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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092400947.html
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https://web.archive.org/web/2006092519id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092400947.html
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Everyone's Jewish
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Strange doings in Virginia. George Allen, former governor, one-term senator, son of a famous football coach and in the midst of a heated battle for reelection, has just been outed as a Jew. An odd turn of events, given that his having Jewish origins has nothing to do with anything in the campaign and that Allen himself was oblivious to the fact until his 83-year-old mother revealed to him last month the secret she had kept concealed for 60 years.
Apart from its political irrelevance, it seems improbable in the extreme that the cowboy-boots-wearing football scion of Southern manner and speech should turn out to be, at least by origins, a son of Israel. For Allen, as he quipped to me, it's the explanation for a lifelong affinity for Hebrew National hot dogs. For me, it is the ultimate confirmation of something I have been regaling friends with for 20 years and now, for the advancement of social science, feel compelled to publish.
Krauthammer's Law: Everyone is Jewish until proven otherwise. I've had a fairly good run with this one. First, it turns out that John Kerry -- windsurfing, French-speaking, Beacon Hill aristocrat -- had two Jewish grandparents. Then Hillary Clinton -- methodical Methodist -- unearths a Jewish stepgrandfather in time for her run as New York senator.
A less jaunty case was that of Madeleine Albright, three of whose Czech grandparents had perished in the Holocaust and who most improbably contended that she had no idea they were Jewish. To which we can add the leading French presidential contender (Nicolas Sarkozy), a former supreme allied commander of NATO (Wesley Clark) and Russia's leading anti-Semite (Vladimir Zhirinovsky). One must have a sense of humor about these things. Even Fidel Castro claims he is from a family of Marranos.
For all its tongue-in-cheek irony, Krauthammer's Law works because when I say "everyone," I don't mean everyone you know personally. Depending on the history and ethnicity of your neighborhood and social circles, there may be no one you know who is Jewish. But if "everyone" means anyone that you've heard of in public life, the law works for two reasons. Ever since the Jews were allowed out of the ghetto and into European society at the dawning of the Enlightenment, they have peopled the arts and sciences, politics, and history in astonishing disproportion to their numbers.
There are 13 million Jews in the world, one-fifth of 1 percent of the world's population. Yet 20 percent of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish, a staggering hundredfold surplus of renown and genius. This is similarly true for a myriad of other "everyones" -- the household names in music, literature, mathematics, physics, finance, industry, design, comedy, film and, as the doors opened, even politics.
But it is not just Jewish excellence at work here. There is a dark side to these past centuries of Jewish emancipation and achievement -- an unrelenting history of persecution. The result is the other more somber and poignant reason for the Jewishness of public figures being discovered late and with surprise: concealment.
Look at the Albright case. Her distinguished father was Jewish, if tenuously so, until the Nazi invasion. He fled Czechoslovakia and, shortly thereafter, converted. Over the centuries, suffering -- most especially, the Holocaust -- has proved too much for many Jews. Many survivors simply resigned their commission.
For some, the break was defiant and theological: A God who could permit the Holocaust -- ineffable be His reasons -- had so breached the Covenant that it was now forfeit. They were bound no longer to Him or His faith.
For others, the considerations were far more secular and practical. Why subject one's children to the fear and suffering, the stigmatization and marginalization, the prospect of being hunted until death that being Jewish had brought to an entire civilization in Europe?
In fact, that was precisely the reason Etty Lumbroso, Allen's mother, concealed her identity. Brought up as a Jew in French Tunisia during World War II, she saw her father, Felix, imprisoned in a concentration camp. Coming to America was her one great chance to leave that forever behind, for her and for her future children. She married George Allen Sr., apparently never telling her husband's family, her own children or anyone else of her Jewishness.
Such was Etty's choice. Multiply the story in its thousand variations and you have Kerry and Clinton, Albright and Allen, a world of people with a whispered past. Allen's mother tried desperately to bury it forever. In response to published rumors, she finally confessed the truth to him, adding heartbreakingly, "Now you don't love me anymore" -- and then swore him to secrecy.
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Strange doings in Virginia. George Allen, former governor, one-term senator, son of a famous football coach and in the midst of a heated battle for reelection, has just been outed as a Jew. An odd turn of events, given that his having Jewish origins has nothing to do with anything in the campaign...
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Britain's Brown Makes Case to Party
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MANCHESTER, England, Sept. 25 -- Gordon Brown, the leading candidate to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister, said Monday he regretted rifts he has had with Blair and praised him for realizing "that the world did change after September 11 . . . and that we, Britain, have new international responsibilities to discharge."
Brown, 55, has yet to make clear if, or how, his stance on the war in Iraq, broadly unpopular in Britain, differs from Blair's. But in an address to the annual conference of the ruling Labor Party, he offered a glimpse of his views on foreign policy and terrorism.
"Let me promise we will take any necessary steps," he said, "and find all necessary resources to ensure, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else, there is no safe haven for terrorists and no hiding place for terrorist finance."
In the future, "Parliament, not the executive, makes the final decisions on matters as important as peace and war," said Brown, who has been chancellor of the exchequer, or finance minister, under Blair since 1997. Many legislators from the Labor Party feel that Blair has not adequately consulted them on the Iraq war.
He called on Britain to maintain its "very special relationship" with the United States but said it should not be "slavish" in its dealings with Washington. Brown said he has no time for "anti-Americanism."
Blair sat smiling on the stage as Brown spoke. But the show of unity was shattered by a report by Bloomberg News that Cherie Blair, the prime minister's wife, was overheard saying, "Well, that's a lie," when Brown said it had been a privilege to work with Tony Blair. Bloomberg said that its reporter heard the words.
Blair's office on Downing Street called the report "untrue and rubbish," but it quickly hit the airwaves and dominated hallway conversations here.
"It destroys any pretense of unity," said Christian Wolmar, a writer and broadcaster attending the conference. "Of course she said it. Everybody knows that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have had this feud."
Setting out a vision for Britain under his leadership, Brown said that "commitment to international action on justice means today, to prevent genocide, the world must, through the U.N., urgently act in Darfur." He also said that Britain would be "calling on the World Bank and our international partners to create, for alternative energy for poorer countries, a $20 billion global fund."
Making what analysts called the most important speech of his career, Brown pledged that at home he would build what he called the "the good society." He said he would vastly increase spending for public schools, the environment and public housing. "The Labor Party must stand for more than a program," he said. "We must have a soul."
But it was his comments about his longtime collaborator and rival that drew particular attention at the conference, held in a convention center in this northern city, whose economic resurgence has become a metaphor for the prosperity that has come to Britain during Labor's tenure.
"Where over these years differences have distracted from what matters, I regret that, as I know Tony does, too," Brown said, punctuating several passages with praise for Blair.
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MANCHESTER, England, Sept. 25 -- Gordon Brown, the leading candidate to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister, said Monday he regretted rifts he has had with Blair and praised him for realizing "that the world did change after September 11 . . . and that we, Britain, have new international...
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'Heroes': Less Than Super
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Superheroes used to be such happy souls, going about their business of rescuing people, or all of humanity, with a chipper, positive demeanor. Then Tim Burton's "Batman" -- and other dour, sour revisionist works -- unearthed their heroes' "dark" sides, with superness sometimes depicted as a curse, a burden, a big fat pain in the superneck.
Spider-Man, bless his sticky fingers, has tried to reverse the trend. When Spidey has a long puss, the cause is more likely to be unrequited love than the yoke of fame. Unfortunately, NBC is about to unleash a superhero horde intent on reversing the reversal: "Heroes," a largely dreary dirge whose dramatis personae seem plagued rather than pleased with the gifts they've been given.
Super strength, unbreakable bones, clairvoyance -- whatever the boon, it comes with a bane. One problem is that the show is so slow-moving that even by the end of the third episode, some of its far-flung superfolk still won't concede there's anything unusual about them. One guy seems pleased he can fly, but spends the first three chapters trying to convince his cynical politician brother of the ability. Not even a leap from the roof of a 15-story building seems to do the trick.
An early warning is called for: Despite the title and the implication that viewers are in for dazzling special effects and dashing derring-do, "Heroes" is not fit for young children. One of the lead characters makes her living by prancing around in her panties for perverts on the Internet. The trunk of a car contains a horribly mangled corpse, shown more than once during the first three chapters; another victim is seen lying on the floor with the top of his skull sawed off and his brain removed.
A high school girl gratuitously taunts a fellow student in Episode 2: "Hey, Zack, is it true you got an erection in the boys' locker room?" Writer and series creator Tim Kring must be so proud.
Except for an excitable young Japanese named Hiro (Masi Oka), most of the eponymous standouts look stylishly sullen or surly, like maybe they need a dose of Phillips Milk of Magnesia. Hiro, on the other hand, is running warily around the streets of Tokyo when suddenly, flash-bang-boom, he finds himself running merrily around the streets of Manhattan, Times Square visible in the background.
Hiro, as in "hero," also discovers he's traveled five weeks into the future -- arriving just in time to witness a nuclear attack that, when he's returned to Tokyo and his previous time, he vows to prevent.
Sendhil Ramamurthy plays a young man musically named Mohinder Suresh, living in Brooklyn, who gets a visit from an exterminator who tries to exterminate him. Suresh's father, now deceased (mysteriously, of course) wrote a history-making book on strange phenomena, and Mohinder declares, "I need to finish what he started." One of his colleagues, whom of course he has yet to meet, paints pictures of things that will happen in the future, but he doesn't know if his talent can be traced to a peculiar aptitude or the fact that he likes to inject heroin into his veins.
Still another superhero -- and yes, we are losing count and losing track -- can sort of reassemble herself even after having all her bones broken or dashing into a burning building. In one episode she pulls a Linda Blair, turning her seemingly broken neck 180 degrees or so. But why?
Why do these and other members of this strange involuntary cult have what a little boy calls, as if quoting the old opening to the "Superman" TV show, "powers beyond any mere mortal"?
A "Star Wars"-like crawl at the show's beginning informs us that the global array of wacko strangers we meet have "what can only be described as 'special abilities' " and that, "although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world but change it forever." But how long are they going to be unaware of it? Until the November sweeps? And how many viewers will have the patience to tune in week after week while the unknowing superheroes scratch their heads and wonder how it is that a hippopotamus could sit on their head and they'd still feel peachy -- peachy but grouchy, of course.
People seem to get a charge out of watching other people run for their lives -- hence the success of the TV and movie versions of "The Fugitive," to cite one example. At the new CW network, formed from the charred remains of UPN and the WB, it's been reasoned that if one fugitive will attract an audience, imagine what a family of five can do!
The result is "Runaway," premiering on CW stations at 9 tonight and making a reasonably suspenseful impression, thanks in good measure to the scared-straight sobriety of Donnie Wahlberg as attorney Paul Rader, falsely accused of a capital crime. He packs his wife and three children into a car and, all of them armed with fake IDs, does what the title of the show suggests he does, except "Driveaway" would be more accurate.
Rader and wife, played by a very short-haired Leslie Hope, wind up in Bridgewater, Iowa, whose population of 23,827 is about to increase by five -- plus one cat, named Charlie. The Raders know they'll be living under hardship conditions when their computer is unable to detect a wi-fi signal nearby. Oh, the horror of it all!
The script, more intelligently than usual for this sort of thing, captures both the ordinariness of the Raders (mom to daughter: "You're not wearing that to school") and their uniquely nervous straits, generating the kind of suspense Hitchcock perfected in "Saboteur," "Young and Innocent" and "North by Northwest." Essentially it's the assumption of guilt by the innocent, something pounded into their heads by paranoia and fear.
A cop stops them as they enter Bridgewater, for instance. The entire family gets the chills, but Dad keeps his cool. It turns out they were stopped only because he went through a stop sign. But the next cop to stop them could have a different agenda altogether.
Minor but deftly done, "Runaway" (which does not employ the rock oldie of the same name in the credits, alas) keeps the screws of tension tightly wound but also finds time to give us believable portraits of the Raders and their justifiable sense of peril.
Heroes (one hour) premieres at 9 p.m. on Channel 4.
Runaway (one hour) debuts at 9 p.m. on Channel 50.
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Superheroes used to be such happy souls, going about their business of rescuing people, or all of humanity, with a chipper, positive demeanor. Then Tim Burton's "Batman" -- and other dour, sour revisionist works -- unearthed their heroes' "dark" sides, with superness sometimes depicted as a...
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Micron's Impact
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In an article today , Kang examined Micron's $3.5 billion plant expansion in Manassas, showing how the decisions of one company have helped fuel Washington's economic boom and drive the creation of 242,000 new jobs in the past five years.
Cecilia Kang: Hello. Thank you for reading the story. I look forward to your questions.
Fairfax, Va.: Thanks for taking my question. Why did Micron decide to invest in Manassas instead of Silicon Valley, or other areas with a stronger chip manufacturing base?
Cecilia Kang: Micron site manager Pat Otte said they were scouting areas around the country and was attracted to the former Dominion semiconductor site in 2002 because a)the facility was already outfitted for the production of DRAMs b)the Washington area has an educated and skilled workforce to draw from c)the area had a reputation for supporting multinational businesses. They decided to do their expansion project with NAND flash production in Manassas because there was enough empty space in the plant to construct the new fab.
Reston, Va.: I'm wondering why most of the new workers came from outside the area. Is the economy here so strong that that many local workers weren't available?
Cecilia Kang: Forty percent of the new hires were actually drawn from Virginia, many from the military in Norfolk and many in technician positions from Prince William county and very locally. So yes, most were hired/transfered from outside the region, but many were also recruited from nearby. The tight labor market in Washington certainly is a factor.
Arlington, VA: Cecilia, did you come across any comparable research into the economic impact of the Dominion Semiconductor plant?
Cecilia Kang: No. The research was comissioned by Micron as a one-time deal. I'm not aware of a similar report for Dominion.
Cecilia Kang: If you'd like see the GMU report, contact Micron's Kathleen Park at 703-396-1000. Stephen Fuller, author of the report, presented his study to the Manassas city council last week.
Glen Dale: Another possible answer for Fairfax:
A lot of tech companies with nearly complete workforces don't like to move to Silicon Valley because of the other job offers their employees might get there. Companies looking to expand do.
Cecilia Kang: another thought on previous question...
VA: I live in Lakeridge, PWC, and I never met someone who worked at MICRON. So you're saying that they lived in cheaper places in Stafford county?
Cecilia Kang: Keep in mind that Micron is located on the western part of the county, in the city of Manassas. So you will see a larger concentration of folks moving to places on the western part of the county (about half of employees live in Manassas or Prince William county). But many are also moving to places further out where housing is cheaper - Stafford, Fauquier.
Woodbridge, Va.: I'd like to know how Micron stacks up with other companies in Manassas and Prince William County. Is it one of the top employers?
I would imagine grocery stores might employ ore people, but would bet the Micron payroll is higher.
Cecilia Kang: Micron is one of the county's largest employers but there are certainly bigger employers - Lockheed Martin, for example. But you bring up an important point in that the jobs Micron is creating are higher paying and bring skilled workers into the local economy.
Not out in the boonies, DC: I noticed that the spouse of one of the Micron workers got a job at AOL. On the flip side of things, what kind of an impact will the layoff of 5,000 workers at AOL (slated to happen in Q4) have on those western counties? I ask because I would assume people who live in Haymarket, etc, can't readily commute to other DC area opportunites.
Cecilia Kang: I can't speak specifically to the impact of AOL's layoffs. But it is important to note that the economic fortunes a company may create through an expansion can be taken away just as easily by a decision to downsize or relocate. A few long-time Prince William county business leaders mentioned to me how hard it was when IBM downsized in the 1990s. Multiple For Sale signs went up at the same time on the same block, some remember. As for how that would affect western counties, the Post has documented well how longer commutes (from Caroline county to the District) are becoming a way of life for many. Business centers are clustered increasing in the suburbs, meanwhile, with economy less grounded in the District and more in centers like Tysons Corner and Rockville.
Washington, D.C.: Is Micron publicity shy? I remember when the company announced the expansion, but have not heard much more about the facility until your article today.
Cecilia Kang: I don't know about publicity shy. But I hoped in this story to use this company (could have easily been another company) as a vehicle to describe a larger economic phenomenon - the ripple effect one company sends through the economy through its individual decisions.
DC: The semiconductor industry is a dying. Chips can be made faster and cheaper in the far east. Do the workers at Micron actually think they can retire at their current jobs?
Cecilia Kang: The object of the story was not to examine the state of the semiconductor industry.
Gaithersburg: Do you really think that much of the growth in the DC area is due to private corporations? Far and away, it is due to federal spending, agencies linked to contractors and their support. You should follow these people around and see how / where they get and spend money. That will really show us how our tax dollars are being spent - not just the direct dollars to agencies and their employees, but the indirect effects of the budgets of the governments.
Cecilia Kang: Indeed, the bread and butter of this economy is Federal spending and the many private companies and agencies that hold contracts with the government. Interesting idea...
Herndon, Virginia: What environmental industrial safeguards are Micron implementing to better Manassas and Northern Virginia? (self-sustainability, use of green technology and utilities, promotion of earth-friendly products and vendors, etc.)
Cecilia Kang: Thanks for this question. Since my story focused on the economic impact of Micron's expansion (it should be noted that the expansion didn't create more square feet. It produced a new fabrication facility in existing space), I didn't pursue the subject of green development the environmental impact. I put in a call to Micron to answer your question and hope to get an answer before the chat is over.
Manassas, VA: Could you please tell me about the procedures for employment? If you are trying to turn your life around and going to college part time, could you be hired if you have a felony on your record?
Cecilia Kang: I'm not the person to contact for career advice. I suggest you write in to my colleague, Amy Joyce, in her Tuesday Q&A on life in the workplace.
Cecilia Kang: That's about all the time we have today. Thanks for all your thoughtful questions and thanks for reading.
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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Chris Wallace, Caught Off Balance?
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Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said that he was stunned when Bill Clinton accused him of a "conservative hit job" after he challenged the former president on his record in fighting terrorism.
"I thought it was a fair, balanced and not especially inflammatory question," Wallace said yesterday in recounting his "Fox News Sunday" sit-down with Clinton. "I even said, 'I know hindsight is 20/20.' But he went off. And once he went off, there was no bringing him back. He wanted to talk about it in detail. He wanted to conjure up right-wingers and conservative hit jobs and a theory involving Rupert Murdoch that I still don't understand."
Fox had agreed in advance that half the interview would be about Clinton's Global Initiative forum and half about other subjects. Wallace began with a couple of questions about the initiative before citing the 1993 U.S. military withdrawal from Somalia and several bombings connected to al-Qaeda in asking, "Why didn't you do more, connect the dots and put them out of business?"
In an impassioned, finger-wagging answer, Clinton told Wallace, a former ABC News correspondent: "You did Fox's bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me. . . . You set this meeting up because you were going to get a lot of criticism from your viewers because Rupert Murdoch is supporting my work on climate change. And you came here under false pretenses and said that you'd spend half the time talking about . . . what we did out there to raise $7 billion-plus over three days from 215 different commitments. And you don't care."
Murdoch, the billionaire conservative who owns Fox, has recently mended fences with the Clinton family, even attending a fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). Fox, which employs a number of high-profile conservative hosts, maintains that its reporting is straightforward but is viewed by many liberals and other critics as leaning to the right. Clinton's appearance was his first on "Fox News Sunday" in the program's 10-year history.
"We're fully aware of Fox News's and Chris Wallace's agenda, and President Clinton came in prepared to respond to any attack on his record," said Jay Carson, his spokesman. "When Wallace questioned his record on terrorism, he responded forcefully, as any Democrat would or should."
In the interview, in which Clinton also accused Wallace of having a "little smirk" on his face, the host said he had planned to spend half the allotted 15 minutes on the Global Initiative and that "I didn't think this was going to set you off on such a tear."
"It set me off on such a tear because you didn't formulate it in an honest way and you people ask me questions you don't ask the other side," Clinton said.
"Sir, that is not true," Wallace replied.
Asked about Clinton's complaint, a Fox spokeswoman pointed to Wallace's interview two weeks ago with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Wallace pressed her about the lack of prewar ties between Osama bin Laden and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but he did not ask about U.S. efforts against bin Laden before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Carson noted that the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole was officially linked to al-Qaeda after Bush took office.
"I don't think I was fanning the flames here," Wallace said. "It was all generated from within him."
Clinton has on occasion scolded other interviewers, most notably in a 2004 sitdown with ABC's Peter Jennings, who drew this response after alluding to Clinton's personal misconduct: "You don't want to go here, Peter. . . . Not after what you people did and the way you, your network, what you did with Kenneth Starr. The way your people repeated every little sleazy thing he leaked."
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Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said that he was stunned when Bill Clinton accused him of a "conservative hit job" after he challenged the former president on his record in fighting terrorism. How did having Jewish relatives turn into a gotcha question? The "mainstream media presents itself as...
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Minority Program At WSSC In Limbo
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A controversial minority contracting program run by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission died over the summer after the Maryland General Assembly failed to renew it, potentially depriving minority- and women-owned businesses of more than $37 million worth of contracts.
The state Senate did not act because the Montgomery and Prince George's delegations could not agree on whether to strengthen oversight of the program, which critics said was fraught with patronage and unnecessary delays.
Minority- and women-owned businesses have received more than a quarter of the contracting money spent by the commission since the program began in 1979, for such work as construction projects and finding temporary employees.
The program has been at the center of years of upheaval at the Washington area's largest water and sewer utility. There have been charges that the program benefited white-owned companies who hired minority subcontractors, and controversy over delays caused when the contracting office held up projects until minority firms could be found to participate.
The head of the office was ousted last year, and three WSSC board members were asked to resign.
Companies that benefited from the minority contracting program said it was important to them. The program was designed to make up for years in which firms owned by minorities and women were excluded from the agency's business.
"It's going to be tougher for us because we're not going to be able to get the big projects," said Lilia A. Abron, owner and president of Peer Consultants PC, a civil and environmental engineering firm in Rockville that has worked with the WSSC for several years. "It's going to be more of a challenge, but we're up for it. We've been slugging it out this long."
Abron said minority firms with less experience will be hit the hardest. Her 15 years of working with the WSSC put her firm in good standing as a subcontractor for larger, non-minority contractors. Newer firms without those past relationships will be at a significant disadvantage, she said.
Bills to reauthorize the program until 2010 passed the House of Delegates, but failed to get out of a Senate committee before the end of the legislative session in April. Gloria G. Lawlah (D), head of the Prince George's delegation in the state Senate, said she wanted stricter language in the bill to hold prime contractors responsible for paying minority subcontractors -- even if that meant the program would expire.
"You can always avoid a sunset if you want to, but it's not always meaningful," Lawlah said. "Sometimes when you have nothing, it's going to make us work harder to put something in place" in the next legislative session.
Without the backing of both delegations, the bill could not come up for a vote.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that any race- or gender-based preferences must be bolstered by evidence showing a historical pattern of discrimination. In the case of the WSSC, a 2005 study showed that disparities still exist between the number of minority contracts awarded by the agency and the number of minority businesses in the area.
"I think it's clear that these programs are still required to advance the cause of diversity and creating opportunities for minority business people overall," said Kenneth E. Clark, president of the Maryland/D.C. Minority Supplier Development Council. "They missed an opportunity to move this program forward."
Wayne R. Frazier Sr., president of the Maryland-Washington Minority Contractors Association, called the state of minority contractors "woeful," noting that few companies have the size or financial backing to compete for major construction jobs.
After learning that the minority contracting program was terminated over the summer, the WSSC board tried to install a temporary program, but Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. said this month that it would not be legal without enabling state legislation.
Prem P. Agarwal, chairman of the WSSC, said the commission is putting in an auditing system aimed at tracking the money going from prime contractors to minority subcontractors.
Agarwal said the WSSC will lobby to get the minority preferences written into law when the General Assembly meets in early 2007. In the meantime, the WSSC still has a program to help small contractors -- regardless of the race or sex of owners -- but Agarwal said many of the minority firms that have done WSSC work are too large to participate.
Any minority contracts in place before July 1 will not be affected.
"Right now our hands are completely tied, and that makes all of us unhappy," Agarwal said.
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A controversial minority contracting program run by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission died over the summer after the Maryland General Assembly failed to renew it, potentially depriving minority- and women-owned businesses of more than $37 million worth of contracts.
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War Turns the Tide For Israeli Settlers
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AMONA, West Bank -- The movement to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which only a few months ago appeared to be a divided, waning political force, is experiencing a revival after a summer of war that caused many Israelis to question the wisdom of abandoning more territory.
Little more than a year ago, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew all Jewish settlers and Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. After Sharon's debilitating stroke in January, his deputy, Ehud Olmert, won national elections in March on a promise to evacuate dozens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and to uproot the smaller, unauthorized communities known as outposts in a bid to define Israel's final borders.
But after a month-long war in southern Lebanon and as sporadic fighting continues in Gaza, a highly unpopular Olmert has put his West Bank withdrawal plan on hold. His government has stepped up construction in the large settlement blocs, including areas the Bush administration has warned Israel against developing, and the West Bank settlement population of a quarter-million people is growing.
"This state does not operate by a policy," said Yehuda Yifrach, 30, who still lives with his wife, Ayelet, and three children on this windblown hilltop even though in February Israeli military bulldozers demolished the shipping container that was their home. "They only go by the polls at the time."
The settlers' change of fortune stems from Israel's conflicts in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, regions the country had occupied and abandoned in the recent past. Islamic gunmen staged cross-border raids from those areas this summer, capturing three Israeli soldiers who are still being held.
Some Israelis are drawing lessons from the war that have helped vindicate the settlers, whose large financial claim on the national treasury and strident opposition to an independent state for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have angered many here over the years. Israel occupied those regions in the 1967 Middle East war.
"The Lebanon war may have bought them time," said Dror Etkes of Peace Now, a group that opposes Israel's settlement policy. "But the demographics and the overarching view of an Israeli majority about what the state should look like has not changed. So neither has the precarious nature of the settlements."
In evacuating the Gaza settlements last year, Sharon said he was seeking to define more defensible borders and protect Israel's Jewish majority by jettisoning the strip's 1.4 million Palestinians, who might someday demand the right to vote in Israel if not given a state of their own.
Soon after, Sharon, Olmert and others quit the Likud party, leaving the settlers' most powerful sponsor in shambles. The new party they founded, Kadima, easily won the most seats in the March elections, while Likud finished tied for a distant third.
But guerrillas in Gaza have continued to pepper southern Israel with crude rockets, and the radical Islamic movement Hamas, whose stronghold is Gaza, has been elected to lead the Palestinian government. Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist even within its pre-1967 borders, nor does Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia whose seizure of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 touched off the recent war.
"The settlements are Israel's anchor in these places," said Effie Eitam, a legislator from the National Union, the settlers' political arm, who was injured in Amona in February when settlers clashed with police. "Israel is about to review its entire defense doctrine," he added, "and most Israelis understand it is time to rethink the whole paradigm of giving up land for things less certain."
A poll published Thursday in the Haaretz newspaper showed Olmert's job approval rating at 22 percent and indicated Kadima would lose 13 of its 29 parliamentary seats if elections were held today. Meanwhile, Likud, led by former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, would double its strength in the legislature to 24 seats, making it the largest faction.
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AMONA, West Bank -- The movement to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which only a few months ago appeared to be a divided, waning political force, is experiencing a revival after a summer of war that caused many Israelis to question the wisdom of abandoning more territory.
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French Hostages Freed in Yemen
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SAN'A, Yemen -- Four French tourists kidnapped in Yemen were freed Monday after more than two weeks in captivity, the French foreign minister said.
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy spoke to journalists in Paris about the release of the four, but gave few details. "To my knowledge, they are in good health," he said.
Yemeni Legislator Awad Ibnalwazeer said the four Frenchmen were handed over to him Monday morning in a mountainous area in Shabwa province, east of the capital, San'a.
He said the four were transported by helicopter to a military base in San'a, where they were received by French diplomats.
"After hard and tiring negotiations throughout the night, an agreement was reached to free the hostages," Ibnalwazeer told The Associated Press by telephone. He did not reveal the terms of the agreement.
Almulla Zabara, a leader in the Al-Abdullah tribe that seized the four men and their Yemeni translator, told AP the tribe won concessions from the government for the release of the hostages.
Zabara said he expected that five people from his tribe now held at a military camp in Abdyan, where the family has been prevented from visiting them, will soon be moved to a jail in the capital. He said he hoped they would be released following the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in late October.
SABA, the official Yemeni news agency, however, reported Monday that security and armed forces had surrounded the area where the kidnappers were believed be hiding and were pursuing them to "bring them to justice."
The four French tourists were kidnapped Sept. 10 as they were headed south to the port city of Aden in a convoy.
Douste-Blazy said France had no contacts with the hostage-takers throughout the ordeal.
"On our end, we stayed in permanent contact with Yemeni authorities, but at no time did we participate in their contacts with the kidnappers," Douste-Blazy said.
The foreign minister did not give the identities of those who were held captive, at the request of the hostages and their families. He said they were between 55 and 58 years old.
The incident is the latest in a long series of kidnappings by tribesman to win concessions from the Yemeni government. Ibnalwazeer last year participated in negotiations that led to the freeing of a former German diplomat and his family.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has pledged to crack down on kidnapping. But state control is tenuous in the outlying areas of Yemen, a poor, mountainous nation on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula.
In January, kidnappers abducted five Italian tourists, releasing them unharmed six days later when they were cornered by security forces in the mountains of north Yemen.
While hostages are usually freed unhurt, several were killed in 2000 when Yemeni soldiers botched a raid to free them.
According to Yemeni officials and media reports, as many as 325 people were kidnapped between 1991 and 2001. They include 91 French, 80 Germans, 37 Britons, 23 Americans and 22 Dutch.
Associated Press Writers Donna Abu Nasr in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
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SAN'A, Yemen -- Four French tourists kidnapped in Yemen were freed Monday after more than two weeks in captivity, the French foreign minister said.
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Millions of Seniors Facing Medicare 'Doughnut Hole'
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Millions of older Americans are confronting a temporary break in their Medicare drug coverage this month that will require them to pay the full cost of their prescriptions or face the painful prospect of going without.
This is the "doughnut hole" in the new Medicare drug benefit that began in January, and advocates for seniors say there is nothing sweet about it. Some seniors knew nothing of the coverage gap until they were hit with a bigger drug bill, advocates say.
"Virtually everyone who calls to say they've been denied coverage, they're shocked," said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a nonprofit that helps seniors navigate Medicare. "Trying to explain that this is the way the program was created by Congress angers folks who think it makes no sense. Many people feel blindsided."
The coverage gap was one of the most contentious elements of the 2003 legislation that created the new benefit. It ends federal payments for a person's drug purchases once an annual spending limit is reached, resuming them only after the beneficiary has spent thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Proponents saw the unusual setup as a way to provide some help to all beneficiaries, and substantial help to those with catastrophic drug costs, and yet not break the bank in a federal program that is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.
Nine months into the program, as more and more seniors reach the threshold that puts them in the gap, many see it as a headache -- or worse.
Frances Acanfora, 65, had been paying $58 for a three-month supply of her five medications. But this month the retired school lunchroom aide learned that her next bill would be $1,294. She had entered the doughnut hole.
"It's not my fault that I take this medicine," the Brooklyn resident said. "I've got to take it. And they make a limit. That's not fair."
After talking to her doctor, Acanfora decided to temporarily stop taking a drug as part of her treatment for breast cancer. She hopes to obtain some free samples of eye drops for her glaucoma. Three other medicines -- for high cholesterol, diabetes and osteoporosis -- cost $506.62, which Acanfora put on her credit card.
"I pay a little bit at a time," she said. "What am I going to do? I need it. . . . Sometimes, just to think about it, I cry."
About 3 million of the 23 million Americans who receive the Medicare drug benefit are expected to reach the gap this year, officials said. That is fewer than half the 7 million cited in a 2004 report by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, which Medicare chief Mark B. McClellan called outdated.
A few more-expensive plans have no doughnut hole, and low-income beneficiaries can receive extra help from Medicare that eliminates the gap. Under the standard plan, however, the government picks up the bulk of drug costs only until the beneficiary and the government together have spent $2,250 for the year. At that point, beneficiaries must pay 100 percent of costs until they have spent a total of $3,600 of their own money. Then the federal subsidy resumes, paying 95 percent of any additional expenses.
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Millions of older Americans are confronting a temporary break in their Medicare drug coverage this month that will require them to pay the full cost of their prescriptions or face the painful prospect of going without.
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Land Everywhere; Not a Bit to Buy
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Randy Vlad cruised the outskirts of Purcellville one afternoon this month in a hybrid sport-utility vehicle, window-shopping for land.
He pointed to a vacant field north of town. "Gone," he pronounced, noting that it had been subdivided for residential lots. He passed an old farm as he turned onto Route 9. "That's gone, too," he said. He tried to remember whether it was Toll Brothers or another home builder who had gotten there first.
Vlad's not an investor or a residential developer, though he drives in similar circles. He is a full-time land shopper for Loudoun County public schools. It's a critical job in a system that plans to open 23 schools in the next six years as enrollment is expected to climb by 40 percent to nearly 70,000 students.
With its wide-open fields and expansive views, the western reaches of the county would seem the likeliest place to find land for a new campus. But efforts to restrict residential growth there have fueled a land rush over the past year, and planners say hunting for future school sites has been anything but easy.
The Board of Supervisors approved new development rules Sept. 6, but a measure to implement them awaits final action. School planners hope the land rush will ease after those rules are in place. But officials still will face a major challenge in their efforts to locate schools in western Loudoun.
Historically, the school system in the eastern part of the county has relied on land donated by developers in exchange for being allowed to build higher-density housing -- a trend that's starting to change there. But that option would not exist in less-populous western Loudoun under the pending ordinance. So instead of cooperating with developers to build schools, the system must compete with them for land.
That's why, even though just three of the 23 schools are planned for the western part of the county, Vlad and his colleagues say they spend a disproportionate amount of time combing country roads west of Leesburg. They're on the hunt for useable acreage with adequate road access and, most important, a willing seller.
"The perception that . . . we can plunk a school down anywhere, that's just not so," said School Board Chairman Robert F. DuPree Jr. (Dulles). "Our staff has looked far and wide."
The search has intensified in the past year to find a location for a second high school in the western part of the county. Loudoun Valley High in Purcellville was built in 1962 on 36 acres. It is now packed with 1,500 students in 10th through 12th grades. Ninth-graders have been moved to a nearby intermediate school. Nearly all available space is crammed with trailers.
The School Board's first choice, approved by the Board of Supervisors in June, would carve out a portion of a county-owned, 236-acre parcel north of Purcellville. But the Town Council has opposed that plan, citing traffic concerns and contending that it violates a land-use agreement between the town and the county. The town filed a lawsuit in Loudoun County Circuit Court this summer seeking to block the planned high school, which is scheduled to open in 2008.
Purcellville Mayor Robert W. Lazaro Jr. said other towns would welcome the $70 million facility.
School planners identified more than 20 alternative locations last year through their own searching and tips from residents. Problems emerged with each. Some were too rocky or too wet; some lacked adequate roads. Others had owners unwilling to sell.
Eager to put the high school along the Route 7 corridor, where most of the area's students live, and to end the search and begin construction, the School Board is still pursuing permits and design plans for the Purcellville location.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York (I) said the school system suffers from limited thinking.
"They just need some creativity over there," he said. "Sometimes you have to do things differently."
York said the system should tailor each new school to fit available land, rather than using the same prototype over and over.
In Loudoun, high schools are designed for 75 acres and 1,800 students, with plenty of room for parking and athletic fields. If they cannot tap into municipal utilities, planners say, they need even more land for wells and septic systems.
Some school systems in the Washington area are accustomed to doing more with less. Bladensburg High School in Prince George's County moved last year into a rebuilt five-story building on a campus that occupies little more than 20 acres and accommodates more than 2,000 students. In Fairfax County, where high school sites range from 25 to 90 acres, Centreville High was built 15 years ago on 36 acres and now has about 2,200 students. It uses athletic fields in an adjacent park.
Loudoun school officials said they can be flexible when necessary, citing a high school built in Leesburg on 52 acres a few years ago, but they said sticking to the prototype has saved money.
With new zoning regulations nearing final approval and the housing market cooling, school planners said they hope they to have a better shot at acquiring land this year.
Occasionally, they get lucky. On a scouting trip through western Loudoun last year, Vlad and a colleague turned off Route 9 and drove until they came upon an open, flat field with good road access. It seemed ideal.
With fingers crossed, they called the owner. Robert Grubb, 81, whose wife is a teacher and whose 19-year-old son graduated from a crowded Loudoun school, listened to their pitch. Ultimately, he signed a contract to sell 104 acres that have been in his family since 1886.
He had one condition: It couldn't be developed for a high school. "There's entirely too much activity day and night," he said.
The school system can work with that. Two campuses are planned for the site, a middle school and an elementary school.
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Randy Vlad cruised the outskirts of Purcellville one afternoon this month in a hybrid sport-utility vehicle, window-shopping for land.
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Flying High and Feeling Free in Calif.
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WHY GO: On a beautifully naked strip of California coastline, free spirits take flight.
Against the afternoon's clearing blue skies, a man paragliding flew close to the 300-foot cliffs that hem the two-mile stretch of Black's Beach, consistently regarded as one of the country's best destinations for nude sunbathers. Lauren, a beach regular in her fifties, looked up and wondered aloud if the man might crash into the cliffs.
I wondered if men on paragliders sometimes took the extravagant opportunity to get a better peek at the sunbathers below. I brought up that question as my eyes casually evaded Lauren's bare, freckled breasts.
"I don't think so," she said while squinting at the sky, watching the paraglider narrowly avoid the cliffs on its ascent toward the sun. "I think they have more important things to concentrate on."
The colorful air traffic hovering above Black's Beach is a pretty picture. Hang gliders and paragliders, sometimes a dozen at a time, enjoy using the rugged cliffs as a scenic launch pad; nudists like them because they hide the shoreline from a curious general public. It seems the physical commitment required to walk down the cliffs to the beach helps deter everyday spectators while offering nude sunbathers an air of privacy for their determinedly public display.
"If this was a drive-up beach, you would definitely get more gawkers," a young man named Carl told me while lying on his stomach.
"It doesn't stop all of them, though," joked his friend Zach, hinting at his suspicion of my clothed, roving presence.
It takes a little more than 10 minutes to get down to the beach, much of the journey demanding careful, well-soled footwork (steep paths, slippery dirt). Going back up takes 10 to 25 minutes, depending on one's respiratory health. Another footpath to the south is more time-consuming but less steep, which is why beachgoers carrying surfboards tend to use it. There are also no bathrooms, food stands or other businesses once you get to the bottom, which further illustrates the bare essentials of the beach's amenities.
"It's a beautiful beach, though," said Lauren, who has been coming to Black's Beach with her equally nude husband, Jim, for more than 25 years. "We encourage people not to come down," she said with a smile.
Actually, nudity is only tolerated here -- it's not officially sanctioned -- and you can practice it only on the beach's state-controlled northern end. You can still be cited for nudity at any time, but usually that happens only if you cause a disturbance and/or refuse to dress when asked. Nudity is prohibited on the city-regulated southern strip.
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On a beautifully naked strip of California coastline, free spirits take flight as nude sunbathers bask in the sunshine.
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Across Latin America, Mandarin Is in the Air
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BOGOTA, Colombia -- Elizabeth Zamora is a busy mother and executive. Still, for three hours every Saturday, she slides into a battered wooden desk at Bogota's National University and follows along as Yuan Juhua, a language instructor sent here by China's government, teaches the intricacies of Mandarin.
Zamora already speaks German and English, but she struggles to learn written Chinese characters and mimic tones unknown in Spanish. She persists for a simple reason: China is voraciously scouring Latin America for everything from oil to lumber, and there is money to be made. That prospect has not only Zamora but business people in much of Latin America flocking to learn the Chinese language, increasingly heard in boardrooms and on executive junkets.
"It's fundamental to communicate in their language when you go there or they come here," said Zamora, 40, a sales executive for the German drugmaker Bayer, which is growing dramatically in China. "If you don't know their language, you're lost."
Latin America, with its vast farmlands and ample oil reserves and mineral deposits, has become a prime destination for investors and others from China, whose economy has been growing at 9 percent annually. The total value of trade between China and Latin America rose from just over $10 billion in 2000 to $50 billion last year, according to Chinese trade data.
"Latin American countries want to diversify their markets, and they see a huge opportunity, not just in the present but in the potential for growth," said Chris Sabatini, a senior director of policy for the New York-based Council of the Americas, a business association that encourages trade in the Americas. "Latin Americans, as people in any country, should be opportunistic, and they see opportunity with China."
Chinese companies are investing in farmland and energy installations in Brazil. Beijing has signed a free-trade agreement with Chile, its first with a Latin American country, while announcing investments in the Chilean copper industry and gas and oil fields in Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia. Beijing has also cemented a $5 billion oil deal with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, which is seeking to diversify exports to other countries beyond the United States.
The arrival of China in a largely Spanish-speaking region half a world away might seem unusual. But Beijing is in a relentless quest for oil, coal, iron ore and copper for its factories, soybean and poultry to feed its 1.3 billion people, lumber for housing, and fish meal for its livestock. President Hu Jintao's government, which two years ago pledged $100 billion in investments for several South American countries, said it also wants to bankroll road, port and railroad developments that would help bring exports more quickly to China.
Veering toward China, though, is far from easy for entrepreneurs and students from a region that has long been intertwined with the giant to the north. The United States remains the biggest investor in Latin America, its trade with the region eight times that of China's. English prevails as a second language.
Mandarin, on the other hand, is considered far harder to learn, with dialects and a tenor significantly different from the phonetic cadences of Spanish and Portuguese. Yet the Chinese language is making gains, as is the revolutionary idea of looking west across the Pacific for business opportunities.
"The world is divided into east and west, and the culture is completely different," said Miguel Angel Poveda, president of the Colombo-China Chamber of Commerce in Bogota. "The only way to get around it is to understand the culture and learn to do business with them, but in their language."
Many of those taking up the challenge are young, like Leidy Catalina Ortega, 17, who recently dropped an English-language class in favor of Mandarin. Her parents want to import clothing from China to sell in Bogota. If she learns the language, she will help manage the business.
"If you're interested and work hard, you can learn and talk almost like they do," she said. "You are afraid at first. Later you get it and move on."
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BOGOTA, Colombia -- Elizabeth Zamora is a busy mother and executive. Still, for three hours every Saturday, she slides into a battered wooden desk at Bogota's National University and follows along as Yuan Juhua, a language instructor sent here by China's government, teaches the intricacies of...
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Tolerance: A Two-Way Street
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Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god, invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly about themselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well.
Today's Islamists seem to have not even a sense of irony. They fail to see the richness of the following sequence. The pope makes a reference to a 14th-century Byzantine emperor's remark about Islam imposing itself by the sword, and to protest this linking of Islam and violence:
· In the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims attack seven churches.
· In London, the ever-dependable radical Anjem Choudary tells demonstrators at Westminster Cathedral that the pope is now condemned to death.
· In Mogadishu, Somali religious leader Abubukar Hassan Malin calls on Muslims to "hunt down" the pope. The pope not being quite at hand, they do the next best thing: shoot dead, execution-style, an Italian nun who worked in a children's hospital.
"How dare you say Islam is a violent religion? I'll kill you for it" is not exactly the best way to go about refuting the charge. But of course, refuting is not the point here. The point is intimidation.
First Salman Rushdie. Then the false Newsweek report about Koran-flushing at Guantanamo Bay. Then the Danish cartoons. And now a line from a scholarly disquisition on rationalism and faith given in German at a German university by the pope.
And the intimidation succeeds: politicians bowing and scraping to the mob over the cartoons; Saturday's craven New York Times editorial telling the pope to apologize; the plague of self-censorship about anything remotely controversial about Islam -- this in a culture in which a half-naked pop star blithely stages a mock crucifixion as the highlight of her latest concert tour.
In today's world, religious sensitivity is a one-way street. The rules of the road are enforced by Islamic mobs and abjectly followed by Western media, politicians and religious leaders.
The fact is that all three monotheistic religions have in their long histories wielded the sword. The Book of Joshua is knee-deep in blood. The real Hanukkah story, so absurdly twinned (by calendric accident) with the Christian festival of peace, is about a savage insurgency and civil war.
Christianity more than matched that lurid history with the Crusades, an ecumenical blood bath that began with the slaughter of Jews in the Rhineland, a kind of preseason warm-up to the featured massacres to come against the Muslims, with the sacking of the capital of Byzantium (the Fourth Crusade) thrown in for good measure.
And Islam, of course, spread with great speed from Arabia across the Mediterranean and into Europe. It was not all benign persuasion. After all, what were Islamic armies doing at Poitiers in 732 and the gates of Vienna in 1683? Tourism?
However, the inconvenient truth is that after centuries of religious wars, Christendom long ago gave it up. It is a simple and undeniable fact that the violent purveyors of monotheistic religion today are self-proclaimed warriors for Islam who shout "God is great" as they slit the throats of infidels -- such as those of the flight crews on Sept. 11, 2001 -- and are then celebrated as heroes and martyrs.
Just one month ago, two journalists were kidnapped in Gaza and were released only after their forced conversion to Islam. Where were the protests in the Islamic world at that act -- rather than the charge -- of forced conversion?
Where is the protest over the constant stream of vilification of Christianity and Judaism issuing from the official newspapers, mosques and religious authorities of Arab nations? When Sheik 'Atiyyah Saqr issues a fatwa declaring Jews "apes and pigs"? When Sheik Abd al-Aziz Fawzan al-Fawzan, professor of Islamic law, says on Saudi TV that "someone who denies Allah, worships Christ, son of Mary, and claims that God is one-third of a trinity. . . . Don't you hate the faith of such a polytheist?"
Where are the demonstrations, where are the parliamentary resolutions, where are the demands for retraction when the Mufti Sheik Ali Gum'a incites readers of al-Ahram, the Egyptian government daily, against "the true and hideous face of the blood-suckers . . . who prepare [Passover] matzos from human blood"?
The pope gives offense and the Mujaheddin al-Shura Council in Iraq declares that it "will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the 'jizya' [head] tax; then the only thing acceptable is conversion or the sword." This to protest the accusation that Islam might be spread by the sword.
As I said. No sense of irony.
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Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god, invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly about themselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well.
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Bush Seeks Increased Pakistani Cooperation
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President Bush yesterday launched a new round of personal diplomacy aimed at patching up the tense relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban insurgency is posing new challenges for an administration already struggling to pacify Iraq.
Bush met at the White House with Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who assured the U.S. president of his desire to root out the Taliban and other extremists. The visit came amid controversy over Musharraf's claims in a forthcoming memoir that the Bush administration threatened to bomb Pakistan "to the Stone Age" if it failed to cooperate with the United States against al-Qaeda and the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Bush is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has complained repeatedly about Pakistan offering a haven to Taliban militants conducting armed attacks inside his country.
And in a twist from Bush's normal practice, the three leaders are then planning to dine together at the White House on Wednesday, part of what White House aides described yesterday as an effort to build a better long-term relationship between two key allies in the U.S. battle against al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups.
Outside experts also saw the meetings as part of heightened administration concern over rising violence in Afghanistan and the increasing sway of the Taliban over swaths of the country only five years after they were rousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion. The number of U.S. troops there has swelled in recent years to 20,000, most of them stationed along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan. An additional 20,000 NATO troops are battling the Taliban in the south.
White House aides said a chunk of yesterday's hour-long meeting was devoted to Musharraf explaining to Bush the recent pact he reached with Islamic militants in Pakistan's border region. The pact requires foreign militants to leave the tribal area of North Waziristan or take up a peaceable life, and it forbids imposing draconian religious edicts. But it has been greeted skeptically by many human rights activists and regional experts as a concession to Islamic extremists that will be impossible to enforce.
Appearing with Bush at an East Room news conference after their session, Musharraf said he assured the U.S. president that the pact was intended to rein in extremist violence. "There will be no al-Qaeda activity in our tribal [area] or across the border in Afghanistan," Musharraf said. "There will be no Taliban activity. . . . There will be no Talibanization."
Bush said he was satisfied with those assurances. "When the president looks me in the eye and says the tribal deal is intended to reject the Talibanization of the people, and that there won't be a Taliban and won't be al-Qaeda, I believe him," he said.
Both presidents were asked about Musharraf's claim -- to be aired Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes" -- that former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage had issued a "Stone Age" bombing threat in the days after Sept. 11, 2001.
Bush said he was "taken aback by the harshness of the words" attributed to Armitage but had no knowledge of such a threat. He said the first he heard of it was in the newspaper Friday.
Armitage categorically denied it. "I've never made a threat in my life that I couldn't back up," he told CNN, "and since I wasn't authorized to say such a thing and hence couldn't back up that threat, I never said it." Asked separately to comment on the report, Armitage's then-boss, former secretary of state Colin L. Powell, said there was "no such bombing threat."
The CBS interview is part of Musharraf's own promotion for U.S. publication of his memoirs next week. Musharraf said at the news conference that he could reveal no more because he was "honor-bound" to his publisher, Simon & Schuster, to keep the book under wraps until next week -- an assertion that seemed to amuse President Bush.
As he shook hands with Musharraf after the news conference, Bush smiled and told reporters, "Buy the book."
In the "60 Minutes" interview, Musharraf said that Armitage made the threat to Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed, Pakistan's intelligence chief, the day after the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaeda. Pakistan was one of only three nations that maintained diplomatic relations with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, and al-Qaeda members were known to move freely in the mountainous border area between the two countries.
As was publicly reported shortly after their meeting, Armitage told Mahmood that Pakistan would have to choose sides between the Taliban and the United States, which wanted it to cut all ties with the Afghans and cooperate with planned retaliation for the attacks. Armitage described it yesterday as "a very straightforward conversation" held in his State Department office. "I told him that for Americans this was black or white, that Pakistan was either with us fully or not. It wasn't a matter of being able to negotiate it."
Musharraf's promise yesterday of greater cooperation in fighting the Taliban drew mixed reaction from outside experts on the region, who noted that militia commanders continue to operate in the Pakistani provincial capital Quetta -- with the tacit approval of the Pakistani government. "The problem is Musharraf is proving to be an incredibly grudging ally," said Robert Templer, director of the Asia program for the International Crisis Group, which closely monitors events in Pakistan and Afghanistan. "He has received a lot of U.S. aid, and he is simply not delivering on the really critical security issues."
But Rep. Tom Lantos (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, said he thinks the administration is on the right track in prodding the two South Asian leaders. "Both Musharraf and Karzai need to recognize . . that they are on the same side of the battle and need to stop sniping at one another," he said. But he voiced concern that "we are in danger of losing Afghanistan a second time," urging greater U.S. and allied attention to the problems.
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President Bush yesterday launched a new round of personal diplomacy aimed at patching up the tense relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban insurgency is posing new challenges for an administration already struggling to pacify Iraq.
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Calling In the Pros vs. Do-It-Yourself
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EVANSVILLE, Ind., Sept. 21 -- Ask Karen Hammonds the name of Rep. John Hostettler's campaign manager and she answers simply, "The congressman."
How about the pollster? "The congressman." Media consultant? "The congressman." Press secretary? Yep, that's right: "The congressman."
VIDEO | Produced and edited by Chet Rhodes - washingtonpost.com
Surely, a busy member of Congress doesn't have time to shoot his own television ads? Oh, no, Hammonds explains with an ever-present smile. Instead, Hostettler writes them and delivers them to a local marketing agency, which produces them to his exact specifications.
Rep. John N. Hostettler (R-Ind.) gets a little help from professionals such as Hammonds, who answers phones, organizes volunteers and hands out yard signs. She is among Hostettler's top campaign hands. She takes a salary in even-numbered years but works gratis in odd ones. She also happens to be his sister -- one of eight siblings who form the core of the incumbent's political organization.
A few blocks from the cramped Hostettler headquarters, the scene is quite different at the headquarters of Democratic challenger Brad Ellsworth. The Democrat, a local sheriff, is trying to beat the incumbent's down-home tactics with the sort of modern campaign apparatus that these days can be found in virtually any competitive district.
Campaign manager Jay Howser tracks the ups and downs of the race from a large corner office. Several aides bang away on their new Dell computers, while one sits in the corner tracking ads in the Terre Haute and Evansville television markets with side-by-side TiVos. The press secretary has a BlackBerry. Like most congressional campaigns, the Democrat's relies heavily on outsiders. Howser cut his teeth in Missouri politics; spokesman Mike Weinberg was flown in from Arizona.
While Hostettler's Mayberry-style campaigns have delivered victories for the past decade, this November will be his most difficult test by far. Ellsworth, a social conservative, leads the incumbent in polling and fundraising.
Polling suggests Hostettler is in trouble. A series of independent polls have shown him trailing Ellsworth by four to six percentage points.
At the end of June, Hostettler had raised $295,000 for the race and had $195,000 remaining in his coffers. Ellsworth had collected upwards of $1 million by that time and showed more than $675,000 in the bank.
But raw numbers may underestimate Hostettler's chances on Nov. 7. Hammonds, who has been involved in all but one of her brother's seven congressional campaigns, says he is regularly behind in the polls around this time but always pulls it out. She believes his ability to come from behind is rooted in the volunteer network Hostettler has built over the past 12 years. What began as a strictly family affair has grown to include a volunteer coordinator in each of the district's 18 counties.
Howser acknowledged that Hostettler has a "more organic, through-the-church, small-town" turnout network than most representatives'. But he added that the real reason Hostettler keeps winning elections is cash infusions from national Republicans. This year, as before, much of that money buys ads attacking the Democratic candidate. The National Republican Congressional Committee has been on television in the district since June and has already spent north of $1 million on ads, warning that if Ellsworth goes to Washington he will be a vote for liberals such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is also spending heavily on their own ads, alleging that Hostettler is beholden to Big Oil.
A visit to the Republican's office highlights how he has kept a distinctly Hoosier profile even after a dozen years in Washington. Pictures of the congressman and a framed copy of the Evansville Courier & Press trumpeting his 1994 primary victory dot the walls. The other employees, Hammonds said, are two "data-entry ladies" and Stan Barringer, the opposition-research director. Barringer has been busy. Several binders that sit on a shelf in the office carry printed labels such as "budget," "China" and "anti-Christian." There is even a binder labeled with the name of Ellsworth's daughter. The sheriff's 19-year-old stumbled into controversy last year when she was shown in photographs drinking beer.
Hostettler's refusal to mold himself into a conventional politician is part of his appeal. But where "one-of-a-kind" crosses the line into "eccentric" is a matter of debate in southern Indiana. In 2002, Hostettler started a firestorm when he allegedly sought to link abortions to breast cancer in a meeting with a group of female survivors of the disease. He took issue with the women's description of the gathering. Two years later, Hostettler was detained at the Louisville airport for carrying a loaded gun in his briefcase. Last October, Hostettler was one of a handful Republicans to oppose a bill that provided aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina, a vote put into stark relief when a deadly tornado struck southern Indiana a month later.
"That type of stuff builds up," said Jonathan Weinzapfel, the mayor of Evansville and the 1996 Democratic nominee against Hostettler.
The political environment in Indiana is not doing Hostettler any favors, either. The GOP brand here has been badly scuffed, as much by local controversies as by furor surrounding President Bush and the Iraq war. Gov. Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., a Republican, infuriated many people by pushing to privatize the state's toll roads -- and turn them over to two foreign companies.
In past years, Hostettler has been helped by the opposition. Although Democrats have long regarded him as vulnerable, the party has never found the right person to carry the fight. The latest to try was Jon Jennings, a former scout for the Boston Celtics, who raised $1.5 million only to watch as Hostettler piled up his largest reelection margin.
Ellsworth, who has served as sheriff of the district's largest county since 1998, may be better positioned to exploit Hostettler's vulnerabilities. Democrats hope his social views -- he is opposed to abortion rights and same-sex marriage -- will insulate him from Republican attacks on wedge issues that have proven effective before. "People appreciate my conservative values," Ellsworth said.
Still, Ed Feigenbaum, editor of Indiana Legislative Insight, a political tipsheet, warns not to underestimate Hostettler's friends-and-family turnout operation. "There is a lot more behind the curtain than there appears," he said.
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EVANSVILLE, Ind., Sept. 21 -- Ask Karen Hammonds the name of Rep. John Hostettler's campaign manager and she answers simply, "The congressman."
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Probe Finds Jackson Urged Favoritism in HUD Contracts
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An inspector general's report charges that top U.S. housing official Alphonso Jackson urged staff members to favor friends of President Bush when awarding Department of Housing and Urban Development contracts. But investigators so far have found no direct proof that Jackson's staff obeyed.
His chief of staff told investigators that Jackson, the HUD secretary, "personally intervened with contractors whom he did not like . . . these contractors had Democratic political affiliations," says the report, a copy of which was made available to The Washington Post.
The investigation "did not disclose any pattern or practice of issuing contracts based on political affiliation . . . however, there were some limited instances where political affiliation may have been a factor in contract issues involving Jackson," the report says.
Awarding contracts on the basis of party affiliation violates federal law.
The 340-page report by the Criminal Investigations Division of HUD's Office of Inspector General has been released to Jackson for a response and given to members of Congress who requested it. A spokesman for the office declined to say whether the report would be released publicly.
Calls for an inquiry came after Jackson, Bush's onetime neighbor in Dallas and former housing authority chief in that city, told attendees at a public forum in Dallas on April 28 that he had killed a contract award to a firm after its chief told Jackson he disliked Bush. Jackson later took back his remarks and told investigators from the inspector general's office that he had "lied, and I regret having done that."
The investigation found "no evidence that a contract was canceled, rescinded, terminated or not issued as a result of the encounter between Secretary Jackson and the contractor," the report says.
Jackson said the report cleared him of wrongdoing. "As I stated previously, during my tenure, no contract has been cancelled, rescinded, terminated, awarded or not awarded due to the personal or political benefits of the recipient," he said in a statement released yesterday.
"I sincerely regret my April 28 remarks that led to this investigation."
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who called for Jackson's resignation after the April incident, disagreed.
"The President should not tolerate this type of activity by a member of his Cabinet," Lautenberg said in a statement yesterday. "Given the allegations made by very credible witnesses in the Inspector General's report, the Department of Justice needs to get involved."
According to two senior HUD officials, at a staff meeting this year "Jackson had advised . . . that when considering discretionary contracts, they should be considering supporters of the president," the report says.
"I don't recall doing that. They might have misconstrued it," the report quoted Jackson as saying.
Jackson, who reports directly to the White House, "indicated that he did have a bias, in that he wasn't likely to assist someone who would 'castigate' him or the president, although he would not interfere with a contract on that basis," the report reads.
The report describes investigators' research into the political contributions of 29 companies that received HUD contracts. The sample found that officers and key staff members at the 29 winning companies "contributed $101,931 to Republican candidates and $45,320 to Democratic candidates."
Investigators also describe Jackson's personal involvement with contracts and contractors. Jackson "would meet with individuals who were either contractors or who wanted to obtain contracts at HUD," the report said. A former HUD lawyer was quoted as saying "we warned him against it."
The report contains a lengthy description of delays in releasing a contract to Massachusetts-based Abt Associates, after Jackson objected. Though the award had already been granted and publicized, Jackson's dislike of the firm -- which his chief of staff said was politically motivated -- put the release in limbo for weeks while staffers scrambled to satisfy him and allay outside concerns over the delays.
Jackson told investigators his dislike was based on the quality of the firm's work, "an assertion rendered problematic by other testimony and evidence," the report says, including Abt's high marks in the agency's own evaluation process.
The report says the HUD Office of Inspector General plans to evaluate whether "a more comprehensive audit of HUD contracting activities is feasible and warranted." A spokesman for the office declined to say when that decision would be made.
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An inspector general's report charges that top U.S. housing official Alphonso Jackson urged staff members to favor friends of President Bush when awarding Department of Housing and Urban Development contracts. But investigators so far have found no direct proof that Jackson's staff obeyed.
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Gladly Suffering Fools
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Yes, the late philosopher -- and grand guru of human mythology -- would have watched with serene appreciation as Johnny Knoxville, Chris Pontius, Steve-O, Bam Margera and Wee Man play practical jokes on one another, perform dangerous stunts and commit gross-out acts guaranteed to jolt even the unshakable out of their seats.
Lowbrow entertainment, he'd understand, may be fast food for hoi polloi -- at least, by the reckoning of people who use expressions like "hoi polloi." But its disregard for aesthetics, social redemption and serious themes makes for deeper insights into our humanity than a thousand Picassos.
Watching "Jackass," Joseph Campbell would probably think of the Acapulco cliff divers who have plunged 130 feet into the Pacific for centuries, or the young Masai warriors who mark passage into adulthood by killing a lion. He might have reflected on the time-honored rituals of youth; the need for young men (or women -- although not in this movie) to test their limits; or the human being's universal need to perform heroic or dangerous (or in the case of "Jackass," heedlessly stupid) feats and return triumphant and ready to rejoin society. And I'd like to think he'd enjoy the belly laughs this movie seeks from its audience.
Sure, "Jackass: Number Two" amounts to wall-to-wall bonehead behavior. And it's hard, if not impossible, to justify the grosser material, some of which borders on the pornographic. But these arrested-development dudes are -- in their own goofy way -- living inside a cartoon in which violence is temporarily painless.
"Why wouldn't they make two of the same size wheels?" yells Knoxville riding a penny farthing bicycle, just before he crashes into a snowdrift and lands on the unforgiving concrete beyond. The cartoonish atmosphere continues with a gag in which a spring-mounted boxing glove lurks behind a sign designed to lure unsuspecting victims to read it; and some "Jackass" members even do the classic step-on-the-garden-rake routine so that the handle whips into their faces. All that's missing are the cartoonish sound effects: those wah-wah-wahs and twittering birds.
"Why did you do it in the first place?" asks a disbelieving April Dunne, mother of "Jackass" player Ryan, as she looks at the cattle branding her son just voluntarily sustained on his bare rump.
" 'Cause it's funny," says Ryan.
Of course, the frisson of real danger is always there. But the performers understand the simple integrity of a slapstick gag and they're prepared to suffer for its entertainment value. This is what the Jackassers do for fun -- and their fans, already well versed in such previous shows as the original MTV series and the 2002 "Jackass: The Movie," understand that perfectly. And is there any significant moral difference between these performers and dedicated ballerinas who damage their feet in the highfalutin interests of art, or Daytona drivers risking their lives on the track?
Beyond the dumb-fun Zen of "Jackass," something even more appealing arises: a certain innocence. And what innocence would that be? you might ask, as Steve-O pushes a metal fishhook through his cheek so he can dangle on a fishing line in a sea of hammerheads, or Chris Pontius exposes a sensitive part of his anatomy (covered like a cloth puppet to resemble a fuzzy mouse) to a very nippy snake?
The clue comes just after they have completed their stunts, gags or self-inflicted torture sessions. As they congregate in a celebratory ritual of relief, look closely into their eyes. You'll see something extraordinarily tender: a childlike glint. It's only there for an instant before they laugh it off and prepare for the next ordeal and, no doubt, "Jackass 3."
Jackass: Number Two (95 minutes, at area theaters) is rated R for extremely crude material, dangerous stunts, profanity and nudity.
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Search movie listings, reviews and locations from the Washington Post. Features national listings for movies and movie guide. Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/movies today.
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Tell Me About It
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Appearing every Wednesday and Friday in The Washington Post Style section and in Sunday Source, Tell Me About It offers readers advice based on the experiences of someone who's been there -- really recently. Carolyn Hax is a 30-something repatriated New Englander with a liberal arts degree and a lot of opinions and that's about it, really, when you get right down to it. Oh, and the shoes. A lot of shoes.
Alexandria, Va.: I'm about to ask a girl out on a date and I'm scared! I feel like a kid asking someone out to homecoming.
Carolyn Hax: I don't think scary social things ever completely stop being scary. The consequences of failure just seem a little less drastic.
Washington, D.C.: Dear Carolyn -- I think my relationship has turned a bit abusive. My girlfriend of about a year has always been moody and had a temper, and although it can be hard to deal with at times, I've been ok with it. But lately, if she gets upset with me, she calls me vulgar names, says very hurtful and nasty things, hangs up on me, etc. Later she will apologize saying she doesn't know why she treated me like that and she doesn't know how to stop, and I feel bad for her. I've never seen myself as someone who would stay in a relationship where they are getting routinely hurt, but I love her and I want to help her- she can be a very sweet and loving girl. We have talked about her seeking counseling for her anger issues- is there anything I can do to help her and, more importantly, is there any hope in working on an abusive relationship?
Carolyn Hax: There will be a point where it's more important to take care of yourself than to keep trying to help her, and you'll be there if her abuse turns physical or if you're starting to suffer emotional damage.
Whether there's hope, that depends on how receptive she (or her condition) is to treatment, and that in turn depends on how willing she is to deal with her problem. If the counseling is just something she talks about but doesn't actually get, then this thing's done. I don't see much hope.
FWIW (since what you describe sounds like a deteriorating condition): I think she should be getting screened for a mental illness, and not just counseled on anger management.
Dress Codes: So I got the registration sheet for my 20-year high school reunion, and it says "casual cocktail (no ties!)."
I wasn't planning to wear a tie, since that fad in women's clothing has long since passed (thankfully) -- although since I graduated in the 80s, I suppose an homage to John Hughes isn't entirely out of the question for some. But while I know what "casual" and "cocktail" mean, I really don't know what the planners want when they specify "casual cocktail." Thoughts? Shoe recommendations?
Carolyn Hax: Party clothes, whatever feels most flattering. Wear the shoes you bought even though you knew you couldn't possibly justify buying them.
Denver, Colo.: Carolyn: Any words of advice to console someone whose good (I thought) friend left them out of their wedding? I feel sad, angry, and snubbed, but at the same time realize it's completely ridiculous to care so much. I guess I'm supposed to hold my tongue and go to the wedding anyway and pretend everything is fine, right?
Carolyn Hax: Unfortunately. If it helps, 10 years after their weddings, a lot of people are mystified by their own wedding-party choices. It's billed as a reflection of lifelong bonds, but a wedding party often ends up being a snapshot of a moment (A had me in his wedding, and B hates C, and D's sister would freak if excluded, but E would take it well ...), with all the durability of one of those New Year's In-Out lists. Try to shrug it off, and be glad you can wear your own clothes.
Arlington, Va.: Carolyn - help! I know it's been discussed before, but now I'm in the nasty position of knowing someone's cheating while their spouse has no clue what's going on.
It's not my business so I should butt out, right? I still feel like crap about it though.
Carolyn Hax: If the victim is a close relative or friend, you tell (or pressure the cheater to tell or else you will); people left in the dark by their trusted inner circle often stay angry at the people who remained silent longer than they do at the cheater.
If the cheater is a close friend or relative, urge him or her to end one relationship or the other, asap.
If you're peripheral, remain so, crappy as it feels.
Burke, Va.: Carolyn, I just found out I'm pregnant after much difficulty. We had actually just started talking about going the adoption route and raised that with our extended families. So now I'm pregnant and medically "at-risk" so we're excited but nervous at the same time. The dilemma is that we're going to be visiting my family for a big weekend next week (my dad's 60th) where we'll be asked a lot of questions.
My gut reaction is to tell the extended family. I'm a pretty open person anyway and the way our family grapevine works, if something happens, they'll know about that, too. My husband has left the decision up to me. Am I too eager to share?
Carolyn Hax: I don't think so, not if you don't. My guide is to tell good news to anyone you'd also tell bad news. My cautious congratulations!
For Denver Colorado: Two years after my wedding and I am still questioning why chose the women I chose to be in my wedding party.
One I am no longer friends with, mainly because I realized she was a snooty person whom I couldn't for the life of me understand why I ever was friends with her to begin with.
In the end it really doesn't matter since that person is still your friend.
He/she could quite possibly be trying to save you from Bride/Groomzilla! Be thankful you don't have to spend money on the ugly Tuxedo and/or Dress and party it up with the rest of the guests!
Carolyn Hax: There you go. Thanks.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Carolyn. Thank you for all of the great advice. Here's my problem: I'm 27 and I'm sick of dating boys. No, I'm not going out with 13 year olds, all of the guys about my age seem to still act that way. They may be past some of the trappings of that age group but all of the ones I seem to meet still need a girl to show them the way, make plans, etc. I want to find a man who likes my help and input, but doesn't need it. Where do I find that?
Carolyn Hax: Where you find everything else worthwhile--in a deep well of patience.
Seven Y ear Itch?: Okay - I'm coming up on my seventh anniversary. Does the seven-year itch start now or is it almost over? I don't know whether to start holding my breath or heave a sigh of relief!
Carolyn Hax: It's almost over.
Carolyn Hax: Just wanted to see what it was like to tell someone what s/he wanted to hear.
Washington, DC : Is there anything love can't justify? I'd like to think there isn't, but my fiance and I are looking at some pretty big career/family/environmental sacrifices on both ends, and I just hope our reason (best possible start to our marriage) is good enough.
Carolyn Hax: There are a million things love can't justify. Abuse. Murder. Deceit. Self-immolation, literal or figurative. If you start to feel your sacrifices are cutting into the quick of who you are, then you're right to start saying no. That doesn't have to mean the end of it all (tho it could), just that you need to find flexibility somewhere else.
For Angry Girl's Boyfriend: Carolyn, agree with everything you said. He can also be observing a learned, unhealthy family dynamic that's she's not even aware of. Paying attention to how her family treats her, etc., and perhaps pointing out how it makes her feel (if it's happening in her family) can help her see she needs help.
Again, I think in this case, it's probably more than that. I've been in that poor girl's shoes, though, where "It's OK to be the worst with the ones you love, because they love you." It's toxic thinking, and a person needs help to change and realize being yourself doesn't mean being as nasty as you want. It can feel "normal", "right" and "appropriate," though, if that's all you've ever known.
Carolyn Hax: Good point, thanks.
Re: Dating boys: I am 26 and find myself in the same dilemma. Guys my age don't seem to have the maturity and stability that I need. I find myself dating men older than me. I refuse to date anyone over 50 (arbitrary number), but usually my relationships are with guys in their upper 30's into their 40's. I'm not looking for a father figure. I just want someone who is on my level. If I'm ok with it, is it still ok?
Carolyn Hax: Of course, if you've (a) thought through the consequences, such as the possibility of having a mate who's elderly 20 years before you are, or an older father for your children; and (b) taken care not to generalize all guys your age as immature. Call it a bias, but I always think it's suspect when people date categories.
Dress Codes, AGH: The poster with the dress code question reminded me of two weddings I went to recently. At one, the post-rehearsal cocktail reception was "country casual," at at the other, the ceremony and reception were listed as "island chic." Stop the madness! It's hard enough to figure out what to wear.
Carolyn Hax: Unjustifiable gingham shoes; unjustifiable straw/rope/canvas shoes. Where there's a will, there's a way.
Spokane, Wash.: Carolyn: I just found out an old friend (we've lost touch for a few years) was left by her husband. I'd like to contact this friend and see how she's doing, but I'm unsure how to approach this subject. Pretend I don't know and let her bring it up? Thanks.
Carolyn Hax: Don't pretend you don't know. Just don't be the first to bring it up, and if/when she mentions it, say you knew but wanted her to be able to bring it up at her own pace.
It's not a perfect solution--there will always be people who find it offensive that you stayed quiet, offensive that you brought it up, offensive that you even knew, offensive that you called, offensive that you didn't call--but it's one that at least shows respect both for her feelings and her intelligence.
Hopefully you can help. My boyfriend of the last four months and I have decided just to be friends because our futures are going in completely different directions (i.e. there's no feasible way for us to see each other within the next six months -- one year, he's in Korea right now) but he's the first person I've ever felt like I loved. I'm pretty broken up about it but don't want to fool myself into thinking that there's something there when we would have tried our damndest to make things work if we thought there could be a real future. I'm just afraid that phone conversations from now on will be a bunch of "So..."'s or "Well..."'s or, most dreaded, "I miss you so much" which is NOT moving on and definitely not friendship. Any words on how to transition? He really is a great guy and I want him to be a part of my life, even if it's just as friends.
Carolyn Hax: This is going to sound too pat, but I actually believe it: If your conversations dwindle to "So ..." and "Well ...," then it probably wasn't going to go the distance even if you hadn't gone off to different parts of the globe. If you're good together, you'll talk, freely, about anything. That's the thing that you can trust, not the buzzy "I'm in love!" thing you get after only four months (and that you usually lose in due time).
RE: Spokane: It sounded like they don't speak regularly, and that the only way they'd have contact would be if Spokane made the contact, via phone call or letter or what have you. Could you elaborate on how to address that awkwardness? Thanks!
Carolyn Hax: "I was thinking of you and wondering how you were doing." Or whatever else you would say when you were calling someone with whom you had lost touch, life change or no life change.
But now what we're back on the subject, one more thought on the original answer: There are going to be people with whom it's obvious you should just come clean. "Hey, I heard X, and I wanted to let you know I'm here." But I think you'll know those people--straight-shooters, former very close friends, etc. It's with the ones who have you second-guessing their bluntness tolerance that I advise hanging back a bit.
I've been dating a young lady for about 10 months. We are 30-something professionals. The relationship has had many ups and down, and we have been trying to work things out. The one thing that keeps bothering me is that the young lady continues to be active with online dating profiles. I have expressed to her that I find it is difficult to date someone who appears to be holding out for a better deal (or even a better match).
This is becoming a deal breaker for me, because this relationship is supposed to be exlusive. And I consider ACTIVE online profiles to be an intrusion in our relationship, and yes, unfaithful.
I've never been in this position... any advice?
Carolyn Hax: If she's doing something that she knows hurts you, and she hasn't supplied an explanation for doing it that shows she respects your feelings but has other legitimate priorities, then she isn't worth what it's costing you emotionally to date her.
I tried to answer it without the specifics of online dating because I'm sure you have been in this position before. There's nothing "new" in relationships; there are only more media.
Re Boston, Mass.: I would just caution her to be sure that BOTH of them are fully resolved on being "friends only" in the future. I just, in the last week, had a painful parting with someone I had dated for three months and was friends with for a year post-breakup because my romantic feelings for him never fully went away. We always had plenty to say to each other, but in the end he was much more firmly resolved about us only being friends than I was. I finally realized it when he started dating someone else last month and I flew off the handle.
Carolyn Hax: I understand, but I'm not sure what happened to you was preventable--or, maybe more accurately, should have been prevented. How were you to foresee that your feelings would last? How was he to know his wouldn't? You value each other, so you try, and you hope it doesn't get messy. Even when it does get messy, I still think that's better than launching a bunch of preemptive strikes against anyone's feelings getting hurt. (Easy for me to say, not being in active pain as you are, I know.)
RE: Dating Boys: Isn't it possible, just maybe, that she's looking for men in the wrong places? Also, could her standards be too high? And who's to say she's so mature herself?
Carolyn Hax: Possible, except for the standards thing. Specifically, people should never -try- to lower their standards. Either someone seems good enough, or not; I doubt any of us wants to be on a date with someone who thinks, "You're not good enough, but I'm striking out everywhere else so I guess I'll give you a try anyway." Thanks but no thanks.
For Portland: Ok, I can see his point (and agree) about the profiles. But may I vomit that he refers to a "30-some professional" as a young lady?
Carolyn Hax: Please do. Thanks.
I've been dating my boyfriend for about 10 months, and we've never had a fight. Minor disagrements, sure, but not a full-blown, yelling, screaming, fight. Is this normal?
Carolyn Hax: I shudder to think that "a full-blown, yelling, screaming fight" is somehow assumed to be normal. It may be common, but it's still a failure of better ways of communicating. If you've come by your hystrionics-avoidance honestly--i.e., if neither of you is secretly suppressing rage or stockpiling unspoken resentment--then please regard that as a precedent, not an aberration.
Re: Dating Boys: I am a 26-year-old boy/man. For what it's worth, I dated an unending string of immature, emotionally unavailable girls before meeting the woman I married last month. My suggestion? There are few mature options on both sides of the gender divide- keep at it, and try not to blame men in the process. In my experience, people are the ones who are often immature.
Carolyn Hax: Thanks, young man.
Portland, Ore.: Does anyone ever actually successfully become friends with an ex if they try right after the breakup? The only time I've had luck with this is if we breakup, then reconnect at some later time, after the raw feelings have died down. It also helps if you have no expectations about what the relationship will be -- you might be great friends, you might not.
Carolyn Hax: I agree with the last part. The first part does make sense as a general idea, but it's just too couple-specific to work as direct advice. The chemistry of the couple and the specifics of the breakup are more likely, I think, to affect the outcome than the timing.
Anonymous: Portland: If you have already expressed how you feel and are not satisfied with her explanation, just find your way out. Or whatever you think is right for you.
Re: Boston: That's why it's so important to wathch all the signs. If it's not right, just get out as soon as you can.
Carolyn Hax: Who was that masked adviser?
Harrisburg, Pa.: For Portland as well: I thought about vomiting too but decided to give credit for the effort.
At least he didn't say "girl."
Carolyn Hax: I would have preferred girl. Vastly. It's like saying, "guy."
So many engaged and unengaged: Hi Carolyn --
I am very excited to me newly engaged (read: Wednesday evening!). In an unfortunate considence, Wednesday evening, a co-worker of mine was left by her fiance. I work in a very small office and am friends with this girl. How do I balance being so happy about my development without shoving it in her face? Thanks!
Carolyn Hax: It's an office. Don't talk about your engagement beyond saying it happened, and answering direct questions (politely but economically). And, please please, don't spend business hours on the phone planning your wedding. This is unbearable even for those within earshot who haven't just been dumped.
I am happy for you, even if it doesn't sound that way.
First of all, thanks for taking my question, if you take it. Second, please answer this online only. Third, I swear I am not making this up.
I just moved to Florida for grad school, to a town about an hour from where my aunt (mom's sister) and uncle live. I've seen them a few times since I've been here. I've only ever been around them when they were both in the room. Anyway, I just got a letter from him, talking about how he and my aunt aren't having sex, and how hot he thinks I am, and how this complicates the celibacy thing for him, and how he hopes I'll get over the fact that he thinks I'm hot and will hang out with him when my wacko aunt isn't around. He also managed to diss my mom's brother.
So, not only is he being a jerk about my family, he's being completely disgusting in hitting on me. I promise I never saw this coming, and certainly wouldn't have encouraged it. I've never felt so disgusting in my entire life. I called my mom and told her, and she asked me to fax her the letter tomorrow. I know my mom won't fly off the handle and do anything crazy, and that she and I will talk more before any action is taken. What should we do? I can't recall ever having been this skeeved out.
Thanks, and sorry for the grossness. I'd really appreciate any help you can give me and my mom in dealing with this.
Carolyn Hax: I'm not sure about faxing it to your mom. Isn't it enough that she knows what he's trying to do?
I'm also not sure you should even respond. Don't dignify it with a response.
Obviously you'll have to decide what to do about seeing them in the future, but if you do choose to act as if nothing happened, then you should be prepared to tell him never to approach you again.
The one that's really got me stumped is what your mom tells her sister. Can I hide behind the fact that their relationship should dictate her approach?
I'd love to hear from you guys on this (so late, I know).
Please read -- this is important!: My sister thinks that cowhide clogs (the black and white ones) are hideous, and she says if I get a pair, she refuses to be seen with me in public. I am in love with them, and I think I'd rather walk alone in my cow clogs than with my bratty sister. Who's right?
Girl and guy?: No, girl is like say boy.
Guy is female or male.
Carolyn Hax: When you are asking out someone who has ovaries, you are not asking a "guy" out for a drink.
Dating Boys: From my own experience, I found that I gained quite a bit of maturity after I stopped believing I was so much more mature than everyone my own age. Similar to finding out that the more you learn, the less you really know. I'm just sayin'.
Carolyn Hax: I am so angry at myself for not saying this.
However, the original (? I think) poster did have a point with being sick of dating people who expected someone else to take care of everything for them. To have the thought cross your mind, "Who am I, your freakin mother?" is not necessarily a sure sign you're full of yourself.
Wilmington, Del.: Regarding freaking out.
I'm a 56-year-old man who's waited all his life to be old enough to be a dirty old man.
That said, her uncle's a pig.
Carolyn Hax: Well, yes, we know that. ideas?
Anonymous: You know, today's Q&A is really quite possibly the most bizarrely random compilation of issues I've ever seen!
Carolyn Hax: It was the cow clogs, wasn't it.
Elkridge, Md.: This is for Freaking Out: If your uncle never behaved this way before, his new unwanted behavior may be a symptom of damage to the control center of his brain. Espically if it happened after a head injury.
Carolyn Hax: Scary. Sad. Thanks.
For Freaking Out: You and your mother should talk to your aunt and let her decide what to do about her marriage, then support her decision. But you have no reason to be around Uncle Skeevy again, unless there are 20 people around as well, like at a family reunion. And remember - it could be worse. Your uncle could be the blood relative instead of your aunt.
Carolyn Hax: I like it, thanks.
Re: Freaking Out: It seems like this is a great example of why it's necessary to know details about the relationship before being able to give advice. Maybe mom and her sister have the kind of relationship that encourages such communication, or maybe it would do irreparable damage.
Carolyn Hax: Thanks, it does sound less like hiding when you put it that way.
Um...: Old enough to be a dirty old man? There's no such age.
Carolyn Hax: You've obviously never had the pleasure of meeting a truly delightful dirty old man. (Bud, you are missed.)
Bizarrely random compilation : Can't just blame the cow clogs, you've also got Uncle Sceevy and asking ovaries out for a drink -- but only if they're mature enough.
washingtonpost.com: Why am I picturing a joke that starts, "Two ovaries walk into a bar...?"
Carolyn Hax: ... in unjustifiable shoes ...
About gendered nouns : So "young lady" is, what, condescending? But at the same time, some people will complain that "girl" is worse, that "woman" is matronly and that the seemingly inoffensive "female" is oversexualized. What will we accept?
I'm a 21-year-old non-male, by the way.
Carolyn Hax: So you are a woman, which is acceptable for use on any female person over 18, except when used in the phrase, "She's a woman now," which is lunch-dislodging. Also acceptable, girl where you'd say guy--or gal, but only if you're at least two states south of the Mason-Dixon or a truly delightful dirty old man.
Seems perfectly clear to me.
Alexandria, Va.: For the creepy uncle question -- perhaps her mother knows this about him already -- creeps don't suddenly become creeps when a woman is in the room. Chances are he has a history of creepiness that her mother is aware of. I would guess that this has happened to other family members. Perhaps your mother has discussed his creepiness with her sister before, but wasn't believed. The letter would be proof. Anyway, keep your distance and keep your friends away from him. We had a creep in the family once. Turns out, once one story came out, many more did. If you think you have his creepiness under control, realize that it is just in relation to you. His creepiness is probably being foisted upon others, too. Sorry to be so cynical about him, but I'm guessing this isn't his first occasion to behave inappropriately towards women.
Carolyn Hax: Thanks. Many more coming:
For Florida: Definitely ix-nay on the ax-fay.
Don't fax mom that letter. If only because it sounds like she's going off the deep end right now and should take a moment to calm down.
Be glad you have the letter, so when the dude denies it, it won't be a matter of your word against his. I'd actually consider taking this to your school counseling center, so the counseler could ask follow-up questions to help you decide what to do.
Love that free school counseling!
Re: Freaking out: The uncle needs to be told firmly, "Your advances were inappropriate and unwelcome, and I'm very uncomfortable about the position you've put me in. Do not contact me again, and do not put me in the position of having to collaborate in hiding your secrets. I will not do so."
Anonymous: Re: Freaking Out. She should be prepared for her uncle and/or aunt to blame her. That could get ugly.
Icky Uncle: Icky Uncle definitely needs to be dealt with -- to go so far as to write and send a letter with no previous, more deniable icky behavior (the "bump" at the kitchen table, the leering look, etc.) really indicates something has gone very, very wrong with him, or that this is not his first time doing something this ICKY. There are other family members to consider, too, some of whom may not be of age, or be as able to handle as our writer....
Carolyn Hax: Another good point. Thanks everybody.
Clogtown: Buy the clogs! Types the person sitting at her desk weating her favorite pair of brown and black cow clogs.
Carolyn Hax: Everybody, check the neighboring cubicle.
State of frustration: I left my husband. He was a cold, unfeeling jerk. I told my mother this. (He also cheated, which I didn't tell her because she'd blame me for not being an adequate wife.) She doesn't believe me. She's telling all the relatives he left me, and alluding darkly to possible reasons that are so awful I had to lie and say it was my idea. I can't talk to her, which is OK and kind of the norm, but I hate all the family eyeing me knowingly. How can I keep my cool and my dignity (while meanwhile struggling with the heaping helping of guilt the ex is laying on me for "destroying our family" and "having no regard for marriage vows")?
Carolyn Hax: Have you gotten any counseling? You went from an abusive mom to an abusive husband, which is rarely a coincidence. And, I think you'll achieve the most sustainable cool and dignity through tending to your own health, and letting others just say what they say. Hard, but not as hard as trying to get other people to change the way they've always been. Take care.
Creepy Uncle: She should keep the letter and she should fax it to her mother. Because as someone already pointed out, the mother may have insight that the daughter may not. As, well if it ever gets legal you'll need a copy of the letter. All I can say is that if my mom found out my uncle did this she'd want a copy of the letter, too. For safe keeping, for a reference that you didn't keep the letter to yourself i.e. in court when asked why you kept the letter a secret if it was so upsetting, what you gonna say, for a another perspective on things.
Carolyn Hax: Last one, thanks, because I do want it somewhere that she should keep the letter, and I'm not sure if anyone else brought it up.
Go away!: I really need to get back to work. Will you end it already?
Carolyn Hax: Fine. Bye. Oh, and thanks for all your patience with the schedule; it's been tough trying to restore equilibrium after the move. I think we're back to noon next week, though. Have a great weekend and type to you next week.
Woman/Female/Etc..: Carolyn, did you just say girl where you'd say gal?
Gal? My mom would have a heart attack if she heard a woman say that word ... and she'd punch a man if he said it.
Carolyn Hax: No, you read me funny. I am in a non-state and I'm not a dirty old man.
Two ovaries walk into a bar...: "Can we get some decent cervix, here?"
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John Kelly's Washington Live
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Discussion Archives / Recent Columns
John Kelly: You may be wondering how things are in beautiful Portland, Oregon. Well I'm wondering too, since that's where I was supposed to be today. As I recounted in my column yesterday, the Kellies have been planning a trip out west for a reunion of my Nieman Fellowship class. (This is a journalism fellowship that involves serious study of the media and serious drinking.) Sadly, the reunion didn't start yesterday. It started last week. We were off by a week and missed it.
And I had so looked forward to doing this chat at 10 a.m. But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or, in my case, invite readers to share their brain freeze moments and spin them into another column. Stay tuned.
In that same column I printed excerpts from my conversation with "Anna," Ikea's online avatar. She had some interesting responses to my questions. Also this week Answer Man explained where "Hungerford Drive" in Rockville comes from. I recounted my run-in--or bike-in, I suppose--with a gun. I offered Back to School Night tips and we heard from some people who experienced car-key mishaps--driving away in other people's cars.
I spent a few days this week working out of The Post's Rockville office, where the talk was of voting and voting machines. Gov. Ehrlich is recommending that Marylanders file absentee ballots, but I don't think that addresses the real problem with voting in this country: We have poor voter turnout because there's no incentive. I mean, all you get is a sticker that says "I voted." Big whup. What can be done?
Casting a vote could enter you in a drawing for A NEW CAR! Or we could replace voting machines with those cash-blowing chambers you see at festivals, where you can keep all the bills you can grab in 30 seconds. Or how about replacing the "I voted" sticker with an "I voted" tattoo! Young people LOVE tattoos.
You know, even painting our fingers purple, like they do in Iraq, could work--if the purple was a nice-tasting berry flavor that lasted all day.
Your on-line date with Ikeagirl: Congratulations! You scooped Weingarten on writing about an interaction with an on-line automaton. He won't speak to you for weeks now. But it's OK, let him have the prank phone calls. You're in the Metro section now - much more serious than that drivel in Style or Section A.
John Kelly: I didn't have room to print my entire Ikea conversation. Here were some other highlights:
John: How long have you worked at Ikea?
Anna:I am on-line constantly. I was launched on the IKEA USA website on June 2nd 2004.
John: So you never get a coffee break?
Anna: HEre you will find the Coffee and Tea Category.
John: How much are you paid?
Anna: Which product would you like to know the price for?
Anna: I'm really not sure what it is you're trying to say. Can you please try and re-phrase your question or statement.
John: I like your haircut.
Anna: Thanks, you're very kind to say so. Now, let's talk about IKEA.
John: I feel like I know you.
Anna: Sometimes you have to trust your feelings, sometimes no...
John: Which do you prefer: dogs or cats?
Anna: Thanks for asking, but I'm only here to answer questions about IKEA so I don't have any outside interests.
John: Do you die your hair?
Anna: I don't have any kind of opinion with regard to hair color.
Anna: I wish I knew what it was you meant by that, but I don't. Sorry.
Annandale, Va.: John, I went to the wrong church for my wedding, and this was in pre-cell phone days. My bride was sure I was leaving her at the altar. Does that count? Henry
John Kelly: That's exactly what I was looking for. I'm assuming you didn't marry the person who happened to be at the other church, did you?
[Can you e-mail me the details: kellyj@washpost.com.]
Drummer Dude: John, check this out:
And I thought this was going to be a boring afternoon!
John Kelly: I actually SAW the SuperDogs when they were at MCI Center a few years ago. It's this wild show with dogs running everywhere. And Pot Roast was very funny. I didn't know he played the drums, though.
Burke, Va.: I truly do not understand the outcry from the McLean high school students. The process the school is using has the students themselves enter their writing into the software prior to submitting it to their teacher. It's not an after-the-fact gotcha.
And the "proprietary data" argument doesn't hold much water, either. The writing is only going into the database to allow future comparisons. It's not being made available to anyone else to use.
I can't help but remember that, when I was a teenager, I made the most impassioned "trust me" pleas when I was about to do something I wasn't supposed to...
John Kelly: Yeah, I don't have much sympathy for them either. I do remember having a nicely-developed sense of outrage when I was that age. Miss McCandless once accused me and Karen Carlton copying each other's test answers in 11th grade English. Can you imagine that? ME? And KAREN CARLTON?
As someone who has to write five columns a week, I'm in favor of anything that helps stamp out plagiarism. Or, as I was just telling My Lovely Wife the other day, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."
I'm hoping you're the man to answer this question and I would love to hear from other chatters too. I keep collecting pennies in my office from change I get at lunch. They are annoying and I can't seem to get rid of them. Nothing takes them--parking meters, vending machines, etc. I used to use them in the stamp machine but even that stopped taking them. How can I use up all these pennies without having to roll them and take them to a bank (seems silly for only a few dollars)?
John Kelly: Next time you buy a cup of coffee or a danish at the corner store, bring your huge jar of pennies with you and dump them in the "Take a penny/Leave a penny" tray by the cash register. Just upend the jar and pour them out. Of course you won't have gotten anything, but you will have gotten rid of your pennies.
Barring that, you could go to one of those Coinstar machines in grocery stores. They roll them for you but I believe they take a cut.
MoCo: If the election board allowed advertising on paper ballots, they could pay for themselves.
John Kelly: I think you may be onto something. Or maybe you're just ON something.
Do you have a ritual to prepare yourself for this weekly chat? Do you annoint yourself with oils or rub a lucky bunny foot?
John Kelly: I have the same ritual: About 45 minutes before the chat I announce to my assistant, Julie, that I'm going to the Post cafeteria to get a sandwich and she says, "You mean a wrap." And I laugh, vowing to myself that I'm going to get something different, a soup or a salad maybe.
And then I come back to my desk with a wrap (pesto chicken today), which I eat while answering questions. Oh, and I also shave my entire body and put a sprig of rosemary behind each ear.
Hades: Chavez is wrong, you are El Diablo. I can still smell the sulpher in your cubicle. Do you have cloven feet?
John Kelly: That's not sulfur, that's the rosemary.
If by cloven you mean, "well-proportioned and nicely-kempt size 8.5 feet," then, yes, they are cloven.
washingtonpost.com: Students Rebel Against Database Designed to Thwart Plagiarists (Post, Sept. 22, 2006)
John Kelly: Here's the story on those rebel McLean students.
The Rack-eteer (yes, it's really), ME: Somebody was asking the other week. I'll be glad to start shooting you again soon as I remember where I put the damned rack card. Might be in the garage.
John Kelly: Send me your address and I'll send you another one.
I missed the chat on the 8th, and I see from last week's chat it must have been a doozy. I went to go look for it, but it is missing. I thought Rose Mary Woods might have been involved, but I don't think she is with us anymore. Can you have it posted again?
John Kelly: I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to post the chat from two weeks ago. I can tell you that if there was one, it would have involved both vowels and consonants, arranged to form nouns, verbs, adjectives and--and this is what often leads to trouble--adverbs.
Harwood, Md.: I volunteer at the BWI Welcome Center. Last week a newlywed couple came up to the desk and asked (1) where the Southwest baggage office was, since they couldn't locate their bags; and (2) where could they catch the shuttle to Niagara Falls? Yep, they had gotten off in Baltimore rather than proceeding on to Buffalo. I wonder if this will become part of their married life lore or if it will remain a deep, dark secret known only to them and to me!
John Kelly: Whoops. I guess they figured all "B"-cities are pretty much the same. That taxi to Niagara is going to set them back a bit, though.
(Can you e-mail me that story?)
Oakton, Va.: John, this goes back aways but my daughter was trying to get a particular item out of a quarter machine and I remembered your column on this point. I also remembered going with my grandmother back in the 50's (I'm an older Mom) from our small town in Illinois to the "big city" -- a slightly larger town -- where Granny was determined to get me a prize from the gumball machine in the local Five and Dime. Back then, you got a small circle of gum and, on rare occasions, a small charm or other crackerjack-type prize. As I recall, it took 42 cents before I got a small dog charm that I proudly wore on my charm bracelet (remember those?) for several years. Only long after Granny had passed did I wonder about the 42 pennies she had managed to dredge up from her purse. It must have weighed a ton.
John Kelly: After that column ran I received a package from the company that fills the Giant gumball machines. In a letter, the president thanked me for my celebration of the machines, and he included several clear plastic orbs containing the flashing plastic ring that my young helpers had been so desperate to get. I don't think he understood that the column was about how much of a rip-off those machines are.
washingtonpost.com: Feeding the Machine for the Ultimate Trinket (Post, Aug. 7, 2006)
John Kelly: the story in question...
sprig of rosemary : Does she complain?
John Kelly: No, but Morey Amsterdam is royally PO'ed.
[Will one of you please explain that reference to anyone here who's under 40? Thank you.]
Rockville, Md.: Metro announcers are driving me loony! They already yell at you not to board the train because another's following right behind - don't I have the right to hop on whatever train I please? And I don't want to disembark and reboard at Grosvenor, thank you, since my destination is Shady Grove.
Now they've descended to the level of train nanny. On the Red line to Shady Grove last night, in addition to the repeated admonitions to move out of the doorways and stand in the center of the cars, we were reminded that we need to get up and move towards the doors before we reach our stop. I mean really, John, the whole train was filled with seemingly competent adults. What is it with these people?
John Kelly: I think there's a world of discussion material in your phrase "seemingly competent adults." Every day I hear from readers who would take issue with that description. I think Metro is trying to address what are technically known as "lollygaggers." These are the people slumped in the window seat who only not only don't get up before the train has stopped but wait until the doors have opened before rising and exiting. This leads to excessive "dwell time," the time the train spends in the station. Add up all the seconds here and there and you're talking....minutes! (This seems to be a particular problem with tourists, god love 'em.)
I do agree that there seem to be a lot more messages, though. The current one that bugs me is delivered in Spanish. I think it's just the Spanish version of the "if you notice any suspicious bags tell an officer" one that runs in English, but it's practically nonstop. I can't believe that there are THAT many Spanish speakers in the system to warrant it being played that often.
UpMo, Md.: What is your best suggestion for taking a nap at your desk without looking like you're napping. I really need 15 minutes! And I need to take it in a cubby!
John Kelly: You don't actually need to lay down. That's the mistake a lot of would-be nappers make. Some of my best naps have been two- to three-minute micronaps in my chair or on the couch. I took one just the other day while sitting against a tree at the Renaissance Festival!
You do need to support your head, though, since it can loll dangerously to the side. Someone ought to invent some sort of apparatus that would allow you to take a nap while sitting upright.
John Kelly: Looks like someone already has.
No soap, radio: John, your chat on Sept 8 was HILARIOUS!
John Kelly: Thanks. But now it's lost, like Aristotle's treatise on comedy.
Missing laptops: When I was a math teacher we were assigned a class set of 30 graphing calculators for the school year. We had to pay out of our own pocket for any from our set that were missing at the end of the year - even if it were believed that a student had stolen it. And at $60 a pop, that's a big chunk out of a teacher's salary. Needless to say, the calculators didn't go missing very often. Now I work for the Department of Commerce and I've heard that 1,000 laptops have 'disapeared' in five years. Although I've never been assigned or worked with a laptop since coming to the Department of Commerce, I'm willing to bet that it doesn't hold the employees accountable for missing laptops the way my school did for calculators when I taught.
I'll bet if they did, 1,000 wouldn't have gone missing.
John Kelly: Did you ever think that LAPTOPS were going to become such a big deal? Who ever thought our government was going to be brought down by a ThinkPad? Are the Feds coming up with heroic posters along the lines of "Loose Lips Sink Ships," except with laptops in the starring role?
washingtonpost.com: 1,100 Laptops Missing From Commerce Dept. (Post, Sept. 22, 2006)
John Kelly: I confess there are times when I'd like to get rid of my laptop. A few situps would probably help.
Welcome to Portland! Well, if you've got some time to kill, of course the place to go is Powell's Books. If you've already checked out their main City of Books downtown, I suggest hopping on a #14 bus and riding down Hawthorne Street to visit their location at 37th and Hawthorne. If you're a foodie, be sure to check out the Powell's Cookbook store next to Pastaworks nearby.
Onto politics: it seems to me that today's compromise managed the amazing feat of making everybody involved look bad. Bush was hurt since what was supposed to be an opportunity to look tough on terrorists instead highlighed internal divisions with the party and was largely seen as what it was: a shameful bill authorizing torture. The Democrats were hurt because they looked irrelevant and weak. But the big loser it seems to me is McCain & Co. After framing this issue as a principled stand against torture, they compromised in such a way that alienated both Republicans and Democrats -- and from the look of it in the morning papers, they sold out for nothing.
If you make a stand on principle, you can't compromise it away without damaging your integrity. From here it looks like McCain, Graham, and Warner folded faster than Superman on laundry day. I can't imagine that this will win them points with anyone.
John Kelly: I was home sick a few days this week (I'm fine now; thanks for your concern). As I trolled around cable I came across "Stalag 17," the great movie with William Holden. There's a scene where a Red Cross representative comes to check out the American POWs in the German POW camp. There are several references to the Geneva Conventions. They're sort of played for laughs--the Nazis aren't the best hosts--but it was kind of sad. Given the way Bush has operated will any American POW ever be able to invoke the Geneva Conventions in the future?
Reston, Va.: So, do you think Peter cares that 1,000 fans in black got up and left en masse yesterday. He did get their gate after all.
John Kelly: What I wondered was how many people stayed LATER than they would have just so they could leave en masse.
washingtonpost.com: After Fans Protest, Orioles Stage a Rally (Post, Sept. 22, 2006)
John Kelly: Bring back Cal Jr.?
Washington, D.C.: John, I need your help - I think I'm a WashPost chat addict! Are there any cures for this disease?
John Kelly: Yes, eat some fresh spinach and call me in the morning.
Pretty Please?!: WE WANT LEIBY!! WE WANT LEIBY!!
John Kelly: Well you can't have him. Who knows what you would do with him if we handed him over.
Washington, D.C.: I just wanted to thank you for the yearly suggestion of schools to link my grocery cards to. I moved here last year and don't have any kids, so I was very pleased to see the suggestion of Ellington, which I would never have thought of on my own. I just switched my cards over to Tyler now.
Do you have a report on last year's suggestion? Did Ellington raise a lot of money as a result of your column? (Are those bonus bucks -really- worth anything anyway?)
John Kelly: I don't have the exact numbers on Ellington yet but I know they were very happy with our support. They even wrote about it in their school paper. We routinely have raised in excess of $10,000 for each chosen school, so they do think it's worth it.
In case anyone missed the column announcing it, John Tyler Elementary in the District is the recipient of our bonus card largesse this year.
Morey, Amsterdam: Well, that would be Rose Marie, not rosemary. And her name on the Dick Van Dyke show was Sally.
John Kelly: Smile a little smile for me...Saaaaally.
Geneva unConventions: Is Al Qaeda a signatory to these?
John Kelly: I assume you already know the answer to that.
Given that most of the stories I've read indicate you get more intelligence with skilled interrogation rather than torture, I question how successful we've been with these methods. Not to mention the dismal standing our country now has in the international community.
You gotta tell Warren about the ladies that got into the wrong vehicles with keys that worked in both. He seemed doubtful that such a thing could happen.
John Kelly: Really? I heard from enough people to convince me that, though rare, it does happen.
Washington, D.C.: "Given the way Bush has operated will any American POW ever be able to invoke the Geneva Conventions in the future?"
You're an ass, John. Our terrorist enemies don't torture you, they burn you alive or cut your head off.
John Kelly: Remember when you were in elementary school and they used to make the point that we did things differently in America? People were innocent until proven guilty? You had a right to a speedy trial and to know the charges against you and who was making them? All men were created equal, etc., etc. And it bothered you when you learned about slavery and, boy, whose idea was it to intern the Japanese in World War II? But still, you agreed that you'd rather live in a country where the KKK could exercise their freedom of speech if it meant you could exercise yours? And you thought that if the occasional guilty person got off that was okay because that was better than the occasional innocent person going to jail?
Of course you don't because you're a moron.
Chevy Chase, Md.: We once showed up a week early for the Boss' Christmas party for his staff. It was pretty funny - we handed over the hostess gift (a nice bottle of wine) and skedaddled. Yes, we did go back the next week on the correct date.
John Kelly: See,it's not just me. Although one reader e-mailed me to say the column made him feel great because he'd NEVER made a mistake in his 70-plus years.
brain freeze : In high school I once breathlessly ran up to my science teacher to get the key to lock a padlock. He looked at me funny.
John Kelly: I once Xeroxed a document I was going to fax, just so I would have a copy. Seriously. In my defense, this was when fax machines first came out.
Alexandria, Va.: Maryland should have a giant gumball jar, and you vote by rolling a red or blue gumball down a complicated, yet entertaining ramp. Any poll worker caught chewing gum would be fined on the spot.
John Kelly: Sounds like fun!
New Voting Method: Use marbles. Give people a few marbles and let them place a marble in each jar of the candidate that they want to vote for. The person with the most marbles wins!
John Kelly: Unlike now, where...
bonus cards: Is it possible to use grocery store bonus cards in the voting booths?
John Kelly: I think you're onto something here. Like a "frequent voter" card? It would reward those who vote early and often.
Regarding brain-freeze moments, when I was graduating college and interviewing for different jobs, I showed up for one interview a few minutes early for my 9 am appointment. When I mentioned the name of the manager with whom I was supposed to speak, the receptionist look puzzled and mentioned that she didn't think he was in today. She was very nice and went to check. When she came back out, she said, no, Mr. Smith was not here today and that I was, in fact, early. She said, "Your interview isn't until next Tuesday." We laughed a little and then I said, "I don't mind waiting" and sat back down. It all turned out fine, though. I came back the next Tuesday and ended up getting the job. Mr. Smith still likes to tell my story when he interviews candidates.
John Kelly: Does he tell it as a cautionary tale?
South Succotash: Dear Mr. John,
I cannot afford the subscription Washington Post paper and ask your readers too help me buy subscription. You're paper is very fine. Please help me. You can collect money and I will directly take from your checking account.
John Kelly: Sure, give me your fax number and we'll fax you some dollar bills. Or better yet, some pennies.
Donate your pennies: Take those pennies, roll them yourself, and then donate them - it may seem small, but if everyone did it, they sure would add up!
John Kelly: That's a nice suggestion.
Arlington, Va.: Pennies? Take them to the mall and throw them in the fountain. They go to charity, and someone else has to count them.
If you know a toddler, let them do it - it will make their day.
John Kelly: And if you don't have a toddler, check out Toddlers R Us.
Pennies: Commerce bank, which is getting more branches in this area, has coins for cash machines in their lobbies that anyone can use. My husband any I drumped our jars of change in there and had enough to get a dog.
PLUS, if you correctly guess the amount of money you have, they give you an extra percentage.
John Kelly: What's to stop people from counting it before they go there and THEN "guessing" correctly?
pennies...: Some Chevy Chase Bank branches have coin counting machines that give you a coupon you redeem at the teller for cash, and they're completely free. You don't even need to have an account with them or listen to a sales pitch. You can find branches with the machines on their website.
Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C.: re: lots of change
Most Chevy Chase Bank branches have machines that you can dump the change into. It counts it and gives you a receipt for the full amount. You can either deposit the funds into your Chevy Chase account, or get cash back from a teller. Chevy Chase does not take a cut.
I took my jar of change there the other week and deposited $119 into my account.
Pennies: Easy suggestion: Spend them as you get them. If you're getting change at lunch, then you could have spent pennies at lunch. I don't mean a whole pile of pennies that will irritate the cashier and the line behind you. For instance, my morning coffee and milk in the cafeteria is $2.42. If I don't have the coins with me, I get 3 pennies among my change. The next day, I give the cashier $3.02.
Seriously, how hard is this?
John Kelly: That may be the best suggestion of all. And yet most of us seem incapable of it.
Washington, D.C.: If three-quarters of all student papers are being collected for comparison to future papers, aren't we going to run out of original ways to phrase our thoughts?
How many possible permutations can there be of the central themes of Jane Eyre? Kids are supposed to regurgigate their teachers, um, teachings, and teachers have been doing the same lessons since Hector was a pup. Do we expect our high-schoolers to write hard-hitting, insightful new analyses of stuff that high-schoolers have been reading and writing three-page essays about for DECADES?
It's the thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters thing, but instead of getting Shakespeare, we're going to get a generation of kids branded "cheaters".
That said, plagiarism is evil, and teachers have a really hard time of it.
John Kelly: I think there's a difference between making the same observations and writing the exact same things. It's the latter that is unacceptable. I would hope teachers would be able to recognize the difference. The other thing I found encouraging about the Turnitin program was that it was supposed to be used to help kids cite more correctly. So, it's not just meant to come down like the hammer of Thor, but to show, yes, you can mention the ideas of others so long as you credit them properly.
Wrong keys, Md.: Yeah it happens. I remember in 1989 a coworker lent his car to his pop. Pop came back real mad that cigarette butts in ash tray, empty beer can in back, ladies underwear, and new radio installed in the GTI. Guess what, another store workere had the same car! To bad he cleaned up "that mess" and fuilled this car with gas. The look on the other owners face, and the MoCo police officer was priceless when cleared up. Yup she reported it stolen. (VW claims 1 in 100,000 chance that happens)
John Kelly: Time to buy a lottery ticket.
Georgetown: You wear size 8.5 feet? That's tiny! I'm an average-height female, and that's the size -I- wear in men's shoes!
John Kelly: One of the first stories I did as a Metro reporter was on a guy who made wax hands at the Montgomery County Fair. You dipped your hand in molten wax and got a perfect casting. Why? Why not. I got one of my hands and brought it back to the office. A female editor saw it and said, "That's YOURS? What small hands you have." I think that's an insult.
I will say that my hands and feet are perfectly proportioned to the rest of me.
Maybe this fits: Back in 1970, when I was almost 8, I went to visit my aunt in southern Ohio. The closest airport is Huntington, WV. My doll and I were put on an Eastern Airlines flight, with strict instructions that I was going to HUNTINGTON, not the first stop, which would be Charleston.
When the plane landed in Charleston, a stewardess tried to escort me off. I stubbornly refused to unbuckle my seatbelt. Finally, a more senior flight attendant stopped and asked what was wrong.
"She won't get off the plane."
"That's because she's not supposed to get off the plane; she's going to Huntington."
"But...I thought Charleston WAS Huntington!"
Teach your children well. And your flight attendants.
John Kelly: And some people think Baltimore is Buffalo.
John Kelly: This guy, on the other hand (yuk-yuk), has poorly proportioned body parts.
Washington, D.C.: "That may be the best suggestion of all. And yet most of us seem incapable of it."
I wonder if this is a male/female thing? My husband dumps all his change in his pocket, dumps it out at the end of the day, watches pile of change grow. I fish it out of my purse and pay in exact amounts when I can.
John Kelly: Yeah, it's like we feel we have to take it for a walk each day.
those Lincolns : A roll of pennies is a poor man's brass knuckles.
John Kelly: Wouldn't the poor man be better off investing those pennies?
Brain freeze: When my daughter was little, my wife and I went out and left her with a babysitter. She cried, of course (the daughter, not the wife or babysitter), leading me to wonder aloud if she cried like that when my wife wasn't around. My wife said to me, in all seriousness, "I don't know -- I've never been here when I wasn't here."
John Kelly: Yogi Berra, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
Gumballmachi, NE: There's a true 21st-century quarter machine at the Giant on East-West Highway, in the Blair Shops. It doesn't sell gum. It doesn't sell figurines. It doesn't even sell Hi-Bouncing Balls. It says in great big letters what it sells:
John Kelly: And I bet they're really nice ones, too. Of course, how would you know, unless you have eyes on the back of your head.
My brain freeze was during my first week of my new job when I was given a company car to use in my travels between customers in upstate NY and Pennsylvania. After working a 100 hour week, I was driving back on the NY State Thruway, and I stopped at the Aurora rest area near Buffalo. I went in for a coffee and came back out and my brand new company car was gone. I mean gone. I looked and looked and it was nowhere to be found. I walked over to the gas station area and asked them about it, but they didn't see anything. I walked back inside to call the police and saw the other exit. The rest area was built on the median between the east bound and west bound traffic lanes. I had just walked out the wrong exit. Duh!
John Kelly: I think you should have gotten a company compass to go with the company car.
Now John, you know moron is not an approved word for these chats. Do I have to wipe out this chat too?
John Kelly: I'm sorry. I will try to raise the level of discourse, not lower it.
Moron poster: Woooo-Hooo!!! Go John! Tell 'em.
This is copied from this morning's Politics chat. If it doesn't make the most hardened conservative take a pause, well, they're brain dead.
"During the Revolutionary War, the historian David Hackett Fischer noted, Gen. George Washington had 'often reminded his men that they were an army of liberty and freedom, and that the rights of humanity for which they were fighting should extend even to their enemies.' This compassion toward prisoners was extended by Washington expressly in the face of the cruel British handling of American captives. Washington ordered Lt. Col. Samuel Blachley Webb, in a passage quoted by Fischer, 'Treat them with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British army in their Treatment of our unfortunate brethren.'"
John Kelly: Should I put this in my plagiarism detector to make sure it's original?
Chat Evolution: John, a year ago (well, on September 23) we talked about people answering their cell phones while on the terlit, hosting a cloting drive for the naked mole rats, and pepping toms. I'm glad this chat has come a long way one a year.
John Kelly: Hey, at least we're consistent.
washingtonpost.com: Chats of Yore (Sept. 23, 2005)
John Kelly: Good times, good times.
brain freeze: I had a boss who worked exclusively with his door closed (wonderful person and manager, just needed the quiet while he wrote). He needed to talk to me. Got up, knocked on the door waiting for me to answer.
But he was still standing in his office knocking on the inside of his door.
Between his desk and his door, thought he'd made it down
Best part was, he told the story himself!
John Kelly: See, everyone gets these.
Well we've gone way over time. If I didn't post your brain freeze moment, send it to me: kellyj@washpost.com. I might include it in an upcoming roundup.
Thanks for stopping by today. See you on the radio tomorrow morning and in the paper on Sunday. Enjoy your weekend.
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U-Va.'s One-Year Wonder
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David Banh: Hi, my name is David Banh, and I am a recent graduate of the University of Virginia. I am currently studying mathematics at the University in pursuit of my masters degree and hope to attend a D.C. area law school next year to further my career in patent law.
Arlington, Va.: Did you feel very much a loner in high school and college because of your academic goals, or were many people as driven as you were?
David Banh: I was more of a loner in elementary school, but I feel that I have become more and more social as the years pass.
I ran one of the largest clubs at my high school (the bridge club of 150 members) and was well-known and liked, though I would doubt "popular" for parties or social events throughout most of the cliques at TJHSST (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology). I am very glad to have attended that school, where all students are extremely motivated and certainly there were more than a handful that were as motivated as I was.
South Riding, Va.: Great work, David. With so many classes per semester, how did you organize your schedule so that you didn't have conflicts between classes? How about the conflicts on your final exam schedule? Did you have to take several exams in the same day? How did you study for those? Thanks!
David Banh: Because most of my classes did not overlap and because the University of Virginia generally schedules final exams based on when the class meets, I was able to take most of my final exams without overlap. On the final exam period, two of my exams overlapped, but I was able to reschedule one for early the next day.
Studying was definitely a chore, near exam week, I would look over one subject and then have to jump to the next and then the next. I did the majority of my studying immediately before my exams and concentrated very hard on material I believed would be on the exam.
New York, N.Y.: Hi David,
Congrats on your achievement -- finishing in one year is indeed quite impressive.
As one recent college grad to another, I gotta say I'm a little baffled by your decision though. I was also a double major at an Ivy with an option to graduate early (albeit in three years rather than one!).
I debated it for awhile -- certainly tuition was a strong consideration (although my school is generous with financial aid).
I ultimately decided not to, and I couldn't have been happier with the decision.
So I guess I'm wondering: Aren't you afraid you missed out on the college experience? Yes, a lot of it is frat parties and other disposable items, but it's also a time to broaden your horizons, mature and meet some new people from different backgrounds.
Also, I saw that the vast majority of your credits came from AP. Don't get me wrong, I will be eternally grateful to AP courses for getting me out of the awful 101-classes that exist at every college, but I would have missed out on some terrific, unique college classes had I simply used AP credits for everything.
And going right into grad school from college intimidated me after four years -- I can't imagine going one year...after high school!
I guess what I'm trying to say here: while your accomplishment is certainly impressive, aren't you afraid you missed out on a significant and enjoyable part of life, and a key time of development for young people who are fortunate enough to attend a top university?
David Banh: While I certainly enjoyed college, the financial worry was more pressing for me. I did not receive any financial or academic scholarships from the University of Virginia.
Though a number of my courses are AP, many of them were taken at TJHSST, which holds extremely rigorous classes. In fact, my senior year probability class compared its exams with the probability class at MIT and found that ours was a bit more difficult.
The quality of students at TJHSST led to a very intellectually stimulating atmosphere. A fair number of these students (between 50 - 100 out of 400) went on to Ivy Leagues and similarly ranked schools and 110 went to UVa.
I am enjoying graduate school in much the same way that I did as an undergraduate with a somewhat more relaxed load. I am sure that if I want to continue experiencing this period of my life (which I must admit, has been one of the best), I will be able to continue doing so in graduate school, law school and by living a similar lifestyle early in my work life.
Arlington, Va.: David -- How have you been handling all the media attention this week?
David Banh: Actually, it has been a bit of a burden and caused me stay up as late as I ever have to finish all my homework this week. I do appreciate and enjoy it though.
Fairfax, Va.: With your outstanding achievement in high school, why did you not choose to go to one of the Ivy League schools?
David Banh: I only applied to three colleges and the Ivy that I might have considered going to, Princeton, rejected me in favor of other applicants.
I might have gotten into one of the prime Ivies with more work on my application and more applications in general, but I choose UVa for their excellent overall academic experience, value and beautiful campus. I do not regret this decision at all as my professors have all been extremely approachable and helpful, especially in mathematics.
Falls Church, Va.,: On average, how many hours did you spend studying in a given week?
David Banh: Not as many as one might expect. I had 37 hours of classes, but I would say I spent no more than 45 hours a week between classes and homework. I would say that this is the result of being a rather efficient and dedicated working during those hours, however.
Fairfax, Va.: Do your siblings feel the pressure since you've raised the bar for them?
David Banh: I cannot say if they feel pressure, but I hope that they don't. It certainly is no worse to attend a traditional college path than it is to do what I did. My hope is that they will do what is comfortable and pleasant for them, keeping in mind the importance of education in a career.
Arlington Va.: Do you use a Mac or a PC?
David Banh: PC. I've used Linux systems before in HS.
Silver Spring, Md.: I think your accomplishment is pretty amazing. Do you feel like you have a better memory than most people?
David Banh: I play bridge and that helped develop my memory a bit.
What can you tell us about your time-management strategies. Do you plan to get through graduate school in one year as well or take your time?
Congratulations for finishing UVA and for being a role model to college and high school kids across America.
David Banh: I always look for efficient ways to use my time. I'll generally get a math problem in my mind to work on before walking anywhere (helps make homework easier), I'll read whenever I can and multi-task whenever possible.
I hope to finish my masters this year and then make a decision between a Ph.D and J.D. program.
Takoma Park, Md.: Great article and congrats on graduating!
After reading the article, however, I am still not sure I understand -why- you chose to do things this way (take so many APs, graduate so quickly) -- was it primarily for the tuition savings? Just as a "fun" challenge to see if you could?
David Banh: One of the primary reasons was to ensure that I was making the best use of my time. I took 23 hours my first semester and found I had too much free time playing video games at night.
I find that I am especially productive when there are deadlines and goals to be met, so taking extra courses seemed like the right thing to do.
In high school, I found AP classes to be enlightening and well-structured. I actually disliked and received lower grades in classes that were not AP in similar subjects.
For example, I did not enjoy 11th grade Honors English and got a B+ in it while getting an A in AP English in 12th grade. I felt that things would be similar in a lot of other courses so I tended toward AP courses throughout.
Falls Church, Va.: David, I think the obvious question that the reporter did not address in her article is: Why did the university allow you to take so many credits at one time...aren't there limits imposed for this kind of thing? I assume your high school record somehow made the case?
David Banh: My standing as an Echols (Honors) scholar, my persistence and ability to take a large overload first semester, my familiarity with my dean and the fact that I discussed the plan with him prior to matriculation and perhaps the fact that I had gone to TJHSST and take such a rigorous load there all contributed to the administration's allowing me to take this significant overload.
Secondly, how do you respond to a comment that the U.VA courses could not have been that challenging if you were able to have time to manage them all?
David Banh: UVa courses are challenging to students in a variety of ways. However, while I am not a genius, I am gifted or above average in most subjects and most day-to-day skills. The intelligence allows me to absorb the material faster and other skills, such as my ability to work well with computers and my typing skills, make writing up assignments consume less time, leaving more time to manage the classes and enjoy myself.
Basically what I am saying is that, while I am not genius, this does not that just because the courses were somewhat easier for me means that they are not challenging. You can ask any of a number of UVa students to verify that.
Rockville, Md.: Do you ever think about early burnout?
David Banh: Certainly burnout might be an issue, but I feel that it will not be with me because my drive for working harder is not a desperate need to work harder, but instead an interest in being productive with all my time.
Thus, I can't really ever burn out for long because I'll get more agitated and look for productive outlets if I slack off for too long.
Falls Church, Va.: I'm a fellow TJ alum, and a patent attorney. I can't say that I'd recommend it as a career to someone who is by nature curious. The fact that clients want work done fast and cheap tends to push patent prosecutors (those who help inventors get patents) away from true deep understanding of the subject matter. On the litigation side, there's more money at stake (so therefore more time) but an understanding of technology tends to take a back seat to fussing about what documents to produce and when. In the end, cases are just as often decided based on technically incorrect legal determinations as they are on the technical merits.
David Banh: Thank you for your advice. I am still considering a few other careers, though work as a patent attorney is what I want to start me off. I'd love to receive an email from you at: dhb3r@virginia.edu.
However, I would hope that my achievement here has shown that I am able to get things done cheaply, quickly and avoid the red tape. Meanwhile, I hope that my abilities will allow me to develop at least an above average understanding of the subject matter and, if my spare time permits, to fully investigate some of the more interesting patents.
Arlington, Va.: I'm curious why you would want to do an evening law school program? I hope you have talked to a lot of people about this.
My advice would be to spend more time in grad school and really think about whether law is the right career for you. I think (speaking as someone working in a law firm for what it's worth) that you'll find a lot of opposition among law firms toward hiring you (plus your grades will likely suffer in the night program).
David Banh: My original goal was to get into the U.S. Patent and Trademark office while working in the evening. This would make me a much more attractive candidate as an attorney because, if I am not mistaken, it is one of the best sources of job experience in that field.
However, I am also interested now in starting work as a patent agent immediately after finishing my masters and working in the evening law program. Hopefully I can stay at the same firm after receiving my law degree.
Gainesville, Fla.: Having competed for the United States in the World Bridge Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, explain what attracts you to the game of bridge, rather than chess or poker, and what are the differences in these very intellectual games
David Banh: Bridge, especially in the D.C. area, is a very pleasant hobby to have. It is a very social game; you go to a club of over 100 people each week and play cards with about half of them for about 20 minutes each, during which time you have the chance to discuss all sorts of things, from happenings in the person's life to bridge politics, to sports or anything else.
Chess is a very intellectual game as well, requiring logic and computation. However, chess lacks all of the social graces that is intimate to bridge. I played on the chess team in HS and our team actually made it to fourth in junior nationals and first in another national, but I never really had the opportunity to connect myself to the people found on that scene.
Poker on the other hand is social but less intellectual. One only has to calculate odds that could generally be found on a chart. Having played this game, I have found that it is more luck, unlike the other two which are nearly 0 percent luck.
The partnership aspect of bridge is also very desirable. It allows for extra, perhaps more personal, social interaction between a pair or a team of 4 or 6.
Fairfax County, Va.: How did you manage to avoid prerequisites keeping you out of certain classes? Did the administration have to intervene on your behalf? Also - did you do any lab science? When I was in school, lab periods played havoc with trying to schedule other classes.
David Banh: Because I had taken all sorts of advanced courses in high school, including three years of math beyond AP, one year of computer science, a year of humanities and a year of physics, I was generally qualified to take any class at the undergraduate level.
After my first semester, where I took the entire range of undergraduate mathematics, I leaped into taking the second semester of advanced undergraduate and lower-end graduate courses. This turned out to be a slight burden, but I was able to study around it and fill in the small gaps that were missed.
Question from a Terp here. Obviously you're extremely intelligent; what I want to know is, how did you convince your academic advisers to allow you to take so many credits each semester? Also, we were discussing you in my journalism class the other day, and our big question was, did you enjoy that year?
David Banh: I'm going to answer the questions in reverse order.
Yes. I enjoyed my year very much. I had a lot of free time first semester to explore my new surroundings and investigate fully any activities that I was interested in. As I have said before, this resulted in a lot of time spent playing video games with my friends, which I loved, but found to be a rather poor use of time (several hours daily).
Second semester, my course load meant that I had to cut this down, but did not have to give it up. I met people all over campus and enjoyed conversations with them at lunch, between classes or occasionally during class as well.
My academic advisors were reluctant to let this go through, but the head of undergraduate programs, Dean Handler, was more willing than the rest and the mathematics department assured them that I would be able to manage this.
Ashburn, Va.: Beside school work, what are your hobbies, interests?
David Banh: I play duplicate bridge at a tournament and occasionally professional level. I enjoy a number of video games: Starcraft, Warcraft, SSBM and the like. I am fascinated by tropical meteorology, although last year's enormous hurricane season was a tragedy.
Patent law?: What is it you find so interesting about patent law, in particular?
David Banh: It is the one field of law that requires a science background.
Also, one of my aunts works for the USPTO and enjoys it very much while another one works for a patent firm as a secretary, so I am familiar with it.
I actually looked at a few patent cases and did some minor clerical work with them as early as age 11 or so with her briefly.
Baltimore: My best memories of my college and law schools years are all things that happened outside of the classroom -- the long hours spent working on my college newspaper, the time spent hanging out in the dorms, and a study abroad program.
Do you think that you'll ever look back and wish you had experiences like that? Did you develop any lasting friendships in college?
David Banh: Definitely. I developed strong relationships with all the young bridge players (ages 17-21) that I played on a team with in Thailand and Slovakia. There about half a dozen of them and I expect to continue these for the rest of my life.
I am very close friends with three people from my dorm, and still communicate regularly with dozens of other people from all over the campus.
I am running the bridge club at UVa for new players, generally people who have little or no experience, with two other close friends, so am meeting a number of new people here and I still keep in touch with about two dozen very special people from high school.
I've certainly met a number of people with whom I have started and intend to maintain valuable lasting friendships and one who I hope to maintain a permanent relationship.
Richmond, Va.: I find it amazing that someone can actually handle the work load of taking 60 credits in two semester and on top of that, take a summer school course. What majors did you graduate with?
David Banh: I graduated with a graduate preparatory B.A. in mathematics and regular B.A. in physics.
D.C.: Do you consider yourself an overachiever or gifted? What were your SAT scores?
David Banh: I believe that I have talent in a number of areas and have few weaknesses. I am good at every academic subject to varying degrees, write well and clearly and communicate well. I hope and believe that I am likeable and I am highly motivated. Finally, I think I have the special knack of being able to see how to optimize and tie together situations and use these abilities to their fullest.
SAT I - Verbal 720 Math 800
SAT II - Math 800, Writing 780, US History 770
There's actually a Facebook group at UVa for students who have a higher SAT than me. It's rather embarrassing. :)
Silver Spring, Md.: Are you dating? If not, do you have any plans to date?
David Banh: I certainly have plans to date.
D.C.: Why did you choose U. Va. over V.Tech? Tech's supposed to have the better engineering/math/hard science programs.
David Banh: The majority of my friends from high school went to UVa, which was one of the major motivations. Also, my family wanted me to stay close and UVa is 2 or 3 hours closer than Tech.
Finally, of course, I was a bit more impressed by UVa's overall ranking as a public Ivy and one of the top 3 public schools in the nation. I do hope that UVa invests more time and money into their mathematics and physics programs, so that they can be more competitive with Tech's and other schools well-known in these areas.
Alexandria, Va.: Have you thought getting some of that missing experience that folks talk about by joining the military? I'm sure they would love to have someone of your caliber in their ranks, and I'm sure you would have a great future, while contributing to this beautiful nation that has given you these opportunities.
David Banh: While I am an American through and through, I also have some mild disagreements with current military policy.
I am afraid that the military might limit my creativity and ability to innovate, but I hope to serve the country in areas where I might help best in the future.
Law school and work as a patent attorney is hopefully just another stepping stone, certainly one that I expect will stay with me for years or perhaps permanently, but I do want to make some contributions to the education system through policy management and cultivating and increasing the number of exceptional and motivated students.
Vienna, Va.: Are you still playing bridge competitively? My mom played with you several times and said you were an excellent player, and a real gentleman!
David Banh: Yes, I am playing bridge competitively and professionally (for hire) in the D.C. area. Unfortunately, I cannot during the school year as I am down in Charlottesville and for the past summer I was away playing in international tournaments.
Bethesda, Md.: What is your favorite video game? Or what types of video games were you playing during your downtime?
David Banh: Starcraft (the old 1998 classic), Warcraft III and Frozen Throne, Super Smash Brothers Melee. I am looking forward to the new version of that last game that might be coming out in the next few months.
You mentioned you still had time for social activities at UVA. Did you ever attend formals, parties, and the like? Did you have a chance to go hang out at the Corner? For dinner with friends or just hanging out after parties? Do you date? Do you have a girlfriend? How does she deal with your study schedule?
David Banh: In no particular order. I did not have a girlfriend last year. We went out to the Corner a few times, the primary reason we didn't go was because one or more of us complained about costs, not because there was no time.
I don't drink and a lot of UVa's parties revolve around drinking, so I generally avoid those.
Silver Spring, Md.: Hey -- this is just an observation based on these few chat responses, but you're a really clear writer. Is that something you developed in high school or before, and do you have any idea how?
David Banh: I'm generally a fast typer and can formulate ideas well. I've become better at most forms of practical writing, such as business or inquiry messages and can answer questions well as the result of thoughtful time spend on high school assignments. However, sometimes when I am writing fast I don't write concisely.
Finally, I must admit that I am a pretty poor creative writer though.
Capitol Heights: Hi David, have you ever played Sudoku?
David Banh: I have played it a few times and am not that good at it.
Also, I have a negative sentiment towards Sudoku because it tried to replace the bridge column in the paper.
Washington, D.C.: Given your ability to identify areas of efficiency, do you ever observe others and stand amazed at the waste of their time?
David Banh: No. I recognize that people often have different goals than mine. For example, while I might never attend a party, there are those who do regularly. I might consider it a waste of time for me to do that, but I expect that they enjoy themselves thoroughly and how could I consider that a waste of time?
I believe it would wrong and perhaps dangerous to pass judgment over other people's actions so quickly, especially when their goals run parallel or independently of mine.
Congrats on your accomplishment. Has any publisher approached you about writing a book?
David Banh: No, though I have thought about writing a book on study tips, effective time management and college decisions. I read a number of books on how to study and how to get straight As while younger and applied the workable concepts to my life.
D.C.: How did the quality and rigor of your AP classes compare to the classes you took in college?
David Banh: The classes I took at TJHSST were comparable in difficulty to the ones at UVa. I would attribute this to the fact that TJ is the top high school in the country, with an SAT average of 1490/1600 on the old scale, not the quality of UVa courses.
Of course, a 500-level math course or a 700-level math course rates to be and was significantly harder than my AP courses at the 100 level.
I'd just like to point out to counter the thought that I was taking all intro level classes in HS that I took a number of 200-400 level math courses and some of the concepts in my physics class relied on advanced linear algebra concepts.
Arlington, Va.: What did your gut tell you when Princeton rejected you? That maybe you weren't a senator or CEO's son? Tell us the truth!
David Banh: I had really made up my mind about going to UVa.
Actually, my friend Jacob Oppenheim from TJ and the Annandale area had been trying to convince me to go to Princeton (before I had gotten my rejection). The rejection was at least helpful in ending that debate.
D.C.: How cutthroat did you find TJ? I have a nephew at TJ and he told me it wasn't too bad, but when I asked him about his course load at ninth grade, he said he was taking geometry, French, history, etc. That doesn't sound too rigorous.
David Banh: TJ's courses will always be challenging and rigorous. However, you can certainly control the level of rigor by what courses you take and it can range from just your regular very strong high school program to something comparable to an elite university (as most of our alumni do go and attend those schools).
Somewhere in D.C.: How many IP firms have contacted you after your article appeared? I would imagine that their recruiting efforts have already begun!
David Banh: Just one or two have contacted me so far, but I'd appreciate any offers and am interested in working as a patent agent next year actually.
Columbia, Md.: Now that you have accomplished this, looking back...would you do it again? Would you encourage another young student to try this and, if so, what advice would you give them?
David Banh: Would I do it again? Well, I certainly did it with the expectation that I would never have to do it again.
However, I do not regret having done it at all, and if I was back in September of last year knowing what I had gone through, I would certainly have continued on my path.
I have no regrets on having done this. Certainly there are things that I have missed out on, but I believe they are minor and there have been significant benefits, such as this year of quiet, tuition-free graduate life.
Washington, D.C.: I'm impressed and stunned by your accomplishment. What was your graduating GPA? And do you think this feat will forever label you as "that guy who graduated college in one year?" Kind of like a Bobby Fischer?
David Banh: My GPA was 3.606, a tad disappointing and a far cry from the 4.37 GPA I held senior year in HS, but I am pleased that I did not receive lower than a B in any class and received only two Bs at that.
David Banh: Thank you for having me on the Post's Live Talk show today and thank you for all of your questions and congratulations.
As a final reply, I would like to mention that while I am interested in working as a patent attorney for some of my life, I fully expect that something will arrive where I can apply some innovation and make a difference. I hope that other students who are interested in pursuing an accelerated academic career will contact me if they need advice, especially those currently still in high school or soon to attend high school.
Thanks again for having me. I can be contacted at dhb3r@virginia.edu or quandary87@gmail.com.
Washington, D.C.: What drives you? Are you a curious person or a workaholic? If you could do anything what would it be?
David Banh: One final question. I am a bit of a workaholic, but mainly curious and motivated.
If I could do anything:
I hope to build up my financial resources so that I can be a position to apply what I feel is my personal innovation to those situations that come up.
As I walk around campus every day or travel around the D.C. area, I see things that might benefit from some careful thought and structural engineering. Right now, education comes first and foremost to my mind, and one of the things I would like to to do is to start a school for academically gifted students and provide them the opportunity to excel.
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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A Little Dijon on the Side
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As my train glided into Dijon, a dark, gray blanket of clouds covered the city and a light, cold rain began to fall.
The woman sitting across the aisle from me -- an elegant grandmother from southern France en route to see her grandchildren -- looked out the window and sighed.
"Is there never sun in Dijon?" she asked no one in particular in French. After all, when the train had pulled out of Marseille a few hours earlier, the sky was a radiant blue and there was not a hint of humidity in the air. She looked at me and shook her head, answering her own question: "I have never seen it."
I had come to Dijon -- or I should say, through it -- on my way to explore Burgundy and its mythic wine country of tiny villages that starts at Dijon's back door. This was my first trip to this intriguing, distinctly northern-facing city in eastern France, and during my stay of less than 48 hours, I never saw the sun either.
I did, however, discover many of the profound charms Dijon has to offer. Like culture: This city of Gothic churches, palatial splendor and medieval timbered villas has a long, rich history dating to the glory days of the medieval Dukes of Burgundy. I walked from one end to the other on its beautiful pedestrian stone streets with cafes and tearooms animated by the energy of some 33,000 students. And I ate superbly well, getting the royal treatment in restaurants that offer up one of France's finest cuisines at prices that would be unimaginable in Paris or the sunny southern coast from where we had come.
I also learned more about mustard in general -- and Dijon mustard in particular -- than I'd ever imagined there was to know.
Visiting Dijon in the off season (late fall and winter, when there's even less sunlight than usual), at times I had the feeling that I had some of the city's treasures to myself. Which, in fact, I did.
My first stop, after dropping my bags at the hotel and borrowing one of the big multicolored umbrellas on loan to guests (with 158 days of rainfall per year, they were prepared), was the heart of old Dijon and the old Palace of the Dukes.
Dijon is built around this seat of power, and most roads lead here -- making it almost impossible to get lost. I walked through the covered market, through streets with medieval half-timbered houses and the Place Francois Rude, where a century-old fountain is topped by a bronze statue of a nude grape-stomping winemaker know as the Bareuzai (a Burgundian expression referring to the pink-stocking effect winemakers got from going knee-deep in pinot noir.)
The one important bit of history one need know about Dijon is that for 113 years that ended in 1477, it was the seat of power for one of the most powerful states in Europe -- presided over by the Valois dukes, whose lands stretched through present-day Belgium and the Netherlands. Which explains why Dijon often resembles Belgium or a city of central Europe more than it does France.
What is today the Palace of the Dukes and States-General of Burgundy is a complex of buildings and towers built over centuries, todaty housing a museum and City Hall.
My goal that afternoon was to climb the famed 150-foot Tower of Philip the Good -- built as a lookout by the duke who spited France by turning Joan of Arc over to his pal, Henry V of England.
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Dijon, France, is a city of Gothic churches, palatial splendor and medieval timbered villas with a long, rich history. Oh, and mustard.
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TSA May Shift Funds To Improve Airports' X-Ray Technology
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The Transportation Security Administration is considering a plan to upgrade X-ray machines or buy new ones for airport checkpoints using millions of dollars originally allocated for the purchase of sophisticated explosive-detection devices known as puffers, top U.S. security officials said.
The proposal calls for a shift of $20 million from the puffers to fund improvements in X-ray technology. After the upgrades, the X-ray machines would be able to take multiple images of the contents of carry-on bags, giving screeners an extra chance to detect suspicious items, including bottles or containers that might hold explosives, officials and experts said.
Machines used in U.S. airports today generally examine bags from only one angle. Government audits have shown that it is sometimes difficult for screeners to detect banned items or weapons, depending on where they are placed in a carry-on.
Security officials are seeking new technology to counter the threat of liquid explosives, a month after British authorities said they uncovered a plot to blow up transatlantic flights. The upgraded machines would not identify explosive compounds but would help screeners pick up shapes of items that could contain liquid explosives, officials said.
"What gives me the capability to find explosives now?" Kip Hawley, head of the Transportation Security Administration, asked in an interview. "The answer is X-rays. We're looking at where we can get the biggest bang for the buck."
Hawley declined to discuss specifics of the proposal to divert money from the purchase of puffers, which analyze bursts of air blown at passengers to determine whether they have come into contact with explosives.
The puffers break down too often because their sensors get clogged with dust in the busy airport environment, TSA officials said. The $160,000 devices also can't detect liquid explosives, they said.
Authorities have installed 93 puffers at more than 30 airports. The TSA has stopped taking delivery of the devices, which are built by General Electric Co. and Smiths Detection, until improvements are made, TSA officials said.
The officials said they did not plan to pull puffers out of service. Just a month ago, the TSA called the devices "state-of-the-art machines" in a press release.
The X-ray proposal highlights a problem identified by many outside experts after arrests in the alleged plot in Britain were announced on Aug. 10: The TSA has no reliable tool to find liquid or gel explosives. After the arrests, officials banned nearly all liquids and gels from the passenger cabins of commercial aircraft because they were concerned that a terrorist might be able to slip a liquid bomb onto a plane.
Officials said a decision on the reallocation was weeks or months away, and it was not clear how the new machines would affect the ban on gels and liquids. TSA officials said they were reviewing the ban to see whether they might be able to lift some restrictions based on the size and shape of containers.
Several outside experts said improving X-ray technology would be a smart decision. But others said that they worried the TSA was losing focus and that the proposal under consideration highlighted the agency's continuing struggle to find better ways to uncover threats.
"This seems like another attempt to bring on new technology when we have had a series of failures, and I have no confidence that the redirected funds are going to be better spent than the funds they have spent already," said Michael Greenberger, director for the Center of Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland School of Law.
At a New Mexico laboratory, the Department of Homeland Security is testing 10 devices that contractors think can detect liquid explosives, said James Tuttle, who oversees much of the department's explosive-detection effort.
The government has been evaluating those devices for months. It has received about 50 proposals from vendors since it issued its initial request last month, Tuttle said.
Officials and outside experts said most of the devices were probably several years away from widespread deployment in airports. The devices would not only have to be able to detect explosives but also survive the wear and tear of busy airports -- a lesson that officials have learned from their experience with the puffers.
"When you put them in a commercial environment, with people taking shoes off and whatever they are doing, a nice clean sensor is one thing," Tuttle said. "Once it is in there for six months and you dirty that sensor up, it's like dirtying up a car. It just doesn't perform as well. We need to test these things in an operational environment."
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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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U.S. to Closely Watch Boeing's Border Plan
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Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday that the government learned its lessons from failed border-security initiatives and will move cautiously with its private-sector partner, Boeing Co., in the latest effort to use technology to curb illegal immigration.
In announcing that Boeing had won the Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet) contract, Chertoff emphasized that his department would call the shots and keep close watch on the company's progress.
VIDEO | The Homeland Security Department has awarded Boeing a contract to install a high-tech "virtual fence" along the U.S. border.
Homeland Security officials had been criticized by some immigration experts and lawmakers for indicating that the private sector would be given wide discretion in shaping a new system to secure 6,000 miles of land border. Previous attempts to do that have cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars but left little to show for it as equipment malfunctioned, agents were overwhelmed with false alarms and illegal immigration continued to climb.
"Prior efforts to put technology on the border have been focused on individual tools but have not been focused on integrating all the tools together as part of a comprehensive program," Chertoff said. SBInet, he said, will allow border patrol agents "to know when anybody or anything is crossing that border."
That will not happen for several years, at least. The SBInet program is estimated to be worth as much as $2.5 billion, but initially Boeing will be given just under $70 million to work on a high-traffic, 28-mile stretch of the border south of Tucson. Government officials want the company to fully deploy its technology there within the next eight months. Assuming the program receives funding from Congress, the company would expand its operations from there, working on other areas of the Mexican border first and then moving to the Canadian border. The contract runs for three years, with three option years.
Boeing beat four other competitors for the contract by proposing a network of 1,800 towers that could be used for surveillance and communications. Homeland Security officials said yesterday, however, that their choice of Boeing has not locked them into a specific number of towers or type of technology, and that the strategy will vary depending on the terrain and on what's working.
"At every step of the way as we roll out additional segments of the border under this contract, we will have the opportunity to negotiate the best price," Chertoff said. "We will have the opportunity to look for alternatives."
Chertoff's announcement was met with skepticism by T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents 11,000 agents. Bonner said giving agents a better sense of who is crossing the border and where wouldn't do much good on its own. "Surveillance technology can be useful if you have enough people on the ground to respond to it," he said. "But if you don't, you just have to file it away because you're too busy with the first 50 people that the cameras caught. It's not the solution to the illegal immigration problem. The solution is denying access to jobs so people don't come across in the first place."
The government's most recent attempt to use technology to enhance border security triggered too many false alarms to be effective. Boeing has said that its technology is more sophisticated and can better distinguish between genuine threats and routine movement.
Even if the technology behind SBInet works, there remains the challenge of integrating it with other border security programs. SBInet does not cover ports of entry, and it does not involve patrolling the coasts.
Boeing executive Wayne Esser said in an interview this month that he hopes more surveillance will deter some people from trying to cross borders illegally at all. But he conceded that it could merely shift the problem elsewhere. "It'll put a lot more pressure on the ports of entry, and it's going to put a lot more pressure on our coastal borders," he said.
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Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday that the government learned its lessons from failed border-security initiatives and will move cautiously with its private-sector partner, Boeing Co., in the latest effort to use technology to curb illegal immigration.
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Miller Ordered to Appear in Court Over Accusation That He Hit Man
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Was it a "love tap," as one witness described it? Or did Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller walk up to a Prince George's County developer and punch him in the jaw Wednesday?
Miller (D-Calvert) might have to address those questions Nov. 2 in District Court in Upper Marlboro. The only thing that was clear yesterday was that Miller made contact with Leo Bruso, president of Land & Commercial Inc., as he left a County Council hearing in Upper Marlboro.
Bruso said the contact was an unprovoked, full-throttle, right-handed swing against his jaw.
Miller, through his attorney, said, he "was being playful, greeting people on his way out" of the council chamber.
"This is much ado about nothing," said William Brennan, Miller's attorney. "Senator Miller adamantly denies any wrongful conduct of any kind whatsoever."
Miller was served a summons yesterday for the District Court appearance. A pretrial hearing is set for Oct. 6. Even though Miller has not gone to court, yesterday he offered a number of witnesses in his defense.
Yates Clagett, a farmer from Baden attending the land-use hearing, was one of them. "Miller came up to Leo and greeted him, grabbed his arm, then he reached up and gave a love touch on Leo's cheek," Clagett said. "It was a 'Hey, buddy, how you doing?' a love tap."
Clagett said that he saw Bruso hit Miller in the jaw and that Miller, not Bruso, should have filed assault charges. "Mr. Bruso completely lost it," Clagett said. "He completely overreacted."
Margaret Addis, who works for the council, said she didn't see a punch. "From what I saw from my angle, it just looked like a friendly grab of the arm," Addis said. "I didn't see him even reach up towards his face."
Bruso acknowledged Wednesday that he punched Miller, but he said it was a reflex reaction.
Miller said yesterday that the allegations appear to be motivated by "political animosity."
Lisa McMurray, a spokesman for Miller, said Bruso was a supporter of Ron Miller, the Senate president's GOP opponent in the Nov. 7 elections.
Two sources familiar with both men, who asked not to be identified for fear of upsetting the politically powerful Miller, said they were not surprised to learn of the alleged altercation because of the acrimony between the two men, who are known to have short fuses.
Some say the bad blood stems from Bruso's close ties to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). Last year, Bruso, a registered Democrat, and his wife contributed $8,000 to Ehrlich's campaign.
Others say Bruso, who was organizing a fundraiser for Ron Miller the day before the incident, had blamed Senator Miller for legislation that restricts development along the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where Bruso has projects.
In charging documents filed Wednesday after the courthouse closed, Bruso said he did "nothing to provoke this attack. Apparently my political positions offend him. He has seen me at other political functions."
Staff writer Ruben Castaneda and staff researcher Rena Kirsch contributed to this report.
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Was it a "love tap," as one witness described it? Or did Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller walk up to a Prince George's County developer and punch him in the jaw Wednesday?
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Iran Open To a Break In Nuclear Program
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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that his government is prepared to consider suspending its controversial uranium-enrichment program if Western governments meet unspecified conditions.
The Iranian leader did not spell out Tehran's demands. But his remarks indicated that he is prepared to move ahead with preliminary discussions with European powers aimed at heading off a confrontation with the West.
"Our position on suspension is very clear," he told reporters at U.N. headquarters, where he is attending the United Nations' annual meeting of world leaders. "We have said that under fair conditions and just conditions, we will negotiate about it -- under fair and just conditions, I repeat."
The statement comes two days after the United States and five other key powers authorized the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to continue sessions with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani. The two negotiators have been seeking to set the terms of formal talks on Iran's nuclear program that would place the United States and Iran at the same negotiating table.
The Iranian leader denied U.S. claims that he is pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program, saying that Iran's spiritual leader has issued a decree prohibiting such a development. He said Iran is simply exercising its rights, under the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty, to develop nuclear power to meet the country's growing energy needs.
"The bottom line is, we do not need a bomb," he said.
The United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia have urged Iran to provide verifiable assurances that its nuclear program is peaceful. They pledged in June to offer Iran a broad range of commercial and political rewards in exchange for subjecting its nuclear program to greater international scrutiny.
The Security Council subsequently passed a resolution demanding that Iran suspend its enrichment of uranium and reprocessing of nuclear fuel by the end of August or face sanctions. Iran ignored the demand.
But U.S. efforts to impose sanctions stalled in the face of opposition from Russia, China and France. The Europeans, meanwhile, agreed to resume talks with Iran to break the impasse.
Ahmadinejad said the latest round of talks is "moving on the right track, unless . . . hopefully, others will not disrupt the work in small ways, perhaps. We think that it is a constructive path to take."
But he also accused the West of reneging on previous agreements to support Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear power program. He said Tehran is now seeking assurances that the United States and its European partners will provide enforceable guarantees that they will abide by any agreements they ultimately make in formal negotiations. "We need to know who the parties to the negotiations are, and what the prerogatives and the responsibilities of each are, and what guarantees there are on enforcement measures," Ahmadinejad said.
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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that his government is prepared to consider suspending its controversial uranium-enrichment program if Western governments meet unspecified conditions.
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Search Narrows For Source Of E. Coli
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Health officials in New Mexico positively identified a deadly strain of E. coli in a bag of spinach yesterday, providing a crucial clue that investigators say can be used to trace the source of an outbreak that has sickened 146 people.
Until now, the evidence implicating spinach has been circumstantial. By confirming the presence of the germ in a bag of spinach eaten by one victim, investigators can begin tracing it back to a farm in California, a step toward clearing the sale of fresh spinach from other parts of the country, David W. Acheson, a top FDA food safety expert, said.
"Yesterday, we narrowed it to California," he said. "Today, we narrowed it down to three counties. We're hoping to narrow it down to a field and . . . to a spinach leaf."
The E. coli outbreak, which was reported a week ago, has led to the leafy vegetable's banishment from restaurants and dinner tables across the country and is threatening the spinach industry with severe damage. Losses are estimated at up to $100 million if the crisis lasts just a month, and the industry has been hoping for a quick resolution in order to stem long-term damage.
Nutritionists and food-policy experts said public fears about spinach could extend to other popular produce, such as bagged salads. Even though there have been 20 E. coli outbreaks from spinach or lettuce since 1995, this one has attracted the most attention because it has the most victims, with one death, another death suspected and the number of illnesses climbing by 15 yesterday. Two more states, Arizona and Colorado, reported cases yesterday.
The uncertainty has virtually shut down the fresh spinach industry.
"This is going to kill the spinach industry for who knows how long," said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. "The idea that salad greens have become a source of E. coli is very shocking, and it means we have a real problem in the food system. This is very serious."
Samuel Fromartz, the author of a recent book about the natural foods business in California, said: "It's not just the spinach industry. I think it's a big blemish for fresh produce production out of the Salinas Valley."
Federal officials yesterday narrowed the source of the outbreak to three counties, Monterey, Santa Clara and San Benito, in and around the greater Salinas Valley. The germ was found in a bag of Dole baby spinach, marked best used by Aug. 30. Acheson said the spinach was processed by Natural Selection Foods LLC, saying the code on the bag fit with information provided by the company, which has previously been linked to the outbreak.
Yesterday, the FDA said a New Jersey company, RLB Food Distributors, was recalling a number of products containing spinach possibly supplied by Natural Selection. The brands -- including Balducci's and FreshPro -- were sold on the East Coast, including in Maryland, Virginia and the District. Those with an "Enjoy Thru" date of 9/20/06 or earlier should be returned to the store where they were purchased.
And officials reiterated that no one should consume fresh spinach until they lift their warning.
The Salinas Valley is a dominant area for spinach production in California, which produces roughly 74 percent of the country's fresh spinach, thanks in large part to Natural Selection's Earthbound Farm and its innovative bagged produce. California recorded $258 million in spinach sales last year. In Monterey County, sales of spinach reached $188.2 million last year, up from $56 million in 1995.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has credited the growth of spinach sales to the convenience of buying it fresh in bags, which became popular in the 1990s.
The California region's spinach problems, amplified by the sheer size of its market share, have not only dented the state's more than $30 billion-a-year agricultural business, but are also causing concern in secondary spinach and produce markets across the country -- from Arizona to Colorado to New Jersey and even Maryland, where about 40 growers covering 1,200 acres are two weeks from harvesting late-summer plantings.
FDA officials have said they would like to quickly lift the cloud of concern over farmers not tied to the outbreak.
Kate Wagner, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Agriculture, said the state's farmers were "cautiously optimistic" that they will be able to harvest their spinach.
In California, some growers have talked about "disking" -- plowing under ripe crops that cannot be harvested. "I don't know of anybody disking yet, but that's the decision we're going to have to face," said Joe Pezzini, chairman of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California.
Spinach is grown in 80-inch beds and harvested mechanically, at a cost of about $33,500 an acre. Farmers with hundreds of acres, who may lose more than one crop before the end of the growing season in November, stand to suffer big losses, according to Richard F. Smith, a farm adviser in the University of California Cooperative Extension program in Monterey County. Last year, 17,000 acres in the county were planted with spinach.
Growers aren't the only ones in the food chain feeling the pinch.
Mark Allen, president of the International Food Service Distributors Association, said, "From an economic standpoint, it's substantial because distributors have to pull back not just any tainted product, but anything that has fresh spinach in it." He couldn't say how much of a hit distributors would take but said larger companies could lose millions of dollars if they are not reimbursed by their suppliers.
The longer FDA officials take to figure out the problem, the worse the damage will be to the spinach industry. Not being able to pinpoint the cause would be an even worse situation.
"If you don't know what the problem is and you can't solve it, then you can't reassure the public that what they are eating is safe," said Nestle, the NYU professor.
As a leafy green vegetable, which nutritionists would like Americans to eat more of, spinach is known as being a good source of fiber and vitamin A, as well as iron, vitamin C and folic acid. "It's a pretty power-packed vegetable compared with iceberg lettuce," said Reed Mangels, nutrition adviser for the Vegetarian Resource Group.
There are other sources of leafy vegetables that provide similar nutritional value: kale, collard greens, mustard greens, arugula. Some of those have already become a replacement for dishes containing spinach in restaurants. Also, frozen and canned spinach are not included in the warning.
But while spinach is certainly taking a beating, nobody is saying the vegetable is going away forever. "There are no concerns about healthiness, that it's not a good food," Mangels said.
"Spinach isn't poison," said Daniel Sumner, an agricultural economist at the University of California at Davis. "Yes, there has been a problem. But there are outbreaks in hamburgers that make the news, and we haven't quit eating hamburgers."
Staff writers Sonya Geis and Chris Kirkham contributed to this report.
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Health officials in New Mexico positively identified a deadly strain of E. coli in a bag of spinach yesterday, providing a crucial clue that investigators say can be used to trace the source of an outbreak that has sickened 146 people.
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A Time to Reflect on Spiritual Journeys
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Chris Moore was an aspiring rock musician with earrings and a shaved head when he walked into a Northern Virginia mosque a dozen years ago and began asking questions about Islam.
A month later, the Christian-raised son of a U.S. Navy man became a Muslim. His conversion initiated a spiritual odyssey that took him to several Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, where he adopted and then rejected the ultraconservative Wahhabi approach to Islam.
Moore's faith journey ultimately brought the Annandale resident home, and today he is pursing a master's degree at St. John's College in Annapolis, a university noted for its demanding curriculum based on reading classic works of Western civilization.
Like many other young Muslims in the United States, Moore is seeking to fashion an Islamic identity that flourishes in American society and influences it for the better. He feels a responsibility, he said, to contribute to a more harmonious relationship between Islam and the West -- a task that is on his mind as he observes this year's Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a period of daytime fasting and spiritual introspection that starts at sundown today.
"I'll be doing a lot of reflecting on how I can make a difference in the state of affairs of Muslims -- in the West, specifically," said Moore, 31, who attends the Mustafa Center in Annandale.
Fluent in Arabic, Moore said he hopes to foster understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims by translating some of the "beautiful, deep wisdom that I've found in Arabic literature. . . . There's a lot in the Islamic tradition that people in this country . . . would love."
But first, he wants to better understand his own culture, which is why St. John's was a logical choice. "What better way to understand the West," he said, "than by going directly to the foundational texts and books and works that helped create that civilization?"
Ramadan, believed to be the period when God revealed the first verses of the Koran to the prophet Muhammad, is the most important month of the Islamic religious calendar. During this time, which is dedicated to spiritual growth, Muslims must refrain from eating, drinking and having sexual relations between dawn and sunset. It is also customary for Muslims to spend part of the days during Ramadan studying the Koran.
The daily fast is broken with an evening meal called the iftar , after which many Muslims attend special nightly prayers, known as taraweeh , at their mosques. Ramadan evenings are often festive, with visits among relatives and friends. The month ends with one of Islam's major holidays, Eid al-Fitr.
The arc of Moore's personal journey from a very conservative to a more moderate expression of his faith echoes the spiritual path of many Muslim American converts. For Moore, the story began in 1994, a year after graduating from Annandale High School.
An only child, he became close friends with Aaron Sellars, another young aspiring musician. The two also shared a yearning for spiritual fulfillment, which led them to Dar al Hijra Islamic Center in Falls Church. They walked in one day and began asking one of the members about Islam. Sellars converted that day; Moore, raised Catholic, did so shortly afterward.
He took to his new faith with an intensity typical of converts. He adopted the Arabic name Khalil, which means intimate friend, and gave up his beloved music, because a Saudi spiritual adviser convinced him that it was a sinful waste of time.
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Denver's Art Museum: A Mile High and Twice as Big
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WHAT: The Denver Art Museum's new Frederic C. Hamilton Building and its additional exhibition space
WHY GO: One of the largest art museums between Chicago and the West Coast is about to get a whole lot bigger. On Oct. 7, the Denver Art Museum will double in size with the opening of the Frederic C. Hamilton Building. The 146,000-square-foot structure will help accommodate the museum's permanent collection and provides three spaces for traveling exhibitions.
The Hamilton Building, named after the Denver businessman who chairs the museum's board of trustees, was designed by famed architect Daniel Libeskind, who drew up the original master plan for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site.
The $90.5 million building consists of geometric, titanium-clad angles that resemble the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. A 120-foot-high atrium features sloping walls, a skylight and a grand staircase that provide easy access to the building's galleries. An additional two-story atrium houses the modern and contemporary galleries, which include an outdoor sculpture garden providing views of the Denver skyline.
DON'T MISS . . . the Japanese art collection of Kimiko and John Powers, featuring approximately 120 works, in the new Gallagher Family Gallery on the building's first floor. The exhibition -- which includes folding screens, hanging and hand scrolls, sculpture and lacquer ware -- spans seven centuries with works by Zen priests and artists using Western techniques.
The second-floor Anschutz Gallery houses
including works from artists Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Franz Ackermann and Katharina Fritsch. Included in the exhibition are two provocative works: Damien Hirst's "Philip (The Twelve Disciples)," which is a skinned bull's head suspended in formaldehyde; and Kiki Smith's "Virgin Mary," a wax statue covered in blue-black, wax-dipped, silk flowers, tassels and feathers.
The Martin & McCormick Gallery, also on the second floor, will exhibit Pueblo ceramics, Navajo and Hopi textiles and other contemporary Native American art .
EXTRAS: The museum's grand opening weekend, cleverly titled Hot DAM (DAM is for Denver Art Museum), starts Oct. 7 at 10 a.m. Admission is free for the 35-hour event, which will include live entertainment, tours and family programming. Timed tickets will be available on site only beginning Oct. 7 at 9 a.m.
Denver hosts an international wine festival on Nov. 2 and 4 at the Mile High Station (2027 W. Lower Colfax Ave., 303-664-5700). The first event will be a food and wine pairing competition; the second will feature entries from 16 countries and 70 wineries with about 300 different bottles of wine being offered. Tickets range from $75 to $120.
EATS: Palette's, the museum restaurant, received its own $1 million touch-up and is also reopening Oct. 7. The eatery will offer several $9 appetizers, including crispy fried calamari and smoked sweet corn soup with guacamole and barbecued shrimp. Main dishes will range from a $9 "BLAT" (a bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sandwich) to a $14 pork schnitzel.
Zengo (1610 Little Raven St., 720-904-0965), in the city's trendy Riverfront Park neighborhood, features Asian-Latin fusion. Zengo is Japanese for "give and take" -- which means lots of sharing with your dinner compadres over such dishes as won-ton tacos, steamed gyoza dumplings and Thai shrimp lettuce wrap. Small plates are about $10 each; you'll pay about double that for full-size entrees.
It has only six tables (talk about intimate), but there's a lot of buzz about the year-old French restaurant Z Cuisine (2239 W. 30th Ave., 303-477-1111). Critics are raving over classic French dishes like the Cassoulet Maison ($21).
SLEEPS: The century-old Oxford Hotel (1600 17th St., 303-628-5400, http://www.theoxfordhotel.com/ ) has 80 guest rooms packed with European antiques; rooms start at $159 per night double. On the other side of the spectrum is the modern Jet Hotel (1612 Wazee St., 303-572-3300, http://www.thejethotel.com/ ), with 19 rooms, each one hipper than the next. And how's this for cool: Jet's Web site describes the hotel bar as "an urban nightclub meets '30s-era speakeasy in a postmodern setting." Rooms start at about $169.
INFO: The Denver Art Museum is at 100 W. 14th Pkwy., 720-865-5000, http://www.denverartmuseum.org/ .
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One of the largest art museums between Chicago and the West Coast is about to get a whole lot bigger.
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U.N. Speeches Address Iran Tensions
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Video: Post's Linzer on Bush's Speech
Dafna Linzer: Hi everyone, thanks for joining me today. Lots of good questions so let's get started.
Port Chester, N.Y.: I have been unable to find a copy of the speech by the president of Iran. Could I have a link so that I can read it before the discussion tomorrow? Thanks.
Dafna Linzer: Hi there, I was going to direct you to the UN Web site but it's so lousy and hard to navigate that I just decided to look it up myself. I think if you go to this link below, and click on Tuesday's speeches, you should be able to find it. Good luck!
Mooresville, N.C.: What is the current status of operations in Iraq? How does this status effect how we deal with Iran? Does Bush have a weak hand to play here?
Dafna Linzer: Hi, good question. Iran is enormously influential in Iraq - it has close ties to Shia religious leaders, Shia parties, it is deeply involved in the Iraqi interior ministry, it has spies and agents crawling all over the country. The more the United States seems unable to restore peace in Iraq, the more interested Shia Iraqis become in looking to Iran for help.
The Bush administration recognizes this and has Secretary of State Rice has tried to dispatch the U.S. ambassador to Iraq to meet with Iranian officials to discuss Iraq but the Iranians balked. Their influence in Iraq, in Afghanistan and Lebanon has complicated efforts to pressure Iran on the nuclear issue - and that has led the Iranians (and some in the US government) to believe that Iran has so many more leavers than the US does at the moment.
Katy, Tex.: Can you give some details on the discussion Ahmadinejad had with critics? What were the main topics discussed and were there anything new revealed.
Dafna Linzer: Hi there, hopefully the web folks will link to the Post article today on the Iranian president's meeting last night in New York with members of the Council on Foreign Relations.
It doesn't sound like he said anything new, and reiterated anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments he is becoming famous for. I wasn't at the meeting and so I'm not sure how hard the Council members, which included Republican former administration members, pushed back or what question they asked. It does sound like Ahmadinejad did a skillful job though of deflecting many of their questions.
washingtonpost.com: Iranian Leader Defends Controversial Stands (Post, Sept. 21, 2006)
More coverage: Early October New Deadline for Iran (Post, Sept. 21, 2006)
Princeton, N.J.: There seems to be a disagreement between the Republicans as led by Pete Hoesktra and the IAEA. Are there inspectors in Iran now? Are there TV cameras in the atomic installations sending back to the IAEA? Is there any evidence at all that Iran is trying to enrich Uranium to 90%+ required for weapons?
Dafna Linzer: Hi there, thanks for bringing this up and again, I'd be grateful if the webfolks could post my piece on this dispute.
U.N. nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are in Iran all the time, there are cameras that monitor, 24/7, the centrifuge cascades that are spinning, including the one that is capable of making low levels of enriched uranium. Inspectors told me it is the most heavily monitored facility in the world.
But to answer your astute question - No. There is no evidence that Iran is making highly enriched uranium and no evidence that they could now, even if they wanted to.
washingtonpost.com: U.N. Inspectors Dispute Iran Report By House Panel (Post, Sept. 14, 2006)
Monroe, Mich.: What is the status of the al Qaeda leaders, including bin Laden's son, being held by the IRGC-Quds Division? Will they be used as bargaining chips by the Iranians? Why hasn't Bush mentioned these men?
Dafna Linzer: Great question from another astute observer, this time in Michigan.
Several senior al-Qaeda leaders, including bin Laden's son, fled into Iran in December 2001, at the same time that others, including bin Laden himself, are believed to have fled into Pakistan.
My intelligence sources say the small group in Iran are in serious custody. The Iranians offered in 2003 to turn them over to US custody in a swap in which the US would hand over Iranian exiles in Iraq who were trying to overthrow the Iranian leadership. A lot of senior people in the US government supported the swap, including some in the CIA, the state department and the White House. But it was opposed by the Pentagon and the Vice President's office - in the end President Bush decided against it.
Iran hasn't released the group though and is still hoping a swap may be possible some time down the road.
Knoxville, Tenn.: Considering U.S./ CIA roles in meddling with internal politics of other sovereign nations, e.g. : 1953 Iranian coup, and Iraq war-2, should Iran be wary of U.S. and prepare for a "war"..and that includes the capabilities of nuclear weapon? If Bush can interpret Geneva conventions to suit him, can't Iran Interpret the NPT to their advantage?
Dafna Linzer: Interesting questions. I guarantee you that Iran, just like the United States, is doing contingency planning for all scenarios, including war. Iran is on the record, repeatedly, as saying that nuclear weapons are not part of its plan. It has said over and over again that the nuclear program is peaceful, and for the production of energy only. UN inspectors can't verify that though. They haven't found proof of a weapon, but they haven't been able to confirm the "Peaceful" part either.
But yes, I guarantee the Iranians are mindful of previous US interference, such as the CIA-led coup in 1953 that removed a democratically elected Iranian leader. And yes, Iran feels just as free to interpret treaties to its own advantage.
Falls Church, Va.: What were the anti-Semitic comments Ahmadinejad made at the recent New York meeting? I didn't hear news about anything.
Dafna Linzer: HI, take a look at our piece on it today. He repeatedly cast doubt on the Holocaust, said there wasn't proof etc. He has made these remarks before. At home, he sponsored an anti-Semitic cartoon contest.
washingtonpost.com: Iranian Leader Defends Controversial Stands (Post, Sept. 21, 2006)
Washington, D.C.: What are the chances Israel, in part to compensate for its less than stellar bout with Hezbollah, may decide to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before Iran gets the bomb?
Dafna Linzer: Good question. Last year, Vice President Cheney was suggesting an Israeli strike was a real possibility. That rhetoric seems to have dropped off, in part, I think, because it irked the Israelis.
I think the war with Hezbollah was devastating for Israel and I don't know if they'll want to prove themselves with a strike against Iran. I honestly think it would be militarily difficult and terribly risky - it would almost certainly mean another fight with Hezbollah, counterattacks against US and British troops in Iraq and terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets around the globe. It was Hezbollah, not al-Qaeda, that blew up a Jewish center in Argentina in 1984.
Alexandria, Va.: What do you think the Iranian reaction is to a military strike against nuclear facilities by Israel or the U.S.?
Topeka, Kan.: Dafna, thanks for your excellent coverage of Iran! I am confused though, it seems like there is conflicting information out there on the estimate of when Iran could develop a nuclear bomb. Sometimes I read one to two years, sometimes three to five, sometimes five to ten. Do you have any idea which it is?
Dafna Linzer: Hi and thanks.
Last August, I broke the story about the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran which estimated that Iran is as much as a decade away from being able to produce enough highly enriched uranium for the core of a deliverable nuclear weapon. A couple weeks ago, John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence, publicly confirmed that, saying Iran is five to 10 years away. That estimate, by the way, is "worst case scenario", meaning that if everything goes right for the Iranians technically, and they decide to go full speed ahead with efforts to build a bomb, they are five to 10 years away.
We already know, from UN inspectors, that the Iranians are in fact having lots of problems technically and are moving at a slower pace than even they expected just in making low enriched uranium for nuclear power.
The caveat of course is that there is the possibility that Iran is hiding other aspects of the program that neither US intelligence, nor inspectors, have discovered. Thus the "five" part in the assessment.
London, Ontario: If there is any lesson in the runup to the Iraq war, it is that the prospect of proving a negative (i.e.: that a nation is categorically incapable of producing a bomb) is a fool's errand. There will always be people that insist that inspectors have not searched hard enough. Is this insistence on "stronger inspections" simply a pretext for widening the neocon agenda?
Dafna Linzer: HI, I don't know about the pretext part but I do know that US intelligence, and the inspectors are coming under enormous pressure and criticism from some Republican quarters for not finding definitive proof of a weapons program the Bush administration insists exists. The IAEA has pushed back, the intelligence community has been publicly silent.
Munich, Germany: Other than the issue of self defense, one of the motivators for Iran to obtain the bomb is status within the Middle-East and the Arab world.
Have there been any noticeable changes in the Sunni-Shiite balance of things after the Lebanon War?
Perhaps Iran has won a bit of respect amongst its Arab peers that might make the bomb seem not as essential as it once was.
Dafna Linzer: Interesting comment. I would only add that Iran says it isn't trying for a bomb.
Arlington, Va.: "I think the war with Hezbollah was devastating for Israel and I don't know if they'll want to prove themselves with a strike against Iran. I honestly think it would be militarily difficult and terribly risky - it would almost certainly mean another fight with Hezbollah, counterattacks against U.S. and British troops in Iraq and terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets around the globe."
If Israel is not going to attack Iran, then what are we to make of recent articles in which Israel calls Iran its "greatest threat"? Are such public statements actually calls for U.S. involvement?
Dafna Linzer: HI, I think for Israel, Iran really does pose an existential threat. President Bush has also called Iran a "grave threat." I think that should make clear how seriously both countries worry about Iran, but that doesn't mean they are determined to bomb it. I'm not sure what the trigger for military action would be but no one will rule it out either - Bush has said "all options are on the table."
Indonesia: What should Iran do to build trust? They have suspended enrichment in the past, they have been watched from years before, they are in the NPT, they haven't invaded any country in their history, they want to negotiate, but everybody puts condition on. What should they do?
Dafna Linzer: For the west - and by this I mean the Europeans and the US -I think Iran would need to cooperate fully with the IAEA, answer outstanding questions, drop the rhetoric and enter into serious negotiations about its energy needs - and not about its rights.
Centreville, Va.: I appreciate your taking the time to speak on this subject.
The conventional wisdom in the U.S. seems to be that Ahmadinejad is crazy, though his presentation to the U.N. appeared to be rational and reasonable. He pointed out the irony that the one country most opposed to Iran nuclear aspirations, was the only country that had ever used them against a civilian population. Does Iran as a sovereign country have the "right" to pursue nukes for protection, especially considering that it is surrounded by half of the world's nuclear powers (China, Pakistan, India, Russia, and Israel)?
Dafna Linzer: Hi, another question premised on the assumption that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon. Iran has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and that means it is legally obligated not to develop nuclear weapons. It can always withdraw from the treaty, but that would widely be seen as an announced intention to build the bomb.
Rockville, Md.: Iran is a capable country. What if we make a deal where they are a local leader and hope that their leadership will evolve? Or is that the deal they made with Germany in the 1930s?
I think it depends on knowing if Iran wants war or peace. Or do they think we have no realistic ability to go to war?
Dafna Linzer: Hi, a lot of the concern about Iran has to do with intentions, rather than evidence of a bomb program. The Iranians say they want a "grand bargain" with the United States that recognizes its leadership role in the region and accepts it for what it is. The Bush administration has rejected that idea, but is willing to sit down for talks with the Iranians, Europeans, Russians and Chinese to talk about the nuclear issue. If Iran suspends its uranium enrichment program, the talks, with the US, will go forward. If it doesn't, the US will pursue economic sanctions but it's unclear whether or not other countries like Russia and China would go along with that.
Clarksburg, Md.: Iran is suspected of developing a nuclear reactor for the purposes of developing nuclear weapons, because it is said that they have no need for nuclear energy because they are an oil-rich nation. But what is unsaid is that, if they develop nuclear energy capabilities, the oil that is saved can be sold on the open market and the additional revenues could possibly be used to build hospitals or schools or roads. While I believe Iran's goal is to develop weapons, I'm curious as to why this possibility has never been mentioned. Do you believe this is remotely possible and have you heard this possibility suggested by anyone?
Dafna Linzer: Hi, I guess my question for you is, if you believe that Iran is trying to get nuclear weapons, then why does it matter if the energy argument makes sense? That's where the Bush administration is on this issue. But there has been articles about this and I do think that people take Iran's arguments seriously. As I wrote above, it's all a question of intent.
Dafna Linzer: Hey everyone, thanks again for an enlightening exchange. Let's do it again soon, Dafna
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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Bush Says He'd Send Troops Into Pakistan
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WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Wednesday he would order military action inside Pakistan if intelligence indicated that Osama bin Laden or other top terror leaders were hiding there. "Absolutely," Bush said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
With bin Laden still at large five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and believed to be hiding somewhere along the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bush disputed any suggestion that Pakistan has not done enough to hunt down terrorist leaders.
Bush meets Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at the White House on Friday and again next week.
"I view President Musharraf as somebody who would like to bring al-Qaida to justice," Bush said. "There's no question there is a kind of a hostile territory in the remote regions of Pakistan that makes it easier for somebody to hide."
In a news conference last week, Bush said he could not send thousands of troops into Pakistan to search for bin Laden without an invitation from the government. "Pakistan's a sovereign nation," Bush said then.
In the television interview, Bush was asked whether he would give the order for American troops to kill or capture bin Laden or other terror leaders if good intelligence pointed to their whereabouts, even if it was inside Pakistan's borders.
"We would take the action necessary to bring them to justice," the president said.
On the standoff over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, Bush said he takes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seriously when he says Israel shouldn't exist. Ahmadinejad has called the Nazis' slaughter of 6 million Jews a myth and said Israel should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States.
"You can't just hope for the best," Bush said. "You've got to assume that the leader, when he says that he would like to destroy Israel, means what he says. If you take _ if you say, well, gosh, maybe he doesn't mean it, and you turn out to be wrong, you have not done your duty as a world leader. ... Absolutely I take him seriously."
Bush would not address Israeli estimates that it could take Iran only a few more months to get to the point where it could start building a nuclear bomb.
"I'm not going to discuss with you our intelligence on the subject," the president said. "But time is of the essence."
Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush did not watch Ahmadinejad's speech Tuesday evening at the U.N. General Assembly.
In those remarks, which took place only hours after Bush stood at the same podium in New York, the hard-line leader denounced U.S. policies in Iraq and Lebanon and accused Washington of abusing its power in the Security Council to punish others while protecting its own interests and allies.
Ahmadinejad insisted that his nation's nuclear activities are "transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eye" of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
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WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Wednesday he would order military action inside Pakistan if intelligence indicated that Osama bin Laden or other top terror leaders were hiding there. "Absolutely," Bush said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
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3.3 Million Years Later, Skeleton of Girl Found
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Fossil hunters have unearthed the skeleton of a young girl who died 3.3 million years ago, marking the first time scientists have discovered the nearly complete remains of a child of an ancient human ancestor.
The girl, who was about 3 years old when she perished in what may have been a flash flood, provides an unprecedented window into human evolution, in part because she belongs to the same species as "Lucy," one of the most famous hominid specimens in paleontology, experts said.
That prompted some scientists to refer to the new skeleton as "Lucy's baby," even though they estimate that the child lived about 150,000 years earlier. The researchers who discovered her in an Ethiopian desert named her Selam, which means "peace" in several Ethiopian languages.
Although scientists have found bones and bone fragments of children from this and other species of human predecessors, and a few skeletons, the discovery represents one of the most complete individuals ever recovered and by far the oldest. Bones of young children are so small and soft that few survive.
"I'm very excited," said Zeresenay Alemseged of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, who led the international team reporting the find in today's issue of the journal Nature. "This is a unique discovery in the history of paleoanthropology."
Independent experts agreed, saying the discovery probably would lead to important insights into humans' evolutionary history.
"It's just an amazingly complete specimen," said Bernard Wood of George Washington University, who wrote an article accompanying the paper. "I have to keep picking up the photograph of it to make sure I didn't dream it."
Scientists are still painstakingly extracting the fossilized bones from the surrounding stone, but they have already made striking discoveries, dramatically reinforcing the idea that the creatures were a transitional stage between apes and humans. Although they had legs like humans that enabled them to walk upright on two feet, they also had shoulders like gorillas that may have enabled them to climb trees; although their teeth seem to have grown quickly, like chimps' teeth, their brains may have matured more slowly, like those of humans.
"This confirms the idea that human evolution was not some straight line going from ape to human," said Rick Potts of the Smithsonian Institution. "The more we discover, the more we realize that different parts evolve at different times, and some of these experiments of early evolution had a combination of humanlike and apelike features."
The child's species, Australopithecus afarensis , lived between about 3.8 million and 3 million years ago and is among the earliest known forerunners of modern humans. It has long played an important role for scientists studying evolution, in part because of the well-preserved remains of Lucy, an adult discovered nearby in 1974.
The youngster's fossilized remains, the first to fully exhibit the mixed ape-human characteristics in a child, were found in the remote, harsh Dikika area of northeastern Ethiopia in 2000 when an expedition member spotted the face of the skull poking out from a steep dusty hillside. The surroundings indicate that the child might have drowned in a flash flood, which immediately buried the intact remains in sand that hardened to encase the bones, the researchers said.
Over the next four years, researchers slowly recovered much of the rest of the child's skeleton, including the entire skull, with a sandstone impression of the brain, jaws with teeth, parts of the shoulder blades and collarbone, ribs, the spinal column, the right arm, fingers, legs and almost a complete left foot.
National Geographic magazine provided some of the funding for the project.
Until now, the only fairly complete skeletons of young children in the human evolutionary tree found by scientists were those of modern humans and Neanderthals, which date back only about 60,000 years.
"We've never had anything so complete before," said Donald C. Johanson of Arizona State University, who discovered Lucy. "This is going to allow us to have extraordinary insight into the growth and development of this species."
Zeresenay has been painstakingly etching away the sandstone, almost grain by grain, with a dentist's drill to protect the tiny vertebrae, ribs and other bones. One finger is still curled in a tiny grasp. High-tech scans of the teeth enabled researchers to identify the child's sex and approximate age.
Where the child's throat once was, Zeresenay found a hyoid bone, which is located in the voice box and supports muscles of the tongue and throat. It is the first time that bone has been discovered in such an old fossil of a human predecessor. It appears more primitive than a human hyoid and more like those in apes, suggesting that the 1 1/2 -foot toddler sounded more like a chimp than a human.
"If you imagine how this child would have sounded if it was crying out for its mother, its cry would appeal more to chimp ears than to human ears," said Fred Spoor of University College London, who is helping to study the remains. "Even though it's a very early human ancestor, she would sound more apelike than humanlike."
The child's lower limbs confirm earlier findings that the species walked upright like humans. But the shoulder blades resemble a young gorilla's. Along with the long arms, curved fingers and inner-ear cavity, the bones provide new evidence supporting those who believe the creatures may have still climbed trees as well.
"I see this species as foraging bipeds -- walking on two feet but climbing trees when necessary, such as to forage for food," Zeresenay said, adding that more research will be needed to be certain of that controversial conclusion.
The skeleton offers scientists the first opportunity to examine various parts of the body in a single specimen rather than looking at individual bones from different representatives.
"Before this, you didn't know if it was like you might have the arm of a Danny DeVito and the leg of a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar," Potts said.
The discovery of a child also allows scientists to begin to study how the species developed. The child's brain size suggests that the species' brain matured relatively slowly.
"If the brain was developing slower, as in humans or similar to what you see in humans, here might have also been the beginnings of behavioral shifts towards being more human," Zeresenay said.
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Fossil hunters have unearthed the skeleton of a young girl who died 3.3 million years ago, marking the first time scientists have discovered the nearly complete remains of a child of an ancient human ancestor.
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Fed Holds Steady On Key Rate
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Federal Reserve policymakers held short-term interest rates steady yesterday, saying inflation remains too high but should drift lower as energy prices fall and the economy slows.
The central bank left open the door to further rate increases if necessary to tamp down price pressures, but the decision strengthened many analysts' view that the Fed is done increasing rates for now.
The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee last raised its benchmark short-term interest rate to 5.25 percent in June, the 17th consecutive increase in two years meant to cool the economy and bring down inflation. The group left the rate unchanged at its previous meeting, in early August, saying that it expected price pressures to weaken as past rate increases took effect in coming months.
Since then, energy prices have tumbled, inflation has ebbed and the housing market has slowed sharply, boosting expectations in financial markets that the central bank will leave interest rates on hold through the end of the year, and perhaps even cut rates early next year.
One big question for the committee and financial markets now is how the housing downturn will affect the rest of the economy.
The housing boom of recent years was a big generator of jobs in construction, finance and retailing, and rapid appreciation of housing prices encouraged many consumers to borrow against their homes to finance extra spending.
Construction of new homes plunged 6 percent in August, for the third consecutive monthly decline, pushing the pace of home building to its lowest level in more than three years. Inventories of unsold homes have shot up in recent months, and the rise of home prices has been sluggish.
This shift is likely to cause a "fairly significant" drop in consumer spending and a hit to the economy next year, which will prompt the Fed to cut interest rates by the spring, predicted Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
But other economists, including many at the Fed, believe the weakness in housing will be offset by strong business investment, an increase in exports and solid consumer spending. Many households have more money to spend now than earlier this year because of lower gasoline prices, rising incomes and steady job growth.
"Housing is going to cool off, but not crush the economy," said Ethan S. Harris, chief U.S. economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. He added that though inflation had eased, it will remain high for several months, likely prompting the Fed to raise its benchmark interest rate to 5.5 percent this year and perhaps to 5.75 percent early next year.
The Fed adjusts interest rates to encourage economic growth and keep inflation low. Higher rates make it harder for businesses and consumers to borrow and spend, slowing growth and weakening inflation. Lower rates do the opposite.
Consumer prices rose 2.4 percent in the 12 months that ended in July, according to the Fed's preferred measure, which excludes volatile food and energy prices. That is above the 1 to 2 percent comfort zone described by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and several of his colleagues.
As in August, one voting member of the Fed committee dissented yesterday from its decision. Jeffrey M. Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, would have preferred another quarter-percentage point increase in the benchmark interest rate, the group said in a statement.
Lacker has argued that the Fed should raise the rate to bring down inflation more rapidly.
The Fed's decision means that consumer interest rates linked to the benchmark federal funds rate should stay steady as well. Those include rates on many credit cards and home equity loans.
Fed policy directly affects short-term interest rates like those on credit cards, but only indirectly influences long-term rates, which are determined more by global financial markets. Mortgage rates, for example, have declined in recent months. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage slipped to 6.43 percent last week, down from a peak this year of 6.79 percent in early July, according to mortgage financier Freddie Mac.
Financial markets showed little reaction to yesterday's decision, which traders had expected. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 72.28 points, or 0.63 percent, to close at 11,613.19.
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Federal Reserve policymakers held short-term interest rates steady yesterday, saying inflation remains too high but should drift lower as energy prices fall and the economy slows.
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Graft Charges Dismissed Against S. Africa's Ex-Deputy President
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JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 20 -- A South African judge dismissed corruption charges on Wednesday against the country's controversial former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, handing him another victory in a political comeback supporters hope will propel him into the presidency in 2009.
Prosecutors have the option of submitting new indictments against Zuma, 64, who was charged with receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars for brokering government approval of an arms deal with a French company. Zuma's close friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was convicted last year on related charges that included having a "generally corrupt relationship" with Zuma.
Judge Herbert Msimang's decision, announced in a courtroom in Pietermaritzburg, near South Africa's southeastern coast, was a staggering setback -- legally and politically -- for the government's case against Zuma, analysts said. After the ruling, Zuma's supporters burst into celebration, much as they had in May when Zuma was acquitted of unrelated rape charges.
"Everything has been brought to finality," Zuma told thousands of supporters outside the courthouse, the Associated Press reported. "If there are any others who would like to bring me back to court, they must start afresh."
Prosecutors had asked for a delay, but the judge refused to grant one and called on them to present their case immediately. When they failed to do so, Msimang dismissed the charges, dubbed the indictments a "sham" and said the prosecution had "limped from one disaster to another."
The office of the National Prosecuting Authority said it would review its strategy before announcing whether it would file more charges.
Analysts said they did not expect prosecutors to abandon a high-profile, politically charged case that has been portrayed as a test of whether the rule of law applies to powerful leaders in a nation with a single dominant party, Zuma's African National Congress.
"The state is not going to invest resources, time and money in a case against Zuma and just walk away from it," said Aubrey Matshiqi, a political analyst. "It is a bad day for the prosecution, but Zuma should not celebrate yet."
President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as deputy president in June 2005, shortly after Shaik was convicted, though Zuma was allowed to remain deputy president of the ANC.
Prosecutors indicted Zuma on corruption charges in November. That same month, a 31-year-old family friend of Zuma accused him of raping her during a visit to his Johannesburg house. Charges were soon filed in that case as well.
Zuma complained that he was the victim of a conspiracy to prevent his ascent to the presidency of both the ruling ANC and the nation, and his core supporters -- mainly from a coalition of union activists, communists and his large Zulu ethnic group -- rallied behind him.
Zuma, an ANC guerrilla in the fight against apartheid who rose from humble roots to the pinnacle of power, remains among South Africa's most popular political figures, and his supporters have never forgiven Mbeki for firing him. Many contend that Mbeki engineered both prosecutions as a way to damage Zuma and allow a handpicked successor to take power in 2009, when Mbeki is due to step down at the end of his second five-year term.
"The one person who Mbeki wanted to get rid of, he has catapulted into a national hero," Rhoda Kadalie, a columnist for Business Day and a human rights activist, said from her home in Cape Town.
The race for president essentially begins with the campaign to become president of the ANC in a national party election next year. Whoever wins that probably will have a commanding advantage in seeking to become president of South Africa, where the party consistently gets two-thirds or more of the support in general elections.
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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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Hedge Fund's Collapse Met With a Shrug
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When the high-powered Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund imploded in 1998, two dozen of Wall Street's most powerful bankers and brokers assembled with the New York Federal Reserve governor to devise a $3.5 billion bailout plan to prevent a bout of panic selling in world markets.
But this week, when the Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC announced that it had suffered losses just as big as LTCM's, markets shrugged. There were no summit meetings at the New York Fed. J.P. Morgan & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co. quietly took over and started selling off Amaranth's portfolio of ill-timed natural gas futures. The major damage is expected to be felt by people wealthy enough, and foolish enough, to have invested in Amaranth.
"There's no systemic risk. The market can absorb this," said Peter Fusaro, co-founder of the Energy Hedge Fund Center, which tracks 520 energy hedge funds. "It's a hiccup."
The reasons for the difference? LTCM borrowed heavily, and it lost badly on a roughly $1 trillion position in currency and Treasury markets. Its failure threatened the stability of banks, and a fire sale of its assets would have hit securities held by almost every fund and investor.
Amaranth also engaged in rash trading, hedge fund managers and commodities traders said. But it borrowed less heavily, and its positions were smaller and focused mostly in natural gas futures. As a result, the firm's downfall has made barely a ripple in broader markets.
"No one got hurt except sophisticated people," said the manager of another multibillion-dollar hedge fund, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve his business relationships. "They took fliers. They made money. They lost money."
They lost a lot of money, almost entirely in a natural gas market that gets tossed about by geopolitical anxieties, the vagaries of weather and the limits of an unwieldy storage system for the fuel.
To many investors, the failure of Amaranth feels more like a serious case of indigestion than a hiccup. Over the past five years, the amount of money invested in hedge funds engaged in energy trading has soared, from about $5 billion to more than $100 billion, according to some estimates. Those investors include not only wealthy individuals, but also endowments and pension funds seeking to diversify out of traditional stocks and bonds.
While most of those investors realize that trading in energy markets is risky, Amaranth's plunge is a reminder of just how risky it can be. Amaranth's co-founder and chief executive, Nicholas Maounis, said in a letter to investors that the fund was "aggressively reducing our natural gas exposure" to meet payments to creditors. He said that the fund, which was up sharply in August, would be down 35 percent for the year after the sell-off.
Amaranth's downfall also bears unsettling similarities to the failure of LTCM. Both firms engaged in spectacularly large wagers, taking up such big portions of their markets that it became difficult for them to unravel their positions. Like LTCM's Nobel Prize winners and other stars, Amaranth's partners possessed a confidence built on past success and untroubled by the possibility of failure. The company bragged on its Web site of "moving nimbly and effectively within an ever-changing investment landscape" and said that its employees "possess fearlessness with respect to complexity, learning, as well as invention, and continuously strive for perfection." Maounis, a convertible-bond trader, said he had chosen the company's name, which means "unfading" in Greek.
Yet experts in commodities trading and natural gas markets said yesterday that Amaranth, which had $9 billion in assets just three weeks ago, had been far from perfect. It had allowed one of its star traders, Calgary-based Brian Hunter, to take huge positions in natural gas. According to the Wall Street Journal, which interviewed Hunter earlier this year, the 32-year-old trader was up $2 billion for the year at the end of August.
To make that much, Hunter must have had "an unconscionably large position for this market," said a hedge fund manager with years of experience in commodity markets who spoke on condition of anonymity for business reasons. A firm such as Goldman Sachs Group, one of the biggest players in energy markets, would typically take positions less than a tenth as big as Hunter's, traders said. One veteran energy trader said Hunter's positions were often twice as big as the next biggest.
Amaranth and Hunter declined to comment for this article.
Natural gas traders said Hunter took risky positions, too. He bet that the price of winter natural gas would rise and that the price of summer gas would fall -- the opposite of what has happened. He also bet that the gap between the March 2007 natural gas price and the April 2007 would increase. Instead, it fell from about $2.60 per 1,000 cubic feet to about 80 cents.
Earlier this year, Harry Arora, a former Enron Corp. energy trader who had hired Hunter at Amaranth, had a falling out with Maounis and Hunter over the risks the firm was taking, say people familiar with the situation. Maounis, impressed that Hunter made hundreds of millions of dollars for the firm in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina sent natural gas prices soaring, made the young Canadian a co-head of commodities trading.
In addition, he let Hunter increase the size of his natural gas positions so that they became more than half of the entire firm's exposure, even though Amaranth claimed to be a "multistrategy" fund. Before Hunter's arrival, all commodities positions made up about 20 percent of Amaranth's portfolio, natural gas no more than 7 percent.
The size of the positions that Amaranth was letting Hunter take was no secret. It was disclosed to investors, such as major investment banks that included stakes in Amaranth as part of their "funds of hedge funds." Typically, the investment banks market their expertise in choosing the best hedge funds. Yet Morgan Stanley, for example, invested $126 million, or about 5 percent, of its $2.3 billion fund of hedge funds in Amaranth. Without naming Amaranth, Goldman Sachs Dynamic Opportunities Ltd., another fund of hedge funds, said yesterday that "significant" losses on an energy-related investment would shave as much as 3 percentage points off its return this month.
Amaranth's fall is almost certainly going to come under scrutiny from members of Congress who advocate federal oversight of the essentially unregulated hedge funds, especially as the $1 trillion sector opens its doors to more investors.
Just last week, New York Fed Governor Timothy F. Geithner expressed concern about the ability of hedge funds to take on a lot of leverage without disclosing it. And he warned that hedge fund failures could hurt market participants other than those investors and lenders who have chosen to do business directly with those funds. In a speech delivered in Hong Kong, Geithner said the growth in hedge funds "will force us to consider how to adapt the design and scope of the supervisory framework to achieve the protection against systemic risk that is so important to economic growth and stability."
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When the high-powered Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund imploded in 1998, two dozen of Wall Street's most powerful bankers and brokers assembled with the New York Federal Reserve governor to devise a $3.5 billion bailout plan to prevent a bout of panic selling in world markets.
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Boeing Wins Deal For Border Security
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Aerospace and defense giant Boeing Co. has won a multibillion-dollar contract to revamp how the United States guards about 6,000 miles of border in an attempt to curb illegal immigration, congressional sources said yesterday.
Boeing's proposal relied heavily on a network of 1,800 towers, most of which would need to be erected along the borders with Mexico and Canada. Each tower would be equipped with a variety of sensors, including cameras and heat and motion detectors.
The company's efforts would be the basis of the government's latest attempt to control U.S. borders after a series of failures. The contract, part of the Secure Border Initiative and known as SBInet, will again test the ability of technology to solve a problem that lawmakers have called a critical national security concern. This time, the private sector is being given an unusually large say in how to do it.
Boeing sold its plan to the Homeland Security Department as less risky and less expensive than competing proposals that would have relied heavily on drones for routine surveillance work. Boeing plans only limited use of small unmanned aerial vehicles that could be launched from the backs of Border Patrol trucks when needed to help pursue suspects.
The system is to be installed first along the Mexican border in an area south of Tucson known to be a key crossing point for illegal immigrants. The company has said it can deploy the system along both borders within three years.
The public announcement of the award is planned for tomorrow. Several congressional and industry sources yesterday confirmed that Boeing had defeated four other companies in one of the most closely watched and intensely fought contract competitions this year. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the competition. Homeland Security spokesman Larry Orluskie said the department was "really close" to making an award.
Boeing officials declined to comment, pending official notification. In an interview this month, Boeing executive Wayne Esser said that despite the company's aviation experience, it wanted to keep its border surveillance systems on the ground. "The aerial platform just goes off the map from a cost standpoint," he said.
Homeland Security has been criticized harshly in recent years for initiatives that have either failed or far exceeded their budgets. In one case, cameras that the department installed on the borders broke down in bad weather.
"The administration has spent $429 million of the taxpayer's money to try and secure our borders with two already-abandoned border security programs," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss). He expressed concern that the same thing will happen to SBInet.
Mindful of that record, Boeing emphasized that all its technology has been proven to work. "The low-risk approach is probably going to carry weight here," Esser said.
From the beginning, department officials told industry leaders that they wanted immediate results. The contract proposed giving the private sector wide latitude in helping U.S. Customs and Border Protection figure out the right combination of technology, infrastructure and personnel needed to stop immigrants, terrorists and criminals from illegally crossing into the United States.
Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Michael P. Jackson said this year that he wanted the companies "to come back and tell us how to do our business."
SBInet has been regarded all year by many industry executives as a critical prize, since the Homeland Security Department's budget continues to boom and no single company has emerged to dominate the market.
As a result, there was pitched competition among defense companies for a contract that is estimated to be worth about $2.5 billion over the next four years. The contest included five prime contractors -- Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co., Ericsson Inc. and Boeing. Each rounded up dozens of subcontractors, bringing a wide variety of defense and technology firms into the competition.
Boeing's subcontractors include a Washington division of L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. and a Reston division of information technology firm Unisys Corp.
Boeing has been one of the Defense Department's largest contractors for decades, and has been trying to win Homeland Security awards since the department was created.
In pursuing this contract, Boeing pointed to its work installing explosive-detection systems at more than 400 airports in less than six months following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But that contract was criticized by the Homeland Security's inspector general's office, which found that Boeing received $49 million in excess profit on a deal that was supposed to be worth $508 million but ballooned to $1.2 billion. Investigators also found that Boeing had subcontracted 92 percent of the work, and that the machines had high false-alarm rates. The company disputed those findings.
Winning SBInet is considered an important victory for Boeing as it seeks to overcome a number of recent setbacks, including a scandal in which a Pentagon official admitted favoring the company in exchange for a job, and the loss this summer in the competition to build the next U.S. manned spacecraft.
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Aerospace and defense giant Boeing Co. has won a multibillion-dollar contract to revamp how the United States guards about 6,000 miles of border in an attempt to curb illegal immigration, congressional sources said yesterday.
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Allen Says He Embraces His Jewish Ancestry
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Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) said for the first time publicly yesterday that he has Jewish ancestry, a day after responding angrily to an exchange that included questions about his mother's racial sensitivity and whether his family has Jewish roots.
At a campaign debate with Democratic challenger James Webb on Monday, a reporter asked Allen whether his mother's father, Felix Lumbroso, was Jewish. He became visibly upset, saying his mother's religion was not relevant to the campaign and chiding the reporter for "making aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs."
Allen's campaign manager said the senator believed the question was hostile because it followed another one about whether Allen had learned the word "macaca" from his mother. The word, which Allen used last month to describe a Webb volunteer, is a French slur for a dark-skinned person. Allen's mother, Henrietta "Etty" Allen, is a native of Tunisia and speaks French.
In a statement released by his campaign yesterday, Allen said he was proud to have recently discovered that his grandfather, an anti-Nazi resistance fighter in North Africa, was part of a well-known Jewish family.
"I was raised as a Christian and my mother was raised as a Christian," Allen, 54, said. "And I embrace and take great pride in every aspect of my diverse heritage, including my Lumbroso family line's Jewish heritage, which I learned about from a recent magazine article and my mother confirmed."
Allen's religious background has not been a campaign issue. But when the reporter asked Allen about it Monday, the exchange triggered a flood of critical commentary on Internet blogs yesterday, demanding that Allen clarify his ancestry.
The Jewish weekly newspaper the Forward recently explored Allen's possible Jewish roots and his connection to the Lumbrosos, a prominent Jewish family that settled in Italy in the 15th century. Allen's campaign spokesman did not return calls seeking confirmation, according to that article.
Peggy Fox, the WUSA (Channel 9) reporter who asked the question at the debate, said she read the article in the Forward. "I had heard from other reporters that his staff had been asked the question before. I thought it was fair game," she said yesterday.
Allen campaign manager Dick Wadhams said, "Saying your mother was a racist. That was exactly the intent and the thrust of the question. Then she [Fox] went on to introduce religion. Introducing religion at all into the debate was inappropriate."
The question about Allen's religion and his delayed response to it are the latest twists in a bizarre Senate campaign that has been dominated for five weeks by Allen's "macaca" comment and more recently by allegations that Webb demeaned military women in an article written 27 years ago.
Polls have indicated that Webb is closing the double-digit lead Allen held earlier this summer. But in addition to a debate over the Iraq war with Webb, a decorated Marine and former Navy secretary, Allen has repeatedly been distracted by other issues.
Allen is not the first public official to discover Jewish roots late in life, including former presidential candidates Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Gen. Wesley K. Clark. In 1997, Secretary of State Madeline Albright revealed that her family history includes three Jewish grandparents who were killed in the Holocaust.
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Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) said for the first time publicly yesterday that he has Jewish ancestry, a day after responding angrily to an exchange that included questions about his mother's racial sensitivity and whether his family has Jewish roots.
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Dissidents' Detainee Bill May Face Filibuster
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Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist signaled yesterday that he and other White House allies will filibuster a bill dealing with the interrogation and prosecution of detainees if they cannot persuade a rival group of Republicans to rewrite key provisions opposed by President Bush.
Frist's chief of staff, Eric M. Ueland, called the dissidents' bill "dead."
With Congress scheduled to adjourn in nine days, delaying tactics such as a filibuster could kill the drive to enact detainee legislation before the Nov. 7 elections, a White House priority. Bush faced still more problems in the House, where GOP moderates Christopher Shays (Conn.), Michael N. Castle (Del.), Jim Leach (Iowa) and James T. Walsh (N.Y.) publicly threw their support behind the bill opposed by the White House. The four Republicans told Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) that any House bill must maintain the dissidents' principles.
On another front, legislation to authorize Bush's warrantless wiretapping program may be in more jeopardy. Frist said yesterday that he referred the warrantless surveillance matter to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for further review and would not bring it up for Senate consideration until next week.
Yesterday's actions significantly dimmed prospects that Congress can complete its national security agenda before adjournment. Frist (R-Tenn.) acknowledged that a majority of the 100 senators back the rival group on military commissions but that there are not enough to block a filibuster, which requires a super-majority of 60.
Senate and administration negotiators talked throughout the day, but no real progress was apparent. "It could all come together in a matter of hours, or it could drag out for another week or so," said John Ullyot, spokesman for Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.).
The sharp rhetoric of last week was replaced yesterday by softer language from both the Bush administration and the three Republican senators leading the opposition to its proposals: Warner, John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.).
But Frist struck a more jarring tone, telling reporters that the trio's bill is unacceptable despite its majority support.
For a bill to pass, Frist said, "it's got to preserve our intelligence programs," including the CIA's aggressive interrogation techniques, and it must "protect classified information from terrorists." He said that "the president's bill achieves those two goals" but that "the Warner-McCain-Graham bill falls short."
The disagreement centers on the Geneva Conventions, which say wartime detainees must be "treated humanely." Bush backs language saying the United States complies so long as CIA interrogators abide by a 2005 law barring "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment of captives. Warner and his allies say they are concerned that Bush's approach would invite nations to interpret the Geneva Conventions in lax ways that could lead to abusive treatment of captured U.S. troops.
The Warner contingent also opposes Bush's bid to allow detainees to be convicted on secret evidence they are not allowed to see.
Yesterday, Warner said negotiators were considering revising the federal War Crimes Act to clarify acceptable interrogation methods by nonmilitary officials. His bill embraces a similar approach, which would sidestep direct references to the Geneva Conventions' meaning. It was unclear whether the White House would accept such language.
Frist also surprised senators yesterday on the warrantless wiretapping issue, sending surveillance legislation already approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the intelligence committee for further review. With one week left to consider the bill on the Senate floor, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), an intelligence committee member, said passage before the election would be "extremely ambitious."
The intelligence committee is considered hostile to legislation worked out between Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and the White House. That bill would allow but not order the administration to submit its warrantless surveillance program to a secret national security court for constitutional review. The program involves monitoring overseas phone calls and e-mails of some Americans when one party is suspected of links to terrorism.
Three Republicans on the intelligence committee -- Snowe, Sen. Mike DeWine (Ohio) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) -- have co-authored competing legislation that would give Congress considerably more oversight of the program.
Two House committees will draft National Security Agency eavesdropping bills this week that would take still another tack on surveillance, but those measures also face resistance, acknowledged Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.), the primary author of the measures.
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Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist signaled yesterday that he and other White House allies will filibuster a bill dealing with the interrogation and prosecution of detainees if they cannot persuade a rival group of Republicans to rewrite key provisions opposed by President Bush.
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Technocrat Recasts Yemen's Presidential Race, Political Future
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SANAA, Yemen, Sept. 19 -- When Faisal bin Shamlan was approached several months ago by a coalition of opposition groups to run in this week's presidential election, he turned down the offer. The 72-year-old economist, who had resigned as oil minister to protest corruption, was enjoying his days reading and going on long, solitary walks. Running against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for more than 28 years, would be an arduous journey better suited to a younger, more energetic man, he believed.
When bin Shamlan subsequently changed his mind, it turned what was set to be a conventional, lackluster exercise into the most competitive presidential election in the Arab world -- a far cry from 1999, when Saleh was pitted against a low-ranking member of his own party and won with 96 percent of the vote.
More important, his decision has been a boon for democracy in Yemen and set up a key test for reform in the region. By going up against an all-powerful president who has maintained his grip on the country for almost three decades, bin Shamlan broke a barrier of fear. And, he says, he is arresting the country's slide toward hereditary rule.
"There was a real danger of Yemen turning into a republic-monarchy, where presidents-for-life groom their sons to take over, like in Egypt and Syria," bin Shamlan said. "That was one of the main points that made me determined. Out of this election, at least we have made it almost impossible for [Saleh] to groom his son."
Very few people, however, expect bin Shamlan to win Wednesday's election. Saleh's government presents the race "as if it's between two candidates, two parties," said Mohammad Naji, a prominent human rights lawyer. "But it is actually one man representing a party who is facing not only an entire government but also a president who is employing all the country's resources on his behalf."
The organization backing bin Shamlan, the Joint Meeting Parties, is an alliance of five opposition groups that includes the powerful religious party known as Islah and the Yemeni Socialist Party. The disparate partners put their ideological differences aside and formed the alliance in 2004 for the sole purpose of initiating political reform, says Islah's assistant secretary general, Abdul-Wahab al-Anisi.
"We subordinated our ideological agendas to the one thing we all had in common, which was a realization that political reform was a necessity if we were to save democracy in Yemen and stop the country's descent into endemic corruption," he said.
Bin Shamlan was chosen after much deliberation, Anisi said, because of his reputation for competence and, more important, honesty -- rare in Yemeni politics.
When bin Shamlan was convinced that all the parties in the coalition were behind his candidacy and that his run could make a difference, he agreed. "The increase of beggars in the street and deterioration of the political, economic and social conditions -- I felt it was my duty to do whatever I could to put an end to that," he said.
If he becomes president, he says, one of the first things he will do will be to use his executive powers to shrink the powers of the executive.
The president "assigns the prime minister," he said, counting off on his fingers, "he is head of the armed forces, he appoints the head of the judiciary, he can dissolve parliament and call for elections." Bin Shamlan shook his head. "That's too much power for the president and not enough accountability. We need to strengthen parliament."
Bin Shamlan's national reputation has developed over more than 30 years in public service, during which time he has resigned three times to protest corruption and what he believed to be political misdeeds. A technocrat who built a reputation for leaving all the ministries and government posts he worked in better and richer than when he started, he is one of a select group of Yemeni politicians who attended the elite Ghail Bawazeer school in southern Yemen when the country was still under British rule.
The most famous anecdote about him says as much about the man as it does about the state of affairs in Yemen.
Bin Shamlan resigned as oil minister in 1995 after a frustrating year of dealing with foreign oil companies and being undermined by government officials. He had laid out a strategy and written a proposal for reforming the ministry, delegating authority and holding everyone accountable. When it was turned down, he resigned, left his ministry car in the garage and grabbed a taxi home.
The story was passed from person to person and took on a life of its own, becoming part of bin Shamlan's legend.
Adding to his reputation was his very public resignation -- which was not accepted -- from parliament when, in 2001, the body extended members' terms from four to six years and that of the president from five to seven. "It wasn't in their mandate," he said. "They should have gone back to the people first."
Islah party leader Anisi said that the support for bin Shamlan's candidacy has taken Saleh's government by surprise and that officials have just started to realize how potent a candidate he is.
When bin Shamlan met with representatives from the European Union election observation mission Sunday at the alliance's campaign headquarters, Anisi handed out two thick reports -- more than 70 pages -- detailing alleged government violations. They included the arrest of supporters for carrying or putting up posters of bin Shamlan, employing army checkpoints to block supporters from attending his rallies, and using state media to promote support of Saleh.
Despite such alleged activities, bin Shamlan's rallies have generally been full, drawing up to 100,000 people in some provinces.
At a recent rally at the al-Thawra stadium in Sanaa, men wearing Yemen's traditional wraparound skirts, their heads covered with colorful scarves, poured for more than an hour through the lone door that authorities had allowed open in the stadium. Many carried Islah's blue and white flag with a rising sun. Women in black cloaks and veils, their eyes visible through slits in the material, packed two designated corners of the stadium.
Hamid al-Ahmar, the charismatic son of Islah leader Abdullah al-Ahmar, told the crowd that bin Shamlan's campaign had sown terror in the hearts of the authorities. "Thank you for your courage in coming today, despite all the troubles you had to go through, and you might still face, for showing us your support," he said as about 20,000 people cheered.
The white-haired bin Shamlan, wearing a coffee-colored suit and tie, gave a shorter, less emotional speech.
"My brothers and sisters, Yemen needs change," he said in a strong voice belying his age. "Not just a change from one person to another, but a complete overhaul from a centralized system to an institutionalized one that doesn't distinguish between any of its citizens."
The crowd started chanting: "No corruption from now on; bin Shamlan has arrived. No corruption for now on; bin Shamlan has arrived."
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E. Coli Probe Focuses on 9 Calif. Farms
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Investigators searched nine California farms for evidence of spinach-borne E. coli yesterday, going into the fields for the first time, as the number of confirmed illnesses rose by 17 to 131.
A team of about a dozen investigators from the Food and Drug Administration and the state of California fanned out to farms in Monterey County's Salinas Valley, according to Kevin Reilly, deputy director of the California Department of Health Services. The farms grew spinach for Natural Selection Foods LLC and River Ranch Fresh Foods LLC, which have recalled all of their fresh spinach, officials said.
Federal officials focused on those nine farms after records provided by Natural Selection and River Ranch indicated a link to bags of spinach eaten by those who became ill, David W. Acheson, an FDA food safety official, said.
The number of farms inspected is likely to rise in the coming days, state and federal officials said. In 2005, more than 10,000 acres of spinach was grown in the Salinas Valley.
Investigators are combing through "hundreds of different documentation related to small farms, large farms and multiple shipments," to identify other potentially contaminated fields and where tainted greens were sent, Reilly said.
Investigators in the field are looking at all aspects of agricultural practices, such as water supply, irrigation systems, and drainage, state and federal officials said. They're also looking at how the product is harvested and any animal activity that might carry E. coli onto the field.
FDA officials have not isolated E. coli in any of the spinach samples they have collected from consumers, processing plants and farms. But there are more samples to be tested.
"If the first round isn't positive, we will keep looking," Acheson said. "I'm hopeful we will find a cause, but there's a realistic possibility we won't."
Acheson said the outbreak appeared particularly virulent, though that could change as more cases are reported. Of the 131 cases, 66 people have been hospitalized, 20 have experienced kidney failure, and one person has died -- a higher than expected proportion.
FDA officials had no update on the death of a toddler in Ohio that was being investigated for links to the outbreak.
Some victims have retained lawyers for possible lawsuits. William Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food poisoning cases, said he is representing 30 victims of the outbreak, 11 of whom have developed kidney failure.
A central challenge to the investigation is a lack of understanding by scientists, farmers and government regulators of how E. coli contaminates produce, FDA officials and food safety researchers said.
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Investigators searched nine California farms for evidence of spinach-borne E. coli yesterday, going into the fields for the first time, as the number of confirmed illnesses rose by 17 to 131.
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Books and Breakfast
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Book lovers have their own special system for rating hotels. Naturally, top points go to rooms with good lamps, cheery fireplaces and chairs you can plop into with ease. But what tips reader-friendly lodging into the premier category are serenity and literary spirit. Now that it's time to put away the beach novels and get into more fallish and substantial books, we went hunting for accommodations with just such amenities. Here are three potential bestsellers nearby (including one in Washington itself).
Alexander House Booklovers Bed & Breakfast, Princess Anne, Md.
Past the wraparound porch with the wooden French-blue floor and white wicker furniture, through the hallway lined with books that had lingered on my mental reading list (biographies of Jackie Onassis and Mary Todd Lincoln, among others), up the stairs past portraits of the likes of Pablo Neruda and Isabella Allende, I wondered how I could yank myself away after one night.
It took all of five minutes to settle into the Jane Austen Room. It is a homebody's nest: welcoming queen-size bed, reading chair with lamp, and a stereo, made to look like a Victrola, for listening to recorded readings from "Pride and Prejudice." Flopping from one comfortable perch to another, book in hand, I was at home.
This place, a three-hour drive from Washington in the Eastern Shore town of Princess Anne, is Neverland for fanatical readers. Without telephones, televisions or other distractions, it has the solitude readers crave. And in every corner there is a novel, biography, volume of poetry or other tome.
Elizabeth Alexander, manager and co-owner, re-tooled this 116-year-old Queen Anne house into a bed-and-breakfast for book lovers. A different literary star inspired each of the three guest rooms. The Langston Hughes Room is decorated with a portrait of the famed poet, an LC Smith typewriter and other period pieces from the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes's heyday. The Robert Louis Stevenson Room is filled with works by the author, paintings of seaside settings he favored and other nautical touches. And the Jane Austen Room exudes a Victorian aura.
Downstairs is Cafe Colette, a bright yellow room where breakfast is served and Scrabble and other board games are stacked. Finally, there is the Mark Twain Reading Parlor, where guests in their pajamas and slippers linger over books.
For those who can tear themselves away, Princess Anne, an impressive stronghold of finely preserved Victorian-era homes, is an excellent setting for leisurely walks.
Alexander House Booklovers Bed & Breakfast, 30535 Linden Ave., Princess Anne, Md., 410-651-5195, http://www.bookloversbnb.com/. Rates for double rooms range from $85 to $150 a night, including private baths and an individually prepared full breakfast.
Great Oak Manor, Chestertown, Md.
In the library, a salon hideaway lined with hardbacks and other tempting reading matter, Dave and Noel Banowitz, retirees from Bethesda, were ensconced on the comfortable couch. She leafed through a magazine. He was deep into Kazuo Ishiguro's "When We Were Orphans."
"It's my book club's selection of the month," he said. "I'm making wonderful headway here."
Small wonder. Set at the end of a winding road 10 miles from the center of Chestertown (two hours by car from downtown Washington), this sweep of stately rooms is about as far as possible from the noise of the city. A family lodge constructed right on the Chesapeake Bay in the 1930s and later converted into a 12-room bed-and-breakfast, Great Oak resembles a country retreat in England.
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Unwind at three nearby B&Bs where literary lovers can read 'em and sleep.
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Pope's Comments About Islam
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Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that he is "deeply sorry" about the reaction in some countries to a recent speech in which he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying that the prophet Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman" things to the world.
Washington Post staff writer Alan Cooperman was online Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 11 a.m. ET to examine the controversy surrounding the pope's comments.
washingtonpost.com: Alan Cooperman will be joining us shortly.
Colombo, Sri Lanka: What made Pope Benedict XIV quote a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying that the prophet Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman" things to the world, knowing very well that Islam is under threat today?
Alan Cooperman: The pope used the quotation from Manuel II Paleologos as a "starting point" -- those are his words -- for a discussion of faith and reason. The speech is a fairly dense, scholarly exercise. Most of it is about what Benedict sees as the overly narrow definition of reason in the West. But he opened with some reflections on the role of reason in Islam, based on his reading of a book by Professor Theodore Khoury. He used the Paleologos quote to talk a bit about violence in the name of religion. Then the pope said that in "Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." And he went on to contrast that with Christianity, suggesting that reason is integral to the Christian understanding of the nature of God. He noted that the book of John opens with "In the beginning was the logos." Logos is usually translated in English as "the word." But it also means reason, the pope said.
Perry, Ga.: Do you think it is possible for a public figure to say anything at all critical of Islam without this type of violence occurring? It doesn't seem to work both ways; Islamic figures can attack Christianity at will.
Alan Cooperman: The Muslim world is clearly more sensitive to criticism and to perceived slights from the West than vice versa. It seems to me that when public figures in the West talk about violent Muslim extremists and make clear that they are not talking about all Muslims or about Islam as a whole , they can be quite critical without this kind of an outcry. However, it does seem that the Prophet Muhammad is pretty much off limits -- any criticism of the prophet appears to stir an angry response. I think it became apparent to every alert reader in the Danish cartoon controversy that the "Muslim street" reaction is sometimes deliberately stirred and used by leaders, perhaps for political aims, perhaps to distract attention, etc. But I also think that many ordinary Muslims genuinely are incensed by anything they perceive as an attack on the prophet. So it's not all contrived.
Rockville, Md.: How difficult does it get for you as a reporter to write about Islam? Do you get angry hate mail about Byzantine emperors and how you describe them?
Alan Cooperman: I get angry hate mail all the time, from both sides of this controversy and others. Some of the angry mail this time has said things like, "When will the Washington Post finally report that Islam IS violence?" and, on the other side, I've gotten some very bigoted, anti-Catholic messages.
Frankly, I don't reply to any e-mail that contains foul language or clearly bigoted remarks, and I don't pay much attention to it. I worry much more about intelligent, thoughtful criticism, of which there is thank goodness plenty. In this case, for example, several readers wished the Post had written more about the context in which the Pope discussed Islam. One reader, after making that suggestion, then read the pope's entire speech and wrote back to say that he now understood how difficult it would have been to explain the pope's lengthy, complex, rather academic speech. I do encourage everyone to read it for themselves. I gave my quick analysis of what he was trying to say about Islam in the first answer of this chat.
Alexandria, Va.: When are people (popes or others) going to learn how to apologize ?
Saying you're sorry(deeply doesn't matter) about the reaction to what you said isn't an apology. An apology goes like this "I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have said that because I didn't really mean it. Please forgive me."
If you can't say that you shouldn't apologize because you meant what you said.
Alan Cooperman: I heard a brief report on the radio today that said, inaccurately in my opinion, that the pope had "apologized for his statement." You are absolutely right that he did not apologize for the substance of his Regensburg speech. The Vatican has now put out repeated statements, all of them expressing regret over the reaction to the speech and suggesting that it was misunderstood. But I don't necessarily agree with you that such an apology is wrong or somehow disingenuous. If the pope stands by his remarks but thinks they were misinterpreted, and if he regrets the anger and violence they have stirred, then the particular expression of sorrow that he extended is honest and appropriate. It might not satisfy people, but that does not make it disingenuous. By the way, I immediately thought of it as an "Episcopal" style apology, because it's pretty much the same way that the Episcopal Church USA responded to outcry and demands for an apology by many Anglicans around the world after the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop. The Episcopal bishops said they were sorry the other Anglicans reacted the way they did.
Alexandria, Va.: In today's N.Y. Times, John L. Allen Jr. writes that one of the Pope's goals in his speech and in his dealings with the Muslim world generally is to seek reciprocity of relations between the religions. This means, for example, being able to build churches in Saudi Arabia just as the Saudis and others are able to build mosques in Europe and elsewhere. The sticking point seems to be Muslim supremacism. Muslims think that Islam is the ultimate revelation of God's will, which explains much of the hypersensivity to perceived insults. When will the Muslim reformation take place to get beyond this stage of constant outrage by so many in the Islamic world?
Alan Cooperman: Excellent question. There has indeed been much talk about reciprocity in the Vatican, and it began BEFORE Benedict's election as pope, but it is certainly in line with his thinking and it is something that many observers expect the Vatican to push. It goes beyond the building of mosques and churches in each other's realms. The idea, too, is that if Muslims are free to worship, intermarry, teach their faith, open religious schools and make conversions in the West, then Christians should be free to do all those things in places such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The idea that the age of scientific Enlightenment and religious Reformation bypassed the Arab world and that that's the heart of the "backwardness" of the Arab world is widespread, but it is also hotly disputed, and I personally am loathe to attribute so much to a particular reading of history. After all, there was an earlier age of scientific and cultural enlightenment in the Arab world, and having worked as a reporter in the Middle East for two years in the 1990s, I don't think it is true that Islam, or Muslim culture, is inherently incompatible with democracy. As for supremacism, I would refer to what Professor Bernard Lewis has said: the conflict between Christiandom and Islamdom, as he has called the two cultures, stems not from their differences but from their similarities: both faiths assert a knowledge of absolute truth, both assert an exclusiveness for their truth claims, and both believe they have an obligation to share, or spread, the truth as they know it. I guess, in other words, before pointing out the supremacism speck in a Muslim's eye perhaps we should look at the log in our own.
Washington, D.C.: Anne Applebaum has it right. Why don't commentators of all stripes in the West condemn the use of violence in response to speech that is disliked? It didn't happen with the Danish cartoons, and it isn't happening now. However foolish or ill-advised the Pope's comment may have been (a 14th century Pope who condemned the use of force to advance Islam ignored the same conduct by his religion), a prime cause of trouble in the world today is certain segments of Islam responding to undesired words with killing and other forms of violence.
washingtonpost.com: Enough Apologies Post, Sept. 19, 2006
Alan Cooperman: Right, absolutely. I don't think there is any justification for a violent response. But in fact, most of the reaction from the Muslim world was not violent. The pope's speech was called offensive and inaccurate and was attacked viciously -- but in words, not deeds -- by Muslim leaders and governments from Egypt to Yemen, Turkey to Syria, as well as by some commentators in the United States, Europe, Australia, etc. The violence was in the Palestinian territories and, possibly, in Somalia (the motive for that shooting is still unclear, as far as I know). I don't mean to minimize it. A nun may have been killed in response to the speech, and churches (not even Catholic ones) in the West Bank and Gaza were harmed. But it is wrong to suggest that the overwhelming response was violent. Most of the response was angry but non-violent. And in the United States, the Council on American Islamic Relations called for more dialogue between Catholics and Muslims as the proper response.
Glen Rock, Pa.: I did not know the context in which this quote was utilized. Can you fill me in?
I am amazed that people thing you need to apologize for "quoting" someone else!
Alan Cooperman: As I said in the answer to the first question in this chat, the context was a discussion of faith and reason, and the quotation from a 14th century emperor was the pope's chosen starting point. However, it was not all he had to say about Islam. Some people have suggested that if Muslims read the full speech and understood the context, they would not be upset by it. I don't think that's the case. I think that many Muslims -- certainly not all, but many -- would object to the quote, and the pope's other assertions about jihad and irrationality in Islam, even in context. I'm not saying they are right, or wrong. I'm just saying it is not simply a matter of one quote pulled out of context.
Washington, D.C.: The Emperor being quoted by the Pope was not Catholic if he's Byzantine? Adds a bit of irony.
Alan Cooperman: Right, the emperor being quoted by the pope probably would have been considered a heretic.
Ames, Iowa: Okay, I'm curious. The "very bigoted" anti-Catholic messages are coming from whom? And what are they saying (in general)?
Alan Cooperman: I'm not going to repeat bigoted remarks. Some concerned pedophilia. That should suffice to show the level. Like I said, I don't pay attention, I just delete them. But they help keep me aware of the amount of anti-Muslim, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish bigotry out there.
Wheaton, Md.: On a daily basis, Islamic media outlets print the most vile, hate-filled propaganda against Jews, Christians, Hindus and others. Why should Western leaders or media outlets refrain from saying anything Muslims may find offensive? The only criteria should whether or not what is said is factual.
Alan Cooperman: Well, do two wrongs make a right? And what's factually correct is often a matter of dispute. In my article on the pope's expression of regret in Monday's paper, I quoted a professor at Georgetown University saying that the pope's comments on Islam were, in part, factually incorrect. The point in dispute is whether the Koranic verse on "no compulsion in religion" was an earlier verse (as the pope said) or a later verse and whether it was superseded (as the pope seemed to suggest) or not.
St. Mary's City, Md.: Recently, Benedict's chief exorcist attacked the "Harry Potter" series as leading kids toward witchcraft. Both that and Benedict's attack on Islam are statements I would have expected from hellfire-and-damnation fundamentalist leaders. Is Benedict much more extreme in his views than John Paul II? He seems more reactionary, almost like he favors reversing Vatican II.
Alan Cooperman: So far, Benedict has surprised many observers, and disappointed some conservatives, by his cautious, slow moving pace of change. He is quite close in his views to John Paul II. Only a very attuned, or perhaps picayune, Catholic would perceive ANY daylight between them on important theological issues. Stylistically, though, there are many differences. But it's a young papacy. Much could still happen.
Washington, D.C.: I consider myself a fairly open minded individual. I believe that the Arab world has some justifiable grievances against the U.S. and the West in general. I try very hard not the stereotype and generalize. But situations like this (and the cartoon situation months ago) make it so difficult. Here we have a group of people accused of being violent. They become outraged at the accusation and react, VIOLENTLY!
I want to believe that Islam is a peaceful religion. I want to believe that 99 percent of the people who adhere to that faith do not want to kill me, simply because I am an American. Am I really seeing the 1 percent extremists when I watch the pope burned in effigy?
I think that for the average American, no matter how educated you try to be concerning conditions in the Middle East and other Muslim nations, it is still nearly impossible to wrap your head around what is happening there. And it is disheartening, because there doesn't seem to even be the option for dialogue.
Alan Cooperman: I understand your sentiments. It is disturbing to see violence in reaction to a scholarly speech whose author has said no disrespect was intended. But again, I would remind you that most of the response to the pope's speech in Muslim countries was angry but non-violent.
washingtonpost.com: Full text of pope's speech (Catholic World News, Sept. 18)
D.C.: Al Qaeda has some very smart leaders. Don't they understand the irony of a violent reaction to the Pope's quotation that Islam began with violence? Certainly, this is not lost on al Qaeda. What can possibly motivate them to react in this manner? What's your take on this?
Alan Cooperman: I don't know of any evidence, and I rather doubt there is any, that Al Qaeda had anything to do with the violent incidents in the West Bank, Gaza and possibly Somalia. Of course, I do see -- and I'm sure many Muslims also see -- the irony of a violent, irrational reaction to an assertion about the place of violence and irrationality in Islam. In the paper, I quoted papal biographer George Weigel making exactly this point -- that some of the over-the-top reaction to the pope's speech reinforces the point he was trying to make.
Indianapolis: Personally I don't think that Islam is a violent religion. I believe they are going through their version of a period of Reformation (or is that too simplistic a comparison?)
But I'm not sure what the Pope hoped to accomplish by his statements and I'm not sure how the "West" can help Muslims as they deal with what it means to be a Muslim.
Alan Cooperman: Here's what I think the pope wanted to accomplish in his speech. He is facing what he sees as a hyper-rational Europe, a place where secularism is strong and faith is often seen as superstition. And he is facing what he sees as an under-rational East, where violence in the name of religion is all too common. He clearly said in the speech that the West needs to broaden its definition of reason to include questions about God and religious ethics. ("This is a dangerous state of affairs for humanity, as we see from the disturbing pathologies of religion and reason which necessarily erupt when reason is so reduced that questions of religion and ethics no longer concern it," he said.) He did not offer a similarly clear prescription for what ails the East or, if you will, the Muslim world. But he did suggest, in my reading of the text, that a restoration of reason is necessary there. He closed the speech with a second quote from Paleologus: "Not to act reasonably, not to act with Logos, is contrary to the nature of God." So my gloss, which with everyone is free to agree, is that the pope's message in his speech on "Faith and Reason" is that the West needs more faith and the East needs more reason.
New York, N.Y.: This Pope has been in the international political arena for a very very long time and knows what the sensitivities are. Most of his professional life has had to deal with them. It was his formal job all the the last papacy. Naive he is not. The quote he chose to use was something he chose specifically for its in your face confrontational content, a quote familiar to a wide range of Christian and non-Christian scholars. Are we really to believe he did not know what the consequences were going to be? What was the real agenda it serves?
Alan Cooperman: I could be wrong, of course, but I don't think the pope expected this reaction to his speech. I don't think he intended it to be politically provocative. He may have intended it to be intellectually provocative, but that's another matter.
Tampa, Fla.: Do you think the reaction to the Pope's comments will have a chilling effect on other Western leaders critique of Islam? If so, how would you expect to see that play out?
Alan Cooperman: Yes, I do think that, fortunately or unfortunately, Western leaders will be very aware for a time that anything they say about Islam will be scrutinized and any perceived slight will reverberate through the Muslim world. This was already the case, of course, as shown by the reaction to President Bush's use of the term "Islamo-fascist." I wish it were the case that comments by Western leaders that might be well received by Muslims got an equal amount of attention. For example, you may recall that a few years ago President Bush was asked during a trip to Britain whether he believes that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. He answered "Yes."
Thank you all for a very lively chat and some excellent questions.
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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Washington Post staff writer Alan Cooperman discusses the pope's recent comments about Islam.
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Enough Apologies
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Already, angry Palestinian militants have assaulted seven West Bank and Gaza churches, destroying two of them. In Somalia, gunmen shot dead an elderly Italian nun. Radical clerics from Qatar to Qom have called, variously, for a "day of anger" or for worshipers to "hunt down" the pope and his followers. From Turkey to Malaysia, Muslim politicians have condemned the pope and called his apology "insufficient." And all of this because Benedict XVI, speaking at the University of Regensburg, quoted a Byzantine emperor who, more than 600 years ago, called Islam a faith "spread by the sword." We've been here before, of course. Similar protests were sparked last winter by cartoon portrayals of Muhammad in the Danish press. Similar apologies resulted, though Benedict's is more surprising than those of the Danish government. No one, apparently, can remember any pope, not even the media-friendly John Paul II, apologizing for anything in such specific terms: not for the Inquisition, not for the persecution of Galileo and certainly not for a single comment made to an academic audience in an unimportant German city.
But Western reactions to Muslim "days of anger" have followed a familiar pattern, too. Last winter, some Western newspapers defended their Danish colleagues, even going so far as to reprint the cartoons -- but others, including the Vatican, attacked the Danes for giving offense. Some leading Catholics have now defended the pope -- but others, no doubt including some Danes, have complained that his statement should have been better vetted, or never given at all. This isn't surprising: By definition, the West is not monolithic. Left-leaning journalists don't identify with right-leaning colleagues (or right-leaning Catholic colleagues), and vice versa. Not all Christians, let alone all Catholics -- even all German Catholics -- identify with the pope either, and certainly they don't want to defend his every scholarly quotation.
Unfortunately, these subtle distinctions are lost on the fanatics who torch embassies and churches. And they may also be preventing all of us from finding a useful response to the waves of anti-Western anger and violence that periodically engulf parts of the Muslim world. Clearly, a handful of apologies and some random public debate -- should the pope have said X, should the Danish prime minister have done Y -- are ineffective and irrelevant: None of the radical clerics accepts Western apologies, and none of their radical followers reads the Western press. Instead, Western politicians, writers, thinkers and speakers should stop apologizing -- and start uniting.
By this, I don't mean that we all need to rush to defend or to analyze this particular sermon; I leave that to experts on Byzantine theology. But we can all unite in our support for freedom of speech -- surely the pope is allowed to quote from medieval texts -- and of the press. And we can also unite, loudly, in our condemnation of violent, unprovoked attacks on churches, embassies and elderly nuns. By "we" I mean here the White House, the Vatican, the German Greens, the French Foreign Ministry, NATO, Greenpeace, Le Monde and Fox News -- Western institutions of the left, the right and everything in between. True, these principles sound pretty elementary -- "we're pro-free speech and anti-gratuitous violence" -- but in the days since the pope's sermon, I don't feel that I've heard them defended in anything like a unanimous chorus. A lot more time has been spent analyzing what the pontiff meant to say, or should have said, or might have said if he had been given better advice.
All of which is simply beside the point, since nothing the pope has ever said comes even close to matching the vitriol, extremism and hatred that pour out of the mouths of radical imams and fanatical clerics every day, all across Europe and the Muslim world, almost none of which ever provokes any Western response at all. And maybe it's time that it should: When Saudi Arabia publishes textbooks commanding good Wahhabi Muslims to "hate" Christians, Jews and non-Wahhabi Muslims, for example, why shouldn't the Vatican, the Southern Baptists, Britain's chief rabbi and the Council on American-Islamic Relations all condemn them -- simultaneously?
Maybe it's a pipe dream: The day when the White House and Greenpeace can issue a joint statement is surely distant indeed. But if stray comments by Western leaders -- not to mention Western films, books, cartoons, traditions and values -- are going to inspire regular violence, I don't feel that it's asking too much for the West to quit saying sorry and unite, occasionally, in its own defense. The fanatics attacking the pope already limit the right to free speech among their own followers. I don't see why we should allow them to limit our right to free speech, too.
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Already, angry Palestinian militants have assaulted seven West Bank and Gaza churches, destroying two of them. In Somalia, gunmen shot dead an elderly Italian nun. Radical clerics from Qatar to Qom have called, variously, for a "day of anger" or for worshipers to "hunt down" the pope and his...
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From Victim To Accused Army Deserter
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EUGENE, Ore. -- Suzanne Swift remembers standing in her mother's living room, hours away from her second deployment to Iraq. Her military gear had already been shipped -- along with her Game Boy, her DVDs and books, her favorite pink pillow, her stash of sunflower seeds. She had the car keys in her hand, ready to drive to the base. Suddenly, she turned to her mother.
"I can't do this," she remembers saying. "I can't go."
The Army specialist, now 22, recalls her churning stomach. Her mother's surprise. All at once, she said, she could not bear the idea of another year like her first. She was sexually harassed by one superior, she said, and coerced into a sexual affair with another.
"I didn't want it to happen to me again," she said in an interview.
Now Swift is bracing for a possible court-martial. Arrested in June for going AWOL, she detailed three alleged sexual offenses to Army officials, who began an investigation. One incident had already been verified and the perpetrator disciplined. But last Friday, the Army ruled that the two other incidents could not be substantiated. It will soon decide whether to take disciplinary action against Swift for her five-month absence, spokesman Joe Hitt said.
If she is convicted of desertion, Swift faces prison time and a dishonorable discharge.
Swift's case has galvanized antiwar activists and women's organizations, who have started a petition drive and demonstrated near her base at Fort Lewis, outside Tacoma, Wash. With more than 130,000 women deployed since 2001, her case raises uncomfortable questions about how matters between the sexes play out in the military.
It is complicated by the wartime setting and the fact that Swift did not file formal complaints about the first two incidents while she said they took place. (The Army investigation established that she had complained about them privately.) Many female veterans say her case may be an example of a raw fact of military life: that sexual offenses often go unreported, that young, lower-ranking women are especially vulnerable and that those harmed fear hostile treatment if they speak up.
"It's more common than, unfortunately, people realize," said Colleen Mussolino, a founder of Women Veterans of America. "There are literally thousands of women who have gone through similar circumstances."
The Pentagon says that more than 500 sexual assaults involving U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have been reported. But officials acknowledge that the problem is larger than that and is made more complex by a war deployment.
"Sexual assault is the most underreported violent crime in America, and that's going to be true in the military as well," Pentagon spokesman Roger Kaplan said.
Lory Manning, director of the Women in the Military Project, of the Women's Research and Education Institute, pointed out that in the military, sexual liaisons within a chain of command are not viewed as consensual even if a subordinate goes along.
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EUGENE, Ore. -- Suzanne Swift remembers standing in her mother's living room, hours away from her second deployment to Iraq. Her military gear had already been shipped -- along with her Game Boy, her DVDs and books, her favorite pink pillow, her stash of sunflower seeds. She had the car keys in her...
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As Fall Approaches, Va. Race Gauges Influence of Bush, Iraq
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After a 24-hour Iraq-a-thon, Sen. George Allen was clearly hoping that yesterday's debate in front of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce would offer up a different topic of conversation. So what does he get? A question about whether his mother taught him a racial slur and whether he's tried to cover up that his grandfather might have been a Jew.
It's been that kind of a month for the Republican once hailed as Virginia's sunniest politician. August's "listening tour" of the commonwealth, meant to display his great connection to the state he's served as governor and senator as well as voters' appreciation of that service, might as well have ground to a halt after his words to a dark-skinned volunteer for his opponent James Webb hit YouTube. Even conservative talk radio now defines an ill-fated blunder by a politician as a "macaca moment."
According to polls, his once double-digit lead over Webb has dwindled to the margin of error, and Virginians no longer think it a good idea that he run for president in 2008. Last summer, a Mason-Dixon poll said the commonwealth's voters would go for the notion of a President Allen 47 to 41 percent; the poll earlier this month showed it 52 to 39 the other way.
After Allen was grilled Sunday morning by NBC's Tim Russert on his stay-the-course approach to the war in Iraq, Webb and Allen were back at it yesterday before the chamber in a big ballroom in Tysons Corner. The questioning yesterday touched on other issues -- economic disparity, stem cell research, transportation -- but even Allen seemed to acknowledge that, in the end, it returned to the war.
"My friends, this is not a one-issue campaign," Allen pleaded.
Webb agreed, only to a point. He said voters want "to see strong, effective leadership on many issues, not one issue -- although that issue tends to dominate a lot of our minds every day, as well it should."
Despite Allen's protests, and his contention that he and Webb are not that different on what should happen next in Iraq, Virginia might be the most stark test in the country about whether the unpopularity of the war and the Bush administration could lead to an incumbent losing his job.
Allen is one of the president's most loyal friends in the Senate, although he no longer jokes, when Webb charges that he's supported President Bush 97 percent of the time, that he wishes he could persuade the president to do the right thing all the time. The Republican he has most mentioned recently is the state's more moderate senior senator, John Warner, whom Allen introduced to the crowd yesterday as his "teammate."
Still, Allen has remained steadfast. "Staying the course is meaning that we don't tuck tail and run, that we don't retreat, that we don't surrender," Allen said Sunday on "Meet the Press." "This is a central battlefront in the war on terror, and it's not just the president or the vice president or me saying that. That's what al-Qaeda says."
Webb said: "If we had the right people in the Senate, there would have been more questions asked and a better policy in place in order to defeat international terrorism. . . . We didn't go into Iraq because of terrorism; we have terrorists in Iraq because we went in there."
If it has been Democratic strategy to try to keep Senate races across the country focused on national issues, the Republican plan has been to localize the issues and to personalize the contest.
To that end, Webb has found himself this week answering questions -- and doing his own apologizing -- about the sharp-tongued piece decrying women in combat generally and at the Naval Academy specifically that he wrote for Washingtonian magazine 27 years ago. The Allen campaign engineered a news conference last week at which several women who were former midshipmen said the article had been used to humiliate them and led to harassment.
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After a 24-hour Iraq-a-thon, Sen. George Allen was clearly hoping that yesterday's debate in front of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce would offer up a different topic of conversation. So what does he get? A question about whether his mother taught him a racial slur and whether he's tried to...
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Station Break
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Heard or seen something on the pop culture landscape that appalled/delighted/enlightened you? Of course you have. That's what Station Break with Paul Farhi is here for. Local stations, cable, radio shows, commercials, pop culture -- they're all fair game.
He was online Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 1 p.m. ET.
Farhi is a reporter in the Post's Style section, writing about media and popular culture. He's been watching TV and listening to the radio since "The Monkees" were in first run and Adam West was a star. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Los Angeles, Farhi had brief stints in the movie business (as an usher at the Picwood Theater), and in the auto industry (rental-car lot guy) before devoting himself fulltime to word processing. His car has 15 radio pre-sets and his cable system has 75 channels. He vows to use all of them for good instead of evil.
Paul Farhi: Greetings, all, and welcome back...So, new TV season, anyone? I've sampled a few of the shows, and can't say I'm wildly enthusiastic about any of it. I caught "Studio 60" last night on NBC and have to say it was deeply, deeply underwhelming. I can't seem to work up a lot of enthusiasm for a bunch of talented, ambitious, successful TV people who want to be even more successful. Unlike "The West Wing," the stakes in "Studio 60" seem so very low (saving a so-so comedy show--big deal). I'll give it one more week (which is far more than NBC will give it, considering the hugely talented crew behind this show. Anyway, enough of my opinions. Let me know what YOU think of my opinions. Let's go to the phones...
Washington, D.C.: Comcast sent notices to customers a couple weeks ago indicating that it would have to raise its fee by $2 a month because carrying MASN would cost "hundreds of millions" of dollars. Has Comcast ever explained why carrying a new network would be so expensive?
Paul Farhi: This is just payback by Comcast for its long and bitter dispute with MASN/Angelos. Cable companies add networks all the time, and they NEVER single out a particular programmer as Comcast has done with MASN. Just ask Comcast how much ESPN jacks 'em each year--they won't tell you, but it's substantial. And $2 per month per subscriber is well over what MASN is charging Comcast.
Steeletown Va. (sic): Just want to say what a refreshing campaign ad series. Wish we had those in ole Virginny
Paul Farhi: Yeah, those ads are interesting. Here's a link to the story about 'em in today's Style section.
washingtonpost.com: Where's the Party? Nowhere To Be Found In Steele Ads (Post, Sept. 19)
Bethesda, Md.: Can you believe that tub of lard had $3M in his case last night?
God I missed Deal No Deal .. Face it, the show has everything. Hot chicks! Glam dresses! Fast paced game of chance with big money give away. A bald who loves you baby funny guy as the host.
Paul Farhi: Frankly, I find the popularity of DOND mystifying. It's the dumbest game show ever, requiring zero skill. Just make a lucky guess of 12 and you win the money. Might as well spin a roulette wheel for all the talent this show requires. Further evidence of the dumbing down of America.
Alexandria, Va.: When are they going to stop with all these rediculus reality shows. They get worse each year.
Paul Farhi: Like Deal or No Deal?
Arlington, Va.: In your not so humble opinion, which rumor (and false report on numerous blogs) will come true first: Rove indicted or Air America filing for bankruptcy?
Paul Farhi: Air America IS shaky; Al Franken said he hasn't been paid lately. So, in my not so humble opinion, I'll go with the AA-to-bankruptcy thing before I go with Rove.
Reston, Va.: Any idea why Peggy Fox was picked to sit on the panel yesterday at the Allen/Webb debate? She seemed a bit out-classed and a little flustered after her is-your-mother-Jewish question directed at Allen.
Paul Farhi: That WAS an odd and inappropriate question, but it elicited an even odder answer (Allen accused her of "casting aspersions," as if asking about someone's heritage is an insult). I mean, it's kind of irrelevant what Allen's mother's heritage is/was, but he made it into a bigger story by being so peeved about it. I would have just said, "Let's move on."...As for Peggy Fox being on that panel, no idea (I know she covers northern Virginia for WUSA, so maybe that's a clue)...
Rockville, Md.: From his TV commercials, I can't tell if Michael Steele's running for the Senate, or has a talk show at 4 after Maury. And now we find he likes puppies. I don't know whether to be charmed or offended. (Probably offended.)
And Adrian Fenty's ad with the tag (paraphrase) "I've got to go, someone needs my help"? Did they cut the shot of him entering the phone booth and coming out in a Superman cape?
Paul Farhi: The Steele ads are very smart, I think. They make him seem friendly and smart and decent (all of which he is, I'm sure). In a year when Republicans aren't especially popular, and in a state in which Dems outnumber the Repubs by 55-to-30 percent, running on personality and personal integrity is a pretty smart strategy.
Mount Airy, Md.: CBS, for the last two Sundays, has broadcast the 1 p.m. NFL game in standard definition. Any idea why, in this day and age, they're showing any NFL game in standard definition? Thanks!
Paul Farhi: CBS (or maybe just its local affiliate, WUSA) has always been the murkiest of the local stations. NFL games on Channel 5/Fox and Channel 4/NBC tend to look way, way better than the games on Channel 9/CBS. I don't know what the problem is (and it could be my TV)...As for HD, it is more expensive to shoot in high-def. Maybe CBS is going the cheap route?
Reston, Va.: The fascination with DOND? How about that it's easy to put yourself into the contestant's shoes?
Yeah, the schlub on TV has no talent and is picking numbers. So what? He can get a ton o'cash for guessing suitcases...that's America. It's actually honest and refreshing as opposed to pseudo-scripted reality shows or one as ugly as where the host has no idea that because I'm yellow skinned that I don't have a lot in common with other yellow skinned folks.
Paul Farhi: Yes. That's America. God bless it.
Cubicle, Md.: Will there be a great new batch of people on SNL? I'm still pining over Martin Short, so I'm living in the past. Can we please have just one more episode with Ed Grimley? I even miss Rob Schneider as the copy room weirdo!
Paul Farhi: Wow. You are Old School. Circa 1992 or so, I'd say. As for SNL, yes, some changes are in the works. Lorne Michaels was told by NBC to either cut two episodes or cut some cast members, in order to save money. He chose the latter.
Bethesda, Md.: The Steele ads smart?! Oh, come on. Talk about the dumbing down of America. You'd think the Republicans could come up with something other than puppies to sell their candidates. Shades of the Checkers speech.
Paul Farhi: The puppies thing is tongue in cheek, of course (watch the ad on Steele's web site, if you haven't seen it). And when was the last time a political ad did anything tongue in cheek?
Springfield, Va.: I saw the new series Til Death and Happy Hour and thought both were pretty good even if Happy Hour is a Friends copycat....
Paul Farhi: Happy Hour will be the first new show of the fall season to be cancelled. You read it here first (okay, maybe not first, but you read it here, didn't you?).
Arlington, Va.: On the Peggy Fox question, supposedly the M-word that Allen had previously used was fairly common in Tunisia and, as Allen's mother was from there, he might have picked up that word from her and knew its meaning. Allen was pointedly trying to say his mother was French and Italian which might not be true. As someone who has the same background as Senator Allen's mother, I don't consider being of the Hebrew faith an aspersion.
Re: Comcast: I saw that charge too, but I have the limited service so it didn't affect me. I can watch enough crap shows on the local networks, I don't need to watch more. Besides, life without ESPN is truly more beneficial than I ever could have imagined (no Screamin' Steven A, not idiotic Woody Paige, Skip Bayless and no feeling bad because I'm white Scoop Jackson)
Paul Farhi: I wish there were some way to pick and choose the cable networks you want and to eliminate the rest. The cable industry has long profited from an almost communist model--you pay for my favorite and I'll pay for yours, even if I don't want yours. I'll take mine a la carte, please...
Re SNL: NBC could save a TON of money just by canceling the program and showing reruns. I think that would be best for everyone.
Paul Farhi: Plenty o' reruns of SNL around with NBC having to plug more in. Besides, I'd much rather have them try throwing new stuff against the wall. Some of it might even be good. And what else is on at 11:30 on Saturday night?
Alexandria, Va.: Regarding the lovely new $2 charge from Comcast...great that people can now watch the Nats...really happy for those who care about baseball and I understand its for the greater good and all. Just beyond furious with the $2 charge and knowing that nothing can be done about it, minus banging my head on a wall.
Paul Farhi: Well, this really goes on all the time--the cable company just doesn't tell you why. Cable rates have gone up, up, up for years and years, and it's often because the cable company is passing on higher programming costs to its customers (again, ESPN jacks up its price to cable operators every year). So, your bill gets higher every year, but they never explain which networks are gouging them. At least with the $2 charge we know who the gouger is (and who the gougee is).
Verrrrry Old School: Actually, Martin Short was on SNL in the 1984-85 season.
Paul Farhi: Yikes! That long ago? That's not just old school; it's geriatric intensive-care school.
Arlington, Va.: Hey, SNL can only get better now that Tina Fey is off the show.
Paul Farhi: I think it will be very different without her, yes. Whether that means "better," I couldn't say.
Tongue in Cheek Political Ad?: W saying he deserves a second term.
Paul Farhi: Hey, hey...we don't do political commentary here on the Break. Call Chris Matthews, for crying out loud.
Re: A la carte.: Does anyone really watch more than a dozen channels? Too bad we can't all like the same dozen.
Paul Farhi: Well, that's America, where you're free to choose from among 125 different breakfast cereals and 297 different cars. But cable changes the rules. Cable says, you may not like what other people watch, but you still have to pay for it. Seems un-American.
Rich in Pa.: Paul, I haven't seen the Michael Steele ads, but its folksiness sounds somewhat like what (unknown Democrat) Mitch Daniels did in running for governor of (Republican) Indiana. Even my sister was talking about "My Man Mitch". He won
Paul Farhi: This is not a politically partisan comment, so don't take it as such. But: I like Steele's approach because it's different and interesting and generates conversation every time his commercials are on. More than you can say about most political ads.
NFL on HD: You need some massive cameras, and better cable runs. If a particular stadium has old infrastructure, that might be a reason that a network doesn't try to shoot in HDTV there.
Paul Farhi: Could be. CBS covers AFC games. Don't know if AFC has older stadiums, though.
First show to be cancelled: I bet it will be the horrid "Men in Trees" with the incredibly irritating Anne Heche. She can do only one thing on that show - act (maybe she isn't acting) flustered and clumsy. I caught the first episode and wasn't able to stomach the second.
Paul Farhi: Yeah, that's a close second choice for early cancellation for me. I like Heche--she's usually pretty memorable in whatever she does--but that show is a sorry re-tread of "Northern Exposure."
Not Without My Baby: I wonder how much we pay for Lifetime - The Women In Peril network (our slogan, Men Are All Scum!)? That's some money I'd love to get back in my pocket...
Paul Farhi: Well, I'm not a Lifetime fan either, but I guess it cancels out Spike.
I've been an advocate of the "pick your stations" cable plan for years but the monopolistic cable companies will never allow it. Besides my local networks, I regularly watch maybe 25-30 other channels. It would be even fewer, but I have a four-year-old daughter, so Disney, Noggin and Nick Jr. are pretty necessary....and they don't lower my IQ as much as FoxNews or MSNBC, etc. which I would drop in a heartbeat. All the news I need I get from "The Daily Show".
Paul Farhi: I once heard a prominent cable exec say that people only watch about seven channels regularly, so your 25-30 is a lot. And I'm starting to get worried about "The Daily Show" because I now watch it so religiously that I've all but given up on the 11 p.m. local news.
Austin, Texas: TV has too many cop shows. TV has too many lawyers shows. Where are the private eye shows? Bring back Jim Rockford!
Paul Farhi: Call me Old School (again) or worse, but I'm a Rockford Files fan. Never watched it in first run, but dip into reruns from time to time and enjoy it. Garner is a very winning actor, and the polyester double-knit look of the show is so '70s groove-ilicious.
Alexandria, Va.: I expected to find Studio 60 underwhelming, given all the hype, but was surprised to find it quite entertaining and compelling. On the other hand, The Class was very underwhelming -- it may be a worthy attempt to break out of the traditional sitcom mold, but there was no focus and I didn't care for most of the characters.
Paul Farhi: Yes, there's a "raised expectations" problem with "Studio 60." Since I expected so much, its above-averageness feels like a big disappointment. On the other hand, if I hadn't anticipated it as much as I did, I never would have watched it in the first place. Hype cuts both ways, I guess (c.f., "Snakes on a Plane").
First show cancelled: Why can't they cancel 'The War at Home?' Are that many people really turned into that show? Honestly, it doesn't get much worse on network TV than this show (with apologies to According to Jim)
Paul Farhi: Why aren't there any decent sitcoms on TV?* "War at Home" is bottom of the barrel, but it doesn't go all that much higher from there. "Two and Half Men"? Feh...
*Subject of numerous Ph.D-like theses since the end of "Seinfeld."
Do you think there's a point where cable customers will
revolt and drop their cable plans because of the cost or
has everyone become to accustomed to having all of their
I had cable when I had roommates and the bill was split
among three people. I haven't had it since living alone
because I can't justify the expense. I was frustrated with
reception over the weekend and checked out the prices--
$50/month just for basic service and the list of channels
didn't even include all the channels I expected to see
Paul Farhi: No. People will give up their cable subscriptions when they pry the wire from their cold dead hands. Satellite is the same way. People love TV--the more the better--and are willing to pay amazing amounts of money for it. Always have, frankly...
Adams-Morgan, Washington, D.C.: So when does Howard Stern come back to free radio?
Paul Farhi: That's not going to happen any time soon. Don't believe the buzz.
Winchester, Va.: I think CBS also picks its HDTV games based on distribution, with the better technology used on games going to more of the country. Not that much interest in the Ravens outside of B-more, hon.
Paul Farhi: I think you're right. If you're getting the regional game, instead of the national one, you may have to settle for standard-def....
Baltimore, Md.: Re the new shows: In this time of endless premiers, the best thing to watch on TV is actually some reruns from long, long ago. Turner Classic Movies is showing interviews Dick Cavett conducted over 30 years ago and bracketing those interviews with films by the interviewees. Last week it was Woody Allen from 1971 (hilarious!). This week, it will be...Robert Mitchum.
Paul Farhi: I will never hesitate to plug TCM. Love that channel (and everyone will be required to get it/pay for it under the Farhi Cable Plan). And, yes, the Cavett interviews are really interesting. Great sideburns!
No Deal: Paul, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one completely confused by the popularity of Deal or No Deal. My wife and I have stopped to watch for about 1-2 minutes at a time while surfing and we keep thinking we must be missing something. It can't be that you just pick briefcases with ABSOLUTELY no skill involved at all. Yet, that appears to be it. It's like a lottery drawing spread out over time. Wheeeeee! Wow! uh, zzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Paul Farhi: On the other hand, I do like the models...
Houston, Texas: As simplistic as it seems, there IS some strategy to Deal or No Deal. At least, after a bunch of suitcases are open. We're not dealing with quantum physics here, of course, but the ability to calculate odds is somewhat relevant....
Paul Farhi: Yes, a bit o' strategizing is necessary to maximize the payoff/minimize being punked. But that doesn't get me past the simplistic pick-a-card-any-card nature of the show.
Springfield, ??: I know it isn't as good as it was at it's peak, but it's still pretty amazing that The Simpsons is so good after so many years. Not many sitcoms last this long.
Paul Farhi: Ah. The Simpsons. Of course. That one goes in the Hall of Fame. Its number is permanently retired.
Washington, D.C.: Your Steele story is interesting today, but it's not exactly unusual for candidates not to mention their party affiliations. Democrats haven't admitted they are Democrats in the Deep South for about 20 years. In Vermont, they probably blare it from the mountain tops.
Paul Farhi: That's true. Party affiliation is a big deal in the primaries (when partisans, obviously, are voting), but less so in the general. But in Steele's case, it's not just that he doesn't talk about it in his TV spots. The word "Republican" has been erased from ALL his campaign material. Try finding it on his web site. And his official bio even erases his years as state party chairman. What's that all about?
Rockville, Md.: Well, that $2 also apparently paid for CN8 "The Comcast Network", since that station showed up the same time MASN did.
Anyway, us "regular" cable consumers have been getting shafted by Comcast moving channels to digital cable only for a while now. I can't wait for Verizon's FIOS to show up in my neighborhood.
Paul Farhi: I am intrigued by Verizon/Fios, too. I think it will make the market much more competitive, and not just in TV service but in Internet and phone as well.
Limited basic Cable...: Is only 15 bucks a month. Just sayin'
Paul Farhi: Yeah. That's not so much. But it IS sorta like driving a Yugo.
RE: Dick Cavett: Umm, won't it be hard for Dick to interview Robert Mitchum, him being dead and all??
Paul Farhi: These are reruns from back in the day. Early '70s stuff.
Cleveland, Ohio: Reception Problems: I learned a year ago from a WP chat that the cable company has to have a tier that would give you access to the broadcast channels, and it's really cheap. Mine is $9 a month!
Paul Farhi: Yep. Again, basic cable. And, yes, it's required by law.
Springfield, Va.: help please -
My satellite radio unit is acting up - it only works sporadically. I have been addicted to Sirius for almost four years and I was at a complete loss yesterday afternoon for what radio stations played music. I tried 107.3, 100.3 and 101.1 and made it from Arlington to Springfield without hearing a single song. Okay, I am exaggerating a bit but they sure do talk alot and the commercials are really jarring.
Sirius worked again this morning but it's unpredictable. Until I can get a new car, any suggestions for radio stations?
Paul Farhi: I imagine that once you go commercial-free via satellite, listening to plain old terrestrial radio is next to impossible. Conventional radio has become work--you just have to keep punching the buttons to find anything. But it's there (eventually)--rock, country, rap, soft rock, oldies, a little classical, news and talk, etc.
Washington, D.C.: I wouldn't be so excited about "a la carte" cable service if you like stations like TCM, Bravo, A&E, etc. They will have to charge an arm and a leg to stay afloat in a pay for what you want system.
Paul Farhi: Granted. And don't put it past the cable industry to figure out a pricing scheme that generates the exact same (or more) revenue per subscriber under an a la carte system as the current communist system.
I hate Steele...: ...but I love the ad. Reminds me of the early Russ Feingold ads from when I lived in Wisconsin and he was running for Senate the first time. He gave a tour of his modest house. Opened the closet: "No skeletons here!"
Silver Spring, Md.: I'm waiting to see someone go on DOND and pick the suitcases in numerical order. Maybe then people will realize how dumb the show is.
Paul Farhi: That "strategy" would probably work just as well as the random guesswork the contestants are using now.
Re: Mitch Daniels: This is just a correction as a former resident of Indiana and with family members still living in the Hoosier state it should be noted that Mitch Daniels is a Republican and not a Democrat.
Paul Farhi: Thanks. We're all about the accuracy.
Maryland: So, um, no mention of the station break dancers in today's intro? Were you forced to let them go to save SNL?
Paul Farhi: Yes. They do extensive charity and guest-appearance work. They'll be at Six Flags all next week.
Takoma Park, Md.: You ever notice that you get more comments than questions on this chat? I wonder what that means.
Paul Farhi: "I wonder what that means." Can you put that in the form of a question?
the simpsons: In it prime it was great, but it is terrible now. The show has become a parody of itself and is dreadfully unfunny.
Paul Farhi: Haven't watched new episodes in some time. I never feel the need. It's like a utility--it's always there, and feels like it always will be.
Burke, Va.: I think you were too easy in your comment on George Allen. It is not "casting aspersions" to ask about religious background, it is "casting aspersions" to accuse him of being Jewish. Oh the horror. I am not one who sees anti-Semitism around every corner, but I can't imagine his response being similar to a question about his mother being Methodist.
Paul Farhi: Yes. Exactly. That's right. I should have said it the way you just did.
Not in Maryland: What's with the Michael Steele commercials that diss the "the
Washington crowd" and complain that "Washington can't fix
all our problems." Um, uh, aren't those commercials being
broadcast in, well, Washington? And aren't a lot of Steele's
potential constituents "the Washington crowd"? That kind of
Washington-bashing may work in the red states, but it
seems really silly in a campaign that covers Washington!
Paul Farhi: Ha! You think "the Washington crowd" refers to "Republicans"? They kind of run Washington these days, after all. Naw, probably not..
20009: Paul, my good man, you seem to be wearing your cranky pants today. Is there ANYTHING on the tube or radio you like right now?
Paul Farhi: Oh, sorry about that. Yes, much. TCM and the Daily Show, certainly. Colbert. Lots of other stuff, too. I'm just down on "Studio 60" and "Deal or No Deal." That's not really so much to be cranky about, is it?
Silver Spring, Md.: The new Gap ad with Audrey Hepburn really, really, really bothers me - I have to turn the channel as soon as it comes on. Who do we tell that the ad gets under our skin?? Shall I e-mail Gap Co.?
Loved her just as she was - the new ads make her seem silly. ugh.
Paul Farhi: Saw that ad the other day. Love, love, love it! I think it's bold and funny and fresh and great. But I say that never having been a member of the Audrey Hepburn Cult Club.
Re: Not in Maryland: Doofus - the Washington crowd is the folks on the Hill, not those of us sweating it out in agency after agency and defense contractor after defense contractor. Last I checked, Steele's trying to get into the Senate. Duh!
Paul Farhi: Oh. Okay. So the President, the Supreme Court, the military, all the domestic agencies and all the lobbyists and special interest groups are NOT "the Washington crowd." Just 100 Senators. I see...
College Park, Md.: You're right to be down on DOND. And here I thought I was the only person in America who despised the show. And isn't it an hour long? Game shows should be 1/2 hour max. Same with reality "results shows"
Paul Farhi: True. There isn't a pure game show (as opposed to a "reality" game show, a la "Survivor") that needs to be an hour long. A half hour is plenty.
Paul Farhi: Folks, this thing we do just gets better. Tons of comments I couldn't get to today, and for that I apologize. But we have another chance--two weeks from today. Let's do it again then. And I won't even insist that you put it in the form of a question. Until then...regards to all...Paul.
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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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Light-Fingered 'Smith' Makes for A Weightless Drama
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Who doesn't enjoy a good, old-fashioned heist now and then? Or, as in the case of "Smith," the CBS drama premiering tonight, a good newfangled heist -- replete with the kind of high-tech gadgetry familiar to moviegoers from such films as the "Mission: Impossible" series?
Familiar, indeed. "Smith," which stars Ray Liotta as Bobby Stevens, smooth-talking and smooth-acting uberthief, follows in the footsteps of "The Thomas Crown Affair," which was filmed twice, and many another caper picture. The pilot is admittedly a swift, brisk bit of escapist whimsy, but one has to wonder whether the idea of a heist every week will really prove tenable.
One could, of course, ask the same question of many an episodic TV show. "Fear Factor" -- that awful mess that has finally left NBC -- enticed viewers with gross and disgusting inanities every week.
There's just something about "Smith" that seems to have monotony built in. It represents an ongoing trend: weekly TV shows that seem as though they ought to be (or already were) motion pictures, like the forthcoming "Kidnapped" and "Jericho."
Perhaps "Lost" and "24" made such distinctions obsolete by persuading viewers to tune in week after week for the kind of story normally wrapped up in a neat and tidy two hours at the cinema. Television is the great time-warper, and in recent years, those who work in TV have found new ways to do the warping.
It helps "Smith" that Liotta is a solid charmer in the role of Stevens, and he has extremely able assistance in Virginia Madsen, the ageless and agile actress who plays his wife.
The idea of leading a double life remains an appealing daydream, especially for people holding down jobs they consider routine -- though of course, Smith's two lives are not equal. By day, he works behind a door marked "Robert Stevens, Midwest Sales." Blah, humdrum. It's his after-hours night life, as the ringleader of a band of saucy rogues, that has all the allure: the fancy trappings and the gee-whiz gadgetry and, with each new creep around a corner, a seductive, pervasive sense of danger.
He's a thief, but we don't want him to get caught. And he isn't exactly in the business of robbing convenience stores or pilfering pension funds. In the pilot, he manages to remove a Rembrandt from a Pittsburgh gallery, among other daring acts carried off with flair and finesse. (And yes, he's very careful with the painting. He's a criminal with good taste.)
The executive producer of "Smith" is John Wells, who revolutionized prime-time television with "ER," a show that truly brought movie-quality production to weekly TV. It's been said, of course, that nobody ever left a musical humming the scenery, and handsome production values can go just so far. A key problem with "Smith" is that, at least in the premiere, it relies too heavily on them.
"Smith's" writers even find an excuse for a side trip to Las Vegas, which entails, naturally, generous shots of scantily clad dancers turning up the heat, bumpety-bumpety-bump. It's the kind of show of which one might reasonably say, "They don't miss a trick" -- except that maybe, like the Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz," the poor thing was born without a heart.
(Of course, fellow baby boomers, there is the counterargument: that Oz didn't give nothin' to the Tin Man that he didn't, didn't already have.)
CBS has slotted "Smith" to follow David Mamet's extraordinary and literate action drama "The Unit" on Tuesday nights. So viewers are invited to watch the exploits of an elite team of do-gooders pull off amazing feats in the name of liberty, followed by the exploits of an elite team of do-badders pulling off amazing feats in the name of greed and self-indulgence. But also in the name of adventure, for the thrill of getting away with it and evading capture.
As a programming ploy, it might work. It's just too bad that "Smith" is so slight it keeps threatening to float away, like a runaway balloon that's not quite worth chasing down the street.
Smith (one hour) debuts tonight at 10 on Channel 9.
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Who doesn't enjoy a good, old-fashioned heist now and then? Or, as in the case of "Smith," the CBS drama premiering tonight, a good newfangled heist -- replete with the kind of high-tech gadgetry familiar to moviegoers from such films as the "Mission: Impossible" series?
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Rhapsody in Orange
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A new Cesar Pelli-designed concert hall in Southern California's Orange County opened over the weekend the way big new concert halls generally do. There was a gala concert, with a star soloist (tenor Placido Domingo), a new piece (by composer William Bolcom), fireworks and a glitzy dinner afterward. The building, a $200 million study in curvaceous glass and warm, neutral colors, has been snubbed by some critics who deem it just another conventional exercise in Pelli's depleted style of corporate modernism. But naysayers could not dampen the festive orgy of civic boosterism that attended the opening of the hall -- ballyhooed by a rhetoric of cultural hubris that was deliriously off the charts, and yet oddly old-fashioned.
"The next major cultural center in America," said Carl St. Clair, conductor of the Pacific Symphony, which will be the principal tenant of the 2,000-seat hall.
"The best in the world," said local political leaders.
And then the governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, announced that while he's seen a lot of theaters and opera houses, and he knows from oikestras , "nothing comes close" to the O.C.'s new space. Schwarzenegger, remember, is from Austria, the land of Mozart and legendary music halls, such as Vienna's Musikverein.
This giddy excess of zeal, this manic need to be on the map with something that is the finest in its class, is all rather quaint. Visitors from Los Angeles, the older and more glam neighbor to the north, scoffed with condescension, and there was a good deal of sneering when a glitch in the fireworks display left some red-hot scraps of paper fluttering down on the tony crowd. How bush league ! But what would you expect from Orange County, an insufferably vulgar place of rich old men and trophy wives and idle youth bored with dropping C-notes in the Louis Vuitton shop? It's a wannabe place.
None of which is very fair. The new hall may not break any architectural ground, but it's elegant enough. Pelli, an Argentine-born architect who was once dean of Yale's School of Architecture and is almost 80 years old, has fronted the theater with undulating glass, through which a circular chandelier of hanging lights creates a glittering spiral pattern. It is the sort of glass lobby through which photographers will inevitably shoot the slightly blurry shapes of well-dressed people in motion. The front of the theater, a space conducive to socializing, is focused on a narrow but graceful staircase that gives a nice view of both the interior and exterior as you ascend. Inside the concert hall, Pelli's curves are repeated on the side boxes, and the acoustics (by Russell Johnson) are clear if not particularly flattering. In short, the building serves its purpose without major flaws.
But it's not the Musikverein. And more galling for Orange County, it's definitely not in the same league as the stunning, Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall only 40 miles to the north. Gehry's 2003 creation is a vast sculpture of glimmering metal that has the same effect on pedestrians in the soulless space of downtown L.A. that a castle has on an otherwise run-of-the-mill European city. It both beckons and commands, and creates an irresistible desire to explore its eccentric spaces.
For Pelli, a concert hall isn't sculpture, it's a facility. In his writing he comes across as a genial man, willing to compromise, but fundamentally insistent that buildings honestly reveal the nature of their construction, which in his case is almost always a frame with curtain walls hanging on it. He has spent much of his career making big glass boxes, which almost always feel a little like shiny tents. Compare his bright and efficient terminal at National Airport with Eero Saarinen's dramatic portal at Dulles (Pelli worked under Saarinen for a number of years), and you get a good sense of the aesthetics that govern his work. Saarinen's terminal is monumental and operatic; Pelli's is functional, transparent and a little nondescript. So too the new space in Orange County.
But even if the two buildings are in different leagues, it's worth comparing them, and what they tell us about American cultural life. You might say that Pelli's hall and Gehry's hall are bookends on a continuum of American cultural life. One building is an efficient space for a young orchestra, the other a destination venue for an institution that has effectively worked its way into the top ranks of American musical life. Pelli's hall marks an exuberant stage of naive youth, while Gehry's suggests the self-confidence of a cultural organization that has long outgrown the kind of civic bluster one heard in Orange County.
And even that civic bluster has to be put in a hundred-year perspective. Almost every institution in the rarefied world of American High Culture was built by exactly the same forces that have come together in Orange County's new concert hall: big bucks from the nouveau riche and a huge cultural inferiority complex. That's what built the great institutions of New York and Boston and Philadelphia more than a century ago, and that's what's reappeared, atavistically, in the suburban nowhere of Orange County. One shouldn't scoff, because although there have been several new concert halls built in this country recently (Knight Hall in Miami, which opens next month, and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, which just opened in Nashville), it's still a small miracle that a community invests hundreds of millions in its orchestra -- perhaps the most inefficient, outmoded and culturally marginal artistic machine still chugging along the great highway of American musical life.
And the surprising thing about the new Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall -- which sits opposite the larger, multi-purpose Segerstrom Hall, built on land and with money donated by Orange County developer Henry Segerstrom, standing where just 40 years ago there were only the lima bean fields of the extended Segerstrom family farm -- is how many contradictory signals it sends off. Orange County is a wealthy, conservative stronghold, but its conservative politics don't translate into conservative aesthetics. And despite the nearby fast food joints and strip malls there is no way that you can condemn the Orange County Performing Arts Center, a plaza of theaters and halls punctuated with public sculpture, as culturally unsophisticated.
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Prince George's Officer Kills Unarmed Man
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A Prince George's County police officer responding to an assault call in District Heights yesterday morning fatally shot an unarmed man who allegedly made a threatening movement, police said.
It was the fourth shooting by county officers in three weeks and the second killing.
Cpl. Diane Richardson provided this account of yesterday's incident:
About 1:30 a.m., a county patrol officer from District III went to the 1900 block of Rochelle Avenue in response to a report of a man assaulting a woman. The officer arrived and saw a man later identified as Gregory B. Boggs Jr., 24, standing over a woman, who was on the ground beside an apartment building.
The officer ordered Boggs away from the woman. Boggs picked up the woman, and the officer told him to let her go. The woman either fell or was pushed away.
When the officer ordered Boggs to put his hands up, he reached for his waistband. Fearing that Boggs was reaching for a weapon, the officer fired one round into his upper body.
Boggs was unarmed, police said. He was taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead.
The officer, who was not immediately identified, was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. A county grand jury will also investigate.
Boggs's relatives said yesterday that they did not believe the police account.
Boggs, who lived with his family in a townhouse in Upper Marlboro, went to the District Heights apartment complex to watch a football game with his girlfriend, relatives said.
Boggs was arguing with her when police arrived, said Mary Pitt, Boggs's aunt. Pitt said relatives have spoken with the woman, who Pitt said was not injured.
Pitt said she didn't believe Boggs would do anything to provoke deadly force.
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A Prince George's County police officer responding to an assault call in District Heights yesterday morning fatally shot an unarmed man who allegedly made a threatening movement, police said.
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Capitals Heartened by Power Play
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Washington Capitals Coach Glen Hanlon yesterday unveiled his revamped power-play unit, featuring Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Richard Zednik attacking the net and Dainius Zubrus and Brian Pothier manning the blueline.
It didn't take long for the group to impress.
They zipped perfectly placed passes to one another. They fired shots furiously toward the net. They commanded the zone. In other words, they looked like an NHL-caliber power play -- a welcome sight for a unit that languished near the bottom of the league last season.
"It's better," Zubrus said following the training camp session at Ashburn Ice House.
But the veteran center cautioned that the real test won't come until later this month, when the new unit skates against another team's penalty kill, rather than the hodgepodge of Capitals and prospects it faced yesterday.
"It gives us what we believe are our top skilled guys," Hanlon said. "There aren't any guarantees with specialty teams, but we'd like to project that we are going to be better because of Zednik and Semin and Pothier. Those are three pretty good guys to add."
A year ago, the Capitals' power play not only struggled to score, it sometimes failed to threaten. The unit finished the season ranked 26th with a 14.7 percent effectiveness rate (72 goals in 490 opportunities). By comparison, Detroit led the league at 22.1 percent (102 for 461).
Washington's shortcoming wasn't due to a lack of effort, nor was it a flawed strategy, scouts said. It was simply a matter of skill. Or lack thereof.
The additions of Semin, Zednik and Pothier, the lone defenseman, to holdovers Ovechkin and Zubrus appears to have addressed the question of ability. Now it's a matter of chemistry, which is equally as important on special teams.
"First time we got to the ice, we not understand each other," said Ovechkin, who scored 21 of his 52 goals on the power play. "But the second and third [shifts], we go in the zone, stay in the zone, take care of the puck. We have good moments and score goals."
Zubrus added: "There's still work to be done. We still need to talk and adjust things [which] is what training camp is for. The personnel is stronger than last year, and that's really all you need. Every guy who is out there has enough skill and poise with the puck and a lot hockey sense to find holes and make plays."
Hanlon also rolled out his second power play unit, which consisted of forwards Matt Pettinger, Kris Beech and Chris Clark and defensemen Ben Clymer and Mike Green.
"We are going to be better" on the power play, Hanlon said. "How much better? That's what we have to find out."
Capitals Notes: In yesterday's scrimmage, Hanlon put left wings Ovechkin and Semin on the same line for a few shifts. Ovechkin skated on the left and Semin moved to the right side, while Brooks Laich and Brian Sutherby alternated as the center.
Afterward, Hanlon said: "I know [Ovechkin and Semin] can play together. The decision isn't whether [Semin] can play right wing, it's a question of whether we want to put all of our most offensive guys on one line. I'm not worried that [Semin] can't play right wing [because] he's as smart as they come."
While Hanlon does not envision breaking up the Ovechkin-Zubrus-Clark line, the coach said he would consider putting Ovechkin, Zubrus and Semin together when the team is trailing by a goal or looking to put an opponent away. . . .
The first cuts will be made today, with as many as a dozen players expected to be trimmed from the roster.
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Coach Glen Hanlon unveils his revamped power-play unit, featuring Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Richard Zednik attacking the net and Dainius Zubrus and Brian Pothier manning the blueline.
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HP Scandal Shines Light on a Simple, Treacherous Act
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When Adam Yuzuk had a question about his cellphone bill, a Cingular Wireless agent told him to check his online account.
The only problem: He hadn't established one.
That day in June 2005, Yuzuk, a former president of a New York leather accessories firm, discovered someone had used his Social Security number and a fake e-mail address to set up his online account and view his calling records.
He learned this year, as part of a legal dispute with his former partners in the firm, that they had paid a private investigator to dig up information on him, including $300 for his phone records.
Yuzuk's case was featured at a congressional hearing in June, part of lawmakers' effort to curb pretexting -- the act of impersonating someone to obtain their personal records. The drive has gained fresh momentum with recent revelations that a firm hired by a Hewlett-Packard Co. subcontractor used the technique to obtain phone records of the firm's directors and journalists. A House subcommittee is probing HP's practices.
Federal legislation is pending that would criminalize the use of pretexting to obtain phone records. Some states have passed laws banning it, and states, phone companies and the Federal Trade Commission are suing data brokers who practice it. Despite such efforts, including a 1999 law banning pretexting to obtain financial records, the industry continues to thrive. It is driven by systemic weaknesses in retail, financial and other sectors; lax company security standards; and demand from lawyers, debt collectors, and even law enforcement and tabloid journalists, experts said.
"The simplicity of acquiring information like this is almost sad," said James Rapp, who made $1 million annually using the technique -- which included getting information on JonBenet Ramsey and Monica Lewinsky-- until he was convicted on racketeering charges and put of out business in 1999.
"Companies make a statement that we have privacy, but when it gets right down to it, if you or anybody calls up and asks for information on me, if you ask nice enough, they'll give it," Rapp said.
In June, Yuzuk, his voice trembling in anger, told a congressional panel his story: After he learned in June 2005 that his Cingular account had been hacked, he had a supervisor put a password on it and red-flag it -- moves that would keep his information safe from prying eyes, the supervisor assured him.
"I wanted the highest level of security possible," he told the House Energy and Commerce investigative subcommittee.
Then last April, Yuzuk legally obtained documents revealing that a former partner, Steve Kahn, had hired Michele Gambino of Gambino Information Services Inc. to retrieve his cellphone records.
Gambino Information Services, whose Web site notes the firm can conduct "informative telephone" conversations to "obtain various types of information," prepared a file for Kahn that included four months of phone bill detail, with two sets of records printed in September and October.
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When Adam Yuzuk had a question about his cellphone bill, a Cingular Wireless agent told him to check his online account.
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Hungarian Protests Turn Violent
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BUDAPEST -- Protesters clashed with police and stormed the headquarters of state television early Tuesday, responding with violence to a leaked recording that caught Hungary's prime minister admitting that the government "lied morning, evening and night" about the economy.
Rescue services said at least 50 people were injured as police fired tear gas and water cannons at rock-throwing protesters, who demanded the government resign.
The violence followed a mainly peaceful demonstration that began a day earlier outside parliament, after a recording made in May was leaked to local media. On it, Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted that officials lied about government finances to win April's elections.
Gyurcsany said that he had no plans to resign.
"Our job is to resolve the conflict and prevent a crisis," the prime minister told the state news service Tuesday.
Socialist members of parliament voted unanimously to support him and the government called for an emergency session of the cabinet for Tuesday morning.
As the crowd grew by Monday night to more than 10,000, according to an estimate by Hungarian news agency MTI, several hundred broke away and marched over to the nearby headquarters of state television, demanding to deliver a statement in a live broadcast.
Several cars near the TV building were set on fire, their flames scorching the building. The rioters appeared to control some areas on the ground floor of the block-square television building.
The tape was made at a closed-door meeting in late May, weeks after Gyurcsany's government became the first in post-communist Hungary to win re-election.
"We screwed up. Not a little, a lot," Gyurcsany said. "No European country has done something as boneheaded as we have."
The prime minister also told colleagues the government needed to end its duplicitous ways. "I almost died when for a year and a half we had to pretend we were governing. Instead, we lied morning, evening and night. I don't want to do this anymore," he said.
Confronted with excerpts of the 25-minute recording, which Hungarian state radio posted on its Web site Sunday, Gyurcsany acknowledged their authenticity.
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Protesters Block Roads in Congo Capital
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KINSHASA, Congo -- Supporters of Congo's presidential challenger barricaded streets, stopped traffic and threw stones in the capital Tuesday, a day after a fire at his headquarters destroyed the party's television and radio stations.
About 200 to 300 supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba shouted that Monday's blaze was an attack on their candidate. The cause of the blaze has not been determined.
Bemba, a former rebel leader and vice president in the Central African country's transitional government, will face incumbent President Joseph Kabila in a runoff election Oct. 29. The United Nations has sent troops into the restive country to secure the election.
Bemba supporters alleged that fire trucks took about an hour to arrive at the party's headquarters and that they were intentionally delayed by Kabila's administration. Bemba was not in the building at the time.
The local governor said the firefighters were delayed because they were busy putting out a blaze in another part of the city.
Police tried disperse the crowd Tuesday and take down the barricades. Many of the demonstrators threw stones at cars and police officers. At least 10 U.N. tanks were seen in the area.
Moise Musangana, a spokesman for Bemba, said the destruction of the television studios will seriously weaken his campaign.
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KINSHASA, Congo -- Supporters of Congo's presidential challenger barricaded streets, stopped traffic and threw stones in the capital Tuesday, a day after a fire at his headquarters destroyed the party's television and radio stations.
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Japan's Abe, Poised to Lead, Offers Nation Vision of Pride
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TOKYO -- To glimpse the brave new Japan of Shinzo Abe -- the hawkish 51-year-old poised to replace Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister next week -- take a peek inside the eighth-grade history classes at this city's prestigious Tamagawa Academy.
Using new textbooks with lessons hailed by Abe as the foundation of a more confident nation, junior high students at the elite private school are this year being taught something that has been largely taboo in post-World War II Japan -- to take pride in their country. The texts omit or soften references to atrocities committed by Japanese troops during the war, assure students that the war was waged primarily in self-defense and promote the ideal of a proud and independent Japan.
The controversial books, thus far adopted by only a handful of schools, have the support of the government and are set for wider distribution. But they are only part of Abe's vision for the future. He has vowed to push through a sweeping education bill, strengthening the notion of patriotism in public classrooms in a way not seen since the fall of Imperial Japan, and to rewrite Japan's pacifist constitution to allow the country to again have an official and flexible military.
Abe (pronounced ah-bay) may well get his way. Currently Japan's chief cabinet secretary, he is overwhelmingly favored to succeed the retiring Koizumi in ruling party elections on Wednesday, a win that would effectively guarantee him the prime minister's post after a full vote of parliament on Sept. 26.
Although his proposals have flustered Japan's neighbors in Asia, where war-related grievances linger just below the surface, Abe and others define the changes as a natural maturing of Japanese democracy. Perhaps more importantly, they say the changes reflect the need for Japan to transform itself in the face of new threats.
In the decades after World War II, most Japanese took pride in their country's role as the world's model pacifist society, which operated by the rules of "checkbook diplomacy" and left its defense largely to U.S. military might. But today Japan is confronting the prospect of a nuclear-armed North Korea and the reality of a China that has become a military and economic superpower.
The rise of Abe, an unabashed nationalist set to be Japan's youngest postwar prime minister and its first to be born after the conflict, underscores a profound shift in thinking that has been shaped by those threats.
"Rather than getting praised for wrestling a good round of sumo under the rules that foreign countries make, we should join in the making of the rules," Abe said in a televised debate this month. ". . . I believe I can create a new Japan with a new vision."
Japan's foreign minister, Taro Aso, and its finance minister, Sadakazu Tanigaki, are also competing for the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP. But neither is as pedigreed as Abe to deliver on promises. His father, Shintaro Abe, served as foreign minister; his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, was initially arrested as a World War II criminal but escaped the gallows to become prime minister in 1957.
In Abe's latest book, "Toward a Beautiful Country," Japan's presumptive new leader casts doubt on the legitimacy of the Tokyo war crimes tribunal that convicted Japan's wartime leaders. Asked by a foreign journalist last September whether he regretted Japan's defeat in the war, Abe briskly replied, "You refer to me as rather nationalistic, but I say that the person who is not patriotic cannot be the leader of his country."
The handpicked successor of Koizumi, a charismatic leader who laid the groundwork for Japan's gradual emergence from its pacifist shell, Abe has crafted a comparatively ambitious vision. Although he is likely to maintain Koizumi's emphasis on the U.S.-Japan alliance as the basis of national defense, he has also suggested he wants Japan to be a more equal partner. Some analysts predict that he will strive for a version of Washington's relationship with Britain, which closely cooperates with the U.S. military but acts on its own as it sees fit.
Analysts also note that Abe is popular largely because of -- not despite -- his unusually hawkish stance. He has been particularly fierce on the subject of communist North Korea, now seen as Japan's greatest security threat. When North Korea launched a battery of new test missiles on July 4, Abe went far beyond the diplomatic talking points, calling for a debate on whether Tokyo could stage a preemptive strike on North Korean missile bases.
Ten years ago, analysts note, such boldness would have sparked a public outcry here for his resignation. Today, it has helped ensure his election as Japan's prodigal samurai returned.
"Abe recognizes that Japan can no longer be the country it has been. We cannot sit back in the face of new dangers," said Ichita Yamamoto, an LDP legislator and close Abe ally. "Under our current constitution, if a U.S. ship is attacked aside a Japanese ship, we cannot even fight to defend our American allies. What kind of partner does that make us? We are living in a more dangerous world and it calls for a strong leader."
Abe's popularity has buoyed conservatives, who see him as the natural heir to Koizumi as the Japanese regain their pride. Though Koizumi infuriated China and the Koreas by visiting a shrine that honors Japan's military dead, including convicted war criminals, he unambiguously upheld the government's landmark 1995 apology, which recognized World War II as an act of Japanese aggression. Abe, in contrast, has been less clear, saying he recognizes the "spirit" of the apology but suggesting that historians should be the final judges of Japan's past actions.
Japanese pacifists, whose shrinking ranks have made them a minority voice here, have become anxious. They point to the continuing influence of rightist groups with armored black vans, whose members use bullhorns to shout racist propaganda on the streets of major Japanese cities. They also cite the punishments meted out to teachers who have refused to comply with recent requirements to stand for the national anthem and bow to the Japanese flag at school graduation and entrance ceremonies.
"I have a sense that the postwar generation of politicians in Japan -- including Abe -- have lost the older generation's sense of war guilt," said Takayoshi Miyagawa, a political strategist and noted pacifist in Tokyo. "This is taking Japan down a path we should not be going down again. It is a path that is leading us back toward a wicked nationalism that the young have now forgotten about."
Advocates of rebuilding Japanese patriotism call such talk alarmist, saying six decades as Asia's leading democracy and dominant economy have earned Japan the right to pride. The movement, they add, is not going forward without caution. At Tamagawa Academy, for instance, students using the revised, and more flattering, history books have also been told to use the old ones as supplemental material to help them formulate their own conclusions.
"We are trying to strike a balance between our role as teachers and our desire to give young Japanese a chance to be proud of their country," said Kiyoaki Ishizuka, Tamagawa's junior high headmaster. "The youth of every other nation enjoys that right. Why shouldn't Japan's?"
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TOKYO -- To glimpse the brave new Japan of Shinzo Abe -- the hawkish 51-year-old poised to replace Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister next week -- take a peek inside the eighth-grade history classes at this city's prestigious Tamagawa Academy.
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Give Us an 'Arrr!'
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You don't need a pet parrot or a peg leg to talk like a pirate. On Sept. 19, everyone -- eye patch or not -- can celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day (http://www.talklikeapirate.com) and channel Long John Silver. The event was started in 1995 by two Oregon friends who, in the midst of playing racquetball, let an "Arrr!" slip out. They then spent the rest of the day, and every Sept. 19 thereafter, speaking pirate.
"We tell people to eat barbecue pork, drink lots of rum and have a good time," says co-founder Mark Summers, aka Cap'n Slappy. "It's the one holiday where you can dress like a pirate and walk down the street and it's okay that people yell 'Arrr!' at you from their cars."
To celebrate TLPD, we've scoured the country and the Caribbean for pirate-themed events and activities. -- Andrea Sachs
FESTIVAL TALK: Towns around the country -- especially in Florida -- host pirate festivals that last from one day to a week or longer. One of the biggest bashes is the Pirates in Paradise Festival (305-296-9694, http://www.piratesinparadise.com/ ) in Key West, Fla., Nov. 30-Dec. 3. Events include the National Walk the Plank Championships; a sunset sail and pirate attack aboard a schooner ($50); and a pirate scuffle with British redcoats at Fort Taylor Historic State Park. You can also swap tales of pillaging and plundering at the park's Village Thieves' Market (Dec. 1-4), which features vendors selling pirate-themed crafts, a pub serving grog and vittles, and living-history pirate encampments, among other diversions. Cost: $4 per day, plus $1.50 per person for park admission.
Need more? Visit Key West's Pirate Soul Museum (524 Front St., 305-292-1113, http://www.piratesoul.com/ ; $13.95).
On the opposite coast, enjoy a full roster of entertainment at the Portland (Ore.) Pirate Festival (503-292-3418, http://www.portlandpiratefestival.com/ ) on Sept. 23. Activities include sword-fighting demos, a dockside tour and a pirate-battle sail on the American privateer Lynx ($80). Festival tickets: $12-$15.
For other pirate-themed festivals, see http://www.thepiratesrealm.com/pirate%20festivals.html .
PIRATE HAUNTS: Track pirates along North Carolina's Outer Banks, which saw plenty of action by Blackbeard and his cohorts. At OBX's southern tip, board the free ferry to Ocracoke Island, where you can stay at the Blackbeard's Lodge (800-892-5314, http://www.blackbeardslodge.com/ ; doubles from $58 a night), check out the Blackbeard exhibits at Teach's Hole, pick up some pirate paraphernalia at the museum's shop (252-928-1718, http://www.teachshole.com/ ) and dig around the beaches for his lost treasure.
Traveling south to Beaufort, N.C., see Blackbeard's House or take one of TourBeaufort.com's Blackbeard tours around the historic town (252-342-0715, http://www.tourbeaufort.com/ ; $10-$15). Offshore, wreck divers can scope out Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's supposed flagship that sank in Beaufort Inlet.
At California's Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Orlando ( http://www.disney.go.com/ ), step inside a Johnny Depp-charged "Pirates of the Caribbean." The recently expanded attraction will shiver your timbers with additional characters and movie-based enhancements. At mealtime, grab a table at the Pirate's Dinner Adventure in Orlando (800-866-2469, http://www.piratesdinneradventure.com/ ; $52), a swashbuckling adventure with a side of yellow rice. After the show, party like it's 1700 at the Pirate's Buccaneer Bash or bone up on your bad-boy lore at the Pirate's Maritime Museum, both of which are part of the dinner venue.
In Las Vegas, pirates fit in as well as showgirls. For a Sin City spin, book a room at Treasure Island (800-288-7206, http://www.treasureisland.com/ ; from $79), then hit the sights: the "Pirates 4D" show at Luxor ($9.99); the "Sirens of TI," starring bikini-baring sirens and randy pirates (outside Treasure Island resort; free); and the seafood and carbs at Pasta Pirate in the California Hotel Casino (12 Ogden Ave., 800-634-6505).
SHIPS AHOY: Take to the seas on a pirating adventure with any number of themed cruises. Lobster Tales in Plymouth, Mass., for example, sets the scene with a mystery involving a hidden treasure and a lobster pot, and a 44-foot vessel. Info: 508-746-5342, http://www.lobstertalesinc.com/ ; $15 per person.
In Barbados, help raise the skull-and-crossbones flag of the Jolly Roger , a pirate-party tall ship that serves barrels of Pirate Punch and barbecue. For kicks, swing from the rope like a real-life swashbuckler or snorkel like a pirate on holiday. Info: http://www.funbarbados.com/Tours/jollyroger.cfm ; $57.50.
For a longer ocean escapade, Whodunit Productions has paired with Royal Caribbean to create mystery cruises with pirate characters and bounties in the midst. The next week-long Mexican Riveria cruise departs Nov. 12 (from $582 per person double), when the Vision of the Seas sets sail from Los Angeles. Info: 661-297-3208, http://www.whodunitcruises.com/ .
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You don't need a pet parrot or a peg leg to talk like a pirate. On Sept. 19, everyone -- eye patch or not -- can celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
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What's the Deal?
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· Pay for one night's lodging and get the second free during October at Fisher's Loft, a rural inn on Trinity Bay in Newfoundland. The two-night package, which includes breakfasts and dinners, is about $297 for two; usual price is about $399. Taxes are 15 percent extra. Info: 877-464-3240, http://www.fishersloft.com/ .
· Make your travel reservations by Sept. 30 to stay at Radisson Aruba Resort & Casino this winter and save 30 percent. The "Early Winter Sale" rates start at $289 per night Jan. 7-Feb. 8 and April 1-14, and $299 a night Feb. 9-March 31. Also, stay at least five nights and receive a food and beverage credit of $150 per room. Book at 800-333-3333, http://www.radisson.com/aruba ; some dates are sold out.
· Been married for 50 years or longer ? Pay $11 -- the rate that was charged 50 years ago -- for a night's lodging at New York's Hotel Pennsylvania when you stay a second night at the regular rate, which starts at about $218 a night. Sales tax is 13.625 percent plus $3.50 per night per room. Book at 800-223-8585. Info: http://www.hotelpenn.com/ .
· Book a 17-night transatlantic cruise on Princess Cruises' Grand Princess through icruise.com starting at $899 per person double for an inside cabin. The deal, a savings of about $600 per person, is good on the Nov. 1 sailing from Barcelona to Galveston, Tex. Taxes are about $44 extra. Info: 866-9-ICRUISE, http://www.icruise.com/ .
· Oceania Cruises has two-for-one fares and free round-trip air on a transatlantic cruise and several Mediterranean cruises in March and April. Fare on the 14-night cruise from Miami to Marseille, France, for example, starts at $1,299 per person double, which includes air from D.C. to Miami with return from Marseille. Priced separately, air alone would cost at least $1,117. Cruise taxes are an extra $266; air taxes are $179. Info: 800-531-5619, http://www.oceaniacruises.com/ .
· Two couples sail for the price of one on select MSC Cruises' Caribbean and Panama cruises aboard the MSC Lirica. For example, on the 11-night Panama itinerary, with departures from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Nov. 26 and Jan. 9, the fare for four people occupying two staterooms starts at $575 per person plus $59 taxes. Book by Oct. 15. Info: 800-666-9333, http://www.msccruises.com/ .
· Cathay Pacific's "Deal of the Month" includes sale fares from New York's JFK to Hong Kong; Manila; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Taipei, Taiwan. For example, the round-trip fare to Hong Kong is $739 (plus about $122 taxes); fare on other airlines starts at about $914. Depart Monday-Thursday Nov. 1-30; purchase no later than Sept. 30 at http://www.cathay-usa.com/dotm .
· Air Tahiti Nui has sale fares from New York's JFK to Sydney and Auckland. Round-trip fare to Sydney is $888 (plus about $123 taxes); fare to Auckland is about $788 (plus $69 taxes). One stopover in Tahiti is included; stopover tax of about $25 is extra. Book by Sept. 26 and travel Sept. 18-Dec. 8. Info: 877-824-4846, http://www.airtahitinui-usa.com/ .
· Icelandair has a "Hippie Express" package Oct. 7-14 to Reykjavik, Iceland, and England's Liverpool and Manchester. The trip, which celebrates the "music and mania that made the '60s a decade that rocked the world," includes round-trip air from BWI to Reykjavik; round-trip air between Reykjavik and Manchester; round-trip train between Manchester and Liverpool; six nights' hotel; breakfasts; bonfire and lobster feast; and entrance fees to various attractions. Cost is $799 per person plus about $150 taxes; priced separately, transportation and hotel alone would cost $1,278. Info: 410-715-5152, http://www.icelandair.com/hippieexpress .
· Get a $750 per couple discount on select international Backroads trips, and $500 discounts on domestic tours. The deal is good on select trips in California, Vermont, Hawaii, Italy, Spain and Portugal and Belize, with departures through December. For example a five-night wine country biking trip through California's Sonoma and Napa valleys, with four departures in October and November, starts at $2,398 per person double after discount. Book by Sept. 30. Info: 800-462-2848, http://www.backroads.com/ ; request code H461.
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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Big savings await with a two-for-one stay deal in Newfoundland and an early winter sale on an Aruba vacation.
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Shock and Awe in Lebanon
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The southern neighborhoods of Beirut bear a resemblance to some primitive terrain: rubble strewn, broken and scarred
Entire city blocks are devastated. Ten-story apartment buildings are gutted and reduced to concrete stacks.The scenes in Beirut are stark; they invoke Dresden or Tokyo and a certain brutality.
I just returned from a week touring Beirut and southern Lebanon, and from visiting northern Israel.
What struck me about the bombing, in both countries, was that you could see the destruction and completely misread what it meant. In Beirut, the destruction in reality is efficient and impressive. The destruction in Israel, on the other hand, is random and scattered. When Hezbollah rockets were fired on Israel, landing meant success.
So here is the truth: Israel did not do anything close to what it was capable of doing. Hezbollah did all it could.
Because Israel is hyper-modern and it has the technology to exact such a concentrated result, it is capable of creating visible and jarring images.
And, of course, Israel is Israel. That is why the non-aligned countries condemned "Israeli aggression in Lebanon" this weekend, befuddled about Lebanon and Hezbollah: Such an easy target.
I recognize that one can’t analyze what happened in Lebanon in the 34-day, Israel-Hezbollah war without walking into a minefield.
Also, what happened can’t be reduced to 1,000 words. There is complex history, the players are not necessarily as they represent themselves, there are intramural battles going on about military force and politics, there are secrets and there is even the difficulty of reading what one is looking at accurately.
One could reduce the conflict to shock and awe: Success on the one hand in what could be exacted in such a short period of time, failure on the other by Israeli political leaders and commanders’ intent on doing the job on the cheap.
There is no question though that Israel seems in awe of its effort and its precision. Even though a national commission of inquiry begins a bruising and painful analysis today of government and military shortcomings, Israel’s social and cultural demand is for offense and victory. Government officials speak of “annihilating” the enemy: Bush rhetoric that invokes those earlier images of total war and is so jarring to international ears. They will now be assessed on their performance to achieve the goal.
On the other hand, Lebanon is shocked. It is not just the destruction wrought but the powerlessness of the owners of the country. The Lebanese government complains of the destruction and the cluster bombs and the environmental devastation, exaggerating what happened to IT because it can not bear to say that most of what was destroyed was Hezbollah’s assets, assets that indeed resided and flourished inside their own country under their own noses with their consent. By focusing outward, on the “other,” Lebanon conveniently ignores its failures. Yet the government of Lebanon, a bickering alliance of non-war lords, is fully culpable. The shock seems play-it-again-Sam-style, shocked that there is gambling going on in the casino.
The international community meanwhile is also shocked. It equally complains about cluster bombs and levels of destruction, suggesting that there is an alternative military strategy that could have been pursued. One can’t help but be a little cynical that they are really just interested in finding the best arguments to condemn the dominant belligerent. Somewhere in here is an effort to protect the civilian population and the environment from the scourge of war. I wonder though whether the right lessons can be learned to get there.
Hezbollah meanwhile touts its own “divine victory,” bloodied and dislodged from its territory yet opaque enough that it can hide the real wounds. The Hezbollah military, because it is largely invisible, is neither accurately assessed nor is it not really held accountable for the war crimes it committed. Worse still is that Hezbollah believes, as do many on the “Arab street,” that the attacks on Israel and its citizens were justified, justified and no worse than anything Israel did because Israel in its actions preys upon the civilian population.
No worse, of course, depends on the narrative of vengefulness and indiscriminate attack by Israel. Because of Israel’s means, thousands of apartments are gone, selected and meticulously excised by a high-tech military force.
Only a very short drive from the neighborhoods of southern Beirut though, you are back to bustling boulevards; a few neighborhoods over and there are luxury stores and five star hotels. Beyond the “Hezbollah” neighborhoods, the city is normal. Electricity flows just as it did before the fighting. The Lebanese sophisticates are glued to their cell phones. Even an international airport that was bombed is reopened.
An accurate reading of what happened and what south Beirut means might produce a different picture. Israel had the means to impart greater destruction, but that does not mean intrinsically that it is more brutal. If Hezbollah had bigger rockets or more accurate ones, it would have done not only the same, but undoubtedly more.
Israel may have made a grave error in attacking Hezbollah as it did, it may have used the wrong weapons and hit the wrong targets, it may have completely misread the enemy, it may have made its security worse for years to come.
But the fact that one can drive a short distance from Dresden-like south Beirut and return to modern life itself should signal that this is something very different: Israeli bombers did not fly over Beirut and unleash loads of bombs. Each individual building was the quarry; the intent was there, and the technology existed, to spare the rest.
So Israel “won” -- literally a technical knock-out -- and Hezbollah “won” as well.
Hezbollah is weakened and strengthened at the same time.
Israel achieved its military objectives and yet worsened its strategic outlook.
Tomorrow: Facts and Myths About the Israel-Hezbollah War.
By | September 18, 2006; 9:59 AM ET Previous: I'm Away: Boots on the Ground | Next: Facts and Myths About the Israel-Hezbollah War
Thank you William Arkin for a fair article!!!
Posted by: Rachelgita | September 27, 2006 9:10 PM
This is an interesting attempt at shaping public perception.
Posted by: Watash | September 25, 2006 10:31 AM
Response to Liad Malone, Sep 21. I think we disagree as to what takes more courage, to attack Israel or to defend it. Can you name one senator or one representative (other than the 2 or 3 reps of Lebanese background) who complained that an immediate ceasefire was not called for by the US or the UK? I am a Dem who has always supported Israel, but I was sorely disappointed that no Dem politician supported Kofi Annan's call for the ceasefire and his conclusion that Israel's response to the kidnappings to be totally over the top. Israel lost the moral high ground, as far as I am concerned. Here in the UK, Tony Blair has been roundly criticised for backing the US do-nothing approach, but no one has crit Geo Bush. THAT takes courage!
Posted by: Jack Pollack | September 23, 2006 8:53 PM
Keep on telling the truth. Be strong.
Posted by: Haim | September 23, 2006 5:16 AM
"If that had been our intention, we could have killed even MORE innocent people!"
Whether this is supposed to be an excuse for killing the people they DID kill, or some kind of "moral relativity" defense, it is a cynical argument that justifies nothing, proves nothing. No evil act is justified in the slightest by the fact that the actor COULD have done something yet worse. Hitler's Reich COULD have killed even MORE innocent people, or tormented the victims even more before they were murdered...is that an excuse?
Besides, it isn't even true. Israel COULD NOT have killed many more people, without losing even the rather implausible deniability upon which they now depend. At some point, even Israel's spinmeisters could no longer, with straight faces, try to put lipstick on this pig.
Posted by: M David | September 22, 2006 5:49 PM
Matan - "the hizbullah has used civilian buildings to hide it's arsenal of missiles and used civilians as HUMAN SHIELDS."
There is a huge difference between willing participants in a movement and hostages. The Palestinians in the north of Israel are hostages to the good behavior of the other Arab countries.
Do you know why Hassan Nasrallah appologized to the Arab Citizens of Israel during the fighting?
Because Hesb'Allah was firing rockets at the IDF bases and ammo dumps purposefully located right next to Arab villages.
It's one thing to hide weapons among your own people for resistance (you'll read that terror). It is utterly dispicable to do that to second class citizens in your own country simply because they don't have power and hope that if your enemy misses its targets its only "those people" who die.
Oh yeah, and the Israelis have bomb shelters in their towns and villages. The Israelis will not build them for the Israeli-Arabs. The excuse is that there's not enough money to do it. How much does America give Israel each year?
Posted by: Like a dog 'Arkin | September 22, 2006 3:51 PM
i must say that the author of this report has said what most lebanese and hizbullah supporters try to hide..the hizbullah has used civilian buildings to hide it's arsenal of missiles and used civilians as HUMAN SHIELDS!the lebaneze people should only blame themselves and their goverament for supporting a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION!they help the terrorist hide themselves in civilian population and the BEG FOR MERCY FROM THE WORLD BECASUE "WE ARE NOT GUILTY!WE ARE INNOCENT!"that bull#$%! they should say "thank you".if any ARAB or EUROPEAN STATE OR EVEN USA was under a terrorist threat near their borders,they would annahilate the entire city from which the attacks were originated.
and to those who say that the lives of two soldiers are less equal to the destruction of a country-i think that if a member of your family would be kidnapped by these terrorists,you will demand the annahilation of the place they originated from.i recommend that you think again-and put yourself in the state of the poor families of the soldier's that were kidnapped.
Posted by: Matan | September 22, 2006 3:42 PM
Joan Said - "I think that some Rabbis found out about this thread, and decided to drown out the truth, with their own warped view of what happened."
I feel like this next post encapsulates fully this sentiment.
Posted by: Noah's Arkin | September 22, 2006 3:29 PM
Nice to see somebody write about the situation in terms of the glass being half full and without hyocritical screeches. The Arab parties need the courage to admit they have been running a war against Israel since Dec 1947 and if you start a war you have to accept that you will be hit from time to time. The tragedy is that there are no bones of contention between Lebanon and Israel and they could sign peace tomorrow - if the Syrians let the Lebanese do so.
Posted by: Frank Adam | September 22, 2006 3:27 PM
At last, someone to note the obvious truth !!!
Let it be known publically that Israel did not take off its gloves in this episode. With the weapons it holds it could have wiped out the entire city of Beirut, yet it took down single buildings with (I'm sad to say) accuracy and concern for the general population around them. If it were the other way, as was obvious from the media, Hizb'alla would have not hesitated. On the one side a country that openly fights to defend itself, on the other militias who use civilians as body shields. I have a feeling Hezb'lla will not attempt a conflict any time soon. They know, as the rest of the world does, that Israel will next time around come bouldozing through Lebanon, enough to read the stories about the Israeli soldiers wanting to go back and fight and the government stopping them. Hizb'alla - not the same as it was before, in fact, might be the beginning of the end of it.
Posted by: San Francisco, CA | September 22, 2006 1:40 PM
Jeez, What happened here. First we have a terrible article, rightfully criticized by people who think, the bottom of the comments. And then about 150 comments thanking Mr. Arkin for his honesty and integrity. I think that some Rabbis found out about this thread, and decided to drown out the truth, with their own warped view of what happened.
This is what is truly wrong with America today. Any attempt at correcting factual and procedural errors gets snowed under by the folks who believe that Israel (alone in the world) can do no wrong. How many of those supportive posts came from A. NYC or B. Israel?
Yes, Israel has the right to defend herself, but that implicitly implies on her territory. Once you start to defend youself in someone elses land it is either called an attack or an invasion. And please keep in mind that other countries have that very same right.
Posted by: Joan of Arkin | September 22, 2006 12:43 PM
finally a fair reporterm sticking to facts!
from the early 1930s arabs are shooting there own legs, while israel hand is for peace!
Posted by: Eran | September 22, 2006 7:05 AM
Mr. Arkin, I support your views. Indeed I came to similar conclusions myself. Alex, Tokyo
Posted by: Alex | September 22, 2006 5:40 AM
You are a breath of fresh air in a stinking world where we see too much fear to tell it how it really is.
I hold you in high esteem!! Please don't change!!!
Posted by: Michael Fordham | September 22, 2006 4:44 AM
In a world that has forgotten the holocaust and is again blaming the Jews for all the wrongs in the world when Israel is just defending itself - and even the press is found to be changing photos and changing the truth to fit shocking headlines THANK YOU for telling it like it is Thank you for being honest !!!!
Posted by: Carol | September 22, 2006 2:30 AM
Posted by: Jesse | September 22, 2006 1:58 AM
Thank you for being honest! it is rare these days...
Posted by: daniel berlim | September 21, 2006 8:02 PM
It is rare these days to read an article of someone's outlook that is truly individual and not just the same garbage all the major media players carry.
Thank you for being honest and acting with integrity.
Posted by: Roni | September 21, 2006 6:52 PM
or actually several, by any courageous jews or arabs.........
are you all intent on "making an impression," while appearing to remain "fair," please.........grow up, answer these questions:
1. what happened to the two important soldiers that were kidnapped?
2. does Israel think it's making any friends in the area? what does it think the several million Arabic and Persian neighbors will do when there's no oil in the neighborhood?
sometimes winning leaves a bad taste in the losers mouth that doesn't go away unless it tastes revenge.........
the cycle of revenge, is kinda predictable and old fashioned.......but the bush administration and complicit congress like_it
islam o fat cysts.........beware of them, the president has them bad, and they might be catching........
point blank: winning is irrelevant, living is _most_ relevant, and living a quality life is what makes living most relevant
IF YOU NEIGHBORS ARE NOT HAVING QUALITY LIVES BECAUSE OF YOU, THEY WILL TRY TO CHANGE THAT!
Posted by: one thing I've said that hasn't been addressed... | September 21, 2006 6:14 PM
my side, I am so unbiased I only have _one_ side......
everyone not on my side is a liar!!!!!
Posted by: hooray for | September 21, 2006 6:11 PM
Thank you for telling it like it is. You have courage and integrity. It would be nice if reporters from the UK (ie Guardian) took a page from your book. It would be nice if ANY reporters did it!
Posted by: Miriam Edelstein | September 21, 2006 6:07 PM
Thank you for telling it like it is. You have courage and integrity. It would be nice if reporters from the UK (ie Guardian) took a page from your book. It would be nice if ANY reporters did it!
Posted by: Miriam Edelstein | September 21, 2006 6:06 PM
Why is it so difficult to understand?
- The Israeli Army used about 7,000 air strikes at Lebanon using a direct modern munition. - The Hizbullah fired about 4,000 rockets that striked towns and villages almost none at military bases. All the rockets used were directed handly by a map and an eye not a computer. -For about 3 weeks at the end of the war the Hizbullah kept reporting that they have only 54 dead warriors. -THe Israeli army reported about at least 600 Hizbullah dead warriors including names and details of about 300 of them.
Now the Israeli army is thoroughly invetigates why they did not come to these consequences in shorter time. The Hizbullah is praising their victory, even though another strong U.N. resolution against their movement was issued and after they had ten times deaths and tens times a destruction at Lebanon. Can anybody have an upside down logic against these ? Or being a blind goat ?
Posted by: Yaacov | September 21, 2006 5:43 PM
How "jounalisticly honest". First the ISRAEL FIRST column is written by the Fifth Columnist, then www.diyus.org organises the supporting chorus of "Israel Uber Alles" Traitors to support their fellow TRIBESMAN.
Posted by: John Byant | September 21, 2006 5:34 PM
Hey Mr. Arkin, aren't you expelled by now from the world of journalism? Such "pro-Israel" articles as this one could make a journalist very lonely. An outcast. As a Jewish-American, you're supposed to show just how much American you are by CRITISIZING Israel, not defending it. Otherwise, one might think this is just Jewish propaganda. The anti-Semites...sorry, the "anti-Israelis" are determined to finish it this time, once and for all! It's easier this time, the Jews are already concentrated in the same country. A very small one too, so at least the phase of concentrating them from a whole continent can be skipped. By permitting Iran to achieve the bomb, they can all be nuked, gas free... Israel is like their own biblical Samson: Strong, but tied down so it can't defend itself while poked, stabbed, pain-inflicted and ridiculed to the joy of the Philistines. Remember: At some point, when about to be killed, Samson chose to take his enemies with him. The Philistines are long gone now, the Israelites are still here!
Posted by: Liad Malone | September 21, 2006 5:23 PM
Posted by: Pablo | September 21, 2006 3:01 PM
Dear Mr. Arkin, Thank you very much for your courage and honesty!
Posted by: David, Israel | September 21, 2006 2:55 PM
Martin cohen is taken back by anti semtitism.Martin what is your view of the millions of Palestinian refugees,please let us hear the truth.Tel us how they are all terrorists just like the American Indians where savage to fight back against the occupation.
Posted by: Robert | September 21, 2006 2:36 PM
What??? No mention of the U.N.? Where were all the observers when the Hezbola fighters were setting up rockets and munition piles close to U.N. positions? Where were they when all the intricate & extensive tunnels were being constructed? Surely reports of all this activity were sent to U.N. headquarters. I for one would love to see them or at least read about them in the papers.
Posted by: Dr.Allen Feldman | September 21, 2006 2:22 PM
For some reason I am still surprised when I see how so many people have no problem backing up terrorist organizations, while any Israeli attempt at retaliation is condemned as war crimes... Thank you for a sincere report.
Posted by: noam | September 21, 2006 2:12 PM
Thank you Mr. Arkin for travelling to Lebanon and Israel and reporting your observations. It is apparent that other readers don't want to hear the truth so they attack the press unjustifiably. Unfortunately, it is reporters like yourself who unfairly take the flack of anti-Israeli feelings.
It blows me away how the anti-Israeli faction hides their anti-Semetic feelings behind their rhetoric. In 60 years, Israel has created an incredibly successful country without oil revenues. In the same period, the oil rich countries and their allies have created oil dictatorships that have caused the uprising of the have nots and religious radicals.
Please continue to write what you see. I am one of your readers who is thankful for American freedom of the press and I will fight for your right to continue to write as you see fit.
Posted by: Martin Cohen | September 21, 2006 1:28 PM
Mr. Arkin, thank you for stating the facts. I would only disagree with your analysis that both sides won something and lost something. Hizbollah had everything to gain from this war, and nothing to lose. If they won, they'd gain "street cred" and destroy Israel. If they lost, they could exploit world compassion for the plight of the "poor" Lebanese. Israel was damned either way. If they won, they'd be condemned as vicious and brutal. If they lost, there'd be a few sad thoughts about all those dead Jews, and life would go on. To some degree Israel DID lose this war: they did not fight back hard enough, pulled out too soon (due to international pressure) and still has not recaptured her soldiers. The world should stop treating the Arabs like children who are not responsible for their actions, and start demanding accountability. Those who are accomplices to crimes are guilty just as the perpetrators of those crimes. Lebanon appealed to the world, saying they couldn't be expected to rid itself of HIzbollah, but when Israel struck back in self-defense, the PM stated for the public record that Lebanese soldiers were willing to die to fight off Israel. Israel doesn't parade her dead around for media purposes -- that's sick and inhumane -- but that doesn't mean her dead don't count. "If you prick me, do I not bleed?"
Posted by: LP | September 21, 2006 1:15 PM
WOW----- some of those lower comments on this article are pretty viscious. The Anti -Israel, and Anti- Jewish sentiment from many of these readers are just plain scary. The lies and distortions of the truth coming from enemies of Jews and the Jewish State always seems to amaze me. How one can shift the blame for what happened to Lebanon onto Israels shoulders is just plain psychotic. If the Lebanese Govt had no idea that a guerilla army had infaltrated and taken over their borders, civilians, and govt- that would be one thing. But if the Leb. Govt. knew what was going on (and there is no way that a rogue army could enlist tens of thousands of civilian troops, purchase and import millions of dollars worth of weapons-with huge missiles that can't be hidden, and set up "humanitarian shops" in every city in Leb- w/o someone in a high position noticing)then they deserve every beating that they recieved in the war. Even if it meant that children died (which is very unfortunate). They were all pawns in a sick perversed plan of radical Islam. Those who cannot look past the propoganda and lies of people and countries working harder than ever in order to shift the blame onto a country just doing what it must to survive and protect it's citizens(ISRAEL)from an ongoing attempt to spill Jewish blood -- must have their eyes and brains examined!
Posted by: drew | September 21, 2006 12:47 PM
Thanks Mr Arkin for uncovering one of the many layers of untruth that the West has soaked up about the middle East. Lets really wonder what would have happened if the military resources were switched- as Mr Arkin muses, would Hizbollah have been as restrained as Israel, or would they simply have "done all they could?"
Posted by: Robert, Leeds | September 21, 2006 12:42 PM
Dear Mr. Arkin, It's so easy to write an article condemning Israel, that I stand shocked at seeing someone actually writing the truth! and now we hear that you are being threatened. When will the developed countries awaken and understand that the Muslims are conducting a Jihad against all non- muslims in the world and they won't stop till they have anuhilated us all!?!
Let's hope at least more concentious journalists will continue writing the truth!
Posted by: Mauricio Waisman | September 21, 2006 12:15 PM
Thanks for your courage in saying it like it is! You are no doubt, receiving tons of hate mail from those who crave propaganda, and abhor the truth. Keep up your good work.....
Posted by: Anthony McElrath | September 21, 2006 12:10 PM
Woe it's refreshing to see someone write an honest article with the truth thru and thru.
Posted by: Honesty | September 21, 2006 12:08 PM
Here's a little tip. If you want Israel's plight to seem more credible than stop monopolizing the media.
Stop trying to manipulate everything!!!
Posted by: Gina | September 21, 2006 11:55 AM
Thank you Mr. Arkin for describing things as they really are. We definitely need more of you in today's media.
Posted by: Ronen Nakash | September 21, 2006 11:54 AM
Posted by: para | September 21, 2006 11:48 AM
A rare bird, this Arkin. He knows how to stick to the facts! How odd! He tells the truth; how refreshing.
The Hezbollah, the Lebanese proxy for Iran, did all it knew how to do, while Israel used but a fraction of its capabilities. And we can understand now that the outcome was that "most of what was destroyed was Hezbollah's assets."
Posted by: Laser | September 21, 2006 11:42 AM
A rare bird, this Arkin. He knows how to stick to the facts! How odd! He tells the truth; how refreshing.
The Hezbollah, the Lebanese proxy for Iran, did all it knew how to do, while Israel used but a fraction of its capabilities. And we can understand now that the outcome was that "most of what was destroyed was Hezbollah's assets."
Posted by: | September 21, 2006 11:41 AM
Well done on the real deal reporting!!! You are an asset to the TRUTH!! best wishes
Posted by: S Rabin | September 21, 2006 11:37 AM
You are to be admired for courageously reporting in a non-biased manner the recent Israel-Hizballah conflict. If only more reporters did not cave in to the terrorists' skewed representations of their "victories" and what they term lack of humanitarianism on the part of Israel the world would certainly benefit from honest reporting. Thank you for a well though out and clearly presented article.
Posted by: Shari | September 21, 2006 11:33 AM
Thank you Mr. Arkin for reminding us of what many people seem to have so conveniently forgotten.
1. Israel was responding to an attack against it. 2. Lebanon was harboring a terrorist organization on its soil against the will of many of its citizens. 3. Lebanon refused to disarm militant groups within its borders(Hezbollah) despite international mandates for it to do so. 4. Isreal acted to the best of its abilities to bring no harm to innocent civilians all while attempting to target terrorists hiding amongst those same innocent civilians. 5. Any claim of the numbers claiming to be the "facts" about the number of civilians killed in Lebanon are impossible to calculate at best and lies at worst. This is due to the nature of Hezbollah, a guerrilla-terrorist organization that is made up of plain clothed individuals that are "civilians" one minute and firing rockets loaded with ball-bearings the next.
Posted by: B. Cunningham | September 21, 2006 11:08 AM
Lebaneese terrorosts kill arab kids and film the bodies to make the impression on the world. This is a new step compared to what palestinian arabs did in Jenin: pulled together all already dead bodies and put them in one "mass grave". What should be their next step? The world is being fulled by the bunch of morans.
Posted by: Steve | September 21, 2006 10:49 AM
It seems that lying is a gene in the Arab Cells: The war started because Lebanese citizens (Hezbollah) crossed the border killed and kidnapped Israeli soldiers and mocked when Israel demands their return. The Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese Government they helped the terrorists build their fortification under civilian's houses and thus use them as human shield: Pictures of killed civilians- not their courage- was the Hezbollah main weapon. The other one was deliberate shelling of civilians. The Hezbollah "fighters", lost and fled in any direct combat with the Israeli soldiers.
What we in Israel hear day and night from the Hams Government and Hezbollah (and Iran) is that they will never accept Israel existence. So stop preaching to Israel about peace, before that convince these bloody regimes to accept our existence
Posted by: Ramatgani | September 21, 2006 10:47 AM
Unike so many ideologically motivated commentators, Mr. Arkin presents an informed and sophisticated analysis of a tragic war. He and the Washington Post are to be congratulated.
Posted by: Richard L. Rubenstein | September 21, 2006 10:42 AM
i loved this article, there is another side to every story. to the comments at the bottom, you have been brainwashed by the media into thinking israel is a strong hearless country which has nothing better to do than to bomb innocent civilians. WAKE UP! there is another side to every story and i am glad it has been shown here. many thanks to mr.arkin
Posted by: Natasha (age 18) | September 21, 2006 10:34 AM
Finally some one that has the nerve to stand up to those tugs that are trying to hijack Islam. Hizbollah is no more than a common criminal organization that uses Islam as a cover for their activities. Well done.
Posted by: Husein Gamal | September 21, 2006 10:27 AM
Excellent factual journalism - there should be many more like you around - several journalists can learn a lot from you
Posted by: Marie | September 21, 2006 10:23 AM
Finally, a reporter who actually visited BOTH countries and witnessed the true nature of the terrorist war that Hezbollah waged against Israeli civilians. Mr. Arkin provides a refreshingly honest report withouth being influenced by Hezbollah's fraudulent spin doctors.
Posted by: John | September 21, 2006 10:21 AM
William M. Arkin - integrity and courage are 2 rare qualities - bless you for having both!
Posted by: Jacob | September 21, 2006 10:20 AM
Posted by: Boris | September 21, 2006 9:49 AM
Yes sir. This is correct. Hizbollah are terrorists Israel must always win in its firrst and last line of defense.
Posted by: Axel | September 21, 2006 9:40 AM
Thank you for fair reporting...finally!
Posted by: Dodi Lamm | September 21, 2006 9:33 AM
My compliments to you on writing an article that "tells it like it is."
Hopefully, via fair and balanced reporting, the world will understand what Israelis (and the Jewish Nation as a whole) have endured for so long.
Posted by: Eli Zabib, New York, NY | September 21, 2006 9:17 AM
Finally a fair reporter, for some people you may show the true but they don't want to see it. keep telling the true...
Posted by: Jaime | September 21, 2006 9:13 AM
Thank you for publishing this honest, fair and balanced piece of reporting by Mr Arkin. I look forward to reading tomorrow's article by him.
Posted by: David | September 21, 2006 9:08 AM
With praise for the courage to speak truth to the powers who stereo-type and hate- to those who judge Israel wheter she acts or restrains herself. Thank you - you are a lonely voice of truth.
Posted by: BRW | September 21, 2006 9:03 AM
Great Article! I am with you here.
Posted by: Mark Rosenthal | September 21, 2006 8:57 AM
I am greatful to read a honest reporting as MR arkin wrote.It`s time come that the world wakes up to see what those ARABS intend to do..HAVING ALL OF US THE FREE WORLD CUPTURE.thanks to MR bush for all what he is doing..WAKE UP AMERICA stop caring if they love you...care about your childreen and your future.STAND STRONG...GOD BLESS
Posted by: HANNA | September 21, 2006 8:57 AM
Israel was attacked and had every right to defend themselves. They won because the world now realizes that Hezbolah is a terrorist organization with support from Syria and Iran. It was a real eye opener for the world to see the amount of rockets at their disposal.
Thanks for your brutally frank comments on the war that Israel won.
Posted by: D Schaub | September 21, 2006 8:48 AM
Hurrah for your honest reporting. keep it up
Posted by: Allan Charles MD | September 21, 2006 8:47 AM
Mr. Arkin, With so much biased information and reporting it is truly a pleasure to read a fair and balanced article like this.
It can only help to calm things down. Lies simply spread hatred.
Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Pamela Levene | September 21, 2006 8:46 AM
This is weird.. after reading the article I see nothing but messages expressing their positive feedback on this finally 'balanced' article. But when I scroll down, the picture completely changes, and the 'true' feedback is shown, lambasting the BS of this pro-zionist author.
Seems to me that the Washington Post is having a hard time gathering pro-zionist feedback (and putting it on top?? I hope not). I bet they wish we were back to the 80's, when Israel could just bomb the sh*t out of any country and then get newspapers to publish only their version of what happened, and why.
So long live the Internet!! The truth is finally out there, no matter how hard you fight against it, Mr. Arkin!
Posted by: Sander | September 21, 2006 8:40 AM
Mr. Arkin I praise you with all my heart for being courageous and with integrity. So much false information was published even in very important papers and TV stations about the war in Lebanon and the real facts leading to it. It is very refreshing to see one Righteous journalist in the Sodom world of journalism. Thank you for bringing the truth.
Posted by: Ilana | September 21, 2006 8:39 AM
I applaud your courage and precision in exposing the truth about the latest Lebanon's war. American people need to know the facts:
1) Aggression against Israel initiated by Lebanon led to the current conflict 2) Lebanon suffered the consequences 3) The Israeli response was absolutely justified and proportionate 4) Many countries are influenced by the Arab oil, will never treat Israel fairly, therefore, this country needs our support
Thank you again for telling the truth.
Posted by: Bob | September 21, 2006 8:35 AM
There are many facets of this terrible conflict that are not subject to factual analysis - questions of who as a result of some past events has a "right" to do X or Y, and so on. If we are to work our way out of this mess it is necessary that we attend correctly to those facets of the situation that *can* be analyzed factually. This article correctly attends to one such factual facet -- the difference between the targeted violence of the Israelis, focused on and limited to Hizbullah's areas, on the one hand; and the purposely indiscriminate violence of Hizbullah, which sought not to *limit* "collateral damage" but for whom "collateral damage" (and the fear of it) was the weapon of choice. A courageous and necessary article.
Posted by: CWilson | September 21, 2006 8:28 AM
This is sophisticated and objective journalism. Thank you for providing quality coverage on the middle east.
Posted by: Alex | September 21, 2006 8:26 AM
At last a reporter which is not afraid of writing the truth. Thank you very much for your honesty!
Posted by: Eli Mayost | September 21, 2006 8:24 AM
Your article is amazing... This is the first report or article I have seen after the war. All other Journalists seemed to have forgotten about what happened, and are not really interested in the truth. Israel was accused of Indiscriminate and disproportionate force.. Amazing just look at what the Arab terrorists do to their own brothers, sisters and children on a day to day basis ... that is indiscriminate killing. Israel was unbelievable discriminating in its targets and really minimised the destruction Great article... lets hear more truth about what really happens in the region..
Posted by: Ben Pik | September 21, 2006 8:14 AM
Thank you for balanced article that cover honestly both sides.
Posted by: Viktor | September 21, 2006 8:12 AM
Thank You for your great and true Article! Just ignore those brainwashed ****** whose comments just remind us of what work lies ahead! Keep up the good work! Greetings
Posted by: AndeeG | September 21, 2006 8:04 AM
Thanks for a very acurate and non biased report.I add to all of that was said, that the big problem in this war is the sem problem that have the police to fight criminals!The police has a recognizable car, uniforms et. The criminals don´t! Israel target militants. They targets civilians. They are the criminals. We have to think a better way to deal with this.
Posted by: José Frajtag | September 21, 2006 8:04 AM
I think this was a good analysis of the situation. Actually, after this war, Hezbollah's "gains" will be diminished every time the legal government of Lebanon (that now has a vested interest in keeping peace) extends its authority in the south.
Posted by: Paul Loney | September 21, 2006 7:57 AM
I was afraid the day would never come when a journalist would report accurately and without bias on the Hizbolla - Israel war. Maybe you will wake some people up to the truth. You are a courageous man. Don't allow yourself to be silenced.
Posted by: David Schwartz | September 21, 2006 7:56 AM
Please don't be deterred by the resistance you receive to telling the truth. Some people would rather live in an imaginary world than to face things as they really are. Since Israel was so fair towards the enemy, our own reserve soldiers paid a dear price, as did our citizens of the North. Our planes could have done more damage if we didn't stick to principles of not playing dirty.
May there be many more truth seekers out that like yourself.
Posted by: Donna Abraham | September 21, 2006 7:56 AM
Most useful idiots commenting here have the islamic propaganda virus.
Hope you get a cure one day.
Posted by: Zn | September 21, 2006 7:54 AM
Mr. Arkin's commentary is insightful and correct in its assessment of the results of the war. Hezbollah hides and mixes its fighters and armaments among the civilian population. It can only be assumed that Hezbollah is more concerned with gaining advantage in the arena of public opinion than in protecting the people of Lebanon. By placing armaments in civilian buildings and firing weapons from the roofs of those buildings, it invited the bombing of civilian targets. This, of course, seems not to matter to Hezbollah and their autocratic regime. I again thank Mr. Arkin for being perceptive and honest.
Posted by: Rod | September 21, 2006 7:53 AM
That was the most accurate article about the Lebanon war I have read to date. Finally someone who isnt afraid to tell the truth. Great job Mr. Arkin
Posted by: Yuval | September 21, 2006 7:51 AM
This was easily one of the most objective analyses I've read yet about the passed conflict.
Please sir dont let the leftist Islamofascist Sympathizers sway your reporting. Fear is their most preffered weapon of choice. Beckoning to them, lowers our society to their own levels.
Posted by: Ben N | September 21, 2006 7:50 AM
A very good point! I agree with every word, keep writing such good collumns
Posted by: Hassan | September 21, 2006 7:45 AM
Not one of the 4000+ rockets that struck Israel was intended for any purpose but to inflict maximum civilian casualties. Meanwhile, if the Israelis had wanted to wipe out the entire population of Southern Lebanon with carpet bombs or worse, they could have done so. They did not. This report is too close to the Truth for purveyors of anti-Israeli venom to tolerate. 'How long must we listen to the lies of prejudice?'
Posted by: LDG | September 21, 2006 7:43 AM
Well, thank goodness someone, Mr Arkin, is not frightened to look with the eye of truth on this situation. In all of Israel's history she has not once taking action without first being sorely provoked. Of course we should all support Israel as a country; she stands between us and the return of the Dark Ages.
Posted by: Alison R Noyes | September 21, 2006 7:41 AM
Bravo to Arkin for telling the truth about Lebanon. The war was certainly not the best thing Israel ever did, but the "compassionate" whinings of Hezbollah groupies should not obscure the central points. Hezbollah is a vicious and genocidal group that has subverted the Lebanese government in violation of UN Resolution 1559. The government permitted and supported naked aggression that had no justifiable cause. Hezbollah hid among civilians intentionally, leading to the large numbers of "civilian" casualties.
Nobody asked how many of the Lebanese dead were Hezbollah or their "civilian" helpers, who operated rocket launchers on telephoned orders from Hezbollah.
Ami Isseroff MidEastWeb for Coexistence
Posted by: Ami Isseroff | September 21, 2006 7:39 AM
So what if we (Israel) didn't do all that we could? we still committed war crimes. The use of cluster and phosphorous bombs against civilian targets is one horrible example.
Posted by: Ofer N, Jerusalem, israel | September 21, 2006 7:28 AM
finnaly a the truth. thank you for not missleading the public.
Posted by: shahar | September 21, 2006 7:27 AM
1. what happened to the two important soldiers that were kidnapped?
2. does Israel think it's making any friends in the area? what does it think the several million Arabic and Persian neighbors will do when there's no oil in the neighborhood?
sometimes winning leaves a bad taste in the losers mouth that doesn't go away unless it tastes revenge.........
the cycle of revenge, is kinda predictable and old fashioned.......but the bush administration and complicit congress like_it
islam o fat cysts.........beware of them, the president has them bad, and they might be catching........
point blank: winning is irrelevant, living is _most_ relevant, and living a quality life is what makes living most relevant
IF YOU NEIGHBORS ARE NOT HAVING QUALITY LIVES BECAUSE OF YOU, THEY WILL TRY TO CHANGE THAT!
Posted by: one thing I've said that hasn't been addressed... | September 21, 2006 1:01 AM
Israel will lose.they have a double standard. Other countries must be accepting of other cultures yet we can be prejudiced pigs in the Nazi mold.We have the only nation on Earth with an established religion that in the US we woud deplore.
Posted by: patso | September 20, 2006 9:49 PM
Try to fight Hezbollah again you cowardly thieves. Get out of Hebron. The world and the US will eventually learn of the treachery of your plastic state
Posted by: patso | September 20, 2006 9:39 PM
Try to fight Hezbollah again you cowardly thieves. Get out of Hebron. The world and the US will eventually learn of the treachery of your plastic state
Posted by: | September 20, 2006 9:38 PM
If Israel is so self sufficient and powerful and noble why don't they get off the US tit
Posted by: patso | September 20, 2006 9:33 PM
Paul, it is obvious that you are the psychotic one, as well as being completely morally depraved by the fact that you support fascist islamic terrorists.
Posted by: Laura | September 20, 2006 5:50 PM
Disgraceful piece of writing. israel still got its thieving, psychotic arse kicked though.
Posted by: Paul | September 20, 2006 11:35 AM
Sean D says: ...many of these [Israeli cluster bombs were] apparently deliberately in civilian areas?
Listen Sean, Hezbollah hid "deliberately" in civilian areas. Blame them.
Posted by: Michael B | September 20, 2006 9:44 AM
Are you aware that many of the cluster bombs were dropped in the last few days before the ceasefire came into effects? Many of these apparently deliberately in civilian areas? Is this the action of a "responsible", precise, non-brutal army, secure in the knowledge that they "won"?
Posted by: SeanD | September 20, 2006 7:37 AM
Answering Dimitri: So far, 99% if not 100% of all suicide bombers have been Muslims. It is indeed Muslim fanaticism that causes this brain-washing.
I see that we have some conspiracy theorists. To set the record straight: Hezbollah not only kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers but they murdered several others. They then launched their rocket attack all before Israel returned fire.
Posted by: Michael B | September 20, 2006 12:33 AM
"We did blast a country over terrorism. A country which refused to turn them over to us. Now, did we do it right? Probably not, we should have had a hundred or so thousand troops on the ground to do it." Afghanistan was justifiable to blast due to the al qaeda presence and support. Iraq, are you still falling for that BS!
"Saudi Arabia. They did enough to denounce him. Al Qaida has no safe haven in Saudi, so blasting them isn't required. They haven't been demonstrated to be actively involved with terrorism, accused yes, implied yes, but nothing concrete enough to take to court."
This is your original quote: "Its a package deal, you don't salad pick. When another country through action or inaction, or some combination, offends your nation enough to attack, you blast it until its capacity to harm you is destroyed or it surrenders. That means its government is fair game, its military is fair game, as well as its people and its structures. Nothing is sacred."
Saudi nationals were involved in 911, so much so it can be easily debated that al qaeda staffing for the attack was Saudi. Where your argument falls apart is where we invaded Iraq, where there was no 911 connection and did little or nothing to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi's still teach jihad in public schools and this is terrorism 101. They also export text books that teach jihad to other Islamic Nations.
"Florida. Ridiculous. Again, unwitting involvement. To say nothing of my previously stated belief you handle your own a lot differently than anyone else."
Florida was a joke, get a sense of humor.
"Afghanistan. Openly sheltered him. This was a line cross. Consequences were suffered, life has moved on."
Actually life has not moved on, the Taliban is on the upswing and we are still bogged down in an occupation. But look at the bright side, agriculture is thriving in Afghanistan, largest crop on record!
Posted by: | September 19, 2006 11:56 PM
two Israeli soldiers were captured and they leveled Beirut. What happened to the Israeli soldiers? Were they captured by Mossad as claimed so that Israeli people could have an outlet for their anger? What is the truth. You were there, did you ask these questions............you remember what triggered the events............what is the truth?
that's all be settled right? What's the fricking answer disinformationists?
WHERE ARE THESE TWO SOLDIERS?
WHAT THE EFF HAPPENED..............IF IT WASN'T ABOUT THE SOLDIERS THEN
It certainly took the heat off of Iraq didn't it?
Posted by: Answer this simple question: | September 19, 2006 11:44 PM
manure...we did blast a country that refused to turn them over to us.......
and what was Negropontes' position in Central America?
And how did the Presidente' of Chile die on George H.W. Bushes watch _in_ WASHINGTON DC while he was director of the CIA.......and why is he now on the board of directors of a Chilean Mining Company?
So the Saudis were trained in Florida? That's where George H.W. Bush got his start, trying to get Castro asassinated using the Mafia and CIA, so his Uncle Walker could get his West Indies Spice Industries Sugar Plantations back right? And isn't that where Goss is from, and Jeb is the Governor there..........and didn't Katherine Harris say that GAWD TOLD HER TO GIVE THE ELECTION TO BUSH NO MATTER HOW MANY VOTES GORE HAD?
yes mr buchanan................let's open that can of worms as long as you're making up some
goat manure to spread on the brains of the American People.......let's here what the cloven hoofed one has to say through you tonight.
Posted by: boy that's a load of | September 19, 2006 11:34 PM
I have to say, that this is probably the most acurate and balanced article I've read on the israeli hezbollah cinflict!!! great job !!
Posted by: Abu | September 19, 2006 9:11 PM
I was reading the Washington post during this war and i must recognise a certain accuracy. But who is this guy, Mr Arkin a journalist, a lobbyst? I am actually in Beirut.. he is talking about the accuracy of the Israeli laser bombing..I agree they were accurate but they flattened a complete part of the city where the Hezbolla was located with dozens of civilians buildings, in the South, thousands of houses have been destroyed,bridges, schools, all chiaa villages have been attacked and sometime turn to rubble... does the attack of a military patrol justify all this destruction?, especially when you realise that there are some lebanese prisonners in the Israeli jails for more than 30 years, what about the Cheba farms, a disputed territory? Is that really the war against terror to justify a war against your neighbour? Intentionnaly and subversivly diverting the legitimate American war waged against terrorism to a regional and local purpose, that is what the best American ally is doing..deserving the Americans interests in the world, rising more and more hatery and incomprehension, that is not, in my point of view the interest of the USA, their real reliable allies are the freedom and the liberty, a fair peacebrocker role, that what would be the most powerfull weapon the US can ever mastered, that would be The major blow of terrorism.
Posted by: South Lebanese | September 19, 2006 4:26 PM
"I recognize that one can't analyze what happened in Lebanon in the 34-day, Israel-Hezbollah war without walking into a minefield."
Or walk around southern Lebanon, or Beiruit without walking into one too. That's if what the comPost reported today is accurate about the cluster bombs, and Israeli minefields.
Why won't the Israelis give the UN and the Lebanese the maps of the minefields or of the launching coordinates of the cluster bombs? It's not proprietary info.
My guess. . . they haven't left yet, and have no plans for staying out.
Posted by: Arkin of the Covenant | September 19, 2006 3:41 PM
While I'm not jewish, I attended the Darfur rally in Wasington DC and was amazed to see how many overtly jewish groups there were (the ones who cover their head). Washington will always play politics, but the jewish people have rallied behind the Darfar campaign along with many chruch groups.
Posted by: | September 19, 2006 3:25 PM
========Now James, one HUGE problem you over looked. It's easy to rant and rave over a terrorist state, but the undeniable reality, these terrorists groups are not governments of countries or counties at all, they can even flow from one country to another with relative ease. According to your way of thinking, after 911, we should have taken out Saudi Arabia, for the involvement of its citizens. And what the heck, everyone knows there are terrorists in Pakistan; why not blow the hell out of them. But wait, there's more, weren't the 911 terrorist pilots trained in the United States in Florida, lets blow the crap out of Florida!========
We did blast a country over terrorism. A country which refused to turn them over to us. Now, did we do it right? Probably not, we should have had a hundred or so thousand troops on the ground to do it.
Saudi Arabia. They did enough to denounce him. Al Qaida has no safe haven in Saudi, so blasting them isn't required. They haven't been demonstrated to be actively involved with terrorism, accused yes, implied yes, but nothing concrete enough to take to court.
Florida. Ridiculous. Again, unwitting involvement. To say nothing of my previously stated belief you handle your own a lot differently than anyone else.
Afghanistan. Openly sheltered him. This was a line cross. Consequences were suffered, life has moved on.
Posted by: James Buchanan | September 19, 2006 2:52 PM
You want the world to act in sudan,move Israel there and see how fast we move.There is a genocide happenning in the Sudan,but do you think congress cares.But you kill two jewish soldiers and all hell breaks out.How many women have been raped in the Sudan.Yet we give ten billion a year to the only democracy in the middle east.A country that claims to be self supporting.Its not about morality its about power,and who has it,do you think a jewish congressman is more moral.Do you hear them say they support the women who are suffering in the Sudan.No they fly to Israel and proclaim there love,its a joke,no race is more moral than another,so Arkin yopu can come down from your moral high box.And please keep your propaganda in favour of Israel for the many think tanks that offer you expert middle east advice.
Posted by: robert | September 19, 2006 2:46 PM
You want the world to act in sudan,move Israel there and see how fast we move.
Posted by: robert | September 19, 2006 2:35 PM
Dimitry wrote: --So it would seem that you agree with our president that we are fighting the 21st century version of fascism or communism. If one accepts this definition of the enemy, then the presidents strategy of invading Iraq, or any other ME country seems not unreasonable. If our enemy is the brainwashed masses of religious fanatics that can't be reasoned with, only death, destruction and forcible re-education (de-brainwashing) may have a chance of success. One would have to argue for more escalation of this kind of world-wide conflict, as the president's current effort are decidedly small-scale.--
The Taliban rule of Afganistan is a good example of how this type of fanaticism can be mainstreamed as was done in Germany and Japan. Were all Germans and Japanese fanatics? No. You only needed enough and a culture to produce them to overthrow a government and institute the fanatic's rule. Once the Taliban were removed many Afgans were relieved. The Afgan war was a just war since the Taliban supported Al Qaida which attacked us. As was found in Germany and Japan, not all the population bought into the fanaticism.
Bush's invasion of Iraq however was not an invasion of a fanatical government. However it has drawn those who agree with the fanatical elements of Islam to the fight and has pushed many who were on the fence to agree with the fanatical elements of radical Islam. Iraq was a bad mistake from the invasion to the current occupation, in almost every way. But most of the insurrgents are Iraqi nationalists, not fanatics. Al Qaida removed Zarquawi because he attacked Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and beheaded Muslims. Al Qaida has to be careful to make it look like their struggle is with the west and not the muslims or ME governments, which is their true target.
The president would be correct if we were faced with fanatical governments, but we are not. Iran comes closest but its government is diverse and its population openly hostile to the government. I don't see Iran as a threat to its population, other governments in the region nor the US. However groups like Hezbollah have shown how the fanatics can impose their rule even within a soverign country. Their "acceptance" by the population should be studied. Bush is not correct that these fanatics are just like those who ruled Germany and Japan, but he is correct that fanaticism is a danger to civilized society and the world needs to recognize it and stand up to it. Too bad he's an idiot and has no idea how to do it effectively. And how communism comes into this I have no idea. Probably just a little extra jolt to energize the republican base.
Posted by: Sully | September 19, 2006 12:55 PM
"Sunnis and Shia behead themselves."
Wow, talk about dedicated. And flexible.
Posted by: | September 19, 2006 12:14 PM
I fear that the "occupation in Isreal" is only an excuse to wage war against a non muslim culture. Sunnis and Shia behead themselves, cut off arms and legs, and massacre each other in their quest for power throughout the ME. Israel has become a thriving center for freedom of speech, freedom of religion and equality between genders in a region where totalitarian regimes drain the resources of their own civilians to advance their own theocratic indoctrination. It is unfortunate that moderates, as in Lebanon, become victims to these dictators. While they clearly cannot speak out against their own suppression, they can unite against anti-Israel/anti-western values. We have seen the response to freedom of speech alone, whether it be cartoons or a lecture on religion and tolerance that sparks bombings, burning of effigies, and chants of Death to the west (and Israel which had nothing to do with either). This is the unfortunate front that Israel has faced since it was created -- an unwillingness to accept and co-exist with a system that challenges their own. In the ME, where people can't rise up against their own way of life, it is rallying behind the Palestinian cause that unites them. But it goes beyond poverty, as we saw with britains 7/7 bombings and recent plot -- they were middle class. It is hatred that is indoctrinated into people, that IS brainwashing that is carried out within their own community as being "acceptable" and a rallying "resistance" that stops efforts at negotiations for peace. Despair for both Israelis and Palestinians has led to more violence. It doesn't matter who started what -- Until the dictators who perpetrate unrest by teaching hate, suppress civilan liberties, and then go on to advocate violence as a "solution" are overthrown, there will be no peace.
Posted by: Frank | September 19, 2006 12:05 PM
The arabs are looking for anything to call a victory because the Isralis have beaten them so badly over the years. Couple that with the economic, social, and political successes and maturity islam is jealous. Islam is a joke. It creats nothing economically, polically, or socially. Instead it tells you to die to go to heaven. The arabs looks so desparte looking for anything to call a victory. What a joke. What is worst is the world needs to understand there has to be a decisive winner and loser so another round is going to happen. This time israel will need to wipe them out.
Posted by: Toronto | September 19, 2006 11:59 AM
==Most of why we cannot understand the suicide bomber or those who send these young men on their missions is a cultural one. You may not be able to get your mind around it but how can you get your mind around a father sending his son on a suicide mission, a mother screaming at her son for not dying in a battle or celebrating when she hears her son was killed in battle, or dancing in the streets when hijacked planes of innocent people fly into buildings killing thousands of innocent people. What I have determined is that the Islamic fanatic mindset is close to the WW2 Japanese fanatic mindset. Close manipulation which we would probably call brainwashing is partly to blame, but its not your classic brainwashing where someone is forcefully indoctrinated. Its a brainwashing by friends and family. A cult type brainwashing where the victim accepts the brainwashing and the result. It is an acceptable part of society, as evil and normal as when the Nazis were exterminating the Jews or the East Germans were happily spying on their neighbors or the Japanese happily flying their planes into enemy ships or killing civilians in China to "save" them.==
Oh, my. So it would seem that you agree with our president that we are fighting the 21st century version of fascism or communism. If one accepts this definition of the enemy, then the presidents strategy of invading Iraq, or any other ME country seems not unreasonable. If our enemy is the brainwashed masses of religious fanatics that can't be reasoned with, only death, destruction and forcible re-education (de-brainwashing) may have a chance of success. One would have to argue for more escalation of this kind of world-wide conflict, as the president's current effort are decidedly small-scale.
==And in case you misinterpret the title, the West is the savages to be managed. It shows they do think and live in a different world from the one we understand in the West, and why they must be defeated. Their ultimate goal by the way is not the destruction of the US, but to instead just kick us out of the ME where we are seen as propping up the ME governments. They believe their failures in the past to overthrow governments has been due to superpowers (US and USSR) propping up the local governments.==
That seems like an outrageous goal, isn't it? To drive us out of Muslim lands? Never! We have a natural right to have a strong military, political and social presence in that part of the world!
So, anyway, your asnwer to what could make you a suicidal terrorist would seem "nothing". You simply can't imagine a set of circumstances whereby you would decide to kill your enemies civilians along with yourself. Is that correct?
I generally have a problem with explanation of human behaviour that relies on unreplicatable, unanderstandable qualities unique to a group of other humans, qualities that can't be understood by others. It's akin to explaining physical phenomena with magic.
Posted by: Dimitry | September 19, 2006 11:25 AM
george wrote: --The Israeli goverment is full of corruption and crime not only cause of the war in Lebanon but also locally in Israel for sexual harrassment, incompetence and greed. Even the Israeli press is reporting this.--
Too bad Hezbollah has no free press to report on its activities, good and bad. The fact that Israeli failings are being reported while Hezbollahs are not should tell you something about each side in this conflict. Get a clue. Hezbollah is a dictatorial terrorist organization that is run more like the mafia than a government. And who elected Nasrallah anyway? Can he be removed from power through democratic means? What would happen to you if you stood in South Beirut and shouted out that Nasrallah was an idiot for starting this war? The people of Lebanon live in fear of Hezbollah while the Israelis, who may disagree with their government and its leaders, do not live in fear of them. That is the strength of democracy and why this islamic fanaticism will eventually be defeated by democracy, because all people want to live free of oppression.
Posted by: Sully | September 19, 2006 10:52 AM
Dimitry wrote: --One way to deal with it is to imagine the perpetrators as subhuman brainwashed robots so unlike yourself, that even an idea of compromise or negotiations seems crazy. So you just try to kill them and any that look like them and any who support them, but somehow their numbers don't get smaller. The other way is to try to imagine what would drive YOU to do the same. It is a lot harder to do the latter.--
Most of why we cannot understand the suicide bomber or those who send these young men on their missions is a cultural one. You may not be able to get your mind around it but how can you get your mind around a father sending his son on a suicide mission, a mother screaming at her son for not dying in a battle or celebrating when she hears her son was killed in battle, or dancing in the streets when hijacked planes of innocent people fly into buildings killing thousands of innocent people. What I have determined is that the Islamic fanatic mindset is close to the WW2 Japanese fanatic mindset. Close manipulation which we would probably call brainwashing is partly to blame, but its not your classic brainwashing where someone is forcefully indoctrinated. Its a brainwashing by friends and family. A cult type brainwashing where the victim accepts the brainwashing and the result. It is an acceptable part of society, as evil and normal as when the Nazis were exterminating the Jews or the East Germans were happily spying on their neighbors or the Japanese happily flying their planes into enemy ships or killing civilians in China to "save" them. Once that has become a natural part of society, it is naturally reinforced daily. However not all Germans, East Germans or Japanese were comfortable with the way things were and rose to the occassion after the defeat of the fanatics. If we ever defeat these fanatics, the majority of Muslims, who are moderate and do not accept this fanaticism, must take on the effort of rebuilding their societies, just as the Japanese and Germans did.
If you want to learn more about these guys, how they think and how they plan to win their war over the west and moderate Islam, read "The Management of Savagery": http://www.ctc.usma.edu/Management_of_Savagery.pdf
And in case you misinterpret the title, the West is the savages to be managed. It shows they do think and live in a different world from the one we understand in the West, and why they must be defeated. Their ultimate goal by the way is not the destruction of the US, but to instead just kick us out of the ME where we are seen as propping up the ME governments. They believe their failures in the past to overthrow governments has been due to superpowers (US and USSR) propping up the local governments. Kick the superpowers out and the ME is theirs to take with Afganistan as the main example. But since killing fellow Muslims looks bad they need the US/USSR to come in so they can be seen as fighting the crusaders, not muslims. Once the USSR came into Afganistan, those running Muslims the Afgan government were now elegible for being killed whereas before the USSR came in they were not. This is what Bush has provided for them in Iraq. The long term plan is for the US to stay as long as possible. The longer it stays the more its is stretched economically and politically. When it eventually leaves it will also withdraw its influence leaving the ME to the fanatics to overthrow. In essence, this war is not a war on terror or a war between Islam and the west. Its a civil war within Islam and the ME and since we are "propping up" ME governments, we are a target. Bush's strategy of spreading democracy is a good one since democracies are much stronger than doctatorial governments which makes up most of the ME. But Bush's methods are inept at best and down right stupid at worse. We need someone who understands these fanatics, their real goals, and the cultures of the ME to direct this "war". Bush and his buddies are exactly the wrong people to do it.
Posted by: Sully | September 19, 2006 10:35 AM
I never know if the author and some of the respondents trully believe that the Israeli attack on Lebanon was discreet or they know that they are deliberately falsifying information. I just returned from Lebanon. The U.N. reports that south Lebanon looks like it was hit by "an earthquake." I'm sure the author and other creeps will say that the U.N. is anti-semetic. Creeps like the author want it both ways, they want Israel to be as vicious as possible and at the same time want everyone believe that the Israeli military is Mr. Morality. Fact is Israeli has better weapons but Hezbollah proved to be better fighters. The Israeli goverment is full of corruption and crime not only cause of the war in Lebanon but also locally in Israel for sexual harrassment, incompetence and greed. Even the Israeli press is reporting this.
Posted by: george | September 19, 2006 10:32 AM
Here in Australia last night we saw what happened to Aitaroun, film taken by Australian Jewish and muslim and christian citizens stuck in the middle.
Before I left home though I noticed a report in Haaretz that said "MI knew Hezbollah was about to nab troops". Now think about that for a moment Mr Arkin and imagine how the parents of those young men felt when they found out that their own IDF had used their sons as pawns to launch this demolition of Lebabnon.
In Aitaroun some 200 Australians were trapped when Israel started bombing a position about 1 km away in the hills, a rocket launcher to be precise. The IAF bombed the mountain incessantly for 2 days and achieved nothing so what do you think they did? The destroyed the village and then told the world that the Hezbollah were hiding their launcher in the town when they knew they were lying.
The first house they bombed to rubble killed 8 Canadian visitors from one family, including 4 children. Then they bombed with cluster bombs and phosphorous bombs in the middle of the town and murdered more civilians. Then they bombed the convoy taking out the civilians and killed more.
Not at any point were Hezbollah anywhere near Aitaroun. The IDF planned this war in May, they knew the soldiers were going to be taken but didn't stop it and they systematically blew up the lives of over 1 million innocent people.
It all sounds so Iraq doesn't it? William Arkin you are a fool sir.
The transcript and film I am speaking of can be found at www.abc.net.au and follow the links to 4 Corners program.
Posted by: Marilyn | September 19, 2006 4:47 AM
they both suck a big one. However, believing that there is an _ultimate_ right or wrong is this in order to avoid solving the situation is
typical of this kind of situation. Bosnia and Serbia waited 200 years to solve their differences..........very sophisticated peoples yes?
no, primitive tribal, genocidal peoples.
there is no difference between hissbollah and Israel.........same stink.
Posted by: I am not pro Israel or pro Hizbollah...... | September 19, 2006 1:41 AM
two Israeli soldiers were captured and they leveled Beirut. What happened to the Israeli soldiers? Were they captured by Mossad as claimed so that Israeli people could have an outlet for their anger? What is the truth. You were there, did you ask these questions............you remember what triggered the events............what is the truth?
Hezzbollah, Israel............pot and kettle. Stupid people, with attitudes that genocide is an answer...........and you Mr. Arkin are ignoring that point. These are not two western powers, not two Los Angeles neighbors arguing about parking in front of each others houses...........these are two primitive cultures claiming that one is more primitive than the other........are they really? Or is it that their weapons are more sophisticated and more primitive. I don't see that the Israeli are any better than the big kid beating up the little kid. Surely you see that the rest of the kids are hoping that the little kid kicks the big kids a s s .................
And that's the truth, how about talking about _that_.
Posted by: so let me get this right.... | September 19, 2006 1:37 AM
==Answer: Brainwashing - in the name of religious fanaticism. It would seem to be extremely difficult to kill someone. But to kill oneself in the process - especially when they don't even know their intended victim - requires brainwashing to the highest degree. The teaching of hate by Islamic Fundamentalists in the name of Islam is that strong. The murdering racists of September 11 were brainwashed. And through that, pure evil came out.==
That is a perfectly respectable and often repeated answer. My question was, however, what would make you do it, if anything?
Posted by: Dimitry | September 19, 2006 1:19 AM
==I don't know Dimitri....I don't have that kind of mind.==
It is hard to imagine. One way to deal with it is to imagine the perpetrators as subhuman brainwashed robots so unlike yourself, that even an idea of compromise or negotiations seems crazy. So you just try to kill them and any that look like them and any who support them, but somehow their numbers don't get smaller.
The other way is to try to imagine what would drive YOU to do the same. It is a lot harder to do the latter
==The fact that Israel has engaged its former "enemy" in the PLO shows just how willing it is to live in peace. Abbas has come to recognize Israel....==
Wouldn't this mean that PLO has changed its position and became a partner? In a space of say 10 years, PLO went from an unimaginable evil organization, who Israel tried extremely violently to eradicate, to a partner in a peace settlement, at least for a while and perhaps again. I don't think the people in the PLO have changed overnight. So what has happened?
==Hamas and Hezbollah have not.==
Fatah and Hamas have been in serious negotiations to form a joint government and implicitely recognize Israel, just before the outbreak of the recent round of hostilities, which now result in 1.5 million Gazans being essentially caged in their trash heap of a jail, with daily Israeli incursions into the "liberated" Gaza, killing dozens each time. Now this round did start with the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier, but just like in Lebanon, Israelis went medieval on them,seeming on cue. Israel wouldn't be looking to mess up potential reconciliation between Hamas and the PLO, would they? Impossible...they are Good, after all.
Posted by: Dimitry | September 19, 2006 1:15 AM
Lots of nonsense in this report. It doesn't mention the destruction of 60 road bridges up and down the country. It doesn't mention the destruction of the nation's only oil refinery. It doesn't mention the damage to Beirut airport -- not a Hezbollah asset. It doesn't mention the destruction of Lebanon's tourist industry -- its biggest industry -- probably for years to come. It doesn't mention the lingering naval blockade of Lebanon, which had zero relationship with Hezbollah. It doesn't mean the destruction of national highways that Hezbollah wasn't using and didn't own.
And guess what? Doesn't mention dead Lebanese. Why not? We;; ... clearly ... dead Lebanese jes' doan matter. An unfortunate and obvious reality.
Posted by: Paul Lynch | September 19, 2006 1:13 AM
Dmitri says: "What would drive [someone] to strap on a suicide vest and blow up a restaurant full of civilians?"
Answer: Brainwashing - in the name of religious fanaticism. It would seem to be extremely difficult to kill someone. But to kill oneself in the process - especially when they don't even know their intended victim - requires brainwashing to the highest degree. The teaching of hate by Islamic Fundamentalists in the name of Islam is that strong. The murdering racists of September 11 were brainwashed. And through that, pure evil came out.
Posted by: Michael B | September 19, 2006 12:34 AM
I don't know Dimitri....I don't have that kind of mind. But ask the suicide bombers in Chechnya who went into a schoolyard filled with children only to keep them hostage and kill them, or the rape and murder taking place in Darfur...There is what appears to be a lack of respect for human life that is common to all. .despair clearly does sick and twisted things to people...Martin Luther King couldn't be a more powerful example of how non-violence achieves success. The fact that Israel has engaged its former "enemy" in the PLO shows just how willing it is to live in peace. Abbas has come to recognize Israel....Hamas and Hezbollah have not.
Posted by: | September 19, 2006 12:31 AM
Another great success in the war on terror. But remember what the President said - we don't torture people and we don's send them to be tortured. Actually, I am not so sure he said the second part.
------------------------------------------- Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case By IAN AUSTEN Published: September 19, 2006 OTTAWA, Sept. 18 -- A government commission on Monday exonerated a Canadian computer engineer of any ties to terrorism and issued a scathing report that faulted Canada and the United States for his deportation four years ago to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured.
Skip to next paragraph Related Related Site: Canada Commission (ararcommission.ca) The report on the engineer, Maher Arar, said American officials had apparently acted on inaccurate information from Canadian investigators and then misled Canadian authorities about their plans for Mr. Arar before transporting him to Syria.
"I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constituted a threat to the security of Canada," Justice Dennis R. O'Connor, head of the commission, said at a news conference.
The report's findings could reverberate heavily through the leadership of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which handled the initial intelligence on Mr. Arar that led security officials in both Canada and the United States to assume he was a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist.
The report's criticisms and recommendations are aimed primarily at Canada's own government and activities, rather than the United States government, which refused to cooperate in the inquiry. But its conclusions about a case that had emerged as one of the most infamous examples of rendition -- the transfer of terrorism suspects to other nations for interrogation -- draw new attention to the Bush administration's handling of detainees. And it comes as the White House and Congress are contesting legislation that would set standards for the treatment and interrogation of prisoners.
"The American authorities who handled Mr. Arar's case treated Mr. Arar in a most regrettable fashion," Justice O'Connor wrote in a three-volume report, not all of which was made public. "They removed him to Syria against his wishes and in the face of his statements that he would be tortured if sent there. Moreover, they dealt with Canadian officials involved with Mr. Arar's case in a less than forthcoming manner."
A spokesman for the United States Justice Department, Charles Miller, and a White House spokesman traveling with President Bush in New York said officials had not seen the report and could not comment. -----------------------------------------
Posted by: Dimitry | September 19, 2006 12:23 AM
You and many others, who don't know much history. How about this for a story of the war:
Continuation of a 60 year+ struggle over partition of Palestine, during which many tens of thousands of civilians were killed by all sides (mostly Arabs, actually), including Israeli non-state terrorists (Irgun), Arab non-state terrorists (PLO, Abu Nidal's boys, Hezobolah, Al Aqsa), and multiple, repeated war crimes have been committed by all combatant militaries.
At least read up on the previous Lebanese war and the resultant 18 year Israeli occupaiton. To claim the war started with the miltary outpost attack is pretty short sighted.
Posted by: Dimitry | September 19, 2006 12:21 AM
==Spin is easily achieved when the article fails to mention the purpose of the PLO's existence was to destroy Israel. The PLO, like Hezbollah and Hamas negate Israel's right to exist and calls for its destruction using violence. If there were no terrorist organizations, there would be no violence.==
Is that why Israel is supporting Abbas, the president of PA and a bigwig in the PLO? Israel, like the US often makes decisions it later regrets, like creation of Hammas as a counterweight to the secular, nationalist PLO, once considered mre dangerous.
Are you sure it is these terrorists, alone and in a vacuum, purely out of devilish malice and unhuman hate perpetrate all the violence in the Middle East? Is there anything other than worhsip of the devil that drives these people to murder/suicide? Unusual choice for a human, no? Why would you do it? I mean you personally? What would drive you to strap on a suicide vest and blow up a restaurant full of civilians?
Posted by: Dimitry | September 19, 2006 12:10 AM
Arkin says that what happened in the Israeli/Hezbollah conflict "can't be reduced to 1000 words." He calls it "complex." I submit that the story is simple. It's really just Good (Israel) vs Evil (Hezbollah). Please hear me out. Hezbollah kills Israeli soldiers, kidnaps two more, fires rockets into Israel. Israel responds with rockets and missiles of its own. Hezbollah shoots its rockets from the midst of Lebanese civilians to exact a high civilian toll (when Israel shoots back) to confuse many (including many on this blog) into thinking that Israel was aiming at civiliansHezbollah is the cause of the conflict and responsible for the casualties and destruction on both sides.
Posted by: Michael B | September 19, 2006 12:05 AM
I don't find what was listed as propagnada, but rather facts as to why Israel invaded Lebanon. Please, if you are so uncomfortable with these facts, the references are readily available on the web site you are so opposed to listing them. Spin is easily achieved when the article fails to mention the purpose of the PLO's existence was to destroy Israel. The PLO, like Hezbollah and Hamas negate Israel's right to exist and calls for its destruction using violence. If there were no terrorist organizations, there would be no violence.
Posted by: | September 19, 2006 12:00 AM
I must confess a profound weariness with the relentless pro-Israel apologias of Mr. Arkin and other WP writers. It is becoming increasingly obvious to even the most casual observer of foreign policy that Israel has adopted an amoral policy of intimidation by brute force with the Arabs while showing a benign and moderate face to western audiences, and that its extensively documented pattern of human rights abuses against the Palestinians and others is putting the US (and Israel itself) in the gravest peril. The comment by the IDF chief at the beginning of the recent war (that the campaign would set Lebanon back twenty years)suggests that Israel intended this attack to be as painful as possible for the average Lebanese so that Hizbollah would be held to account by the general population of Lebanon. It's time supporters of Israel like Mr. Arkin stopped the carefully crafted sophistry (please, not more "Myths and Facts")and do what so many in Israel are now doing: question the country's ongoing policies of colonization and brutality vis-a-vis its Arab neighbors.
Posted by: Weary | September 18, 2006 11:52 PM
==Wikipedia -- Great source. Here is a quote from their website as to who writes for this "encyclopedia".
"Unlike with other encyclopedias, the volunteer authors of Wikipedia articles don't have to be experts or scholars...They can be anyone, including you! Volunteers do not need any formal training before creating a new article or editing an existing article==
My point is that they are typically not proffessional propagandists, such as you will find in obvious pro-Israeli or pro-Arab sources. Wikipedia entry on the origin of the 1982 war is heavily annotated, with references to the UN documents and the Research Division of the Library of Congress. Feel free to check the original sources.
Posted by: Dimitry | September 18, 2006 11:30 PM
Wikipedia -- Great source. Here is a quote from their website as to who writes for this "encyclopedia".
"Unlike with other encyclopedias, the volunteer authors of Wikipedia articles don't have to be experts or scholars...They can be anyone, including you! Volunteers do not need any formal training before creating a new article or editing an existing article"
Posted by: | September 18, 2006 11:21 PM
Most of the people commenting here seem to have a lot of surety about the facts one way or the other, but there is a point about the war that I would like some clarification about if you could shed some light on it:
I read in a certain blog about an incident in the war where a Lebanese ambulance was supposedly hit by an Israeli missle, and the blog analyzed the photographic evidence and news reports and concluded that it was probably a hoax. That is, the ambulance was not hit by an Israeli missile, but was arranged to look that way.
I'm not sure what to make of it: is it another conspiracy theory, or are these valid points?
Posted by: Tim | September 18, 2006 11:20 PM
==The PLO repeatedly violated the July 1981 cease-fire agreement. By June 1982, when the IDF went into Lebanon, the PLO had made life in northern Israel intolerable, by its repeated shelling of Israeli towns.==
Yup, that the Israeli view, taken from one of the pro-Israeli websites. It doesn't mention anything about Israreli actions (as usual). Here are some different views, from wikipedia:
------------------------------------------- Background After the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, Lebanon became home to more than 110,000 Palestinian refugees from their homes in present day Israel. In 1970 and again in 1971, the PLO was engaged in the attempted overthrow of the Jordanian monarchy,[1] which routed a large number of Palestinian fighters and refugees into neighboring Lebanon. By 1975, they numbered more than 300,000, creating an informal state-within-a-state in South Lebanon. The PLO became a powerful force and played an important role in the Lebanese Civil War. Continual violence occurred between Israel and the PLO from 1968, peaking in Operation Litani.
On 10 July 1981, after a period of peace, violence erupted in South Lebanon. According to the U.N. Secretary-General, the Israeli air force bombarded Palestinian targets in south Lebanon, and later that day Palestinian elements fired artillery and rockets into northern Israel. However, according to the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, "Israel responded to PLO rocket attacks on northern Israeli settlements by bombing PLO encampments in southern Lebanon."[1] The United Nations Secretary-General noted, "After several weeks of relative quiet in the area, a new cycle of violence has begun and has, in the past week, steadily intensified." He further stated, "There have been heavy civilian casualties in Lebanon; there have been civilian casualties in Israel as well. I deeply deplore the extensive human suffering caused by these developments." The President of the Security Council, Ide Oumarou of Niger, expressed "deep concern at the extent of the loss of life and the scale of the destruction caused by the deplorable events that have been taking place for several days in Lebanon."[2] [3] On July 24, United States envoy Philip Habib brokered a shaky ceasefire, but incidents continued. Over the next 11 months, Israel charged that the PLO committed 270 violations of the cease-fire, in which 29 Israelis were killed and more than 300 were injured. Israel is also charged with violating the cease-fire during this time, leading to many Palestinian and Lebanese deaths.[2]
The Palestinian forces continued to grow in Lebanon with full-time military personnel numbering around 15,000, although only 6,000 of these, including 4,500 regulars, were deployed in the south. They were armed with 60 aging tanks, many of which were no longer mobile, and 100-200 pieces of artillery (Sayigh, 1999, p. 524). According to Israeli analysts Schiff and Ya'ari (1984), the PLO more than tripled its artillery from 80 cannons and rocket launchers in July 1981 to 250 in June 1982 (pp. 83-84). The same authors also refer to Israeli intelligence estimates of the number of PLO fighters in southern Lebanon of 6,000 "divided into three concentrations; about 1,500 south of the Litani River in the so-called Iron Triangle (between the villages of Kana, Dir Amas, and Juya), Tyre, and its surrounding refugee camps; another 2,500 of the Kastel Brigade in three districts between the Litani and a line running from Sidon to northeast of Nabatiye; and a third large concentration of about 1,500-2,000 men of the Karameh Brigade in the east, on the slopes of Mount Hermon" (pp. 134-135). The total forces deployed by Syria, the PLO and Israel during the conflict are detailed in the table below.
On 21 April 1982, after a landmine killed an Israeli officer in Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force attacked the Palestinian-controlled coastal town of Damour, killing 23 people. Despite this and numerous other attacks launched since 24 July, 1981 the PLO continued to observe the cease-fire agreement (Cobban, 1984, pp. 119-120). The Secretary-General computed from his reports to the Security Council (S/14789, S/15194) that from August 1981 to May 1982 inclusive, there were 2096 violations of Lebanese airspace and 652 violations of Lebanese territorial waters (Chomsky, 1999, p. 195; Cobban, 1984, p. 112) [4]. On June 3, the Palestinian militant group Fatah-The Revolutionary Council (headed by Yasser Arafat's opponent Abu Nidal) attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador in London, paralyzing him. Prime Minister Menachem Begin had been informed by Israeli intelligence that the PLO was not involved in the attack on Argov, but withheld this information from his Cabinet (Gilbert, 1998, p. 503). Rafael Eitan, who was then the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, responded to the aforementioned information in his famous saying "Abu Nidal, abu shmidal. We need to screw PLO!" ("!××× × ××××, ××× ×©×××××. צר×× ××פ×ק ×ת ×ש"×£"). On June 4 and 5, Israeli F-16 planes bombed Palestinian refugee camps and other PLO targets in Beirut and southern Lebanon killing 45 and wounding 150. For the first time in over ten months, the PLO responded by launching artillery and mortar attacks on civilian centers in northern Israel. On 6 June 1982, Israeli forces under direction of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invaded southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace of the Galilee".
Posted by: Dimitry | September 18, 2006 10:45 PM
==Why is everyone always surprised that Israel is able to protect herself? Why is Israel always the one at fault, even when they are being attacked, whether it Hamas terrorists in the south, or Hezbollah in the north?==
I don't think anyone is suprised that Israel can defend itself - it is a regional superpower, fully capable of defeating all of the Arab armies combined. I don't think anyone is blaming Israel for defending its people and territory. Its the collective punishment part that most people are against. Killing 1200 mostly civilians and mostly those who had nothing to do with the attack on their soliders seems wrong to me.
==For that matter, why is the majority of the international population against the Jews having a sliver of land to live on?==
That's a really odd statement. What international population are you referring to? I think most people in the world are quite content to have Israel within the 1967 borders be a heaven for Jews. It's those silly illegal settlements that seem to be a problem. There is even a UN Security Council resolution against them, 242. But that doesn't threaten Israel, just those nice areas they occupied in the West Bank.
==The whole point of the re-establishment of the Jews to their point of origin in a land no one wanted (until the Jews transformed it), was to give them a refuge against the anti-semitism that was rife prior to 1948, and obviously hasn't lessened.==
Well, there is a lot of dispute over the mythology of the "land no-one wanted". And being of Jewish heritage from the USSR, I know anti-semitism first hand. But how does that allow Israel to occupy land which really, really doesn't belong to it? And then wall it off, so the original population can't get to it. Criss-croos it by roads "for Jews only"? That's bad stuff, in my book.
==I regret that Hezbollah hides among women and children, because when infra-red scopes see a rocket laucher, they aim at it. The fact that 'innocent civilians' were killed and injured is most unfortunate, but I haven't heard the 'innocent civilians' protesting against Hezbollah's presence in their midst. ==
The population views Hezbolah as defense against the kind Israelis who occupied them three times, last time for 18 years, with large scale brutality. But Jews couldn't do that, could they? Did you know, by the way, that the first thing IAF destroyed was a museum of Israeli occupation, housed in an old Israeli jail they used during their years in Lebanon?
==I find Hezbollah to be chicken-hearted in every way. When they want to show how macho they are, they hide behind women's skirts like bad little boys, and then the world is surprised that the people Hezbollah hide behind got killed and injured!==
I think Israeli soldiers who actually fought Hezbolah fighters would disagree with you. They found them to be tenacious, motivated, brave and skillful.
==I also think that this conflict lies as heavily on the Lebanese Government, and the U.N., as it does on Hezbollah, since they guaranteed that they would clean out Hezbollah from amongst the Lebanese.==
As I posted previously, Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement as well. Perhaps Hezbolah's insistence of staying on as a "protecting force" would carry less weight to the Lebanese population, if they were not continuously buzzed by Israeli war planes.
==Israel has the right to defend herself against any attack, including an attack by Hezbollah. So do the Lebanese. They can defend themselves by dismantling Hezbollah, and taking their arms away. They can also prevent more arms from Syria and Iran from reaching the terrorists they harbor.==
Hezbolah can only be disarmed when there is comprehensive peace in the region.
==They won't. It's too easy to let things be. And the women and children, well, they were raised in the same death worshipping religion. If they don't want to be in danger around Hezbollah, surely they can pack a few things, and walk the few blocks to where Hezbollah doesn't reign supreme.==
Hezbolah is spread throughtout southern Lebanon, among a million Shia living there. Your suggestion is a bit naive.
==But oddly, they don't all seek refuge, even when Israel, to their own detriment, drops leaflets telling them politely that they should get out of the war zone.==
Actually, ordering a million people off their land to clear it for military action is in itself a violation of the Geneva Conventions. And it wasn't "polite", whatever that means. The Lebanese Shia were first ordered off their land, than told that any moving vehicle on the road will be attacked.
==I don't know why everyone is so suprised and shocked that Israel fought back when attacked. Most countries do. ==
I think the civlian toll and wholesale leveling of entire civilian neighborhoods that got most people's attention. I don't like to see city blocks of apartment buildings leveled, essentially as a collective punishment for Hezbolah support. It is mean and illegal.
==Hezbollah can say what they want - they can claim victory because they survived to re-arm, and attack Israel again in five or six years. Perhaps by then Syria and Iran will join them openly. And perhaps America will join Israel openly, although we haven't exactly been hiding the fact that we support and arm Israel, and have ships off Israel's coast to make sure Israel is not overwhelmed.==
I think Isreali interests and American interest are not one and the same, despite millions of dollars spent on propaganda to make Americans think that.
And yes, the entire Middle East should take a warning. Israel victori
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France's Chirac Not in Favor of Iran Sanctions
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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 -- In a potential break with the Bush administration, French President Jacques Chirac said Monday that he is "never in favor of sanctions" and suggested that the United States and other nations could begin talks with Iran on its nuclear program before Iran formally suspends its nuclear activities.
Chirac's remarks came as President Bush prepared to address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, part of an intensifying U.S. drive to secure international sanctions against Iran. The French president, in a 45-minute interview on European radio, appeared to upend that diplomatic drive and signaled a widening breach on Iran between the United States and European partners, reminiscent of the debate over the Iraq invasion four years ago.
Perhaps mindful of those tensions, some U.S. officials both publicly and privately played down Chirac's comments, insisting there was little daylight between the U.S. and French positions. But others said that the remarks took them by surprise and that they would seek an explanation from the French at meetings on Tuesday.
In his speech, Bush plans to take a far less aggressive approach to Iran than he did four years ago in arguing for action against Iraq, U.S. officials said, casting the debate over Iran as part of a noble effort to bring democracy to the Middle East. The officials said that Iran will not be the major focus of the speech and that Bush also plans to announce he will name a special envoy to spearhead efforts to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region.
Chirac's comments represented another potential hurdle for Bush, who is coming to the United Nations this week seeking considerable assistance from the world community, including peacekeeping troops for Lebanon, financial aid for the reconstruction of Iraq and political support for his efforts to shut down Iran's nuclear program. At the same time, however, U.S. leverage has been weakened by the ongoing war in Iraq, and diplomats are skeptical that the lofty theme of Bush's speech Tuesday -- bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East -- will be of much practical significance in swaying countries to Bush's side.
In fact, Chirac, who will meet with Bush before the American president's speech, noted in the radio interview that the difficulties in Iraq showed he had been right to oppose that war in the first place.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser in the Carter administration, said if Bush offers another "pep talk" about democratization in the Middle East, he risks losing an audience skeptical of the U.S. venture in Iraq and what it sees as a lack of American engagement in promoting an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
"The speech is a major challenge, and if he plays it intelligently he can regain some of the ground he has lost," said Brzezinski, a trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "He would be well advised to take a moderate tone. . . . He hopes to isolate [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. If he adopts a belligerent tone and makes threats, it will be easy for Ahmadinejad to isolate him."
Bush is clearly hoping to make democracy promotion the theme of this week's meetings marking the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, and he held several meetings Monday with the leaders of countries the White House considers emerging democracies -- El Salvador, Honduras and Tanzania -- as well as Malaysia, whose government advocates a moderate form of Islam.
But Iran was shaping up as his major strategic challenge. In June, the five permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany, offered to negotiate with Iran on a package of incentives to end its uranium-enrichment program, but only if Iran verifiably froze its nuclear activities first -- a stance that was affirmed in a U.N. Security Council resolution only last month. But under Chirac's formulation, that red line apparently would be erased.
"I believe that on the one hand that Iran and the six countries must first establish a schedule for negotiation, then must embark on negotiations," Chirac said, apparently referring to setting up an agenda for the talks. "And during these negotiations, I suggest that on the one hand the six give up on referring the matter to the Security Council and that Iran should give up the enrichment of uranium for the duration of the negotiations."
Chirac met last week with a senior Iranian envoy, Hashemi Samareh, who appealed to Chirac by saying Iran wanted to be partners with France and the rest of Europe in creating a stable Middle East, according to European diplomats briefed on the talks. Samareh also noted that Iran believed Lebanon's government might soon fall, which some took as a not-so-subtle warning about Iran's influence in a country with close ties to France.
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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 -- In a potential break with the Bush administration, French President Jacques Chirac said Monday that he is "never in favor of sanctions" and suggested that the United States and other nations could begin talks with Iran on its nuclear program before Iran formally suspends...
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Corruption That Shook Capitol Isn't Rattling Elections
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HAMILTON, Mont. -- Sen. Conrad Burns gazed at a debate audience and asked if anyone could guess who was blocking efforts in Washington to control health-care costs.
"Abramoff?" shouted a heckler. The crowd at a packed high school auditorium here in Montana's Bitterroot Valley erupted in hoots and jeers.
Visibly angered, Burns, 71, shot the audience a don't-mock-me glare. But his debating point (blaming Democrats for health-care costs) and his senatorial dignity were swamped by the contempt of constituents who for nearly a year have been lapping up revelations about his ties to disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Burns, though, soldiered on through the catcalls and sneers -- and not without reason. He may be carrying Abramoff on his back, but in this thinly populated, Republican-leaning state, he continues to run neck and neck with his Democratic challenger, Jon Tester, president of the Montana Senate. Poll numbers have not moved much in months.
For all the influence-peddling that has been exposed in the run-up to the midterm election, corruption on Capitol Hill has not become a decisive issue -- here or in much of the country. The Abramoff scandal, having ended the careers of a few lawmakers and stained the reputations of several others, can certainly rile up ardent Democrats, as the debate here demonstrated. But it is not making fundamental changes in the nation's partisan landscape, especially in races, as with Burns in Montana, in which candidates are facing only unsavory stories rather than indictments or guilty pleas.
In an interview, the senator said his polling shows that most voters regard the "Abramoff deal" as merely a political liability and not a damning verdict on his character. Several pollsters and observers of politics in this state agreed with that assessment. The controversy is almost certainly the main reason Burns is in a competitive race this year, but by no means is it a guaranteed career-ender.
"The Democrats started way early with baseless allegations, and now a majority of people are saying, 'Oh, well,' " Burns said. "We are just moving on."
What, then, are the consequences of the oiliest congressional scandal in a generation as it percolates into races far from Washington? There are, of course, some early goners:
Tom Delay (R-Tex.), once the most powerful man in the House, resigned as majority leader and quit Congress, with Abramoff favors and an indictment for improper fundraising hanging over his head.
Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) decided not to run for reelection and pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy and making a false statement as part of his admission that he traded official acts for campaign contributions and lavish meals in the Abramoff affair.
And Ralph Reed, the telegenic former Christian Coalition executive director, lost the Republican primary for Georgia's lieutenant governor after being tarred by his ties with the lobbyist.
The hand-me-down taint of scandal could still hurt Republicans trying to win the House seats abandoned by DeLay and Ney. "Bob Ney's transgressions resonate despite his departure," said Zack Space, a Democrat running for Ney's seat. "People are very hungry for change."
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HAMILTON, Mont. -- Sen. Conrad Burns gazed at a debate audience and asked if anyone could guess who was blocking efforts in Washington to control health-care costs.
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Pair of Aces
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Washington National Opera opened its 2006-07 season with a distinctly unusual but curiously satisfying double bill Saturday night at the Kennedy Center.
On the surface, Bela Bartok's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" and Giacomo Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi," the two one-acts that WNO will be performing together through Oct. 7, have little in common except their length (about an hour apiece) and their chronology. Both were written in 1911 and first performed in 1918.
Bartok was not a theater composer (this was his only excursion into opera), while Puccini was virtually nothing else. The one is a bleak, brooding marital drama that melds Strindberg with the supernatural; the other is a warm, smart, cynical comedy with characters that might have been created by a Florentine Balzac.
And yet they work well together, at least in the creative, intricately detailed and, on occasion, arrestingly beautiful stagings provided by director William Friedkin, which were first presented by the Los Angeles Opera in 2002. Friedkin is probably best known for "The Exorcist," an exercise in Hollywood diabolism that seems to terrify those spectators whom it doesn't convulse into pagan laughter. To this taste, Friedkin's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" is infinitely more disturbing than anything in "The Exorcist" -- and nobody even has to throw up pea soup or spin her head in a 360-degree rotation.
"Bluebeard" offers very little in the way of dramatic action, which is the main reason it is more often encountered in concert performance than in a full staging. Essentially, it is the psychological study of Judith, a new bride who slowly and horrifically discovers that her husband seems to have any number of literal and metaphorical skeletons in his closets, which she nevertheless insists upon opening. And yet, by removing the story to a symbolic level, Bartok and his librettist Bela Balazs managed to make Bluebeard a haunted, complicated and weirdly sympathetic character, whose history and motivations are never clear. The central theme of the opera thus becomes the difficulty of intimacy between any two people, regardless of their love for each other.
Unfortunately, Friedkin has chosen to undercut this meticulously wrought ambiguity by having Bluebeard strangle Judith (with a red scarf, no less!) at the opera's conclusion -- a cheap touch of prosaic villainy that is nowhere to be found in Bartok or Balazs and that, paradoxically, dissipates many of the more profound (because more painfully realistic) terrors that have been explored in the preceding hour.
There are many stunning scenes, however -- the gondola conveying the newlyweds across the murky lake, the Rousseau-like explosion of color that is Bluebeard's garden, the barren northern skyscape that is the kingdom of his heart. Friedkin imbues the stage action with the sweep and urgency of good cinema and he is a master storyteller, even when he can't resist the urge to embellish.
At this point in his career, bass Samuel Ramey reminds me of nothing so much as an aging lion. If his voice occasionally sounds parched and his low notes no longer have the dark chocolate luster that they once did, there is still never any doubt of his majesty and dynamism. In an era with so many uninterestingly perfect and perfectly uninteresting musicians before the public, Ramey remains a life force, not to be trifled with, nor to be forgotten.
Denyce Graves matched him strength for strength as a splendid, sinuous Judith, singing with greater ease and amplitude than I've heard her muster in some time. Some of the stratospheric demands Bartok makes on a mezzo-soprano proved a little daunting, yet her character remained mercurial and multi-dimensional throughout.
After such a wrenching hour, something lighter was just the thing. And less need be said about "Gianni Schicchi," both because it is a much more familiar piece and because it was so straightforwardly and deftly realized throughout (complete with one hilarious reference to the production of "Bluebeard" that has to be seen to be believed). Here, Ramey played Bluebeard's opposite, an extroverted rogue -- Gianni Schicchi, the "fixer" of Firenze -- with irresistible gusto and good humor. Amanda Squitieri sang the role of Lauretta (and the famous aria "O mio babbino caro") with youthful, tremulous ecstasy; Antonio Gandia deployed his small, light lyric tenor voice to good effect as Rinuccio; and the rest of the cast -- Elizabeth Bishop, Valeriano Lanchas, Leslie Mutchler, Trevor Scheunemann, Robert Baker, Christina Martos, Stefano de Peppo, Tony Teleky, Obed Ureña, James Shaffran, David B. Morris and Matthew Osifchin -- worked together as a brilliant, unified and utterly crazy ensemble.
Giovanni Reggioli, a late substitute for music director Heinz Fricke (who is undergoing minor medical treatment in Germany), led the Washington National Opera Orchestra with sure lyricism and stage-to-pit synchronicity, though his forces occasionally overpowered some of the less stentorian singers in "Gianni Schicchi." For WNO, the season begins with a hit.
Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Gianni Schicchi, at the Kennedy Center Opera House in six more performances through Oct. 7. Call 202-295-2400 or visit http://www.dc-opera.org .
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In the Tetons, Claws for Concern
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There's wildlife you don't mind surprising in northwest Wyoming -- like the family of elk my daughter and I stumbled upon on our otherwise deserted trail early one morning in Yellowstone National Park; we detoured, wide-eyed, around them.
Then there's the other kind, and it's this that has me worried as I eye the scat -- hiker-speak for animal droppings -- along our steep, 10-mile round-trip trudge to Surprise and Ampitheater lakes, some 9,700 feet above sea level.
When Laura and I decided to go hiking this summer in Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone, the iconic mountain landscape was only part of the lure. We also hoped to see large wild animals. When people talk here of moose jams and buffalo jams, they're not referring to spreads for your breakfast toast but traffic bottlenecks caused by drivers stopping to ogle wildlife. Still, some creatures you'd be thrilled to see from the roadside you'd just as soon not startle on a mountain path.
Ursus arctos horribilis tops that list for me. The largest carnivore in the continental United States, a grizzly can weigh up to 700 pounds and is capable of charging at 35 mph. Its smaller, slightly less fearsome relative, Ursus Americanus (black bear to you, though it actually can be sandy or brown in color), isn't far behind.
The scat in front of us is larger than two inches in diameter. Some of it's fresh. And it's continuing along the zigzag trail.
I start to sing: "Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn." I sing louder.
Make noise: Sing, talk, let them know you're there. That's what the guidebooks say, and I've got nothing better to offer, having declined bear spray. ("It's a weapon; we don't carry weapons," Laura had said, and I was inclined to agree -- especially after seeing the $60 price, not including the holster, and the can of Body Guard Rescue pepper spray reliever on the shelf next to it.)
Laura says she doesn't mind the singing; in fact, she rather likes it. But being a confirmed non-singer, she won't join in. Even though she knows why I'm suddenly so tuneful. Only once does she say, "If you're that scared, maybe we shouldn't go." Even in their twenties, your kids still know how to get you. I shut up. Then I notice the tracks, skirting one edge of the sandy trail. They show, at regular intervals, a roundish spot -- a pad. And in front of it, the imprints of -- it could only be -- claws.
I'm not alone in worrying about bears.
"I think a lot of people kind of get a little paranoid. Around here . . . we call it bearanoid," says Jackie Skaggs, spokeswoman for the National Park Service in Grand Teton National Park. "We don't want people to be fearful and have to curtail their activities but to just be smart . . ." If you and a bear want the same piece of trail, the bear wins. It's up to you, says Skaggs, to detour around, giving it wide berth, or failing that, "turn around and retrace your steps and give the bear the trail."
Here are some facts that may surprise you about Wyoming bears:
· Teton bearophobes sometimes take comfort in knowing real grizzly country is to the north. It's not true. "Many people think that Yellowstone has the grizzlies and we have the black bears," says Skaggs, "but there's a goodly number of grizzlies that also live in Grand Teton National Park. And almost every part of this park now, our biologists tell us . . . conceivably can be grizzly habitat as well."
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Arena's 'Cabaret,' Heavy on the Makeup
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Tomorrow, it turns out, belongs to the drag queens. Pushing brooms in director Molly Smith's idea of the notorious Kit Kat Klub, that Broadway-style bastion of Weimar Germany's decadence, men in rouge and fishnet stockings are chosen to belt out "Cabaret's" Aryan anthem, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."
You may recall that in Bob Fosse's movie adaptation, a young blond Adonis with a swastika sings it in a beer garden. Joe Masteroff's original script says only that the club's "handsome," "well-scrubbed" and "idealistic" waiters are to perform it.
So which tomorrow are the cross-dressers at Arena Stage singing about? One, apparently, that looks beyond the rise of the Nazis and the era of "Cabaret" and all the way forward to Dame Edna. In Smith's weird re-engineering, the show becomes a shrill sandwich sign for all manner of editorializing. At one point, Nazi hooligans pummeling one of the musical's main characters even take time to pose for pictures with their victim in mimicry of the unforgettable freeze-frames from Abu Ghraib.
The show may be based on the play "I Am a Camera," but all these rhetorical inserts make it feel more like "I Am a Billboard."
What's drained away in this flashy, overthought incarnation that kicks off Arena's new season is the brute power of a simple, stinging metaphor. "Cabaret," after all, doesn't need any outside help in getting its message across. The Kander and Ebb numbers for the Kit Kat Klub, presided over by the oily Emcee and played here by a perpetually growling Brad Oscar, were designed to tow the musical's political freight. The songs all mirror aspects of the social upheaval fueling the Fascist ascendancy in the 1930s, whether they take on German impoverishment ("The Money Song") or a disintegrating morality ("Two Ladies") or the spreading stain of anti-Semitism ("If You Could See Her").
Smith's license with political context may have been inspired by what Sam Mendes did to "Cabaret" in a widely admired 1998 version that starred Alan Cumming and ran on Broadway for six years. The production had amazing energy, not to mention Natasha Richardson. But Mendes, too, exhibited a penchant for superfluous exclamation points: His ending, for instance, was a jaw-droppingly obvious reference to the concentration camps.
And yet Smith's sledgehammer approach makes Mendes's tinkering seem pantywaist. The aforementioned "If You Could See Her" traditionally has the Emcee dancing with an actor in a gorilla suit, and singing his complaint that the world would accept their love if only it would see her through his eyes -- and that, then, she "wouldn't look Jewish at all." Not exactly subtle. In the song's vaudeville pastiche of sweetness and melancholy, the word "Jewish" is all the shock value an audience requires (even if you've heard it many times before).
At Arena, however, as the song ends, a cage rises in the middle of the Fichandler stage, the gorilla is shoved into it, the mask yanked off, and the hapless primate-inmate sent down through the trapdoor to certain doom. The only touch missing is a high-pitched scream.
Smith, Arena's artistic director, has shown herself able to pull off a big musical; her handsome, red-blooded revival of "South Pacific" in 2002 remains her best work in this category. (Incidentally, it was a musical in which, op-ed-wise, she showed a lot more restraint.) There are hints of that skill and insight in "Cabaret" in which she can suddenly startle with a moment of alarming resonance, as in the second-act reprise of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."
The cast breaks into a tipsy rendition of it during the engagement party for Fraulein Schneider (Dorothy Stanley) and her Jewish tenant, Herr Schultz (Walter Charles). The actors link shoulders except for Herr Schultz, who stands apart -- not offended, but boozily enraptured by the music. The moment is poignantly on the mark, capturing the denial in which many German Jews lived during the early stages of Hitler's rise.
The production is also technically adept, which in light of the brilliance of the score may be all that audiences will require. The scenes move, and the tricky transitions between the club numbers and the story of the offbeat dalliance of chanteuse Sally Bowles (Meg Gillentine) and the writer Clifford Bradshaw (Glenn Seven Allen) flow deftly on set designer Anne Patterson's multiple platforms. The costumes by Austin K. Sanderson and conducting of a nine-member band by George Fulginiti-Shakar are stylishly handled. David Neumann's choreography, on the other hand, is merely serviceable.
The motif is of beauty and hideousness intertwined, but the loudness of Smith's meddling drowns out almost everything. It's interesting to note that some of the best performances are in subsidiary roles: J. Fred Shiffman's Ernst Ludwig, the seemingly mouselike Berliner who later reveals himself as a more malevolent sort of rodent, injects just the right variety of ambiguous affability; and Charles's Herr Schultz proves to be the most touchingly vulnerable character on the stage.
If only some of Schultz's fragility had rubbed off on Gillentine. The actress, so suave last year as the Devil's own Lola in Arena's "Damn Yankees," has the showgirl sass for Sally: We first catch a glimpse of her, dancing gleefully in midair, a la Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge." But she's too solid a citizen for the layer of heartbreak we seek; beneath the surface good-time girl, we have to believe that everything can crack.
Her delivery of "Maybe This Time," lifted from the 1972 Fosse movie, does not successfully draw on Sally's sense of desperation. Her version of the title song, performed as she writhes on a piano (and thus recalling Michelle Pfeiffer in "The Fabulous Baker Boys"), is polished and energetic, if not deeply affecting.
Allen's Clifford and Stanley's Fraulein Schneider are workmanlike. No one works harder, though, than Oscar, whose Emcee snarls at us menacingly from the very start. You not only weary of it, you also begin to wonder what he's so angry about.
And sure enough, in the play's finale, Smith sews in yet another bit of literal commentary to explain it all. With all the strong instruments in the show's accomplished orchestra, you shouldn't be adding a megaphone.
Cabaret, book by Joe Masteroff, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb. Directed by Molly Smith. Choreography, David Neumann; music director, George Fulginiti-Shakar; set, Anne Patterson; costumes, Austin K. Sanderson; lighting, Joel Moritz; sound, Phillip Scott Peglow. With Sherri L. Edelen, Julie Burdick, Diego Prieto, Lynn McNutt, Monique L. Midgette, Jason Strunk. Approximately 2 hours 45 minutes. Through Oct. 29 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. Call 202-488-3300 or visit http://www.arenastage.org .
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Search Washington, DC area theater/dance events and venues from the Washington Post. Features DC, Virginia and Maryland entertainment listings for theater, dance, opera, musicals, and childrens theater.
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For Ex-Postal Service Official, Summer Scandal Heats Up
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All summer, federal-dom has been abuzz over a steamy U.S. Postal Service Inspector General's report accusing the agency's former public affairs chief of heavy drinking, expense account chicanery and sexual harassment. But who knew that the subject of the report, Azeezaly S. Jaffer, has spent the season on vacation, courtesy of the Postal Service?
Jaffer's taxpayers' holiday bears witness, a Postal Service spokesman said, "to how hardworking he is."
The June IG report accuses Jaffer, who managed a staff of 160 and a $20 million budget, of, among other things: drinking at a work function until he passed out; running up $8,000 in extra hotel room charges so he could qualify for a suite with a bathtub for two; and following a female colleague into her hotel room, propositioning her, then passing out.
The Postmaster General's office requested the report in mid-2005, after employee complaints about Jaffer's behavior, spokesman Gerry McKiernan said. Eleven days after the IG released its report June 19, Jaffer, who denies the allegations, left the agency "to pursue other career opportunities."
His departure was announced by Postmaster General John E. Potter, who wrote in a memo to officers that Jaffer "served us well during some of the most difficult public relations challenges faced by any organization," including the 2001 anthrax attacks. His efforts, Potter wrote, "were critical to maintaining public and employee confidence in the Postal Service and the mail."
And then, despite the allegations, Jaffer went on two months' paid vacation, which ended Sept. 1. Beyond that, Jaffer's attorney, Matthew Hsu, said, his client is in line for another two months' vacation pay; at his annual salary of $160,000, the four months of vacation pay amounts to more than $50,000.
Jaffer has paid the Postal Service $3,600, mostly for bills run up by his family last year.
Late last week, the Postal Service issued new post-Jaffer expense guidelines. Dinners, they say, should not exceed $50 per person, more frugal than, for example, the $1,066.08 that the IG says Jaffer charged the Postal Service for dinner for three, including 16 drinks.
McKiernan wondered last week why anyone remains interested in this summer's scandal. But Congress aims to keep Jaffer's endless summer warm at least through autumn.
On Friday, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) who chairs the House Committee on Government Reform, and the committee's ranking minority member, Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), sent a letter to Potter requesting a pile of records linked to Jaffer's case. "The Inspector General's report of clearly unacceptable conduct by a senior postal official is troubling to all of us," the letter reads. The Postal Service has until Sept. 28 to respond.
Jaffer spent some of his summer vacation telling his side to Sidley Austin, which recently released a 42-page "white paper" denying the charges against him.
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Get the latest US government news on recent federal affairs. Up-to-date information and analysis of federal legislation and contracts. Search for government job openings and career information.
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Violence Changes Fortunes Of Storied Baghdad Street
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BAGHDAD -- A silence has fallen upon Mutanabi Street.
In the buttery sunlight, faded billboards hang from old buildings. Iron gates seal entrances to bookstores and stationery shops. On this Friday, like the past 13 Fridays, the violence has taken its toll. There is not a customer around, only ghosts.
Perched on a red chair outside a closet-sized bookshop, the only one open, Naim al-Shatri is nearly in tears. Short, with thin gray hair and dark, brooding eyes, his voice is grim. This is normally his busiest day, but he hasn't had a single sale. A curfew is approaching.
Soon, his sobs break the stillness. "Is this Iraq?" he asked no one in particular, pointing at the gritty, trash-covered street as the scent of rotting paper and sewage mingled in the air.
It is a question many of the booksellers on Mutanabi Street are asking. Here, in the intellectual ground zero of Baghdad, they are the guardians of a literary tradition that has survived empire and colonialism, monarchy and dictatorship. In the heady days after the U.S.-led invasion, Mutanabi Street pulsed with the promise of freedom.
Now, in the fourth year of war, it is a shadow of its revered past. Many of the original booksellers have been forced to shut down. Others have been arrested, kidnapped or killed, or have fled Iraq. "We are walking with our coffins in our hands," said Mohammad al-Hayawi, the owner of the Renaissance book store, one of the street's oldest shops. "Nothing in Iraq is guaranteed anymore."
In a city known across the Arab world for its love affair with books, such emotions reflect the decline of a vibrant community. For the residents of Baghdad, Mutanabi Street is a link to their city's past glory, less a place than an extension of their souls.
"It is the lungs that I breathe with," said Zaien Ahmad al-Nakshabandi, another bookseller. "I'm choked now."
Three months ago, the government imposed the midday curfew on Islam's holiest day to stop attacks on mosques. That was a major setback for Mutanabi Street, named after a 10th-century poet. For most Iraqis, Friday is their only day off from work and a time to head to the book market.
In earlier days, a multiethnic stew of secondhand booksellers would lay their wares out and carefully swipe the dust off. Inside the famed Shahbandar cafe, intellectuals would gather to wax about politics and culture over cups of tar-black coffee and glasses of lemon tea, even during the most repressed of times.
Under former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Mutanabi Street was the nexus for resistance and freewheeling debates, where underground writers published illegal books that denounced Hussein.
"I wish you could see how it used to be on Fridays," Shatri spoke before he broke down in tears. "You could not even walk. The whole street was filled with books and people. Mutanabi Street is a part of how great Baghdad is."
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BAGHDAD -- A silence has fallen upon Mutanabi Street.
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Pope 'Sorry' About Reaction to Islam Remark
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Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday that he is "deeply sorry" about the reaction in some countries to a recent speech in which he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying that the prophet Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman" things to the world.
The pope said that the quotation from Manuel II Palaeologus does not reflect his personal views, and that his speech last Tuesday at Germany's University of Regensburg was intended to invite inter-religious dialogue "with great mutual respect."
Benedict's brief statement was the third attempt by Vatican officials in as many days to cool the reaction to his speech, which escalated from diplomatic protests to violence over the weekend.
On Saturday, Palestinian Muslims threw firebombs and sprayed bullets at five churches in the West Bank and Gaza. Yesterday they torched a 170-year-old church in the West Bank town of Tul Karem and partly burned a smaller church in the village of Tubas. In Somalia, an Italian nun and her bodyguard were fatally shot, but it was not immediately clear whether that attack was related to the pope's speech.
The Vatican has gradually ratcheted up its efforts to explain the speech, beginning with a statement Friday by Federico Lombardi, head of the Vatican press office. It said that the pope's remarks were meant as "a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence."
On Saturday, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the pope's new secretary of state, said that the church "esteems" Muslims and that Benedict "sincerely regrets" that the address was "interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions."
Finally, Benedict addressed the controversy yesterday. Speaking to pilgrims at Castelgandolfo, his summer estate, he said he is "deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address . . . which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought."
" . . . I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect," he concluded.
The pope's new remarks set off an immediate debate about whether they constituted an apology.
George Weigel, author of "God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church," said the pope expressed regret over the way his words have been twisted and misunderstood, but did not back away from them.
"The over-the-top reaction in the Muslim world simply underscores the truth of what he said at Regensburg, which is that unless Islam develops the capacity to be self-critical -- unless Islamic leaders take responsibility for saying to their extremists that violence in the name of God is wrong -- then there can be no genuine interreligious dialogue," Weigel said.
"There has been not the slightest backing off of that, and there can't be, because it's true," he added.
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Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday that he is "deeply sorry" about the reaction in some countries to a recent speech in which he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying that the prophet Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman" things to the world.
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Hike-and-Snooze - washingtonpost.com
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Q. Is there a North American equivalent to the European hike from town to town? I'd like to hike during the day and spend the evening in a small town.
A. Europe's hiking trails are like nature's interstates, linking the great outdoors to pockets of civilization. North America doesn't have such a pervasive or unbroken network of routes, but in some regions, towns do pop up between mile markers. "Backpacking Europe is an experience culturally comparable to that of the American road trip," says Andrea Ketchmark, outreach coordinator of the Silver Spring-based American Hiking Society (301-565-6704, http://www.americanhiking.org/ ). "It is harder in the United States, because it is so far from place to place. "
However, if you're flexible and have a lot of stamina, here are some options:
· On the East Coast, Ketchmark recommends the Appalachian Trail section from North Adams, Mass., to Kent, Conn. The 140-mile stretch of the National Scenic Trail passes through such quintessentially New England towns as Great Barrington, Mass., rife with bed-and-breakfasts, shopping and Berkshires culture. Info: Appalachian Trail Conservancy, 304-535-6331, http://www.appalachiantrail.org/ . For more structure, Country Inns Along the Trail (800-838-3301, http://www.inntoinn.com/ ) has self-guided trips in Vermont, including an excursion along the Long Trail, with stays in eight inns. Cost: $1,155 per person double.
· Switching coasts to Northern California, start at Bolinas, then follow the San Andreas fault through Olema Valley (try the Olema Inn; 415-663-9559, http://www.theolemainn.com/ ) and onward to Point Reyes National Seashore.
· In the Colorado Rockies, trek along Forest Service roads from the old mining town of Leadville to high-end Aspen. The route takes about three nights, so plan on sleeping in the 10th Mountain Division Huts (970-925-5775, http://www.huts.org/ ), backcountry cabins connected by 350 miles of routes. The summer hiking season ends in September, in preparation for winter.
· Up north, the Trans Canada Trail will eventually go from the Atlantic to the Pacific and onto the Arctic Ocean, and will cross every Canadian province and territory in between. On the island of Newfoundland, for example, the route goes from St. John's to Port aux Basque, with about 40 small communities offering food and rest along the way. Info: 800-465-3636, http://www.tctrail.ca/ .
For other U.S. trails as well as state-specific hikes and maps, see American Trails (530-547-2060, http://www.americantrails.org/ ).
What are some good places in Sedona, Ariz., to see the red rocks and sunsets?
With the Coconico National Forest surrounding the Arizona town, Sedona truly is Red Rock Country. For sweeping views framed by Technicolor sunsets, Jennifer Wesselhoff, vice president of the Sedona Chamber of Commerce Tourism Bureau (800-288-7336, http://www.visitsedona.com/ ), recommends three standout spots.
At the Airport Road overlook, the 180-degree panorama of Sedona includes such landmarks as Thunder Mountain and Coxcombs. For a more intimate viewing station, try Schnebly Hill Road, an unpaved route that was the original thouroughfare to Flagstaff. And to take in Cathedral Rock, hike around Red Rock Crossing/Crescent Moon Ranch, a day-use area on U.S. Forest Service land, or Bell Rock Pathway, off Highway 179.
To have the red rock scenery outside your hotel room window, try the Enchantment Resort (800-826-4180, http://www.enchantmentresort.com/ ), Amara Creekside Resort (866-455-6610, http://www.amararesort.com/ ) or Sky Ranch Lodge (888-708-6400, http://www.skyranchlodge.com/ ).
Since we can't carry liquids aboard planes anymore, can we ship wine from France?
With the airlines' ban of liquids, compounded by Byzantine international shipping rules, you have only a few options for bringing back wine from France. The easiest way is to ask the winery or liquor store to ship it for you; many of the larger vineyard-based shops or alcohol retailers offer such a service. If the company does not ship, you can't mail wine unless you're licensed to distribute alcohol.
According to U.S. Customs ( http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/ ), you are allowed to bring back up to a liter of alcohol, which you can carefully pack in your checked luggage. Go over that limit, though, and you'll be slapped with a heavy duty. Another option is to ask the winery who its importer/exporter is Stateside, then track down the wine closer to home.
Send queries by e-mail (travelqa@wash post.com) or U.S. mail (Travel Q&A, Washington Post Travel Section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071). Please include your name and town.
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Learn about North American options for town to town hiking trips and scenic stops in Sedona.
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Broder on Politics
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Broder has written extensively about primaries, elections, special interests and the business of politics. His books include "Democracy Derailed: The Initiative Movement & the Power of Money," "Behind the Front Page: A Candid Look at How the News Is Made" and "The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point."
New Hampshire: Good morning David and thank you for taking my question.
Do you believe that the Valerie Wilson investigation is over now that Richard Armitage has come forward and admitted to being a leaker? I wonder if there is more to the story myself. I can't help thinking that Mr. Armitage has been thrown under the proverbial bus and that Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation into the crime continues.
David S. Broder: The only person who can declare the investigation over is Mr. Fitzgerald. I have no idea what he is investigating at this time, but that's up to him to disclose.
And, by the way, good morning to everyone who is in on this chat. Dave Broder
New York, N.Y.: Mr. Broder:
Through reading, I discovered that you personally knew (to some degree) the late Hunter S. Thompson.
My question is this: Do you think in contemporary America there is still an audience for that kind of writer-injects-self-into-story, first-person journalism as it applies to covering politics?
David S. Broder: Yes,I think there's plenty of room for personal journalism, especially if we could find someone as talented as Hunter. I miss that kind of voice too.
Washington, D.C.: Mr Broder, if you feel Karl Rove is owed an apology from the pundits and writers over Valerie Plame, did you also call for an apology to the Clintons after Ken Starr, the Whitewater investigation and the failed attempt to impeach President Clinton? If not, why not?
David S. Broder: As best, I can recall,I did not call for such an apology. My view, for whatever it is worth long after the dust has settled on Monica, was that when President Clinton admitted he had lied to his Cabinet and his closest assoc, to say nothing of the public, that the honorable thing was for him to have resigned and turned over the office to Vice President Gore. I think history would have been very different had he done that.
Detroit, Mich.: What do you think about Tony Snow calling Colin Powell "confused" because of the former Sec. of State's opposition to Bush's war tribunals? It doesn't seem like the sort of comment that just goes away with a "maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'confused'" clarification that Snow offered later.
David S. Broder: Given a choice between General Powell and Mr. Snow, I think most people would be inclined to take Powell's word.
New York, N.Y.: I'm already so disheartened by the tone of this election season. I can't see how the country, which has real and serious problems, is helped by another round of "Traitor, traitor, traitor." In fact, the name-calling in general is just loathsome. I've written Washington off; they don't care about the rest of us, they care about their little games, but, in your view, are there at the state level some politicians with the potential to become national figures (say, in 08) with the stature to bridge the partisan hatred and actually govern and govern well?
David S. Broder: Like you, I find much more reason for optimism in looking at the states than in contemplating contemporary Washington. Among the most effective governors are Mike Huckabee, Tim Palwenty and Mitt Romney on the Republican side, Tom Vilsack, Janet Napolitano and Kathleen Sebeliius on the Democratic side. Which if any of them has the potential to lead the country is an unproven proposition. But I expect some of them to give it a try.
Springfield, Mo.: After reading about James Baker's renewed involvement with the White House I'm wondering if the POTUS is finally ready to consider throwing Rumsfeld under the bus.
David S. Broder: I see no evidence that the President is about to throw Secretary Rumsfeld under a bus--or anywhere else.
You recently took the position that the media owe Karl Rove an apology for buying into left-wing conspiracy theories instead of sticking to the facts in their reporting on the outing of Valerie Plame? Is this a view commonly held by other Post reporters? Do you think the media in general shares your opinion on this?
David S. Broder: I don't know the answer to either question. I have not canvassed my Post colleagues and I certainly can't guess about the broader population of Washington reporters. I can tell you that most of the e-mails I received were critical of my position./
I like these chats a lot, but they have begun to overshadow actual news stories...do you feel like blogs, youtube and all sorts of other Internet and TV news features are a double edged sword?
David S. Broder: I enjoy these chats and the window they give me into the thinking and the concerns of some very smart people. But I am not a reader of other blogs; I'd rather be out reporting than sitting in front of my computer.
Grand Terrace, Calif.: Here in California it appears that Governor Schwarzenegger has repositioned himself away from the national GOP and is probably cruising to victory. My own 19 year old daughter that is voting for the first time and is an avowed progressive is voting for him. Do you think that many Republicans in other states will do the same?
David S. Broder: It's not hard to find other Republicans repositioning on the war in Iraq, counter-terrorism measures, the economy, minimum wage and other issues. But few have done it as dramatically--and apparently successfully--as your governor.
Kingston, Ontario: I'm rather surprised by your and your correspondents' calm tone of voice this morning. Unless the New York Times editorial page is wildly off-track, the U.S. is in the grip of a major constitutional crisis, with the government trying to set aside long established guarantees of legal behavior, both internally and in relation to international law. Where's the sense of urgency?
David S. Broder: Far be it from me to question the New York Times, but I'd like to assure you that Washington is calm and quiet this morning, and democracy still lives here. Editorial writers sometimes get carried away by their own rhetoric.
Valley Stream, N.Y.: Is there any reason, other than morality, that the Israeli investigation into its attack on the UN post feels and Bush's request to Congress to legalize the Gitmo and CIA prisoner situations might seem linked?
David S. Broder: I give up. What's the link?
Your thoughts on yesterday's article on the Allen campaign using an old Washingtonian article as a weapon against James Webb? I have to think that any adult over 50 has made some sort of pronouncement that they would repudiate or at least waver on 25+ years later! (My mother has been teasing my father about his 1972 election pronouncements for years)
David S. Broder: I find I often disagree with what I wrote yesterday, let alone five years ago.
I'm not from Connecticut, but I thought it was a mistake for people to vote for Ned Lamont; I think Lieberman was too close to bush, and he put himself there for political purposes, but I also think there is a shortage of moderate democrats with his level of experience, and to have him sitting on the bench during this point in our history doesn't strike me as a good solution.
What will his level of support be from the senate and established political institutions, and assuming he wins how will his influence be affected?
David S. Broder: If Senator Lieberman wins, he will be welcomed back into the Democratic caucus and his influence in the Senate will be undiminished. Most of the formal organization support--party and labor--now goes to Mr. Lamont, but Mr. Lieberman still has many well-wishers on the Democratic side.
Princeton, N.J.: Since one can lie by omission, do you believe the President and Vice President (at least) should resign because of the lies about Iraq's atomic program and their link with Al Qaeda? As phase II of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report appears and leaks pop up about the rest of it, it becomes clearer and clearer that we were lied to.
David S. Broder: I think if you want to disqualify as lying everyone in government who believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, you would empty not only the White House but most of Capitol Hill. I think the way to do that is through election, not mass resignation. Resignations seem appropriate to me when individual responsibility is clear and unique.
Arlington, Va.: I realize this may not be a typical political question, but I hope you can share some thought on the matter of the Pope and his statement about Islam.
His statement (and I may not have the whole story) was insulting to Islam and unnecessarily so. I realize he was making a historical quote, but that sort of statement does not seem to be appropriate especially considering his stated goal of increasing dialogue with Muslims.
As a Catholic American Republican, I am increasingly disturbed by gratuitous insults to Islam (and Arabs) delivered by my fellow Republicans, my fellow Americans, and now, my fellow Catholics.
David S. Broder: I don't know exactly what the Pope said, so I'm not going to comment.
Helena, Mont.: What still bothers me is how Congress so willingly rolled over in the rush to war. I don't proclaim to have any great insight, but I do remember being confused as to how invading Iraq was the best answer to combating answer. Invading Cuba would have made as much sense, as Bush could have claimed that Castro was fomenting terrorism in this hemisphere.
David S. Broder: I would be careful about putting Cuba into play, even as a hypothetical. Somebody in power might think invading the island was a great idea/
Alexandria, Va.: Can a cabinet secretary be impeached and removed from office by the Congress? Or does impeachment affect only the President, Vice President, and Judges?
I ask because it is a common saying that a Secretary "Serves at the Pleasure of the President". If the Democrats retake control of the Congress, would they have the power to force the removal of Rumsfeld?
David S. Broder: A Cabinet secretary can be impeached,.but I think it doubtful that weapon would be used by a Democratic Congress.
Fountain Valley, Calif.: Hi David,
A few days ago you wrote a column basically saying that an apology was owed to Karl Rove because of the disclosure that Richard Armitage was Bob Novak's source. I don't quite get it. Why is a man owed an apology when the only change in the facts were that another man was also leaking information?
David S. Broder: I don't want to go through the whole sequence again, but the point was that the charge--or assumption--by some parts of the press that Rove had masterminded a plot to expose Plame and discredit her husband has fallen apart with the disclosure that Mr. Armitage, no tool of the White House, is the man who set the whole thing in motion. Get it?
Rochester, N.Y.: I'll be impressed if you take this one...
Mr. Broder, you recently argued that many in the media owed Karl Rove an apology, because we now know that the worst Mr. Rove might have done in the Valerie Plame case was to have misled prosecutors about a deed that was not itself a crime. If you feel this way now, then why were you so critical of Bill Clinton for misleading lawyers about a deed that was not itself a crime? Or do you now feel you owe Bill Clinton an apology? If not, then why not?
David S. Broder: We return a second time to President Clinton. What bothered me greatly about his actions was not what he said to his lawyers but what he told the Cabinet, his White House staff--You can go out and defend me because this did not happen. And he told the same,e lie to the American people. When a president loses his credibility, he loses an important tool for governing--and that is why I thought he should step down.
I've heard a few pundits talking about a slight GOP bounce from the 9/11 anniversary. Do you think it is real? Is it permanent or temporary?
David S. Broder: I would tend to disregard any particular shift in the p;olls. Be patient, and watch to see if there is a trend. There may be, but we don't know that yet.
Washington, D.C.: Did you hear Fred Barnes on CNN say that the President didn't consider catching ObL to be a big deal? I was appalled. Is this the scandalous comment I think it is (especially after all the 9/11 "we should be scared" speeches of the past couple weeks), or am I seeing this through an overly-partisan lens?
David S. Broder: I did not hear Fred Barnes' comment. I think we should judge the President by what he says himself--and what he does.
Ann Arbor, Mich.: "by some parts of the press that Rove had masterminded a plot to expose Plame and discredit her husband has fallen apart with the disclosure that Mr. Armitage, no tool of the White House, is the man who set the whole thing in motion. "
You are wrong. What about Cheney's little annotated column? What about the comments to Chris Matthews that the Wilson's were 'fair game' and 'they were trying to screw the WH so we're going to screw them right back." What about the reporting that the OVP was pushing this info to six different reporters?
David S. Broder: Conspiracy theories die hard, don't they? If it comforts you to believe this was all masterminded by the White House, be my guest. Anyone who knows Dick Armitage would think otherwise.
Ottawa, Canada: I am curious about your statement regarding Mr. Clinton:"..that the honorable thing was for him to have resigned..." This resignation would have been because of private misconduct that he lied about. How sir, would you judge a president that overstated the facts and got the country into a war?
David S. Broder: I would judge that president harshly, as the majority of the voters in this country and in many other parts of the world has done. But I make a distinction between a terrible misjudgment and a deliberate lie. Do you?
Reston, Va.: We return a second time to President Clinton. What bothered me greatly about his actions was not what he said to his lawyers but what he told the Cabinet, his White House staff--You can go out and defend me because this did not happen. And he told the same lie to the American people. When a president loses his credibility, he loses an important tool for governing--and that is why I thought he should step down.
And so, in your opinion, the current president, vice president, secretary of defense, etc., have never lied to other government officials or the public and have lost no credibility?
David S. Broder: A classic have you stopped beating your wife question. How do I know whether they have ever lied to other government officials? The people in this administration are responsible for the decision that have led to the current miserable situation in Iraq, and Afghanistan and the worldwide damage to the standing of the United States. I think the American people know that and will hold them accountable--in this election and the next.
That is what should happen. What else do you want to see?
Speaking of credibility: Brian Williams recently asked the President if it would have been better to ask the country for greater sacrifice in response to 9/11. Mr. Bush said, "Americans are sacrificing" and went on to say that they pay a lot of taxes, that they sacrificed when the economy went in the tank and air traffic was disrupted. He concluded by repeating that Americans have paid a lot of taxes since 9/11. As the wife of an Army officer who served in Iraq, I was disgusted that the president defines sacrifice as paying taxes and going through extra security at the airport. How would you rate Mr. Bush's credibility at this time? Thank you as always for taking time to do these chats.
David S. Broder: Like you, I found that answer appalling. And the unwillingness of this president to ask the country for any real sacrifice in a time of war is historically unprecedented and one more serious mark against his record, in my book.
Baltimore, Md.: I am surprised at you calling the Bush administrations manipulation of facts and lying "misjudgment" --- this administration has lied and lied to the people time after time. In front of the UN, in front of congress, in front of the public --- they ignored voices of reason and moved ahead with war the way they wanted to. Cheney intertwined Hussein and Bin Laden. This administration has lied more than any I can remember. It is disgusting and for you to give them a free pass is a bit disgusting too.
David S. Broder: If you think I am giving them a free pass, you have not been reading my answers to the earlier questions. I repeat: This administration is responsible for the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan and the worldwide damage to the standing of the United States. It should be and will be held accountable in this year's election and in 2008.
Vienna, Va.: When Arianna was promoting her new book on O'Reilly's show, he surprised her by playing an advertisement that he said was prepared by the Kurds to thank the US. I couldn't believe my ears! Now some of the facts are coming to light and it appears the ad was prepared in California as a propaganda piece. Wondering if you have heard anything on this.
David S. Broder: No, I have heard nothing of that.
Burke, Va.: I've been trying to figure out this question for a while. If the warrantless wiretapping can continue as it is right now what stands between a president looking for information on their political opponents?
David S. Broder: The warrantless wiretapping--which I oppose--is supposed to be confined to international calls. But there are few outside safeguards right now.
Washington, D.C.: I can't imagine that reporters enjoy doing these chats. Is it something that The Post strongly encourages?
David S. Broder: This reporter really enjoys these chats--including the messages from people who have strongly critical views. And yes, the Post does encourage us to do them. But they don't have to twist arms.
I'm afraid I'm out of time for this one. See you again.
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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Enacting Immigration Reform, Again
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The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act - IRCA, or the Simpson-Mazzoli bill - is referred to frequently in today's high-decibel immigration debates - and rarely affectionately. As co-authors of that legislation, we think honest perspective is in order.
Today's tough issues are the same as when we chaired our respective immigration subcommittees: controlling illegal entry, the question of what to do with existing undocumented, illegal immigrants, and guest worker programs.
Our effort to craft responsible reform legislation was assisted by the well-documented recommendations of the bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform, under the capable chairmanship of the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, then President of Notre Dame University.
We knew that enacting an immigration reform law would require a bipartisan effort. We were Democratic and Republican - a good start. We held unprecedented joint House-Senate hearings - not just in Washington but all over the country. We heard from all sides and points of view.
We quickly realized that if immigration reform was to work and be fair it had to be a "three-legged stool." If one leg failed, so would the entire bill.
"Leg one" was improved security against illegal crossings at the border with Mexico, using the best available technology and additional, better-trained personnel. For the first time in U. S. history, we imposed penalties on employers who knowingly hired undocumented workers.
"Leg two" was the H-2A temporary worker program for agricultural workers, designed to ensure wage and workplace protections, and not to be another exploitative "bracero" program.
"Leg three" was what we called "legalization." We would allow some, but not all, undocumented aliens then living and working here to regularize their unlawful status and begin the long process to earn temporary residency and, eventually, if they chose to continue, to earn permanent residency and citizenship.
Since illegal immigration continues nearly unabated today, legitimate questions can be raised about the effectiveness of IRCA. Although we do have pride of authorship, we also believe that the shortcomings of the act are not due to design failure but rather to the failure of both Democratic and Republican administrations since 1986 to execute the law properly.
Not surprisingly, 20 years after the enactment of Simpson-Mazzoli, the Senate has passed an immigration reform bill composed of three main elements that are modified versions of the three legs of our bill: border security and workplace enforcement, a temporary worker program and legalization.
Would the Senate, knowing IRCA's track record, have settled upon our basic framework for its 2006 bill if IRCA was fatally flawed? We doubt it. From 1981, when our bill was introduced, to 1986, when it became law, we were aided by the expertise of hundreds of policy experts, scholars and advocates. Our comprehensive bill was crafted to curtail illegal immigration, to provide personnel for labor-scarce markets and to give the most worthy of our illegal population a chance to earn legal status.
The foundation of IRCA was enforcement and border security, but to work, it required consistent funding: for agents to investigate workplace violations, for prosecution of employers who broke the law, for more Border Patrol agents, and for installing the latest in high-tech monitoring and surveillance equipment. We saw the need for funding to develop a simple, reliable and tamper-proof system, a "more secure identifier," using cards or biometrics. Opponents from the right and the left savaged it as "a National ID," although it was not something that had to be carried on one-s person but was to be presented only at the time of "new hire" employment or when applying for government benefits.
After two decades, the system is still not in place. Unfortunately, what is in place is the use of several different identifiers, which were meant to be temporary, and a flourishing underground economy engaged in creating fraudulent documents for illegal immigrants.
All administrations since 1986 have allocated funding and personnel resources more generously to the task of securing the border than to enforcing IRCA in the workplace. Why? One answer is that there are never enough federal budget resources. Another is that administrations of both stripes are loathe to disrupt economic activities - i.e. labor supply in factories, farms and businesses. And we know that disruptions in the labor supply are the natural, unavoidable and even desirable consequence of strong border and workplace enforcement.
We believe that our three-legged-stool approach is still relevant and workable if carried out vigorously. We commend the Senate, which, in a worthy bipartisan effort, adopted such a framework this spring. The House bill is basically a tough "enforcement-only" measure.
We earnestly hope that before this Congress adjourns, the House and Senate will compromise, wring out the raw partisanship, and find a way to send President Bush - who has staked so much on enactment of solid immigration reform - a measure structured along the lines of our original bill. There is still time.
Romano L. Mazzoli was a Democratic representative from Kentucky. Alan K. Simpson was a Republican senator from Wyoming.
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The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act - IRCA, or the Simpson-Mazzoli bill - is referred to frequently in today's high-decibel immigration debates - and rarely affectionately. As co-authors of that legislation, we think honest perspective is in order.
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Nationalizing Politics
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BALTIMORE -- This year's elections may turn the Tip O'Neill adage "All politics is local" not so much upside down as sideways: In 2006 all local politics is national, and all national politics is individual.
The United States is witnessing a centralization and nationalization of politics unprecedented in our history. This trend is rooted in the rise of the political consulting industry, vast changes in the technology of campaigning, and the intense competition between the two major parties for control of Congress.
There is, as well, the concentration of political money at the national level as Washington-based interest groups, associations and lobbyists not only raise large amounts in political contributions within the capital but also mobilize campaign money from their allies around the country.
The blogosphere has created central repositories of political information -- including news of very local developments that would otherwise go unnoticed on the national level -- that can speed the flow of intelligence to activists across the nation. And the recruitment of candidates is ever more the job of national party committees, not local officials or organizations.
The result is that the conventional debate about whether congressional elections are primarily local or national in character is both irrelevant and misleading. Even apparently local developments are often orchestrated from afar, and even personal attacks on individual candidates are largely the work of a cadre of Washington-based researchers.
Developments over the past week, including those in Tuesday's primaries, show how important national party machines are to the fate of individual candidates.
The most ironic national intervention was in Rhode Island, where Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the most liberal Republican in the Senate, who has often voted against President Bush, was powered to renomination over conservative Stephen Laffey by the voter identification and message apparatus created by Bush; his top political aide, Karl Rove; and pollster Matthew Dowd.
Here was the president's own political operation trying to identify and bring anti-Bush voters to the polls to renominate an anti-Bush senator who is his party's only hope for holding a Senate seat in a very anti-Bush state. Ideology and loyalty are far less important than control over Washington's levers of power. Chafee, who prides himself on independence, was in fact hugely dependent on a national party he often opposes.
Days before Chafee won his primary, The Post's Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza reported that the National Republican Congressional Committee, using research by its own operatives, plans to run tough, negative ads against Democratic challengers this fall on "personal issues and local controversies."
These ads will be classic instances of seemingly individual and local factors invoked as part of a national, centrally directed effort. Such attack ads are likely to be used most in districts in the Northeast and Midwest where Republican candidates will be trying not to talk much about national Republican issues.
Even turning away from your party can be a national partisan strategy, and Republicans are hoping to hold Congress by electing a herd of "independent fighters." At least five Republican candidates describe themselves with that phrase. New Jersey Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. calls himself an "independent fighter," and so do Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Reps. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, Heather Wilson of New Mexico and Vito Fossella of New York.
In Maryland, Republicans hope to use local conflicts in the Democratic Party along racial lines to help Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, whose compelling personal story led the national party to recruit him, against Rep. Ben Cardin, the winner of this week's Democratic U.S. Senate primary.
Cardin defeated former representative Kweisi Mfume, who, like Steele, is black. Mark Clack, Mfume's campaign manager, said here that Steele could "play off" African American resentment "against the Maryland Democratic establishment" over the lack of black representation at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Clack said that for Cardin to win, "the frustration level in the African American community will have to be doused." But he thinks Cardin will succeed, because African American voters have not forgotten the Republicans' use of racial "wedge issues" in past elections and because Steele's need to mobilize the GOP's conservative base will run counter to his effort to appeal to the black community. The Washington Republicans, on the other hand, hope Steele can be a success story in their well-coordinated national effort to blur national issues.
So in 2006 the local is not really local, everything is about controlling Washington, and "independence" is a product being franchised by a national party apparatus.
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BALTIMORE -- This year's elections may turn the Tip O'Neill adage "All politics is local" not so much upside down as sideways: In 2006 all local politics is national, and all national politics is individual.
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Ney to Plead Guilty in Scandal
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Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) is expected to plead guilty in the coming days to charges stemming from his association with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and he will blame a long-standing problem with alcohol for behavior that spiraled down to illegality, sources close to the congressman said last night.
Ney, known in Abramoff-related court documents as "Representative No. 1," checked into a rehabilitation clinic for alcoholism yesterday, a senior House official and personal friend said yesterday. Under pressure from Republican leaders worried about losing his seat, Ney announced this summer that he would retire from Congress at the end of the year.
Now, three House sources said, the Justice Department is expected to announce a plea agreement or an agreement to reach a plea bargain as early as tomorrow. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to preempt a legal announcement.
But Ney's Washington attorney, Mark H. Tuohey, said from London yesterday that he expected no immediate developments in the case.
Ney, a popular, soft-spoken Republican, became known as the mayor of the House for the largess he showed to fellow members from his post as chairman of the House Administration Committee. His entanglements with Abramoff, however, became his undoing.
Guilty pleas from Abramoff, two former aides to retired representative Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Ney's former chief of staff all said Ney accepted gifts and favors in exchange for official actions on behalf of Abramoff's clients. Tickets to events and expense-paid golf vacations helped win Ney's support for legislation, his insertion of comments into the congressional record and his pulling strings to secure government contracts for Abramoff's clients, according to Abramoff, former DeLay spokesman Michael Scanlon, former DeLay deputy chief of staff Tony C. Rudy and former Ney chief of staff Neil G. Volz.
For months, Ney has maintained his innocence. Aides in his office did not return calls, and Justice officials would not comment.
Voters in a special primary election in Ohio yesterday selected state Sen. Joy Padgett as the Republican nominee to succeed Ney.
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Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) is expected to plead guilty in the coming days to charges stemming from his association with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and he will blame a long-standing problem with alcohol for behavior that spiraled down to illegality, sources close to the congressman said last...
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Navy Chaplain Guilty Of Disobeying an Order
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A Navy court decided yesterday to reprimand and dock the pay of an evangelical Protestant chaplain after finding him guilty of disobeying an order by appearing in uniform at a political protest in front of the White House in March.
The chaplain, Lt. Gordon J. Klingenschmitt, said he intends to "appeal by all means possible all the way to the Supreme Court."
Klingenschmitt, 38, who belongs to a small evangelical offshoot of the Episcopal Church, has been a vocal critic of the Navy's policies on prayer in ceremonial settings. He has accused his superiors of pressuring chaplains to offer generic, nonsectarian prayers, and he has gained wide attention and sympathy among religious conservatives.
Over the past year, Klingenschmitt worked closely with Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.) and other members of Congress to push the Bush administration to issue an executive order guaranteeing the right of chaplains to pray "in the name of Jesus." So far, the White House has rebuffed the request.
On March 30, Klingenschmitt wore his uniform at a news conference in Lafayette Square in which former Alabama chief justice Roy S. Moore and others decried President Bush's lack of action on the chaplain's complaints. Klingenschmitt maintained that his only participation in the event was to offer public prayers and that he had prior written permission to wear his uniform when conducting "a bona fide worship service or observance."
During court-martial proceedings this week at the naval base in Norfolk, a military prosecutor, Cmdr. Rex A. Guinn, said Klingenschmitt had received clear orders from his superiors not to wear his uniform at media events or political protests. The event in Lafayette Square, he contended, was not a true worship service or observance.
On Wednesday, a jury of five Navy officers found Klingenschmitt guilty of one misdemeanor count of disobeying a lawful order. Yesterday, the same jury determined his punishment: a formal reprimand and forfeiture of pay at the rate of $250 a month for the next 12 months.
That would amount to $3,000, or about 5 percent of his pay. But Klingenschmitt is unlikely to incur the full fine, for two reasons: The jury recommended that Rear Adm. Frederic Ruehe, commander of the Navy's Mid-Atlantic region, suspend the financial penalty, and Klingenschmitt doubts he will remain in the Navy for 12 more months.
"The letter of reprimand is actually the worst punishment because it will be used in a couple of months to kick me out of the Navy in a separate process called an administrative separation board," the chaplain predicted.
Kevin Copeland, a Navy spokesman, said that Klingenschmitt's prediction was "strictly hypothesis at this time" because "the ink isn't even dry on the court-martial yet."
But among the documents that Klingenschmitt introduced in his defense during the court-martial was a March 22 e-mail from Vice Adm. John C. Harvey Jr., the Navy's head of personnel, to Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chief of naval operations, recommending Klingenschmitt's "involuntarily release" from the Navy "due to lack of career potential."
The e-mail noted: "This officer is the individual who conducted a hunger strike in front of the White House several months ago and has engaged in other actions concerning [Defense Department] and Navy Religious Ministry policies."
Klingenschmitt served as an Air Force officer for 11 years before becoming a chaplain four years ago. He said he believes the e-mail, which was sent eight days before he wore his uniform at the Lafayette Square protest, "proves this is a reprisal against me for my whistle-blower complaints to Congress and the press."
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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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World Bank Lists Failing Nations That Can Breed Global Terrorism
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The number of weak and poorly governed nations that can provide a breeding ground for global terrorism has grown sharply over the past three years, despite increased Western efforts to improve conditions in such states, according to a new World Bank report.
"Fragile" countries, whose deepening poverty puts them at risk from terrorism, armed conflict and epidemic disease, have jumped to 26 from 17 since the report was last issued in 2003. Five states graduated off the list, but 14 made new appearances, including Nigeria and seven other African countries, Kosovo, Cambodia, East Timor, and the West Bank and Gaza. Twelve states, including Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, made both lists.
"Past international engagement with these countries has failed to yield significant improvements," said the assessment released by the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group, which reports on the bank's programs to the board of directors. It was timed to coincide with the annual meeting of the bank and the International Monetary Fund this month in Singapore.
Hurdles facing the countries at risk, often referred to as "failed" or "failing" states, include "weak security, fractured societal relations, corruption, breakdown in the rule of law, lack of mechanisms for generating legitimate power and authority" and limited investment resources to meet basic needs, the report said.
To avoid "adverse spillover effects -- such as conflict, terrorism and epidemic diseases -- the international community and the Bank need to find more effective ways" of assisting them, it said.
The Bush administration has described failing states as a major threat to U.S. security. "The danger they pose is now unparalleled," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a column that appeared late last year in The Washington Post. "Absent responsible state authority, threats that would and should be contained within a country's borders can now melt into the world and wreak untold havoc.
"Weak and failing states," Rice said, "serve as global pathways that facilitate the spread of pandemics, the movement of criminals and terrorists, and the proliferation of the world's most dangerous weapons."
The administration's updated counterterrorism strategy, published earlier this month, set economic development in "failing states or states emerging from conflict" as a key objective.
Official U.S. foreign assistance to the least developed countries topped $27 billion in 2005, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, more than twice the level when Bush took office. That amount places the United States first among international donor nations in terms of absolute dollars, although Washington remains at the bottom when aid is tallied as a percentage of gross national product. The United States also scores higher than many other countries in the percentage of its aid that is spent on security, trade and food supplies rather than on more traditional forms of development efforts.
In a major restructuring, the administration is increasingly directing assistance toward those countries whose governments are judged as heading in a positive direction in terms of institutional and economic development and U.S. security interests.
In 2002, the World Bank launched its own initiative to expand assistance to fragile states and increased its lending to them by 67 percent, to $4.1 billion, between 2003 and 2005. Its report cited a number of lessons learned in the process.
In several countries, there was either too much aid or too little. Assistance from all international donors, the report said, varied from nearly $200 per capita for East Timor to $15 per capita for the Central African Republic. In a number of cases, an influx of aid was not matched by a domestic reform agenda that would allow the country to adequately utilize it.
In other countries, donors demanded too many reforms, too quickly. In Afghanistan, the report said, "donor reforms have not been selective enough and have led to 120 pieces of legislation."
Donors sometimes disagreed about the goals of overlapping aid programs, making it "difficult to achieve policy coherence" in recipient countries, the report said. "In Afghanistan, for example, the Ministry of Finance receives technical assistance for customs modernization from the Bank, USAID, the European Union" and Britain's development aid program.
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The number of weak and poorly governed nations that can provide a breeding ground for global terrorism has grown sharply over the past three years, despite increased Western efforts to improve conditions in such states, according to a new World Bank report.
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Senate Candidate Speaks of Life, Faith
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Robert P. Casey Jr., the Democratic candidate seeking to unseat Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) in one of the country's hottest election campaigns, told a largely Roman Catholic audience yesterday that in his view, "neither party has gotten it right when it comes to life issues."
Casey, a lifelong Catholic who opposes abortion, is the second high-profile Democrat who has recently given a major address defending the place of religion in politics. In June, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) criticized "liberals who dismiss religion in the public square as inherently irrational or intolerant."
Since the 2004 presidential election, in which voters who attend church weekly voted 2 to 1 for President Bush over Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Democrats have sought to close what some call the "God gap" in U.S. politics.
Casey's candidacy is viewed by Democratic strategists not only as one of the party's best opportunities to pick up a Senate seat, but also as an illustration of its growing inclusion of politicians who oppose abortion and of its desire to reach out to religiously motivated voters.
In a 45-minute lecture at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law, his alma mater, Casey said that America "must be a country dedicated to the common good" and that "my understanding of our common good comes from my family and my faith."
He described a year that he spent teaching at the Gesu School, an inner-city parochial school in north Philadelphia, after graduating from Holy Cross and before going to law school. "My short year as a Jesuit volunteer had a profound impact on my life, and the struggles of those I met in the inner city continue to inspire me," he said.
Casey said the common good is built on a foundation of social justice. "Justice demands our understanding that the hungry, the impoverished and the uninsured in this country are not statistics; they are children of God," he said.
Turning to abortion, he called for Democrats and Republicans to "unite . . . behind the understanding that the common good requires us to value all life." As an example, he cited legislation proposed by House Democrats that would target "the underlying factors that often lead women to choose abortion."
Some of the sharpest language in Casey's speech was aimed at his party. In 1992, the Democratic National Committee did not let Casey's father, then-Gov. Robert P. Casey Sr., speak at its national convention because of his antiabortion views. Referring to that "dark night," the younger Casey said the party "insulted the most courageous pro-life Democrat in the land, who asked that those who believed in the right to life be accorded the right to speak."
But he also had some sharp words for conservatives who focus primarily on the rights of the unborn. "If we are going to be pro-life, we cannot say we are against abortion . . . and then let our children suffer in broken schools," he said. "We can't claim to be pro-life at the same time we are cutting support for Medicaid, Head Start or the Women, Infants and Children's Program."
Some conservative Catholic groups objected to the university's invitation to Casey because he supports the widespread availability of the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B and has backed civil unions for same-sex couples.
"It is ironic Casey's speech topic is 'Restoring America's Moral Compass' when his own compass on moral issues is misguided," said Joseph Cella, leader of the group Fidelis.
But Tom Perriello, an adviser to the liberal group Catholics United for the Common Good, said the speech was "exciting, because as Catholics we've so often had to choose between the pro-life and the pro-social-justice sides of Catholic teaching. Now we get to have a debate about what authentic Catholic teaching is all about."
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Robert P. Casey Jr., the Democratic candidate seeking to unseat Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) in one of the country's hottest election campaigns, told a largely Roman Catholic audience yesterday that in his view, "neither party has gotten it right when it comes to life issues."
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High Court to Post Same-Day Transcripts
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The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will make same-day transcripts of its oral arguments available free on its Web site, the quickest and most complete public access to its proceedings the court has ever offered.
There is no sign that the court is about to yield to calls for live television coverage, which the justices have steadfastly refused. But, in the quiet, tradition-bound world of the Supreme Court, yesterday's decision was almost revolutionary, court analysts said.
"It's a tremendous opening to the outside world," said Richard Lazarus, a professor of law at Georgetown University and co-director of the school's Supreme Court Institute.
It was the biggest step the court has taken in the direction of greater public access since John G. Roberts Jr., himself a former Supreme Court oral advocate, took over as chief justice almost a year ago.
Coupled with another recent innovation, the identification in the transcripts of which justice is asking a particular question, the court's new policy "creates the potential for more intelligent speculation by more people than just those who were in the courtroom about how a particular case is going to come out," Lazarus said.
Previously, free transcripts were not posted on the court's site, http://www.supremecourtus.gov , until two weeks after oral argument. The only exceptions were certain recent high-profile cases, such as the 2000 presidential election cases, in which the court released same-day audiotapes of oral argument. There were just three such occasions in the 2005-2006 term.
Anyone who wanted a same-day transcript had to pay hundreds of dollars to the court's transcription service, Washington-based Alderson Reporting. That effectively limited access to a handful of law firms.
But recent progress in digital technology and a new arrangement with Alderson made it possible for the justices to adopt the new policy, which law professors, lawyers and reporters have been urging for years.
Formerly, Alderson provided services to the court free and recovered its costs by selling the transcripts. Now, the court will pay Alderson and give away the transcripts on its Web site, court spokeswoman Kathy L. Arberg said.
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The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will make same-day transcripts of its oral arguments available free on its Web site, the quickest and most complete public access to its proceedings the court has ever offered.
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Gunman's Writings Presaged Rampage
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MONTREAL, Sept. 14 -- Two hours before he pulled a semiautomatic rifle from under his trench coat and began firing at students at a downtown college, Kimveer Gill wrote in his online journal that he had "whiskey in the morning. Mmmm, good." The night before, he described his mood as "postal," a reference to one of his favorite mass-murder video games.
Gill, identified by police as the gunman who killed student Anastasia DeSousa and wounded 19 other people in a random assault Wednesday before apparently turning the gun on himself, left a dark and foreboding self-portrait on the Internet. He described a fascination with guns, Goth, death and video games and spewed obscenities expressing his hatred for the world. He posted dozens of pictures of himself, mugging for the camera as he brandished an assault rifle and other weapons.
The rampage ascribed by police to Gill, 25, who lived with his mother outside Montreal, left a bright, trilingual 18-year-old student dead, four other people still in critical condition Thursday, and a community asking questions about the dark world of alienated youths and their fascination with violent video games.
Police said Gill drove to Dawson College at lunchtime Wednesday carrying a bag with three weapons: an assault rife, a 12-gauge shotgun and a pistol. He began firing at random outside the school, then went into an atrium cafeteria area where students gather. Police, on the scene within minutes, cornered him. During the firefight, Gill apparently shot himself in the head, Quebec Provincial Police said Thursday.
Authorities at Dawson College said Gill had "no link" with the junior college, and there was no explanation yet as to why he may have targeted the school. Gill's own list of grievances, offered up in his journal, was no more specific: He offered vile assessments of teachers, policemen, employers, bullies and just about everyone. "I hate the world," he concluded.
Investigators combing through his car and the computer from his home disclosed no other motive Thursday. Little was known about Gill other than what he left in his journal. His mother called him "a good kid" but refused further comment. Neighbors said he was a loner, always dressed in black. It was not known if he worked; his blog complained of being unpaid for a day's work at one job.
He had predicted Wednesday's violent gunfight in his written musings on a Web site popular with Goth culture, www.vampirefreaks.com. The site, which has since removed his blog, is a virtual gathering place for hundreds of others, many of whom tout violence and vent their antagonism toward society.
Gill's blog painted fantasies about killing and described the scene much as it would happen Wednesday in Montreal: a lone figure dressed in black coming on a drizzly day to wreak havoc on masses for whom he had contempt.
"Head to toe, all black. Boots as black as tar. Cloak lashing to and fro with the wind," he wrote in one entry. "The disgusting human creatures scream in panic and run in all directions, taking with them the lies and deceptions. The Death Knight gazes at the humans with an empty stare, as they knock each other down in a mad dash to safety. He wishes to slaughter them as they flee."
Gill signed his entries "Fatality666" and once called himself "Trench," an apparent reference to the black trench coat he wore in imitation of the two teenage assailants who killed 12 students and a faculty member at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. He was fascinated by that attack, according to his journal, and played Super Columbine Massacre RPG, a video game that re-creates the rampage. He also raved about "Postal3," a similar assault game, and listed a variety of other favorite games, most of them with themes of mayhem.
"Life is a video game. You've got to die sometime," Gill wrote.
The epitaph reignited the debate over whether such games are dangerous.
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MONTREAL, Sept. 14 -- Two hours before he pulled a semiautomatic rifle from under his trench coat and began firing at students at a downtown college, Kimveer Gill wrote in his online journal that he had "whiskey in the morning. Mmmm, good." The night before, he described his mood as "postal," a...
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Noir Town - washingtonpost.com
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Here's the lowdown, the q.t., the true gen: "The Black Dahlia" is a big nowhere.
Despite genius-level contributions from cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and art director Dante Ferretti, the handsome film is almost abusively murky, trafficking in difficult-to-follow plot manipulations, arbitrary twists and mumbled dialogue. It ultimately comes to rely on one of those by-now de rigueur 10-minute final synopses that shuffle through the story for a second time, revealing the secret connections behind the seemingly unrelated events. Even a scene where one cop tosses his partner a matchbook is fraught with meaning and drama!
Brian De Palma, one of the showiest of the '70s breakthrough directors, pretty much keeps his hey-I'm-directing-a-movie! mannerisms in control in the wannabe gritty Southern California police procedural (derived from a beloved novel by James Ellroy), but not even that manful adoption of responsibility helps. This seems to be a case where there was too much book crammed into not enough film, and Josh Friedman, the screenwriter, just doesn't have the skill of Brian Helgeland adapting another complex, L.A.-set Ellroy to the screen, the superb "L.A. Confidential."
It's only nominally the Dahlia's story, though (as in Ellroy's book) the fictional takes possession of the factual. On Jan. 15, 1947, in a vacant lot in Los Angeles, a 22-year-old woman named Elizabeth "Betty" Short was found brutally murdered. So gruesome was the crime scene that it became legendary: Among other desecrations, the body had been cut in two. An Alan Ladd movie from a year earlier, "The Blue Dahlia," provided a catchy nom de crime for poor Betty Short, with the color adjustment provided by the trashier papers.
The slaughter, uncharacteristic in its violence and driven by the victim's haunting beauty and generally feckless life, was investigated by a huge team, some of the results comical (according to Wikipedia, one suspect was . . . Orson Welles!) but all of them unfortunately futile. To this day it has not been solved, though it has inspired a cottage industry in speculative works. The L.A. writer John Gregory Dunne took a crack at it, too, in "True Confessions" (the 1981 movie that resulted, written by Dunne and his wife, Joan Didion, was quite good).
In this case, the film follows two police officers assigned to the case, who let it grow in their minds until it haunts them, ultimately causing one a nervous breakdown with disastrous consequences. The result is a work busy in the least satisfying of ways, not teeming but crowded, not dense but packed. It's also so crammed with movie references that you suspect someone, at some time in his life, had way too much time on his hands. I spotted tidbits from most of the great Southern California film noirs, especially "Chinatown," with its theme of a twisted family of pioneer Golden State aristocrats. When she's not channeling Faye Dunaway, Hilary Swank veers toward Lauren Bacall in "The Big Sleep," while Rachel Miner does a neat spin on Martha Vickers, who played Bacall's little sister in that; here, Miner plays Swanks's sis.
De Palma hangs out with Patrolman Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Sgt. Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), both up-and-comers in the LAPD as it grows to deal with the exponential sprawl of that sleepy Pacific burg put on steroids by World War II. The two cops, as it turns out, are boxers, and the film begins by evoking a charity bout where they whup the tar out of each other to raise money for a ballot initiative to increase the LAPD budget. (Zsigmond shoots it as if he had a copy of George Bellows's "Stag at Sharkey's" on his lap in the camera chair; the color, the pallor of the flesh, the sense of smoke and dust in the air, the point of view, the posture of the fighters, are intensely reminiscent of that great painting.) From the fisticuffs, we learn their characters: The more charismatic Blanchard is a win-at-any-cost guy, possibly too tightly strung; the cooler Bleichert is more measured, more conciliatory, less macho. From the fight, they become fast pals, and the slightly older Lee's girlfriend, Kay, joins the two in conviviality in an art deco apartment mysteriously beyond a policeman's means (it's the sort of place where Cole Porter might have lived!). Kay, played in kewpie doll insouciance and sweater-gal pulchritude by Scarlett Johansson, soon becomes the center of gravity in the relationship, and the reluctant but noble Bucky falls in love with her, even if he'll never move to consummate his feelings.
Hmmm, around this point it gets really complicated. Too much of "The Black Dahlia" consists of narrated information; about half the movie is synopsis of what the filmmakers don't have time to dramatize, else they'd have a 17-hour film. It seems that Lee is extremely agitated because a bank robber he put away is about to be paroled, and it turns out (there's a lot of "it turns out" in this movie) he was also Kay's sadistic ex-boyfriend. Hmm, then the boys are staking somebody out -- I was never sure who, I'm sorry to say -- and gunplay breaks out. Lee saves Bucky's life, but kills three bad guys under somewhat dubious circumstances and then -- then! -- it turns out that one block over, the body of the Black Dahlia, Parts 1 and 2, has just been found.
From that point on, the film somewhat atomizes. One of the partners heads off into a nervous breakdown and all but leaves the film; the other, still on the case, turns up a porno movie in which the victim starred (though the real Elizabeth Short never starred in anything except her own murder). He tracks her through in the late-'40s L.A. porno underground, another trope from "The Big Sleep," and connects her with a Bacall look-alike who turns out to be sultry aristo Madeleine Linscott (Swank). Thus poor, doomed Betty somehow gained entree into the family culture of the crazed Linscotts, who follow age-old movie laws that rich people have to be evil or insane; failing that, they are evil and insane.
This brood, which could just as easily been the subject of a Rob Zombie massacre flick, includes some kind of "The Hills Have Eyes" refugee in the form of a brain-damaged son, the aforementioned slutty little sister Martha, as well as the vampy Madeleine (Swank is awful in the admittedly awful role). But worst of all is Mama Linscott, played by Fiona Shaw, in a tone of screaming who-moved-the-cheese? intensity that recalls Gloria Swanson twisting like Isadora Duncan high on horse tranquilizers, mad eyes dancing, mouth twisted like a hooked carp, eyebrow lofted to heaven, at the end of "Sunset Blvd."
Well, soon enough "The Black Dahlia" has become campy and ludicrous, almost in parts laughable. But it's not as if it's squandered goodwill; at no point does it have much in the way of goodwill. It generates almost no momentum at all, and if at any point you took a poll of the audience, asking "What is this movie about?," you'd get a different answer from everyone, except for the seven cynics who would say, "Smoking." (Everybody smokes, all the time. There's more smoking in it than in the original "Big Sleep," made in the original 1946, starring the original Lauren Bacall.)
De Palma has always been famed for his big production numbers: the blood-soaked conclusion to "Carrie," the train-station shootout in "The Untouchables," the apocalyptic finale to "Scarface." Here, sadly, that talent deserts him, or possibly his editor lets him down. A big shootout on the streets of L.A. is hard to follow and never makes much sense; and a confrontation in a hotel atrium toward the end doesn't really hang together either, leaving more befuddlement in its wake than confusion.
Zsigmond shoots in a kind of sepia light, so the movie seems to spring from old brown-bess rotogravure Sunday sections, and the clothes, the apartments, the gleamy streamlined black cars, all look gorgeous and seductive. It makes you yearn for great moviemakers and great stories. Where are the Robert Townes of yesteryear?
The Black Dahlia (119 minutes, at area theaters) is rated R for extreme violence toward women, sexual content and profanity.
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Here's the lowdown, the q.t., the true gen: "The Black Dahlia" is a big nowhere.
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The Accused
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By Moazzam Begg with Victoria Brittain
New Press. 397 pp. $26.95
In the five years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the U.S. government has been radically reshaped and reoriented so as to harden our defenses against what has been described as a new threat of unprecedented proportions, posed by Islamist extremists bent on our destruction. It is a peril so dire, we have been told, that our former systems of criminal law and military justice were inadequate to counter it. To fight back, we have twisted the Constitution to justify the imprisonment and interrogation of hundreds of suspects who have been held incommunicado for years now without charges.
In Enemy Combatant , co-authored with Victoria Brittain, Moazzam Begg becomes the first prisoner to give book-length voice to the experience of being on the other side of America's war on terror. Begg's memoir details the three years he spent as a U.S.-held detainee in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before being released without charges in his native Great Britain. His book shows that he does indeed pose a serious threat -- but not the sort for which our intelligence and military establishments have steeled themselves. Begg has launched a devastating public-relations attack against American policies, one that is all the more effective because it is restrained, fair-minded and highly readable.
It's both fascinating and frustrating to read this firsthand account. To this day, no impartial outsider has been allowed to interview a single one of the more than 500 detainees still caged in Guantanamo, with the possible exception of the Red Cross, which is proscribed from publicizing its findings. Thanks to the intervention of U.S. courts, over the objections of the Bush Administration, many of the detainees now have lawyers representing them. But the lawyers are forbidden to release full and uncensored transcripts of their clients' statements, or to pass on details that the U.S. government hasn't cleared. The Pentagon has yet to allow unfiltered journalistic access to the detainees, many of whom have now been held without being charged or allowed to have contact with their families for more than four years. Instead, we have had to take it on faith that these prisoners are, as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once famously dismissed them, "the worst of the worst" or, as another U.S. military official put it, "people who would chew through a hydraulic cable to bring a C-17 down."
In the midst of this information vacuum, Begg provides some ideological counterweight to the one-sided spin coming from the U.S. government. He writes passionately and personally, stripping readers of the comforting lie that somehow the detainees aren't really like us, with emotional attachments, intellectual interests and fully developed humanity. Surprisingly perhaps, given his viewpoint, not all of the detainees he describes are innocent. One in particular, an unapologetic, self-described member of al-Qaeda, continues to defend the Sept. 11 attacks as sanctioned by Islam, despite Begg's arguments with him to the contrary.
Even more unexpectedly, perhaps, in Begg's view not all of the American prison guards are evil. In fact, he forged amazing friendships with some, who related to him as a fellow human being, unshackling him as they confided their dreams and doubts about everything from their personal lives to American foreign policy. From these conversations, Begg says he learned that "all Americans were not the same." Some of the Americans who come into contact with him seem equally surprised to find that not all Muslims are terrorists. These odd flashes of understanding in this most unlikely of settings add elements of humor and hope, saving both the author and his book from bitterness.
Frustration sets in for anyone seeking definitive proof because Begg's account is subjective and unverifiable. He hears screams from unknown prisoners, including a hauntingly tortured female voice at a U.S. military prison in Afghanistan. He witnesses what he believes are two murders of fellow captives in Afghanistan by sadistic U.S. servicemen. He is interrogated more than 300 times, by his count, during which the authorities get nothing they can prosecute him with, other than a laughably false confession. Meanwhile, the allegations against him are fuzzy, the conditions of his imprisonment Kafkaesque.
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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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Tell Me About It
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Appearing every Wednesday and Friday in The Washington Post Style section and in Sunday Source, Tell Me About It offers readers advice based on the experiences of someone who's been there -- really recently. Carolyn Hax is a 30-something repatriated New Englander with a liberal arts degree and a lot of opinions and that's about it, really, when you get right down to it. Oh, and the shoes. A lot of shoes.
Mail can be directed to Carolyn at tellme@washpost.com .
Another Friday!!! I need romance: Its Friday my husband love to do family night on Friday. (we have kids) I suggested I drop the kids off with his cousin and we do something together. He said that said that sounds great we can work on the truck tonight (Dump Truck) or get some office paper work done. How can I get him to see that I need romance without stamping it on his forehead!!!!!
Carolyn Hax: Stamp it on his forehead. Why drive yourself nuts.
Great Falls: My wife doesn't know that I know she had an affair. It was brief and has ended and she has returned to the marriage, but I don't know where to go from here. Should I confront her since I'm having an impossible time forgiving her? The relationship is okay now, but I need to understand and confront this in order for me to feel committed. At the same time, wouldn't confrontation just lead her to do the same thing again, or is it only a matter of time before she does anyway? And yes, there's no doubt an affair occurred. I found messages that left nothing to the imagination.
Carolyn Hax: I don't follow your logic that confronting her will make her cheat again. Her knowing that you knew but stayed married to her anyway will be an invitation to take advantage? I'm stretching here, but even if that's what you;re thinking, to me that's a powerful argument for getting it all out in the open.
As it stands, though, you already have a powerful reason. You're torn up over this and you're not feeling committed to your own wife. What a painful way to live life. Talk to her. Figure out together what comes next. It's almost guaranteed be painful, too, but at least it'll shake something loose where now you're sitting there stuck.
Carolyn Hax: Sorry for the delay--my modem crashed mid-answer.
Fluffy but serious!: I'm calling on your love of shoes to help me out here! I would never mix navy and black or brown and black, but what about brown boots with a navy dress? I just don't have an eye for this sort of thing - but I also don't have navy shoes. What do you think?
Carolyn Hax: I mix navy and black and brown and black. It's more about style, texture, proportion, etc, than color. If you don't trust yourself, ask someone who can see it all together.
Or, don't care. If it's all wrong, tomorrow is another day.
Seattle, Wash.: Could I add just one thing to your first response in the column today? Actually, a point I think you've made before but should be emphasized. Not fair to the husband would also be "comparison shopping," meaning she doesn't get to test drive the new relationship to see if it's better than her current one and, if not, return blissfully to her husband. She needs to know two things in inviolable order-does she want to stay, happily, with her husband? (Let's say your other conditions re: kids, homelessness, etc. are met.) No? Okay,now she can see where things might go with the new guy. Totally unfair would be for the relationship with the new guy to fail to live up to its promise and so, in retrospect, she's fine with her husband. All that would do is set him up for the next time she wonders if she married the wrong guy. Unless being without either guy is a viable option in her head, she needs to rethink the fantasy. If, then, else. So, to review. Want to stay with husband? If no, proceed.
Carolyn Hax: Well said/emphasized, thanks.
re I need Romance: Dear I need Romance
Let me tell you a story about a couple who was so fearful of upsetting the "perfect" marriage by actually saying something was wrong, or each fearful of bringing up a desire that eventually contempt and indifference grew to such a point that one had an affair and divorce seemed unavoidable.
TELL YOUR FREAKIN HUSBAND!!!!! TELL HIM WHAT YOU WANT. TELL HIM WHAT YOU NEED! HE cannot read your freakin mind already.
Don't let it come to the point my marriage did.
Carolyn Hax: Well beaten into our thick heads, thanks.
Washington, D.C.: Hi, love the chats! Please help me get to the bottom of something that's been keeping me up at night. I broke up with a guy a year and a half ago. It was one of those, when it's good, it's really good, when it's bad it's hell relationships. He's now married, with a baby. Now here I am, single, and I feel like I'll never find someone who "gets" me ever again. Yes, he didn't "get" the parts of me that needed him to be home with me, talk with me and actually be considerate of my feelings, but he "got" my sense of humor, my way of thinking, etc.
How do I put faith in the fact that I know I've grown-up, made a life that is completely my own, am surrounded by good, caring friends without being torn apart by thinking that if life had just been different, I'd be happy with him? And how do I not fear being in another relationship, because I think I messed this one up so badly?
Carolyn Hax: If it was a good thing, the right thing, it would have survived your being yourself, which I assume is the behavior you see as having "messed this one up."
Plus, being alone has to be better than a good/bad/hell cycle. If nothing else, there's no constant tease that if only X, then Y would be perfect. Nightmare.
"I am a knee-jerk, pro-woman, man-hating pig.": I'm betting you got a lot of mail after last week. Any follow-up on this?
Carolyn Hax: Not really. Maybe you're all as sick of the gender-baiting as I am.
re: cheating wife 'confrontation': You say that the relationship is 'ok' .... it needs some more
fixing to move ahead. Another aspect of this situation
that might help your wife take responsibility for her
actions help her be will to discuss opening what happened
is finding out -why- she had the affair and how you
-might- have contributed to a bad situation. That being
said, if you did help create a bad situation in your
, obviously what your wife did was wrong and
painful. She should in no way have reacted the way she
did. BUT it might help with open communication if you
openly want to explore with her how the marriage wasn't
working for her - as obviously it wasn't.
Carolyn Hax: A complicated dance well explained, thanks.
I'm a college administrator and have become something of a mentor to one of my students. She's been going through a really rough time, and found me to be a sympathetic adult. However, its gotten to the point where she's leaning on me really heavily--her friends have mostly disappeared during the crisis, and I'm the one person she knows she can depend on. But it's gotten to the point where it's too much for me. I never want to abandon a human being in the midst of major crisis, but she also has incredibly low self esteem, and so every little thing turns into a major crisis (I suck, etc.). How do I deal with this so she doesn't suck the life out of me? She is in therapy, but hasn't liked any of the therapists she's tried yet.
Carolyn Hax: I don't know what your training is, but it sounds like you could benefit from talking to a psychiatrist or psychologist yourself to get help with extricating yourself from an unhealthy dependency. She's leaning on you, who can't help her as much as she needs (as you're learning the hard way), where she should be leaning on a therapist, who is much better qualified to help her--and therefore your presence is actually an obstacle to her getting the help she needs. But, obviously, she's unstable, and thus the guidance from a pro. You want to take care both to minimize the pain and damage you inflict, and understanding what ails her is crucial to that--and you also want to inoculate yourself against crushing guilt if there's an unhappy ending (always possible, even if you don't cause it and try to prevent it).
I lied about something and need to come clean. I'd say this lie is of the little, white variety, but I'm still going to lose face and am embarrassed and worried about how my bf is going to react. I embellished a little about something in my past, something that I'm kind of ashamed/sensitive about, back when we first met B/dc I never thought things would get serious between us. Now that they have, the guilt is driving me crazy. Is there anyway to come clean without looking like a big, fat liar?
Carolyn Hax: Frame yourself as a big, fat idiot and maybe he'll bite. I.e., you're human, not amoral. Certainly you won't have been the first person in his life to embellish your way around a sensitive topic.
Marriage/Divorce: I once heard a speaker at a post-divorce workshop say "Your spouse may have killed your marriage, but you watched it die." Excellent comment for those who want to "keep quiet" about the lethal things that are bothering them for fear of upsetting the applecart.
Washington, D.C.: I'm 25 and have a serious boyfriend. He's my best friend and we're like a team, but I miss dating. I just miss the excitement of flirting and those first few dates. Is this something that people grow out of? Or (eek) does it mean that I'm just not crazy enough about this guy? Ugh. I'd feel a lot better if I knew that everyone feels this way, and you just grow up and get over it. I hope that's what you tell me. Thanks, Carolyn.
Carolyn Hax: It's tempting to answer you, but if you're looking to other lives to make you feel better about your own, you're essentially admitting that you want to tune out your own voice. Don't do it. Listen, listen to what your feelings are telling you. Obviously it's possible to have no idea what your feelings are telling you. But in that case you just stay put for a while and see if things clear up. And if they don't clear up, then you change positions (e.g., take time apart) and see if you can hear better.
Point being, you're the one who has to live this life (the one you need to "grow up" to want, ack! Oops). -Only- your opinion counts.
Arlington, Va.: So at what point does giving someone what they need morph into turning yourself into someone you're not?
Carolyn Hax: The point you feel unhappy, the point where you start to resent the other person, the point where you're giving up something you've come to see is essential to your well-being, the point where you get diagnosed with clinical depression, I could go on. There are a lot of different signs, depending on the person and the situation and the severity of the demands/sacrifices.
Keeping Quiet During the Marriage: But what if you haven't kept quiet? What if you've done everything but take out ads on billboards? I've done all that I can, spoken up in every conceivable way (trying it with grace and humor, sitting him down for a serious talk, finally breaking down and crying). I even finally managed to drag him to counseling after uttering the word "divorce," but I don't know if it's too late. His indifference was killing me, and now that he's finally paying attention, his efforts are somewhat ridiculous. He takes me to things I don't want to go to and that I don't enjoy. I've been as gentle and kind as I can explaining that I don't really enjoy touring Civil War sites, but that a meal at a nice restaurant and a movie would be good, and he just doesn't seem to get it. What next?
Carolyn Hax: 1. What do you want?
2. Did you name something that's possible, given what you know and what you've seen so far? If not, then go back to 1. and repeat as needed.
Re: Washington DC: Oh, c'mon Carolyn, it's perfectly normal to miss flirting and dating. I am happily married to a wonderful man-I have no doubts he's the "one" for me-but I do sometimes get a little wistful about the fact that I'm never again going to have the excitement of meeting someone new, having a first kiss...
Carolyn Hax: Normal for you. What matters is what's normal for her.
Foggy: Increasingly I'm finding that as I go through life and also hear of other's experiences, I find that the basics of all relationships are pretty much the same. That is to say, that regardless of whether it is a friendship, a romance, or a professional relationship, it's always better when there is trust, honesty, and respect to start off with. What do you think? In regards to the not sure about rocking the leaky boat poster, aren't all of these compromised by the secrets kept? (her infidelity, his knowledge of same)
Carolyn Hax: I think I've been pretty consistent in my frustration when people approach romances, friendships, family ties and working relationships with separate sets of standards. Classic examples being people who act naturally around their friends but put up fronts on dates (or, similarly, who hang out all night talking with friends, but then choose mates they can't really talk to); or people who drag their feet at work (thus burdening colleagues) but are careful to watch out for friends.
You may withhold your personal life from a colleague, put up with crap from family, crawl into bed with a mate, take great care not to mix these up--but the fundamentals are, I agree, the same. If it matters, it matters.
USA: I want to break it off with my girlfriend. Not because I don't
feel for her, nor because she is not a kind loving person, but
because I feel our lives our not going in the same direction.
How do I tell her? What do I say?
Carolyn Hax: You just said it. Good luck.
Edmonton AB Canada: I don't think you were really being fair to the GF who misses dating. The question about whether everybody feels this way isn't necessarily about putting other people's opinions ahead of your own truth. It can be about learning to call things by their right name. Yes, it's extremely common to miss the excitement of meeting and dating new people. Yes, it is part of most people's basic psychological makeup that there is some tension between the pleasures of stability and the pleasures of novelty. Anyone who is oblivious to all other sexual objects except their beloved is not more seriously in love than other people, they're just still in the infatuated stage.
And yes, everyone has to decide for themselves if they've reached the point in a stable relationship that they are willing to forgo the pleasures of novelty. This is so common that there is a name for it. It's called commitment.
Carolyn Hax: It's also extremely common to write off yearnings as extremely common before entering ill-advised commitments. One person's healthy nostalgia is another's warning sign that this isn't the time to commit, and I'm going to do my best not to get my fingerprints on anyone's decision between these two.
Washington, D.C.: One more take on Not Keeping Quiet During the Marriage:
I also shouted from the rooftops the very, very small, reasonable things that I needed to feel loved. I also tried all of the tactics, up to and including moving out temporarily. He finally started trying (a little), but lo and behold -- I no longer responded. I no longer valued the things (like occasionally getting flowers, him taking the initiative to plan a "date night", etc.) after I had to go into uncharacteristic hystrionics to get them. Since I felt like I had to practically beat the stinking bouquet of flowers out of him, it no longer felt special or romantic.
Yeah, we divorced. No surprise there.
Carolyn Hax: I'm sorry. Feelings do die when they're left to starve, and that's why it's so important, yes, to speak up well before that happens.
Philly, Pa.: Hi Carolyn, Love your chat. I understand what everyone is saying about trust, honest and ability to communicate being crucial to a successful long-term relationship (in my case, a romantic one). But what if you just can't tell where things stand? I feel like I don't have an easy time talking about my feelings with him...but I love being with him so much and he's good to me and wonderful etc. How can I tell if I'm just ignoring the problem, or if it's a balance/compromise like everything else in life? Thanks!
Carolyn Hax: Specifically, why don't you have an easy time? Is it difficult for you to say? Do you not like his response? Other?
Washington, D.C.: Missing Dating: I agree with you about "what's normal for her." I don't miss dating at ALL. I think it's perfectly wonderful to know that I never have to get all nervous around someone, or worry that they won't like ALL of who I am and have wasted perfectly good emotional energy on someone not worth anything so draining. And I LOVE knowing that my husband knows everything about me and thinks I'm perfect. I think kissing him is much more fun than any "first date kiss." It's "totally in love" kissing.
And also, how would you feel if your husband said to you, "I like you a lot, but I sure do miss dating. I just really want to neck someone new."
I think you can make marriage have all the excitement of dating if you work at it, just not with all the different PEOPLE of dating.
Carolyn Hax: I agree except for the "all the excitement of ..." The great stuff that a well-tended marriage can yield is of its own kind. They're just two different things, with two different (though occasionally similar) pleasures.
Anonymous: I can't seem to drag myself to therapy. I am so unhappy I cry at work several times a week. I love my fiance and he tries his damnedest to help me, but something is horribly broken in me. My doctor asked me if I had suicidal ideation, and I do, but I lied. I imagine car accidents, and huge knives cutting through my body. I imagine bashing my head against concrete until my consciousness disintegrates. I wouldn't do anything because I have a child, and I couldn't do that to him, but I can't shake the overwhelming despair and self-hatred.
I have attacks of this. I'm in one right now. It's exhausting just holding my head up. I can be happy, and sometimes I am, but less and less and less.
I started a new job just 5 months ago and have no vacation time, so I can't take time off to go somewhere.
I don't know what to do. I can't take it anymore. I can't keep doing this to him.
Carolyn Hax: Call your doctor and admit you lied about the ideation; call 1-800-SUICIDE if you need to talk to someone now and the doctor isn't available; or if you think you're close, dial 911. Please. For your son. Each of these is one step, and that one step is your only concern right now.
Washington, D.C.: College administrator should know the directions to the student counseling center, and that s/he has overstepped boundaries BIG time, AND is creating a potential liability for the university. Academic advisors, professors, and other administrators have no business allowing mentoring to turn into personal counseling. Universities have trained and skilled professionals to handle these situations. Make that referral NOW, then get thee to the employee assistance program to understand your own motives.
Yeah, I'm a university administrator.
Carolyn Hax: And, as Officer Malone memorably said, "Who would claim to be that, who was not?" Thank you.
Philly Followup: I guess I have trouble asking things of others b/c I don't want to put anyone out or be one of those demanding high-maintenance pushy people. I also have a hard time communicating my feelings in general, although I'm working hard on improving myself in that area.
Maybe I think I'll ask for something that I think is innocuous but he'll think is a real trial. In which case, I guess I should know now whether he's able to deal with some give-and-take, huh? Maybe that's my answer and I'm just too much of a wuss to open my mouth and find out?
Carolyn Hax: Why not open your mouth and find out you're not a wuss?
By the way--sometimes the best way to get good at communicating your feelings is to find someone who responds well to them.
Re: doesn't miss dating: Yikes! That was a huge slam on dating for those of us that are out here doing it, and I hope that poster's negative opinions didn't get anyone down. I'd never think of dating as "wasting perfectly good energy"-even dates with guys that I discover aren't right for me are still opportunities to meet someone interesting and do fun things.
Carolyn Hax: The point was that for each person who's pining for those days, there's another for whom the memories are a cue to self-medicate (not that anyone should try this at home). Not everything is for everybody, nor is every opinion.
Re: Anonymous (suicidal): Also should note that she probably won't need "vacation time" to get treatment -- sick leave normally covers this.
So she should check her employee's handbook, and see if they have an employee assistance program or a union that could help her.
(Of course, she should quit or let them fire her if she has to -- getting real help is most important.)
Carolyn Hax: Yes yes yes. Thank you.
Divorce: I feel bad for all these people who ended up divorced, but seriously people, I find it hard to believe that their partners changed that much. If you "need" something to feel loved, make damn sure you're getting it upfront, otherwise it's not coming later down the line. (That advice would be for all your readers confused about their current girl/boyfriend and whether s/he's the One.)
Carolyn Hax: Good logic and good advice, except that often people are slow to recognize a "need" until they see the consequences of its going unmet for year after year after year. The backpack isn't too heavy if you can lift it and walk comfortably, right? Okay, now walk 20 miles.
Question: I've never been in therapy but I can understand where "Anonymous" is coming from. I often imagine myself getting into car accidents or cutting myself and bleeding to death. At what point is it advisable to seek help?
Carolyn Hax: Now? Help is not a leap off a cliff, it's a phone call, then an appointment, then a decision to make another appointment, and so on. You can revisit and revise your decision at any time.
Suicidal rights: I work for an HR manager. No WAY can they fire her for this. She has a lot of rights under the ADA. Get help immediately! Your healthcare should cover this and it's in your employer's best interests to ensure you get help. There are LOTS of people that care about you in this world. Just let people who know what to do know that you need help!
Carolyn Hax: I wondered about the ADA here, thanks, but the law is on my staggering list of things I don't know.
Also on that list is whether you're actually an HR person (paging Malone again), so people using this as a legal resource best contact an attorney. And slap their foreheads. Their own, not their attorneys'.
Washington, D.C.: You wrote, "if you're looking to other lives to make you feel better about your own, you're essentially admitting that you want to tune out your own voice."
I essentially agree with that, and yet I often find myself feeling better about a problem I'm having if I realize that I'm not the only one who has the problem. I think it's nice to know you're not the only one facing a given challenge. Is that wrong?
Carolyn Hax: No, and when you put it that way, it does support having a look around. So I guess that means the problem comes when seeing someone(s) in the same situation overtakes, vs. informs, your judgment. Thanks.
Washington, D.C. Area: I have to go back to work and put my 8 month old in daycare. I feel like I'm NEVER going to see him anymore. Why does it feel like this? Before I had the baby, I worked full time as did my husband and I didn't feel as if I "never" saw my husband. So why do I feel that spending the same amount of time away from my baby is different? I'm trying to reassure myself that it will be okay and will feel normal after a while, but I'm really on the verge of panic over it all.
Carolyn Hax: This is your baby! You knew your husband could take care of himself, you knew you could call or email to say hi, you probably wouldn't care if he learned new words in your absence--and those are just practical reasons things are different now, before we even get into the primal. (Which we won't, don't worry.) I think most people get panicky over baby separation. For some it's fleeting, for some it;s a cue to stay home or postpone the return to work or lengthen the transition or arrange a more flexible work schedule (or whole new job). What you need, you'll need to find out, but I'd start with the longer transition. Talk to the day care provider and ask about options for starting slowly.
"Going cardboard?": You used that phrase last week for a relationship someone feared was about to croak. I like it, but where's it come from? Thanks.
Learn something new every week around here...
Carolyn Hax: From my own twisted mind, far as I know. (Thanks.)
Washington, D.C. (anonymous/get help): When you are depressed, your thinking is dis-ordered. Try not to rationalize why or when or under what circumstances of time off and insurance to get help. If you are sad all the time or think about being hurt/hurting yourself. Just get it.
Carolyn Hax: Can't remind people of this enough, thank you. Depression clouds your thinking and judgment--dials everything to "Hopeless" when it fact it isn't.
Carolyn Hax: Okay, I'm spending way too much time reading questions without answering them, a sure sign my brain is tired. So, bye, thanks for visiting, and type to you next week (also at 12:30, by the way--still making some child-care adjustments).
ideation person again: How do I go to my HR director and ask for help? I do not want to become That Crazy Person, or to lose my job because I can't fulfill it. It's a very small company.
Carolyn Hax: Start with your doctor, who should have resources for you to research this. If s/he doesn't, contact NAMI (www.nami.org) to find someone who can guide through the legalities. Take care.
Going cardboard defined: Used in sales...as in an album going platinum...going gold...all the way down to going aluminum ...and even worse, going cardboard
Carolyn Hax: Bummer. I meant it as, the next step is packing your stuff in boxes and moving out.
Single vs. Married: I think it's important not to set up a false dichotomy here - the fact is, single or married, each of us is subject to a number of forces each and every day, and each of us is subject to change, each and every day. In that sense, marriage is as much as state of flux as singlehood; I think some of the comments here tend to pose them as inextricably opposed - safety vs. risk, commitment vs. lack thereof, etc. - when the fact is, we're all at risk, every day.
Or at least that's the way I see it -as a single divorce attorney. Smile, it's Friday.
Carolyn Hax: Now there's the end note I was looking for. Bye for real now.
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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As Goal, Capitals Shoot for Progress
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When Alex Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals teammates glide onto the ice this morning for the first practice of the 2006-07 season, they'll do so in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by a handful of new players and, perhaps most notably, amid higher expectations.
"We want to be better," Coach Glen Hanlon said yesterday at Verizon Center, where 49 veterans and prospects reported for physical examinations.
Hanlon stopped short of saying he expects the Capitals to contend for a playoff berth, and instead carefully measured his words, perhaps in an effort to temper hopes for a rebuilding franchise that finished last in the Southeast Division and has a payroll that is roughly $15 million below the salary cap ceiling of $44 million.
"Last year was all about the process, and now there has to be some focus on achievement," he said.
Hanlon will have more tools with which to work thanks to a flurry of personnel moves during an unexpectedly busy offseason for Capitals General Manager George McPhee, whose boldest decision was to sign free agent defenseman Brian Pothier to a four-year, $10 million contract. The former Ottawa defenseman is expected to add skill and speed to one of the weakest bluelines in the NHL.
McPhee also signed Donald Brashear, one of the league's most feared fighters, to a one-year, $1 million deal. The hulking winger nicknamed "Brash" will protect Ovechkin, the Capitals' best player and NHL's reigning rookie of the year.
Other new faces include Richard Zednik, who was acquired from Montreal, and 2002 first-round draft pick Alexander Semin, who was lured back from Russia with a new contract in April. Zednik and Semin, talented wingers with speed to spare, not only will bolster an offense that managed only 230 goals (23rd overall), their presence should also prevent opposing defenses from focusing too much on Ovechkin.
"Last year, it was so easy to stack up against us when we had one line that was producing consistently," Hanlon said. "So not only could other teams put out their top defensive forward line, they could put out their top defensive pairing. Now they will have to split it up."
Ovechkin added, "It will help me, and it will help the team."
McPhee, however, did not address two of his team's biggest needs. The Capitals still do not have a No. 1 defenseman or a second-line center.
The team also said goodbye to some familiar faces. Checking-line forwards Jeff Halpern and Brian Willsie, who combined for 85 points last season, left via free agency in July, signing with Dallas and Los Angeles, respectively. The team also cut ties with marginal defensemen Nolan Yonkman, Mathieu Biron and Ivan Majesky.
Despite the departures, the overall feeling within the organization is that the summer's additions outweigh the subtractions.
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When the Capitals take the ice for the first practice of the season, they'll do so in an unfamiliar place with a handful of new players and higher expectations.
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First Rabbis Ordained in Germany Since Holocaust
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BERLIN, Sept. 14 -- The first rabbis since the Holocaust were ordained in Germany on Thursday, the latest marker in the gradual return of Judaism to a nation where most vestiges of Jewish life were once eradicated.
At a synagogue in the eastern city of Dresden, three rabbinical students were formally received as the first graduates of a small Jewish seminary founded to train religious leaders throughout central Europe, but especially in Germany, which has relied exclusively on foreign-trained rabbis to serve its burgeoning Jewish population.
"Obviously, it's a big step forward," said Walter Homolka, the executive director and co-founder of Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam, the seminary that produced the new rabbis. "It's been five or six years of very hard work to get to the point where all of a sudden we are getting swept up into something that people are calling a miracle."
Of the three rabbis ordained Thursday, only one, Daniel Alter, 47, is a German native. "I would like to give to others what my faith has given me," he told the Maerkische Allgemeine newspaper in Potsdam before the ordination ceremony.
Alter said his father survived concentration camps in Auschwitz and Mauthausen and had difficulty passing on his faith to the next generation. "He hardly spoke about his fate," Alter said. "Jewish spirituality was mentally exhausted."
A second graduate, 35-year-old Thomas Kucera of the Czech Republic, will remain in Germany and serve as a rabbi in Munich. The third, Malcolm Matitiani, 38, of Cape Town, will return to South Africa.
About 600,000 Jews lived in Germany before the Nazis took power in 1933. Almost all died in the Holocaust or fled the country, with only an estimated 12,000 remaining after World War II. All told, about 6 million Jews were killed across Europe.
Germany has seen its Jewish population rebound since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, fueled by the emigration of Jews from Russia and other former Soviet republics. Until last year, the German government granted automatic entry to people with Jewish ancestry, quadrupling the number of Jewish residents to about 100,000.
There are only about two dozen rabbis in Germany, however; community leaders said the need for more is especially great because many of the Soviet bloc immigrants were raised in the absence of Jewish culture and religious rituals.
"We have a great hunger for rabbis," Dieter Graumann, vice president of the Jewish Central Council in Germany, told reporters. "Things have changed over the last 17 years. The community has gotten bigger and we have to do something to maintain unity."
Abraham Geiger College, named after the 19th-century Berlin rabbi who is considered the founder of Reform Judaism, opened its doors in 2001. It currently enrolls 15 students but hopes to expand gradually, Homolka said in a telephone interview. "We are just at the beginning of a huge process," he said.
Tuition is free, although the cost of educating each student over the five-year course of study totals about $100,000, school officials said. The budget is subsidized partly by the German government and Jewish organizations, as well as private donors, including many in the United States.
Homolka said he and co-founder Walter Jacob, a rabbi from Pittsburgh, had to overcome persistent doubts from others about the wisdom of opening a seminary in Germany, given its history.
"We obviously had to take a low-key approach," he said. "In the beginning, people were hesitant that this would be the right thing. One European colleague said to me that he couldn't believe a rabbinical institute could be set up on the ashes of 6 million."
The last rabbinical seminary in Germany, the Higher Institute for Jewish Studies in Berlin, was shut down by the Nazis in 1942.
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BERLIN, Sept. 14 -- The first rabbis since the Holocaust were ordained in Germany on Thursday, the latest marker in the gradual return of Judaism to a nation where most vestiges of Jewish life were once eradicated.
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Vitamin D Appears to Cut Risk of Pancreatic Cancer
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People who take the recommended daily amount of Vitamin D are about half as likely to get deadly pancreatic cancer as people who do not, researchers said yesterday. Now they are checking to see if getting the vitamin from food or sunlight also cuts the risk.
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. This year, an estimated 32,000 new cases will be diagnosed, and only 5 percent of its victims will survive more than five years.
Working with colleagues at Harvard University, a team led by Halcyon Skinner of Northwestern University examined data from two large, long-term health surveys involving 46,771 men 40 to 75 years old and 75,427 women 38 to 65.
They found that people who took the U.S. recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D, 400 international units (IU), had a 43 percent lower risk of pancreatic cancer. Those who took less than 150 IU per day had a 22 percent reduced risk.
Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, the researchers said taking more than 400 IU a day did not reduce the risk further.
Vitamin D is produced by the body when sunlight hits the skin, but most Americans do not get enough sunlight to produce the needed amount. Milk, both dairy and soy, is fortified with the vitamin. Some foods, including fish, eggs and liver, also contain Vitamin D.
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Upgraded Facilities, Academics Part of 15-Year Plan
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D.C. public school officials have scheduled eight forums for parents to discuss the school closure proposal and new academic offerings and to get feedback on the superintendent's 15-year plan. Forum dates and locations are specific to schools. All will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., and child care will be available.
Sept. 18 Kramer Middle School 1700 Q St. SE ELEMENTARY: Beers, Davis, Garfield, Ketcham, Kimball, Orr, Randle Highlands, Stanton, Winston MIDDLE: Kramer, Sousa SENIOR HIGH: Anacostia
Sept. 19 Savoy Elementary School 2400 Shannon Pl. SE ELEMENTARY: Birney, Draper, Ferebee-Hope, Green, Hendley, M.L. King, Leckie, Malcolm X, McGogney, Moten, Patterson, Savoy, Simon, M.C. Terrell, Turner, Wilkinson JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE: Johnson, Hart SENIOR HIGH: Ballou SWING: Douglas EDUCATIONAL CENTER: P.R. Harris
Sept. 21 W. Wilson High School 3950 Chesapeake St. NW ELEMENTARY: Eaton, Hearst, Hyde, Janney, Key, Lafayette, Mann, Murch, Oyster, Stoddert JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE: Hardy at Gordon, Deal SENIOR HIGH: Ellington, W. Wilson
Sept. 22 Clark Elementary School 4501 Kansas Ave. NW ELEMENTARY: Barnard, Brightwood, Clark, LaSalle, Powell, Raymond, Rudolph, Shepherd, Takoma, Truesdell, West, Whittier JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE: MacFarland SENIOR HIGH: Coolidge, Roosevelt SPECIAL EDUCATION: Sharpe Health CHARTER: Paul, Rabaut
Sept. 25 Brookland Elementary School 1150 Michigan Ave. NE ELEMENTARY: Brookland, Bunker Hill, Burroughs, J.F. Cook, Emery, Langdon, Marshall, Noyes, Shaed, Slowe, Webb, Wheatley, Young JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE: Browne, Backus SENIOR HIGH: Dunbar, Luke Moore, Phelps, Spingarn, M.M. Washington, McKinley SPECIAL EDUCATION: Mamie Lee SWING: Hamilton ADMINISTRATIVE: Penn
Sept. 26 Francis Junior High School 2425 N St. NW ELEMENTARY: Adams, Bancroft, Bruce-Monroe, Cleveland, H.D. Cooke, Gage-Eckington, Garrison, Meyer, Montgomery, Park View, Marie Reed, Ross, Seaton, Stevens, Thomson, Tubman JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE: Francis, Shaw, Garnet-Patterson, Lincoln SENIOR HIGH: Banneker, Bell, Cardozo SWING: Lewis CHARTER: Harrison
Sept. 27 H.D. Woodson High School 5500 Eads St. NE ELEMENTARY: Aiton, Benning, Burrville, Drew, C.W. Harris, Houston, Kenilworth, Nalle, Plummer, River Terrace, Shadd, Smothers, Thomas JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE: C.G. Woodson, Miller, Ronald H. Brown SWING: Evans EDUCATIONAL CENTER: Merritt, Fletcher-Johnson SENIOR HIGH: H.D. Woodson
Sept. 28 Hine Junior High School 335 Eighth St. SE ELEMENTARY: Amidon, Bowen, Brent, Gibbs, Maury, Miner, Payne, Peabody, Tyler, Van Ness, Walker-Jones, Watkins, J.O. Wilson, Ludlow-Taylor MIDDLE SCHOOL: Stuart-Hobson, Eliot, Hine, Jefferson, R.H. Terrell SENIOR HIGH: Eastern, School Without Walls CHARTER: Blow, Kingsman SPECIAL EDUCATION: Prospect at Goding
SOURCE: District of Columbia Public Schools Map by Mary Kate Cannistra, Graphics Reporting by April Umminger, The Washington Post
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D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey outlined an ambitious 15-year plan yesterday to transform the city's dilapidated schools into gleaming, new facilities with model academic programs, a move designed to raise student achievement and attract parents back to a school system with declining...
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Christian-Themed Cartoons Draw Ire
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Two cartoons that ran in a University of Virginia student newspaper recently have sparked thousands of e-mails to the school and the paper with complaints that they are offensive and blasphemous.
Third-year student Grant Woolard drew the comics for the Cavalier Daily, one of which is called "Christ on a Cartesian Coordinate Plane," with a drawing of the X and Y axes over his figure on the cross. The other, "A Nativity Ob-scene," is of Joseph and the Virgin Mary talking about a bumpy rash she has, with her saying, "I swear, it was immaculately transmitted!"
Members of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights -- among others -- were not amused.
Form e-mails from members across the country have pelted the U-Va. president's office and the Cavalier Daily.
Carol Wood, a U-Va. spokeswoman, said they have gotten between 2,000 and 2,500 letters and about 50 phone calls, primarily from people outside the university. She said the school's response has been that while the writers' concerns are understood, the Cavalier Daily is an independent newspaper and the school must uphold freedoms of speech, expression and the press.
Woolard did not return messages yesterday afternoon.
The editor in chief, Michael Slaven, referred to an editorial earlier this week that read, in part, ". . . we regret being thrust into the culture war in this way. . . . Just because a comic appears in our pages does not mean that the editors agree with the point or even find it in good taste. It only means that the comic fails to meet specific criteria that warrant censorship. "
Kevin Simowitz, chairman of Catholic Student Ministries at U-Va., said: "If they were putting out a comic that was challenging and intriguing and funny and cutting edge, that's one thing. When it's tasteless and not useful, and doesn't spark debate, and just offends . . . they deserve all the flak they get."
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Hello, Good Buys: Four Sites That Offer Fare Help
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Move over Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz. A new generation of travel Web sites is emerging, and they're looking to revolutionize the online purchase of airfares. The brainchildren of PhD-in-mathematics types, the sites use what is called predictive technology." No crystal balls are involved: The sites mine and analyze historical airfare prices so consumers will know better when to push the button and buy.
John Bray, vice president of advisory services at the travel research firm PhoCusWright, said travel technology visionaries "have been saying for some time, 'We've got to create our own iPod for the travel industry.' " The new sites, he said, are evidence that "we're now seeing the beginning of these killer applications emerging."
We asked staff writer Carol Sottili to check out four of the sites.
What it does best: Even though it's still in the testing phase, the site already has plenty of a wow factor. Tell it you want to fly between Dulles and Boston on specific dates, for example, and it'll come up with flight choices. Also, one of five different colored arrows indicates which way fares are headed, and how much confidence the site has in that prediction. Request a flexible search and the site will compare fares between two cities over a 30-day period.
Don't know where you want to go, but just want to find somewhere cheap? Plug in your home airport and do an "all cities" flexible search: A map pops up with fares to cities nationwide. Other cool features include easy-to-use slider bars that can narrow your search by price, time and length. JetBlue results included.
Where it falls short: The site is currently limited to 57 domestic airports (users can vote for which cities they want included next). Though it transfers you to an airline site to book a fare, it can take a little time, and occasionally, the fare is no longer available. Doesn't display prices for Southwest, although it does offer schedule info and considers Southwest prices when making fare predictions.
Our grade: B+ . . . with strong potential for an A as it increases its workload with additional airport results.
What it does best: One of the more established sites (it's out of the testing phase), Farecompare collects historical pricing info for more than 77,000 city pairs covering the United States and Canada. It figures out minimum, average and maximum fares, updating its database three times daily with about 6 million fares. The site also looks for mysterious "Y-up" or "Q-up" fares, basically cheap business-class seats. The site's handlers do a great job ferretting out useful fare info.
On a recent Thursday, it alerted readers that American "had slipped a disc" and was offering first-class tickets between Phoenix and Detroit at $124 round trip; the intelligence checked out when we fake-booked it at http://www.aa.com/ . The site searches for cheap fares in several ways, including by specific destination and to all destinations; plug in WAS (the code for all three of our region's airports) and it will tell you the best air deals worldwide. Includes JetBlue's fares.
Where it falls short: It doesn't link you directly to the airlines to purchase. Instead, it directs you to the site's partners -- Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline, which all charge a booking fee. Southwest is not included in the results.
Our grade: B+ . . . but only because its insider alerts add enough extra credit to raise it from a B.
What it does best: We can only talk potential for this one, but it shows promise. Now in the early testing phase, it eventually plans to allow consumers to see all of their best flight options and fares over a 30-day period from point A to B in one quick search. For now, you can see how it will work by clicking on Minneapolis to Washington Dulles. A graph pops up with a month of fares. Click on how long you want to stay (one to seven nights), and the best fares on the best dates pop up in green. You can further filter your search by times, number of stops and other nearby airports. It plans to calculate more than 100 million airfares daily.
Where it falls short: It now only displays results from Minneapolis on Northwest Airlines, but plans to launch an expanded testing phase with other markets and airlines in the next few months.
Our grade: Incomplete . . . but work habits indicate the potential for a high B.
What it does best: This metasearch site is one of the more established. Though it doesn't specialize in historical airfare tracking, it apparently realizes the potential. The site recently launched its third tool for discovering trends: The "best fare trend" graph pops up when you do a query between heavily traveled markets and indicates whether the average fare has gone up or down in the past 90 days.
Click on "details" to be directed to the site's "best fare history" info, which shows the cheapest fares between those markets found by other users within the past 36 hours. Kayak Buzz displays the best fares that fellow site users have found over the past two days from a designated departure airport to the top 25 searched destinations across the globe, in the United States or various continents and regions. Results include JetBlue.
Where it falls short: The data is based on results found by site users rather than data mined from airfare pricing sources, so info is limited. For example, Kayak says there are trend graphs for 415,000 city pair/date combos covering the most heavily traveled markets, but such routes as Washington to New York don't always make the cut. No Southwest results.
Our grade: C+ in this subject matter . . . but because this site has such high overall quality, we may be grading harder based on elevated expectations.
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Move over Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz. A new generation of travel Web sites is emerging.
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Stability Control to Be Mandatory
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is set to announce a preliminary regulation requiring electronic stability control technology on all new vehicles.
The technology, which has been described as the most important automotive safety advance since seat belts, helps prevent vehicles from veering out of control and possibly rolling over. Nicole Nason, the NHTSA administrator, is expected to outline the new regulation during a news conference today.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimated in a report in June that as many as 10,000 deaths a year could be prevented if all vehicles were equipped with the feature. Auto companies have said the systems are more critical in preventing deaths than air bags, which are credited with saving 1,200 lives per year.
Stability control systems use electronic sensors linked to onboard computers to detect steering problems -- usually at high speeds or on slippery surfaces -- and activate a vehicle's brakes and slow the engine to help drivers maintain control.
The technology, which dates to the early 1990s, has been included on an increasing number of vehicles in recent years, particularly on large sport-utility vehicles, which are prone to roll over. Stability control is standard on about 40 percent of vehicles sold nationwide and available as an option on another 15 percent. Nearly all new SUVs have the technology, according to companies that supply the systems.
Automakers use different names for the feature, which can confuse consumers. Many drivers who have the system aren't sure if they have it or how it works. General Motors Corp., which has said it would make the system available on all models by 2010, calls its StabiliTrak. The feature is also known as Electronic Stability Program and Active Handling.
Ford Motor Co. said it would put electronic stability systems on all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles by the end of 2009. The feature is standard on all models made by Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, which pioneered the technology. Cadillac, Jaguar, Mini, Toyota and Volvo, among others, offer the system as an option on all models.
Joan Claybrook, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said the suppliers of the technology have shifted tactics and have begun using consumer education campaigns along with heavy lobbying of federal officials to create demand for the new feature. In the past, they had relied solely on automakers to adopt the technology.
"Suppliers try to sell features to the manufacturers. A lot of the time manufacturers say we are very interested but not now. That goes on for a number of years," she said.
Dan Warrell, lead director of electronic stability control systems for auto-parts supplier Delphi Corp., said the technology was coming regardless of government regulation. Warrell said that adding electronic sensors as a result of the new government requirements could allow auto suppliers to provide still broader safety features.
Auto-parts suppliers have showcased in Washington other advanced technology features, such as systems that use cameras and infrared sensors to spot sudden obstructions and activate the brakes before a crash. Other systems tighten seat belts automatically when sensors anticipate an accident or buzz seats as drivers drift out of their lane, possibly because they are dozing off.
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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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Airport's Future Is on Rails
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Passengers at Dulles International Airport will be able to check out a new underground train system that one day will carry them from terminal to concourse -- replacing the much-maligned mobile lounges -- starting today, when a walk-in display of one of the train cars will open for public inspection.
The $1.3 billion system, called Aerotrain, is half-done and remains on track for a scheduled opening in 2009, engineers and officials said yesterday during an on-site update of the airport's expansion plans.
The train is part of a $3.4 billion construction project designed to increase the airport's capacity and security by adding a fourth runway, more gates, a new control tower, an expanded security clearance area and other improvements. Construction of the control tower was completed last year; it is expected to open next year, after the Federal Aviation Administration outfits it with its equipment. The runway is to open in 2008.
"We're rebuilding the airport so it can serve the Washington area for the next 40 years," said James E. Bennett, chief executive of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. "When we're finished with the next round of improvements, the [traveler's] experience will be worth the wait and the inconvenience."
The remaking of Dulles began in 2000 but was delayed when air travel declined after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said Margaret E. McKeough, executive vice president of the airports authority. Since then, two parking garages have opened, as has a 1,000-foot moving sidewalk between the main terminal and Concourse B.
The expansion is intended to serve an increasing number of air travelers at the region's busiest airport, which is expected to continue growing as more people move to the Washington area, Bennett and other officials said. In 2005, a record 27 million passengers flew into and out of Dulles, an 18 percent increase from the 22.8 million who used it in 2004.
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport also is expanding to serve a growing number of travelers. It is most of the way through a $1.8 billion expansion that will triple its parking capacity, widen access roads and add gates, terminals and services. An 11-gate terminal that serves Southwest Airlines opened last year. The airports authority, which also runs Reagan National, is considering ways to expand parking there.
At Dulles, the underground train is designed to reduce crowding and security concerns in the main terminal, as well as speed passengers to their gates.
Currently, travelers check in and pass through security gates on the same level of the main terminal before boarding the mobile lounges. When the Aerotrain line is finished, check-in and security will be done on separate levels, allowing more room for both.
Passengers will go to another level to reach the train terminal, a 54,500-square-foot platform served by automated cars -- similar to those at the Atlanta and Denver airports -- programmed to run every two minutes. When trains arrive at stations, departing passengers will exit on one side of the platform and arriving travelers will board from the other side.
Each car can accommodate more than 100 passengers and will run between stations on rubber tires instead of rails to save money and reduce noise.
"It'll be a fast and efficient service to get you to the terminal in seconds," said engineer Frank D. Holly Jr. "It's a safe, secure underground system that won't be vulnerable to outside threats.
"The mobile lounges on the surface are probably going 15 miles per hour," Holly added. "The trains will go 40 to 42 miles per hour. You'll be delivered to your concourse in 1 1/2 to two minutes."
When it initially opens, Aerotrain will travel in a J-shaped pattern to serve the main terminal, both sides of Concourse B and the C/D Concourse. Eventually, though, trains will travel on an elliptical circuit, serving both ends of every concourse to minimize walking distances. Departing passengers will be told which concourse, gate and train station to use when they check in. The second phase is not fully funded, and no completion date has been set.
The mobile lounge system was state of the art when Dulles opened in 1962. There was no security screening process, and departing travelers could smoke cigarettes and drink cocktails in comfort as they shuttled over the tarmac in lumbering vehicles that looked like something out of a Buck Rogers serial.
Aerotrain won't send the airport's fleet of mobile lounges immediately to the scrap heap, however. They'll continue to be used for some international flights and by some airlines to take passengers directly to planes.
"They offer us a great degree of flexibility," McKeough said.
Several passengers interviewed yesterday said the construction projects haven't been too big of a hassle.
"The trip to the outer terminals takes a little longer in the mobile lounges because of the construction," said McLean resident Marty Fletcher, 44, who flies in and out of Dulles twice a month for work. "But they've done a good job at keeping the construction away. We all look forward to the day the train comes."
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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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Slaying Suspect Free by Mistake
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Prince William County officials accidentally released a man charged with murder and didn't notice the mistake until five days later, authorities said yesterday.
Authorities said that they have no idea where Christopher T. Broady is and that he is dangerous.
"He is on trial for murder so that should give you an indication of the seriousness of this, of how hard we are trying to get him back," Manassas Detective Christine Perry said. "This is a priority. . . . It is number one."
Broady, 19, is charged with shooting a D.C. man in the head in an apparent drug dispute. He walked out of jail Friday, and the mistake was not noticed until Tuesday.
"He could be anywhere. He could be in Arizona, Mexico, South America," Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert (D) said.
Jail officials and prosecutors said Broady was released in a period of confusion after murder charges against him had been dropped in Prince William Circuit Court but were pending in General District Court.
"I think the breakdown was in the overall process," Jail Superintendent Charles "Skip" Land said. "I think we took the steps to protect the public and verify it and, unfortunately, the jail released him when the courts wanted him held."
Broady is charged with killing Bernard S. Matthews, 22, on Feb. 1. Matthews was shot and left lying near Bruckner Road in the Georgetown South community of Prince William. The slaying made headlines because another man robbed Matthews before police could take him to the hospital. He died the next day.
A week later, authorities found Broady in Danville and charged him with murder in Matthews's slaying and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He told his girlfriend's father that the shooting was over drugs, according to court testimony by the father, James Holmes.
The path to Broady's release began when Holmes did not show up to testify at an Aug. 21 hearing in Circuit Court. That prompted authorities to drop the charges in that court. But simultaneously, prosecutors charged Broady in General District Court. He should have been held pending a preliminary hearing in that court.
Prosecutors also mistakenly sought a second indictment against Broady. When that indictment was returned Sept. 5, prosecutors later dropped it because the case was pending in the lower court.
That's when jail officials saw the paperwork saying Broady should be released. Land said officials called court clerks to check that the charges were dismissed and were told they were.
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Prince William County officials accidentally released a man charged with murder and didn't notice the mistake until five days later, authorities said yesterday.
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Mutinous Ferry Roils the Waters
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True to its Confederate namesake, the Gen. Jubal A. Early ferryboat yesterday defied orders by the federal government to halt operations because of a licensing dispute and instead kept chugging back and forth across the Potomac River carrying hundreds of commuters.
The penalties risked by the 70-year-old family-run service, known as White's Ferry, were not trifling, either. U.S. Coast Guard officials said yesterday that investigators were considering seeking criminal charges and fines that could run into the thousands of dollars per trip for allowing an unlicensed mariner to operate the ferry and disobeying an order to terminate a voyage.
But that did not seem to rattle the ferry's owner, Edwin Brown, who bought the ferry in 1946 and christened its first wooden barge in honor of the flamboyant cavalry officer whose great-niece was a regular passenger.
"It'll be a cold day in hell before they collect any money from me," Brown, 86, said yesterday, adding that he had made his fortune defending property owners in eminent-domain disputes with the authorities. "I have never had any fear of the government."
Brown also was shocked that Coast Guard investigators in Baltimore were considering hefty penalties, saying he thought he had worked out a settlement with officers who had visited the ferry's offices in Dickerson.
"You can't trust the government," he said.
Several customers sounded more alarmed than Brown did that the ferry had been ordered to shut down, even if temporarily. Most take the ferry to save gasoline and time by crossing the Potomac there instead of at Point of Rocks or the Capital Beltway. The ferry shuttles as many as 600 commuters a day between Loudoun and Montgomery counties, making four to five trips an hour for 18 hours a day.
Roberta Solis, who lives on a horse farm in Darnestown and took her first ferry ride as a young girl, said the experience is one of those little-known gems about living in Washington, like ice skating on the Mall's Reflecting Pool.
"It's always fun going on the water. It was like going on vacation -- for just a few minutes," Solis, 60, said while waiting to board in a silver pickup on her way to Leesburg's shopping outlets. "And it felt like history."
The controversy could not have alighted on a more peaceful stretch of the Potomac. The river is wide and shallow there -- no more than four feet deep on the Maryland side, maybe twice that on the Virginia shore. While a fisherman cast his line, a snowy egret tiptoed around a dead snag, its image mirrored on the water's surface.
The 87-foot vessel has a ship's bell, a pilot house, a fire ax, a lifeboat and a grand old silver anchor, but it looks more like a hunk of driveway that has broken loose and floated downstream with a bunch of cars. Each trip takes about 15 minutes, and the round-trip fare is $6.
The captain, Louis Bittner, 48, said that the back-and-forth routine can get tiresome but that it beats driving tractor-trailers, which he used to do.
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True to its Confederate namesake, the Gen. Jubal A. Early ferryboat yesterday defied orders by the federal government to halt operations because of a licensing dispute and instead kept chugging back and forth across the Potomac River carrying hundreds of commuters.
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United Starts Fast, But Again Ends Tied
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FOXBOROUGH, Mass., Sept. 13 -- Considering what had unfolded in the second half Wednesday night at nearly deserted Gillette Stadium, D.C. United seemed rather unbothered by its 1-1 tie with the New England Revolution.
Sure, the club surrendered a halftime lead, nearly yielded another goal, did not generate much of an attack or play with an abundance of energy until the final few minutes -- all of which left it with a 1-2-5 record in the last eight games heading into the final month of the season.
But United was also quick to point out the impact a badly tattered field had on its possession game, a crowd generously announced as 6,285 that made it feel like a preseason exhibition and a physical second-half tone that disrupted its rhythm and turned the match in New England's favor.
United (14-3-10) played very well in the first half, taking the lead on Josh Gros's 25th-minute goal, but U.S. World Cup midfielder Clint Dempsey tied it for the Revolution (8-8-11) early in the second half after D.C. failed to clear a free kick.
"There was a lot of good stuff out there," Coach Peter Nowak said of his club's first-half execution. "We fall asleep again for one time and then we pay for it."
United has not played consistent soccer over the course of a match for several weeks, and this effort was no different. Just when the club appeared to be in control and poised to win its second straight on the road, it broke down defensively and was never able to respond offensively.
"We did exactly what we wanted to do -- come in, get a lead and just hold on to that," Gros said. "We played a lot better in the first half than the second. We really controlled possession and in the second half I think that flipped."
Gros gave United the lead with his first goal since May 31, an easy putaway after goalkeeper Matt Reis had stopped Freddy Adu's 16-yard shot but let the ball bounce free.
United's Troy Perkins preserved the lead in the 28th minute with a sensational save, soaring to his right to thwart Joe Franchino's blistering free kick toward the far corner.
New England was beginning to find its stride and pressure United's defense, but Perkins calmly pulled down crosses and the back line did not allow the inventive Dempsey to find open space.
Everything seemed to be working for United, even in the first few minutes of the second half when D.C. absorbed the Revolution's harmless forays and patiently probed for a devastating second goal.
But New England tied it in the 56th minute after United failed to clear Andy Dorman's free kick. Franchino headed the ball sharply to the six-yard box, Taylor Twellman redirected it across to Dempsey, and with a short volley, the match was even.
Dempsey almost returned the favor three minutes later, but after he got around Perkins and crossed from the end line, Twellman narrowly missed the corner.
"That's a tough field to play on," Perkins said of a surface shredded by the Patriots' season opener Sunday. "The ball is bouncing everywhere, it's not really a smooth surface -- that really goes against what we want to do."
New England, in total control, continued to press for the go-ahead goal. Having watched his club's attack evaporate, Nowak countered with speedy winger Stephen deRoux and rookie Rod Dyachenko for Matias Donnet and the hurting Jaime Moreno.
The moves yielded more energy, a few pushes into the New England penalty area, but no goals, leaving United to ponder a missed opportunity and yet another tie.
"To come away with a tie isn't the worst result," Gros said, "but obviously we're not completely happy with it."
United Notes: United midfielder Ben Olsen received a yellow card in the 62nd minute, pushing him over the MLS limit and earning him a suspension for Sunday's match at Chicago. . . . With the tie, United can finish no worse than second in the Eastern Conference. . . . Forward Alecko Eskandarian, who did not travel because of a tendon injury in his knee, is questionable for Sunday.
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D.C. United's problems continue Wednesday night and although the club escapes with a 1-1 tie against the New England Revolution.
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Google Goes to Market
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When Google Inc. quietly bought a software shop called Android Inc. a year ago, neither the suitor nor the quarry revealed much about the terms of their attraction.
Google never said how Android, a 22-month-old start-up that described itself solely as a maker of software for mobile phones, would fit into its grand strategy.
Yet Android was typical of the acquisitions made by Google: a modest firm with niche expertise to help the Internet giant build on its core businesses rather than strike into wholly new frontiers.
Most of Google's purchases have been so small as to barely attract notice, and the company has done little to highlight them. But taken as a whole, the company's record of acquisitions offers a few signposts toward its future.
In the two years since it went public, the company has bought at least 15 enterprises, including four start-ups that specialize in mobile software, a clear signal of Google's interest in bringing search and other Web-based services to mobile customers.
Google has also gone to market for firms that can help it build on its core businesses of searching the Internet and selling online advertising. When Google has gone farther afield, it has not gone very far. For example, it acquired dMarc Broadcasting Inc., a company that allows marketers to automatically place ads on the radio, and Upstartle LLC, which provides the online word-processing software Writely to complement Google's other office applications.
As active as Google has been, the company has spent far less on acquisitions than some other technology firms, in particular Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc., paying out less than $400 million over the period, often for obscure, even minuscule, start-ups, according to an analyst report. This reflects a fundamental divide over philosophy: While other companies have tried to transform themselves through hefty purchases, Google has so far declined to buy its way into new fields.
"It seems like their preference is to develop things in house," said Mark S. Mahaney, director of Internet research at Citigroup Inc. "But if they're going to buy promising applications, they prefer buying them in as early a stage as possible."
During the previous year, Google also picked up Dodgeball.com and Zipdash Inc., which provided, respectively, a social networking service and traffic information for mobile customers. Google would later buy Reqwireless Inc., which developed software for Web browsing and e-mail on mobile phones. Together, these acquisitions helped move Google closer to achieving the aspiration of company co-founder Larry Page to develop a "smart phone."
"We are bringing more of our products to mobile phone users. Since there are at least twice as many mobile phones than PCs in use globally, and mobile usage is growing faster than PCs, we want to make Google available in a device-independent way," Page said this summer during rare public comments on the subject. He added that the company was developing new ways for marketers to advertise on mobile phones.
Industry analysts say the mobile Web is a natural fit for Google. According to a report prepared last month by Mahaney, less than 1 percent of Google searches are conducted on a phone, but that number will grow significantly as phone and network technologies advance. Safa Rashtchy, senior analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co., predicted that mobile search and related applications would be a substantial part of Google's business within five years.
"They have been somewhat silent on mobile," Rashtchy said. "But it's clear that's a big focus for Google."
Google declined to detail its acquisitions and would not confirm a list compiled from other sources.
"Historically, our [mergers and acquisitions] strategy has been to look for unique products, technologies and engineering teams that can help us provide innovative products to our users or enhance existing services," said Google spokesman Jon Murchinson. "Aside from that, we don't comment on future products or business plans."
Google's penchant for quietly collecting technology tuck-ins contrasts sharply with the approach of several other Internet titans. Since 2001, eBay has spent four times as much as Google on mergers and acquisitions, embarking on new ventures through the purchases of voice over Internet protocol provider Skype Inc. and online payment company PayPal Inc., according to a Citigroup analysis. Yahoo, meantime, has spent nearly three times as much as Google.
While Google made its reputation on search, pride has not stood in the way of buying better search technologies when they arise, if only to keep them out of competitors' hands.
Earlier this year, it purchased the rights to a new way of searching the Web -- allowing users to find and extract summaries of Web pages -- developed by a 26-year-old, Israeli-born doctoral student in Australia. Last month, it bought Neven Vision Inc., which makes image recognition software -- something that could help make pictures searchable. It's also picked up Transformic Inc., a tiny firm that developed an engine for searching databases that reside behind Web sites, and Akwan Information Technologies, a Brazilian maker of specialized search engines for businesses and other institutions. "When we talk about search, we talk about [searching] everything," Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said in July.
Even its acquisitions of firms that specialize in mapping and geographic data fall into the search arena, said John Hanke, head of Google's geographic products.
The purchase two years ago of Keyhole Corp., a digital mapping and satellite imaging company run by Hanke, was especially intriguing. Google kept quiet about the financial terms but trumpeted its acquisition in a press release, saying that with Keyhole, "you can fly like a superhero from your computer at home to a street corner somewhere else in the world."
"What they got by buying us is a running start in entering that market," he said.
Buying Where2 LLC, another mapping firm, helped lay the groundwork for Google Maps, while @Last Software, a winter acquisition, allowed for three-dimensional design on top of Google's maps and images. These products create new advertising opportunities as the search engine integrates maps and local ads, said Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Justin Post.
Google continues to favor in-house development but has shown that it's open to new technologies.
"If Google sees something that has not been done before, or not been done well before, and is well ahead of what they have internally, they'll acquire it," Rashtchy said.
Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.
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When Google Inc. quietly bought a software shop called Android Inc. a year ago, neither the suitor nor the quarry revealed much about the terms of their attraction.
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Silicon Valley's Golden Past Tarnished by Latest Probes
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Silicon Valley has long been the stuff of dreams, a place where gawky entrepreneurs create billion-dollar companies in their garages, their innovations sometimes bending the rules but forever changing the way we listen to music or chat with friends.
But lately, it seems, the valley has shifted from a shiny beacon of capitalism's promise into a shadowy target for investigators.
Last week Securities and Exchange Commission officials told Congress that they were investigating 100 companies for possibly rigging their compensation systems to guarantee lucrative payments to executives and favored employees. That figure includes many technology firms whose volatile stock prices sweetened the incentive to engage in improprieties.
Even Hewlett-Packard Co., the standard bearer for ethics among Silicon Valley's home-grown technology community, is hustling to move forward after the resignation Monday of its chairman, Patricia C. Dunn, amid investigations by prosecutors and federal lawmakers over whether directors' phone records were illegally accessed. Prompted by concerns that a board member leaked information to the press, the HP debacle is shedding light on the valley's insular culture, where secrets are prized and key players have multiple and sometimes conflicting obligations.
No industry has been immune to executive greed or governance lapses in recent years. The era's most disastrous collapses, of Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc., occurred far from Silicon Valley. But the same mind-set that inspired so many technology entrepreneurs probably contributed to a breakdown in sound business practices, regulators said.
"You have industries where their whole thought process is to think outside the box," said Charles D. Niemeier, a former top accountant in the SEC's enforcement division who now oversees the accounting industry. "That works really well -- except when it comes to compliance with the securities laws."
A generation ago, Silicon Valley was a backwater, thousands of miles from the nation's financial center on Wall Street and serviced by a few investment banks, law firms and private investors with enough cash to fuel start-up ventures. But the technology boom of the 1990s changed everything. It drew billions of dollars west and made millionaires of young inventors and salespeople, many of whom had virtually no experience running a business.
Regulators later uncovered financial improprieties from that period, including "round-trip" deals where technology firms entered into agreements with each other to give investors the appearance that they were winning customers and gaining traction in the market. What mattered at the time was not reality, but the illusion of success, which often triggered a rise in the stock price, Niemeier said.
This year, investigators have focused anew on the technology sector and the apparently common practice of backdating stock options. A popular method of attracting employees, options give workers the chance to buy stock at a set price and within a specific time frame. Employees profit from the difference between the share price at the time of the grant and the price on the day the stock is sold. In backdating cases, executives have selected award dates after the fact that marked low points in the company's stock price, increasing the likelihood of a windfall. Backdating violates the law if it is not properly disclosed to investors and tax authorities, prosecutors and securities regulators have said.
Cnet Networks Inc., VeriSign Inc. and Macrovision Corp. are among the Silicon Valley businesses that have announced that they received subpoenas from Kevin V. Ryan, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, over their options practices, according to securities filings. Apple Computer Inc. also has disclosed irregularities in its option grants.
"I don't think greed has any special place in Silicon Valley," said Bill Burnham, a former investment analyst who founded Inductive Capital L.P. in Menlo Park, Calif. "There're greedy people everywhere. . . . I've seen a lot of people take very principled stands here where a lot of money is at stake."
Yet the latest round of investigations underscores how Silicon Valley's freewheeling culture is, sometimes painfully, making way for a more mature and formal system, where companies now public are required to abide by their obligations to investors, business and legal analysts said.
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Silicon Valley has long been the stuff of dreams, a place where gawky entrepreneurs create billion-dollar companies in their garages, their innovations sometimes bending the rules but forever changing the way we listen to music or chat with friends.
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For 1st Woman With Bionic Arm, a New Life Is Within Reach
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The first time Claudia Mitchell peeled a banana one-handed, she cried.
It was several months after she lost her left arm at the shoulder in a motorcycle accident. She used her feet to hold the banana and peeled it with her right hand. She felt like a monkey.
"It was not a good day," Mitchell, 26, recalled this week. "Although I accomplished the mission, emotionally it was something to be reckoned with."
Now, Mitchell can peel a banana in a less simian posture. All she has to do is place her prosthetic left arm next to the banana and think about grabbing it. The mechanical hand closes around the fruit and she's ready to peel.
Mitchell, who lives in Ellicott City, is the fourth person -- and first woman -- to receive a "bionic" arm, which allows her to control parts of the device by her thoughts alone. The device, designed by physicians and engineers at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, works by detecting the movements of a chest muscle that has been rewired to the stumps of nerves that once went to her now-missing limb.
Mitchell and the first person to get a bionic arm -- a power-line technician who lost both arms to a severe electric shock -- will demonstrate their prostheses today at a news event in Washington. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago is part of a multi-lab effort, funded with nearly $50 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), to create more useful and natural artificial limbs for amputees.
As of July, 411 members of the military serving in Iraq, and 37 in Afghanistan, have suffered wounds requiring amputation of at least one limb. (How many involved losing arms could not be immediately learned.) Mitchell spent four years in the Marine Corps but did not lose her arm during military service.
Someday she hopes to upgrade to a prosthesis, still under development, that will allow her also to "feel" with an artificial hand. She is ready for it now.
Last summer, surgeons took the first step by rewiring the skin above her left breast so that when the area is stimulated by impulses from the bionic arm, the skin sends a message to the region of her brain that feels "hand."
Future arms will also be able to perform more complicated motions. She recently spent time at the Chicago hospital trying out a prototype with six motors, not just the three of her current prosthesis. It will theoretically allow her to reach for things over her head.
But even the first-generation device "has changed my life dramatically," she said. "I use it to help with cooking, for holding a laundry basket, for folding clothes -- all kinds of daily tasks."
For Todd A. Kuiken, 46, a physician and biomedical engineer, this is the latest step in his 20-year effort to make a better artificial arm. Over that time, his laboratory has spent about $3 million on research and development, with more than $2 million provided by the National Institutes of Health.
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Science news from The Washington Post. Read about the latest breakthroughs in technology, medicine and communications.
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FEMA Overhaul Debate Stalls Funds for Interoperable Radios
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House Republicans are blocking an attempt to spend $3.1 billion to help the nation's police and fire agencies communicate in emergencies as Congress debates a proposed overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
As both parties intensified the election-season rhetoric over national security, Democrats accused GOP leaders of shortchanging the well-documented need to improve communication among first responders. Republicans acknowledged that they do not want to spend billions prematurely, saying more planning and coordination are needed.
"It is just so unfair for the White House not to support the full funding of solving the interoperability problem," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff rebuffed calls for dedicated federal grants to upgrade equipment, coordinate plans, train emergency workers and adapt common technology standards. Instead, he said, state and local leaders must first agree on radio codes and protocols.
"This is not, frankly, a technology issue," Chertoff told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Tuesday. "This is an issue of having community leaders come to an agreement."
The inability of police and firefighters to talk by radio was a critical factor after the 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, according to the Sept. 11 commission.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors reports that 23 percent of the nation's 60,000 police and fire departments cannot communicate with each other over the radio, one-third cannot talk to county sheriffs, and most cannot talk to state or federal agencies. Governors and state homeland security advisers say the issue is their top priority, according to the National Governors Association.
At the end of this year, the federal government was supposed to make available to first responders a slice of the broadcast spectrum now held by television broadcasters. Congress has changed the deadline to June 2009 and set aside $1 billion for gear.
The Department of Homeland Security has provided $2.1 billion to states and localities since 2003. But congressional analysts say that annual grants are not enough and that "several billions" will be needed to upgrade the nation's $100 billion infrastructure for public safety communications.
The federal government has been slow to set gear and technology standards, which private companies also resist for proprietary reasons. Local governments often fail to plan or train together or to coordinate major equipment purchases.
For now, the Department of Homeland Security has provided equipment to the nation's 10 highest-threat cities that enables commanders to patch into each other's radio systems. The department is surveying the 50 states and the 75 largest urban areas before taking the next steps.
"I would hesitate to dedicate a huge amount of money upfront without the input of the localities themselves to make a determination of what they feel they need and how far they've come," Chertoff said.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan Senate bill to overhaul FEMA after Hurricane Katrina proposed $3.3 billion over five years in interoperable communications grants. The bill was approved in committee, but the money was dropped when GOP leaders decided to include the FEMA overhaul in a must-pass $33 billion Homeland Security spending bill. Thompson said his efforts to revive the proposal have been rebuffed.
Yesterday, state emergency management officials and congressional aides said talks have bogged down over funding and jurisdictional fights, including whether to rename FEMA and whether to bring the nation's disaster laws in line with recommendations made in post-Katrina government reports.
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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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Former Texas Governor Ann Richards Dies
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Ann Richards, 73, a feminist Democrat whose Texas twang, halo of white hair and quick-on-the-draw quips, helped make her an instantly recognizable national figure, despite serving only one term as Texas governor, died Sept. 13 at her home in Austin. She had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer in March.
By the time Ms. Richards moved into the Governor's Mansion in Austin in 1991, she had been involved in state and local politics for years, as activist and officeholder, but she had become a national celebrity almost instantly, thanks to a one-liner she delivered as part of her keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. In a voice that rang with the sounds of Waco, her hometown, she ribbed the incumbent vice president, George H. W. Bush. "Poor George," she drawled. "He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."
"She was nobody's fool," then-New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen wrote the next day. "She made them listen and she made them listen good, with precisely those qualities that we often try to iron out of politicians in general and female politicians in particular: a sense of fun, irreverence and general cussedness."
East Coast columnists may have approved, but those were the very qualities that made her suspect back home in Texas. One poll found that a sizeable percentage of older women believed that "women should stay home and take care of the house, and leave running the government to men." Many male Democrats felt the same way, and Texas Republicans were almost apoplectic that she had mocked not only the vice president of the United States but also a fellow Texan. (Barbara Bush began referring to her as "that woman.")
Two years later, however, Ms. Richards survived a brawling, bruising Democratic primary, attracted a number of Republican crossover and independent voters in the general election -- including 61 percent of women voters -- and took merciless advantage of the fumble-tongued gaffes and political inexperience of her Republican opponent, West Texas rancher Clayton Williams. In the battle between "Claytie and the Lady," Ms. Richards won with 49.9 percent of the vote.
She was not the first woman elected governor of Texas. In the 1920s, Miriam "Ma" Ferguson was twice elected to the statehouse as a surrogate for her husband, Jim "Pa" Ferguson who resigned in 1917 to avoid being impeached and was barred from running for office again.
She was, however, the first woman elected in her own right. Her victory marked the zenith of Democratic Party power and influence in the Lone Star State. Four years later, Texas politics reverted to form, and she lost to the son of the man she had mocked in 1988. No Democrats have held statewide office since the late 1990s.
She was born Dorothy Ann Willis in Lakeview, Texas (now Lacy Lakeview), a bedroom community outside Waco. Her father, she always said, came from a town called Bugtussle, her mother from Hogjaw. During her teenage years, her parents moved into town, so she could attend Waco High School.
She got her first taste of politics at Girls State, an annual conference of high school students who gather in Austin and organize a shadow state government. She also attended Girls Nation in Washington, where she -- like Bill Clinton in years to come -- got to stroll through the White House Rose Garden and shake hands with the president, in her case Harry Truman. She dropped the name Dorothy.
At Waco High, she met classmate David Richards, and at age 19, the high school sweethearts married and enrolled at Baylor University in Waco, where she received her undergraduate degree in 1954. They lived in Austin while Dave Richards attended law school at the University of Texas, and Ann Richards earned a teaching certificate and taught government at a junior high school.
After a year in Washington, where Dave Richards worked for the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, the couple moved to Dallas. Ms. Richards became a homemaker, although she stayed politically involved by volunteering on the gubernatorial campaigns of Henry B. Gonzalez and Ralph Yarborough, as well as Yarborough's senatorial campaigns.
The Richards family, by now with four children, moved to Austin in 1969, where Ms. Richards continued to work for candidates, including the Texas House campaign of Sarah Weddington, a 25-year-old lawyer who had successfully argued the Roe v. Wade abortion rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ms. Richards described Weddington as the first "out-and-out feminist activist" she had ever met, and in 1974 she became Weddington's administrative assistant in the House.
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GOP Leaders Back Bush on Wiretapping, Tribunals
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Congress's Republican leadership yesterday threw its weight behind two of President Bush's most controversial national security programs, warrantless wiretapping and extrajudicial military tribunals.
But the party leaders are having trouble getting all their members on board, including the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. And by backing the president's legislative demands, the leadership risks being labeled by Democrats as a rubber stamp for an unpopular president.
With prodding from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10 to 8 along party lines to approve a bill negotiated with the White House to allow -- but not require -- Bush to submit the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program to a secret court for constitutional review.
That bill, which could come before the Senate next week, is considered by many to be a ratification of the administration's current surveillance program, which monitors the overseas phone calls and e-mails of some Americans when one party is suspected of links to terrorism. The program has been attacked by Democrats and civil liberties advocates as an excessive encroachment on Americans' privacy.
"The committee took the important step of acknowledging the president's constitutional authority to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), an ardent Bush ally.
At the same time, the House Armed Services Committee voted 52 to 8 to ratify the White House's version of legislation creating military commissions for trying terrorism suspects. The measure would give Bush the authority he seeks to withhold classified evidence from defendants, admit testimony that defendants might maintain was coerced, and protect U.S. intelligence agents from legal action over their interrogation methods. House Republican leaders plan to bring the tribunal bill to a vote next week.
Committee action and the scheduling of floor time represented tangible progress for the administration and turned what had been essentially a heated policy debate into a legislative showdown. But if GOP leaders intended to use the bills to distinguish Republicans from Democrats on the conduct of the fight against terrorism, they had their share of problems.
Frist and other GOP leaders remain at odds with many of their rank-and-file members over their military commission bill.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) are holding firm against the White House and Frist in their support of an alternative tribunal bill that would limit the use of classified evidence and coerced testimony in terrorism prosecutions while maintaining broader protections for detainees against cruel and inhumane treatment. They said they will press ahead with their bill, despite the political sensitivity of the controversy in a key election year.
"Every senator and congressman should understand this is not about November 2006. This is not about your reelection," Graham said. "This is about those who take risks to defend America."
Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, in an unusual conference call with reporters yesterday evening to express opposition to the dissident Senate bill, said the CIA had told him that, if that bill passes, the agency will not be able to continue its "high-value terrorist detention program."
The existence of that program, known unofficially as the CIA's secret prison system, was confirmed last week by Bush, but all its prisoners were transferred to military custody. Negroponte said that under the Senate's proposed rules, the program's effectiveness would be so curtailed that continuing it would not make sense.
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Congress's Republican leadership yesterday threw its weight behind two of President Bush's most controversial national security programs, warrantless wiretapping and extrajudicial military tribunals.
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White House Seeks a Way to Keep Bolton at the U.N.
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President Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations appears increasingly endangered in the Senate, prompting the administration to explore other ways to keep him in the job after his temporary appointment expires in January, officials said yesterday.
The situation represents a sharp turnaround from two weeks ago, when the White House was confident it could finally push through Bolton's long-stalled nomination. But last week's surprise move by Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.) to delay a vote convinced Republicans on Capitol Hill that the nomination may be doomed, prompting a search for alternatives.
Administration officials said they have not given up. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Chafee yesterday to kick off a lobbying campaign that will continue today when he returns to Washington after his hard-fought Republican primary victory in Rhode Island on Tuesday.
Bush and national Republicans pulled out the stops to help Chafee win the primary, and they expect a payback. But with Chafee now preparing to face a strong Democratic challenger in a Democratic state in November, many Republicans said he has less incentive to support a firebrand figure such as Bolton.
"It's dead as far as the Senate is concerned," said one Republican official at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Chafee holds the decisive vote. "Chafee made it a 9 to 9 vote, and that's not going to change." A Senate Republican leadership aide added: "Chafee holds Bolton's future in his hands, and people are very worried he's going to squeeze and never let go."
White House officials said that assessment is premature. "John Bolton's been a tireless advocate for the United States at the U.N.," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "We continue to be confident he'll get the up-or-down vote he deserves, and it remains our goal that the vote would happen before the recess."
Another failed nomination would be a stinging defeat for Bush, who defied Senate opposition last year and installed Bolton at the United Nations on an interim basis with a recess appointment. That appointment will end in January unless the Senate votes to confirm him before adjourning for the year.
The battle over Bolton has been a defining struggle that has put the Bush administration's often brash style of foreign policy to the test. Bolton, who served as undersecretary of state in Bush's first term, has been a lightning rod among diplomats, Democrats and some Republicans because of his outspoken, tough-minded approach to issues such as Iran, the Middle East and the United Nations itself.
But in the 13 months since he was sent to New York, Bolton has surprised some critics with a more consensus-building style than they expected. Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), who played a central role in blocking the nomination last year, reversed course this summer, declaring himself impressed by Bolton's performance -- seemingly clearing the way to confirmation.
Chafee put a halt to that last week by saying he would not vote for Bolton until after the administration addresses questions on Middle East policy that he had sent in a letter to Rice. Taken aback, White House officials hoped that it was merely a tactic to put off a controversial vote until after the primary, while preparing contingencies in case it was not.
Even with a "no" vote from Chafee, the Foreign Relations Committee could send the nomination to the floor on a tie vote, but Republicans would probably face a Democratic filibuster.
Bush has the power to give Bolton a second recess appointment, but under the common interpretation of federal law, Bolton could not be paid. Even if Bolton were willing to serve as a volunteer ambassador, officials said, the move could run afoul of another federal law that bans full-time employees from working without compensation.
Another possible option might be an appointment as "acting" ambassador. When the confirmation of President Bill Clinton's nominee for civil rights chief at the Justice Department, Bill Lann Lee, was blocked, Clinton appointed him deputy assistant attorney general, a posting that does not require Senate approval, and then had Lee fill in as "acting assistant attorney general." Lee spent 2 1/2 years in the post that way, although current law limits acting tenures to 210 days.
Such a move could anger a Senate that zealously guards its prerogatives.
"I don't think John Bolton has too many options but to go home," said Paul C. Light, a governance scholar at the Brookings Institution. "At some point, he has to decide whether he has to go."
Chafee's office said he has not decided how to vote. But an adviser outlined the difficult choice: "Politically it's a no-win for the senator. He votes against it, and he hurts the Republicans who just helped him in a primary in a very, very tight race. . . . And he votes for it, he hurts himself with the Democrats that he needs in November."
Staff writer Shailagh Murray 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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Russia Shaken By Killing of Bank Official
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MOSCOW, Sept. 14 -- The assassination of a senior civil servant who led a campaign to clean up the country's banks drew calls Thursday for a merciless response from the government, as well as hand-wringing over whether Russia is outgrowing the bloody business tactics common in the 1990s.
Andrei Kozlov, 41, first deputy chairman of Russia's Central Bank, was shot Wednesday evening outside a sports complex after attending a soccer match between bank employees. He died early Thursday of his wounds. His driver was killed instantly in the attack, which politicians said was probably a contract killing.
Kozlov was respected in financial circles for his drive to shut down banks that engaged in money laundering and put the deposits of customers at risk through illegal practices. Since January, his department at the Central Bank had revoked the licenses of 44 of the country's roughly 1,200 banks, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
The confidence of ordinary Russians in the country's banking sector, which plummeted after a financial crisis in 1998, has been growing steadily, and deposits have jumped sixfold in the last four years.
"He was at the cutting edge of the battle against financial crime," said Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. "He was a very brave and honest man, and through his activity he repeatedly encroached on the interests of unprincipled financiers."
Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said business disputes may have prompted the killing. "A series of banks had their licenses taken away, and it's entirely possible that criminals connected with those structures could have ordered the murder," he said.
Police said they were exploring all possible motives for the killing and reported finding two weapons thrown into tall grass about 200 yards from the scene of the killing. Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika said he would personally supervise the investigation.
The assassination was the first killing of a senior federal official since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000. Among other recent assassinations, a regional governor was shot dead in Moscow in 2002, and American journalist Paul Klebnikov was slain in 2004.
As recently as last week at a conference in the resort city of Sochi, Kozlov warned some people in the banking sector that he would continue to target them.
"There is still a large share of suspicious operations in the banking system," he said. "You take part in money laundering, then there might be a ban on your professional activities for the rest of your life. There's no place for this in the banking sector. It disgraces the banking system."
The former head of the Russian Central Bank, Sergei Dubinin, said the killing was a direct assault on the state and on Putin's claim that he has stabilized the country after the chaos of the 1990s.
"The authorities should prove that today's stability is not a mere name," said Dubinin, whose office was fired on in 1996. "This is a challenge to the state's policy in the banking area. The authorities should solve the crime and find not only the actual murderers but also those who ordered Kozlov's assassination." The Kremlin had no immediate comment on the killing.
Former prime minister Anatoly Chubais, who now heads the country's electric utility, said the killing was "a barefaced challenge to all Russian authorities."
"Andrei Kozlov was an unquestionably honest, principled and absolutely noncommercial person," said Chubais, who survived an assassination attempt last year. "This is a case when the authorities must respond in a tough manner, promptly and mercilessly."
Kozlov was married and had three children. He began working at what was then the Soviet Union's Central Bank when he was 24 and spent most of his career, except for short stints in the private sector, in central banking. He had been in charge of banking supervision since 1997 and made the assault on money laundering the centerpiece of his work.
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MOSCOW, Sept. 14 -- The assassination of a senior civil servant who led a campaign to clean up the country's banks drew calls Thursday for a merciless response from the government, as well as hand-wringing over whether Russia is outgrowing the bloody business tactics common in the 1990s.
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How to Get a Job in Media
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Skill, effort and luck can take you to the top of any field -- but it never hurts to get a little help. In our Helping Hands special feature, we've got plenty of assistance on tap: articles, tools and live discussions that will help you learn more about how to get ahead in the area's top industries or your career in general.
Retha Hill is the chief editorial officer of BET.com, and is also the vice president for content development for BET Interactive. In that role, she's in charge of content strategy, convergence and integration with its network television station.
Before joining BET.com, Hill was the executive producer for special sections at washingtonpost.com. Prior to to that, she was a metro reporter for The Washington Post.
Hill was online to discuss jobs in the media and what it takes to break into the industry.
Find more career-related news and advice in our Jobs section.
Washington, D.C.: Many media jobs seem to have long hours. Is there any trend toward job sharing to allow two people to shoulder that burden? I have great experience and skills for a media job, but would prefer to work part-time since I have a small child.
Retha Hill: I hear you. I have a three-year-old and the last few years have been tough. News jobs are tied to the news cycle. News happens at 11 p.m. and right when you are heading out the door to a pediatrician appointment. Feature media jobs are a little more predictable. The good news is that now you can do some much remotely, given a reliable mobile phone and lap top computer. My mom's been sick and this summer I've done plenty of conference calls from hospital corridors in Detroit or edited copy at a Starbucks. This morning I was updating our election results at six in the morning while my little boy was snoozing in the next room. Thank God for the Internet.
East Lansing, Mich.: I've always wondered about freelance writers. How do they get their start? In particular, how does someone with very little experience or academic background in journalism/communications but immense passion and commitment, like myself, enter into such a field that more or less screams for experience, experience, experience?!?!?!
Retha Hill: Freelance writing is a matter of building on past experience. You can start off freelancing for a smaller community publication. Be accurate. Be the type of person who delivers. The editors will appreciate that. Then you take those "clips" and parlay that to larger publications where the editors will want to see examples of what you've done before. You can also start your own blog or online column and see if smaller web sites might be interested in picking it up. The key is to use all the journalistic principles -- fairness, accuracy and consistency, plus style.
Arlington, Va.: Hi Ms. Hill,
I am looking for a job in the music industry, have some some relevant experience, but feel like companies are relying more and more on interns at a time where I cannot afford to go without pay! Any suggestions or advice on how to find a job in the industry, or with a relevant company such as BET or MTV, without "connections"?
Retha Hill: You are right, most internships in the online world or in music don't pay or don't pay much. Some people get a part-time job to help offset the costs. Or see if you can get credit for working; in other words, it will be a co-op or class. Be inventive, if you are a non-paid internship at a company such as MTV or BET, maybe you let it be known that you are available for babysitting at night or on the weekends. Can't say any MTV or BET employee will turn down that offer. :) And find roommates -- apartments in New York are expensive -- or see if you can house sit for some of those MTV big wigs when they are traveling to Europe for the summer.
Virginia What skills would you recommend students start acquiring now if they intend to pursue a career in online journalism?
Retha Hill: First, seek to be a master of all media. Learn to tell a good story as a print and broadcast journalists. Don't be afraid to switch between a pen and a digital camera or digital voice recorder. but mostly, remember that online journalism is often a two-way experience. You are having a conversation with your users and they might jump in and out of the story at any point. Write short and conversationally, take great pictures and invite your users to come into the story with their own perspective -- not just through discussion boards but by uploading their own video or photos. Take chances but still remember the foundation of journalism to be accurate and non-biased. And do your own reporting.
Washington, D.C.: How did you make the leap from print media to online media and how would you advise other journalists looking to do the same?
Retha Hill: I made the leap back in 1995 even more the Web was a viable content delivery option. The Washington Post company, where I was employed as a journalist, developed Digital Ink. There were relatively few experienced journalists willing to go into this brave new world. I was fascinated and moved over to the online side of the Post and I've never regretted it for a moment. New Media is still evolving and people with good ideas can still have tremendous impact. Journalists looking to make the leap should look at things from an entrepreneur's perspective -- figure out what audience your newspaper or magazine or TV station is not reaching (suburbanites, young people, urban youth, empty nesters, etc.) and try to see if an online component might work. Be the one to come up with the plan and try to sell it to the decision makers. It might work.
Bethesda, Md.: How would a mid-career person in a different field make the leap to online journalism?
Retha Hill: As with any other field, the key is preparation and connections. Start paying attention to where the industry is going -- sites such as paidcontent.org helps you to keep up with changes in content delivery and tells you what mergers and acquisitions are happening. There is much more to online than newspaper or network sites. Mobile, social networking are all hot right now. Next, think about what you can bring to the table and then prepare yourself by taking courses, going to conferences and applying for entry level positions so you can learn from the ground up. Good luck!
Albuquerque, "New" Mexico : I don't think I could sell my soul to work in the media. My regard for the media and government is in the trash. I look forward to the revolution that won't be televised.
Retha Hill: Well, work for yourself.
Albany, N.Y.: I have a Ph.D. in political science but after 13 years I have not been able to land a stable job in the academia.
What are the steps to be taken into journalism or the media in general?
Retha Hill: The media consist of lots of publications, both on and offline. There are plenty of academic journals or magazines that might be open to your work. The key is to read the style of those academic types who get published a lot. And try your hand. There are tons of online political blogs to help you get started.
Washington area Is covering the news for a black audience any different than doing it for, let's say, The Washington Post? How do you do it without it coming off as race-baiting?
Retha Hill: Good question. We have a distinct point of Vvew. Our point of view is covering issues of concern or from a unique African American perspective. Ex: if you look at today's election roundup on BET.com, we lead with the Maryland Senate race because Mfume had a chance along with Michael Steele of becoming the second African American in the U.S. Senate. That would not necessarily be the take of the Post or the NY Times, which is OK. MTV will look at the same political landscape and lead with the turnout of the youth vote. And that's not age-baiting. Its about P.O.V.
Philadelphia, Penn.: Freelancing is a full-time job, but how do you balance that with another full-time job (that actually pays the bills)? It can take months to research a story part time and by that time the same topic may have been covered elsewhere or is no longer current. Do you have any tips/resources on how to deal with this? Other than the Writer's Market books, where can I find places to consistently write for? I search on the Web site for information about every magazine, Internet publication, or newspaper I read, but without better clips you can't get a staff position and without a staff position it's hard to get published!
Any tips or resources you can recommend on how to navigate through the maze of writing for publication are greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Retha Hill: As I said to an earlier chat participant, there are a lot of small publications out there that if you do good work you can get good clips. There are a lot of online publications who are interested in the same. You don't have to write long, but you do have to do your reporting. Do it at night or on the weekends so you can get published a couple of times a month. There are tons of stories that The Post or the Philly Inquirer aren't covering right now, shop it to their suburban or zoned editions. Maybe kind of carve out an expertise in, say, the volunteer community or the suburban environmentalists and do interesting stories there. or maybe cover one of the many neglected ethnic communities (Vietnamese or Indian). Sooner or later a HUGE story will come along.
Washington, D.C.: What is the typical career path, if there is such a thing, for someone in online journalism? How often, and after what skills are acquired, should online journalists be looking to move up?
Retha Hill: Online journalism needs good journalists, first. Second, people who understand the medium and who can tell stories using all the tools available. Don't worry about knowing code or HTML. That's over. Learn how to deliver content via text, audio and video. I teach part-time at the University of Maryland and I speak all around the country and the journalism schools are just now getting this -- for the most part they are turning out traditional journalists who can't think the way young people think: in a multimedia world. If you can do that, you've got a leg up. Trust me.
I have an undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism from Towson University and did some work in public radio at WTMD Radio, and have also taken a lot of courses in public relations. I was offered a job at WTOP radio when I got out of college however it was at minimum wage. I declined to take the job because I was making more money at the time. Now looking back, I wish that I would have taken the job because it has been difficult obtaining a job in my field.
I currently have more than 10 years of experience working in event planning and event promotions. How does someone in my situation obtain a job in the media industry after having more than 10 years of working outside of the media industry?
Retha Hill: Go back to basics and try to do some freelancing. Depending on what type of events you do, you might parlay that into a blog on the party scene in D.C.
Washington, D.C.: I'm 33 and I haven't been to BET.com. Based on what I know of your shows, it seems like it would attract a youngish audience. Is that right? Or is there something there for me?
Retha Hill: there is a lot there for you. The Network tends to attract a younger audience, but BET.com is geared toward 18-49, so we have news, entertainment, music, career, dating, health and more but all from a black perspective. Check us out.
Vienna, Va.: I've been writing content for an online company and doing some freelance entertainment/feature writing, but would like to move into a full-time entertainment/feature writing at a newspaper. Any tips? Are informational interviews with editors I already know acceptable? Also, I have a respectable clip file, but have never submitted clips for a job. Most of my clips are pdf files of the entire page my article appeared on. Is it OK to send the entire page and have them scan and pick out my stuff?
Retha Hill: Someone sent me a pdf of various publications and I had to scan to pick out their material. It was a pain. Don't do it. Yes, informational interviews are acceptable. you have to get your foot in the door. Try smaller publications first and see if you can get on full-time or on a contract basis. Work hard, realize you won't make a lot of money and then keep plugging away.
Washington, D.C.: I dream of being a fashion editor, however, I don't have any prior training/education in writing. But my boss is always complimenting me on my writing. I thought about submitting articles for Essence magazine but, I don't know how to start out as a freelance writer. I'm especially interested in fashion/entertainment. Any direction would be appreciated.
Retha Hill: Fashion writing is hard to get into. But, you might want to go to a smaller publication in the area and see if you can sell quarterly spreads, ex: back to school; holiday fashion and the like. You need to do some writing and show the editor what you can do, then make arrangements to do the shoot and create the copy. Also, do you know about Daily Candy? Its a cool newsletter that is always looking for freelancers. The focus on the shopping experience per city.
D.C.: Can you address the role of blogging in online journalism? Is it a essential, or are publications doing it just because they think they should be? In what cases do you think it adds value?
Retha Hill: I don't like blogging personally because its usually just a column and I don't think really utilizes the full capacity of the Internet. But, newspapers are enamored of it. Very few do it well. sports blogs are kind of fun or specialty blogs on subjects that are fast moving such as war reporting. It works because the snippets are coming fast and furious. I prefer well thought about political writing, rather than blogging about politics. I hope the trend will end.
Washington, D.C.: Thanks for taking my question ... I graduated from college in 2003, and have been working in the federal government for three years. My original major (before switching to political science) was photojournalism, and I'm thinking about a possible career change back in this direction. Am I better off starting out trying to find freelance work first, before trying to make any kind of jump? What kinds of opportunities should I be seeking out?
Retha Hill: Everybody has a digital camera now days and newspapers and news outfits are providing a mechanism for readers to get their photos online. There is a need for good photojournalists still, but times are changing so you might want to think about doing it freelance for now and see what happens.
I've been working in the administrative/financial field for about seven years for the government and private sector. I would like to continuing working in the financial field, but would like to work in the media/entertainment industry. I recently started college, majoring in accounting with a minor in computer science but was considering changing my minor to communications. Is this the best way to go ... having experience in the field along with getting a degree to support my experience. Please advise!
Retha Hill: The nation still needs really good financial reporters, so don't forget about that. If you can translate what you know about finances into good reporting you might have a better chance of getting hired. Yes, take communications and reporting classes and do as many internships as possible. Maybe you can concentrate on the financial aspects of the entertainment industry. Its big business with billions of dollars at stake (who knew that MySpace would have played a role in the recent shakeup at Viacom?) But that's what is happening today.
Friendship Heights, D.C.: Hi Retha,
Is it realistic for a young person with little to no journalism experience (i.e., didn't write for a college newspaper, etc.) to try to get a job in journalism these days? Do you think journalism school is a practical idea for someone looking to get some real experience?
Retha Hill: You need the experience and training, so go to journalism school. I teach a grad class at the U-Md. College of Journalism and half of my students have no experience in journalism. They are getting it and some will make it after they get practical experience in school and through internships.
Washington, D.C.: I have always wondered how does one gain a White House pass to participate in press briefings? Can a "successful" blogger get a pass?
Retha Hill: The Democratic and Republican conventions let bloggers cover them in 2004. I'm not sure about the White House. I think you have to apply and go though the background check. it might be hard because the White House press corp is a special group.
Virginia: Is there any formal "break-out" of the classes of media? Say: local media, national media, international media, Internet media? Is there a standard matrix that isolates each media form/type?
Retha Hill: There is a standard matrix. Most reporters start out with local because you work hard, do a ton of stories each year and get experience. You build on that experience to move up to doing state and then national, usually. Some people jump right in because they happen to prove themselves, perhaps, as interns and are given a shot. But the stakes are higher and the pressure on to get really good, insightful stories. You need to know what you are doing.
Washington, D.C.: Is it true that you should only stay at an interactive company for a year or two and that longevity is frowned upon (unless you're in upper management)?
Retha Hill: No. So many newspapers and TV stations are combining their online and traditional news operations. The key is to look for an employer that has a strategy that will allow you to grow and develop as a reporter, despite the actual medium you happen to be working on at the time. those are the questions you should be asking during the interview process. Circulation is dropping for most newspaper and climbing for new media (ad dollars are going online too), so if your perspective employer has a platforming strategy to report once, publish on multiple platforms that might be the way to go.
One thing you ought to point out to folks, and I say this as a 15-year veteran in the media and communications field.
Getting a good job in the media is very very HARD. And the pay, to start, is very very LOW, except for a lucky (very) few. If you want to jump off your current career train and jump onto this one, great. It can be very very enjoyable. But be prepared to cut WAY back on lifestyle, or be prepared to find yourself in some lonely outpost working in small-town weekly news for a while, or covering, say, wastewater treatment industry until you get a clip folder and some real expertise.
I'd be willing to bet that most on-line media is even lower-paying than a small-town weekly.
Not to be a downer, but People magazine doesn't need more than one or two folks to cover Paris Hilton.
Retha Hill: True that. I think the average pay for a reporter is still in the high 20s or low 30s, but it is still a very satisfying career. You have to cover waste water treatment in small communities but you can do it against the backdrop of what it means for the health of the community, the economic growth of the community, etc. I worked in the Rock Hill, S.C., bureau of the Charlotte Observer. I learned a lot of small town politics, race politics in the South and peaches. I'm so grateful I had that experience and would not be where I am today without it.
Seattle, Washington: One sector of the media you missed, and it actually probably offers more jobs than national/international, is trade media. If you can get an expertise in a specific area -- aerospace, or education, or engineering -- you can build a very nice career.
Retha Hill: And don't forget the housing trade. Between the shelter magazines (Metropolitan Home) and the trades for building, you have a lot of opportunity there.
Gaithersburg, Md.: Hello, Retha. I did healthcare-related technical writing for 10 years and was interested in moving to a more traditional print media job but did not have obvious experience to put on my resume. But a friend of mine was launching a Web site and needed content, so I wrote a few freelance pieces for her (emphasis on the "free"). These clips in hand, I applied for and got a job as a news reporter for a medical journal. I've been here six years now, and it was the best career decision I've ever made. So this kind of career move can succeed -- you just have to be persistent and patient.
Retha Hill: Good point. You have to seize on opportunities as they present themselves. its with any other industry.
Washington, D.C.: Speak to the dearth of African-Americans in online journalism. Where are we and why aren't we getting in these newsrooms and if we aren't doing it now, where will we be in 10 years when the people running these news organizations don't look like us? Also, what is NABJ doing to make itself relevant to the online journalist? Thanks.
Retha Hill: NABJ, like many of the traditional journalism organizations, are still very focused on old media. They don't get it. I got into online journalism in 1995 because I saw that it was the coming thing. I got in early and rose to the top. A lot more people are competing for those slots, but most aren't very good at it. They don't GET online and thing they are still publishing a newspaper that people can read on a computer. That's not it, folks. Observe any 13 year old and how they consume media and you'll start to understand what you need to do to really be an online journalist.
Washington, D.C.: Would you suggest grad school for journalists wanting to jump to online media? If not, why?
Retha Hill: It depends on the graduate school; American University has a great weekend course in interactive media and there are a few others that really immerse you in all aspects. Other graduate schools do a "writing for online" course and that's about it. Students graduate and think they know online because they published their school board article on the school Web site. Do your research before applying to graduate school.
Delmarva: When applying for a staff job on a publication, is it OK to use only the clips you've gotten while freelancing for that publication, or will they want to see more variation?
Retha Hill: The more variation the better, but include those clips in case the editors didn't see the original or can't remember them.
Ft. Washington, Md.: When do you know it's time to leave a position in your current field? What other options would a person have in new media?
Retha Hill: Hey neighbor. Its time to leave when you are bored or when you can't grow at your current position. In new media there are jobs for creative directors, graphic designers (somebody's got to do all those flash games or banners), ad sales (huge because companies are spending 10-20 percent of their advertising budgets online these days), writing, editing and computer assisted journalism (investigative projects where you, say, crunch all the health statistics for a community in a data base and can point out trends per block or zip code).
Fort Washington, Md.: Is there any "real" money in new media?
Retha Hill: The average salary in the Washington area for a beginning online producer is about $40,000; in Denton, Texas, it will be less. Experienced producers and editors can make $80,000.
Maryland: How do I break into entertainment journalism? Working at BET.com would be a dream job for me ... how would you suggest I get my foot in door?
Retha Hill: Freelancing is typically the way to do it. I always look for people who have their own Web site, who are doing interesting things on line, know how to build a community. I just hired a freelancer who had her on entertainment site; she's been at it for a few years, doing on the side. Its fresh and she has a really good voice. Now she works part-time for me -- and for pay.
Washington, D.C. : Retha -- I have worked for a nonprofit in administration/programming for the past seven years. I have always wanted to work in journalism or researching media and trends. I graduated with a degree in media studies and feel it is time to explore my options. What is the best way to go about doing this? Any advice you have would be appreciated. Thanks.
Retha Hill: As I said earlier, try freelancing and try to create a specialty area covering communities that are neglected by the local media. Develop an expertise and try to sell that to one of the community publications. Have you heard of hyperlocal sites? These are written by people in the community; there is one in Reston and a few others around the country. They are really, really local, but for busy parents like me, I like finding out there is a karate program forming for three-year-olds just blocks from my house. Try creating one of those and see what happens. The Pew Center for Interactive Journalism gives grants every year to fund some of those.
Matthews, N.C.: What area of reporting is "hot" nowadays? Also how do people decide/specialize in a particular field (ex., finance journalism, entertainment, law, etc.)?
Retha Hill: Think about the big stories of the last few years: Enron (business reporting/financial reporting), the Michael Jackson trial (celebrity reporting) and the dot com industry. The environment. Immigration. I just read that one of the local newspapers in New England, I believe, is starting an Indian-language paper. Ok. See? America is changing and the media need reporters who can report on that change.
Washington, D.C.: Do you find yourself shuffling through the same resumes all the time? With the focus still on traditional media, does that mean that the pool of applicants for you are limited?
Retha Hill: God, yes. There are very few new media producers out there who really get the medium. Most are traditional people who want to write 3000-word stories online. I find that I have to hire people who are willing to learn and train them myself.
Rockville, Md.: Are there jobs that the media tends to subcontract out? Now that I think about it my question is probably too broad since the term media is fairly wide. I'm thinking back to the days of Ann Landers. I guess she could be called a freelance writer ... is her case an example of readership loyalty which led to being carried by more and more newspapers?
Retha Hill: Freelancing is still lucrative. You need to build up your clips. See previous answers to this question.
Washington, D.C.: What's the best way to land a full-time staff position in the D.C. area in online journalism? It's been hard for me to find openings here because it seems like staff writers stay forever. New York seems to have a lot more publications and a lot more movement.
Retha Hill: Washington tends to pay better than smaller communities so people aren't willing to move. Try sites such as journalismjobs.com or the Online News Association site. ONA's conference is in October, right here in D.C. Go to journalists.org for more. Join. There is a job section where media companies are begging for people with online experience. Be prepared to move.
Retha Hill: Thank you so much for coming to my Live Online discussion and check out BET.com. Cheers!
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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Democrats Call NSA's Input To Senate Panel Inappropriate
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Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee are complaining that the National Security Agency has played politics in support of the secret program to intercept phone calls between alleged terrorists in the United States and abroad.
On July 27, shortly after most members of the committee were briefed on the controversial surveillance program, the NSA supplied the panel's chairman, Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), with "a set of administration approved, unclassified talking points for the members to use," as described in the document.
Among the talking points were "subjective statements that appear intended to advance a particular policy view and present certain facts in the best possible light," Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) said in a letter to the NSA director.
The cleared statements included "I can say the program must continue" and "There is strict oversight in place . . . now including the full congressional intelligence committees," as well as "Current law is not agile enough to handle the threat posed by sophisticated international terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda" and "The FISA should be amended so that it is technologically neutral." FISA refers to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the current law.
Rockefeller and six Democrats on the panel wrote Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the NSA's director, on Aug. 29 that they believed those statements "appear intended to advocate particular policies rather than provide guidance on classification." The letter added: "We believe that it is inappropriate for the NSA to insert itself into this policy debate."
Alexander had earlier told Rockefeller that the talking points were in response to requests from more than one committee Democrat for guidance as to what could be said publicly as the policy debate began over what should be done with the program.
One element particularly troubling to the Democrats was the statement that there was "strict" congressional oversight of the program, because, as one senior Democrat said yesterday, committee members are still awaiting requested documents such as the original authorization by President Bush that initiated the program.
In a recent letter to Rockefeller, Alexander said he regretted that the NSA talking points were "misperceived as political." Rockefeller is planning to expand on the Democrats' concerns about their attempts to conduct oversight on the program in a speech today on the Senate floor.
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Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee are complaining that the National Security Agency has played politics in support of the secret program to intercept phone calls between alleged terrorists in the United States and abroad.
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ABC's 'Path' Not Taken
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Does it matter that ABC invented and distorted history in its "warning: this is not a documentary" docudrama, "The Path to 9/11"? After all, the first night of the faux drama was trounced by the brother-against-brother actual drama of "Sunday Night Football."
But consider: The gripping final report of the Sept. 11 commission (budget: $13.5 million) became a surprise bestseller at 1.5 million copies. The not-so-gripping, not-so-accurate ABC production (budget: $40 million) was seen by about 13 million viewers on the first night.
As Thomas H. Kean, who served as the commission's chairman and then made the unfortunate decision to lend his prestige to the project as co-executive producer, correctly predicted this summer, "More people will see this than will ever read our report." Such is the drawing power of even shoddy television.
ABC's response to the pre-screening uproar was twofold -- both folds simultaneously inadequate and disingenuous. First, it removed the most flagrantly dishonest scenes: Bill Clinton's national security adviser Sandy Berger slamming down the phone on a fictional CIA operative pleading for permission to attack Osama bin Laden in the spring of 1998; White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke suggesting that the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the looming impeachment had sapped the president's willingness to "take chances" on getting the terrorist leader. Yet, these and other misleading insinuations remain, in subtler form.
Second, ABC watered down the original statement that the docudrama was "based on the 9/11 Commission report." In fact, it larded the five-hour miniseries with warnings that its content couldn't be trusted: "For dramatic and narrative purposes the movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue, as well as time compression." But that didn't come close to solving the problem. Everything about the docudrama -- its use of grainy black-and-white shots, its herky-jerky cinema vérité footage -- is intended to evoke an air of realism.
The linkage to the commission's report is made clear just after the opening credits when the mournful music falls silent and a black screen with white lettering appears: "The 9/11 Commission is an independent, bipartisan commission created by Congress in late 2002." And, next, a quote from the report: "Our aim has not been to assign individual blame. Our aim has been to provide the fullest possible account of the events surrounding 9/11 and to identify lessons learned."
The fullest possible account? Hardly, and certainly not the fairest or most
Take the depiction (even sans Berger phone-slamming) of the spring 1998 plan to capture bin Laden in his Afghanistan compound. It's portrayed in the first installment as a blown opportunity, stymied by backside-covering politicians worried about "political fallout."
Pressed for the final go-ahead, with bin Laden cornered, Berger is shown trying to pass the buck to Tenet, who tries to throw it back. A disgusted Northern Alliance leader, Ahmed Shah Massoud, -- who in real life never got near the place -- looks over bin Laden's camp and asks, "Are there any men left in Washington, or are they all cowards?"
This is more drama than docu-. Such an operation was planned but called off well in advance. According to the Sept. 11 commission report, "Tenet told us that given the recommendations of his chief operations officers, he alone had decided to 'turn off' the operation. He had simply informed Berger, who had not pushed back."
Overall, the Clinton administration is shown as unwilling to respond aggressively to bin Laden. "The point is, terrorism in this administration is perceived as being a law-and-order problem, period," the head of the FBI's New York office, John O'Neill, says in one scene.
ABC might have checked in with Clarke (who would have been easy to find, since he is an ABC News consultant). Clinton, Clarke said in a statement, "repeatedly authorized the use of lethal force against bin Laden and his deputies and personally requested the US military to develop plans for 'commando operations' against them."
By contrast, the second night's sins are more those of omission -- omissions that work mostly in President Bush's favor. While it finds time to make up incidents involving Clinton administration officials, the docudrama leaves out the departing administration's repeated warnings to the Bush folks about the al-Qaeda threat.
Meanwhile, Bush is portrayed -- without any factual basis -- as responding aggressively to the famous "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." presidential daily briefing. "As a result of the August 6 Presidential Daily Briefing, the president is tired of swatting flies," then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice is shown telling senior administration officials just before the Sept. 11 attacks. "He believes al-Qaeda is a real threat, and he wants to consider real action. He specifically asked about the armed Predator."
In fact, the commission found, "The President told us the August 6 report was historical in nature"; it reported no significant response by Bush nor any inquiry about the Predator drones.
The docudrama is an inherently flawed form, one that invites embroidery. The irony of "The Path to 9/11" is that this dramatic license was so unnecessary, given the richly detailed narrative in a document available to the docudrama's
creators. It was called "The 9/11 Commission Report."
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Ruth Marcus | ABC's 'The Path to 9/11' could have been based on a detailed and readily available narrative document. It's called 'The 9/11 Commission Report.'
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At Least 62 Bodies Found in Baghdad
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BAGHDAD, Sept. 13 -- Nearly 100 people were killed or found dead in a series of bloody incidents throughout the Iraqi capital over the past 24 hours, authorities said.
At least 62 unidentified bullet-riddled corpses--all bearing signs of torture--have been found throughout the city since Tuesday night, said Brig. Gen. Abdullah Mahmood of the Interior Ministry.
Some of the bodies had been beheaded. Attacks on police patrols killed an additional 27 people Wednesday morning, officials said.
The bloodiest scene unfolded at 9 a.m., when a car bomb exploded near an indoor stadium in Baghdad, killing 12 traffic policemen and wounded 13 others, authorities said. When a crowd gathered to help the wounded, another bomb detonated, killing seven civilians and wounding 47 others.
Three mortars fell on a police station in the Mashtal district of eastern Baghdad, killing five policemen and wounding 12 others. Two mortars fell also landed at a security forces recruiting center near the al-Muthana airfield in central Baghdad, killing two of the center's guards and wounding seven others, the Interior Ministry said.
The U.S. military Wednesday also announced the deaths of two soldiers, although their names were not released. One was killed Tuesday in Baghdad after a bomb struck his vehicle; the other died Monday after combat in Anbar province, a volatile stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
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BAGHDAD, Sept. 13 -- Nearly 100 people were killed or found dead in a series of bloody incidents throughout the Iraqi capital over the past 24 hours, authorities said.
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