respond better to nasal steroid sprays such as Nasonex or Flonase, available only by prescription.
But don't expect pseudoephedrine to go back to being an easy sell. Although only a small percentage of crystal methamphetamine is made with pseudoephedrine pirated from over-the-counter drugs, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, use of the illegal drug is far lower in states that restrict pseudoephedrine sales to drugstores only than elsewhere. While only a few states, none of them in the Washington area, have that restriction, Congress could also impose this limit. ·
Francesca Lunzer Kritz is a Washington-area freelance health care writer. Comments:health@washpost.com.
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It could be a tough fall allergy season, and not just because of the ragweed count. Another problem, say some experts, is an ingredient many drug companies have begun putting in nonprescription decongestants in place of pseudoephedrine.
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Internships at The Washington Post
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Do you want the scoop on summer internships in The Post's newsroom? Here's your chance to chat about the program with Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. , who was among the first interns at The Post and is directly involved with selecting the class each year. Details about how the 12-week program works and how to apply can be found here. But as the Nov. 1 application deadline nears, Downie was on hand to help potential applicants better understand the program, the highly competitive selection process and working in The Post's newsroom.
Washington, D.C.: What is the number one characteristic you look for when selecting summer reporting interns?
Leonard Downie Jr.: The ability to work as a journalist in our newsroom for ten weeks in the summer and the potential to eventually be hired by The Washington Post. Previous internships at newspapers at or near our level make a big difference.
Newcastle, U.K.: Do you take on international interns?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Almost never because of visa requirements and differences in journalistic training.
Chico, Calif.: I just recently finished a copy-editing internship at a medium-sized newspaper. Why would The Washington Post be the ideal next step? What is expected of copy editors? How much power are they given? What is the work load?
Leonard Downie Jr.: The number one reason to want to have a copy editing summer internship at the Post is that a large proportion of the copy editors we've hired in recent recent years -- and who have advanced rapidly in our newsroom -- have been summer interns here. Copy editors in particular are able to demonstrate in ten weeks whether they work well at our level. The work load is intense but copy editors here usually handle fewer stories than at other papers because we want the quality of editing to be as high as possible. Copy editors here do the final editing on stories, write headlines and photo captions for them and do electronic type-setting. They share editorial decision-making with assignment editors who do the first edits on stories and their bosses, the section editors. We have individual copy desks for our various sections -- National, Foreign, Metro, Sports, Financial, Style, etc. -- rather than a universal copy desk.
Stanford, Calif.: What are you looking for in the 500-word bio?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Honesty. Self-awareness. Sense of purpose. Writing ability. Humor when appropriate. Individuality.
Boston, MA: I am a journalism major, but am very interested in photojournalism. Is it possible to apply to intern at the news reporting desk and the photo desk at the same time? Also, do I have a chance at being accepted into the internship even though I have not had any work published? Thank you!
Leonard Downie Jr.: I can't imagine selecting an intern who has not had work published because it would be so difficult to evaluate such a candidate. We have not had interns who worked on both news desks and the photo desk.
Arlington, Va.: While I do not have any college newspaper experience, I've taken newswriting classes and am interested in pursuing writing in the music industry, or more of a column-style of writing rather than news and reporting. I know I have the writing skills--is there room at the post for such an intern?
Also, is there any type of stipend? In this day in age, most if not all companies rely on unpaid interns, but that weeds applicants like myself out who A. have graduated from college and B. do not come from enough of a privileged background to work for free.
Leonard Downie Jr.: All of our summer interns are paid salaries. A couple dozen are selected from hundreds of applicants each year, so the competition is stiff. We want applicants who are committed to and have experience (student and/or professional) in newspaper journalism.
New York, NY: I run a program that trains student journalists and helps them develop professional careers. What advice do you have for me in helping them successfully apply for the internship? Would several applications from the students in my program be harmful to the best students' chances? Given that students with a real range of experiences are part of my program, what type of students do you think I should encourage to apply?
Leonard Downie Jr.: We evaluate each applicant individually so it doesn't matter how many apply from any one program or university. Our preliminary screening determines which applicants should get further consideration. Those who have done well in previous internships, demonstrating that they can work at our level, or who show unusual potential in other ways, have the best chances.
New Brunswick, NJ: is it possible to apply to two internships?
Leonard Downie Jr.: If you mean applying to the Post and other newspapers for internships, yes.
Arlington, Va.: Hi. I want to encourage a student photographer I know to apply to an internship at The Post. However, besides still photography, she's very interested in putting together multimedia packages. Will The Post internships provide her with this opportunity - or is she better off applying to programs at your Web site or other online venues?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Our photographers are beginning to do some video, but our web site does a lot of it. I don't know what their internship opportunities are.
Washington, D.C.: How much do recommendations and internships within the Post - such as at washingtonpost.com or Newsweek - make a difference for a candidate?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Experience at one of our sister platforms would probably be an advantage because we could better assess potential. And recommendations from members of our staff are taken very seriously.
Washington, D.C.: Do you ever hire interns who have previous internship experience, but not at a daily newspaper?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Very rarely. We have to be able to assess potential for working in our newspaper newsroom.
Silver Spring, Md.: How many previous internships are you looking for the ideal intern to have?
Leonard Downie Jr.: It's not so much the number as the quality of the work produced in one or more internships.
Foggy Bottom: Do you look at candidates differently based on if they are undergraduates, grad students, or out of school and well into a journalism career? It seems like it would be difficult for a senior in college to compete with someone who has a master's.
Leonard Downie Jr.: Most of our recent interns had completed either their junior or senior years in college, although we've also had some graduate students and master's degree recipients. We look more for quality of journalism produced by the applicants than their years of education or their degrees.
New York, N.Y.: I have been impressed with the growth of Washington Post Radio, and wonder if you might consider offering an internship in the department this summer.
Leonard Downie Jr.: Washington Post Radio is not part of our internship program. Inquiries about it should be addressed to Tina Gulland, our director of radio and TV projects.
Orlando, Fla.: When does the 10-week internship begin?
Leonard Downie Jr.: In June of each year. We select the interns in November. Applications close earlier in the autumn.
Washington, D.C.: What is the newsroom atmosphere like at the Post? Is it a team environment, or cutthroat and competitive?
Leonard Downie Jr.: It's a large, competitive newsroom on two floors in our main building, plus a number of suburban news bureaus. But it is also collegial and fun. We assign each summer intern a volunteer professional partner from our staff to help guide them through the summer.
Cary, North Carolina: I interned with Sports Illustrated this past summer in New York. My editor wrote me a recommendation letter but since he's in New York and I'm in North Carolina, trying to get my application materials and his letter in one package is troublesome. What do you recommend I do in order to get the letter to you?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Get everything to us as quickly as you can. The editor can also send the letter directly to us, properly labeled to be added to your application.
Toronto, Canada: First of all, thanks for doing this. My question relates to the autobiography. I'd like to know what it is that makes your heads turn in terms of content and/or writing style? Also, are you the person we are sending it to? If not, who is, and if possible could you please let me know what phone number would we be able to contact them at? Thanks for your time!
Leonard Downie Jr.: A number of editors will be looking at the applications and there is no way anyone can tell you just what "will turn our heads." As I said earlier, be honest, informative and show us how you write. Good writing is not necessarily flashy.
Chico, Calif.: It looks like The Post takes four or five copy editors, in addition to the Dow Jones program. How many people typically apply?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Several hundred or more typically apply each year for reporting, editing, photography, graphics and page design internships.
Silver Spring, MD: After an internship at the Post where do the interns usually go? I'm graduating in May and wonder if employment at the Post is possible after graduation and the Post internship?
Leonard Downie Jr.: We usually hire several or more outstanding interns at the end of their summers here. We also recommend places for other interns to get more seasoning while we track them.
Fairfax, VA: In applying for an internship is there any advantage to being from the Post's metro area? It seems as though being a reader of the Post and a 'local' would erase much of the learning curve other applicants would have.
Leonard Downie Jr.: We definitely want as many locally raised interns as possible, but they must be competitive in ability and experience with other applicants.
Lebanon, NH: Is it possible to apply to two internships within The Washington Post, such as sports and metro sections? Or does The Washington Post accept only one application per person?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Only one application, but you can indicate which sections you are interested in -- and many applicants cite more than than one, such as Metro and Sports.
Alexandria, VA: I am a journalism grad who graduated in '04. Upon returning home I took a the first job I could, which happened not to have anything to do with journalism. It helps me pay the bills, but I still want to have a career in journalism.
Are there any opportunities or internships, such as during weekends, for someone in my situation?
Also, if I don't have any professional clippings, what avenues should I pursue to get myself published so I can pursue a journalism job, or internship?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Our only internships are the competitive summer internships we've been discussing in this chat. My advice would be to find a newspaper job anywhere you can to start and/or continue on to a graduate j-school.
Baltimore, Md.: I imagine that landing an internship at the Post is very tough. But I also imagine that getting hired on staff is even tougher. In recent years have you hired interns into full-time positions? Can you name some examples. Thanks.
Leonard Downie Jr.: Beginning with me in 1964, we've hired scores of summer interns into full-time jobs, including an unusually large number from last summer's intern class. Just a few others of note: sports columnist Michael Wilbon, former managing editor Bob Kaiser, deputy editorial page editor Jackson Diehl.
New York: How much does the academic transcript play into your decision. Can a journalist be successful without being the best student?
Leonard Downie Jr.: You can be successful without being the best student; we rely more on evidence of journalistic talent and experience. But we do notice particularly outstanding or particularly poor academic achievement. We also notice fluency in important foreign languages and academic achievement in subjects important in our coverage.
DC: I've written a few things for the Post and my editor there has
offered to write me a letter of rec. Naturally I'd love to use
her but don't feel that she knows my writing as well as
professors who have worked more closely with me. Is it
better to use the Post editor anyway, or should I stick with
just mentioning that she encouraged me to apply?
Leonard Downie Jr.: It would be good to have letters from both the Post editor and your professors.
Williamsburg, VA: How important is it to have experience with a daily newspaper? How recent should that experience be to be considered relevant?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Daily newspaper experience is very important. Assuming you are now or were recently a college student, I can't imagine that the experience wouldn't be recent enough.
Alexandria, VA: Why do you have to be a junior, senior or in graduate school to apply? It seems very limiting and non-inclusive when there could be someone younger and talented or older and wanting to commit to a journalism career.
Leonard Downie Jr.: We have chosen a very few exceptional summer interns who were between their sophomore and junior years in college. And we are always open to an applicant who demonstrates extraordinary talent and already has sufficient experience at an early age.
Washington, DC: How many gay, lesbian and transgendered interns are currently placed with your organization? If you are unable to answer that question, where do you recruit interns who might be gay, lesbian or transgendered?
Leonard Downie Jr.: We have many gay staff members and I'm sure some of our summer interns have been gay. But we do not ask them to specify their sexual orientation.
Washington, D.C.: Is the Post internship only for members of racial and ethnic groups?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Our summer internships are open to journalists of all races and ethnic groups. We do seek diversity among our interns and the rest of our newsroom staff.
London, UK: My understanding is that in the past, some interns have been hired on as reporters after the summer program. Will that happen this year, given the recent buyouts and downsizing in the newsroom?
Leonard Downie Jr.: We hired more of this past summer's interns into full-time jobs here than ever before.
Lakeside, AL: I know you said you almost never take international interns, but how about the ones who are already students in colleges here in the United States and are interested in the opportunity?
Leonard Downie Jr.: We would consider all applications, keeping in mind visa issues and evidence of experience and proficiency in American-style newspaper journalism.
Williamsburg, VA: Are most interns hired grad students, or is it just as likely to be hired as a college senior about to graduate?
Leonard Downie Jr.: The majority have been seniors who just graduated.
Philadelphia, PA: The Intern FAQ said applicants must be enrolled in school on the application deadline. Is there any interning path for people who did not have extensive reporting experience as a student? Gain experience and apply as a graduate student? Thanks for any information.
Leonard Downie Jr.: Applicants must be currently enrolled as either undergraduate or graduate students. Some interns have been older students who went back to school after working for a few years, but that's rare.
New Jersey: Do you look favorably upon graduate students who have several years of journalism experience, or do you prefer younger interns?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Graduate students "with several years of journalism experience" are welcome to apply; they have rarely been applicants in the past.
Williamsburg, VA: As for letters of recommendation, what sort of people are you looking to write them? Are employers in journalism-related jobs preferred over professors?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Both professors and journalists the applicant has worked for or with are welcome.
Washington, D.C.: What kinds of clips would you recommend including? Are editorials useful if I'm interested in the reporting internship? Should I include articles I wrote three years ago, or only my most recent work?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Your best work, although editorials are not a strong indicator of reporting ability. We separate news-gathering and editorial-writing at the Post.
Hempstead, NY: I frequently cover cops as an intern at a daily paper that "floods the zone" of crime scenes with reporters. I often telephone the rewrite guy with color and quotes. This often means that I share a by-line with one or more reporters. Should I use these clips when applying for other internships, or should I stick with stories that I've reported and written entirely by myself?
Leonard Downie Jr.: The latter. Double-byline clips are hard for us to evaluate.
Philadelphia, Pa.: Do you give preference to minority candidates, all other things being equal? Also do you just consider racial minorities, or do you also look at gender, religion, orientation, location, school, etc.?
Leonard Downie Jr.: We look for diversity of all kinds, diversity that reflects the diversity of our readership.
Washington, D.C.: Are all the interns placed in the main Post building, or are some put in the suburban bureaus?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Both. Half a dozen interns usually work in suburban bureaus.
Silver Spring, MD: If an intern enjoys working in the features department, but also enjoys covering other topics (news, style, health, etc), where would you suggest they apply within the Post's organization?
Leonard Downie Jr.: You apply for the internship, stating which sections you would most like to work in. We take it from there.
Evanston, Ill.: Is it true that you hire the reporting interns who have the most clips from the summer? Does it help to be more social or get more "face time" with editors? I've heard that some editors at other papers play favorites and assign more stories to certain interns, not necessarily because they are better reporters or writers. Does that happen at the Post?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Because we want the best interns and hire those interns who will be the best staff members, we treat each of them the same way. Playing favorites would be self-defeating for us. It's the quality of work rather than just the quantity that matters.
Re: New Jersey: I understand that one of your reporters, Emily Wax, was a graduate student with a lot of experience. I love her stories by the way! (And no, I don't know her personally.) So it looks like you have made good hires from the program.
Leonard Downie Jr.: Thanks. She's another good example.
Vineland, NJ: Outside of journalism experience, what sort of things would be impressive on a resume?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Evidence of the kind of person you are and the life experiences you've had so far.
Leonard Downie Jr.: I seem to have answered all the questions. Thank you for your interest in our summer intern program.
Vineland, NJ: What sort of things are you looking for in clips? What sort of hierarchy would there be for factors like research quality, multiple sources, writing quality, interesting subject, length, immediacy of deadline, etc.?
Leonard Downie Jr.: One more: we're looking for accurate, deep reporting and clear, impactful writing.
Hyattsville, MD: I go to j-school at College Park, and I was wondering, do young interns get hired onto the Post staff? Or do they have to spend some time in other papers? Can you young writers at the Post who got hired as interns? Thanks for doing this.
Leonard Downie Jr.: Please see my earlier answers to these questions. We have have hired many staff members out of our summer intern program, including Maryland students.
Washington, DC: How would you or the Post feel about an older (30-ish) applicant who was thinking about the program as a possible way to switch careers? Would it count for or against me that I already have my master's degree, since it seems to be mostly a student program?
Also, would having worked in politics about 8 years ago disqualify me?
Leonard Downie Jr.: You would not qualify for our intern program. And we'd be dubious about hiring someone who worked that long in politics.
Washington, D.C.: Hello- Does one have to be a journalism grad to get an internship? I'd think the experience at the Post would be great during grad school. Would the grad program have to be in journalism?
Leonard Downie Jr.: No. Many of our interns did not study journalism either as undergraduates or graduate students, but they had impressive experience as student journalists or as summer interns elsewhere.
Virginia: Does the Post select some candidates for interviews before making a decision?
Leonard Downie Jr.: Sometimes by phone.
College Park, Md.: In addition to internships in Washington, I've worked for three years at a small daily in Northern Virginia. Does professional experience disqualify me from applying, or is it helpful?
Leonard Downie Jr.: If you're a current student, we'd have to see your application.
That's all for today. Thanks again.
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Chatological Humor* (UPDATED 9.29.06)
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DAILY UPDATES: 9.27.06 | 9.28.06 | 9.29.06
Gene Weingarten's controversial humor column, Below the Beltway , appears every Sunday in the Washington Post Magazine. He aspires to someday become a National Treasure, but is currently more of a National Gag Novelty Item, like rubber dog poo.
He is online, at any rate, each Tuesday, to take your questions and abuse.
PLEASE TAKE BOTH POLLS -- That is, one from each set below.
Last week's poll (Posted 9/18/06): Door 1: If you grew up in NYC or Boston | Door 2: If you did not .
NEW POLL (Posted 9/25/06): Door 1: Most of my first 20 years were spent in a city of 500,000 pop. or more | Door 2: Most of my first 20 years were spent in a city or town smaller than 500,000 pop .
Weingarten is the author of "The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life. And Death" and co-author of "I'm with Stupid," with feminist scholar Gina Barreca. "Below the Beltway" is now syndicated nationally by The Washington Post Writers Group .
New to Chatological Humor? Read the FAQ .
I've been a long time gone; it's good to be back. I apologize for the tease with last week's chat. I'll explain what that was about at the end of the chat.
Of all the columns of mine that have run since we last spoke, the one that got the most mail was this one , in which I was speculating about whether George W. Bush might be the worst president in American history. Of the 400-plus e-mails, most were teeth-gnashingly negative, which I expected. The common theme, other than that I am an idiot lefty tool of the treasonous pinko media, was that George Bush is not only not a BAD president, but a GREAT president. Some actually compared him favorably to Lincoln and FDR.
(A common sub-theme was that I showed my true colors by not including the Democrat Jimmy Carter as one of the worst presidents.)
I have to admit that this stalwart support for the man surprised me. Many of these readers were not stupid people, and though they may well be ideologues-on-the-defensive, they seemed sincere and not just contrarian.
I spent many days contemplating what it meant, and decided it was an example of the boiling frog paradox. As the story goes (it is almost certainly apocryphal), if you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will immediately leap out, recognizing the environment to be lethal. But if you put a frog in tepid water that you then slowly bring to a boil, the frog will not notice the gradual temperature change, and boil to death.
I think that is what is going on with Bush stalwarts. I think the dreadful events of the last five years have so gradually lowered our expectations that people simply do not realize what a catastrophically horrible and inept presidency we are suffering through. What if, on September 12, 2001, we had all been informed that in the space of the next five years, our government would have:
-- Completely squandered all the goodwill and sympathy and moral authority we earned on 9/11, to the point where we are almost universally hated and mistrusted.
-- Failed to capture or kill Osama bin Laden! Five years!
-- Argued seriously for the right to torture prisoners.
-- Carried out an invasion of a foreign country for a single stated reason that proved completely wrong.
-- Did not, as people were told to expect, march into Iraq as liberators in a short war that would pay for itself. Instead, got mired in an obviously unwinnable, seemingly endless conflict allegedly to liberate a country that patently does not want us there and will collapse in civil war the instant we leave if not before, a war that has spread us so thin we cannot actually pursue terrorists effectively worldwide...
-- Hellishly burdened our economy for years to come on this misbegotten adventure.
-- And so forth and so on.
But too much time has passed. Too much of a constant diet of small failures, so that, like the frog, we have simply lost track of what we once expected of this administration. We're boiling to death, and don't know it.
Okay, then! Wasn't that fun?
Regarding my column Sunday about being a glass bowl, several people wrote in with their own personal glass bowl stories. My favorite was from Dorothy Skinner, who has fumed when the person in line ahead of her at the supermarket not only pays with a check, but then stands there balancing her checkbook. (In my experience, this is always a woman. Men do not pay with checks.)
Thanks also to Dave George, the standup comic, who found this unforgettable line in an article in The Post:
"Pee was found in front of a building on the 3400 block of 13th Place SE..."
It turns out that Mr. Pee was a murder victim, so we must regard this with appropriate solemnity. But still.
And thanks to Chris McKay for pointing out one of the most disturbing situational aptonyms ever submitted to this chat. In Detroit, a man was charged with raping and murdering seven prostitutes. The police chief who announced his arrest was "Ella Bully-Cummings."
And this from Sarah Gabler, of Arlington: "I just got back from a family reunion in Kentucky. I had already heard for years about my mother's great aunt Bessie, who married a Dr. Butt. The family always referred to him as Bessie's Butt. But this trip I learned they had a daughter named Martha, who married a man named Cheek. Martha Butt-Cheek.
We also note with pleasure the results of the Democratic primary for Circuit Court Judge in Talbot County, Md., and congratulate the winner, "Jo Ann Asparagus."
Please take today's two polls (linked above). I'll be explaining the results midway through.
The Comic Pick of the Week is Sunday's Sherman's Lagoon . First Runner Up, Saturday's Frazz . Honorables: Sunday's Gene Pool , Sunday's Rhymes with Orange (scroll back to Sunday).
But most important: Check out the ONLINE version of Sept. 23 Gene Pool, as compared to the version you might have read in The Washington Post. In the Post, the final panel was altered. It was an excess of tastefulness, destroying a great punchline. In the Post, the last line read: Dear Mr. Big, A diamond is FOREVER.
Okay, but not nearly as good. The first, had The Post readers seen it, would have been the CPOW.
Saint Paul, Minn.: Hey Gene, "mirror" of course rhymes with "beer", but the vowel sounds in "beer" and "in" also rhyme! How am I supposed to take this poll? (grew up outside the east - by the way, "beer" also rhymes with "bier")
Gene Weingarten: Good grief. Does anyone else find that the vowel sounds of "beer" and "in" rhyme?
Saint Paul, Minn.: Gene, a while back (but I think after your most recent chat), Wilbon had the following exchange in HIS chat. I found it remarkable. Is it possible he had no idea that you were joking? Who are these "prominant Washingtonians" who apparently have the critical reading skills of a doorknob? Does Wilbon really think Farhi had an agenda? And finally, why don't you guys stop picking on the poor, wittle, much-more-talented-than-you sportswriters?
Leesburg, Va.: So what was Tony's reaction to Gene Weingarten's article from last week? I loved the "review". The only thing funnier then the satirical article was the reaction of the people who didn't get the joke. Joe Thiesman made a comment that he would no longer be friends with anyone who write an article like that about him. I think Joe needs to get a sense of humor. I hope Tony found the article funny, but I'm worried that enough people didn't get the joke, and that would bother him.
Michael Wilbon: I haven't talked to Tony about any more of those pieces. I know this for sure: most people weren't certain if it was satire. I read the piece not knowing for sure until the agate type at the end...and that day (Tuesday of last week) I ran into a bunch of prominent Washingtonians who are faithful readers of the newspaper (we're talking senior partners in law firms and one noted politician) who said to me they didn't know for sure what to think, whether it was satire...Everybody's sense humor, and this should be underscored, ain't the same. Anyway, we know what Weingarten was trying to do and to some it was successful. I think Tony, who has taken millions of hard shots over 30 years, has to suck it up, be a big boy, and live with criticism. Don't throw the rock if you're not willing to take one on the forehead.
Having said that, the first critique in Style I found mean and agenda-driven. When you work in a sports section all your life, even one as prestigious as The Post's, there are always jerks in features and news sections insulting sports writers and I, for one, come out swinging. Way too many of them think they're superior in talent when they're not. The definition of "deadline" for too many of them is " a week from tomorrow." They wouldn't know how to write on deadline if their lives depended on it, in some cases. They make far, far, far less money in a lot of cases and hate that. There's a jealousy factor involved and directed at sportswriters, just the way sportswriters have directed bad behavior at TV sports people for years and years...So, when the first piece ran I said some rather harsh things about the writer, which I neither regret nor take back even though I have rather enjoyed his work, lots of it.
Gene Weingarten: I found this entire thing by Wilbon completely bizarre.
It does underscore how difficult it is to recognize obvious satire when you are inside it.
I talked to Tony after my piece came out, and even TONY, a practitioner of satire, was unsure how to react to it. He said that some people told him it was mean, but that his wife and son told him it was affectionate,and funny, and he didn't know what to think.
Liz, can we link to that piece? It was either two or three Tuesdays ago, by me, about Tony.
Blood sug, AR: My wife thinks she is diabetic because this morning there were ants crawling in her underwear. Ever heard about this? How soon is she going to die?
Gene Weingarten: Well, it's interesting.
As I recall, Pasteur discovered diabetes in a similar fashion, though not specifically involving your wife's panties. He was doing an experiment to try to figure out what was wrong with some dogs who showed certain symptoms: Excessive thirst, lethargy, etc. He had a cage of the sick dogs, and a cage of normal dogs. What he noticed was that flies were swarming all over the urine of the sick dogs. Bingo, he thought: Sugar.
Eastern Market, Washington, D.C.: Gene,
As a diplomat with extensive service in Latin America, I would like to set the record straight about the nuances of the Venezuelan president's remarks at the U.N. last week. As we all know, broadcast and cable networks all featured Hugo Chavez with his remarks about President Bush, compairing Bush to Satan. You may also recall where he said that Bush had "cloven hooves." What he really meant was "camel toe." Neither Chavez' paltry English nor his rough-hewn Spanish was up to the linguistic task of properly describing the phenomenon. Thanks. It feels good to get that off my chest.
Gene Weingarten: Is it possible for a man to have camel toe? It is not. He would have something else. Can anyone suggest what the male equivalent of cameltoe is?
If you do not know what cameltoe is, um, image Google it.
Middlebury, Vt.: What's up with the online "Boondocks" recently? Are they reruns or have Huey, Riley, and Jazmin switched schools or something?
Gene Weingarten: Haha. Boy is "La Cucaracha" randomly bad.
It looks as though "Boondox" is not coming back. That was the news out of comicdom yesterday, in a very strange communique to newspapers from Lee Salem, head of universal press syndicate. Summarizing: They doubt that Boondox is coming back, on account of they haven't heard anything from their cartoonist, one way or the other! McGruder just crapped out on them.
He did that to me, once, too. He seems to be a crapper outer.
Boondocks was a very important strip, historically. He proved a black strip didn't have to be "safe." A very smart guy who doesn't get play and get along well with others.
washingtonpost.com: Yo, Tony! I'm Talkin' About You! , ( Post, Aug. 22 )
Time Warp?: What's the deal with Red and Rover? Granted, it's one of the worst comics in the Post, but when were the strips written?
In the past couple of weeks, there have been gags about:
Gene Weingarten: Are you serious? It is set in the 1970s.
Embarrassed: Hi, Gene - I just wanted to apologize. For my dad. He recently sent you and (I assume?) the editors at The Post an e-mail about why he was cancelling his subscription due to The Post's biased coverage of Catholocism. I'm sure you get these all the time, but he specifically referred to you as a "bozo."
So many things were racing through my head as I read that e-mail: I'm the original "I heart Gene" fan! (which I promise not to use anymore because it bugs you, but hey, I have to take credit) My dad is one of those people that Gene makes fun of! And lastly, ugh. My poor dad. He really means well, and actually does have a great sense of humor - he has several Dave Barry books in his bathroom at all times - but just not when it comes to the Church. He's a nut about it, which is one of the main reasons that I am wholeheartedly NOT. I just wanted to let you know that the crazy nutjobs you get e-mails from aren't always crazy nutjobs. No hard feelings, OK?
Gene Weingarten: I AM a bozo.
Naming Cats: I'm sorry to hear of your family situation that cancelled the show. Whatever it is, I hope it ends well.
I'd like your opinion on kitty names. We captured two stray kittens this weekend. We're going to try to socialize them in the hopes of keeping them. A lot depends on how well they socialize to humans and how well our existing pets accept them. The boy kitten is a gray tabby with white feet and he is full of vim and vinegar. We've named him Mr. Twister. But we are stuck on the girl's name! She's a fluffy light gray and white cute kitten. She's shy and keeps trying to hide herself under the cage bedding. She's smaller than her brother, with eyes that seem to be bigger than her head. We can't seem to find an appropriate name for her that matches her brother's. So far, we've come up with Whisper, Noodle (with umlauts), Tater, Toki, Digdug, Indy, and Tsunami. She's really a Misty, but I used to have a cat named that and I refuse to duplicate names. I suspect we'll have picked a name for her by the time of your next chat, but I'd still like to hear your opinion.
Thanks, and I hope everything went well.
I am not a cat person.
Gene's pool: Hmmm, maybe the Style Invitational can write a better ending as a contest.
Gene Weingarten: There can be no better ending than the one on the web.
Alameda, Calif.: A serious debate is going on in Congress about if it's ok to torture people and the White House is upset that some think that the answer is no, is it time to consider leaving the USA because I don't love it the way I used to.
Gene Weingarten: I, too, am embarrassed by and for us. I have been for about, oh, five years. But the answer is not to leave. The answer is to make sure nothing like this happens again, anytime soon.
As long as we're speculating: What if all of the things you've listed about the last five years are true... but are still better than the alternative scenario if we had not done them?
Gene Weingarten: It's a bogus "what if." I won't even answer it.
Monkey County: I voted for Bush twice, but it was very reluctant each time. Take that perspective into account when you read this. In time, history will regard Pres. George W. Bush as either one of the worst or among the best, though not as high as our greatests (i.e. Washington, Lincoln, etc). It's just virtually impossible to top them. The key is that he has taken action during a very important time in our history. The only question will be if the action turned out to be favorable or not. He definetly won't run in the middle of the pack. We should be able to tell in about 50 years.
I suspect it'll be the worst, but I wouldn't bet on it. This ought to tell you how bad I thought Gore and Kerry would have been!
Gene Weingarten: I agree you cannot seriously rank a president for at least a generation after he leaves office.
But there is a point at which you have to say, "Ok! Seen enough! Thanks!"
Fo, MA: Since Aldo from "Mary Worth" died in a car crash and Grandpa Jim in "For Better or For Worse" is about to kick the bucket, what comics page character will or should fill out the death pool trifecta?
Gene Weingarten: CATHY! PLEASE! Or Zoogie, in Gene Pool, who should die from auto-asphyxiation while self-pleasuring.
Religion: Do you know what urks the hell out of me? All these Muslim people protesting that an image of Muhammad must neven be shown. Pictures and drawings of other gods are always shown (with great pride I might add). Why are Muslims so secretive about her image?
Germantown, Md.: Hey, Gene, I'm one of those seven really mellow people who say, "what's the rush?" What strikes me most about the responses is not the lack of consideration impatient people have for those of us who meander through our days, rather, it is the lack of consideration they have for themselves. Stress is stressful. Aggravation is aggravating. Why do these people care so very little about their ouw well-being to ruin their moods because life is happening.
Gene Weingarten: It ain't your binness to teach us.
Ants in Underwear: Wow! I've felt too ashamed to ever tell anybody, but when I was traveling in India several years past, I found TONS of tiny little ants just lovin' my used underwear. Twenty-two years old at the time, not diabetic... I related it to something that must have been in my diet at the time... either lots of honey or fenugreek. Seriously. But, uh, it kind of made me think I should try to figure it out and eat more of it all the time, if you know what I mean.
Gene Weingarten: I do know what you mean! Thank you!
Dover DE: Posting early because I woke up, had nothing else to do and thought everyone should know that. A few weeks, you said you had something like 50 sexual thoughts a day from looking at women. In a later chat, you said you felt nothing when hugging a woman. How is this possible?
When one is ogling a woman (respectfully, of course) one is performing a seditious act of voyeurism. There is a certain little-boy thrill to it.
A friendly hug from a woman is invited. She is telling you, this is a non-sexual moment. There is no sedition. A certain trust is implied. That trust means something to me. A man becomes the equivalent of a gynecologist at that moment. He is being trusted. He behaves.
Gene Weingarten: Er, also, as I have said many times before, I am not a rack man. But that's incidental to the explanation above, which is the controlling authority.
Y'AR!: Be ye forewarned, says I -- ye best be celebratin' Talk Like a Pirate Day by showin' off all yer piratitude. Today be the day to steal some booty, drink bottles of rum, and make traitors walk the plank!
And to that scurvy wench Chatwoman, I say: Prepare to be boarded -- yarrrrrrrrr!
Gene Weingarten: See next post.
McLean, VA: Speaking of chatological humor, my friend, Geoff, suffers from irritable bowel syndrome and tells a legendary story about having an "accident" while roller blading. The double dactyl below is an attempt to help secure its place in the anals, er, the annals of history.
Gene Weingarten: Very old but very excellent joke:
A ship in the Caribbean in the 1800s realizes it is being pursued by a pirate ship. The captain calls to the first mate: "Bring me my red shirt." The mate does, the capn' dons it, and leads the ship into battle. They defeat the pirates.
Next day, same scenario, only TWO pirate ships approach. Same request. The red shirt is put on. Same result -- the pirates are defeated.
That night, a young bos'n's mate (I liked typing that. Bos'n's. Also good is "I'd've") approaches the first mate and asks what that was all about. "Well, the cap'n wants to wear red so that if he is injured, we won't see the blood, and we'll continue to fight with spirit and confidence."
The young bos'n's mate is deeply impressed with the valor and courage of his cap'n. The very next day, the ship is at sea when it finds itself completely surrounded by SIX pirate ships.
The cap'n turns to his first mate and says, "Bring me my brown pants."
Fantastic Inaptonym: One of America's best young sommeliers, as named by a major magazine in the field: Joseph Sauerwein.
Silver Spring, Md.: Gene --
You like your job, and I'll bet a lot of people who read your chat like their jobs, too. I'm a good guy. And at 31 years old, I have never had a good job -- not since college. I promise I'm not passing the buck here, but I keep getting stuck with lousy bosses. Just awful. My last job, we all went to see "The Devil Wears Prada" as an office outing (the way normal offices go to happy hours). Needless to say, we didn't invite the boss.
Help me out, Gene. Find me a place where I can be happy and make the world a better place.
Gene Weingarten: I have never understood this attitude. You act as though you have no control over where you work -- that one's career is some sort of random falling into one job or another, and that if you fail to be fulfilled it is anyone's fault but your own.
Take a chance. Do it differently. Decide what sort of work you really want to do, find that job, and get it. Passion helps, you know.
Yo, Gene!: I'm amazed that anybody could have doubted that your column on Kornheiser was satire. It was clear to me from the opening paragraph, where you discussed Tony's lack of success in "physically resembling a gentile." Do those idiot readers actually think you would have said such a thing in a serious review? Sheesh.
Gene Weingarten: It is completely mystifying.
But, I'm tellin' ya, even TONY claimed not to be sure. It's different from the inside. I am glad I called him.
Washington, D.C.: Any Worst Presidents list must include Woodrow Wilson.
Someday, before I leave D.C., I plan to spit on that man's grave.
Gene Weingarten: Wilson is, in my opinion, unrankable.
He helped give us the dreadful treaty of Versailles, and he set racial relations back 30 years by re-segregating the military. But he also was an important international figure when we needed a giant. He (with Roosevelt) created the world-player, imperial presidency. It was a big deal, at an important time. Can't call him the worst.
Also, he was right about the League of nations.
Another unrankable, with strong positives and strong negatives? LBJ.
Washington, D.C.: Check page A2 of the Post. In a graphic column demonstrating Americans' lack of geography skills, the paper has mislabelled Sudan as Egypt. Any chance it was an intentional joke?
Liz, can we link to this graphic?
Tailgate City, Fla.: Dear Maj. Medical Guy, sir:
How will the removal of Chris Simms' spleen affect the Harris-Nelson senatorial race, sir?
Gene Weingarten: "Dontell Donask" would be a better name.
Simms is a lefty. A great outpouring of sympathy in Florida for a lefty will help Nelson more than Harris, who is CERTAINLY not left of center.
Religion what?: Every religion has idiosyncracies that differentiate it from every other religion. That's why we don't all worship the same god in the same way, or worship one at all. It makes perfect sense to me that people would not want there to be any sort of rendering of their particular God. It's up to them, isn't it? Hindus don't eat beef. Catholic priests don't take wives. What's your point? Does it really bother you that much?
I am not inimical to the Catholic Church. I do tend to mistrust most religions, though. I don't think the world needs MORE religious certitude right now, if you see what I mean.
Crying Uncle: Okay, I give up...what is a "sliding pond" ???
Gene Weingarten: A sliding pond is known to virtually anyone over 45 who grew up in NYC, and to virtually no one else. You know it as a "slide," the playground equipment.
It appears to be a NYC corruption of "Slide-Upon," which was the name of one of the original manufacturers.
I've been thinking about something for the last week or so. Is there anything funny about these, besides just being "funny city names"?
Gene Weingarten: Indeed, there is.
Fairfax, Va.: You outed the Empress!!
Gene Weingarten: I most certainly did not! Patricia works closely with the Empress; she has never denied this. The Empress relies on her judgment as a backstop, much as the Czar did with me.
washingtonpost.com: Below the Beltway: Say What? , ( Post Magazine, Sept. 17 )
washingtonpost.com: Working on that graphic link...
Thank you and good night: Gene, between your Bush column and the diatribe above, I can only say that you match up perfectly to the late comic Genius Lenny Bruce. Both of you were funny once, and then demonstrated a terminal inability to shut up about topics that weren't funny (Bruce on the First Amendment, you on foreign policy, Dylan lyrics, etc.).
Long ago, this chat used to be about humor. If I want to argue politics, I'll go to the Post's daily Politics discussion. But I refuse to have any more of my lunchtimes wasted on chronic unfunniness. If I change my mind, I can read the Post's comics on the Metro at my liesure.
Gene Weingarten: This chat was never entirely about humor.
Wheaton, Md.: Marry, Merry, Mary -- no way any of these rhyme, people! Marry rhymes with carry and tarry. Merry rhymes with cherry and berry. Mary rhymes with dairy and scary. What gives?
Gene Weingarten: This is completely correct. Now we shall analyze the polls.
Gene Weingarten: Okay, the polls. These are kind of interesting.
In poll #1, we may never have had a more dramatic split-result than for the question asking about the pronunciation of Mary, merry and marry. NYC people hear them as three different sounds. Elsewhere, there is a happy commingling of sounds until they sound the same.
Now, the gentleman in me would like to say that everyone is correct; we live in a big ol' comfy world and we are all diverse, and pronunciations are regional, and yadda yadda. Alas, I cannot do that. It is a lazy tongue and a lazier ear that has permitted the egregious homogenization of these three differently spelled words of different meaning. I decry it. Even if one of my favorite people, Spike the copyeditor, is a practitioner.
As to poll #2, I am surprised that impatience crosses urban-suburban lines so dramatically. But delighted. Because people should just get a move on. Slowest common denominator, indeed.
As far as the most annoying single behavior, it has GOT to be the extra-question asker in the boring meeting. That's the only one that is beyond your power to overcome. No?
Hugs?: OK, if hugs are non-sexual why do men hug women but eschew hugging other men? This does not apply to gay men, who seem to be much more flexible than straight men -- they don't appear to mind hugging or kissing members of either sex.
Gene Weingarten: Because hetero men are completely hung up about this. Obviously.
Red and Rover: No way is it set in the 70's. He occasionally references the Internet, etc. I hate that strip.
Gene Weingarten: I don't think so. Nosir. No internet. I know the editor of this strip, and she would not allow an anachronism like that.
New York, N.Y.: About religious certitude: Doesn't it look like religion is the great conflicts of the 21st century the way nationalism shaped the conflicts of the last century? That scares me. A lot.
Gene Weingarten: It is scary, isn't it? And neither adheres to any logic except its own.
Ahhh: Berry, Scary and Tarry RHYME.
I am so sorry for all of you. Can you actually hear tonal differences in MUSIC?
Religion and you: If you had to pick any religion to join, what would it be?
Gene Weingarten: The one with the least amount of dogma, and one not requiring a presumption of a deity. Buddhism, maybe?
Washington, D.C.: I am 26 years old (grew up in Queens) and I still refer to them as sliding ponds. Confuses the heck out of my godson.
Gene Weingarten: Ah. Interesting. I didn't know that phrase persisted.
Inarticulate o, NE: Gene, are these homonyms:
Gene Weingarten: The first and the third are homonyms.
Portland, Ore.: Hi Gene. Just want to update you on my life since your last chat.
I packed up my D.C. apartment, selling and tossing out tons of unnecessary items.
I stuffed the car to a point of near danger complete with items tied on the roof.
I visited my in-laws in New England.
I attended a wedding and behaved well.
I slept in hotels in Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Montana without being asked to leave one of them, even the one with the overtly racist biker dudes.
I bought a bigger bed.
I bought and finished real wood furniture that was not from IKEA or Target.
I started my graduate studies.
Since your last chat I have taken giant steps along the path to maturity. While it is fully within your power, please try not to bring me back to my previous state of irresponsibility for more than an hour; I need to do well in my program.
Gene Weingarten: Could someone explain to me -- you, perhaps -- why one would get a postgraduate degree in anything other than medicine, law, veterinary medicine, or dentistry -- fields where you are learning a very specific set of skills necessary to perform a certain task?
I am probably opening a huge, wriggling can of worms here -- really bad ones, like tapeworms or those little ones that migrate across your eyeball -- but I don't get it. Isn't there a point at which it is time to get out of academia and, y'know, actually DO something that is not moot?
I am prejudiced in this regard, and not only because I, personally, do not even have an UNDERGRADUATE degree. I am prejudiced to this extent: A few months ago, I spoke at the graduation of the journalism school of the University of Maryland. There were two kinds of kids graduating: Undergrads, who were going out into the world to begin careers as journalists, learning stuff the quick, hard, smart, make-your-mistakes-early-and-get-em-out-of-the-way way, and those graduating from the GRADUATE program of journalism. These seemed to me to be a lesser group! People fearful of getting jobs. People who needed more coddling. Because there ain's squat you learn in grad school that is anywhere as valuable as what you learn DOING stuff.
Now, don't tell me you need a graduate degree to get higher pay or more respect in your specific field. Booshwah. Fight the system. It's all about DOING, not learning. Rage, rage against the dying of the light of reason.
Arlington, Va.: I was not sure which poll to answer since I grew up on Long Island. But hurrah for the marry-mary-merry question! Imagine my shock when I learned that they are all pronounced the same in Virginia (where I went to college). Three different vowel sounds in New York, for sure. Also dumb -- when people ask "do you mean a boy or girl?" when they hear the name Erin/Aaron. Or pronouncing the names Carrie and Keri the same. Silly southerners...
Gene Weingarten: It's not just southerners, as the poll shows. This is an extremely disturbing thing, as I will explain. It is a lassitudinification of the language.
Gene Weingarten: Er, as I DID explain.
Springsteen's "I'm On Fire": ..is without a doubt one of the top three sexiest songs of all time. Due far more to his tone of voice than to the lyrics; very different than most of his others. Up there with Chris Isaak and Barry White. "Wildfire" makes me gag. (I'm female, if you can't tell)
washingtonpost.com: You, lady, are an idiot (but you don't mind, cause I'm saying it in the same tone of voice as Springsteen).
Gene Weingarten: WRONG! But Chatwoman won't mind, because I am saying it in the tone of Dana Carvey imitating John McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Group.
Not just NYC: Gene, I grew up in PtheP's home town, Philly (pronounced "fully" by natives), and I also think "marry," "merry," and "Mary" are pronounced three different ways. So you see, Philly pronunciations are not all bad.
Gene Weingarten: Pat also refers to a "beggle" and cream cheese.
I think the football team is also the Iggles, but I am not sure.
Red and Rover: Brian Whathisname, the RandR cartoonist, said in an interview that he deliberately mixes up the references in his strip to make it timeless. It might be 1965 or 2005.
Gene Weingarten: Really? Hm. Okay, then I stand correct and am appalled.
Washington, D.C.: Is it really stupid that the frog boiling analogy at the beginning of the chat really upset me? I can't stop thinking about it. You know someone had to try slow-boiling a live frog in order to figure that out.
Gene Weingarten: Nah. I think it is simply a myth. Because it wouldn't work.
New York City: Re: Marry, Merry, Mary
I'm from Virginia and live in NYC. I used to work with a man from the Bronx named Don, who was married to a woman named Dawn. I cracked up at this, telling him how he and his wife had the same name. Of course he thought I was nuts and said they sound nothing alike. He said he was "Dahn" and she was "Dwan."
Gene Weingarten: No, she was DAWN. He is Dohn.
I also laugh when people pronounce Aaron and Erin the same.
Intro Time Warp: In the intro you say, "What if, on September 12, 1991...?" You meant 2001, no?
Gene Weingarten: Yes, I did. Sorry.
First, hope everything's ok with Clan Weingarten. It will be tough to go another week without your live erudition.
The poll brings to mind a story from a childhood friend who spent the first five years of her life in NYC, then moved to my hometown south of Boston. She was given a kindergarten homework assignment to look at pictures in one column on a page and circle the item in the adjoining row that rhymed with the item in the first column.
First column had a dog. Adjoining row had, among other things, a log. She couldn't figure it out and asked her mother for help. Mom was also stumped, as "dawg" and "lahg" didn't rhyme. They had to call a neighbor who was an elementary school teacher.
Gene Weingarten: The girl was right. There IS no. rhyme. That would be like rhyming cough and scoff. They are entirely different sounds, to my ear. And I cannot get out of my mind SNL'S "Cawfy Tawk" right now.
New York, N.Y.: Does Pat drink the wudder that comes out of the tap?
Gene Weingarten: Yes, she does!
Washington, D.C.: Religion is the spawn the devil.
Bewildered, Confusion: The Post writes this in a 9/20 story:
After announcing that troop levels in Iraq will remain steady, Gen. Abizaid was asked "point-blank" if the U.S. is winning, The Post writes. His response: "Given unlimited time and unlimited support, we're winning the war."
What does that quote by Abizaid mean? What does it mean grammatically, I mean. I'd understand "If we had been given unlimited support, we would be winning the war" and "If we were given unlimited time and support, then we would/will win the war" but I don't understand "If something that is not the case, then we are winning (present tense)."
Gene Weingarten: It is incredibly weaselly is what it is. But fortunately I am an expert in translating obfuscatory officialspeak into Plain English, so I will do so now. What the general actually answered was:
Whoa, there: Gene, are you really positing that people from NYC and Boston pronounce things correctly ?
And furthermore, the reason you cite is because there is accent comingling elsewhere? To misuse an adverb: Seriously?
Wow, you're so incredibly wrong about this. So wrong that I might have to consider throwing my support behind Bush.
Gene Weingarten: If you have three words spelled differently, with hugely different meaning, and one dialect distinguishes them clearly in pronunciation, that dialect is preferable.
Brooklyn Baby: Two part question for you Gene. 1. Is Geroge Allen ashamed of his Jewish heritage? 2. Are you ashamed of his Jewish heritage? I don't really want him on our team.
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, he is a shanda for the goyim. A classic shanda for the goyim.
Alameda, Calif.: Best Western religion to join by choice is no contest - the Unitarian/Universalist church. Accepts gays. Don't have to believe in the divinity of Christ. Closes for the summer because "God trusts Unitarians" (ok, it really was for the growing season, but it sounds good.)
Gene Weingarten: Sounds pretty good. Almost like atheism.
I think LBJ is only unrankable if you are white. If you aren't, then his success in forcing a huge raft of civil rights reforms down the throat of this rather stubborn country is nothing short of remarkable. This transcends his personal vulgarities and bigotries.
Gene Weingarten: Totally agreed. A huge positive. But you simply cannot ignore his huge negative. Unrankable.
New England accents: I am from Rhode Island (but I don't have a Rhode Island accent). When I was growing up, my grandparents, who had strong Yankee accents, had friends named the Clocks. For years my sister and I thought their name was Clark, pronounced with a New England accent, until we saw their name written down somewhere, and it really was Clock.
Gene Weingarten: I like that!
J-school: What about those of us who got an undergrad unrelated to what we want to do? If I decide I want to be a journalist, no newspaper is going to hire me without experience. So, j-school is the answer. And yes, I've tried to get a job for a small town newspaper. I even applied to a small town WEEKLY newspaper. Experience needed.
Gene Weingarten: Start writing freelance for them.
Pronunciati, ON: So - you are positing that those of you born and raised in New York City have a better innate sense of pronunciation than the rest of the country?
One is inclined to ask why you all don't employ it more often, then.
Gene Weingarten: Only in certain ways.
Our pronunciation of "coffee" is awful.
Likewise, the dropping of ends of words: "Tha's nice." Bad.
Washington, D.C.: Forget pay, you can't get a job in academia or the sciences (well, maybe in the sciences as a lab tech) without a graduate degree. There are no jobs in those fields where they won't just throw your resume away if all you have is an undergrad degree.
Gene Weingarten: We must change these fields, or eliminate them!
Hoosier in Exile: "Piano" is pronounced "Pee-an-oh."
And "creek" is pronounced "crick" & "Washington," "Warsh-in-ton."
Gene Weingarten: This is funny. Everyone agrees with you! Pee-an-oh. It's just that people are hearing completely different sounds in their head when they read "an."
That's why there is that answer in the poll suggesting that "bat" and "stare" have the same vowel sound. To some flat-a heartlanders like my personal copy editor, Spike, they do.
Working Mom: Gene, you've mentioned in the past that your wife kept working when the kids were small. My husband and I are starting to plan a family and I know in my heart that I cannot be a stay-at-home mom. I'm already starting to wrestle with the logistics (and some guilt) of having someone else care for my child during the day.
Wisdom? Guidance? What daycare arrangements did you try? What worked really well for you?
Gene Weingarten: My wife spent a lot of time looking for a daycare center that was really good. She got one that was close to both of our work, so we one of us could have lunch with Molly and Dan every day.
I prefer daycare to in-home care. I think daycare is terrific for the socialization of kids.
Nine, Va.: You are SOOOO right about graduate degrees. Some of the dimmest people I have met in the civil engineering field are people who spent years in the lab books instead of at the construction site. I won't hire them unless they show that they have gone outside to see how things are built in real life. Then, they are paid just about the same as one who has a B.S.
Gene Weingarten: I do have to say this is the first note of agreement I've received.
Boring extra-question-asker: It certainly CAN be annoying, if you're paying any attention, but why pay attention? Granted, it's easier as a woman, since I would already have spent the entire boring meeting indulging in elaborate fantasies of the sort that men can't entertain in public without embarrassing themselves -- so the extra questions just give me a little more time in my happy place. One more reason it's better to be a girl.
Gene Weingarten: We can do that, too, so long as the meeting doesn't end SUDDENLY.
Serious Question: As New Yorkers, can you address something about which I still don't completely understand your point of view?
Putting aside all of the "big" answers, would you and yours be willing to accept another 9/11-sized attack in exchange for the repeal of the Patriot Act, and treating captured terrorists as though they were POW's, and so on?
This question isn't making the point that all of the things the government is trying to do are guaranteed to prevent another attack, and I'm not interested in the "that's not the way we are supposed to be" answers.
I'm asking whether you would be willing to accept another attack, say for example the recent thwarted plot in London, in exchange for much stronger limits on the government.
Gene Weingarten: It's a bogus choice.
I could put it back to you: If it is in fact true that our war in Iraq is creating a new generation of terrorists who hate us and want to kill us, would you accept that your children and grandchildren will have to deal with this, so long as we don't have do deal with another attack now?
Frederick, Md.: Verbatim headline from a Christian Public Relations site - WDC Media ("PR With A Higher Purpose")
" Found Guilty Evangelical Christian Navy Chaplain Says Hell Appeal "
And the purpose of the headline is what?
Gene Weingarten: Haha. The Penis Mightier than the Sword.
Prenat, AL: Gene, I just found out that I am expecting my second son. We used the only male name we could agree on (Henry, after a close family member) with our first. Since you have expressed so well the feelings we share for the Madisons and Mackenzies, can you or a reader help us with another boy's name?
Gene Weingarten: Anything but Antowayne or Antwan or DeWayne or Micheal or Mykal or Kristofer. Nothing that looks like a misspelling. Nothing precious like Spencer or Dakota. Avoid names that really don't go with your surname. Sean Rosenblatt is bad.
Go simple and old. Daniel. Luke. Jonas. Sam.
You know what name I like? Darby. For girl or boy.
What???: Your column on pronouncing the word "what: is the first genuinely dumb thing I've seen from you. I'm just appalled. I know, you've got this "I'm that irritating guy who has an opinion about everything but still manages to be charming" persona. But with this one, you've fallen off the tightrope. A COMMON WORD LIKE 'WHAT' CANNOT BE MISPRONOUNCED. Yikes.
washingtonpost.com: Below the Beltway: Say What? , ( Post Magazine, Sept. 17 )
Gene Weingarten: So if you pronounced it, say, "whizz," that would not be a mispronunciation?
You are dumb. You are so dumb you probably don't even realize that "what" contains a "schwa."
Middle of Nowhere, Md.: Ok, if we're going to talk about accents and pronunciation, I have to throw my two cents in. My husband is from West Yorkshire, U.K., and after nearly three years of marriage, I still can't understand him half the time. When I can understand him, I have to translate for my family. My in-laws have even sent me two Yorkshire-English dictionaries.
Gene Weingarten: I have particular trouble with Geordies, from northern England. My first wife's dad was one. Geordies tend to divide syllables with a glottal stop, so the division is sharp. His pronunciation of "country" was problematic.
One more: I will play my Pie-an-ah when I find me some gold in them thar hills. Nuggits as big as your fists!!!!
Gene Weingarten: You can celebrate by going to the thee-AY-ter.
Religion?: "The one with the least amount of dogma, and one not requiring a presumption of a deity. Buddhism, maybe?"
What, so Unitarian Universalists aren't a religion? They are defined by no dogma and no presumption of a deity.
You'd be in good company there at the Post-- lots of UU writers there.
Gene Weingarten: Sounds like a religion for people who don't want to announce they are atheists. Like the "deism" of many of our Founding Fathers.
Washington, D.C.: Did you/the rib have lunch with both your kids every single day? I am not visiting today and didn't yesterday, and I feel terrible (not your fault).
Gene Weingarten: Most every day, one of us did. Usually the rib, but when she couldn't, I did.
College Park, Md.: Um... you don't see the purpose of a Ph.D? I agree there are some dumb master's programs, but even though you didn't finish college would you really have wanted somebody with an undergraduate biology degree working as a biology professor?
You didn't think that one out, champ.
Gene Weingarten: Yes, I would. I have seen firsthand the ridiculous hoops a PhD has to go through to get his or her degree. The absurd kowtowing to academese.
I'd like to marry merry Mary: For actual hard data and intelligent, rational explanations on these pronunciation differences google "William Labov", linguist at UPenn and globally acknowledged expert on dialect and micro-dialect differences in the U.S. He's been rigorously studying this stuff for four decades and published a book called the Atlas of North American English.
Or you could just let Gene's uninformed, provincial ramblings be your source of knowledge on the subject.
Gene Weingarten: I say, stick with me.
Confused about ants in the panties: "But, uh, it kind of made me think I should try to figure it out and eat more of it all the time, if you know what I mean."
Why would you want to eat more of whatever was causing the ants to be attracted to your panties?
Gene Weingarten: Think about it.
Boys names: You cannot sing the blues if you are named Dakota or Sequoia, I don't care how many men you killed in Memphis.
Gene Weingarten: Very, very very true.
First Wife?: You don't believe in marriage and yet you have managed to do it twice?1?!
Gene Weingarten: Yes. The second, however, happened only when we decided to have kids. I believe in marriage for that.
Silver Spring, Md.: "Sounds like a religion for people who don't want to announce they are atheists. Like the "deism" of many of our Founding Fathers."
Yeah, that's pretty much my deal, although I usually say I'm a backsliding Unitarian. And many of our Founding Fathers were, in fact, Unitarians.
Gene Weingarten: A backsliding Unitarian is a hilarious concept.
Okay, thanks, all. I'll be updating through the rest of the week, as usual.
I withheld this till the end, because, had I not, every single post would have begun "My condolences for ." regardless of whether the rest of the post went on to discuss the mechanics and protocols of toilet-wiping. That would have been tedious for everyone. So,I offer a preemptive thank you to all.
On the morning of what was to be last week's chat, my father died. He was 92, and had been in very poor health for several months. His death came as no surprise and as a relief to those of us who knew him well, and knew how he lived and how he would have wished to die.
He was in some ways, an unremarkable man - a career mid-level civil servant, content to make no waves. He lived a quiet life of honest work and love of family. But he also had a certain quality I deeply admired, and even more deeply envied. More than anyone I have ever known, he had made peace with the fact that life is short, capricious, unpredictable, and fatal; he'd decided that the best way to deal with that is to take what comes, improve what you can, accept what you can't, be patient, be generous, and find joy in everything. I don't know if it was a certain sort of genius, or just the inevitable conclusion of a very practical man, but it is the way to live. I'm trying, with mixed success.
One moment in his life stands out more than the rest, for what it says about the man. When I was about ten years old, my father came home in the middle of a workday - an unprecedented event. He looked ashen-faced. He walked straight to the radio, and turned it on to WINS, the all-news station. I suddenly heard a bunch of familiar names - I recognized them as the names of my father's coworkers, people he'd talked about at dinner. He was a supervisor for the Internal Revenue Service. The news was that all these men had been arrested and charged with serially accepting $20 or $25 bribes from accountants to go easy on the tax returns of their clients. It was an enormous scandal. It had been the result of a sting - an FBI agent had infiltrated the office, posing as an auditor. There had also been accountants who had turned state's evidence, and were wearing wires. As I recall, there were six section chiefs in my father's office. Five of them were arrested. My father was the sixth.
Years later, when I better understood what this had been all about, I asked him whether he had ever been approached for a bribe. "Never," he said.
There was a brief pause. " See, if they did, I just didn't understand what they were talking about, so I can honestly say I was never approached." Then, a big smile. "Those people couldn't BELIEVE how stupid I was."
I may be writing about my father one more time, but for the moment, I'm asking Liz to link to two pieces I wrote about him in the last few years. The first is from 2002, the second appeared on Election Day 2004.
washingtonpost.com: Below the Beltway , ( Post Magazine, Dec. 29, 2002 )
My Father's Vision, (Post, Nov. 2, 2004)
Gene Weingarten: To my enormous shame and embarrassement, I realize that in my column about the pronunciation of the word "What," in the part about my editor, Tom the Butcher, I neglected to mention the most salient fact.
Tom is the man who grew up in the Land of the Lost syllables. As I wrote, he says "vetinarian" and "meer." Here is what I forgot to mention. He says "cran."
You probably don't even know what this word is SUPPOSED to be, do you?
Male equivalent of cameltoe: I think someone commissioned a poll to determine what the male equivalent was, and the winner was "Almond Joy."
Okay, I now have myself together here.
That is an inspired term. There is a terrific photo on the Web of the vice president's Almond Joy. No, we durst not link to it.
Another reason Bush is bad....: ...setting back science and medical research decades with his paleozoic, overpoliticized directives about funding and research. It's very, very sad. If the people only knew.
I would be a great service to us outside the Empire State if you could provide phonetic spelling for how you pronounce the difference between merry, Mary and marry. I can't comprehend a difference in my lazy-ear, lazy-tongued head. Perhaps if I saw it written out I could understand and mend my ways.
Gene Weingarten: Okay, I will try. It's hard, because if you don't hear it, you don't hear it, and as many, many readers have said, all our distinguishing rhymes sound the same to them.
Mary is pronounced the way you guys pronounce all three of the words. So we have that one out of the way. To you, Mary rhymes with marry and merry. Okay, now hang on.
The vowel sound in "merry" rhymes with the vowel sounds in "meh" or the letter "eff." Find whichever of those seems most different to you from the way you pronounced the e in "merry," and you will have it.
The vowel sound in "marry" is the hardest. It rhymes with the vowel sound in "gaaaack" but you won't get that. I may not be able to do this one, since you'll turn almost anything into your insipid one-note. I fear your ears cannot hear this sound. WAIT. I KNOW HOW. Imitate a Bostoner saying "Pahk the Cah In Hahvahd Yahd." THAT's the vowel sound for "marry."
Stop being Silly: Sean Rosenblatt is perfectly appropriate for a kid with one Irish parent and one jewish one. Ever met one of those Irish Mexicans? Names like Jesus MacDonald, and you'd swear they'd speak with a thick Irish brogue until they open their mouths and say "Hola."
I agree that Dakota is a lame name.
Gene Weingarten: No, a stupid thing to do. Siobhan Rosenblatt is just a terrible thing to do to a child. Do what the rib and I did. She is largely Irish Catholic by birth; I am Jewish. We took two names that work in both ethnicities. Molly (Malone, Goldberg) and Danny (Boy and Lion's Den.)
Speaking of cat names....: My husband wants to name our future child the same name as our 13-year-old cat. (It's a good name.) At first I laughed at him, of course. Then I started seriously considering it. Does this make me a freak?
Gene Weingarten: Molly was named after a Labrador retriever, still living at the time of her birth.
Gene Weingarten: Thanks to Arthur Rodriguez, for pointing me to this.
Jonathan Alter says what I said in yesterday's introduction, only a lot better.
Washington, D.C.: Because of something you said recently my wife and I combined all of our bank accounts -- we had been using separate accounts more out of habit from the time when we were cohabiting and unmarried. But now I'm kinda stumped... if we're both pulling from the same pool of money, how the heck do we buy gifts for each other (ie. birthday, holidays) when we're not really using our "own" money to buy the gifts? I have thoughts on this, but wonder what you and the chatters think about it.
Gene Weingarten: Here's how we do it. We pretend not to notice. We cherish the gift, and pretend that it's not all out of one big pot. It's the way you pretend not to listen to the personal conversation at the next cubicle. Or what goes on in the next stall.
Humans LIVE through self-delusion and denial. There is honor in this.
Gene Weingarten: A little childish, but worth a few minutes: George Allen Insult Generator
Springfield, Va.: What do you mean by "bogus question?"
A question designed to force one answer, or make the answerer look stupid? Not unlike a forced pick in a magician's card trick?
A hypothetical question with no value?
A question that isn't really asking for a thoughtful answer?
A question fulll of sound and fury, signifying nothing?
Gene Weingarten: A bogus question is a false-choice question, which is the type of question this administration is terrific at. "Are you with us, or for the terrorists?" is the perfect false-choice question.
"Would you trade another terrorist attack for not torturing prisoners?" is another one. Bush would love that one.
Transplanted Brooklynite: Your poll makes me think of a New Yorker's definition of a nanosecond: the elapsed time after the light turns green and the person behind you honks their horn.
Thanks for validating my sliding pond! I was beginning to think I'd lost my mind. Now should we put up water while we wait on line?
Gene Weingarten: "Put up water!" I haven't heard that in 30 years. Thanks.
I STILL stand on lines. But I write it "in lines," cause I know Spike'll change it if I don't, anyways.
washingtonpost.com: The above description of a nanosecond was first introduced to me as a Neopolitan's definition when I was a wee girlie living in Naples, Italy. New York honkers ain't got nuthin on the cacophony emanating from southern Italy.
Not from Plains, Ga.: I'm not surprised that conservatives, especially younger ones, detest Jimmy Carter. From what I can tell, that emotion is driven mostly by their memories of the Iran hostage crisis. They regard Carter as a (five-letter word for cat) who allowed a bunch of fanatics to push America around. Do you believe they are right? I'm a middle-roader and I always regarded Carter as a decent, well-intentioned leader who was in over his head. A better ex-president than a president.
Gene Weingarten: Carter was a pretty terrible president. Bad economy, national pessimism, malaise, etc. He gets major points for the Camp David Accords, which maybe brought us closer to a mideast peace than any president before or after. He doesn't belong with the very worst, if for no other reason than that the stakes weren't huge when he was screwing up.
Herndon, Va.: Mr. W: Please, please correct your comments on President Wilson. He didn't 're-segregate" the Armed Forces, they remained segregated until after WWII. He did act, however, to institute segregation of white and black federal workers, and remained a full-fledged "southerner" in that respect for his entire life. (Some sources say he thought "Birth of the Nation" was great history - but there's some disagreement among historians as to how true that is)
Gene Weingarten: Correct. Sorry. It was the federal workforce he segretated. He was a racist. As I recall, he would not shake a black person's hands unless he was wearing gloves.
Paying with Checks: I am a man. That I am proud of. I used to pay with checks often. That I am not proud of. But when fresh out of college and living paycheck to paycheck, and I needed to go buy beer, cigarettes, chicken nuggets, cheese, and Doritos, and there was only $4 to my name until I got paid two days later, paying with a check was the only answer. I am very thankful that my quality of life has significantly improved over the past 10 years (a very gradual process).
Gene Weingarten: I grant you dispensation. This is the only valid excuse.
Gene Weingarten: There's one other observation I would like to make about Wilbon's chat comments, which I reproduce, again, below:
Leesburg, Va.: So what was Tony's reaction to Gene Weingarten's article from last week? I loved the "review". The only thing funnier then the satirical article was the reaction of the people who didn't get the joke. Joe Thiesman made a comment that he would no longer be friends with anyone who write an article like that about him. I think Joe needs to get a sense of humor. I hope Tony found the article funny, but I'm worried that enough people didn't get the joke, and that would bother him.
Michael Wilbon: I haven't talked to Tony about any more of those pieces. I know this for sure: most people weren't certain if it was satire. I read the piece not knowing for sure until the agate type at the end...and that day (Tuesday of last week) I ran into a bunch of prominent Washingtonians who are faithful readers of the newspaper (we're talking senior partners in law firms and one noted politician) who said to me they didn't know for sure what to think, whether it was satire...Everybody's sense humor, and this should be underscored, ain't the same. Anyway, we know what Weingarten was trying to do and to some it was successful. I think Tony, who has taken millions of hard shots over 30 years, has to suck it up, be a big boy, and live with criticism. Don't throw the rock if you're not willing to take one on the forehead.
Having said that, the first critique in Style I found mean and agenda-driven. When you work in a sports section all your life, even one as prestigious as The Post's, there are always jerks in features and news sections insulting sports writers and I, for one, come out swinging. Way too many of them think they're superior in talent when they're not. The definition of "deadline" for too many of them is " a week from tomorrow." They wouldn't know how to write on deadline if their lives depended on it, in some cases. They make far, far, far less money in a lot of cases and hate that. There's a jealousy factor involved and directed at sportswriters, just the way sportswriters have directed bad behavior at TV sports people for years and years...So, when the first piece ran I said some rather harsh things about the writer, which I neither regret nor take back even though I have rather enjoyed his work, lots of it.
Gene Weingarten: So, first, he unfairly smeared Farhi. Paul had a no-win task -- critiquing a colleague's work. If you are complimentary, you look like a suck-up apologist, and if you are negative, you risk causing great internecine warfare. The only thing to do is to be honest with yourself, and call it like you see it, and that is what Paul did. Whether he was right or wrong in his assessment is simply a matter of opinion. He is the only person utterly blameless in the whole silly affair.
Kornheiser's skin is too thin, but he also took a little too much heat for his reaction. His attacks on Farhi were delivered (mostly) on radio, where it was pretty obvious he was going over the top, for comedic effect. I'm sure he kind of meant it, but when the comments were printed, they seemed meaner than they were. The Ombudsman did not really pick up on this.
But Wilbon -- he is just being ridiculous. He is wrong on all points, most particularly in savaging Farhi for having some sort of agenda. But he is also wrong on his accusation that everyone is jealous of sports writers because they make more than anyone else. I've heard no such jealousy in the newsroom; we all know that sportswriters work very hard, on rolling deadlines, and we have some of the best sportswriters in the country.
I also find it amusing that Wilbon seems to put so much value on the ability to write on deadline. It's a fine talent, but just one of many talents that good journalists need. Some writers, for example, would never use tired old knee-jerk cliches such as "if their lives depended on it."
Gene Weingarten: Emergency update -- In response to many readers who asked, in NYC parlance "to put up water" means "to put a pot of water up to boil."
"I'm On Fire" sexy?: If it was really a sexy song could Robin Williams made a career of singing it in the voice of Elmer Fudd.
Gene Weingarten: Different song, but funny, anyway.
To Germantown, Md.: You know, it's incredibly self-centered, arrogant, and narcissistic of you to think that you, of all the teeming masses, know the one proper way to live, and that it's your duty and responsibility to teach that way to others. Spare me the trite truisms such as, stress is stressful. Blah blah blah. Did you ever consider that being held up by meandering idiots like you is stressful, and that by doing thing such as holding up lines with your inane chatter, you are the one failing to demonstrate consideration for others? Probably not, because you're self-centered, arrogant, narcissistic.
Oh, and as far as your question "what's the rush", the rush is that I know that I have a limited amount of time in my days/life, and there are roughly 1 trillion things I would rather do than stand in line behind a nitwit like you.
Germantown, Md.: Hey, Gene, I'm one of those seven really mellow people who say, "what's the rush?" What strikes me most about the responses is not the lack of consideration impatient people have for those of us who meander through our days, rather, it is the lack of consideration they have for themselves. Stress is stressful. Aggravation is aggravating. Why do these people care so very little about their ouw well-being to ruin their moods because life is happening.
Gene Weingarten: Someone needs either his meds or a hug, whichever can get to him first.
Frog boiling myth: The "critical thermal maxima" of many species of frogs have been determined by several investigators. In this procedure, the water in which a frog is submerged is heated gradually at about two degrees Fahrenheit per minute. As the temperature of the water is gradually increased, the frog will eventually become more and more active in attempts to escape the heated water. If the container size and opening allow the frog to jump out, it will do so.
It's from an .edu so it must be true.
Gene Weingarten: Good. Thank you.
Ton, AL: I speak an East Asian language (and have grown up with several others spoken in the house) where differences in pitch, inflections, and accents completely change the meaning of words. In addition, as an accomplished musician, I can hear when the third trumpet enters a fraction of a second late or when the 5th chair second violin in an orchestra is playing with the wrong bowing. Mary, merry, and marry rhyme.
Gene Weingarten: What can I SAY to this person? Scroll down to the first day of the updates, and see if you can get it. You should. Someone with perfect pitch should get this.
Washington, D.C.: I know some people who say they are atheist, but I find it very difficult to believe in atheism. Doesn't being an atheist really take a certain amount of faith? The faith that they KNOW God doesn't exist? I can't take that leap.
I don't believe in organized religion, but if you've ever grown a garden it's hard not to believe in some sort of higher power.
Gene Weingarten: Yep, being an atheist requires a certain amount of faith. It is faith in logic over feeling; faith in facts over a sense of the spiritual. It is head versus heart.
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Martha Hamilton, writer of the "Financial Futures," column appearing weekly in The Washington Post Sunday Business section, was online Tuesday, Sept. 26 at Noon ET to discuss her new column about making smart decisions when preparing for retirement. This week, she analyzed the financial planning of three people turning 30 this year.
For this discussion, Martha was joined by Dallas L. Salisbury, CEO of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, to help answer your questions about retirement planning. As we become increasingly responsible for our own retirement income, what kind of preparations do we need to start making? Martha hopes her column will explore what readers want to know about their own financial futures.
Martha M. Hamilton: Hello, and welcome to our first on-line chat. I hope we'll all be learning together what we need to face financial planning for retirement. I don't know about you, but when I entered the workforce I didn't realize how much I would be required to know about investing and financial management to make sure I have a decent income when I stop working. I'm joined today by Dallas L. Salisbury who has headed the non-profit Employee Benefit Research Institute since it was founded in 1978, so he's been paying attention to these issues for decades now. I've gotten lots of e-mails from readers since the column launched on Sunday. Your questions will tell me what I need to learn and write about going forward. I should throw in one caution. I am not a financial advisor. I can't recommend investments.
New York: Dear Martha and Dallas,
Maybe it's just envy talking, but why are we taxpayers expected to keep funding the incredible benefits packages of our federal employees? I'm a dyed-in-the-wool, donated-to-John-Kerry liberal (or at least I thought I was until I read about Adam Black's likely retirement package), but I don't think it's fair that public employees should get such great benefits. And by the way I don't think that his salary of $85,000 at age 30 is all that below-market even for presumably highly skilled workers such as Mr. Black. I'm not that much older than 30 and I was making something similar in a supposedly lucrative part of the market (financial services) with the benefit of both Ivy League undergrad and graduate degrees.
Maybe it's time to start voting Republican ...
Dallas L. Salisbury: Total compensation is something that exists in all sectors of the economy. Some private firms have stock options, etc. In theory, if federal employees did not have a pension and health benefits, they would be paid higher salaries, just like private workers at General Mills or.........
Neither political party has suggested that federal workers lose their benefits, to my knowledge.
Washington, D.C.: I have no idea how much money I should have when I retire. At 36, I have $39K in an IRA (rolled over from old employer's 401(k) account), another $10K in a taxable investment account and $500 in a regular passbook savings account. In a few weeks I will be able to start contributing to 401(k) at my current job and my plan is to put in 12 percent of my $64K/yr salary (their match is 3 percent). I put $100/mth in the IRA and $100/mth in the investment account and nothing in the passbook savings right now. My debts are few: mortgage, AMEX (which I pay off monthly, obviously) and one interest-free credit card I have a tiny balance on ($300) that I'm just paying off over time cause I can....anyway, how do I figure out how much I need to have to retire comfortably? I'm single, no children.
Dallas L. Salisbury: Go to http://www.choosetosave.org/ and complete the ballpark e$timate worksheet. It will give you an estimate of what you need. You can re-do it every year and stay on track.
Nonprofit saver: I read this week's business section with great interest as I am turning 30 next year. As a writer, I never made much money, and now I work for a nonprofit that doesn't offer matching in our 403(b) savings plans. I imagine I will be in the nonprofit world for a while and have no idea if I will ever get married so I am quite concerned about my financial future. Please address nonprofit workers and lower-salary earners in your future articles. I couldn't identify with your 30-somethings...I make $40k/yr and live in the D.C. area (somehow)!
Martha M. Hamilton: I know it's hard to set aside savings when you're not making much money, but knowing what I do now, I hope you're setting aside money in your 403(b), even without the match. I hope to look at the non-profit landscape in the future to find out what the norm is in terms of retirement benefits.
Beltsville, Md.: Ms .Hamilton I really enjoyed your column on Sunday. Will you continue to look at each age group such as 40+ in your future column?
Martha M. Hamilton: Absolutely. I'm going to be looking at the needs of every age group as we go along.
Priorities...: Suze Orman says to only contribute as much as your employer will match for retirement until you've bought a house. By the looks of things... I may not be able to buy a house for another 10 years, so I'm wondering if perhaps that is a little shortsighted? Aside from DEFINITELY contributing as much as my employer will match in my 401(k), how do I decide what gets saved for retirement, and what gets saved for a downpayment? Thank you!
Dallas L. Salisbury: Orman wants you to not leave any money on the table (the matching contribution) and move quickly to buy a house. I tend to think it is best to start by saving 20 percent of total income (in a 401(k) to get the match then where ever it is most comfortable for you) and then figure out what else you can do. Have a budget and do not borrow money. Match your lifestyle to the after savings income. When you buy a house -- do not spend more than 20 percent on the monthly total housing cost. A house is a roof over your head, it is not an investment, in my view, and in that I disagree with Orman and many others.
Washington, D.C.: I'm 30, can you analyze me? I have $39K in my TSP invested in the lifecycle 40 fund and I invest 15 percent of my $75K salary annually. I also have $13K in savings account, 6 CDs at $10K each (3 - 6 mths, 3 - 12 mths). My only debt is my mortgage at $185K and my car at $12K. I'm debating about taking out a ROTH IRA? Should I move the $$ from savings into something else?
Dallas L. Salisbury: You can actually do it yourself. Do the ballpark estimate worksheet at choosetosave.org
New York City: I hope you can help me. I don't know what to do. I haven't worked in two years because I've been at home taking care of my elderly father. He ran out of money, so I emptied my savings accounts and my IRAs. Yes, I paid a big penalty, but I didn't know what else to do. Right now, we're living on his Social Security check. It isn't enough, so I've been borrowing against my credit cards. He can't go on Medicaid because he would lose his house, and if he lost his house, I wouldn't have anywhere to live, because I live with him and take care of him. What can I do? I don't have the money to put him in a nursing home, and as I said, Medicaid isn't an option, because then I would have to live on the street. I don't even have a car - I had to sell it to get the money. I also sold all of my jewelry and most of my clothes. I can't remember the last time I had a haircut or a pedicure, and I need both of them very badly, but I can't afford them. Luckily, a friend gave me a computer. Thank you so much for your help.
Dallas L. Salisbury: Your father is a lucky man to have you. But, you are digging a very deep hole. Have you met with the Medicaid people? I hate to say it, but you may build up so much debt that you will have no choice but to sell the house. Better to sell it before that and do what you need to do to get your father care. If that means Medicaid and a nursing home, do that. Then find a job and pull your life together. Your life risk beyond the debt you are building is the loss of job skills and building seniority. That will put you at a disadvantage when your father passes and you need to re-enter the job market.
Arlington, Va.: I am 26 years old. I contribute 6 percent to my 401(k) (my employer matches this). This is all that I am putting away for retirement right now. I am trying to focus on paying off debt, and saving for a house/condo. Am I doing the right thing? Should I be saving more for retirement?
Martha M. Hamilton: You're off to a good start by contributing 6 percent to your 401(k). If your debt is high-cost, that might be a higher priority for now, especially since housing prices are falling and time is now on your side. As you pay down the debt, you might want to gradually increase your 401(k) contribution. It's the act of will in making the increase that's always the hardest. Once it's done, you often don't even notice it.
Springfield, Va.: I am age 63 and I draw social security disability ($800) plus I have a small ($565) annuity plus a govt pension of $1,100 a month. I need more money to survive. Do you know of any other source of money I could tap? My family helps me but I am running out funds there.
Dallas L. Salisbury: I know it will not make you feel any better, but you have more income than more than 2/3 of all retired Americans. Even if it means moving to a lower cost area, home, etc. you need to find a way to lower your living expenses, unless you are able to work and gain earned income, which it appears is not an option. Physical relocation to lower cost areas is going to have to happen more and more in the decades ahead.
Washington, D.C.: Regarding NY's question about the incredible benefits packages of federal employees, I wonder if it was motivated by the urban myths about congressional members etc. being outside of Social Security and/or getting incredible pensions. My TRS package as a Hill staffer was fine but no better than what was available to me elsewhere. Many people believe that federal employees get 401(k) matches plus pensions beyond what is actually available.
Dallas L. Salisbury: You are correct. The federal govt is a very large employer and the total compensation package is lower than that of many large private firms. Compared to many small firms it is higher. Mis-information is always a problem
Washington, D.C. area: So what does one do in their mid-40s? How do you make a choice between funding retirement vs. paying off debt? Should someone that is in their mid-40s with not enough money for retirement stop contributing to retirement to pay off huge debts first? Is it simply looking at interest rates -- that is, if interest rates on debt are greater than 8 percent, pay down the debt, otherwise, put the money into retirement?
Martha M. Hamilton: That's a really good question, and one I struggle with myself. Interest rates are a key part of it, but so is the nature of the debt. Right now I'm most focused on my variable rate debt because the Fed has been raising rates. Dallas may have something more useful to say.
Dallas L. Salisbury: Should you have an option that gives you a matching contribution, then save at least that much. If you are convinced that you can stop all saving that is not essential to life, and use all other funds not saved (beyond enough to get the match) to pay debt, then do it. I have seen many others that are not capable of cutting spending -- even the extras -- and cannot ever avoid debt due to a total lack of discipline (including an inability to just say no to the kids, face public school, etc). They put money into retirement plans because it locks it away. So, if you do not save it, will you for sure use it to pay debt? Only you know that about yourself.
Should I go or should I stay?: I'm trying to figure if I can retire early. I've gone over and over expenses vs. pension. It's hard to determine how much money you need each month to spend on unfixed expenses. Most of my purchases are on my credit card, which varies from $550/mo. to $2,000. Obviously it depends on what you choose to buy, but is say, $400/mo. enough to get along smoothly? Retirement looks like something you really need to try out but it's a do it or not decision...
Dallas L. Salisbury: Sounds to me from the limited information that the answer is no. If your pension increases with inflation like Social Security does, then it is a little better, but what about health care? And, based upon family history, how long might you live. My dad is 93 and mom is 90 and at birth they were told life expectancy was lower than 65! So to have a 90 percent chance of enough you have to assume long life, high expenses, etc. My view about retirement, is if in doubt, do not retire. Try our ballpark estimate worksheet at www.choosetosave.org
Martha M. Hamilton: The more I get into this, I think early retirement is a bad decision unless you have a compelling reason, such as a partner with failing health with whom you want to spend more time while you can. Now that inflation is back, after not being much of a factor for many years, I'm worried more than ever about not having enough money to retire. As for getting a handle on your expenses, that's hard work. Some folks recommend taking six months of expenditures, including those recounted in credit card bills, and getting a monthly average of what you spend. I'm trying an experiment right now, writing down what I spend daily, including those expenditures I put on credit cards.
Washington, D.C.: I am 28, have recently inherited a modest sum of money (around $10,000), and would like to invest it. I am considering investing in multiple index funds so that I can passively manage my investments. Are index funds the way to go and where can I learn more about index funds (i.e. benefits and drawbacks to them)?
Dallas L. Salisbury: Go read a book by John Bogle, the father of index funds. Remember that money in the markets is money you can afford to lose, and if it declines in value you will not panic and sell. With that amount of money the Bogle advice would be to put it all in a total stock index fund if you want stocks, or split with a total bond index fund, if you want diversification. I do not have investment advice for you of my own, as I an not a registered investment advisor. Check out sec.gov and nasd.com for good info. _______________________
Alexandria, Va.: My employer offers a cash-balance retirement benefit. I have no idea what it is?
Dallas L. Salisbury: It is a defined benefit plan for which your employer covers all costs. Should you stay long enough to become "vested" you will have a right to a benefit. In most cases that will be the option of an annuity or a single sum distribution. You can go to www.ebri.org and go to our fundamentals of employee benefits book for a chapter on cash-balance plans.
Silver Spring, Md.: What exactly are the benefits of starting a 401(k) early as opposed to later (i.e., 25 as opposed to 30)? I keep hearing that the difference in the dollar amount is significant in the long run. Why is that? And is there something substantially different about when you do it younger as opposed to older that makes it so much more profitable?
Martha M. Hamilton: It's the miracle of compounding. As I noted in the column, if you start setting aside $1,200 a year at age 30, assuming a 10 percent return on investment, at age 65, you'll have $394,847, according to financial planner Ric Edelman. Set aside the same amount 10 years later, and you end up with only $144,120 at age 65. Your money works for you, and the more years it has to work, the more money you have.
For Springfield, Va. retiree: If you have relatives or friends that have a college student who want to rent a room from you, this may be an option. Room and board at colleges start at $7,000 from Aug-May. Some young responsible relative may want to stop living with the parents but doesn't want to take the full leap from family.
Martha M. Hamilton: That seems like a useful suggestion. Thanks.
Washington, D.C.: I think what people will need to address in the future is how to advise young adults to save for retirement, when they are part of the "extended adolescence" population: instead of working steadily throughout their twenties and saving money for retirement, they travelled, did volunter work, went to grad school or worked a succession of low-paying $25K/year jobs.
You're right, I'm talking about myself. I am already 30, and I've just finished grad school and I'm unemployed with no job prospects in sight. I did a lot of job hopping in my twenties because I didn't know what I was going to do (and I never held a job that paid more than $30K/yr because I could only get hired at entry level!). Now, at 30, my financial situation is exactly the same as it was when I was 22, and even slightly worse--I have no house, no savings, thousands of dollars of debt, and next-to-nothing health insurance coverage.
Your profiles REALLY depressed me and made me feel guilty for having all the freedom I had in my twenties. Saving for retirement when you're young seems to me to work better only if you stay in one field, don't go to grad school, and don't travel abroad. But if you have the means to pursue those options, can't you do them as well? It seems if you follow the tradition advice for saving for retirement (save $2,000K a year during ages 22-35), you can't.
Dallas L. Salisbury: I am a bad person to ask that question since I have worked since I was 14 and I did not take advantage of a summer in Europe during college because I thought I had better work and save than see Europe. I did college in three years by going all year and working all year. Then I began full time because I did not have money to do anything else. At 57 I have never stopped saving and working so that I have flexibility. So go get an entry level job -- even if it only pays 15k or 20k -- and get started. No matter what it pays, save 20 percent and live on the rest. Match your lifestyle to your income. No debt. At 22 you could have gotten to where you need to be with a lower percentage for savings, but time is money (and lost time for the magic of compound interest).
New Jersey: Roth IRA vs. 401(k) - which to choose I have a fear that my question is one without an obvious answer. I am 50, am contributing (including my employer match) 25 percent of my income to my 401(k). I am still not near my annual max 401(k) contribution.
Should I start thinking about a Roth for some of this money or for any additional money? Can it make a real difference, which one you choose? On the one hand, I don't care about leaving any estate and putting away before tax money now definitely helps me. On the other, I have a great fear that the huge deficits are going to lead to huge tax increases in the future. I wouldn't mind paying somewhat higher taxes, particularly if it funds national health insurance, but I do not want to pay large tax increases to pay off the current deficit.
Dallas L. Salisbury: I am putting money into a Roth because I am at the maximum tax rate today, and I agree with you that it will be far higher in the decades ahead as we deal with deficits, SSA, Medicare, etc. Were I now in a low tax bracket I would also use a Roth. I would save enough in the taxable 401(k), and I do, to get the full matching contribution. I should add that I, for the same reasons, do not like to pay mortgage interest just to get a tax deduction. I have never understood why I should be happier giving my money to a lender than a smaller amount to Uncle Sam.
Washington, D.C.: Mr. Salisbury, When you talk about saving 20 percent of total income, do you mean income after taxes or before taxes? Thank you.
Dallas L. Salisbury: I mean before taxes.
Herndon, Va.: I plan to retire in about five years, at 62. What I am wondering about is, should I continue to work, perhaps part-time in a different job/location, until I am 65 and then apply for Social Security OR, should I apply for Social Security at 62 and take the loss - I put away 15 percent of my income (saving the max allowable amount in TSP for at least 16 of the last 20 years).
Martha M. Hamilton: We can't predict the future, but if you think you might live into your 90s, I'd go for maximizing Social Security. I believe the turning point on postponing Social Security is that if you expect to draw it for 8 to 10 years into the future, you do better to postpone. I'll turn to Dallas, who knows more, to say whether I've got that right.
Dallas L. Salisbury: I always suggest waiting as long as possible to begin taking SSA as every year you wait means the benefit goes up about 8 percent -- and then that is indexed for life to inflation -- so it continues to be worth more each year. Only if you have a health status or a family history that suggests you will die young, and you are willing to bet on early death, should you begin at 62. If you cannot afford to retire at 62 without SSA, then you cannot afford to retire.
Washington, D.C.: Good afternoon! I have a question about 401(k) allocations. I'm 32 and I've been with my employer a year now, so I can sign up for the 401(k) plan. I've heard that you should invest more "aggressively" when you're younger and more "conservatively" when you're older. Where do I fit into that? Any recommendations for how I should allocate the 401(k) pie?
Martha M. Hamilton: You've got at least 30 years ahead of you with your investments, so you can probably afford to be fairly aggressive, investing more heavily in stocks. The most important thing is to get those contributions started now at the highest level you can afford.
College Park, Md.: To get a handle on expenses, I have been using Quicken to track everything coming in and going out. It's a bit of a pain, but you can print out a detailed report of your finances. At the end of this year I will have 2 years of data. I plan to do this for the next few years to help me decide when I can afford to retire.
Dallas L. Salisbury: Great! I have data going back to 1988. It does help plan and control.
Silver Spring, Md.: Hello, Thank you for picking people turning 30 for your piece. It's refreshing to see retirement information for the non-Boomers out there!
Question: my husband and I save 14 percent of income for retirement. What percent should we save for our daughter's college education?
Dallas L. Salisbury: That all depends on where you plan to have her go to college. Public schools are generally a lot less expensive than private. Check out 529 plans and if you are happy with your state school options see if they have a program that allows you to save and lock in future tuition now. there is good material on 529 plans at http://www.nasd.com/index.htm
Arlington, Va.: I don't have kids but plan to have in the future. Should I start contributing now to an education savings account for future college costs?
Martha M. Hamilton: I think I'd opt for retirement savings now and wait till the chicks hatch to begin to save for higher education.
Silver Spring, Md.: The ballpark calculator is not very good; can you recommend a better one?
Martha M. Hamilton: I am hoping that readers will let me know what calculators they find to be the most useful and user friendly.
Hyattsville, Md.: My company does not have a 401(k). I save in a Roth IRA.. At my old job, I save 20 percent of my income. Now, I'm nowhere near that. Do you have any suggestions for other ways to save for retirement? I've already asked my company to start a 401(k) and they might do that...in the meantime, where is a good place to save money for the far future?
Dallas L. Salisbury: Save the 20 percent or more whether or not you can get favorable tax treatment. You need the money for the future in any case. Also, consider finding a low cost variable annuity if you can lock away the money. But, some come at high cost, so make certain you do careful research if you go this route. My wife and I save at work and save after tax. At least then we know for sure what the tax rate will be. What happens to taxes in the future matters if you "defer taxes", but it does not if you do not.
Anonymous: My wife and I are in the 28 percent income tax bracket. Our mortgage will be paid off in several months. We have little or no tax deductions. Most of our retirement savings are in mutual funds. With the extra money in the budget we're considering buying a vacation/second home. Does this make sense or would we be better of putting the money into mutual funds? We plan to retire in about 12 years.
Dallas L. Salisbury: Congratulations! We paid our mortgage off at 50 and all that money now goes directly to savings. Why, because we have not yet reached our target retirement savings. We do the ballpark estimate worksheet once each year, and we still have a ways to go. The mortgage interest deduction just means you are paying a lender instead of uncle sam, so it is still better to be out of debt. And, a second home is a life long expense. Make sure you have done the calculations for savings needed with the those expenses in mind as well. But, if the you can make the numbers work against an assumption of living to 100, go for it, buy that second home!
Elkridge, Md.: For people in their 30s with no retirement savings, I'd say it's very important to try to find a job with a defined benefit retirement plan, in addition to a 401(k). A defined benefit plan is much more forgiving of a late start. Unfortunately, defined benefit plans are also dying out quickly, so that probably means looking for a government job.
Martha M. Hamilton: That is an excellent point. So few job hunters in their 20s and 30s even think to ask about retirement benefits (neither to many older job hunters for that matter). And it's a key factor in what your overall compensation is. You need to understand the benefits your prospective employer offers. And those disappearing defined benefit pensions are a wonderful thing. Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I'm hoping as the workforce shrinks and employers have to compete harder for workers, they may come back.
New York City (again): But if we sell the house, where will I live? I live with him.
Dallas L. Salisbury: If he goes to a nursing home funded by Medicaid then you are correct, you will need to find a place to live along with a job. Assume you do not do that, you run up large debt and have no job, and he passes. You will still likely have to sell the house to pay off all your debts.
Woodbridge, Va.: I've used the calculater at choosetosave.org. It is OK for a one-size-fits-all tool, but I would like to learn more about how to choose a personal financial advisor. I am 49. I have $95k in my federal TSP program, another $85K in an IRA. I contribute 15 percent of my salary to TSP and the government throws in another 5 percent. I also expect to be able to collect a small National Guard Pension at age 60. I know this sounds good but the downside is I only have about 10 years in with the feds and would like to be able to leave federal employment at age 60, pursue part-time or seasonal work in National Parks until age 75 and then fully retire. Making all the moving parts come together seems to require more advice than I can get from an online calculator. Any advice on how to choose an advisor?
Martha M. Hamilton: Thanks for the input on the calculator. Choosing a financial advisor is tough. The Securities and Exchange Commission has a good list of questions to ask an advisor on the investor education part of its website. And the NASD (www.nasd.org), which regulates brokers has good advice too. One issue is whether advisers are really advisers, paid by your fees, or brokers who will earn a commission for selling you something. My colleague Kathleen Day explored these issues in the Sunday Business Section 8/27. _______________________
Picking the Right Planner by Kathleen Day (Washington Post, Aug. 27)
Silver Spring, Md.: I am 27 and have traveled the world, gone to college and graduate school and had an amazing time. I have also managed to save about $30,000 in retirement accounts and about $40,000 towards a house. It can be done, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made. I have had a lot of fun though! And I don't have any student loan debt either. Just make sure to save, and the earlier the better.
Martha M. Hamilton: Hats off to you, especially for being able to focus on the future, but not at the expense of the present. My daughter has been able to travel and save, too. She does it by living amazingly frugally and by being clear on her goals.
Maryland: Back in the late 80s the feds switched retirement systems to the current FERS. This action dumped all future employees into the Social Security system. Now twenty years later, these employees are in the Social Security drama. Was this "new" retirement system a "fix" for Social Security in the 80s until these folks get ready to retire? It appears that federal employees got bamboozled and hoodwinked versus the old retirement system benefits. Saving for retirement and college and paying for long-term care insurance, health insurance, life insurance, etc., makes me want to throw my hands up and quit. The harder I swim, tread water and float, the more water I drink. U.S. citizens are drowning.
Dallas L. Salisbury: For what its worth, we are in a lot better position than most other nations in terms of pensions, SSA, etc. Where we fall short is in health care and long term care financing, but those expenses have other nations in bad financial shape. The post '87 federal worker, with FERS, SSA, TSP, etc. and retiree medical if you retire from the feds, is a package that matches the most generous employers in the world. I feel your pain on all the things to save for and pay for. My Quicken helps me do it. The key is the old budget rule (not followed by most folks) spend less than you earn.
Bethesda, Md.: I have a dilemma. I purchased a 50-year-old house a couple of years ago. I am debating if I should take out a home equity loan to do some fixing on the house. My rationale (excuse) is that if I need to sell the house in about 5 years when my kid goes to college, the house will be ready for sale. Everywhere I look, the advice is to get rid of debt. In my case if I get the home equity loan, I am acquiring more debt. I can pay the loan, but that means I can't put much money away for savings. I do however, continue 15 percent of my salary contribution to my 401(k). Should I get the home equity loan?
Dallas L. Salisbury: If the "fixing" is needed to maintain the house, versus improve it, then you need to protect your investment. Ideally, find a way to reduce spending to do it. If essential, borrow. An alternative: How many months of reduced 401(k) contributions would pay for the mandatory fix up work? Would you have the discipline to do it? Since most home equity loans are variable rate, could you deal with a spike up in interest rates? If the fixing up is not required, just wanted, then save up for it and then do it.
Bethesda, Md.: Dallas and Martha,
Thank you for the ballpark estimate at choosetosave.com and for this article. On the ballpark form, are the estimates are supposed to be yearly or monthly? For wage growth assumption, would that be a guess as to my overall income increase until the age of retirement or my yearly income increase? Where the form asks for expected retirement income, is that supposed to be a yearly or monthly number? Thanks!
Dallas L. Salisbury: please send the email through the choosetosave web site and we will get you the answers.
Ballpark estimator: I am also confused by the estimator. It asks how much of my current income I want to retire with. The problem is that I have NO idea. I'm 30 and don't know what I'll need if I do/don't get married, do/don't have kids, what inflation is going to do, etc. Any ideas on how to guesstimate? Thank you!
Dallas L. Salisbury: At ebri.org you will find a September IB that provides a lot of information on what you would need depending. I use 120 percent of final pay if there is doubt. Long life, health expenses, etc. are all uncertain, so I personally do not want a chance of coming up short.
Maryland: How can I make even a rough estimate of whether I'm saving enough for retirement? I have $150,000 in investments, a Roth IRA, and and two 401(k)s. I max out my 401(k), and I add another $3,000 to my other investments each year. In total, I'm putting away about $18,000 towards retirement each year, which is 17 percent of my gross income. Is this enough? I don't have any debt other than my house, but I also am afraid of being TOO conservative - I know i have to save, but I don't want to not live in the here and now.
Dallas L. Salisbury: use the ballpark estimate at choosetosave.org
Martha M. Hamilton: Folks, I think we've gone a little over our alloted time because you sent so many excellent questions. We'll do this again. Thank you so much for raising great issues.
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Martha Hamilton, writer of the "Financial Futures," column appearing weekly in The Washington Post Sunday Business section, was online Tuesday, Sept. 26 at Noon ET to discuss her new column about making smart decisions when preparing for retirement. This week, she analyzed the financial planning of...
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Thomas Stewart, A Singer and Man As Grand as Opera
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Thomas Stewart died just the way many of us would choose to go -- instantly, in the company of the woman he loved, and on the golf course, immediately after making par.
The great American bass-baritone, who had turned 78 last month, was on the links near his home in Rockville late Sunday afternoon. "He had had heart surgery earlier this year and had not been feeling well for some time, but he was getting along, still active, cheerful and doing things," soprano Evelyn Lear, Stewart's wife of more than half a century, said yesterday. "We went out to the course, played for a while, he made par, and then suddenly turned around and fell backwards. I tried to resuscitate him, but he didn't respond."
Stewart was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a massive heart attack.
Onstage, Stewart was a booming, magisterial and frankly awe-inspiring presence (he was, for example, the first American in history to sing the Norse god Wotan in Wagner's complete "Ring" cycle at Bayreuth). Offstage, he was friendly, kind, self-effacing and absolutely unpretentious.
Will Rogers used to say that he never met a man he didn't like; in a similar spirit, I can affirm that I never knew anybody who didn't like Tom Stewart. Yesterday was a day of mourning in the music community -- hours on the telephone, shocked and saddened e-mails floating through cyberspace.
Matthew Epstein, the director of the worldwide vocal divisions at Columbia Artists Management, who knew Stewart for 40 years, called him "just about the most marvelous person in the world, and you'd get agreement with me from everybody from the legendary singers he worked with early in his career, such as Birgit Nilsson and Jon Vickers, to the young people he nurtured as part of the Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Program."
This last endeavor was especially dear to both Lear and Stewart. In company with the Wagner Society of Washington, the two provided musical guidance for more than 70 aspiring Wagner singers since 2000, presenting two concerts each year.
"Why were the works of Wagner so important to me as an artist?" Stewart asked in an essay he wrote to accompany a recording. "It's because of the marriage of word and music, something every composer seeks to achieve but few accomplish with such perfection. Being a singer who becomes completely absorbed in the text he is singing, I naturally felt an affinity for this aspect of Wagner's art."
Epstein called Stewart a perfect example of what an American singer should be -- "deeply musical, able to sing in many different styles and languages, a wonderful actor with a fabulous vocal technique. He could sing Wotan, and then he could turn right around and sing a comic Italian part such as Verdi's Falstaff. Every director he ever worked with thought he was a great actor. And every musician he ever worked with knew he was a great singer."
Stewart was born Aug. 29, 1928 in San Saba, Tex. After some early studies in electrical engineering in Waco, he moved to New York, where he studied with Mack Harrell at the Juilliard School. After graduation, he sang with the New York City Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he took on the bass role of Raimondo in Maria Callas's American debut in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor."
He married Evelyn in 1955. The two moved to Berlin, where they sang at the State Opera and then throughout Europe, before returning home to the United States for long and distinguished careers with the Metropolitan Opera. For more than a decade, Lear and Stewart have divided their time between Rockville and Florida.
They made many recordings together, a number of which are available on the VAI label; a five-CD retrospective was recently issued on Deutsche Grammophon. Stewart's own favorite disc was one that he made of Wagner's complete "Die Meistersinger von Nuernburg" with the conductor Rafael Kubelik and the soprano Gundula Janowitz that was taped in the late 1960s but, for contractual reasons, never issued until the 1990s.
Tom and Evelyn came over for dinner at my home in Baltimore in early August. He was clearly tired but was grand company throughout the evening, touching on several favorite subjects -- his interest in alternative medicine, his amused skepticism toward any form of religion, news of mutual friends in New York and Washington. After considerable prodding, he favored us with an impromptu, heartfelt and achingly beautiful a cappella rendition of the old folk song "Shenandoah," which rings through my ears as I write this.
It was a performance of depth, strength, courage, love -- all qualities exemplified by Thomas Stewart. The gratitude felt by his friends and admirers is immense.
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Thomas Stewart died just the way many of us would choose to go -- instantly, in the company of the woman he loved, and on the golf course, immediately after making par.
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She's Just Warming Up
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With "Cold Case" starting its fourth season, Kathryn Morris, who stars as detective Lilly Rush, talked to TV Week about what's ahead for her character -- a woman whose job, and mission, is resolving mysteries from crimes past:
Last season Lilly let down her hair, literally. How will she change this year?
We'll see her open her heart this time. She has spent so much time trying to fend off personal relationships and push everything out, nothing meant very much to her. Now she's trying to get a life, a more fulfilling way of living. She's fun to play because she has a lot of stuff, a lot of issues going on. Just when you think you've figured out everything she is, she'll take another step.
Lilly is so intense; does she ever do anything for fun?
She doesn't really know how to have fun. She may just go out for drinks at the tavern. Making breakfast is like a vacation to her. Turning the ringer off the phone would be considered fun for her. That's what she's learning this year, to have a little space. I, on the other hand, have no problem turning it off. I get together with my goofy friends and my nephews and just live my life. I'll go to stupid, silly movies and try things you haven't tried before. I am a much lighter person. The only thing in common with me and Lilly is that we both really like to work.
Talk a little about how the music, mostly vintage rock, is a such a part of the show's feel.
You have a great opportunity to transport the audience, where there is nothing like a song that really gets to you. When I listen to a song on the radio now, I think, "I could write a whole 'Cold Case' based on this song." The music depends on the year of the case. Sometimes a song will be too distracting to the dialogue. Sometimes the rights don't clear. You wouldn't think band drama would affect this show, but maybe there's a single band member who won't agree to release [a song]. When Jerry [Bruckheimer, the show's executive producer] first told me about the music, one of my concerns was that we'd never get it. Everyone always thinks they'll get the Beatles, but for your half-million-dollar indie film, you're just not going to get "Hey Jude." But Jerry said, "We're paying for the music and we're not doing it without the music." He also said, "We're shooting in 16 millimeter and using video cameras from 1982."
What's the average turnaround time for one episode?
Eight days, with the flashbacks and the new period music every week. When we shoot on location in Philadelphia, we do "guerrilla weekends," finishing scenes from five or six episodes. Philly opens up the city for us, and it's great. I went to Temple University, so I know the city. People from the neighborhood bring us pirogies, and food from Little Italy. Philly has so much culture and history. It's perfect for this show.
Has the show brought you greater recognition?
I did a movie this summer, which was incredibly fun, and when I had days off I drove around Calgary [Alberta], to these small towns, and people were approaching me and saying, "What are you doing here all by yourself? Why is Lilly Rush in Calgary?" They couldn't wrap their minds around the fact that I brought my camera and took great pictures of Lake Louise, with no tourists to ruin the shot. I had on a pink jacket, and they were all saying, "Why is Lilly Rush wearing a pink jacket?" Someone said, "You look really nice in that; why don't you wear it on the show?" The look of our show is a lot of navy and gray; that's the palette, so these people couldn't conceive of me in pink. But I liked it.
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With "Cold Case" starting its fourth season, Kathryn Morris, who stars as detective Lilly Rush, talked to TV Week about what's ahead for her character -- a woman whose job, and mission, is resolving mysteries from crimes past: · Born: Jan. 28, 1969, in Cincinnati
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Clinton Among Parade of Pols In Md. to Back Candidates
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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Prince George's County yesterday, the latest in a series of high-profile figures from both political parties arriving in Maryland to boost candidates for governor and U.S. senator.
"We need people who will stand up and will fight with us to get us back on the right track," Clinton (D-N.Y.) told a crowd of about 300 supporters.
Clinton's campaign rally and fundraiser for gubernatorial challenger Martin O'Malley and U.S. Senate hopeful Benjamin L. Cardin underscores what analysts say is the significance the national parties have attached to the Maryland races, particularly an open Senate seat that could help determine who controls that body.
In recent months, President and Laura Bush, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani have visited on behalf of Maryland's Republican Senate candidate, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who is running for reelection.
Democrats have welcomed Sens. John F. Kerry (Mass.) and Russell Feingold (Wis.). Gov. Bill Richardson (N.M.) will be in Montgomery County today, and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) will hold an event for Cardin and O'Malley tomorrow in Prince George's. Next month, former president Bill Clinton, former Virginia governor Mark R. Warner and his successor, Timothy M. Kaine, will visit the state, as will D.C. mayoral nominee Adrian M. Fenty.
The visits play an important role in galvanizing the party faithful and raising money for campaigns, especially for the Democrats who lead in polls but lag behind in fundraising. They also signal how competitive the races are. "These people are coming to Maryland because each party senses an opportunity," said University of Maryland Professor Paul S. Herrnson.
The visits are carefully choreographed to maximize their potential benefit to the candidates. For instance, Steele's campaign heavily promoted the McCain and Giuliani visits, Herrnson suspects, "because they are viewed as moderate and independent Republicans, which is how he'd like to be viewed."
Democrats planned the Obama and Clinton events in predominantly black Prince George's in all likelihood to help Cardin and O'Malley energize black voters. O'Malley's news conference with Richardson today will be in Silver Spring at CASA of Maryland, where he will aim to bring out more Latino voters.
In most cases, the dignitaries are expected to draw crowds of donors. The Clinton event raised $75,000 to $100,000 for the state party.
"You get a big name in town, the faithful are going to show up with their checkbooks," said Donald Norris, a professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
A Baltimore Sun poll released this week showed O'Malley leading Ehrlich 50 to 44 percent among likely voters and Cardin leading Steele 51 to 40 percent. The latest campaign finance reports show the Republicans with at least twice as much cash on hand as the Democrats.
Many of the well-known political figures who will pass through Maryland this year, including Sen. Clinton, are contemplating presidential bids in 2008. University of Virginia Professor Larry J. Sabato said they come in hopes of being helped in turn down the road.
They also come to gain exposure with potential donors, a disproportionate number of whom live in the Washington area. In the 2004 presidential race, candidates raised $24.5 million in the D.C. region, second only to New York in giving.
"They're strutting their stuff for the donors," Sabato said. "It's a little like a meat market, and if they go over well, it could be worth thousands to them."
Staff writer David Nakamura and staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.
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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Prince George's County yesterday, the latest in a series of high-profile figures from both political parties arriving in Maryland to boost candidates for governor and U.S. senator.
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At 16, a Career on the Ropes
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Dominic Wade is 16. He repeats this fact constantly, because even those who know his age tend to forget it when they watch him fight in a boxing ring. He's thick at 165 pounds, and the ring jiggles underneath him when he bounces up and down. Boxing promoters already have asked Dominic, from Largo, to turn professional. What's left for him to accomplish, they said, now that he's won six straight junior national titles? "Right now," Dominic's trainer Adrian Davis said, "that boy could knock out some of the best veteran fighters in the world."
Dominic's parents can't escape the feeling that their son is growing up too fast. Already, he's traded the naivete of a child for the arrogance of a man. He can be smug during fights and apathetic during practices. His advisers search hard for new ways to motivate him. His father, Paul, offered to buy Dominic a present -- shoes or clothes, Paul suggested -- if he fought well at an international competition in Turkey. Dominic agreed to the deal, so long as his reward was a new tattoo.
Officially, because of age restrictions, Dominic is not allowed to qualify for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team for another six months, but growing older is hardly Dominic's biggest stumbling block in fulfilling his potential and qualifying for the Olympics as a middleweight.
For Dominic to succeed, his family said, the boxer must behave more like a kid. He needs to stabilize his schoolwork at Largo High School; to avoid the temptations of adolescence; to treat boxing more like a hobby and less like a profession.
"Right now, we kind of have to keep everything from spinning out of control," Paul said. "He has all the tools, but he has to keep focused. He's got to avoid a lot of traps over the next few years."
Those traps function as the centerpiece of many conversations between the father and son. Dominic said his father is big on "telling me about life lessons and all that kind of stuff, like every day." Paul's stories, Dominic said, often unfold in the same general sequence: Paul also experienced some success as a young boxer. Paul, in his early teens, started to train under Davis. Paul, at 15, had his first child and quit boxing. Paul felt angry, so he turned to what he described as "the shady life" and picked fights on the street.
"Everything I did, I want him to learn from it," Paul said. "He has an even better chance than I had, and I don't want him to repeat my mistakes. I don't want him to blow it, so I'm going to teach him."
It's difficult to tell how many of Paul's lessons stick. Coaches describe Dominic's behavior as inconsistent. On the USA Boxing Web site, Dominic lists in his profile that he was drawn to boxing because he had already "been in a lot of fights outside the ring," and he still maintains much of that carefree bravado.
At the U.S. Junior Boxing National Championships in Brownsville, Tex., earlier this year, Dominic met a girl on the last day of the competition and stayed out all night, blowing his curfew. He sometimes hangs out with what his mother, Endora Ramsey, described as a troublesome group of friends. "He can still be a little bit of the follower," she said. But at least Dominic had the sense to stay in that night when a few of his friends got in trouble for stealing cars, Ramsey said.
Dominic has struggled through high school, and he needs two excellent academic years in order to graduate on time. After Dominic's parents saw his freshman-year grades at Largo, they enrolled him at Annapolis Road Academy Alternative High for his sophomore year. Now he's back at Largo, although he plans to switch to night school. "I know I won't be able to pay attention up in Largo," Dominic said. "With all the distractions, the girls, it's crazy there. How can I focus?"
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Nanotechnology Risks Unknown
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The United States is the world leader in nanotechnology -- the newly blossoming science of making incredibly small materials and devices -- but is not paying enough attention to the environmental, health and safety risks posed by nanoscale products, says a report released yesterday by the independent National Research Council.
If federal officials, business leaders and others do not devise a plan to fill the gaps in their knowledge of nanotech safety, the report warns, the field's great promise could evaporate in a cloud of public mistrust.
"There is some evidence that engineered nanoparticles can have adverse effects on the health of laboratory animals," the congressionally mandated report said, echoing concerns raised by others at a House hearing last week. Until the risks are better understood, "it is prudent to employ some precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of workers, the public, and the environment."
The 176-page report, "A Matter of Size," was prepared under the auspices of the National Academies, chartered to advise Congress on matters of science. It focuses on the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which coordinates and prioritizes federal research in nanotechnology -- the fledgling but potentially revolutionary science that deals with materials as small as a billionth of a meter.
At that size, even conventional substances behave in unconventional ways. Some materials that do not conduct electricity or are fragile, for example, are excellent conductors and are extremely strong when made small enough. But nanoparticles can also enter human cells and trigger chemical reactions in soil, interfering with biological and ecological processes.
The report concludes that the U.S. research effort is vibrant and almost certainly the strongest in the world, though a few other countries are close behind. Among the more important unmet needs, it says, is stronger collaboration with the departments of Education and Labor to boost the supply of scientists and technicians with the skills the sector needs.
The report's concerns about the lack of a federal focus on nanotech health and safety were foreshadowed at a House Science Committee hearing Thursday at which Republicans and Democrats alike took the Bush administration to task over the lack of a plan to learn more about nanotech's risks.
Committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.) accused the administration of "sauntering" toward solutions "at a time when a sense of urgency is required."
Ranking Democrat Bart Gordon (Tenn.) went further, calling the administration's latest summary of nanotech research needs, released at the hearing, "a very juvenile piece of work."
Andrew Maynard, chief science adviser for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, funded in part by the Smithsonian Institution, said the government is spending about $11 million a year on nanotechnology's potential harms when industry and environmental groups have jointly called for at least $50 million to $100 million a year.
Equally important, Maynard said, is the need for a coordinated strategy to spend that money wisely.
About 300 consumer products already contain nanoscale ingredients, Maynard said, including several foods and many cosmetics, with little or no research to document their safety.
The industry is expected to be worth about $2 trillion by 2014.
Norris Alderson, associate commissioner for science at the Food and Drug Administration and chairman of the working group that created the administration's summary research plan presented to Congress last week, said the document -- which was supposed to be delivered six months ago -- was meant as "a first step."
Asked by Boehlert if he understood that much more is expected of him and his working group, Alderson responded: "I think your message is loud and clear."
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The United States is the world leader in nanotechnology -- the newly blossoming science of making incredibly small materials and devices -- but is not paying enough attention to the environmental, health and safety risks posed by nanoscale products, says a report released yesterday by the...
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President Speaks to Donors in 2 States
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President Bush headlined closed-door fundraisers for embattled Republican congressional candidates in Connecticut and Ohio yesterday, events that underscored both his continued ability to attract donations and his continued unpopularity with much of the public.
The president stopped first at a luncheon at a palatial Greenwich, Conn., home overlooking Long Island Sound. The event, hosted by investment banker Scott Franz, was attended by 65 people and raised almost $800,000 for the state GOP's coffers, according to White House press secretary Tony Snow. Most of the money is expected to help Republican Reps. Nancy L. Johnson, Rob Simmons and Christopher Shays, all of whom are locked in tough races with Democratic challengers.
The White House is not supporting the candidacy of Republican Senate candidate Alan Schlesinger. He is running against antiwar Democrat Ned Lamont and incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who lost the Democratic primary and is now running for reelection as an independent.
After the event, the president jetted to Cincinnati, where he took part in a fundraiser for Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine. It marked the third time this year Bush has held a closed-door fundraiser for DeWine, who is in a tight contest with Rep. Sherrod Brown (D).
Although Bush won Ohio during his reelection campaign two years ago, the state's relatively high unemployment rate and growing opposition to the war in Iraq have helped erode the president's popularity there. One television ad for Brown, financed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, shows a blurry photograph of a laughing DeWine arm-in-arm with Bush. "Mike DeWine likes working together . . . with George Bush," reads text laid over the photograph.
The situation in Ohio is hardly unique. Bush has been featured in the ads of Democratic congressional candidates across the country who are trying to tie the unpopular president to GOP candidates. At the same time, many Republican candidates have chosen to stay out of public view when with the president, even while seeking his help to raise money. The president's two events yesterday were among five closed fundraisers that he is scheduled to take part in this week.
Snow brushed aside suggestions that Bush was meeting privately with Republicans because of his low approval ratings. "We're having them closed because they are in private homes," he said.
Vice President Cheney also hit the road yesterday, headlining a $140,000 event at a Milwaukee hotel, where he warned that "reckless" Democrats would undermine the nation's security if they win in the fall. Withdrawing from Iraq, Cheney said, would "validate the al-Qaeda strategy and invite even more terrorist attacks in the future."
Cheney then spoke at a rally of Michigan Army National Guard troops at an armory in Wyoming, Mich., with scores of camouflage-clad soldiers standing behind him. Afterward, the vice president headed for a closed-door fundraiser in East Lansing, expected to raise $935,000 for GOP Senate candidate Mike Bouchard and state Republicans.
Staff writer Peter Baker contributed to this report.
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President Bush headlined closed-door fundraisers for embattled Republican congressional candidates in Connecticut and Ohio yesterday, events that underscored both his continued ability to attract donations and his continued unpopularity with much of the public.
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Green Party Candidate For Senate Off Pa. Ballot
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HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 25 -- A judge said Monday that he will remove the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate from the November ballot because the party did not have enough valid signatures in its nominating petitions.
Carl Romanelli's candidacy for the Pennsylvania seat had been challenged by state Democrats. Romanelli's bid was backed by Sen. Rick Santorum (R), who hoped that Romanelli could siphon votes from his Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr.
Santorum has consistently trailed Casey in polls.
Commonwealth Court Judge James R. Kelley ruled that Romanelli, a railroad industry consultant from Wilkes-Barre, was 8,931 signatures shy of the 67,070 he needed to qualify as a minor-party candidate.
State law requires minor-party and independent candidates to collect a number of signatures equal to 2 percent of the ballots cast for the largest vote-getter in the last statewide election. This year's requirement was unusually high because it was based on Casey's record vote count in winning the treasurer's office in 2004.
Clifford Levine, an attorney for the Democrats, said the ruling "allows there to be a head-to-head matchup between Bob Casey and Rick Santorum, which is what obviously, in our view, Senator Santorum was trying to avoid."
Santorum campaign spokeswoman Virginia Davis said the lawsuit was an attempt by Casey's campaign to silence a candidate who was willing to debate the issues.
"Rather than focus on the issues, Casey and his crew spent weeks stifling democracy and disenfranchising the tens of thousands of voters who signed Green Party petitions," Davis said.
Romanelli did not attend Monday's hearing. In a statement issued afterward, he said his fate would ultimately depend on an appeal he has made to the state Supreme Court to try to lower the number of signatures required. "The Democrats have a long way to go to get me off the ballot," Romanelli said.
Casey's campaign and the state Democratic Party have accused Santorum of engineering Romanelli's candidacy.
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Latest politics news headlines from Washington DC. Follow 2006 elections,campaigns,Democrats,Republicans,political cartoons,opinions from The Washington Post. Features government policy,government tech,political analysis and reports.
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Chinese Official Is Dismissed in Pension Scandal
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BEIJING, Sept. 25 -- The Communist Party chief of Shanghai was fired Monday in the highest-level purge of a Chinese official in more than a decade. Analysts called the dismissal an effort by President Hu Jintao to make a bold statement against corruption and consolidate his power in advance of an important party congress.
Chen Liangyu, who presided over China's high-rise and business capital and its 17 million people, sometimes clashing with officials in Beijing, also lost his seat on the country's ruling Politburo.
The official New China News Agency said Monday that investigators believe that Chen, 59, helped loot the city's pension fund of hundreds of millions of dollars. He helped enrich illegal entrepreneurs, the agency reported, and engaged in cronyism on behalf of family members and his staff, who also severely violated various laws.
There was no public response from Chen on Monday. His photograph and other personal material about him has been removed from the city's Web site.
Official corruption is a prime concern among the Chinese public, and the Communist Party has promised repeatedly to attack it aggressively.
Analysts also saw the dismissal as related to a party congress that will convene late next year. At that meeting, Hu is to pick party leaders who will serve under him during his second five-year term.
Chen was a political protege of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, who is from Shanghai. In the same way that Jiang tried to shore up his legacy by promoting his own proteges and loyalists, analysts here said, Hu is making room in the ranks for allies in hopes that they will help him govern and retain influence after he steps down.
The apparent struggle between those loyal to the two leaders does not reflect a disagreement in ideology, according to a Western diplomat with extensive experience in Asia. Instead, the elbowing is about patronage and influence.
Liu Xiaobo, a leading political dissident and literary critic, said that "anti-corruption is always a useful tool in the fight for power among high-ranking officials."
Chen, born in October 1946, earned an architectural degree from a People's Liberation Army institute. He joined the Communist Party in 1980, holding a succession of posts before being appointed Shanghai party secretary in 2002. In that job, he oversaw a metropolitan area that is studded with glass office towers and functions as the hub of one of the world's most dynamic economies.
The city's stature suffered a blow in recent years due to corruption scandals -- at least two people were named earlier in the pension fund investigation -- and an overheated real estate market. Chen reportedly clashed with President Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao over Beijing's attempts to slow the city's economic growth.
His removal will bring no change to local economic policies in Shanghai, state media said. Chen is being temporarily replaced as party boss by Shanghai's mayor, Han Zheng.
The last Politburo member to be fired in a corruption case, in 1995, was Chen Xitong, then mayor of Beijing. But his case pales compared with Chen Liangyu's, which involves far greater amounts of money, Liu suggested. Chen Xitong was sentenced to 16 years in prison. After serving eight years, he was released earlier this year for what officials called medical reasons.
Beijing is believed to have sent teams of investigators to Shanghai, where they went around in black cars with tinted windows to question officials. The Communist Party often conducts what turn out to be criminal investigations of its own before it allows municipal authorities to begin formal investigations by prosecutors or police. The party investigators sometimes use a technique known as shuang gui , an extra-legal procedure that involves secret detention and questioning of suspected officials.
Party officials have been increasingly speaking out against corruption recently, but it is unclear whether their rhetoric is filtering down to the local level, where corruption remains rampant.
"We must realize that China is now experiencing a profound system transformation, a profound structural adjustment, and a profound social change," wrote Wu Guanzheng, head of the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, in an article emphasizing anti-corruption efforts in a party journal this month.
"Generally speaking, the party's working style is good, but there are still some serious problems," Wu wrote in the Sept. 16 issue of Qiu Shi magazine. "For example, some party officials lie to their supervisors, some only focus on getting a higher position, some seek illegal benefits using power, some fight the central government's decisions if they conflict with his regional interests, some appropriate public monies, and so on."
Because of upcoming elections of local party officials this year and next year, officials should pay special attention in rooting out the guilty, he said. "We should bring ruin and shame to their political reputation and make them suffer from great financial loss and moral regret."
The New China News Agency report about Chen Liangyu stressed that senior cadres must pay particular attention to "improving their performance." It also called on them "to guard against temptation and to persist in stringent self-discipline."
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Romania and Bulgaria Win EU Clearance
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PARIS, Sept. 26 -- The European Commission recommended Tuesdaythat Romania and Bulgaria be admitted to the European Union on Jan. 1 but attached unprecedented conditions, signaling there is still deep unease about the union's expansion eastward and the potential economic and political problems that go with it.
The addition of the two Balkan nations would bring the bloc's membership to 27 countries, raise its population by 30 million to 490 million people and expand its borders to the Black Sea. Analysts expect the recommendation by the commission -- the E.U.'s executive arm -- to win final approval of European leaders next month.
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, underscoring the ambivalence toward future expansion,said that following the two countries' entry, he would favor freezing membership until the union resolves a controversy over its proposed constitution, which voters in France and the Netherlands rejected last year.
Many of those no votes reflected popular fatigue with continuing enlargement after 10 countries -- most from the former Soviet bloc -- joined in 2004.
Many citizens of affluent Western Europe express concern about the potential impact that poor, new members from the east could have on immigration, unemployment and terrorism threats. In France and the Netherlands, voters said theyparticularlyopposed the proposed membership of Turkey, which would be the only E.U. country with a Muslim majority.
Fifteen countries have approved the constitution, but adoption requires unanimous acceptance by member states.
Katinka Barysch, a political scientist at the Center for European Reform in London, said Barroso's proposed freeze was a message to 25 E.U. governments that "Guys, we really need to get together and we really need to make progress on internal reforms." It also served to reassure the European public that enlargement "is not a policy that will continue regardless."
For most countries, the membership process brings on years of painful political, judicial, electoral and economic change. Supporters of continued expansion contend that this compels nations to rise to European standards and enhances regional security. Embracing Turkey as part of the E.U., they say, could make it an example of moderation for Muslim countries around the world.
In an interview with the Reuters news agency last week, Romanian President Traian Basescu warned that barring Turkey would aggravate a stand-off between the West and Islamic fundamentalists and undermine Europe's security. "Keeping Turkey out means that it would become Islamist," he said.
Croatia and Macedonia are also candidates for membership.
Many European political analysts say they expect little progress on what to do about the E.U.'s proposed constitution until after French presidential elections in May.
Romania and Bulgaria are nowmembers of the NATO alliance, with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their entry to the E.U. would come with significant strings attached, constituting the toughest monitoring of new members. The conditions are meant not only to mollify skeptics in old E.U. countries, but to encourage the two newcomers, which would be among the union's poorest member states, to accelerate and deepenreform.
Both nations would be required to curb corruption, money laundering and organized crime, improve food and aviation safety, and continue with judicial and agricultural reforms, according to a report released Tuesday in Brussels on the preparedness of the two countries to meet the criteria for E.U. membership.
If the countries do not continue to improve in agriculture, the E.U. could withhold billions of dollars in agricultural subsidies, according to the report. And if judicial reform and corruption suppression stall, other E.U. states might not have to recognizedecisions by their courts, the report said. Bulgaria, in particular, needs to improve aviation safety, the report says, or its airlines may be banned from E.U. air space, it said.
Despite the continuing concerns, the report said both countries had made substantial progress in reachingE.U. standards. Barroso told the European Parliament that their membership will be "a historic achievement" on the path to "reunification of our European family."
Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said that for his country, it would mark "the final fall of the Berlin Wall."
Researcher Corinne Gavard contributed to this report.
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PARIS, Sept. 26 -- The European Commission recommended Tuesdaythat Romania and Bulgaria be admitted to the European Union on Jan. 1 but attached unprecedented conditions, signaling there is still deep unease about the union's expansion eastward and the potential economic and political problems that...
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So Many Grading Scales. What's An Admissions Director to Do?
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Admissions director Richard Martinez faces a mishmash of grading systems every time he sits down to review freshman applications at Ohio's College of Wooster.
He sees transcripts with grade-point averages based on a scale where an A is worth 4 points and others where an A is 4.3 points or 7 -- or more -- depending on the supposed difficulty of a course. One high school has five grading scales.
"We have found that it is incredibly difficult to find out what a GPA really means," said Martinez, a former high school teacher. "That's one reason that we travel to high schools to learn the differences in what an A means at each. We have to know."
Grades have long been contentious in education because they are so subjective. Grading scales vary widely among K-12 school systems -- and often within schools -- making it increasingly difficult to accurately compare grades.
Science teacher Terry Shales grades students based on tests and quizzes, daily class work and projects, with a little homework thrown in. But the teachers on both sides of his classroom at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego, Ore., have their own systems.
The inconsistency bedevils college and university admissions directors, so much that many are focused on efforts to make grading less subjective in school systems across the country. They also are working to find better ways to level the field when considering GPAs. Admissions officers rarely take a GPA on its face value, and many recalculate the averages to make them more comparable.
Many factors go into giving a grade: A student's academic progress, homework or class work may be examined. Then there's the question of whether teachers should grade on a curve. And, researchers say, admissions directors cannot forget about the unintentional biases inherent in grading.
For example, papers that are neat are evaluated more positively, and teachers sometimes inflate the grade of a paper that is read immediately after a poor one, said Thomas Guskey, a University of Kentucky education professor who studies student assessment.
"Grades don't always prove much," said Mercedes Gosnell, a senior at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando. Good grades "basically just say that you do your work, pay attention in class and aren't a nuisance to the teacher."
Several states have looked at the correlation between students' grades and their performance on state assessments, finding it "modest at best," Guskey said. Some school districts, including Montgomery County's, are experimenting with systems that try to take the subjectivity out of grading by setting standard criteria for all teachers.
Good models, Guskey said, can be found in Canada, where each province requires every teacher to use the same criteria based on the same curricula.
At Jasper Place High School in Edmonton, Alberta -- and in every other high school in the province -- students are evaluated by one standard. Each report card has a grade for academic achievement (sometimes as a letter grade, sometimes a percentage) and shows how a student is faring against province academic benchmarks. There are also grades for areas such as homework, class participation and attendance.
That way, Guskey said, colleges can tell whether someone got an A because they are naturally gifted or worked hard for it.
"Our grades are based on whether students met the requirements of the curriculum, so we have removed that fudge factor," said Norman Mathew, assistant principal at Jasper Place High. "It's probably fairer to the student. It gives a more accurate representation of what they really know."
At the University of Missouri at Columbia, admissions officers take all the GPAs from the approximately 11,000 applications they receive each year and recalculate them to compute a "core GPA," said Chuck May, associate director of admissions.
The university does not give extra credit to honors or Advanced Placement classes, which can be an advantage because they are considered tougher courses, leading to a "weighted" grade-point average.
Missouri, with its mission to serve the state, wants none of that, May said. The reason is that many rural high schools don't offer AP courses and, he said, "we want to make sure we are giving equal treatment to students who don't have the same advantages as students in urban areas."
Plenty of universities do the same as Missouri, May said. But often it is the most selective colleges that attract applicants with multiple AP scores that make the headlines.
The history of a high school also helps with admissions decisions, the College of Wooster's Martinez said.
The college, which gets about 2,500 applications for 530 spots each year, maintains information about every student that has passed through in the past 10 years. If a student with a 3.3 GPA at one high school has done well at the college, officials figure that applicants with similar profiles from the same school will do well, too.
Still, Martinez said he believes the Canadian grading system could work well in the United States. And he said he'll continue traveling to at least 100 schools a year to learn about their programs.
"Oftentimes college reps are pictured as a car or truck salesman to sell a college. I go not just to inform the students but to get to know the counselors and get to know the school," he said.
Meanwhile, he said, Wooster continues to consider how to deal with the grading issue.
"We're trying to figure out a way to level this all out to make a level playing field," Martinez said. "I'm not sure there is a perfect way to do this."
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Admissions director Richard Martinez faces a mishmash of grading systems every time he sits down to review freshman applications at Ohio's College of Wooster.
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Neighborhood's Fight Brings New Zoning Rules
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The D.C. Zoning Commission yesterday approved changes to the city code that will require charter schools to meet new size requirements when moving into residential neighborhoods.
The unanimous vote by the commission increases the minimum building- and lot-size requirements for the schools. The decision settles the issue of whether charter schools, like the city's traditional public schools, can open in residential areas as "a matter of right," without public input or testimony.
The commission decided that charter schools can be in residential neighborhoods but that they must adhere to size standards that the panel believes will protect residents from traffic, noise and other disruptions.
Carol J. Mitten, chairwoman of the commission, said the regulations will allow charter schools to flourish while protecting the character of city neighborhoods.
"I think we've done the best we can to strike a balance," Mitten said. Three commissioners voted in favor; one commissioner did not participate; and the remaining commissioner was not present.
The panel also updated zoning regulations to include charter schools in the definition of public schools.
Charter schools were established in the District in 1996 and are publicly funded but independent of the government-run public school system. Until yesterday, because the 1950s-era regulations did not mention charters, they were subject to the zoning process that private schools follow.
Neighbors on Capitol Hill grew concerned last year when Appletree, a preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, sought to open on 12th Street NE.
After residents complained to zoning officials, the commission decided in February to adopt changes to zoning laws on an emergency basis, meaning that they would take effect immediately for 120 days. Last night's vote makes the regulations permanent.
Several commissioners questioned the earlier decision to move quickly on the controversial issue.
"There was a lot of confusion and misunderstanding in the community," Michael G. Turnbull said.
The changes mean, for example, that the required minimum width of a school lot would grow from 75 feet to 120 feet. The changes also apply to the city's 141 public schools, despite a written request to the commission from D.C School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, who asked it to delay its decision. Janey said he was excluded from the process, but city planners repeated at the zoning commission's special meeting yesterday that they reached out to public school officials.
The commission dropped a proposal that schools or day-care centers with 16 or fewer students would be exempt from the new regulations.
Margaret Holwill, who lives on 11th Street NE, said she was relieved by the commission's decision because Appletree's proposed location was not "appropriate."
Appletree Managing Director Russ Williams said yesterday that he was disappointed, but he stopped short of saying that the school would not open on 12th Street.
"We're exploring our options," he said.
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Get Washington DC,Maryland,Virginia news. Includes news headlines from The Washington Post. Get info/values for Washington DC,Maryland,Virginia homes. Features schools,crime,government,traffic,lottery,religion,obituaries.
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The Uttermost Part of the Earth
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I married a man with a sailboat and two shelves of books on sailing, adrenaline-charged tales of howling storms and ice-crusted rigging. Many involved Cape Horn at the tip of South America, the world's southernmost point of land before Antarctica, where legendary western gales and 50-foot waves crash ashore 200 days a year. More than 800 ships have gone down there in the past four centuries, but for some insane reason, David wanted to round Cape Horn, as Magellan did.
This did not sound like my idea of fun. No one ever writes about their calm and sunny voyages, and those are the only kind I want. But I had reported from South America in the mid-1970s, and I wanted to revise my outdated memories of Argentina. "Let's go and see what the weather's like," David said.
We settled on a three-week January visit -- midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere -- including a five-day foray to the Horn on a small, modern Chilean cruiser. It wasn't a square-rigger, but it would have to do if we were going to go together. With fair winds, we would see Cape Horn from its relatively protected eastern side, and with extra luck we might get to set foot on the island itself. Actually rounding the Horn? The cruise line's map showed a dash back up the eastern flank to the safety of the Beagle Channel. That, too, would have to do.
Weather records showed temperatures in the low 40s and high 30s and three to six inches of rain per month as normal for summer in Tierra del Fuego, the archipelago of about 74,000 square miles of mountainous islands at the continent's tip. We bought thermal underwear.
Cold rain greeted our arrival in Ushuaia, the capital of southern Argentina's Tierra del Fuego, where we were to pick up our little cruiser. E. Lucas Bridges, a son of the earliest settlers, called the place "The Uttermost Part of the Earth" in his fabulous 1947 book of that name, but this was just our jumping-off point. Cinder-block houses and gable-roofed buildings of corrugated metal marched up the green-gray mountain flanks to vanish in the mist above the sheltered harbor. At my first visit in 1977, a century after Bridges's father, Thomas, and other missionaries founded the place, it was still a gritty setting for about 2,000 hardy souls who would have been right at home on "Survivor." Tourists were so rare that my souvenir coasters all spelled the town's name wrong.
But tourists today love uttermost places -- mountain peaks, river sources, ocean canyons, Tierra del Fuego. The population of Ushuaia has risen to 60,000 and the tourist count to more than 154,000 last year. The Queen Mary II's 2,600 passengers had all but swamped the town the day before we arrived, and three smaller cruise ships were resting at the international terminal.
Everything in town is within walking distance, and since the rain had stopped briefly we set off on foot to Ushuaia's only non-park attraction: a dank and deliciously creepy former prison, now a museum. Argentine prisoners-for-life built it themselves starting in 1902, when the government abandoned an attempt to use them as colonists. Dioramas in the cells and old sepia photos illustrate prisoners' hard lives and the 12-mile railway they built. It still runs, but the resurgent icy rain deterred us from taking it to see the red foxes and hares at Tierra del Fuego National Park or the llama-like guanacos on Bird Island and Wolf Island.
Magellan may have been the first non-European to see this area, in 1532, but it was later sailors who named it Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire), after all the beach bonfires of the native Yahgan and Ona Indians. Warning signals, scholars say, but I think the locals were just trying to keep warm. Charles Darwin, on his famous visit in 1832, called the Indians "miserable, degraded savages," a charge that outraged Lucas Bridges. He tells how his father, in a futile 1887 attempt to save the Yahgan from extinction, set up a sheep and cattle ranch to employ them in the wilderness about 50 miles east of Ushuaia. He named it Harberton. We wanted to pay homage, so the next day we rented a car to go there, a two-hour trip on a muddy dirt road.
Thomas Bridges's great-grandson, Thomas Goodall, still runs the farm, which now herds small groups of tourists as well as livestock. We walked in the rain through the lush vegetable garden and around the prefabricated house and boat shed, imported from London, trying to imagine life here before the road came in 1988.
Trays of pisco sours and a tango show welcomed us aboard the Via Australis, one of two sister ships that make four- or five-day runs between Ushuaia and Punta Arenas in Chile from October to May every year. With only 136 passengers to take care of, the predominantly Chilean 46-member crew seemed everywhere: They lectured us on the local history and flora and fauna, helped us into high Wellington mud boots, handed us in and out of the 20-foot rubber Zodiac boats for daily excursions, piloted the boats, waited on us in the ship's open bar and dining area, and led us in small groups around the islands and glaciers that we had come to see.
Captain Oscar Sheward said in his greeting that our overnight run to Cape Horn could be "interesting," given the wet weather. So after a steak dinner with excellent Chilean wine, David and I secured our gear in the ample storage space in our sleek modern cabin and put on scopolamine patches to protect against mal de mer . If any mer was going to be mal, this was it. We prepared for rock-and-roll.
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Find Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland travel information, including web fares, Washington DC tours, beach/ski guide, international and United States destinations. Featuring Mid-Atlantic travel, airport information, traffic/weather updates
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Finding Your Thrill in Tennessee's Berry Hill
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Berry Hill sits smack inside Tennessee's country music capital like a hole in an LP, but don't call it a suburb of Nashville. The smallest satellite city in Davidson County has its own city hall, police force and welcome sign. Even more impressive: Berry Hill packs 457 businesses and nearly 40 music studios, producers and publishers into less than a square mile of space -- and there are only 674 residents to benefit from all of this commercial largesse.
"Berry Hill is a hippie-ish community. There are a lot of boutiques and shops, but not high-end. More like arts and crafts -- and lots of music," says John McBride, the husband of country singer Martina McBride and owner of Blackbird Studio. "There's lots of creative energy here."
Less than five miles from Nashville's country music scene, Berry Hill was carved out of farmland more than 100 years ago. Modest homes -- mainly one-story, barracks-style cottages -- were built at the end of World War II as housing for employees of the nearby Navy processing center (they handled the veterans' paperwork). In the early 1970s, the city was zoned commercial. But rather than build traditional storefronts, the new neighbors simply set up shop in the existing structures; rooms where families once ate and slept now contain retail goods.
Besides its pedestrian-friendly shopping (mainly along Bransford Avenue), the city has an alter ego as the Anti-Music Row. Unlike the strip of big-label music companies in Nashville, Berry Hill's independent studios are far from flashy. To wit: Blackbird, which has welcomed such performers as Jack White, Keith Urban and Kid Rock, hides behind an elephant-gray exterior.
That doesn't mean you can't dress like a Grammy winner. At Venus & Mars/Silvery Moon Vintage Clothing (2830 Bransford, 615-269-8357), pick up a Supremes-style sequined dress for $89.99 or a polyester frock whose festive print could blind the sun ($19.95). For guys, there are soft button-down shirts for less than $20, an orange Elks baseball cap ($3.95) and a red sparkly jacket for budding game show hosts.
While the clothing at Venus & Mars dates from the 1920s to the '70s, none of the nearly 1,000 consignment pieces at Designer Renaissance (2822 Bransford, 615-297-8822) predates the 21st century. The all-women's-clothing store has everything from designer labels (a small Gucci bag for $48) to populist brands (embellished Levi's, $24). On the Last Chance racks, knock 75 percent off the price.
Find stuff invented by demented minds at Curious Heart Emporium (2832 Bransford, 615-298-7756). The front-yard sculptures of a spaceship with a silver alien driver, a giraffe in high heels and other characters aren't for sale, but everything inside is: a onesie that reads "I'm Not a Boy" ($25), evil clown nesting dolls ($12) and a bike helmet cover of an oogly brain ($30).
For kitsch-free homes, Gilchrist Gilchrist (2823 Bransford, 615-385-2122) stuffs its rooms with items appropriate for a cottage in Provence. Pick up Shabby Chic pillows ($36-$96), Bella Notte linens and glass-bottled Paris Rain laundry detergent ($18) that works just as well on a knickknack shelf as on your dirty shirts. If your outside needs some TLC, head to Eden (2800 Bransford, 615-383-0038). Green thumb or not, there's no denying the appeal of a Carmen Miranda-shape planter ($49.95), op-art lanterns ($29.95) and birdhouses designed as a pink love shack ($24.95) or a tiki bar stand ($17.95).
The Cat Shoppe and the Dog Store (2824 Bransford, 615-297-7877, 615-279-9247) carry everything for the well-heeled (padded?) pet. The dog store's front room stocks various accouterments decorated with your breed's furry face, such as a Siberian husky nail file ($2) and Rottweiler earrings ($15.99). Cat people should go straight to the back, where an adjoining store is filled with feline fancies -- including kittens for adoption (just pay the vet bill). Spring for a cat-shape teapot ($19.99) or a "Cats Rule" pink carryall ($5.99).
Feel Berry Hill's good karma at Angelight (502 E. Iris Dr., 615-385-1966). The gift shop's signature item is homemade angel candles, which the store's owner said are infused with "angel essence." Magic aside, the candles are made of soy or vegetable wax and can cast some serious light. Other items also tilt toward the spiritual, such as Buddha amulet necklaces ($30) and Himalayan prayer flags. But even the most New Age-y store can't ignore the rocker edge: The flouncy Goddess Gear scarves-cum-tops and jackets were designed by Diana DeWitt, an occasional backup singer for Neil Young.
Come mealtime, get the music 411 before anyone else at Yellow Porch (734 Thompson Lane, 615-386-0260), where record execs hold VIP meetings over gourmet salads and sandwiches, sirloin quesadillas with white cheddar ($8.95) or port-poached sun-dried cherry salad ($5.95). Come night, the restaurant transforms into a diva, with twinkling candles, black tablecloths and $15 to $25 entrees. For something a bit more country, try the pulled pork at Mothership BBQ (2806 Columbine Pl., 615-269-7150). Former professional bassist Jim Ream prepares Nashville-style barbecue -- the dry rub of Memphis plus the vinegary sauce of North Carolina -- in his "mobile home"-decorated joint. A pulled pork and rib combo with two sides goes for $8; a la carte sides, including pinto beans and potato salad, cost $1.50.
If you're more hot and thirsty than hungry, swing by Sam and Zoe's (525 Heather Pl., 615-385-2676), which has indoor and outdoor seating on group-house furniture. The coffeehouse blends up cold ones, such as the Chill Pill (strawberries, bananas, peaches, orange juice and St. John's wort; $3.50) and the Chilly Wonka (a secret espresso, milk and chocolate mix; $3.95). It also prepares breakfast and light lunch fare for those who sleep late.
Berry Hill is about four miles south of downtown Nashville, off Interstate 65. Many stores offers free shopping maps of the area, or pick one up at City Hall (698 Thompson Lane, 615-292-5531).
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Townies describe Berry Hill, Tenn. as is a warm, hippie-ish community with dozens of boutiques and shops that are easy on the pocketbook.
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Tim Gunn's Take on Fall Fashion
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talks about the new shape of fashion and what to expect from here on in.
Chair of Fashion Design at Parsons The New School for Design Tim Gunn answered your questions about fashion's new look for fall.
Tim Gunn: Good morning everyone! I'm delighted to be back on washingtonpost.com to answer your questions. There are lots of them, so please be patient with me over the next hour.
I'm not one to spend more on my wardrobe than on my rent. What stores do you recommend for high fashion without the high price?
Tim Gunn: I'm with you! I, too, can't afford the high-priced spread. Banana Republic, Club Monaco, Anthropologies, and private label designs at major department stores (Macy's, Saks, Bloomingdale's) are great options.
I know it's a cliche, but what do you see as the three most important features of a good piece of fashion design? Or is it all a matter of this year's trend?
Tim Gunn: If it were a cliche, then we'd all know the answer! For me, good fashion design has to evoke innovation (without being a joke), be great-looking, and be wearable. Other than those three factors, the sky's the limit!
As a Washington, D.C. native, how would you rate the fashion industry here?
Tim Gunn: I haven't been to D.C. for eons. I look forward to my trip to the Corcoran on October 5. I'll check out the fashion scene!
Hi Tim! I'm a big fan of yours and Project Runway! I've been interested in fashion for a while, and would like to start dabbling a little in design. I was wondering if you could give some tips to those who are a novice in fashion design.
Tim Gunn: Wonderful! I believe that it's very important to get to know people with whom you can have a substantive dialogue about design and its development. In addition, read everything about fashion that you can get your hands on. A palpable point of view is what makes a designer, so you need to be confident about yours.
Tim, What do you think of the ankle boots trend? I'm undecided. One minute I think I'll go buy some and the next minute I change my mind. If it helps, I'm 24, slender, and my style is sort of funky-preppy. Thanks! You're the best!
Tim Gunn: From your description, you were born to wear an ankle boot! Find one that suits your style and works with most of your wardrobe.
Hey, Tim - love the show. What trends are you seeing for the guys this fall and winter, other than shade upon shade of gray??
Tim Gunn: For us guys, the skinny suit is in, but it's not for everyone. Personally, I tried one on, recently, and looked like Pee Wee Herman.
Camel is a great "new" color -- coats, sweaters, scarves.
For those of us on a more modest income, can you name a few wallet-friendly stores/collections that you feel are comparable to/fall in line with higher end designers? I know you've featured Banana Republic and INC on Project Runway, any others in the same price range? How about less expensive shoe lines?
Tim Gunn: Add Club Monaco and Anthropologie to your list. And try Steve Madden for shoes.
How important is the personality of the designer? I know it must play into their creativity a lot. Does it play into the decisions of who is "in" or "out" on Project Runway?
Tim Gunn: Although personalities can't be discounted, the judges only examine the work on the runway when making their decisions. Truly.
My daughter is a high school student and is interested in going to design school. Can you recommend a good one in the Southeast and what does she need to be doing now to get prepared?
Tim Gunn: I'm delighted that your daughter in interested in a design career. I suggest that you contact the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) in Reston, VA for a directory of design schools. Each school will have different requirements, so visit their website and view their catalog. But most will require a portfolio of art and design work.
Tim, You are my favorite person from "Project Runway," really the highlight of the show for me. You seem like such a genuinely kind person. How are you dealing with your more wide-spread fame now that the show's a big hit?
Tim Gunn: Thank you! I'm enjoying every minute of this great ride, because I know that it will end just as quickly as it began.
How did Jeffrey win the second of the Paris challenges? It looked to me like his model was being eaten by an aggressive picnic tablecloth.
Tim Gunn: My refrain this season pertains to your question: "It's a matter of taste." For the judges, that is!
I consider myself quite thin (size 0) but the new skinny jeans look horrible on me and seem to accentuate the hips, stomach area and are horribly unflattering. Can anyone wear this style? Is this a trend that is here to stay?
Tim Gunn: Don't give up! I suggest that you try other brands. I find that the fit of jeans can be worlds apart from brand to brand. If you can find the right fit, skinny jeans can be very flattering.
Good morning, Mr. Gunn. As a 39 year-old woman, I'm curious about this no-hosiery/bare legs trend with skirts, even in winter. I know my legs are less than perfect and it seems that if I wear a suit with no stockings, I look like a small child playing dress-up. It seems that stockings really are necessary for a more polished look, and obviously the hosiery companies are not going out of business any time soon, so I'm not alone in my view. And they help keep my legs a bit warmer in the cold weather. Can you demystify this trend for me? Thank you and have a good day.
Tim Gunn: I hear you! I, too, am mystified by this trend. It's not particularly attractive and it's impractical in cold weather. Basically, it underscores my view that we can wear whatever we want and get away with it. Just be confident about being who you are and dressing for that person.
Tim, In what is, to me, a particularly distressing trend, I have seen many women (and quite a few men) wearing crocs in public. Is this truly acceptable? Is there some sort of fashion clearinghouse which decides on a whim that actions which would normally result in ostracization are instead cool and accepted? Tim, please offer your advice.
Tim Gunn: Ohhhhh... May I respond by merely saying, "I hate crocs. May they please go away."
Ok...please settle this debate. What color shoes should a man wear with a navy suit?
Tim Gunn: I say black. Does anyone want a debate?
I currently work in Montana, where, needless to say, fashion is not the high priority. I will be leaving Montana and an organization that did not value professional dress and will be joining the real world sometime soon. I have no idea what the current trends are and am wondering what are the best options for someone hoping to re-join the real world in a professional setting? Also, are there any staple pieces that I should have to start off with?
Tim Gunn: Staples are only good if they truly suit our lifestyle. I suggest that you go search fashion websites and see what looks appeal to you. Most retail sites have a "What's new" section that will give you an idea about the latest in their line. But rest assured that there there's something appropriate for everyone out there.
You always appear so gracious to press and fans alike: however, have you found the level of your fame difficult to manage?
Tim Gunn: I'm having the best time of my life. I love the fans of the show and am thrilled when they want to say "Hello!" If I become a diva, then I hope someone shoots me!
Tim, in light of the multitude of knockoffs available today, do you think that fashion should be copyrighted?
Tim Gunn: This is the question of the century! As of now, clothing cannot be copyrighted. I speculate that we'll see some industry advocating in Congress. But if copyrighting is enacted, then I shudder at the prospect of zillions of cases of litigation!
How important is the body of work from a designer as created on the show? I wonder because I was not happy to see Allison leave for what seemed like one mistake but to see Vincent stay on after multiple bad garments.
Tim Gunn: I am in total agreement with you about the elimination of Alison. Although the judges can't help but conjure each designer's previous work, they remain focused on what is before them, only. Still, if I had been voting, Vincent would have been gone!
Hi Tim, Greetings from "across the pond" and thanks for chatting with us today. I recently moved from our shared hometown of Washington, D.C. to go to grad school in London. Am sorely missing "Runway," but keeping up on it through your great pod casts. I've noticed that Leggings are EVERYWHERE in London (along with wide belts and ballet flats). What are your thoughts on this trend? How/why is it back? Also wondering if you know anything about "Project Catwalk," Britain's version of the show hosted by Elizabeth Hurley? Thanks so much. Carry on!
Tim Gunn: I hope you're enjoying London. What a great city! Leggings are everywhere, indeed. Personally, I'm not crazy about them, but they can look great with the right look, a tunic, for instance, or a long cardigan. Just don't try to dress them up!
As with most things in fashion, we recycle. Leggings were big in the 80's, so 20 years later A typical recycling period) we revisit them.
I've never seen Project Catwalk, but hope to some day.
I think both black and brown work, provided the brown is a darker/redder shade. I wear both, particularly because I'm just starting out and only have two decent suits.
Tim Gunn: Agreed. Cordovan works.
Tim, Love you on PR--you are a sea of calm and reason in the hectic drama! My question: do you think it is ever feasible for a man to wear fur? It's so comfortable and warm, but doesn't seem stylish. What can designers do?
Tim Gunn: Thank you for your kind words. Frankly, I think that fur on a man is difficult to pull off. If it's the warmth you're after, then I'd go with a fur-lined coat -- it won't show.
As a plus-sized person, the Project Runway episode on dressing real women appealed to me. What do design schools do to ensure that graduates have the skills to dress real people, and not just small-sized models? As Vincent pointed out, in the end it is real people who will be buying clothes.
Tim Gunn: I'm so glad you asked this important question. We stress this issue at Parsons and hope that our graduates will help blaze a trail in this area. The larger-than-size-4 market is robust and is in need to good designers.
Do the judges ever ask your opinion on the clothes, or is your role to be more of someone who can point the way, but not hand the contestants a map?
Tim Gunn: I say with impunity that I do not interact with the judges, other than to say "hello." I bring far too much baggage to the table to be a responsible judge -- thankfully!
My relationship with the designers is to be a mentor; that is, to offer guidance without telling them what to do. I love my role and take it very seriously.
Hi Tim! There's a lot of emphasis on innovation on "Project Runway." However, looking at pictures of the lines from Fashion Week, sometimes the clothes look more clownish and outlandish than innovative to me. What do you consider more important overall in fashion: wearability and beauty or innovation?
Tim Gunn: Excellent question. When it comes to Fashion (capital "F"), I make innovation an equal partner with wearability and beauty, because without it, fashion is merely clothes. However, how much innovation is the critical factor. When there's too much, bring on the circus!
Hi, Tim -- what is your take as to why the vast majority of designers ignore the existence of short women? You'd think that with half the women in the country 5'4" or less, they'd be more interested in making a buck off of us. Even the New York Times noted a month or two ago that Bloomingdales and Saks were planning on discontinuing carrying petites.
Tim Gunn: I was shocked by this, too! I trust that other retailers will see this egregious mistake as being an opportunity. You cannot be ignored!
Tim, You're the Man. I've got a wear a suit to work every day and I try not to look like an android (in the standard edition navy suit, white shirt and red tie). Any tips, from shirtsleeves to shoes?
Tim Gunn: I understand the "android" question, because I ask myself the same thing. Try some striped shirts, even just a hint of a stripe if that's an issue. And why not venture out into more tie options. Regarding shoes, I believe that the sleeker the silhouette, the better -- no tassels and fringes for me. Shirtsleeves? If you like a French cuff, then try some novelty cufflinks. But whatever you do, keep the shirtsleeves long.
How long does the competition last? From the time the designers check into Atlas to the time the final three (or four) leave Atlas to start working on their collections for Fashion Week?
Tim Gunn: We tape for 32 consecutive days -- no breaks! We're all done in by the end, including me!
There was a terrific scene in the film where Meryl Streep's character lectures Anne Hathaway's about the color choice of her sweater. she maintains that if it weren't for fashion designers and critics, clothing manufacturers wouldn't have the guidance needed to fashion their collections. What can you say about this?
Tim Gunn: I believe that this is quite true. If the manufacturers led the discussion, then we'd have clothes, but not fashion.
Hi Tim! Before I get to my question, I have to say that I absolutely adore you! I've been following the whole banning of the ultra-skinny model that is taking place in some countries and thought that the issue might go away until I saw that Giorgio Armani weighed in it. What are your thoughts about this issue?
Tim Gunn: Thank you for the kind words. Regarding Madrid Fashion Week and the banning if skinny models, I believe that it's just a reactionary extreme of its own. Why can't we strike a happy medium? With this issue become parallel to boxing; that is, will models have to weigh-in before walking the runway? I'm not in favor of eating disorders, of course. Let's get serious about this matter.
Tim, from your involvement with "Project Runway," do you get any sense that the show is helping bring a wider audience and broader appreciation to fashion and the fashion industry? I know that this year, as a new fan of the show, I was far more aware of Fashion Week than ever before.
Tim Gunn: Although fashion has surely become inextricable from our culture, there is demonstrable evidence that Project Runway has succeeded in making fashion accessible to a wider audience. Additionally, it has helped demystify the fashion process and made viewers excited about it. Fashion Design enrollments have risen in schools nation-wide, and there were more designers participating in Olympus Fashion week than ever before. I'm thrilled about this!
The Post's fashion columnist, Robin Givhan, says no hose is okay in summer when it's hot! Is this a real no-no? I started wearing skirts in the summer when I found out.
Tim Gunn: I don't disagree. In hot weather, no hose is fine. I'm all in favor of options, providing they're carefully considered.
Curious as to why there is not a challenge for designing for men?
Tim Gunn: Good question. Basically, it's the time factor. Most menswear is tailored and tailoring takes a lot of it
Has Project Runway been accepted within the fashion industry itself? Is it taken seriously amongst the big name designers?
Tim Gunn: Fortunately, the show has been fully embraced and even celebrated by the fashion industry. Witness our guest judges this year and you'll know that big names love to be part of the show -- Diane von Furstenberg, Francisco Costa, Vera Wang, Zac Posen among them.
Stuttgart, Germany: We always see you wear what's black and gray and white. What is your favorite color to look at? (Please! Don't say black or gray or white!)
Tim Gunn: I'd love to say "black," but I won't. Promise. My favorite color is the sandstone in the buildings of Bath, England. I painted my apartment that very same color.
Richmond, Va.: Tim, I admire your sense of classic style -- you consistently look great on Project Runway, and you are so funny too. I have a truly burning question for you about all the interesting and different shapes in women's fashion -- the oversized tops, bubble skirts (not the Angela variety, though!) and leggings. It seems like we've always been told to keep proportion in mind -- wide-legged pants for those of us larger in the hips, etc. So, how do we incorporate these fashions that take us in a completely different direction -- without looking like cows in the process?
Tim Gunn: Thank you for your kind words. You are quite right to pay attention to proportion. It's a key element to a successful wardrobe. Another key element is fit. Most people wear clothing that is too big or too small for them. And "oversized" is the downfall for most of us. We have to be careful that we don't look like we're slipcovered!
Silver Spring, Md.: Mr. Gunn, You always seemed to be well-turned-out on the show. Do you wear your own clothing, or are you "styled?" What would you say is the one essential piece in a man's wardrobe?
Tim Gunn: Thank you for the kind words. I wear my own clothing on the show. My wardrobe is enhanced by pieces from INC (Macy's private label), because they sponsor the show, but it's completely up to me as to how I use them.
The one essential in a man's wardrobe is a good suit. It doesn't have to be expensive. It just has to fit properly.
Hi Tim! I have a question about the recent "Couture" episode of Project Runway. Both you and the judges deemed Kayne's garment outlandish and "too much," yet from looking at the couture lines of houses such as Christian Dior, there seems to be no limit as to what a designer can do as long as it has a "vision." Can you explain the intent of the Couture challenge and the problems with Kayne's design?
Tim Gunn: The intent of the "Couture" challenge was to give the designers a taste of Parisian traditions in fashion. They were to use some couture techniques in the construction of their design.
Regarding Kayne, there are many people who loved his garment. I was put off by the evidence of the boning, because I felt that seeing it undermined the elegance that he wanted to achieve. Regarding the entire dress, I also felt that there was simply too much going on -- beads, lacing, ombred fabric, egads! But I understand your point. Compared to John Galiano, Kayne looked tame!
Tim, have you considered what makes your reality show such a success and so appealing (even to sports loving-, fashion retarded-men like myself) compared to others; for example, there is a reality cooking show which isn't nearly as compelling as Project Runway.
Tim Gunn: Good question. I believe that Project Runway's success has everything to do with having real designers do what they do and having an audience that can form an opinion about fashion by simply watching it. With cooking, you can't smell or taste the food, so how to you really weigh in on a judgement?
Hi Tim. I love you on "Project Runway." I hope you can provide some advice so I can "make it work." I'm a 28-year-old male, 5'9" and a little overweight, and most of the clothes I see in men's fashion magazines and store ads do not look good on me. Is there anything I should add to my wardrobe for winter or spring?
Tim Gunn: No matter what size or shape we are, we all face this conundrum, or we should! Fit and proportion are key factors. Try things on and have them tailored if necessary. Avoid a fit that is too big or too small. The former ins the usual culprit. Just be mindful of how you look in certain items and you'll look great.
I love you Tim Gunn!!! I'm constantly amazed at your advice on PR. You seem to always see the broader picture -- before even the designers do. Speaking of the broader picture, how important is the "theme" of a designer's line? Can it be a well-produced line if all the designs are separate and different? In high fashion runways, do the designers always have a theme?
Tim Gunn: Although it's not necessary for a designer's line to have a theme, it does need to be cohesive. The customer wants to be able to mix and match within the line, so if the items are too disparate, that can't happen.
Tim, I'm very interested in fashion as a career, but as a writer, not a designer. Is it necessary for me to attend a fashion school after college?
Tim Gunn: I'm delighted to learn that you're interested in fashion writing. We need more good writers! It's not at all necessary that you attend school for fashion, but do make certain that you learn about the process of creating and developing fashion. Good luck.
Tim Gunn: Thank you, everyone! This has been great fun for me. I hope it's been useful and a little informative for you.
I hope to be back, again, sometime soon.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online 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.
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Post Politics Hour
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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 chief political reporter Dan Balz was online Monday, Sept. 25, at 11 a.m. ET .
Political analysis from Post reporters and interviews with top newsmakers. Listen live on Washington Post Radio or subscribe to a podcast of the show.
Dan Balz: Good morning to everyone. Congress is in its final week before the elections, trying to wrap up some important legislation. President Bush is raising money for Republicans in Connecticut and Ohio and Vice President Cheney is on the road helping GOP candidates too. Forty-three days until Election Day. Let's get to your questions.
Bethesda, Md.: Good Morning Dan,
Do you think that reports like the National Intelligence Estimate that came out yesterday will have any effect on how our military votes this fall? Or the carnage that they see daily in Iraq? I know the military is decidedly conservative and votes Republican but at what point do they finally say "enough is enough" the "stay the course" strategy of the ruling party is not working and things have got to change?
Dan Balz: We've seen a good deal if dissent among retired military officers about the administration's Iraq strategy and we'll hear more today when several retired generals appear on Capitol Hill to air their views. The new NIE gives Democrats fresh ammunition in the political and policy debates over Iraq. I don't know whether that document will have a material effect on how military personnel and their families vote this fall but it will be a very live topic for the next several days as Republicans and Democrats maneuver for the elections.
Fairfax, Va.: Yesterday you attributed the sharp decline in gasoline prices, which have helped boost Republican election chances, to "good luck". Since your article appears to be factual reporting and not opinion, could you explain the basis for your conclusion that good luck and not manipulation of gas prices is the operative factor? Are you at least curious as to the timing vis a vis the upcoming election of the steep gas price drop given that Bush and Cheney are oilmen with ties to the Saudis?
Dan Balz: I believe the drop has more to do with market forces and the fact that we're at the end of the summer driving season.
Rochester, Minn.: Good Day and thanks for taking questions. From the number of times I have received the video of former President Clinton on Fox News Sunday it seems that a lot of "buzz" has been created. I guess I don't understand what this is all about other than that Fox news and others are still obsessed with Mr. Clinton. What am I missing?
Dan Balz: There certainly is a lot of buzz about the Clinton interview with Fox's Chris Wallace. Some believe it's the former president's way of prodding Democrats to take on their opponents. Some people who've submitted questions believe it was intentional -- that Clinton set out to appear provoked. Others don't. I'd be interested to hear what others think and I'll post a few of your responses as we go along.
Fort Worth, Tex.: Under former President Clinton, a moderate tax increase worked giant wonders in restoring this country's financial picture to an unburdened and balanced structure.
Under President Bush, policies along with a tax decrease has served bring our nation's financial picture and future to the bring of destruction.
No one can argue this, yet mainstream media will not point out the pending disaster nor assess blame nor ask for sensible and positive corrective actions.
Why won't The Washington Post take a firm and positive stand on this matter and attempt to save this nation's future?
Dan Balz: I don't write the editorials at the Post and like other reporters have nothing to do with the decisions behind them. But the Post has written many editorials about the fiscal crisis facing the country.
Louisburg, N.C.: Polls in Iowa are showing John Edwards to be a much stronger contender for the Democratic nomination than we are lead to believe in the rest of the country. Why is that?
Dan Balz: Former Senator Edwards topped a poll of Iowa Democrats taken a couple months ago, surprising people who assumed that Sen. Clinton would be the leader there, as she is nationally. Senator Edwards ran a good campaign there in 2004 and finished second in the caucuses. He's worked to keep that organization in place and the poll suggests he's been successful. Nationally Senator Clinton still has more support, though many Democrats are asking whether she can win.
Philadelphia, Pa.: The latest Philadelphia Inquirer Poll shows Ed Rendell leading Lynn Swann, 77%-16% (!), in the Philadelphia area. The same poll shows likely voters in the Philly area favoring Democratic congressional candidates over Republicans by 20 points. What do you think this means for Mike Fitzpatrick, Curt Weldon, and Jim Gerlach (the three suburban Republican congressmen seeking re-election)?
Dan Balz: I haven't looked closely at that poll but I believe it did not poll on individual races in the Philadelphia area. The Philadelphia suburbs continue to be a big problem for Republicans and that is hurting the GOP House incumbents. But there were a couple of polls by a reputable Republican polling firm recently that showed Gerlach and Weldon leading. These races remain very competitive.
Avon Park, Fla.: Due to the improved outlook for Republicans in the midterm elections, do you think that people had awfully high expectations for the Democrats? Any other year a net gain of 12 seats would be considered a great election night for the Democrats. But if they gain that many this year, it will be seen as an undisputed win for the Republicans. Do you think people are overlooking that a 12 seat pick-up would be rather impressive?
Dan Balz: You make a good point but I suspect many Democrats will be disappointed if they don't win the House back in November. Some Democrats may have gotten carried away during the summer and began to assume they would win the House, setting themselves up for a letdown in November. The House certainly could end up in Democratic hands, but it's not a given at this point.
Clinton's tirade: I don't think it was manufactured. As things continue to get bad, this administration viewed the 9/11 anniversary as a chance to try and deflect some of the blame and who better to blame than Clinton.
So I think he went to the interview ready to strongly express his anger and when Wallace gave lip service to the "global warming" stuff and then went into the "Osama is all your fault", he was prepared for the tirade.
And in my view rightly so.
Dan Balz: Thanks for your comment.
Austin, Tex.: Dan, Thanks for taking questions today. I am an avid reader of your online edition and many other sources of news and am really struck by the retired military officers' outspokenness on the subject of the mishandling of the Iraq war and Rumsfeld in particular. What about the rest of the American public? What is your take - are they listening?
Dan Balz: Yes, I think Americans are listening. Iraq hangs over everything right now and people are unhappy with the state of affairs there. There are clearly divisions over what to do next and we're seeing those differences harden as we get into the final six weeks of the political campaign. I doubt many minds are changing right now.
New York, N.Y.: Pres. Clinton's tirade was planned, and was planned for Fox News, I strongly suspect, as a former communications director in the Executive branch. Look at the questions about bin Laden and the President's efforts to get him over the years in many mediums. There has been nary a word of protest like what Pres. Clinton delivered to Chris Wallace. Much like Joseph Welch, who it has been learned, planned on using his famous quote, "have you no decency, sir" against Sen. McCarthy before the hearings even started.
Perhaps this is not news to you Dan, and that is fine, but Clinton's outburst at Chris Wallace seems not scripted, but intentional, i.e. when conferring with aids before agreeing to do Fox News it was determined to loudly and emphatically defend himself (unlike reaction to all other media questions in the past about bin Laden) specifically on that network knowing it's viral opportunity (see YouTube.com download numbers.) I can remember Wolf Blitzer asking the same question with a much different reaction. I am not saying it was fake, but it was definitely planned, Pres. Clinton did not suddenly lose his temper.
Dan Balz: Thanks for your comments.
Katy, Tex.: Are voters getting wise to how political campaigns work? Do you see any signs that voters may have become more immune to negative campaign messages? And "all else being equal" ( more or less) can one candidate having significantly more campaign money than the other swing as many votes as it used to?
Dan Balz: Voters are very wise about the way campaigns are run. However, if negative ads didn't work, political candidates would not run so many of them. And yes, a candidate with a significantly bigger campaign war chest has a clear advantage over someone who has limited funds. That's not always the case. In New Hampshire, Carol Shea-Porter upset a far better-funded candidate in the recent Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District.
Alexandria, Va.: Isn't the scandal in the Clinton outburst is that Wallace was the only journalist to ask about the controversy generated by the ABC docudrama? And Wallace didn't even ask about Clinton's campaign against ABC. And Hillary's 9/11 interviewers also totally avoided the topic. Doesn't this make it look like TV interviewers are accepting a menu of don't-ask-thats?
Dan Balz: Thanks for your comments.
Iowa: FYI-A Des Moines Register poll yesterday showed both John McCain and Rudy Giuliani running stronger than any of the potential Democratic presidential hopefuls (Edwards, Kerry, etc). Hillary Rodham Clinton's showing was particularly weak; however, she has not been in Iowa since December 2004, unlike some of the other Democratic hopefuls who reappear persistently. Barack Obama (who was not in the Register's poll) received rock star level attention when he spoke at Sen. Harkin's annual steak fry last week.
Dan Balz: That new poll by the Register will likely feed concerns inside the Democratic Party about Senator Clinton's potential in a general election. Iowa is a purple state -- Al Gore won it in 2000 and President Bush won it in 2004 -- and one that will be a battleground again in 2008. Any Democrat seeking the nomination will want to argue that he or she can expand the electoral map and open up new territory. That said, the story about the poll, as you note, points out that Senator Clinton has spent no time in Iowa over the last few years and Iowans prefer candidates who court them. It looks like she has work to do there.
Dayton, Ohio: Hi Dan. I may be wrong on this come November, but I have felt for many months that an institutional fault of the MSM is that it is based in major cities and therefore can sometimes be blinded to what is truly shaping the national view on issues. I think the Iraq War is another one of those issues. I travel extensively throughout the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic seaboard and up through Maine. Save for a few pockets in Boston, Chicago and the Twin Cities, I just do not hear much about the war. National security yes, the war, no. Even in my home town of Dayton, the Dayton Daily News, which is even left of the NYT (and leads the league annually in letters to the editor saying the paper isn't fit to line birdcages) is silent save for the musings of Down and Ivens, and there is little written editorially about this so-called bad war. While I have come to expect Republican losses this time around, if they fail to materialize it may be no surprise to those of us in fly-over country
Dan Balz: Thanks for your thoughts. From my own travels, I know the point you're making, which is that people are not vocal about the war. But they see news about it all the time -- most of the news bad, by the way -- and read about it. It isn't as though the war has been put on some shelf and locked away. I don't know any other way to explain why surveys show so many people thinking the country's off track. There are obviously a number of factors, but Iraq is a big one and when you scratch the surface and get people talking, they feel we've gotten into a mess there. They may not have a solution, but they aren't happy with what they see. Bush advisers and GOP officials acknowledge that much.
Chicago, Ill.: Dan, Have you ever seen a campaign like the one George Allen is waging in VA? He started with a 14 to 20 point lead and is now behind. What is wrong with him?
Dan Balz: Lots of questions about Senator Allen and his campaign today. Short answer is it's been a while since I've seen one like this, primarily because he was looking at this race as a tune-up for a 2008 presidential campaign and now he's mired in a conflict that, even if he survives, has dealt a blow to those aspirations. Six months ago, a lot of inside-the-beltway types were touting him as one of the leading candidates for the GOP nomination. That's why campaigns matter.
Philadelphia, Pa.: "That new poll by the Register will likely feed concerns inside the Democratic Party about Senator Clinton's potential in a general election."
It seems that Clinton polls high b/c of her name recognition. I don't know too many Dems (myself included) who think she is the next candidate. It is the press and the Reps who are pushing her candidacy.
Dan Balz: I don't agree with you on that. There are many Democrats who want her to run -- but there are also many Democrats who fear she may be unstoppable for the nomination but easily defeated in the general election. Democrats collectively will come to some consensus during the nomination battle, if she decides to run. Frankly, there are a number of Republicans who believe she would be a formidable nominee, despite the baggage she carries.
Washington, D.C.: "Dan Balz: Voters are very wise about the way campaigns are run."
I can't think of anything I've seen in my 30 years as a political junkie that would justify this statement. Do you actually believe this?
Dan Balz: I think voters cut through a lot of the garbage in campaigns and get to the nub of who candidates really are. They also have a sense of what's important to them and make their decisions accordingly. It's a mistake to underestimate them.
Annapolis, Md.: Right now there are four Republican senators running behind their Democratic challengers. I understand Conrad Burns and Rick Santorum -- they have long been divisive figures. Lincoln Chafee seems to be a couple of points behind Sheldon Whitehouse, but Rhode Island is a very Democratic state, and Linc doesn't have his father's political skills. The one that shocks me is Mike DeWine. Innocuous, inoffensive DeWine is consistently behind the very liberal, not at all inoffensive Sherrod Brown. What's up with that?
Dan Balz: Ohio is a Republican disaster zone this year and DeWine is feeling the effect. Ethical scandals have badly damaged the Republican Party. Gov. Bob Taft has the second-lowest approval rating of any governor in the country, according to Survey USA. President Bush's approval rating there is 34 percent, according to the same outfit. The party's gubernatorial nominee, Ken Blackwell, is way behind Democrat Ted Strickland. So the climate couldn't be worse for DeWine.
Re: HRC: There are also Democrats, such as myself, that don't want her to run because she is too divisive. I want a Dem who can (and will) make an attempt to unify us.
Dan Balz: Thanks for your comment.
Princeton, N.J.: Stevenson gave a typically great speech. Someone stood up and shouted, "Adlai, every thinking voter is with you!" Stevenson shouted back,"That's not enough. I need a majority."
Dan Balz: Thanks for your comment.
New York, N.Y.: The Post has a headline up right now that says "Bush's Private War Anguish" Give me a break! Perhaps if Bush showed even the slightest bit of remorse for the war he has dragged us into his approval ratings wouldn't be in the basement.
Dan Balz: I thought this was a very interesting piece by one of our best reporters.
Dan Balz: Thanks to everyone for sending in questions. Have a good week.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online 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.
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National Book Festival: "Bones"
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Forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs is the inspiration behind Fox's drama "Bones," but is best known in the literary world for her best-selling thrillers involving her fictional counterpart, Temperance Brennan. The Brennan series includes such titles as "Break No Bones: A Novel," "Fatal Voyage," "Cross Bones" and "Death Du Jour."
A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.
Kathy Reichs was online Monday, Sept. 25, at noon ET to field comments and questions about her books and participation in the National Book Festival .
St. Louis, Mo.: Are you still involved with the series "Bones" as a consultant? Do you do much consulting for movies and television on top of your writing?
Kathy Reichs: I work as a producer on Bones. I work with the writers as they develop ideas. I read every script. My main role is the science. We are trying to keep that honest.
Frederick, Md.: So great to see you are going to be at the National Book Festival. Could you tell me if there are future plans for more books in the Brennan series?
Kathy Reichs: I have signed for five more Temperance Brennan novels. I am currently working on number ten in the series.
Ann Arbor, Mich.: Hello, Kathy. What drove you to be a writer? Did you know as you pursued your science career that writing was always in your future?
Kathy Reichs: I had no plans to write fiction. Did so as a lark. Had made full professor at the univ, decided fiction might be more fun than another scientific tome.
Harrisburg, Pa.: You work and write about a fascinating field. As a teacher in forensics, I know you keep up with the latest technology. What are some of the things being researched and developed that we may soon added to make forensics yield even more information?
Kathy Reichs: That is such a broad question. I try to bring many fields into my novels,not just forensic anthropology. To keep up, I read the JFS, and attend meetings of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. I have to. This year I am Vice President!
Washington, D.C.: Been a fan for a long time, Ms. Reichs -- I love your books and your ability to stay true to your characters. I am a forensic psychology master's student and have a question for you regarding the "CSI Effect" -- the phenomenon that juries, through TV and media exposure -- now fancy themselves forensic experts and require increasingly scientific evidence to render a conviction in most cases. Are you ever concerned about inaccurate portrayal of the available science on the show "Bones"? For instance, the hologram-recreation of the crime? And what is your role to the show -- obviously you provided the inspiration, but do you also consult or have script input? Thanks!!
Kathy Reichs: Yes. I work hard to keep the science as honest as possible. That is my primary role.
And the 'Angelator" does exist. Would your average crime lab have it? Not likely.
As to the CSI effect. I am unsure. There are, as yet, no statistics showing an increase in acquittal rates.
Knoxville, Tenn.: When it comes to forensics and forensic anthropology, everyone here in Tennessee is proud of our "Body Farm" located at the University of Tennessee.
Have you ever traveled to Knoxville to do any research? If so, can you describe what the body farm is like?
Kathy Reichs: I have been to the research facility known as the Body Farm. It is as you would expect. What surprised me was its proximity to the hospital. I found that a jarring juxtaposition.
Richmond, Va.: Do you still actively work as a forensic anthropologist? Or are you now more of an observer of the field?
Kathy Reichs: I still work regularly in my field. I do all of the cases for Quebec. And some private cases. Have had to give up work for military, some other facilities. I need to keep my hand in. I love the work. And it keeps my books fresh and authentic.
Alexandria, Va.: After missing the last few National Book Festivals, I am very excited that I will be able to attend this year. Have you spoken at the festival before? Do you interact much with other authors when you are there? What authors are you excited to see?
Kathy Reichs: This is my first time. A bit nervous, as I will actually be speaking at the White House. Yes, I will interact with other writers. I hope to make new friends, Harlan Coben, Alexander McCall Smith. And see some old ones, like Michael Connelly, Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Bethesda, Md.: You mentioned that you read all the scripts for "Bones." Are you ever permitted to suggest changes that go outside the realm of your science expertise? Like, "I don't think this character would actually say 'X'"? As a writer yourself, I would guess it's hard not to want to contribute in both areas.
Kathy Reichs: Yes, indeed. And I do so with regularity!
Just writing to say thank you for a lecture you gave in fall 1987 as visiting professor on Semester at Sea. In that lecture you suggested the idea that race is a myth from a scientific perspective. I recall that you explained that it was impossible to create easily distinguishable physical categories for people based on bone structure, skin color, etc. Although there are countless examples where real people continue to act as though race exists and (as a result) real people suffer unacceptable consequences through genocide, discrimination, etc., I've always felt that the argument you made, which seemed revolutionary to me at the time, offers us hope for moving toward peaceful coexistence by causing us to question the very powerful assumptions that we often make about others based on physical appearance. So thank you for helping to make me a more enlightened human being.
Fellow Traveler on the S.S. Universe
P.S. Didn't know until today that you have become a successful novelist. I'll be sure to read one of your books!
In that lecture, I was speaking from a population geneticist point of view. Still hold to it!
Jacksonville, Fla.: Any hints of what we might see next from Temperance Brennan? What a fascinating character. I'd love to know some of your future plans for her.
Kathy Reichs: The next book will take Tempe to a remote area of New Brunswick and will touch on the subject of the Acadian expulsion. In the eighteenth century, many French speakers were forced, by the British, to leave Canada. They ended up in Louisiane, our Cajuns. The term comes from the word Acadian.
Reston, Va.: First, thanks for many hours of intelligent and entertaining reading. Do you feel that the TV series follows your characters and environment as closely as you would like? What would you change in the show - e.g., have it call your protagonist "Tempe," as she is in your books, instead of "Bones"?
Kathy Reichs: I am pleased that the TV series does not exactly follow my books. I think of Bones as a pre-quel to my books. Tempe's early years. She is thirty, not forty. She is in Washington, DC, not Quebec and North Carolina. She has not married or had a child. She is less polished, so passionate about her work she is a bit of a social nerd. And her people skill have some developing to do.
Bones is a character based series. Like my books, each episode tries to bring humor to an otherwise black field.
Chicago, Ill.: I had no idea you were a Chicago native. So, Cubs or White Sox?
Kathy Reichs: What a question. White Sox, of course. What's happening to them?
I was a goddess for about a week last year. Scored tickets to the World Series opener for my son and nephews.
Boston, Mass.: With several Brennan books already under your belt -- and more to to -- what do you find are the challenges of writing a recurring lead character? As a writer, what are the best parts about spending so much time with Temperence Brennan?
Kathy Reichs: Having to repeat, for first time readers, what returning readers already know. Need to inform the former, without boring the latter. Challenging.
Lexington, Ky.: I'm familiar with your Brennan series of novels, but do you publish other fiction? Who are some of your favorite writers in the same genre?
Kathy Reichs: I am focused on Tempe right now. Between the case work, the TV series, the book-a-year pace, and the travel, I have no time for writing other fiction.
I enjoy Ian Rankin, Harlan Coben, Dennis Lehane, PD James, Michael Connelly. To name a few.
Annapolis, Md.: My husband and I are big fans of "Bones." I think the characters are far more richly drawn than "CSI" and its spinoffs. Do you watch any of these other shows? If so, what do you think?
Kathy Reichs: That was our goal from the outset. To create a show with characters one can grow to know and understand. Complex characters, not stereotypes. With lives outside the lab.
Centreville, Va.: Ms. Reichs, I've read every one of your books and am a big Bones fan. In the books, Tempe is a recovering alcoholic but on Bones, Temperence has been shown drinking without issue. It seemed like a big part of Tempe's life in the books so I was wondering why that story element would not carry over to Bones.
Kathy Reichs: Again, I think of "books" Tempe, and "TV" Tempe. TV Tempe is younger, at an earlier place in her life. In my books, there are hints that Tempe went through a very difficult and somewhat "colorful" phase inher past, the result of which caused her to give up alcohol. TV Tempe i sonly in her early thirties, and has not yet hit that rough patch.
Centreville, Va.: Do you think Bones should hook up with Seely?
Kathy Reichs: No way! It's the chemistry that makes things simmer. And their relationship is complicated. One of the main premises for Bones is that cops and scientists think differently. Boothe approaches crime-solving with gut instinct, leg work. From the heart. Tempe and the squints go at it with the head, logical, objective. It is the clash of those two problem-solving views that makes for good television.
Arlington, Va.: Are there particular writers you look to for inspiration? Who do you read in your spare time?
Kathy Reichs: I like any writer that writes well. I like different authors for different things.
Some, like James Lee Burke, I admire for setting.
Some, like PD James I admire for their plotting.
Some, like Boston Teran, I admire for their characters.
Some, like Robert Parker, I admire for humor and dialogue.
Some, like Jasper Fforde I admire for their incredible creativity.
Frederick, Md.: I like the science part of the TV show, but am worried the show will veer off toward soap operadom. I don't really want or need tension between Brennan and her new boss, or know if somebody had a history of sleeping with someone else. Will the show keep science and case-solving as the star? Or are all TV shows destined to move to the lazy cliche stuff after a while?
Kathy Reichs: We are trying to keep a balanced blend of story line, science, and character back story.
Morristown, Tenn.: Is it true you have been invited to speak at the White House today?
Kathy Reichs: I will be speaking at the White House on Saturday morning. Some sixty plus authors and their guests are invited. Two of us have to get up and talk while the rest enjoy eggs.
Pittsburgh, Penn.: What do you see as the Next Big Thing in the use of forensic science for crime solving?
Kathy Reichs: DNA. Contrary to suggestions of crime fiction TV, DNA cannot answer every question or solve every crime. It is irrelevant in many situations, unavailable in others. But DNA is an incredibly powerful tool.
Also, optics. Powerful microscopes, like the SEM.
Any wannabe forensic scientists out there, I have one piece of advice. Study hard science. Learn an actual area of expertise. Biology. Chemistry. Microbiology. Do not major in a broad spectrum forensics degree. It will teach you about the field, but give you no saleable skill.
Virginia: Which is harder, writing the book or getting it published?
Kathy Reichs: I am not a good one to ask. I submitted my first book, prepared to take up to fifty rejects before giving up. The first publisher to whom I sent Deja Dead, bought it.
But this is not typical. My one piece of advice would be to work with an agent. An agent will know to whom to submit your work, and how much the expect for it.
I want to thank you for giving us another strong, intelligent female character in popular fiction. I have a 14-year-old daughter and try to lead her to stories where the "good guys in white hats" are actually women. Being 56, I remember when we were told to be a teacher or a nurse and then find a husband. Do you feel the pressure of being a role model for young women?
Kathy Reichs: I hear regularly from young women wanting to write, or wanting to go into forensics. It is gratifying to have inspired them. It is also frightening. Who am I to give advice?
Writing Process: Don't you find it difficult after a few books not to have them start to all sound alike? I know other crime scene writers have fallen into that trap - what do you to try to make things originial? I think having Tempe live in two cities is a stroke of brilliance - a great way to mix things up.
Kathy Reichs: And don't forget Guatemala, Israel, and South Carolina (another foreign country).
I try to keep a few steps ahead of what will be in the news a year or two down the road. Stem cell research. Human rights issues. Trafficking in organs. I don't ever want to serial killer after serial killer. Sometimes I come a bit too close. One month after Fatal Voyage was released, we experienced 9/11.
Centreville Va.: I read that Bones is moving to Friday nights starting in January. Most believe that Friday is not the best time slot for a show. Should we be worried about Bones future?
Kathy Reichs: Frankly, I am not thrilled about the move. Let FOX know you disapprove!
Clearly your training and ongoing career in forensic anthropology contributes a great deal to the novels you write. I'm curious, however. Do you ever get frustrated being lumped into a genre where many of the authors have no training or experience in forensics, law enforcement, or other related fields?
Also, I'm curious about the similarities between your life and that of Tempe. How much of her character and experiences follow those in your own life?
Kathy Reichs: I understand that most writers are not scientists or law enforcement officials. What I find frustrating, are those who try to pass themselves off as experts, when they have no training in science or forensics.
Professionally, Tempe does exactly what I do. Works in North Carolina for the ME, works in Montreal for the medico-legal lab, does some human rights work, etc. Personally, her life is all her.
Each of my books is based, loosely, on a case I have worked or an experience I have had. Changing all details, of course.
Bethesda, Md.: I don't have a question - just wanted to say how much I enjoy the show Bones and your books. Glad you like Harlan Coben too! He is one of my favorites.
Kathy Reichs: Thanks. I am looking forward to meeting. Harlan.
Kathy Reichs: Thanks to all of you who logged on. This was a lot of fun. I do hope to see some of you at the Book Festival on Saturday. Have a great week!
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online 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.
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Kathy Reichs fields questions and comments on her crime books, such as "Cross Bones," and her participation in the National Book Festival.
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Books: 'Peace Mom'
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Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan was online Monday, Sept. 25, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss her new book, "Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey through Heartache to Activism." Sheehan describes the grief she felt after the death of her son, Casey Sheehan , in the spring of 2004 and how his death led to her controversial, highly publicized month-long demonstration in front of President Bush's Crawford, Tex. ranch last year.
Laurel, Md.: One of the many splits in modern American society is between those who thought Iraq was involved in 9/11 and those who did not.
Did Casey go to war thinking he was fighting Osama bin Laden?
Cindy Sheehan: No, he didn't. He joined the military in May of 2000 and he didn't believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or had any connection with 9/11.
Washington, D.C.: Dear Ms. Sheehan: I honor your son, who made the ultimate sacrifice in dying for our country.
I will not pretend to understand the loss you felt with the death of your son. But nor do I understand why your grief has manifested itself through a hatred for this country that your son sought to protect. Why is your anger not directed at the terrorists who seek to destroy this nation's soldiers and civilians?
Cindy Sheehan: Well, I don't believe that my son died protecting our country; I believe he died for lies. It's been proven over and over again that George Bush and the neocons lied to us. Casey was not killed by a terrorist; he was killed by an insurgent, an Iraqi citizen who wanted him out of their country. I am not manifesting my grief as hatred for America. I love my country and I'm fighting to make my country better and I'm fighting so that no other mothers have to feel the pain that I'm feeling.
Being against the government and being against the war is not being against America.
Fairfax, Va.: Why do you think bringing the troops back now is the best solution. Would it not work against U.S. at this point in time?
Cindy Sheehan: Well, we're spending $10 million an hour in Iraq. Our soldiers are still being killed. Our soldiers are being wounded and the latest intelligence estimate from the CIA said that the occupation of Iraq is as a matter of fact making our country more vulnerable and increasing Islamic extremism and jihadism.
I think it is in the interests of America and the world to end the occupation.
Fairfax, Va.: In today's Post there's an article about President Bush and the anguish he feels over the war in Iraq and the fact that he generally keeps his emotions private but, of course, believes that the war is justified. He's torn. Care to comment?
washingtonpost.com: For Bush, War Anguish Expressed Privately ( Post, Sept. 25 )
Cindy Sheehan: I also read when George Bush was on CNN recently with Wolf Blitzer that he called the dead, our soldiers and the innocent people in Iraq ... in history they will go down as "commas."
Maryland: Do you think your message has been subverted by other groups and causes who may be riding your coattails for their own publicity?
Cindy Sheehan: Excellent question. And honestly, maybe, in the past but now I am trying to prevent that from happening.
Washington, D.C.: Since the chances are extremely good that the Iraq war will last through the end of Bush's term and carry into the term of the next president, will you continue similar protests and demand to meet with the new chief executive ?
Cindy Sheehan: Yes, we will always take our protest to the seat of power. So wherever the next president is, we'll be there -- if the occupation continues.
Harrisburg, Pa.: This is not a question for you, but for your critics who presume that any criticism of our country means we somehow do not love our country. Why do such critics think we can not attempt to improve this country that we love by recommending changes that will improve it? We do so because we love our country. Please do not attempt to label any critic as one who does not love his or her country, and please do not especially do so to the families of those who have put a family member forward in defense of this country.
Cindy Sheehan: I agree. I think our country has been founded on dissent and shaped by dissent and patriotic people who are trying to make our country a better place.
Portland, Ore.: I'm 47 years old and these times seem the most divisive in my memory. Not since I was a child during the Vietnam War do I recall our country so polarized.
Today I look back at the Vietnam protesters as being fundamentally correct. I don't know if we'll look at Iraq war protesters in the same way or not years from now. I was very surprised by President Bush's reelection, however I come from the very blue part of a marginally blue state.
In your travels have you experienced this red-blue state divide? Are we really as polarized as our politics?
Cindy Sheehan: I have experienced it but very lightly. I think that our country is not evenly divided on this war and support for George Bush. I think that the vast majority of Americans disapprove of George Bush and the war and when I am in a so-called red state or red area, the opposition to our protests or if I'm giving a speech, is very low and support is very high. This has just been a turnaround since last August.
Knoxville, Tenn.: Please explain how you have somehow forgotten a meeting with President Bush and the photos, with you all smiles, that were taken with him? You do remember the photos, they were posted on a family Web site and conveniently removed?
Cindy Sheehan: First of all, I don't forget that meeting and I don't forget the photos. They were removed because I didn't support the president and the meeting was not a good meeting and he didn't ask permission to kiss me.
Philadelphia, Pa.: Do you have any regrets about appearing in public with Hugo Chavez, or is anyone who hates George Bush a-OK with you?
Cindy Sheehan: I have no regrets of meeting with President Chavez. I didn't meet with him because he hates George Bush. I met with him to try to foster peace between our countries. I don't hate George Bush. I think hatred is a wasted an nonproductive emotion.
First off, let me say that what you are doing is very honorable and very patriotic, no matter what many of these idiots say. I wanted to ask you about your picture with Hugo Chavez that has been making it's way around the Internet. Do you feel that you have lost credibility because of that, I'm sure your opponents have been using it against you quite often.
Cindy Sheehan: I probably have lost credibility with the people I never had credibility with in the first place. And I never will have credibility with them no matter what I do.
Annandale, Va.: Do you believe George Bush is a greater threat to America than terrorism?
Cindy Sheehan: Oh, absolutely. I believe that he has damaged our credibility in the world; he has increased, as I said earlier, the amount of jihadism in the world; he has made my children and my grandchildren more vulnerable -- not only physically but economically -- and our country used to be respected. Now we have no moral standing to tell other countries how they should behave.
On Sept. 11, almost 3,000 of our citizens were tragically killed. Now over that amount of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been killed and tens of thousands of innocent people.
Washington, D.C.: What do parents of other fallen soldiers think of your stance?
Cindy Sheehan: Well, our course, some are supportive and some are not supportive. My organization, Gold Star Families For Peace, is comprised of family members who feel exactly the same way I do and who are also working for peace.
I respect the feelings of the families that don't support me and we unfortunately have more in common that not.
Washington, D.C.: What will you do with the proceeds from your book?
Cindy Sheehan: Three-fourths of the proceeds are going to my three living children and one-fourth is going to my nonprofit, the Camp Casey Peace Institute.
Severna Park, Md.: Didn't you have a private session with the President when you thanked him for his actions in the war? Why the change of heart?
Cindy Sheehan: We have a private meeting with George Bush. I never thanked him for his actions in the war.
Stockton, Calif.: Since you started your activism on a national scale, has any government agencies harassed you or has led investigations about you?
Cindy Sheehan: I'm not 100 percent sure about that and since I'm not 100 percent sure I'm not going to answer it because I don't want to sound paranoid for no reason. In other words, I don't have hardcore proof that I am being harassed but it seems like it.
Washington, D.C.: You also don't support the war in Afghanistan either. What war would you ever support?
Cindy Sheehan: I don't believe that killing and violence are solutions to any problem. I believe that the only just war is to defend yourself or your family. So basically in self-defense or in defense of our nation.
Monroe, Mich.: Do you have any interaction with the 9/11 widows? If so, has this interaction been positive or negative?
Cindy Sheehan: Many 9/11 families, yes. Always been positive.
The 9/11 families that I've met with did not want Afghanistan and Iraq invaded because their loved ones were killed just like I don't want anymore of our soldiers or Iraqi people killed because my son is dead. George Bush frequently says that we have to complete the mission to honor the sacrifices of the fallen, but like the 9/11 families that I know, we want the cycle of violence to stop.
Kent, Ohio: Ms. Sheehan, thank you for the important and difficult work that you have done for peace. I think that your work is a wonderful tribute to your son and to the life he lived.
Our church is looking for ways that we can work effectively for peace in Iraq and in other parts of the Middle East. We want to do more than protest; we want to do people-to-people work, building peace by making connections to the people in the Middle East. Do you have suggestions for doing this?
Cindy Sheehan: That's very difficult right now because of the dangerous conditions ands there's not a lot humanitarian agencies or NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) that are able to operate in Iraq or Afghanistan right now. One organization that I think seems like a good fit would be the Christian Peacemakers. They do have teams in those countries. And thank you.
Washington, D.C.: In Somalia, gunmen shot dead an elderly Italian nun. This has been linked to the Pope's remarks on Islam. What would you say to such people and the Muslim insurgents who killed your son?
Cindy Sheehan: I can't comment on the situation in Somalia because I don't know anything about it. I have no animosity toward the insurgents that killed my son because he was defending his community. Casey and his buddies should never have been there in the first place.
Washington: Since you do not believe in fighting other than self-defense, what do you think would have been an appropriate response to 9/11?
Cindy Sheehan: Going after the people who perpetrated the crime -- not innocent people in two countries that had nothing to do with it.
Washington, D.C.: You've written many books and papers. What's your latest, Peace Mom, about?
Cindy Sheehan: It's about mine and Casey's story, how his life affected me positively, how his death changed my life, how it took me from being pretty apathetic to being an activist for peace. But it's mostly about how one person can make a difference and trying to encourage other people to use their gifts and talents to also try to make a difference and not to believe the lie that one person can't make a difference.
Portland, Ore.: How do you support yourself and do you publish your full list of supporters and the amounts of their contributions?
Cindy Sheehan: My organization is a 501c3, a nonprofit organization, and we have to comply with the federal regulations for our nonprofit status. We have to send reports to the government. I don't think we're required to publish the amounts and the donors publicly.
Anonymous: Why is it that you feel the death of your son makes your antiwar activism more newsworthy than others whose sons have dies in combat but support the war? Is your son's death more important than theirs? Does it somehow make you opinion more important than the death of their son does their opinion?
Cindy Sheehan: I don't think the death of my son makes my opinion more newsworthy. I don't think that my son's death is more important than theirs; I think Casey's death is tragic and unnecessary and so is their children's death. I'm not in charge of who the media covers or not. I believe that most of the mainstream media gives more coverage to pro-war sentiment and I think that pro-peace sentiment also deserves a chance to be heard.
St. Louis, Mo.: We hear often from the right-wing that your activism has caused rifts in your immediate family. Since much of it is propaganda on their part, can we hear from you how your family is holding up with the loss of Casey and your activism?
Cindy Sheehan: It's pretty will known that my husband and I are divorced -- not so much because of my beliefs about the war but in part due to my level of intensity in opposing the war. My three surviving children support me 100 percent; we're very close. I just rented a home close to their dad with my daughters so my daughters and I are living together now. My son still lives with his dad but we are geographically close so I get to see him more often when I'm in California.
Of course, we would like to spend more time together but they're adults; they have their own lives. I dedicated my book to my three surviving children because I'm in awe of their strength and integrity.
My immediate family and my ex-husband are supportive of the work I do. My ex-husband is a great man and amazing father and our paths just diverged after Casey was killed.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online 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.
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Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan discusses her new book, "Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey through Heartache to Activism."
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In Kentucky's 4th, Democrats Are Banking on a Familiar Face
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RICHWOOD, Ky. -- In a colonial mansion on a hill, a silver-haired Southern gentlemen named Ken Lucas is looking to rise to power. Again.
Two years after leaving Congress -- at the time, he was certain it was for good -- Lucas is back, asking some of Boone County's richest doctors, lawyers and businessmen to help finance a political resurrection. "If I am lucky enough to go back -- and with the grace of God, we might get there -- we will do the right thing," he promised a gathering of local elites at the home of millionaire philanthropist R.C. Durr and his wife, Deborah Jo Durr, on Saturday night.
VIDEO | Produced and edited by Chet Rhodes - washingtonpost.com
Lucas, 73, is a courtly and conservative Southern Democrat seeking to oust Rep. Geoff Davis (R) in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District. Lucas, who held this seat from 1998 until his retirement in 2004, is also one of nine Democrats in key House races making another run at a Republican they challenged at least once before.
They are the do-it-again Democrats, a key to their party's strategy of winning back the House.
The Ohio River Valley is full of them. Across the river in Ohio, Democrat John Cranley is running in the 1st District against GOP Rep. Steve Chabot, who beat him six years ago. In neighboring Indiana's 9th District, former Democratic congressman Baron Hill is challenging Rep. Mike Sodrel, who beat him by about 1,400 votes in 2004. (That race was itself a rematch: Hill had defeated Sodrel in 2002.) Also in Indiana, Joe Donnelly is seeking a do-over in the 2nd District against GOP Rep. Chris Chocola, who defeated him in 2004.
These Democrats are banking on their experience and name recognition -- some voters mistakenly think they won last time -- to reverse their fortunes. But recent history is against them. Since 1996, only three of the 33 challengers have won rematches.
Here in the booming suburbs of Cincinnati, Lucas, who grew up on a tobacco farm in Grant County, is running like he never left Congress. "Return Ken Lucas to Congress" billboards are ubiquitous. The not-so-subtle purpose is to present Lucas as an incumbent who deserves another term.
Sitting in the living room of the mansion, as Democratic donors swirled around him, Lucas said many voters believe he ran and won in 2004. "It is the same old drill," he said. "I know what to do and how to do it."
His connections have helped him quickly raise more than $1 million and jump out to an early lead in public polls.
Davis is no stranger to rerun candidacies. After taking 48 percent against Lucas in 2002, Davis announced his plans for a rematch on election night. Davis, a former Army Ranger, said his military buddies joked: "You didn't lose -- you just got recycled."
He never got the chance to test himself against Lucas, as the Democrat decided against seeking a fourth term. "Walking away from a fight is called losing," Davis taunted.
With the incumbent gone, Davis easily beat Nick Clooney, father of actor and sometime-activist George Clooney, and seemed ready to hold this district for the foreseeable future.
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RICHWOOD, Ky. -- In a colonial mansion on a hill, a silver-haired Southern gentlemen named Ken Lucas is looking to rise to power. Again.
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Video: A Look at Kentucky's District 4
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Sunday finds Chris and Jim in Kentucky's 4th congressional district, where a former Democratic congressman, Ken Lucas, is trying to unseat incumbent Rep. Geoff Davis (R). Lucas held the seat for three terms from 1998 to 2004.
Watch Chris and Jim discuss the Lucas - Davis race and wrap up Day 5 of the Ohio River Ramble.
Click on the image below to watch.
(Video by washingtonpost.com's Chet Rhodes).
By washingtonpost.com Editors | September 24, 2006; 12:48 PM ET | Category: House , Ohio River Ramble Previous: Hawaii Results: Akaka Hangs On | Next: Democrats Look Strong in New Polls
Add The Fix to Your Site
anyone else having trouble posting this morning?
Posted by: louisa | September 25, 2006 8:28 AM
Come to Michigan's 3rd District and examine Congressman Ehlers' record. This gerrymandered district gives a big advantage to the GOP, but is this the year that people vote for change? School board member and local attorney, Jim Rinck, challenges Ehlers on the issues that have largely been ignored and Ehlers' endless support of our President's failed policies.
Posted by: 3rddistrict | September 24, 2006 7:09 PM
Posted by: mark | September 24, 2006 5:56 PM
This is a great little analysis. I would like you to cover a little bit of OH-8 and Cali-8 seats. That is the Pelosi seat Cali-8 and Boehner seat Ohio-8. I think it would be interesting to see if the parties just figure these are safe and no need in spending or if they'd like to weaken the oppossition party leader, and actually try to defeat them.
Posted by: reason | September 24, 2006 5:36 PM
This is a great project but you need to be more explicit about the candidates' strengths and weaknesses. Why would a race even be competitive if the incumbent isn't weak?
If the incumbent is flawless then let us know. If the incumbent is vulnerable then tell us why. What are the issues that might induce people to vote for change? For your reports to be meaningful, we need a little more substance and reasoning.
Posted by: Yockel | September 24, 2006 3:52 PM
I think there are a good number of no-name House members who get reelected based on constituent service. I worked for a member who put a strong focus on constituent service, and there's no question that when people think of you as the one who calls them back, who tries to help them, who assists them getting food stamps or correcting a Social Security check or disability rejection, that gets you their vote before they even consider the issues. I had lots of constituents tell me they were conservative Republicans who disagreed with my boss on almost every issue, but they apprciated that we listened to and cared about them, and did what we could to try and help them. For better or worse (I would say better AND worse), the personal touch matters most to a lot of people.
My question would be: how was Lucas' constituent service during his 6 years in the House? He had 3 times as long to build a good rapport with voters in KY-4 than Davis has had. Given the issue climate, Davis is probably smart to work the constituent service angle.
In an era of red and blue states, and coastal elitists referring to the heartland as flyover country, I also appreciate some DC insiders going out to a trio of red states to report directly from the ground. OH-6 really doesn't seem like a race anymore, but are you covering OH-18? Or any chance OH-15??
Posted by: Sandwich Repairman | September 24, 2006 2:57 PM
I'm enjoying this series. Thanks for taking your reporting to the heartland. The incumbency issue is interesting. It makes sense that a lot of politics comes down to helping local constituents. One wonders, however, how voters balance international vs. local issues. How many constituents rely on the congressman for constituent services? How many judge the incumbent by his voting record on taxes, war, health care, education, and torture? Like others who have posted, I'd like to hear more about the wedge issues in these races.
Posted by: mwenzel | September 24, 2006 2:49 PM
Geoff Davis should be in hot water for opposing a bipartisan Pentagon-backed bill to cap interest rates on loan sharks ("payday loans") that cluster around military bases and prey on our young, financially naive volunteer armed-services personnel. It turns out that these predatory subprime lending corporations comprise Davis's most lucrative source of campaign cash. What a crook!
Posted by: ian sterling | September 24, 2006 2:33 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
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Chris Cillizza joins washingtonpost.com as the author of a new politics blog called The Fix. Cillizza will provide daily posts on a range of political topics, from the race for control of Congress in 2006 to scrutinizing the 2008 presidential contenders.
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