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Hot Corner
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Visions of glory flashed before Carlos Rogers's eyes. The errant pass from Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was in his hands. He would tuck the ball and run untouched into the end zone, giving the Washington Redskins an early lead in the NFC second-round playoff game. The Redskins would go on to win and play the following weekend for the chance to reach the Super Bowl in the cornerback's rookie season.
Then he dropped the ball.
There was no interception and no victory -- the Seahawks won, 20-10 -- and no more football for Rogers or the Redskins last season. By no means was Rogers -- whose first NFL season had been a resounding success -- responsible for the loss, but the hard-luck play lingered as the defining moment of Rogers's career to date. The lost opportunity was one that would haunt him in the offseason and remind him just how much work lay ahead. It also provided motivational material for Gregg Williams, the assistant head coach-defense.
"We need for him to make plays," Williams said. "He's athletic enough to make plays around the ball and he has very good hand skills, but I'm still on him for that one he dropped in Seattle. I'm still on him for that one. I mean, there's no excuse for that one. He dropped it in the flat; he should have walked in [to the end zone] to start that playoff game."
Had Rogers wanted to blot out the memory -- he didn't, by the way -- Williams would have offered more reminders. As it was, Rogers heard about the drop during minicamp and in meetings and before practices.
"That's something I think about all the time," Rogers said. "After practice I catch balls every day, and that's something that's going to help me out, just getting the feel of it and progressing my game. That was a big play I could have had to turn around the game. You never know the outcome, but you never know what could have happened if I made that catch for a TD. That's one thing I've got to work on, and he's always going to get on me about it."
Big things are expected of Rogers, the ninth overall pick in 2005. With premier cornerback Shawn Springs sidelined at least another three to five weeks as he recovers from abdominal surgery, Rogers stands to enter the season as the No. 1 cornerback. Given the relative impenetrability of Washington's run defense, teams may opt to go downfield more often. There may be ample opportunity to make plays; in any event, the time to learn gradually as an understudy has passed.
Rogers, 25, began last season as the nickel back behind veteran Walt Harris and got his first start in the third game when injuries struck the secondary. He started five regular season games and both playoff games, but missed four games with injuries. The 6-foot, 195-pound Rogers finished the season with two interceptions and two forced fumbles, but the games he missed loomed large with the coaches, including a stretch after he took a freakish hit on his arm against Arizona. Rogers also had missed much of the 2005 offseason workout program recovering from a stress fracture in his foot and was hampered by ailments in training camp.
"Carlos needs to show us that he can stay healthy for 16, 18, 20, 22 games," Williams said. "He's not a fragile person by any means. Carlos doesn't give quarter to anybody, and that's what we want our corners to do. And with [new cornerbacks coach] Jerry Gray, I think Carlos will have the best year that he's had at a college level or here, too."
Physical football is the only game Rogers knows. It was hammered into him through high school, and at Auburn. Just backpedaling and covering receivers was not enough. He had to be able to step up and crack the ballcarrier in run support. He had to be able to blitz and crunch the quarterback. That would seem to be a perfect fit for the Redskins' hybrid attacking scheme, and Williams sees Rogers as a modern version of heavy-hitting defensive back Steve Jackson, now the Redskins' safeties coach.
"Carlos is definitely the total package," Jackson said. "Whatever is asked of him, he does it. You say, 'Be physical,' and he's physical. You say, 'Cover,' he covers. I'd like to see him realize that he's better even than he gives himself credit for."
In Gray, a longtime friend of Williams who played for and coached with him, Rogers has a role model. He has an intimate understanding of the system, and during their first meeting he told the youngster that he has the talent to spend each February in Hawaii, courtesy of a selection to the Pro Bowl. That Gray was a four-time all-pro cornerback gives him instant credibility.
"He knows so much that I don't know," Rogers said. "It helps me a lot."
Gray had Rogers rated as the best cornerback available in the 2005 draft when he was defensive coordinator in Buffalo. He wasn't just a bump-and-run specialist; Rogers saw the whole field and could pressure the passer. Gray works to instill every fundamental foot and hand technique as a base, complementing Rogers's natural talent.
"I think he's learning more about the entire game of football," Gray said. "You can't really start making plays until you really know what's going on. There's always underlying aspects. What does this team like to do? What is this offensive coordinator's attitude about the game? It's my job to teach those guys that."
There was one lesson Gray never had to mention. If the ball hits you in the hands, hold on to it.
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Info on Washington Redskins including the 2005 NFL Preview. Get the latest game schedule and statistics for the Redskins. Follow the Washington Redskins under the direction of Coach Joe Gibbs.
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Restaurateurs See Faux Pas in Ban on Foie Gras
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CHICAGO, Aug. 22 -- Don't come between foodies and their foie gras.
That was the message sent by Chicago diners who dug into foie gras dishes Monday, on the eve of the city's ban on foie gras taking effect. High-end restaurants had special foie gras tastings to protest the ban, and even a few down-home sandwich and pizza joints added it to their menus for the occasion.
At the 676 Restaurant & Bar on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, chef Robert Gadsby topped foie gras with Pop Rocks candies, wrapped it in prosciutto and blended it into hot chocolate as part of an "Outlaw Dinner" that also featured such controversial ingredients as wild morels, absinthe, unpasteurized imported cheese and hemp seeds. While the seven-course, $140 dinner was completely legal, all the ingredients have been banned at some point.
Gadsby, a chef known for his pop cultural, eccentric approach to American food, called the foie gras ban "ridiculous."
"What's next?" asked Gadsby, who also hosted an Outlaw Dinner last month at his Noe Restaurant & Bar in Los Angeles, where foie gras will be subject to a statewide ban by 2012. "They'll outlaw truffles, then lobster, beluga caviar, oysters. There are diners who eat to fill a hunger urge, and there are diners who eat to be dazzled. If you take away the luxury ingredients, how can you dazzle them?"
The Chicago City Council passed the foie gras ban in April, joining California and several European countries that outlawed foie gras alleging animal cruelty. Foie gras, French for "fatty liver," is produced by force-feeding grain to ducks and geese until their liver enlarges as much as 10 times its normal size.
"This isn't telling people what to eat; this is basically a statement against cruelty to animals," said Alderman Joe Moore, sponsor of the ordinance. "This is a product of animal torture, pure and simple. It doesn't need to be on menus in Chicago."
Chicago restaurant luminaries Charlie Trotter and Rick Tramonto agree and have both vowed not to serve the liver dish.
But others want to fight. On Tuesday, the Illinois Restaurant Association and Allen's, the New American Café in Chicago filed a lawsuit challenging the ban. The suit alleges the ban violates the state constitution, and will cost the city $18 million in lost revenue and taxes.
The city Department of Public Health will respond to initial reports of foie gras sales with a letter; if there is a second report, health inspectors will pay a visit. Health department spokesman Tim Hadac said there is little departmental enthusiasm for the ban, which Mayor Richard M. Daley has mocked as the "silliest law" passed by the council.
"We're not exactly chomping at the bit to enforce this," Hadac said. "It's an animal rights issue; it doesn't appear to relate to human health in any way."
The ordinance bans only the sale of foie gras, so restaurateurs have speculated that they can get around it by giving away foie gras or serving it at private parties.
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CHICAGO, Aug. 22 -- Don't come between foodies and their foie gras.
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Life at Work Live
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Finesse and charm are the unsung tools of leaders. Cultivating convincing communication skills and the ability to act with ease in social and professional situations can be as important as your degree. Adopt the skills of the CEO set in Finishing School .
Washington Post columnist Amy Joyce answered readers' questions about professional poise.
An archive of Amy's Life at Work columns is available online.
Find more career-related news and advice in our Jobs section.
Amy Joyce: Good morning, folks. It's Tuesday, which means it is time to talk about your life at work.
This week's theme: What about those "soft" skills like communication, etiquette, proper dress. Do they matter? The short answer is probably. Let's chat about the polish we all need.
But we'll get to your other questions and comments, too. So as always, join in with your own advice and comments to help your fellow chatters along.
Alrighty, then. Let's get this chat going.
Northwest Washington, D.C.: Ms. Joyce: I work for a semi-federal agency which has negotiated a seven-day-a-week "casual business attire" policy with its employees. Yet, in its headquarters building, most employees now opt for at least a tie, and frequently a suit and tie. Why -- certain unimaginative mid-level managers wanted to "look more professional," and opted to discard the new policy and subtly pressure staff to join them.
I'm old enough to know better, but I occasionally want to dress casually (albeit appropriately).
Our "field offices" -- including other DC "field" offices, as well as suburban Washington outposts -- all seem to embrace "casual business attire" and still be productive.
Do you think clubbing the mid-level managers in the head with a mallet is a bit much?
washingtonpost.com: Business Casual? Seriously. (Post, Aug. 13)
Amy Joyce: Because of clothing? Uh, yeah. That would be a bit much.
I think as long as you look polished and professional, you're all good. But think about what you have to do before you dress for the day. Meeting with clients who you want to take you seriously? Dress one step up. Think you'll be behind your desk all day type type typing? Biz casual seems fine. Check out what Robin Givhan, the Post's fashion critic, has to say about this with my column (check the link).
I say you live by Robin's rules, you'll be all set.
Farragut Square, Washington, D.C.: Sideburns: How long is too long? Mine end at the bottom of my earlobe. They aren't bushy or the 2nd incarnation of Elvis. My wife and mom think they are too long, my concern is whether they are unprofessional. What's your opinion.
Amy Joyce: I can't see 'em so I can't comment. My guess? Listen to the women in your life.
Washington, D.C.: Good morning Amy. I've been wondering about footwear lately. On the street, I see a lot of women dressed nicely for work -- suits, dress pants, skirts, etc. -- that finish off their outfit with FLIP FLOPS! Not Gucci flips, but the cheapie $5 kind from CVS. I realize they are just for commuting, and they plan to change into heals, which aren't comfortable for commuting, but why not wear leather flats or something similar that's comfortable and still looks good? As a man, I'm not particularly keen on wearing a suit and tie on a really hot day, so I'll often pack the tie and coat and put on at work. Doesn't mean I go to work in a tank top though.
Amy Joyce: As a man, you might just not get it. You wear socks with your shoes, so it's more comfy. Women can't do that in the summertime. I wore leather flats to work the other day and, well, it ain't pretty.
Who cares if they are wearing flip flops to commute? Get over it.
Boston, Mass.: Can I (or should I) use a thank you note as a chance to highlight an qualification or expand on an interview answer? Is it ok to sum up the main "why you should hire me" points in a succinct and friendly way, or should I just stick to the "thanks for your time" appreciative route?
Amy Joyce: A thank you note is very important. Don't rehash everything. Just say that you were very happy to meet everyone, you appreciate the time, and you were incredibly excited to discuss the possibility of working at X because you know it would be a great fit. (OR somesuch.)
Washington, D.C.: I am 30 but I am regularly told I look like I am no older than 22. I've been freelancing for several years now, but am considering re-entering the 9 to 5, face-to-face business world. I'm afraid I won't be taken seriously because of my young look. I have a lot of skills and experience, and want to be recognized for it. Any advice?
Amy Joyce: Welcome to my world. Everyone says to be happy about it, but I understand how you feel. Just make sure your work highlights your experience, accomplishments and ability to get it all done...well. And when you're out meeting potential clients or interviewing, dress in a manner that really makes you look professional and ready to take on anything. That's the best you can do. And that's a lot.
Vienna, Va.: Speaking of the ambiguities of business casual, does it ever create an awkward situation when you are more dressed up than your boss on a given day? Maybe you wear a tie and he doesn't, both business casual mind you, but I can't get over the idea that a manager should be a little better dressed than those s/he is managing.
Amy Joyce: Check out my column (link above). It's a-okay to be overdressed. Better that than underdressed. If you feel better dressing up, do it. Shouldn't matter what your boss is wearing.
Anonymous: I LOVE your hair! That's a really good length for you.
Amy Joyce: Why thank you. I'm the queen of hair changes. I do that instead of get tattoos or pierce things.
San Diego, Calif: Amy, why do your Sunday columns only show up on the website on Tuesday. Here I am, stuck on the Left Coast, thirsting for the DC perspective on business on Sunday, and I only see last week's column. The same thing happens Monday. How am I supposed to occupy my work time if I can't spend it reading your most recent opus?
washingtonpost.com: If you have problems accessing Amy's article, it can be also be found in the Business Section
Amy Joyce: Oh dear. I'll see about that. But yes, just check out the Business section, where the column runs. I think if you throw my name in the site's search box, my most recent work pops up, too.
Washington, D.C.: What color shoes should a woman wear with a navy blue suit?
Amy Joyce: My fashionista co-worker/podmate Ylan Mui says light brown, beige, tan, bone. Don't you dare try to wear black, she says. It will just look like you're trying to match the suit and it won't. She also thinks a subtle silver does well. But that would have to match the style of the suit (and office)...
Washington, D.C.: Is there anything wrong with overdressing for work? I'm not talking about "dressing for the you want", but those in my office consider "business casual" to be over dressing for work. The majority of my agency does not adopt this dress code. I would rather dress like the rest of the agency, it's just more my style, but I am afraid of looking like I'm trying too hard. Am I over thinking this? I'm really more comfortable when I dress professionally.
Amy Joyce: You're probably overthinking it a bit. Wear what you feel good in and everyone will be happy.
Silver Spring. Md.: I think the "soft" skills are essential to a first impression. You may be the best at whatever you do (writing, planning, etc) but you may not get the chance to demonstrate how good you are if people see a gum chewing (personal pet peeve) flip-flop wearer. Not that it is right but it is just the way it is. Writing skills are also essential to good presentation of self and work to include grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Amy Joyce: That's for sure. First impressions do matter. Even if you hope this isn't the case, people -- particularly clients, co-workers, potential bosses -- are judging you by that first or first few meet and greets.
Washington, D.C.: Amy: In respect to proper dress being part of communication skills - that's right on. Our small office has an employee who is a good worker, but her dress style hold her back. I'm talking about clothes that are held together with pins, wrinkled and with small stains. She's a great person and valued worker, but she'll never have a high profile position until she can dress the part. Just my thoughts.
Amy Joyce: Has her boss suggested as much? That's really a shame if this good worker is not being used to her full potential because she is a clueless dresser.
Anonymous: Amy, I'm starting a new job in a few weeks, and will be going from ultra casual to a professional/business casual environment. My current work wardrobe (jeans and skirts with tshirts and sandals) is definitely not okay for this new job. I'm a little overwhelmed as how to get started on buying new work clothes. I can't afford to spend tons of money on new suits, and I probably wouldn't need to wear one every day. Any suggestions on what to start with?
Amy Joyce: Try one decent suit and a few other outfits that will work for you. Mix and match. A neutral suit works well. Then you can wear the pants with a jacket or a different top on more casual days. Check out stores like Ann Taylor Loft/J Crew etc. for a good, switchable options.
Takoma Park, Md.: Please ask Ylan why I can't wear navy pumps with my navy blue suit? I don't even try to wear black.
Amy Joyce: "Yeah, you can wear navy, but that's a whole lot of navy. I'd want to break it up," said Ylan.
Washington, D.C.: One of my biggest pet peeves is when people give simple things new names just to make them sound more important or technical than they really are. Usually these new terms are more wordy, less efficient, or redundant (e.g., the gym is now a "fitness center"). My latest term du jour: HR people and their need to know what my "skill sets" are. Of course I have skills. I would be happy to explain my skills to you. But I refuse to call them a "skill set" when the simple plural "skills" works just fine. Just a rant. Thanks for hearing it. Now I must go to the eating center for lunch.
Amy Joyce: I will prioritize this on my agenda for the day. Thanks.
shoes with navy suit: I like to wear (cute, not tacky!) red heels with a navy suit. It's fun and different.
Amy Joyce: As long as you don't look too nautical!
Re: J. Crew: Nooooo, don't send people to J. Crew. Have you seen how high their prices are these days? Through the roof, especially for professional clothes. You had it right with Ann Taylor Loft (although their prices are creeping up). Banana Republic is also actually a cheaper, more professional option than J. Crew.
Amy Joyce: You're right! Banana. That's what I was thinking of. Thanks.
Vienna, Va.: Tip for the poster who needs a more professional wardrobe: Try stores like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Filenes, Loehmans. In addition, check out online retailers Smart Bargains and Overstock. They all have nice suits at a fraction of the usual cost. I find they can have better deals than the mall stores like j crew.
Amy Joyce: More shopping tips. Other than haircuts, I like a little retail therapy every now and then. Thanks.
Federal Triangle, Washington, D.C.: Amy,
I do think that communication and attire make a big difference in how you are perceived and treated on the job- at least within the younger generation of Feds. In my experience working in the federal government, for a few years now, the people who dress nicely (dress professional and look clean cut) and are out-going (have good communication skills) are the ones who get the promotions.
washingtonpost.com: Top Tips for Career Success
Amy Joyce: You're probably right. Here are a few more tips.
Baltimore, Md.: I'd like to get your advice on making a career merge (not quite a change), if you will.
I am currently in a very technical position (Molecular Biology/Research Laboratory Supervisor) and am working on my MBA. I'd like to combine these two disciplines in my future career, but currently only have experience on the science side. So the two big questions I have are: How does one make a career change without starting over as a beginner with no experience? and In this type of situation, do you inform your boss that you are looking for something different? My supervisor is very supportive of my MBA aspirations, in fact, he suggested it. So he knows that at the very latest, when I graduate in 2 years, I'll be moving on. The initial plan was to work in my current position until I graduate, but there is really no benefit in doing this (I'm not gaining business experience and there is no tuition reimbursement). But in the meantime, he most likely would be a great resource for me to find a position within the University where we work.
Any thoughts? Thanks so much.
Amy Joyce: It sounds like your supervisor will be very supportive since he already suggested it. So why not talk to him about what you hope to do and see if you can take on some of the other types of work and gain skills in other areas while you're working. He may be able to push some things your way. This may help not only you, but your boss as well. If you're getting the support it sounds like you're getting, you might try to stay there and expand into a position you want and think you need. It's also a great way to see what you like/don't like about the possibility of a merge.
Anyone else have some suggestions?
Navy Suit: I'm going to have to disagree with the light brown shoes. If you have to go brown, go dark brown. Light brown is so distracting and it's controversial. You'll think you are fashion forward, but I guarantee half of the people who look at it will think it was a bad choice.
Amy Joyce: Can a color be controversial?
Bethesda, Md.: I relate to the woman who is 30, but looks much younger. In addition to wearing suits nearly every day, and glasses instead of contacts to look more mature (ok, wearing glasses a little extreme, but people really seem to respect the glasses!), I have tried to remove "like" and "you know" from my vocabulary and, frankly, just use better grammar when speaking to people. At times I feel like I shouldn't have to do all of this to get respect, I clearly have the "skills," but I think that it helps.
Amy Joyce: I think removing the likes from our speech does everyone some good. (I get into this rut, like, myself sometimes.)
Boston, Mass.: I'm 22 and am a recent college graduate. I started to work for the government two months ago, in an office in which I am by far the youngest. With everyone at least 30 years older than me -- I'd like to have the chance to break out of everyone's mentoring attempts or being blown off and gain real responsibility. I interned in a similar position for two years prior to this job so I am quite familiar with the organization and the people. So, although I am new, I'm not ignorant and I'd like for people to take me a bit more seriously. Any pointers?
Amy Joyce: Stop thinking you don't need the mentoring. Thank people. Listen to them. And go ahead and voice your own thoughts and work opinions. They will grow in respect for you and you will gain valuable insight. It doesn't matter how old you are, advice and mentoring can be a help. Listen. Take in what you want. Disregard stuff you think doesn't work. And stop thinking of *yourself* in this way. If you keep reminding yourself you're the youngest in the office, you will be perceived that way.
Arlington, Va.: What do females wear to interviews? If I don't own a suit, can I wear pants and a jacket? Or since its summer can I get away without wearing a jacket? Help! I've been wearing jeans and t-shirts to work for the past three years. Thanks!
Amy Joyce: Get a suit. It won't kill you. Every hiring manager I talk to would rather see someone overdressed than under. So don't chance it.
Washington, D.C.: Regarding appearing professional and polished:
I have been with an organization since graduating college and my old colleagues dress very casually. I moved into a more visible position in a formal office within the same org. However I would feel ridiculous wearing a suit to work when my old colleagues in the same building are wearing jeans. Are there any clothing options for women that are comfortable,professional and not stuffy?
washingtonpost.com: Raise Your Rank: Top Tips for Career Success
Amy Joyce: Slacks (I hate that word) and blouses or tops of various sorts seem like they would work in your sitch.
Fairfax, Va.: Amy, love you column and chat, I think this is a great tool for everyone in the workplace.
Is it just me or has communication become way too casual in the workplace? Whatever happened to addressing and signing your emails? Using proper grammar and punctuation? Are we all in too much of a hurry to actually type "you" instead of "u"?? Perhaps it is just me, but this is a becoming a major pet peeve and I just don't get why people don't take every opportunity to show professionalism in their work. For the record I am young, just turned 30, started my career in the jean wearing days of .com and do not consider myself stuffy.
Amy Joyce: I'm with u on that. How 'bout when someone responds with "tnx" 'stead of a full "thanks"... If they were really thankful, they would spend the time to write three more letters.
E-mail has really changed the way we communicate. And although I'm not all for formality in constant e-communcation, a little more than ttyl's and u r's are probably wise. Talking to a co-worker or boss via email is different than IMing your pals, or it should be. It just shows you care and are careful.
I hope you can answer this before the chat is over. I'm 31 and I notice in my office most women my age and younger no longer wear pantyhose, especially in the summer. Is it appropriate to wear a business suit without pantyhose? I was raised to always do so, but I am starting to feel like I am dressing much older than my peers. (I will wear business casual without hose). Please help!
Amy Joyce: Robin Givhan says no pantyhose, particularly in summer. Ick. No need to torture yourself like that. If you're not comfy with bare legs, wear lightweight pants.
Columbia, MD: One way to remove the "likes" and "ums" and all the rest -- a few sessions of Toastmasters! I am far more aware of them now, for myself and for others (which is worse sometimes).
Amy Joyce: Lots of folks around here swear by it. Thanks.
Washington D.C.: Odd question, but here goes: Do you have any knowledge of some sort of etiquette class to help prevent clumsiness? I tend to be klutzy (especially when I'm under stress) and feel like it makes me appear unprofessional at times.
Amy Joyce: How about some yoga? (These are questions and answers I never thought being a career columnist would require!)
Washington, D.C.: Etiquette counts: Probably? No, absolutely! I would no more hire someone without at least basic interpersonal skills than I would fly to the moon.
No, not all jobs require extensive interaction, and yes, some jobs require a much higher level of social skills than others. But even for the simplest or most isolated jobs I need my employees to be able to interact civilly with at least their supervisors and co-workers.
Amy Joyce: And there you have it, folks.
Washington, D.C.: Question about over-friendly coworkers -- I just started in an entry-level job. Many of my coworkers have been here longer, and (I assume) make more money than me. They often invite me to join them to go out for lunch, which I appreciate, but living in an expensive city on an entry-level salary, I can't afford to eat out at lunch so often. Any hints on how to say no without becoming "the antisocial one"?
Amy Joyce: Say you'd love to go, but you packed. Ask if there's a way to bring your lunch along. The social aspect of this can be really good for you, particularly as an entry leveler.
Washington, D.C.: I like your hair.
Amy Joyce: Thanks. It's my business casual, but professional look.
On that note, have a great week, all. I'll be here again same time, same place next week to have a free for all chat about life at work. You can e-mail me at lifeatwork@washpost.com and don't forget to check out the column in the Sunday business section.
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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Post Politics Hour
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Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.
washingtonpost.com Political columnist/blogger Chris Cillizza was online Tuesday, Aug. 22, at 11 a.m. ET.
Chris Cillizza: Good morning. Although we are deep in the dog days of August, campaign politics has barely slowed at all.
Much of the chatter here in Washington today is over President Bush's news conference yesterday and his assertion that the United States will not leave Iraq as along as he is in office.
Outside the Beltway, it looks like Gov. Frank Murkowski in Alaska is headed for a loss in today's Alaska Republican primary. If he is defeated, Murkowski will be the first governor to lose re-election this cycle.
The Connecticut Senate race continues to provide endless fodder for political junkies too.
No matter what they say, you're every bit as handsome on this blog as you are on those cable shows.
So, did Bush hang his pro-war congressional support out to dry when he admitted that Hussein had nothing to do with 911?
Is this a nice juicy soundbite for "Democrat" candidates against GOP warhawk incumbents?
And if the GOP is going to get into name-calling -what's slanderous about 'Democrat' by the way?] I suggest, by way of retaliation, the time-honored phrase "Radical Republicans."
Chris Cillizza: Who is this mysterious "they"? Are people bad-mouthing my admittedly mediocre looks without my knowledge?
As to President Bush's acknowledgement that Sept. 11 and Iraq had nothing to do with one another, I think it's an interesting shift in rhetoric as the election nears.
The Bush Administration has repeatedly suggested (or insinuated) that Sept. 11 and Iraq were linked. The problem with that strategy is that as the public has soured on the war in Iraq it has bled over into their feelings about the war on terrorism.
While the numbers for President Bush on terrorism remain decent, they have fallen considerably over the past few years as the situation in Iraq has continued to dissolve.
Republican believe their best chance of limiting their losses this November is to make the election a referendum on which party can keep Americans safe from terrorism. To do that, Republicans need to avoid having terrorism seen entirely through the lens of Iraq.
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Thanks for taking questions.
I'm interested. What is being said about Bush's insistence that we will not leave Iraq while he's in office?
Chris Cillizza: I think that some Republicans -- privately -- sighed when they heard the President assert that American troops are in Iraq to stay.
With the midterm elections less than three months away, Republicans are looking for a way to find good news and positive developments out of Iraq but there appears to be little of either at the moment.
Remember that the President and Congressional Republicans have very different agendas at the moment. Bush's eye is firmly on his legacy as president, a legacy inextricably linked to the war in Iraq. Congressional Republicans, on the other hand, are focused entirely on getting re-elected this fall, which means woooing an electorate that has made clear they do not believe the war in Iraq was worth fighting.
Avon Park, Fla.: Do you think that news organizations should stop asking generic ballot questions in polls? I do because they're not relevant. Many of them don't ask how they will vote in their own district. Plus people tend to hate Congress as an institution but like their own representative.
Chris Cillizza: I recently wrote about the importance (or lack thereof) of the generic ballot.
While I think it is a mistake to use one party's edge in the generic ballot as the sole predictor of seat gains this fall, it -- generally -- is an effective indicator of which way the wind is blowing and how strong. (I'd like to take credit for that metaphor but it is Charlie Cook's.)
You are right that voters tend to disapprove of Congress while approving of the performance of their own Member but in the most recent Post/ABC poll, just 55 percent of those tested said their Member of Congress deserved re-election --the lowest that number has been in a decade.
Something is swirling out in the country. Whether it coalesces for Democrats at the right time remains to be seen.
washingtonpost.com: Parsing the Polls: Is a Democratic Wave Building? (Post, Aug. 16)
New York, N.Y.: Hi Chris,
As a Philly-born guy, and an individual who loathes Rick Santorum, I have a strong interest in the PA Senate race this year, and am deeply concerned that Santorum is "only" down 5-8 pts. right now, although I am hardly surprised. Santorum is a skilled politician and Casey Jr. is, well, not.
Some questions on specifics in the race: I am sure Santorum is ahead in the money race, but will Casey be able to match him commercial-for-commercial in the final stretch of the campaign? How have the commercial spots looked thus far?
Also, I've heard that Casey has been campaigning in Central PA while Santorum has been focusing on the Philly burbs (where PA elections are typically decided). Shouldn't Casey be there as well, or is he just relying on the strength of Ed Rendell and the radicalism of Santorum to carry the burbs by a handy-enough margin?
And finally, who do you think wins on election day?
Chris Cillizza: Lots of questions on the Pennsylvania Senate race.
There's little doubt that the race between Sen. Rick Santorum (R) and state Treasurer Bobby Casey Jr. (D) has tightened. Several polls have shown Santorum trailing Casey by six (or so) points, down from the double-digit margins earlier this year.
Still, I think Casey is in the catbird's seat. Although Santorum has made up some ground, he is still TRAILING with 80 days left before the election. That's never a good place to be.
Santorum is a fighter and will pull out every stop to try and beat Casey. (As we noted over the weekend in the Post, Republican donors to Santorum helped finance a Green Party candidate's bid to make the ballot. Democrats have challenged a number of petitions gathered by the Green candidate. A decision on whether he will make the ballot could come as late as Labor Day.)
Money, however, should be largely immaterial in the race. Both candidates will raise and spend in the tens of millions and both national parties will be heavily invested there as well. Not to mention a slew of outside groups who will fund ads, phone calls and direct mail.
This will be the nastiest Senate race in the country. But, at its root, it appears as though Pennsylvania voters are ready to fire Rick Santorum. As long as Casey can prove he is a credible alternative he should be the favorite.
Minneapolis, Minn: Thanks for the great reporting/blogging Chris.
Two recent polls now (Rasmussen and SurveyUSA) have shown the Virginia Senate race tightening considerably after the "comment." Are you or The Post staff noticing any kind of similar movement as you travel about or talk to Virginians?
Chris Cillizza: Finishing just behind Pennsylvania in the total number of questions is the Virginia race.
This race has drawn a ton of national attention of late due to Sen. George Allen's (R) "macaca" comment (and if you don't know what I am talking about you should turn in your political junkie badge immediately).
As I have written on The Fix, I think Allen's comment does more damage to his presidential prospects than his chances at re-election since for many GOP activists not from Virginia it may have been the first time they had gotten a good look at Allen. In Virginia he is a known commodity (state legislator, Congressman, Governor and now Senator) and so the "macaca" melee is likely to have less impact on voters' views of him.
That said, I think the new polls out in this race are fundamentally accurate. (It's worth noting that I have expressed skepticism about auto-dialing technology, which Survey USA and Rasmussen both employ, before on The Fix.)
Virginia's politics are changing rapidly thanks to a huge growth spurt in Northern Virginia and exurban areas in Loudoun County. It is no longer a red state. Given Jim Webb's profile, I think his floor in this race is about 45 percent.
This has the potential to be an extremely competitive race assuming Webb is able to raise the $8-10 million he will need to stay within financial shouting distance of Allen.
Fairfax, Va.: Why does George Allen keep explaining his macaca comment? He seems to have new macaca explanation everyday. Is this part of a strategy to keep the story going?
Chris Cillizza: No. The rule of thumb in politics is not to make a one-day story into a one-week story by continuing to talk about it.
Allen has tried to move on -- he had an event with Arizona Sen. John McCain last week -- but the media has latched onto the story and kept it alive.
Again, I don't think Allen's "macaca" comment wins or loses this election for him. Its biggest impact on the race is that it distracts him from talking about national security, cutting taxes etc, which tend to be stronger issues for Republicans.
Silver Spring, Md.: Chris, the conventional wisdom seems to be that defeat in Pennsylvania would put an end to Rick Santorum's presidential hopes. But couldn't the opposite argument be made? He's an ambitious gung-ho politico, and could say to his conservative religious base, "my credentials have been confirmed - I was voted out in the godless Kerry-voting place I was calling home." Plus, being out of work he could devote all his time to 2008, a la Mark Warner.
Under that scenario former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle should be considered one of the top-tier candidates in the 2008 Democratic race. He's not.
Why? Because if you are leaving office prior to running for president it has to be on a high note. Warner left with amazingly high job approval ratings AND he helped get Gov. Tim Kaine (D) elected to continue his legacy.
If Santorum loses, he will be seen as damaged goods to presidential primary caucus voters. It would be difficult for him to make the argument that he would be a strong general election candidate for the party given that he had lost one of the swing states for 2008 just two years earlier.
Santorum's presidential prospects are made of the thinnest gossamer as this point. If he somehow pulls of a victory in November, he MIGHT be able to pivot into a presidential race. But it looks very, very unlikely at the moment.
Do all the recent attacks by Democrats against Joe Lieberman - trying to keep him off the ballot, endeavoring to strip him of his party perks, etc. - run the risk of pushing him out of the party for good; an outcome which could have serious negative ramifications if the Senate ends up evenly, or almost evenly, split?
Chris Cillizza: Good question that I don't know the answer to.
Lieberman has said repeatedly that if he is elected in the fall, he will caucus with Democrats.
While I am sure he is not happy that the party leaders (Reid, Clinton, Kerry) have come out against him, he is a political pro and likely understands why it had to be done.
I don't get the sense that Lieberman's relations with his colleagues have been strained particularly by these events.
That said, Republicans have made little secret of their tacit support for Lieberman's candidacy. President Bush yesterday said he was staying out of Connecticut -- strange in that a Republican president typically endorses all but the indicted from his party.
Fairfax, Va.: Really, now, Chris. Virginia is no longer a Red state? Who are you kidding? Yes, there's been a trend toward the Dems in populous Northern Virginia, and Virginia is known for its Democratic governors as much as for its Republican governors. But Bush handily won the state in 2004, and early Roanoke Times poll on the senate race had Allen WAY ahead, pre-Macaca-gate. Surely that race was bound to tighten, and the process has been accelerated by Allen's comment. But let's be serious: Virginia is still a Red state. If you have solid evidence to the contrary, please share it.
Chris Cillizza: Don't let it be said that Chris Cillizza ignored dissenting voices.
Let me offer two bits of evidence.
First, Kaine's victory last year proved that Warner's victory in 2001 was no fluke. Sure, Jerry Kilgore wasn't a terrific candidate and Kaine benefited greatly from Warner's strong popularity ratings but the end result was a Democratic victory.
Second, George W. Bush won Virginia by nine points over John Kerry in 2004 -- not the kind of swamping we saw in truly red states like South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming etc.
I still think Virginia tends to favor Republicans but the idea that it is a GOP stronghold from now into the foreseeable future is demonstrably incorrect.
Dunn Loring, Va. : Does the new Zogby poll out today that shows Ford ahead of Corker in Tenn give Dem candidates six senatorial leads--a magic number?
Chris Cillizza: There is also a poll being moved by the Ford campaign that shows their candidate ahead of former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker (R) in the Senate race.
I got a lot of guff from Democrats last week when I moved Tennessee down three slots (to #10) in my Friday Line. In that post, which I think we are linking to below, I pointed out that recent history bodes poorly for Ford's chances.
The last time Democrats won an open seat in the South was in 200 when Bill Nelson won in Florida -- considered the pseudo-South by many people anyway. Prior to Nelson's victory, Max Cleland was the last Democratic elected to an open Senate seat in the South. That was in 1996.
For Ford to win, he must transcend the weight of history. One factor working in his favor is the national political climate, which clearly favors Democrats. Another are his skills as a candidate, which are unparalleled among those running for Senate this cycle.
Can Ford win? Yes. Would I be surprised if he won? Also, yes. But, he is clearly in the game and positioned to make this race extremely competitive.
washingtonpost.com: The Friday Line: U.S. Senate (Post, Aug. 18)
Los Angeles, Calif.: Hey good lookin are there any surprises brewing in the U.S. Senate races out there?
Surprises in the Senate are a rare commodity. These races draw SO much attention and money, it's much harder for one of them to come out of nowhere at the last minute.
That said, the race with the biggest potential surprise factor looks like Michigan at the moment. In 2000, Sen. Debbie Stabenow looked dead in the water just a month before the election but came roaring back to win the race 49 percent to 48 percent over Spence Abraham.
Republicans are VERY keen about their candidate this time around -- Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard. And, the dismal state of the economy in Michigan may well counteract some of the negative national atmospherics for Republicans -- giving them a chance to be competitive here.
Chris Cillizza: That's all folks. I'm off to northern Kentucky tomorrow to take a look at the race in the 4th district between Rep. Geoff Davis (R) and former Rep. Ken Lucas (D).
Enjoy the rest of your week and remember: Visit The Fix early and often.
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The Garden Plot - washingtonpost.com
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2006082119
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Catch up on previous transcripts of The Garden Plot.
Higgins is the author of two books, "The Secret Gardens of Georgetown: Behind the Walls of Washington's Most Historic Neighborhood" and "The Washington Post Garden Book: The Ultimate Guide to Gardening in Greater Washington and the Mid-Atlantic Region."
Arlington Va: Love your chats and have learned a lot. Is this a good time to move cone flower, black eyed susan and hydrangeas? Are they best moved in fall or spring? Mine are all clumped in one area and need to be moved because they are choking each other out. Also what do you know about growing Crown Imperials in this area. I remember them as a kid and would love to grow some. I know they are mouse, rat, mole and rodent repelant, as well and I have had a huge problem with that this year. Will they do well here?
Adrian Higgins: It is still too hot and entirely too dry at the moment to be moving established plants around. Wait a month and water the garden in the meantime. Crown imperials are a showy bulb of the fritillary family. They peter out in our soils after a couple of years, so they are good for at least one spring of show. One of the problems is that they have a hollow in the top of their bulb which collects moisture when they are dormant and this leads to rotting. One solution is to plant the bulb at a tilt so that this basin effect is minimized.
Dublin, Va: I have Cecile Brunner rosebushes on each side of my front steps that I want to move because they don't look neat throughout the summer. What type of rose would you recommend as a replacement? Or would something else be better, maybe a low-growing Viburnum if there is such a thing? Thank you for your help.
Adrian Higgins: There is a dwarf variety of the doublefile viburnum named Shoshoni, that should work for you.
Thanks for doing these chats! I'm looking for some suggestions for shrubs that we can plant this fall (versus next spring), especially along the foundation and fences (both sunny and shady areas). We have very little planted around our new house so far and would like to make some progress on the garden before winter. Thanks!
Adrian Higgins: Not sure the last reponse carried through but the answer was a doublefile viburnum variety named Shoshoni.
Washington, DC: Is it possible to grow fresh mint indoors? What is the best time to start growing fresh mint? Thanks!
Adrian Higgins: Conceivable, I suppose, in a cool bright room, but it is much happier outside, even in a pot.
Burke, Va: Hi Adrian, thanks for taking my question.
I am writing to ask if you know of any fast-growing evergreen that works as a privacy screen but grows in shade? From what I understand, the usual suspects, Leyland Cypress and Arborvitae, would not like my shady, wooded backyard.
The only thing I have come up with is planting a hedge of rhododendrons, but those don't grow that quickly, and I'm not sure they will attain the height I am looking for. Thanks for your help!
Adrian Higgins: If you are looking for a tall evergreen in shade, consider some broadleaf plants such as the Chindo viburnum or the Prague viburnum, or even some holly varieties. I no longer recommend planting hemlock in shady conditions due to the woolly adelgid problem.
I'm finally admitting to myself that I'm a somewhat lazy gardener. As much as I'd like to kid myself otherwise, I'm just not going to get out there several times a week in all manner of heat, battling mosquitos to work on my garden.
My coneflower, catmint and salvia seem to be thriving in spite of my neglect, and the creeping phlox and a few small shrubs seem to be hanging on, too. The jury is out on the Veronica. What else can I plant in my sun garden that can tolerate my shameful absences?
Adrian Higgins: I admire you candor. Certainly perovskia is a truly low maintenance plant in sun, as is goldenrod, and annuals such as sunflowers and gomphrena.
Alexandria, Va: Hi - I live on the 10th floor of a high-rise with an eastern/southern exposure. In addition to heat it's windy. Can you recommend a few container plants that might tolerate that? I'd like to have a few that flowers.
Adrian Higgins: If you can water religiously, I'd consider some lantana and salvias, if you can't try an arrangement of stonecrops.
Washington DC: I have an ugly drain pipe running across my lawn, and would like to camouflage it with something. Are daylilies a good choice? Do they last, or will they die out over the course of a few years? Is there anything that would provide year-round cover?
Adrian Higgins: Ubiquitous but useful dwarf nandina would work. Can you cover over the pipe and plant on top?
Silver Spring, Md: In June I planted a hydrangea acrophylla "Miss Belgium". The leaves on the bottom two-thirds of the plant have brown spots. Any idea what might be causing them and what I can do to care for the plant?
Adrian Higgins: Hydrangea can get a leaf spot disease called Cercospora. Some varieties are bred for resistance to this and should be selected if it's a problem. Otherwise practice good sanitation. Make sure you remove and bag all the fallen leaves this fall, and do a little pruning to thin out the plant if it is congested.
Can I split the Cana this fall when I cut them down or should I wait until spring ?
Adrian Higgins: Divide them when you lift them for winter storage, and treat any wounds with an anti-fungal powder.
Arlington, Va: So glad you are back. We are heading out of town on Sunday for a week, and I was dismayed to notice the earlier forecast for rain on Friday has been changed. Any steps we can take this week to get the plants in shape for a week of total neglect? Should we give everything a really good soaking on Saturday and hope for the best?
Also, we had a TERRIBLE tomato year (except for the cherries). I'm considering giving up on tomatoes because they are more often than not failures for us. I think we got five tomatoes off of three plants. Something else got a few more. Should we just throw in the towel?
Adrian Higgins: Soak everything that doesn't move, (including the spouse). It's awfully dry, depressingly so. A lot of tomatoes were beginning to flower when it got really hot, and the heat causes flowers to abort. I wonder if that was your problem. Are other people having a disappointing tomato year?
Arlington, Va: Even though in Feb or March I cut my butterfly bushes back to 20", they still get enormous and quickly become scraggly. What do I need to do to keep them under control? (Say, not more than 6' tall.)
Adrian Higgins: Trim them by half in late May and do the same in late June. This will promote bushiness and better flowering, though somewhat delayed.
Washington DC: Adrian Higgins: Ubiquitous but useful dwarf nandina would work. Can you cover over the pipe and plant on top?
Nope, the pipe sits about two inches above the ground. And the yard is tiny, so I'd like to avoid planting something that would take over all the space. What are your thoughts on daylilies? Are they compact, longlasting, tolerant of benign neglect? I've never had them before.
Adrian Higgins: Daylilies would work, but look rather dull 10 months of the year. Whatever you plant, you will have to improve the soil.
Arlington Va: I have what I think is a Clivia Solomone indoor houseplant. Unfortunately, I have no outdoor space and have only north-facing windows. The plant receives indirect sunlight all day. Is this enough for this type of plant or am I unwilling killing it?! Thanks.
Adrian Higgins: Clivia will take low levels of light and will work for you. Give it watering dormancy in the fall for spring flowering. Watch for mealy bugs.
McLean, Va: On the topic of butterfly bushes, I noticed that Washington state has added them to its list of noxious (weed) plants. I do try to avoid adding such plants to my garden, but alas, I planted two butterfly bushes this year! Are they considered a pest in this area?
Adrian Higgins: They do not seem to have the same level of invasiveness as they do in more temperate states. I don't know, frankly if they are on any hit list in the mid Atlantic, but if you remove the flowerheads before they seed, it's not a problem. This will promote reblooming.
Laurel, Md: Is there any way measure what fraction of this season's rainfall came in those two days in June and compare it to other years?
Adrian Higgins: In my garden in Alexandria, we had 14 inches in one go, and our annual average is approximately 40 inches. Why could we not have had one inch per week for 14 weeks, he asked, rhetorically.
Pittsburgh, Pa: In my efforts to cut down on the amount of front yard devoted to grass, I've decide to edge one sunny side with peonies. Is there any thing I might intersperse them with that would bloom after the do? I want low maintenance. I read that I should not plant daylilies with peonies which would have been my first choice.
Adrian Higgins: I have seen long paths planted with peonies on both sides: Looks spectacular for three weeks (with luck) and dull as dishwater the rest of the year. What I might suggest is that you forget the herbaceous peonies and plant tree peonies instead, spacing them appropriately. They have the architecture of handsome shrubs year round (even in winter nakedness), hardy as can be and don't flop over.
Loudoun, Va: Bad tomato year indeed! I planted 20 tomato plants and got six tomatoes! The deer ate all the plants, which astonishes me because I thought tomatoe plants were a member of the Nightshade family and were therefore poisonous!?! It doesn't seem to have affected the deer because they come back from time to time for a snack...!
Adrian Higgins: I still don't understand why yew is poisonous to cattle and candy to deer. Deer 1, Tomatoes 0.
Are other people having a disappointing tomato year?: Yes, my worst ever !
Adrian Higgins: Nightmare on Tomato Street!
Arlington, Va: Cheers Adrian. So when should I be ready for post-summer lawn care? Added some new weeds to the lawn this year and am ready to treat, overseed, whatever is necessary. I know there are some things I can do this time of year to help.
Adrian Higgins: I'm with you, the only thing my dusty old lawn is lacking is tumbleweed, but that should arrive any day now. I would start earlier rather than later this year. Let's get that grass established before the leaves fall. Even September 1 might be good.
Arlington Va: regarding tomatoes. This is the worst year I have ever had for tomatoes and for that matter my whole garden. I have 8 heirloom tomato plants and have produced only 3 tomatoes. 3 of my plants never flowered at all. My squash and melons have produced NO melons and only two squash. My cucumbers all start, then round off to little nubs. I have gotten NO fully developed cucumbers. Normally I feed the entire neighborhood. By this time of the year the neighbors are tired of seeing me come with bags of veggies. I have heard others in my area say they are having a bad tomato year as well.
Adrian Higgins: THis is actually quite interesting. Perhaps you would be kind enough to email me your name and contact info. higginsa@washpost.com. Other tomato victims should do the same, if they wish.
Springfield Va: Would you suggest planting fall vegetables around this time of year? I think lettuce / spinach, and garlic would work. What are some other common Northern VA fall crops? Thanks so much!
Adrian Higgins: It's a little late for brassicas such as cabbage, kale and broccoli and brussels, unless you can find started plants. Otherwise, it's a perfect time to sow beets, spinach, arugula, lettuce, Asian greens, turnips, even peas might be worth a go.
Tomatoes in Potomac, Md: We grew from seed a dozen tomato plants, about half of them cherries, three beefsteak, and three heirloom (Black Krimm and a "peach" variety). The cherries are outstanding and v. productive -- the best year so far. The beefsteak have large fruits that have been green for months and don't seem to redden. The heirlooms (which I suppose were not as disease-resistant as the cherries and beefsteak) succumbed to blight/fungus soon after the June flood. Interesting experiment.
Adrian Higgins: Thanks for that. I guess we won't be having that bloody festival they have in Spain where people throw tomatoes at each other. (What a waste of good fruit).
Alexandria, Va: Welcome back Adrian. I have two wygelias that are afflicted with something. The leaves are slowly turning brown. The browning starts with the leaves at the base of each branch, moving to the tip of the branch until all of the leaves are brown and falling off. I have been watering my plants once a week during this dry spell, so I would not think it's a lack of water. I thought these plants are hard to kill, but I guess not for me. Do you have any ideas what the problem may be? Thank you.
Adrian Higgins: They naturally suffer dieback after flowering, and I would suggest trimming out the affected branches.
I am writing to ask if you know of any fast-growing evergreen that works as a privacy screen: It's not fast growing, but boxwood is the perfect privacy plant.
Adrian Higgins: WE have been steering people away from Leyland cypresses and toward an arborvitae variety named Green Giant, which is more handsome and healthier.
Loudoun, Va: My Dwarf Alberta Spruce is losing its needles. There is new growth however. Is this normal or do I have a pest?? Thanks!
Adrian Higgins: I would check for spider mites. Take a white sheet of paper and hit a branch over it to see if you have tiny litle dots crawling around. Webs in the branches are another sign. You can water the foliage thoroughly, trim out the dead branches and move the plant into the shade, if possible.
Hillcrest Heights, Md: I have a 25 year old potted miniature orange tree about 5'tall; I keep it indoors in the winter and out in the summer. I have had oranges about once every 5 years. It gets full leaves every summer, but no fruit. It needs to be repotted now, but what else can i do to make it more "fruitful?"
Adrian Higgins: Oranges are magnets for scale and mealy bug insects, so the first thing I would do is relieve it of those problems. It sounds as if you are doing the right thing in summering it outdoors (best in partial shade)and now is an excellent time to repot the plant and give it fresh soil. I would dunk the rootball in chlorinated water before repotting to kill insects and eggs. Bright, cool and humid conditions are a must for winter health.
Tomatoless in Virginia: Three of my four tomato plants have been ravished by blight faster than I can pick the diseased leaves off. I still haven't picked an edible tomato off Mortgage Lifter because the first tomatoes rotted while green. Tomato plant number 4 is an odd cross between a cherry and a plum tomato. The tomatoes are rather tasteless, but at least it has lots of them.
Not quite as bad as last year when I tried a different way of trellising and the whole thing collapsed, but still very disappointing.
Tomato Trouble, Md: For the nth consecutive year my cherry tomatoes, planted in new pots with fresh soil, have been attacked by something that kills the plant from the bottom up. You've described it elsewhere as a fungus - what can I do besides thoroughly cleaning the pots each spring and using potting mixes from the gadren store?
Adrian Higgins: This was early blight, which is exacerbated by planting in bare soil. The key is to remove the branches as they yellow and then not to touch the clean foliage, or you may spread the spores.
I'd like to keep my russian sage as-is through the winter for visual interest--what's the latest I should cut it back?
Adrian Higgins: When you cut back your roses and buddleias etc in late winter.
Grosse Pointe Park, Mich: Dear Mr. Higgins, I'd like to plant a couple of blueberry bushes. Any advice on how to prepare the soil?
Adrian Higgins: Although blueberries have surface roots that mustn't dry out, don't make the mistake of planting the shrubs in waterlogged soil. You have to achieve a balance that will give them near constant moisture but freedom from standing water, especially in winter. This is achieved by adding a lot of organic matter to the planting areas, especially chopped, rotted leaves, and throw in some pine needles and peat moss, if you have it. Give them a light mulching of chopped leaves.
Arlington, VA: a good tomato year for me: This was actually one of my more successful years for tomatoes. I have only four plants (one hasn't put out anything, the rest are lovely), and I've got more beautiful and tasty ones than I did from last year's 8 plants. Last year, the squirrels got every one just as they started to ripen. This year, the rotten little creatures have mostly let my tomatoes alone.
Biggest difference, I have to assume, is a drip watering system I put into my garden. Although it's hard to tell how much water the plants are getting, the results seem to suggest it works.
Adrian Higgins: A success story:
Tomatoes: My dad and I planted about 100 tomato plants and actually got quite a few to begin with. However we are down to getting about on or two tomatoes a day now. We might even till up some of the garden soon because the we are pulling up so many unproductive plants. We just need rain!
Adrian Higgins: That's a lot of tomato plants. Well done.
Baltimore, Md: Hi Adrian, Thanks for taking my question. My father-in-law wants to give us some hostas that aren't doing well in his yard. When is the best time to transplant these? We'll be planting them in our patio garden underneath a tall crepe myrtle. Any suggestions on how to ease their move?
Adrian Higgins: Again, in a month would be better than now. You may need to get a sharp axe to clear planting holes. Crape myrtles have greedy surface roots and are difficult to plant in unless you put in your ground covers at the same time the tree is planted. But give it a go. At this point in the season it doesn't matter if you mangle the leaves a bit, but you might take the opportunity to divide the hostas to keep them vigorous and free flowering.
Greenbelt, Md.: The neighborhood cats have killed most of my catnip patch. Is it too late to plant catnip from seed or will it be hardened-off in time for the first frosts?
Adrian Higgins: I think it would be difficult as you say to get seedlings big and hardy enough now, unless you grow them in a cold frame. You might also try taking some cuttings and overwintering them in a protected area.
Greenbelt, Md.: Can you suggest a somewhat drought tolerant flowering plant that would do well in part-shade? It will be sharing a flower bed with purple coneflowers and black-eyed susans, which are in the front/full sun part of the bed. Something that is at least 3 feet tall so the other plants don't block it would be best I suppose. Thanks for your help.
Adrian Higgins: I would consider some stinking hellebores (Helleborus foetidus), Brunnera Jack Frost, or some acanthus.
Time to start thinking about filling in the bare spots in the lawn, as well as what to put down for the final feeding.
Will it matter what type of seed I put down ? I'd like to mix some fescue with bermuda, but I'm wondering if the bermuda will germinate at all in the cooler weather.
Adrian Higgins: I would stick with turf type tall fescues and get a named variety that has been developed for southern climates.
Roanoke, Va: Hello Mr. Higgins. I want to "top dress" my lawn this fall, but I don't really understand how one actually does it. I assume I need to find some nice, fine compost, but do I just fling it about with a shovel? Use some sort of spreader? I just can't quite visualize the process. Any illumination you can provide would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Adrian Higgins: It is simply the dressing of the top surface of the lawn with rotted compost or manure, which will improve the soil structure and add some small amounts of nutrients. A layer of an inch will soon make its way to the grass crowns, and you might take the opportunity to overseed at the same time. Top dressing with screened topsoil, in my view, is a waste of time, money and labor. Dump a wheelbarrow of compost in an area and with a hoe or a rake spread the pile in every direction. Alas, we have run out of time, but you will find me on the radio tomorrow (WTWP)around 11:30 a.m. and again on Saturday between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. More gardening information and entertainment in Thursday's Home section.
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Second Hussein Trial Begins
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Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majeed, also known here as "Chemical Ali," are accused of running the 1988 Anfal campaign, in which hundreds of thousands of Kurds were killed, tortured, maimed or displaced. Hussein and Majeed are charged with genocide and four other defendants are charged with crimes against humanity.
Get background and updates on the trials against Saddam Hussein.
Amit Paley: Lots of news in the past few days from Iraq. Saddam Hussein went on trial yesterday on the charge of genocide--only the second time in history that a former head of state has been tried for that crime. Sunni insurgents killed 25 Shiite pilgrims and wounded hundreds of others on Sunday during an a major holiday. And a former minister of electricity was just arrested today and charged with wasting $1 billion in government money. Just another week in Baghdad.
Arlington, Va.: How does Hussein's trial in Iraq differ from a trial that we would be familiar with in the U.S.?
Amit Paley: The biggest difference is the charge: Hussein is being tried for genocide. This is only the fourth genocide trial in history. So international legal observers are carefully watching how things are carried out.
The Iraqi courts have been a lot more unruly than American ones. People just beginning shouting at various points and Saddam Hussein is allowed to make statements and question witnesses in addition to his attorneys. That's part of what lead to the shenanigans in the first trial.
And a big visual difference, of course, is the Hussein and the defendants are sitting in wooden cages.
washingtonpost.com: Recent headlines: Bush Defends Iraq Policy , Iraqi Insurgents Kill 20 Pilgrims
Arlington, VA: Is there any substance to the HRW report on the Hussein trial? Is there any chance that all the work from the first trial could be reversed if the trial is found to be unfair? If the proceedings were to be found illegal, what body would have the authority to weigh in there?
Amit Paley: It's hard to know how things are going to play out, but there would certainly be major political implications here in Iraq if the verdict was reversed (and of course in the US and around the world, too). There is an appeals process and judges will review what happened in the first trial and make their decision. Iraqi law, however, does not require that appeals process to happen in a certain time from, so who knows how long it will take.
Iraqi and US officials, though, disagree with Human Rights Watch's criticisms and believe the trial is fair.
Bethesda, Md.: I didn't realize a second trial was about to start until I saw your chat. Why hasn't there been as much news coverage as this than the first one? Or is this trial more a formality. How long do you expect this trial to last?
Amit Paley: This trial is certainly not a formality. There is a huge amount of work that has gone into the tribunal, planning by legal experts in Iraq and abroad, and tremendous amounts of money spent on setting up the court and security. The prosecutors may call 120 witnesses and introduce 9,000 pages of documents.
Perhaps Americans aren't paying as much attention because of a sense of Iraq fatigue. Or maybe it's just because this trial doesn't seem much different than the first. Who knows?
But certainly the Kurdish people are watching with rapt attention, hoping to finally see punishment for the men they believe are responsible for the Kurdish genocide.
The court and US officials hope to complete the trial within a year, but it could take five years if it proceeds at the same pace as the first trial. There are more than 180,000 alleged victims, so it may take a while.
Capitol Heights, Md: I just have one comment to make. This man is truly guilty about the killings. I think the Iraqi government should just execute him immediately. What are they waiting for?
Amit Paley: That's certainly the sentiment among many Iraqis, particularly among the Kurds.
But why do we try confessed criminals in America? Because we believe in due process and the rule of law. Iraqis are hoping to set up a similar system in their country.
Also, it is not at all clear that Hussein and his six co-defendants will be found guilty of genocide, a notoriously difficult crime to prove.
Alexandria, Va.: Does anyone have a sense of urgency to complete Hussein's trial, convict and execute him? If this drags on and on and on, I can see Saddam Hussein regaining power.
Amit Paley: I'm not sure that a long trial would cause Hussein to regain power, but certainly those involved with the court--and US officials--want the trial completed quickly.
There was actually a debate in court today about the speed of the trial, which appears to be moving much faster than the first trial. The judge said justice is swift--then the defense attorney rebutted: Hasty justice is no justice.
Genocide: "Also, it is not at all clear that Hussein and his six co-defendants will be found guilty of genocide, a notoriously difficult crime to prove."
Has it been proven before? What other genocide cases do we have to go on -- Bosnia, Rwanda?
Amit Paley: At least 20 people have been convicted of genocide for the 1994 killings in Rwanda. Coincidentally, several former Yugoslav generals went on trial yesterday--the same day Hussein's trial began--on genocide. The only other head of state, Slobodan Milosevic, who was tried for genocide died before his trial ended.
There was also a trial of a businessman in the Hague who was charged with genocide in connecting with providing chemical weapons used to gas the Kurds. But he was acquitted of genocide.
Hyattsville, Md.: What happens to this second trial if there is a verdict from the first trial?
Amit Paley: The verdict from the first trial is expected to come in October, and then it will automatically be appealed. Iraqi law does not define how long that process would take, so we have no idea when it might come down. Officials close to the court are reluctant to even guess. If he is sentenced to death and executed, the charges against Hussein will be dropped but the case against the other defendants will continue.
Boston, Mass.: What are the ramifications for American policies in Iraq that this trial may bring about?
Amit Paley: I'm not sure that this trial will have any significant effect on troop levels or appropriations or that sort of thing.
But experts believe that verdict on the charge of genocide--the most heinous of crimes--may decide whether history views Hussein as one of the world's most brutal tyrants or simply a workaday dictator.
And that view of Hussein may affect whether future generations people the Iraq war was worthwhile or not.
Alexandria, Va.: Of course a long trial won't cause Hussein to regain power but the longer he is alive, the better the chance that he will be freed from captivity, reinvigorate the Baathists and they will emerge victorious in the civil war.
Amit Paley: The military doesn't disclose exactly where Hussein is being held, but you can bet that he is under tremendous security. So I think the chances of him escaping are almost nil.
I think the main concern for most Iraqis now are almost unimaginably bad living conditions and the seeming slide into civil war. Hussein coming back to power certainly isn't their number one fear.
Atlanta, Ga.: I am honestly curious, not just slamming them when I ask -- why do groups like HRW insist on making the perfect the enemy of the good? The fact that Iraqis are giving Saddam any trial at all is remarkable; the traditional approach to a deposed tyrant is a bullet in the back of the head.
Thanks for your hard work in reporting from Iraq.
Amit Paley: A lot of legal experts are following this trial very closely--and trying to hold it to a very high standard--because what happens here will set a precedent for future genocide trials.
So a lot of the concern is about perceptions of fairness and justice--but also about what it means for the future of international law.
For those who are interested there is an excellent Web site following the trial: http://www.law.case.edu/saddamtrial/index.asp
As arguably the most important war crimes proceeding since Nuremberg, the trial of Saddam Hussein is likely to constitute a "Grotian Moment" -- defined as a legal development that is so significant that it can create new customary international law or radically transform the interpretation of treaty-based law.
Washington, D.C.: What is the level of Hussein's support among Iraqis today? Is he wildly popular or is he long forgotten? Would his execution/conviction affect the brewing civil war in any way?
Amit Paley: The sectarian conflict would certainly not end if Hussein were convicted or executed. The fighting between Sunnis and Shiites has in many ways moved beyond them. Factions of those groups have strong religious beliefs motivating them, and those beliefs are not predicated on Hussein being alive or dead.
As for the level of support for him, it's really hard to make any generalizations about the Iraqi people--because the sectarian divisions are so deep. Some people are so unhappy with the current conditions in Iraq--particularly in Baghdad--that they would prefer to return to life under Hussein. But you don't run into many people here in Baghdad who admire him.
Boston, Mass.: Is there much interest among Iraqis, in the street, in this trial? How does it compared with the interest in the first trial?
Amit Paley: In Iraqi Kurdistan, there is tremendous interest in the trial. The Kurds believe they were the subject of a genocide that has gone unpunished for almost 20 years--they see this as their chance for justice.
But for other Iraqis, the trial is not on the top of their agenda. They are more concerned with a lack of electricity, a lack of oil, constant curfews, horrific daily violence and constant threats from radical groups. For them, today is more important than what happened 20 years ago.
Washington, DC: Hi Amit, How are the Iraqi media covering the trial? Do Iraqis seem at all sympathetic/frustrated given all the courtroom drama?
Amit Paley: The trial's opening was carried live yesterday on television stations across the Middle East. It was on the front page of almost every major newspaper in Baghdad. So local media are definitely paying attention to it.
In terms of court room drama, there was actually a lot less of it at yesterday's opening than in the first trial. Legal observers want the court to seem more dignified with less frequent outbursts--because it makes the trial move faster and the process seem more just.
But the downside of less court room hi jinks is that it might make the tribunal seem more boring to the media and average Iraqis, and cause them to ignore the trial.
Evergreen Park, Ill.: This trial is nothing more than a charade. Hussein will be found guilty and executed and Iraq will be lost to the Shiite majority. The question is when will Bush, Cheney Rumsfeld and others be tried for war crimes. Probably never as our foreign policy allows excesses on our side but no other country'. This administration is MORE guilty than the past president of Iraq is.
Amit Paley: I've received several comments like this, so thought I would share one:
Anonymous: How do Sunnis view the Saddam trial? Individual Sunnis may hate the man, but as a group do they view the trial as recrimination by Kurds and Shia whose rights they still deny?
Former Ambassador Galbraith writes in the NYRB that Iraqi Parliament speaker al-Mashhadani collaborated with al Qaeda allies Ansar Islam and Ansar al-Sunna. What is his present role and influence?
Amit Paley: It is true that the Sunnis in general held greater power under Hussein, but many of them detest Hussein and harbor no ill will towards Kurds or Shiites. There are many cases of intermarriage between all three sects. So while there clearly are Sunnis who support Hussein and believe it is their religious obligation to slaughter Shiites, there are many who hope for reconciliation between all Iraqis.
As for Mashhadani, he appears to be on his way out as speaker. He has made many provocative comments that embarrassed his colleagues and it is expected that he will soon be replaced by a less outspoken Sunni.
Amit Paley: Thanks for all your questions. Good night from here in Baghdad.
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Chatological Humor*
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Gene Weingarten's controversial humor column, Below the Beltway , appears every Sunday in The Washington Post Magazine. He aspires to someday become a National Treasure, but is currently more of a National Gag Novelty Item, like rubber dog poo.
He is online, at any rate, each Tuesday, to take your questions and abuse.
This week's poll: Men | Women
Weingarten is the author of "The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life. And Death" and co-author of "I'm with Stupid," with feminist scholar Gina Barreca. "Below the Beltway" is now syndicated nationally by The Washington Post Writers Group .
New to Chatological Humor? Read the FAQ .
I seldom tell tales from the bedroom - my bedroom -- but today I will make an exception.
My wife and I were lying in bed on Friday night. Her head was on my shoulder, like a sleepy golden storm. We were about to drift off to sleep. The following conversation is verbatim.
Me: I have a confession to make. I have another wife and family.
Me: They're in the suburbs of Chicago.
Wife: Do you have better clothing there? If so, you should bring it the next trip.
I had a whole array of things I was going to discuss in this intro, but events have superseded them. HERE is a story I wrote last night, which appeared in today's Style section. We'll wait here while you read it. It is quite short.
Good. Welcome back. The story is getting an avalanche of e-mail, not from people who usually read my stuff but from that genre of male known as the Avid Sports Enthusiast. They were FURIOUS. As I write this at 11 a.m., there have been more than 100 e-mails, most of which are a variation of the ones from which I quote below:
Anybody who knows anything about football knows that Drew Bledsoe was not ordering out a pizza and that the temperature was not 9,000 degrees on the field. Come on, lighten up and talk about the things that Tony did right like bring up the Terrell Owens issues with the Dallas owner Jerry Jones and prompted some intelligent arguments with Theisman. This is one guy who felt that this column was a waste and the criticism unfounded. - Lawrence Gould
Where do you get off criticizing his physical features? What does that have to do with anything? I didn't listen to the whole broadacast but based on what you have laid out, you either have no sense of humor or you have no sense of professional dignity. - Tom Bartley
It is clear, based on your article, that you suffer from professional jealousy of Mr. Kornheiser. Your article makes you look sad and pathetic. Why not focus on building up your own career, rather then attempting to pull a cometitor down to your level? Insinuating that Mr. Kornheiser's jokes were actually mistatements of fact shows a desperate attempt to discredit someone who you obviously hold a vendetta against. I suspect that you fell you deserve to be in the Monday Night Football booth, but this is no way to go about trying to land that job. Grow up! --- Matthew Rutledge
It almost pains me that I feel the need to respond to the drivel that (for some reason) the Post let you publish. Let me start by saying that I don't necessarily disagree with you about how bad Tony is on MNF. But the "points" you make and comments you reference are so off-base, I wonder if your "column" wasn't written tongue in cheek. Tony's job is to make off-the cuff, zany remarks. Of course he is not going to call the plays as they happen. If you knew anything about sportscasting, you would know that would be the job of the play-by-play man. (That would be Mike Tirico.)"He always offered commentary after everything was over." That is your astute observation? That's Tony's job, bonehead. To add to the play-by-play man (again, in case you forgot, that's Tirico) and the color man (the "ex-jock" you referred to, Joe Theismann.) He ADDS to what they say. And do you really think Tony believes there are 5 quarters in a football game? Or that Bledsoe was ordering a pizza. It was a JOKE, dummy. Much like your "column." -- Andy Symonds
I'm going to guess you are in your late 20's or early 30's and are just dumb enough to believe that if you blast Tony like Paul did... you too will be "famous" in Blogs this week. Sorry to disappoint you... but your article not only has no teeth... but you imply that the jokes Tony made (5,000 degrees, 5th quarter) were actually mistakes on his part! Also, your comments on his head are way over the top. I'd love for you to put a picture of yourself next to your article so all could see how pasty, zit scared, greasy haired, bad dressed of a loser you are. You thought this article was providing "shock" value...wrong, this one will cost you your job. - Glen.
Okay, then! Wow! I guess I really screwed THAT one up!
Thanks to Allen Robinson for finding this aptonym in an MSNBC story:
"Military leaders deny any discrimination. 'Service in the military is open to people of all creeds and religions,' says Michael Milord, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard."
And thanks to Dave Bruggeman, for this important link , about combating the dreaded male equivalent of Visible Bra Line.
No, neither I nor any other guy has any idea what "heather grey" might look like. I couldn't reach my wife, so I contacted my friend, Rachel, who is an actual woman, too, and asked her to describe "heather grey" to a guy. "It's like the color of the 'Send' button," she said. Okay, got it.
A few people called my attention to THIS comic strip , which is just extraordinary. If this is an example of the level of creativity in this new strip, Lio, we're going to be watching it weekly.
The double dactyls keep coming in. This one is from Peter Owen. Unlike most, it scans.
In searching my double dactyl file, I found a really good one -- heretofore unpublished -- written by my son, Dan, and me about four years ago. Here is its, all rights reserved, etc. This may not be republished or rebroadcast without without the written consent of Major League Baseball.
Jolted the ball but was
Laid her in rose bouquets
Please answer today's poll ( Men | Women ). Interestingly, these two stories share something in common, as I will explain.
Okay, lessee. A good comic week.
The CPOW is Sunday's Candorville , for the sheer cheek of it. The First Runner Up is Saturday's Rhymes with Orange (scroll back to Saturday). Honorables: Speed Bump on Friday, Agnes today, Sunday's Pearls Before Swine .
Honolulu, Hawaii: "I'm on Fire" is a better song, but "Wildfire" brings back wonderful memories -- riding around in the back of my best friend from kindergarten's dad's El Camino screaming/singing "Wildfire" at the top of our lungs.
Gene Weingarten: By that reasoning, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" is a great song.
Why, Gene, Why?: Before I took the poll, I had the fortune of never having heard the song "Wildfire" before. I read the lyrics and was confident enough in voting, but later decided to listen to the song figuring that the music must be really good to make up for the lyrics. Ouch! It's even worse with the music. Why did you inflict this on us, Gene? You should not have let Chatwoman into talk you into publicly shaming her like this. Cruel!
Gene Weingarten: I gallantly waited a full week after her first online defense of Wildfire ("That song gives me chills..."). I hoped her insanity would subside. But no. She kept telling me how great the song was, how there was a subtle suggestion it was about a child, etc. The final straw was when I proposed "I'm On Fire" as the comparison, and she wrote, "I HATE that song."
Nebraska: You love The Boss's interior rhyme, don't you, Gene?
Gene Weingarten: Yes, I do. I am a sucker for interior rhyme. Poe did it to me, when I was 13. I got the complete Poe for a bar mitzvah present.
Once upon a midnight dreary as I wandered weak and weary over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore ....
You could speak not a word of English and still find that beautiful. Then, Coleridge.
In Xanadu did Kublai Khan a stately pleasure dome decree,
where Alph, the sacred river ran, through caverns measureless to man, down to a sunless sea.
I should point out, in her wretched defense, that Chatwoman is also a fan of Coleridge.
Seeing "Wildfire" reminded me of reading Dave Barry's "Bad Song book," since it was mentioned there. The "killing frost" is stupid, but otherwise there's something about that song, I must admit I like.
In fact, I like a lot of the songs in Dave's book. Possibly because my Dad played many of them (Elusive Butterfly of Love!) constantly when I was a kid (I'm in my '30s). Are my tastes permanently warped, or can I recover?
Gene Weingarten: I like Elusive Butterfly, too. And it is a truly terrible song. Sugar, Sugar is good, too. By the Archies. Oh, and "Concrete and Clay." That's a great bad song.
Washington, D.C.: "American Pie": Great. Now can you decipher "Wooly Bully?"
Gene Weingarten: Sure. Hattie saw something and told Mattie about it. It was this thang, and it had horns a woolly jaw. Also, Hattie advised Mattie that, to avoid seeming clueless about popular tastes, she should learn to dance. The song, pretty clearly, is a statement about the alienation of modern man as he attempts to conform to societal norms that seem increasingly pointless, in an implacable universe.
Heather grey: Heather grey is the grey that is MOST familiar to all men -- it's sweatpants grey. It's grey with little dark flecks (that's the "heather" part).
Gene Weingarten: Noted. Though Rachel was close, too.
Alexandria, Va.: Gene -- A question only you could answer: A man and woman are having sex in a public restroom. Are they in the men's room or the ladies' room?
Hi Katie! (a shout-out to my sister)
Gene Weingarten: Excellent question! I am pretty sure they are in the men's room. If I were for some reason planning such a foray, I would choose the men's room on the theory that a man would be less likely to summon authorities, should the foray be sussed out by a stranger.
Any other interpretations out there?
Maryland: I had a dream last night I was voting in the Maryland state election. Nothing unusual, just going to a polling station and casting my ballot (don't know who I voted for).
I wondering what this says about me.
Gene Weingarten: That's more boring than MY dreams.
Working the pole: I am a moderately short woman, which makes it very difficult for me to reach the holds running along the ceiling of Metro cars. My only options are the poles or the top of seats. Why is it that people (and by people I mean men), even in a packed train, will lean the full length of their bodies against the poles? This means I am either swinging from the ceiling like a monkey or wedging my hand under a sweaty back. Please people (and by people I mean men), share the pole.
Gene Weingarten: Your complaint is noted. As a man married to a woman of modest height, I have become sensitized to the problems of altitudinal deficit. Many years ago, when I edited the Sunday Style section, I ran a nice little piece by a woman named Merrily Powell, on this very subject. It took me a half hour to find this piece. I did it for you, sweetie. As an apology for the male pole-hogging jerx.
washingtonpost.com: Tick Tick Ticked , ( Post, Sept. 1, 1996 )
Someone else's rib: Wife: Do you have better clothing there? If so, you should bring it the next trip.
Your wife is funnier than you are (and I happen to think you are pretty funny).
Gene Weingarten: I frequently say that my wife has a great sense of humor, but it is very different from mine. This is a good example of what I mean. It is a very female sense of humor, actually. Situational. Gina would understand.
Washington, D.C.: Is it an American thing that we generally don't recognize satire when we see it?
From people misinterpreting the Onion, the Colbert Report and now your article, it makes me wonder. British people don't seem to have this trouble. Did no one read Swift in high school? Eesh.
Gene Weingarten: In this case, I think we are seeing Sports Blindness.
New York, N.Y.: A Men's Room may not be clean enough or set the right environment for a woman to have sex. Unless it is a wedding and the girl is a bridesmaid.
Gene Weingarten: Many people are saying this.
Lusby, Md.: There is only one explanation for Chatwoman's love of "Wildfire." She's a girl (or once was a girl), and the song is about a girl and her pony. As the father of three daughters, I know that all girls love anything to do with horses and/or ponies. I bet the song made Liz cry (and maybe it still does). If the lyrics were changed to a boy and his dog, or a guy and his car, it would never find its way onto her iPod. Musically and lyrically speaking, there's no other explanation for anyone liking that song.
Singlesqua, RE: I read the transcript after the chat has ended, so I was not able to offer this advice last week. There is a simple solution to the co-worker who leaves a single square rather than change the toilet paper roll. The chatter should either always bring tissues with her to the bathroom, or check for the offending square before using the facilities and get tissues if needed. Do not, under any circumstances, touch the square! Use your tissues. Single-square Sallie will soon succumb and switch the roll. I suspect the problem will be resolved within days, but be prepared to hold out for weeks. Discuss your plan with no one! SSS will be mystified and impressed by your apparent ability to use the facilities without using toilet paper. Your problem will be solved and your talents legion. Godspeed.
Gene Weingarten: This woman is clearly a nuclear arms negotiatior, familiar with "throw weights" and the like. Good plan.
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: As a patient of Dr. Frankfurter's, I'd just like to add a few comments. First, he isn't as humorless as your interview suggests. He always laughs at my stuff! Because I'm funny!! Secondly, how did you rate a return phone call? No one over there ever returns my calls, and I'm a PAYING customer!
washingtonpost.com: Pregnant With Humor , ( Post Magazine, Aug. 20 )
Gene Weingarten: He wasn't unfunny. I think he was just being very careful about not saying something that might be taken out of context and offend people who are in a vulnerable state. I got no problem with that.
By the way, I heard from Doc Frankfurter's sister, who liked the column. She is a wedding photographer. She is amazingly good. If you want to see wedding photos like you've never seen, check out michellefrankfurter.com.
Bathroom sex: As a woman, I wouldn't go into the men's room to have sex--too gross. Blech. The women's room would probably be cleaner, and I don't think most women would tattle, either. Just gossip about it.
And how awesome was the Yankees sweep this weekend? I'm still glowing.
Gene Weingarten: It was a massacre. Pretty much like today's poll.
Washington, D.C: So has Tony said anything to you yet about your article. I thought it was funny.
Gene Weingarten: Haven't heard from him yet. He'll like it. We are old friends.
Ceremo, NY: Whoa! Wait a sec! You were a bar mitzvah? Please share the details.
Gene Weingarten: I grew up Jewish in the Bronx. Sure.
Birmingham, Ala.: Dear great comic comics guru: Please help settle a point of disagreement between my husband and me concerning yesterday's "Mother Goose and Grimm."To recap, Mother Goose is working a crossword puzzle and asks the name of Noah's wife, to which Grimm replies "Joan of Arc." When my husband choked on his cereal and showed me the strip, I commented that it should have said Joan of Ark. My husband contends that the strip is perfect because the humor is in the sound of the word rather than the spelling. What say you?
washingtonpost.com: Mother Goose and Grimm , ( Aug. 20 )
Gene Weingarten: You are right. It would be slightly better with Ark. A more satisfying pun in both directions.
Chicago, Ill.: Sports Blindness stems from the fact that sports fans are subjected to some of the worst writers (Along with some great ones like Povich and Wilbon) and sport talk radio, thus making them unable to see satire since so many writers and radio hosts take on absurd positions every day and defend them to the death. I mean does your piece really read any differently than the kind of crap Skip Bayless and Jay Mariotti produces?
Gene Weingarten: I can only conclude that they didn't read the italic intro. But maybe they did!
Rockville, Md.: I don't even believe this aptonym. Seriously? Poltrack tracks ratings and polls? That can't be real. WP, I don't believe you!
"When the DVR came on the scene, there were all these apocalyptic predictions as to how it was going to destroy the mass market and mass-market TV," said David Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision, the company's research shop. "People became infatuated with the technology and the idea that people were going to take total control of their TV viewing."
Poltrack is one of the industry's experts on researching viewing habits and telling programmers and executives what the data mean.
Gene Weingarten: I have just added it to the Hall of Fame.
Arlington, Va.: Last week's chat was awesome. And since we are talking female body parts and male attraction...
As a large-breasted woman who has had meaningful relationships with a few men, I much prefer to be with a breast man. The breast man adores breasts and is not shy about it. The man who has no real preference is attentive to the girls but not overly so.
Why not go for that thing (besides sense of humor, depth of soul, etc.) that is most attractive to you?
I love a well defined bicep on a man, and while I wouldn't discount a man without the guns, I did certainly notice that my last man didn't have the one physical trait I so admire.
And this is your favorite man part?
This is like my saying I love a shapely as.
The singular of "biceps" is "biceps." No such thing as a bicep.
Wildfire...: I like it, too, Liz. Pooh on mean ol' Gene and his sucky songs.
Gene Weingarten: I am posting this for the simple reason that it is THE ONLY DEFENSE OF WILDFIRE AS YET RECEIVED.
Going American: American Pie, USA, has broken the DJ Code, by revealing why "American Pie" got more than expected airplay. In my former DJ life, I found that Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and the Beatles' "Hey, Jude" worked just as well for potty breaks. For serious emergencies? "Inna Gadda Da Vida".
Gene Weingarten: This is in reference to the extended American Pie debate in last week's updates.
Ah, In a Gadda Da Vida. I have an insight into that song, delivered by Rich Leiby many years ago when he was writing a story about a physicist who had played with Iron Butterfly. It is the story of the meaning of "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida"! But first, to get you in the mood, here is a nice clip. I hope the you tube server survives the surge of hits:
Gene Weingarten: Okay. Well, one day Doug Ingle, Iron Butterfly's front man, noodled out the tune on his guitar. He was lying on the floor at the time.
One of the other band members said, "Hey, man, that sounds cool. What's it called?" And Doug told him the name he'd come up with. Unfortunately, at the time Mr. Ingle was drunk beyond all rationality and facial muscle control. What he was TRYING to say was "In the Garden of Eden."
They went with the slur, instead.
Hey, that's Barbi Benton on the dance floor.
Arlington, Va.: Don't get me wrong -- I'm a guy, and I'll listen to anything the Boss writes -- but "I'm On Fire" has a huge honking flaw. It is impossible to hear the line, "At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet," without thinking that Bruce drank a lot of iced tea before going to bed and had an embarrassing accident. Try as one might, one cannot seduce a woman with this song, because she will either cringe or start giggling midway through.
Gene Weingarten: Not me. I got it. Been there.
Tony K.: Better or worse than Dennis Miller?
Gene Weingarten: Better. Definitely. Of course, someone who said nothing at all would be better than Dennis Miller.
Question their own sense of
You guys need a LOT of editing. Fortunately, it is what I do.
washingtonpost.com: That "pooh" comment is NOT the only defense of "Wildfire." Gene is selectively censoring the comments I send over to him in order to further his own point of view.
Great Falls: Michelle Frankfurter photographed MY wedding. She is awesome. And funny. I'm still upset that no shots from my wedding made it onto her website.
Now, if we had had bridesmaids having sex in the men's room, maybe we could have made the site.
Gene Weingarten: I was really blown away by those pictures. Almost made me reconsider my stance on weddings. Not.
Baltimore, Md.: My friend Jules is reading your chat for the first time today. Won't you say hi to her? It's nearly her birthday, too.
Gene Weingarten: Does she LOOK like a man, too?
You've opined on almost all things horological. What's the MOST you would consider spending for a watch, wrist or pocket. Second, are flourescent numerals permissible?
Gene Weingarten: Fluorescent is permissible. I once paid $250 for a 1950s Jules Jurgensen. That's pretty much my limit. I paid $1,200 for a clock. A 1930 Seth Thomas #2.
Alexandria, Va.: May I suggest a poll? It is a long held belief among girlfriends of mine that a girl with a hot bod and a not so pretty face will be MUCH more successful dating than a girl with a pretty face and a not so hot bod. I have friends of both persuasions (not me, I have neither, but I have wit which trumps both. I don't have grammar, but oh well) and the hot bod chicks get WAY more action. And before the assumption is made that all the non hot-bod women are fat -- let me clarify. I have two friends with pretty faces who are very, very skinny -- especially in the chesticular area, and they are always passed over for the ladies with so-so face and endowments. Also, good hair seems to factor in as well. A girl with a good body and good hair is total man bait, no matter what the face looks like. You made a statement in your last chat that argued the opposite point -- I'd like to see how things play out in a poll.
Gene Weingarten: I think we're gonna stay away from horrifically sexist and objectifying polls for a while. I will generalize from the experience of one man only:
There is a difference between the look of the stranger who you sort of lunge at for a date, and the look of a woman you want to be with for a long time. For the lunge magnet, yeah, I think a hot bod (however the guy defines hot) is probably the primo factor; and yes, for reasons I cannot explain, hair matters.
But something happens once you know a woman pretty well. All the features coalesce into a whole. She becomes the sum of her parts, and the individual elements matter less. This is not to say that the elements are unimportant, but they are placed in a saner perspective. It is the holistic approach to lust.
I remember the first time I laid eyes on the woman who would become my wife, many years later. I liked what I saw, but there was no particular lunge factor. She was just another woman in the office, albeit one with spectacular legs. Today, in retrospect, I simply cannot BELIEVE that I failed to appreciate from the get-go the wondrousness of the package.
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.: Oh, you want Wildfire defenses? I LOVE that song. (30 yo female, small boobs.) I haven't heard it in probably 12 years, and reading the lyrics made me want to go to my parents' house and dig out the LP.
Chatwoman, I am scouring my posts here, and see no other. I deny censorship. Show me.
Gene Weingarten: Okay, the poll.
Well, these two songs are alike in two ways: First, the initial time that Chatwoman and I heard them respectively) we got a chill. She, because she was a little girl. She subsequently named her cat "Wildfire." Me, because I thought that Springsteen was coming creepily close to stalker-pedophilia.
Chatwoman thinks Wildfire is about a little girl, but she is wrong. It's a product of her age when she first heard it. That possibility is pretty well taken care of at the end. They're not going to ride off on a little girl's pony, even metaphorically.
I was wrong, too. You don't talk to an underage girl the way Springsteen is talking. He's referring to a woman who is tearing him apart with lust he cannot satisfy. It's a very good song. If you have any doubt about the meaning of this song, check the YouTube video that Ms. Chatwoman will grudgingly link to now. I hate videos for this very reason. There should be ambiguity.
Anyway, the only important result of this poll, as I alluded to before, is the fact that men like my choice in music better yet almost half of them would prefer to be with Chatwoman. Understandable. I'd make the same choice. And yet, though women overwhelmingly prefer my choice of music, almost half of them want to be with Chatwoman. This is so horrifying I refuse to discuss it any more, ever. It didn't happen.
Birmingham, Ala.: You think that "killing frost" is stupid because you were born and raised in a concrete jungle. Farmers use the term "killing frost" to refer to an early frost that kills the crops in the field before they can be harvested.
I don't know that this explanation helps the song, but I had to stand up for the term killing frost. It kills plants -- not people.
Gene Weingarten: Right, and she and the horse perished in a frost that kills only tomatoes!
Tony K: I loved your tony K. review! Great job! I would love for someone to write a review of the one you refer to as ex-jock. I have always hated listening to him cover a game, and now that he is with Tirico and Kornheiser, it's even more painful. Why does he have to take everything Tony says so literally and then respond to it as if he's angry at Tony? Won't someone please set Theisman straight? Gene? Please?
Gene Weingarten: I found it disturbing. It is almost as though Theismann is trying to sabotage Tony. He responds superciliously, pedantically. I really think Theismann is awful.
washingtonpost.com: I'm on Fire , ( YouTube.com )
Infertility Jokes: Ok Gene, halfway through the chat and I'm still waiting for them! Are you going to answer my joke throwdown?
Gene Weingarten: No, Julie, I am not.
This young lady, who has consulted infertility docs, wrote to me to suggest that instead of telling pregnancy jokes, as I did in the column, that I tell infertility jokes. She said that to someone battling infertility, jokes about pregnancy seem neener-neener-neener. Julie, I tried to come up with some before the chat, and they were kind of lamely funny, but ... I decided I could not go there. This is too serious and issue for too many people.
North Carolina: I prefer Wildfire. "I'm on fire" makes me feel, well, yucky inside, and I really don't like to feel that way.
washingtonpost.com: Ahem. I am heartily disappointed that there was such a clear vote in favor of Springsteen. If you've been around the chat a while, it's clear that Gene and I both love music. Gene likes music with subtle, somewhat cerebral messages -- hence the hours of his life wasted on an overblown analysis of "American Pie" and "Seasons in the Sun." Me, I like raw rock and roll more than anything else. Give me Iggy and the Stooges or give me death. Simple, pure and in your face -- this is the music I like most. This has been clear ever since Gene and I first argued about "Hang on Sloopy" vs. "Sloop John B." (As ever, I contend that "Hang on Sloopy" is the better rock song.) While "Wildfire" has it's own spin on the simple and raw qualities I like, it's not really emblematic of my taste in music. Still, I'm proud to have it share space on my iPod with Black Sabbath and the Sonics. The majority of you, however, misunderstood this poll in the very same way Gene did. This poll is a simple test -- song vs. song. Most polltakers, and Gene, answered it as if it were a competition between the artists and assumed that a vote for "Wildfire" would mean a denial of the superiority of Springsteen overall. Wrong. There's no question that Springsteen is the better, more successful and prolific artist. In short, you've all answered a question unasked. But stop and consider what makes a good song: Is it the lyrics? The technical complexity? The, ahem, interior rhyme? Or is it the feeling it evokes in the listener? For me, it's the latter and "Wildfire" evokes happy memories of childhood in the late '70s -- you know, like Billy Beer, the Bicentennial or "Roller Boogie." Which explains the overwhelming response to uncool songs we love anyway . Springsteen's song, while technically and poetically superior, leaves me flat, if not a little uncomfortable. Further, You have all followed Gene down the path to blind inflexibility and unquestioned allegiance to an artist. This Springsteen song is no "Born to Run." It's not even "Born in the USA." I'd rather listen to Eddie and the Cruisers. I would encourage you all to think outside the pack mentality. It's okay to not like something by Springsteen. You don't have to blindly approve of everything this man does. I don't like much by him at all and nothing bad has happened to me yet. I would also like to point out that a weekend spent in a cabin outfitted by Gene would mean a steady diet of plain hotdogs, milk chocolate and clouds of cigar smoke. Also, like most meateaters, he smells.
Washington, D.C.: I'm a guy. When "Wildfire" came out, I kept the car radio tuned to the station (AM) that gave it the most airplay. I hated that song then, and I hate it now, but we boys knew that if you were with [name redacted] when it came on, you could cop a feel.
Fred from New Orleans: The fertility specialist in New Orleans is (or was) Dr. Richard Dickey.
Gene Weingarten: Right you are.
Boring Elected officials in Maryland: When I was starting a new medication, my doctor warned me that I might, initially, have unusual and vivid dreams. I dreamt that I was running for Attorney-General of Maryland. Doctor said that if that happened again, she'd take me off the medication.
Washington, D.C.: Last week you asked what is the fewest number of pitches that a team could make in a complete game. If a pitcher was called for tow balks every inning, and then threw a triple play ball, he could get out with nine pitches. Eight if his team was winning in the ninth at home.
Gene Weingarten: Actually wrong, but I do have to revise my answer after more research.
I never actually realized this, but it is possible to balk with no one on base. If a pitcher starts into his motion and stops, the ump calls a ball on the pitcher. So, if there were a spastic pitcher up there who kept dropping the ball, he could walk a batter without a pitch.
However, every subsequent balk would just move the runner along. So, what could happen is that a pitcher could balk a runner to first, then throw one pitch that became a double play, then another pitch for an out. Two pitches an inning. Once, he could balk a runner home, so he only has to pitch 8 innings. Revised Answer: 16 pitches.
Fairfax, Va.: Bravo on today's commentary about Tony K's ineptitude on MNF. That first sentence is, hands down, one of the best bits of writing I've seen in many, many years -- ranks right up there with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" or "Call me Ishmael."
You're clearly a credit to the profession. Even if you DO look like a Gene Shalit clone having a bad hair day.
And no, this ISN'T Mrs. Kornheiser...
washingtonpost.com: Yo, Tony! I'm Talkin' About You! , ( Post, Aug. 22 )
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, I admit it took some chutzpah to criticize Tony's head, with a head like mine.
michellefrankfurter.com: Wow! These are amazing!
Gene Weingarten: Yeah. I imagine it is possible that some people would not be happy with their pictures. She captures complexity of emotion.
I was L7.: I just realized upon reading your explication of "Woolly Bully" that for the last 35+ years I have been thinking the lyric was "had two big horns/like a woolly dog."
Dogs don't have horns! Excuse me while I kiss this guy.
Gene Weingarten: The best misheard lyric, as explained by Dave Barry: Ain't no woman like the one-eyed Gott.
London, UK: I am sending you virtual gold stars for the Leonard Cohen reference ("...like a sleepy golden storm"), which has me happily humming one of my favorite songs. It almost makes up for the crime you perpetrated by putting Wildfire in my head.
For what its worth, my husband and I danced to Leonard Cohen for our first dance at our (I assure you, highly un-fussy) wedding. It was Take This Waltz. Deeply meaningful to us. Considered a highly odd choice by friends and family. Was it the bit about "a corner where death comes to die"?
Gene Weingarten: Hahaha. You're welcome.
re: Theismann: The first regular season game that he does will be the Redskins vs the Vikings. Joe T will be even more unbearable with his "when I used to play" stories. I suggest ESPN have the clip of his last play cued up and everytime he says too much, play it! Maybe even a special appearance by LT?!?!
Gene Weingarten: Hahahahaha. For those who do not know, Theismann's last play involved Lawrence Taylor literally creating a second knee for him, roughly eight inches below the other one.
Baseball quizzer: I'm the guy who sent the correct answer last week.
I did preface by saying there were ways to throw NO pitches (and gave an example of one) if the batter broke the rules.
Under you balk scenario, the pitcher could pick the guy off first.
But 25 is the minimum if everyone obeys the rules.
Gene Weingarten: Very true! No pitches.
Annandale, Va.: Way to go, Liz! This is why I picked hanging with you even though I don't share your affinity for "Wildfire".
Pearls Before Swine: Someone needs to tell Pastis that Doonesbury characters have been aging for a long time (he claimed only Baby Blues and For Better or For Worse were doing so)...
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, I know. And I argue that Baby Blues characters are not aging, really. They had to age a notch to create a new baby. But Wren has been crawling around and pooping in her pants for YEARS.
I actually mentioned this to Pastis. He agreed.
Dreamed about you and VPL: I had a dream last night about you and VPL. VPL had somehow become a fashion trend and you were being awarded an award for starting a trend. I cannot get the dream out of my head....thanks!
Gene Weingarten: I love that dream.
Washington, D.C.: Gene, what makes you so sure Springsteen's actually addressing the girl/woman directly, and not just giving voice to forbidden thoughts from a distance? And even if she is over 18, doesn't the use of "little girl" and "daddy" bring in some creepy infantilizing overtones anyway?
It's still a better song than "Wildfire." I'm just curious.
Gene Weingarten: Does he do to you things that I do....? No, not a girl. Also, look at the video.
Wildfire: This is a metaphor for relationships and having something/someone you love and losing it. The emotional "coldness" killed her not the frost that kills tomatoes! It's not about farming and horses in a literal sense.
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, and "Woolly Bully" is what I said.
Arlington, Va.: Dude, Bruce Springsteen sucks. His musical style is like Rushdie's writing style. Throwing a lot of crap at a wall to see what sticks doesn't take talent, it takes endurance. "Blinded by the Light" was an amazing song, but not his version. His songs more than anything else I've ever heard lend credence to the argument that rock and roll is just noise. He's a funny guy, but a crappy musician.
West Coast: In early voting, "I'm on Fire" is killing "Wildfire" among both sexes. And yet the vote is 50-50 on the question of whose music they'd like to be stuck with.
So I gotta wonder: do the guys understand they only get Liz's music, and not Liz herself? And what the hell are the women thinking?
Gene Weingarten: The women are thinking I am a homunculus. A gnome. A flabby over the hill sexless eunuch. This is the most disturbing poll result in the history of chat poll results, is what it is.
I Don't Understand!: Why, why, why do some of these girls (and I stress girls) feel the need to tell you (and us) one or more of the following: I have big/small breasts, I have VPL, I (heart) you, I poop, I'm a hot 20-something, etc., etc., etc. It screams of trying way too hard and quite frankly, it's incredibly annoying. It makes be embarrassed to admit I'm a female. Chatwoman - help me out here.
washingtonpost.com: Hey, I'm just the musically inept girl funneling this stuff over to Gene.
Gene Weingarten: Because it is in tune with the themes of this chat. It's an important qualifying fact. It would be like a guy calling into sports talk radio and saying, "Listen, I'm a Red Sox fan, but..."
Sports blindness: Out of curiousity, did any of your humor-impaired correspondents take note of the "Jewish guy" remark? Or was that not as offensive to them as misunderstanding the use of the telephone, etc.?
Gene Weingarten: Nope! No one mentioned that. It was all an elaborated deconstruction of how I know nothing about football and/or how I hate Tony.
I want to like you...: Okay--Tuesdays with Moron is HYSTERICAL. I started reading you about a month ago and I told my husband that anyone that writes something that funny is a winner. But -- don't make fun of men with male pattern (bald, hair loss). My husband has male pattern and he is great looking. It could not matter less to me that he does "not have hair."
People that lose their hair are not glad that it happened to them and certainly did nothing to cause it. Many men lost their hair years ago -- before Rogaine so that would not even have been an option.
If you are going to make fun of people then make fun of poor dressers, people who are lazy and won't work out or people who used so much that their brain is fried. Okay?
Gene Weingarten: No. Not okay, Mrs. Cue Ball.
Poor Gene: But honestly? I was thinking it would be weird to be alone in a snow-bound cabin for a weekend with a man my father's age.
Gene Weingarten: Go ahead, pile it on, why don't you?
Columbia, Md.: I wonder how many of the outraged responses to your column today are attempts to craft a response that's similar in tone, but the humor is lacking?
Alexandria, Va.: As a horse-crazy young girl (who is now older but still horse crazy) I wholeheartedly agree with the earlier poster's reasoning for loving Wildfire. I remember cringing when I heard it but loving it all the same because it mentioned a pony and hoping against hope that the pony lived. (who cared about the girl/woman... just wanted to make sure the pony was unharmed.)
Gene Weingarten: Okay, I found this from deep in the message queue. It does seem to summarize why anyone would like this song.
Liz for the Weeke, ND: I am a woman who voted to spend the weekend with Liz even though I think "Wildfire" sucks. I could change my vote if your wife could come too. We could probably listen to Joni Mitchell then, huh?
Gene Weingarten: My wife and I have similar tastes in pop music, actually, with one enormous, inexplicable exception. I love John Prine. She hates John Prine. It is a wonder we are still together.
Killing frost, again: I don't think the lyrics say that the frost killed the horse. It was the blizzard that followed when he got upset and busted down his stall.
Confession: I have always liked this song.
2nd confession: I'm not a Springsteen fan but always liked this particular song until you showed me the lyrics. Now I'm really repulsed!
And yes, I'm a woman.
Gene Weingarten: But.. why are you repulsed? This is all happening in his head.
Neighb, OR: Gene -- I saw you bringing your groceries into your house on Sunday. Tie your shoes.
Gene Weingarten: Hahaha. Yeah, when the rib returns with groceries, I just throw on sneakers to help her bring em in. It's hazardous, on the stairs.
Falls Church, Va.: Liz said of Gene: "like most meateaters, he smells."
Gene, I can't believe you let this pass. Everyone knows that vegetarians are notorious for their overactive intestinal output.
washingtonpost.com: What -- let me tell you -- veggies make much cleaner compost than rotting flesh.
Gene Weingarten: An interesting question, actually.
Vegans probably fart more, but the farts are less noticeable.
Esquire thing: Liz, if you haven't already (I'm behind), can you please post the text or another link to the Esquire article? I can't get the link to work.
Richmond, VA: Haha, my mother was pregnant with me when Joe Theismann went down. My dad was/is a huge Skins fan, so while she was dealing with the pregnancy, they kept showing that clip of him getting hurt over and over again. Didn't really help with the nausea.
Gene Weingarten: Wait... wouldn't that make you just sort of a ... child? Or does it make me really old? Or both?
Slurring In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida: Gene, are you sure of that fact? While it sounds very likely, I'd always heard a different story that I tend to believe over Rich's: That at the time they never would have been able to get the song on the air with the real words and title of "In the Garden of Eden"; considered too blasphemous, or something, by the suits at most radio stations.
Gene Weingarten: That's ridiculous. No, that is the right story.
Washington, DC: How scary is it that people are silently watching you bring groceries into your house? Judging you, even.
Gene Weingarten: I'm afraid I've come to terms with it. I try never to pick my nose in public.
I hope you get to read this: man, I've been so busy, I had not gotten the chance to check your chat for quite some time. I opened it up today...your article, itself, was not that funny, but man, the emails comments you got...thanks for sharing 'em. I had a good laugh.
I don't watch TV (let alone football) but I'd PAY to watch you do at least ONE football game coverage, color, play by play, what ever.
Gene Weingarten: You'd be disappointed. I suck on TV.
Gene Weingarten: Okay, time to go. I believe we once again broke the record for the number of posts received.
So listen, it's that time of year again. I need to finish a cover story and will be gone from today through the next three weeks. You can handle it. I just know you can.
Thank you, and see you all in mid September.
Wildfire, NE: I don't know where the Yellow Mountain is, but having lived in Nebraska for 10 years, I can tell you it is not located in that state. Another blow against Wildfire.
washingtonpost.com: Unlike the freight train which REALLY does run through Springsteen's skull?
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What's Cooking With Kim O'Donnel
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A graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education (formerly known as Peter Kump's New York Cooking School), Kim spends much of her time in front of the stove or with her nose in a cookbook.
Catch up on previous transcripts with the What's Cooking archive page .
Kim O'Donnel: Hello from Seattle, and happy birthday to me. I am celebrating a big one this year, and so far it feels pretty darn good. I guess I am now officially middle aged. It's still breakfast hour here, so I remain hopeful that those clouds will make way for the sun. I ate a killer meal last night at a place called Crow. Five of us ate family style, sharing plates throughout. The food was not fancy or complicated, but the flavors spoke loud and clear. Lovely sauces. Clean preparation. Really on point. Needless to say, I'm having a good old time here. I'll try to answer as much as I can about Seattle and other Pacific Northwest travel stuff, but feel free to share what's in your kitchens at the moment. Let's go...
Arlington, Va.: Hi Kim -- I am going to San Fran in early September on a business trip, and will only have a lunch and a dinner to schedule on my own. What is on your "can't miss" list? I know you just got back from there ... I am staying in the Union Square area, but I've never been to San Francisco at all and I am looking forward to exploring some.
Kim O'Donnel: Hey Arlington, here's something to get you started, from my blog . I did not do the fine dining thing while out there, as there was not enough time. One stop for sure is the Ferry Marketplace, where you can have lunch and browse the shops.
Arlington, Va.: Happy Birthday Kimodo! What's cooking for your celebration today?
Kim O'Donnel: In a few hours, I am headed to Salumi, the amazing lunch spot/ cured meats emporium owned by Armandino Batali. I met him last Friday for lunch, and I've decided that even when I get married next year, he's going to be my new boyfriend on the side. Just loved his spirit. I'll post a blog post on his place after the chat, by the way. Apparently, Armandino will be slicing up a salami birthday cake for me. I guess a picture will be in order. This evening, 6 of us are eating at one of my favorite spots, Matt's in the Market. It's a very small, intimate space, where you can see all the cooking action. Can't wait.
Design for me your perfect kitchen and your coice of equipment and utensils.
Kim O'Donnel: Hmm. Tough question. If I had my druthers, I'd like a big workspace. Could be an island or just a grand stainless steel table. Lots of natural light. Pots hanging from the ceiling. A six-burner stove. Two sinks. Space for cookbooks without getting in the way. What's your kitchen dream?
Sustainable Fish: I know that Chilean sea bass should not be ordered due to over fishing -- and that it is not a true bass, but what about other types of bass? I loved the sea bass I ate in the Adriatic and Mediterranean and want to order similar fish in the U.S., such as Branzino. Can you please advise or send me to a good resource?
Kim O'Donnel: Hey there, here are my picks for sustainable seafood resources: Environmental Defense , which includes both the environmental impact as well as the latest on contaminants. You'll notice that ED is recommending only farmed striped bass because wild has become laden with PCBS, mercury and pesticides. The Seafood Watch program at Monterey Bay Aquarium is also a worthy resource. Both Web sites have seafood pocket cards and constantly update info as it changes.
Washington, D.C.: Don't tease us about your wonderful meal without telling us what type of cuisine it was. What did you eat?
Kim O'Donnel: Last night? Well, as I mentioned we ate family style, sharing a bunch of plates. Starters included grilled grape leaves stuffed with manchego cheese, which made me swoon. I loved the combination. Squid rings with lots of garlic and little tomatoes and olives. Zoweee... An heirloom tomato-bread salad with gorgeously seasoned croutons and arugula that married beautifully with the rest. What else...Lasagna with a sauce that was so brilliantly red it looked nearly raw...A roast chicken with herbed green beans and a bread-sopping sauce....Razor clams with lots of garlic and wine over herby linguine. As I mentioned, nothing complicated, but food that felt lovingly prepared.
Kitchen dream: Plenty of counter space and storage in drawers/cabinets, though not too far to travel to get to any main part of the kitchen; a five-burner stove with 18" griddle, and two ovens; dish drawers to accommodate the large or small clean up, preferably with removable/adjustable prongs for holding things so a simple cereal bowl doesn't have to take up so much space.
Kim O'Donnel: I agree about the dish drawers. My friend here on the houseboat has amazing drawers that take up little space.
Commerce twp, Mich.: Just another reve on the Blueberry buckle Recipe. I baked it last Saturday while my wife was getting her hair done. We took it to share with friends and it was fantastic with vanilla ice cream. Thanks again. Paul
Kim O'Donnel: I love it! I wish all men would bake blueberry buckle while their wives were getting their hair done. Nice work, Paul.
Durham, N.C.: More of a comment. I've created my own rendition of your blueberry buckle after picking a few gallons of blueberries at a local pick-your-own farm. It was a hit this weekend. All I did was replace the 1/3 cup of flour for the topping with 1/3 cup oatmeal and 1 tbsp of flour and 2 tbsp of chopped nuts. It added a great crunch to the top of the buckle!
Kim O'Donnel: Wow, it's so heartwarming to see how many pockets of the country are experimenting with the blueberry buckle. I told my pals here I must whip up a batchu using Washington blueberries, still very much in season. Thank you so much.
Eat fish! :): I'm so jealous. I've lived in Seattle for eight years before moving to Dallas and miss it a lot. Make sure to eat lots of seafood, especially sushi! What a great place to be right now.
Kim O'Donnel: Thanks for checking in, dear. I really believe that Seattle is one of the best food towns in the country. So many interesting ways to dine and cook here. So much emphasis on local/seasonal. Inspirational.
New York, N.Y.: In re: Dream Kitchen ...
You forgot Garden Window for year round fresh herbs!
Kim O'Donnel: Yes! We need a sketch of this kitchen. I also need some kind of stool for sipping coffee. Shall we have a flat top computer screen that can be tucked away when the stove fires up?
Kitchen dream: Granite counter for baking.
6 burner stove with wok burner and a small burner for simmering.
Space for a kitchen table and adjascent to a bigger room, so I can hang with my peeps while I cook.
Big fridge, espresso machine, coffe roaster, blender, and food processor.
Fully stocked with good knives and pots.
Window over the sink. And, of course, a dishwasher.
Kim O'Donnel: More fab ideas for kitchen. I think I might compile all these ideas for the blog...
Capitol Hil, Washington, D.C.: Hi Kim! I love your chats -- they've certainly inspired with many ideas! Question: A friend of mine is celebrating a birthday, and is receiving nice knives from his girlfriend. To add to that gift, my boyfriend and I would like to give him a knife skills class- something of the type that they do at Sur la Table. The issue is they live in Philadelphia. Do you know of anything like that there? He's a beginner cook. (and for me, do we like the ones a Sur la Table?) Thanks for any help!
Kim O'Donnel: Fosters is a great kitchen place in Philly. Located in Reading Terminal Market. I think they have a Web site too. I am not sure if they host classes, but they are so nice there I bet they would have ideas. Check them out.
The last couple of days have been stressful and I was thinking of making a traditional comfort meal from my childhood in Russia.
Buckwheat served with fried onions and a chopped hard boiled egg.
Makes me want to go home right now!
Kim O'Donnel: Dallas, you are doing the right thing, taking care of yourself with food that takes you to a happy place. Take good care and keep us in the loop.
Divine Ms. K, Fairfax (until Nov 1, then it's Arlington again, woo hoo!): "even when I get married next year."
WHA? Has this been announced before and I'm just clueless, or was this a stealth way to make the announcement?? Congratulations!
Kim O'Donnel: Oh, Ms. K, I'm not too good at announcements. YES. I really am getting married this time. Engaged three times, but this one's the charm.
I'm looking for a mandoline for slicing veggies -- mostly potatoes for dishes like potatoes au gratin, lyonnaise, shoestring french fries, waffle fries, etc.
I don't plan on using it all that often, but I still want something sharp, easy to clean, and durable. I'm looking to stay under $50, too.
Kim O'Donnel: You may want to buy a plastic 'mandoline' from one of those big Asian groceries. I've had mine for years and spent close to nothing for it. Love having it for the very things you describe.
Vienna, Va.: Kim, any suggestions as to what would be a good "put you in the mood" meal? I am cooking dinner for the wife and I tonight. I have already gone the route of Filet and Lobster ... Just looking for variety. Not sure what works for you.
Kim O'Donnel: Wow. What a prince you are. Call me crazy, but a dinner with lots of garlic is very titillating. Shrimps cooked with garlic, baby tomatoes, a little white wine and then served over rice...ooh darlin', a recipe for romance. Get some local ripe peaches to share...sliced up with vanilla ice cream. A bottle of vino of course is key, and if you do the shrimp, consider a Gruner Vetliner or Pinot Blanc. Can't wait to hear what you decide!
Eugene, Ore.: Hi Kim, Welcome to the Pacific Northwest. Question: I saw a TV show a while ago about a Seattle restaurant called "Fork." The hook was the chef was well known, but bipolar (A bipolar cook? What a shock!) His space looked great and the food sounds decent. Have you heard of this place? Also, while in Seattle, you've got to try the Santa Fe Cafe up in the university district. Great pozole.
Kim O'Donnel: Thank you so much, Eugene! My friend tells me it is now closed, but she says it was a great space and sad to see it go. I will be headed to Oregon later this week, spending some time in Portland and then sipping wine in Willamette Valley. Stay tuned for those tales in my blog.
Another dream: I'm losing my dream kitchen due to a move across the country. The best part was the 3 ft x 10 ft counterspace right next to the sink.
While looking for a new home, we went into one where I measured 6 steps across the kitchen from stove to sink. What was that builder thinking? Big may be good in a lot of respects but you have to make the space efficient. The house hunt goes on ... with the kitchen being a hang up. Sigh
Kim O'Donnel: Keep looking, dear, til you find what you need. The kitchen is an important piece of one's living space. You'll get there. Where are you moving?
Dream Kitchen: Plenty of windows for light and plants, and most of all plenty of room for friends and family to help, to chat, to kibbitz, to sip wine or coffee, to make a home kitchen truly at home.
Kim O'Donnel: Yes indeed. Natural light is so key in a kitchen. I have a small space but the light is what saves me. Thanks for adding to the thread...
Happy Birthday !!!!!!!!1: Happy Birthday greetings for a wonderful day! Lucky you in Seattle my favorite place. Enjoy yourself, you deserve it. Okay, what would be your ideal birthday cake (dessert) to help celebrate! I am a sucker for an angel food cake w/ PINK 7 minute frosting and those silver balls ... thanks to childhood memories of my mom ... please share your favorite and also your over the top endulgence Thanks!
Kim O'Donnel: Well, I'm a sucker for chocolate layer cake I must admit. I don't know if you remember, but last year I wrote about finding the ultimate chocolate cake recipe, and I found it, in "The Gift of Southern Cooking" By Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis, who died earlier this year. Truly the best chocolate cake I have ever put to these lips.
My dream kitchen: I used to live in a tiny apartment with a folding table and two folding chairs, but it never a problem when it was filled with family or filled with friends!
Kim O'Donnel: Good point. People are an important ingredient in a dreamy kitchen. I couldn't agree more. Thanks for the reminder.
Peach Cake: Had to share a big kitchen success this week -- I made a skillet peach cake from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and it came out great.
You melt butter and brown sugar together in a skillet, then add a bunch of halved peaches, cut side down, and nuts (I used walnuts). Then comes a cake batter with ground nuts as well as flour, you bake it, invert it, and voila! An upside-down peach cake. One of the easiest things I've done in a long time. And it kept the flavor of the peaches well.
Kim O'Donnel: Excellent work, dear. Thanks for sharing your hit peach parade. This sounds grand.
For Arlington heading to S.F.: Is Greens (in Ft. Mason, near the Marina) still open, and is it still good? I had two of my greatest vegetarian restaurant meals ever there.
Kim O'Donnel: I think it is still open. Perhaps it's time to check the San Francisco Chronicle Web site to get scoop on its status...
Mandoline follow-up: Any Asian markets in mind? Preferably in Arlington? Suggestions?
Kim O'Donnel: Han Ah Reum in Merrifield, or Super H in Fairfax. I can't remember if Bangkok 54 in Arlington carries them.
Arlington, Va.: Kim, I tried your coffee granita treat a few weekends ago. Much easier than I thought it would be and it kept just fine in the freezer for a week. Last week when I was trolling the Internet I saw a recipe for a cantalope granita and for the life of me can't remember where! Was it in your chat? Creative loafing? Another food chat? Can you help me out before my big old cantelope from the Courthouse Farmer's market wastes away?!
Kim O'Donnel: Thanks for the granita report, Arlington. I did a column last year on cantaloupe soup. I wonder if that's what you're referring to. Add some basil and mint to your granita. It'll send you to the moon. A little cayenne -- just a smidge-- will work wonders too.
Eugene, Ore.: This probably won't get in but you've got to try King Estate pinot! Best I've had since French burgundy.
Kim O'Donnel: It's in, it's in! Thank you for your Pinot thoughts. It appears I've got a lot of sipping to do over the next several days. Will keep you posted.
Dream Kitchen: I have my dream kitchen! Even though it's not perfect, it's part of a home my husband and I bought together. It's big, lots of light, plenty of seating and it opens to the family room so you can be with loved ones while cooking. Compared to apartments, there's lots of counter space and plenty of cabinets for everything!
Kim O'Donnel: Nothing is perfect. But it sounds postively dreamy. Dreams come true if you let them.
Dream kitchen: I would like an oven separate from the burners (or hob, as burners are called in my native Britain). This is to have the control of gas under pots and pans but the even temp of electric for the oven.
I might also like an Aga, but that's a Brit thing.
Kim O'Donnel: More excellent ideas for this dreamy kitchen. I can't wait to compile these into a master dream list...
For Vienna, Va.: Re "put you in the mood" meal: fresh sliced peaches are even better over raspberry sherbet or raspberry frozen yogurt -- so Melba-y! Another tip: don't fix huge servings, as they tend to make people sleepy too soon.
Kim O'Donnel: Lovely. I particularly like the idea of staying awake...
Alexandria, Va.: Pretty please help me out ... a big bowl of peaches' fate is in your hands! I'm thinking of making peach ice cream -- I've been making ice cream like crazy this summer. But every time I whip up a batch, no matter where the recipe is from, there's a gummy residue left on the spoon and inside the churning bowl (and the bowl I freeze it in). I'm assuming this is the fats in the ice cream coagulating on a hard, cold surface, but I've never experienced this with store-bought ice cream. Is this just a side effect of homemade ice cream or is something wrong with my technique? Many, many thanks!
Kim O'Donnel: Alexandria, what kind of custard are you making? Tell me more. I've not experienced this phenomenon thus far and would like to help you with a diagnosis. More info please!
Scallops for Dinner, mmmm: Kim,
Any tips on an easy prep for sea scallops. Got a major craving for them today. Maybe with pasta?
Kim O'Donnel: A quick sear in a hot skillet, served over some arugula or watercress, served with sliced peaches. You'll be in heaven.
Albany, NY: Hearing about the husband cooking for their wives...and sitting here appreciating comments from co-workers for homemade chocolate cupcakes i brought in today...makes me think of a quote I heard a while back -
"If you have the ability to cook, you have the ability to make people happy. What more could you want?"
Love your chats & conrats on the upcoming wedding!
Kim O'Donnel: I couldn't agree with you more, Albany. Cooking is about connecting with people on so many levels. It brings us together as families, communities, cultures. Just think, even during wartime, when buildings and houses turn to rubble and people's lives are thrown to the wind, the recipes remain. On scraps of paper, in our memory banks, in our hearts. As culinary historian Barbara Haber said recently in her talk at the Library of Congress, cooking is a reminder of normal life. It grounds us. Thanks for the comments.
Dream kitchen: Being able to reach from one countertop to the other is my saving grace! I love that, everything is where you need it.
Kim O'Donnel: Ooh, I love that idea, too. A wide countertop is so luxurious.
airy dreams for dreamy kitchens: Excellent (and quiet) exhaust fan/hood, nice ceiling fan with cross-vent windows for fresh air in any season that permits it, and radiant heat floors -- oh, heck, let's make them hardwood while we're at it -- for toasty toes on cold winter mornings (Midwesterner here, sorry!)
Kim O'Donnel: Radiant heat floors..wow! Yes, that sounds like a dreamy idea for those cold Midwestern mornings. Yes indeed.
Kim O'Donnel: Signing off. There's salami birthday cake to attend to. Thanks for all the well wishes and terrific ideas. And men, keep up the good work! Post-haircut blueberry buckles, romantic meals -- please, keep it coming! A big high five from this side of the country. Blog post up shortly, and stay tuned for more culinary adventures from the Pacific Northwest. All best.
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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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Breach of Faith - washingtonpost.com
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It is the anger that cuts deepest -- a righteous, laser-focused anger born of betrayal, laced with sadness, a rumbling anger that pumps like blood through the veins of Spike Lee's masterly Katrina documentary, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts."
Many Hurricane Katrina survivors are angry people, as well they should be, like Cheryl Livaudais, one of the many voices that narrate Lee's epic film, which airs in two parts tonight and tomorrow on HBO.
Beer in hand, Livaudais stands next to her tent on the concrete slab of what used to be her home in St. Bernard Parish and sarcastically muses that she might have to perform a sex act to finally get the FEMA trailer she's been awaiting so long.
And there's Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, a displaced New Orleanian filled with outrage at Barbara Bush's comment during the Katrina evacuations that "so many of the people in the arenas were underprivileged anyway, this is working very well for them." Montana stares straight into Lee's camera and bitterly challenges the former first lady:
"My phone number is 504-919-8699. Tell her to call me and say that [expletive]. Who's better off? Why? How?"
Even when Lee's subjects are calm and composed, their words cut to the bone. It hurts to listen when Herbert Freeman Jr. describes leaving his dead mother behind at the Convention Center. And most of us know her, or at least know of her, for hers was the body in the wheelchair, covered with the blanket her son had laid over her, along with the note he wrote with her name, his name and his cellphone number.
Four days after her death, the evacuation began. The National Guard prodded the evacuees aboard buses, even a man whose mother was lying dead a short distance away.
"I wanted to go and be with her," says Freeman, his voice a monotone. "The National Guard told me I had to get on the bus. And they all had AK-47s. He told me he was doing his job. I said, 'Let me just go back there just to see her before I leave.' He said, 'No, you're not going to do anything. You're just going to get on this bus.' So I had to make a decision. . . . So I prayed to myself and the voice within me told me just to get on the bus, don't do anything, just stand still and watch my salvation." His mother was left behind.
Along with visuals that capture all aspects of the disaster, these bitter, wounded, poignant, thoughtful, expert and often foul-mouthed voices are knitted together in a tightly edited film that manages to sustain four hours without a central narrator.
Yes, it is long. Lee has a penchant for overlong films, and small cuts in his "Requiem" would not have been a bad thing. There are too many lingering shots of decomposed bodies. He is also a filmmaker that many love to hate or debate, a filmmaker with the kind of audacity, idiosyncrasy and racial sensibility that some find overwrought.
And yet those qualities make Lee that rare director who could absorb the Katrina disaster in all its human, racial and political dimensions and make it his solemn mission to create the authoritative historical documentary. It is a lament for the dead. It is a salve for the wounded of body and soul. It is scored sparely at times, with violins just shy of the maudlin. At other times, we feel that melancholic tug, as when Louis Armstrong sings, "Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?"
Lee's "Requiem" shows much of what many viewers will already be familiar with from the TV news coverage as the crisis unfolded.
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Complete Coverage on Hurricane Katrina and Rita including video,photos and blogs. Get up-to-date news on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Rita,news from New Orleans and more.
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Banish The Bling
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Have we taken our eyes off the prize? The civil rights movement continues, but the struggle today is not so much in the streets as in the home -- and with our children. If systemic racism remains a reality, there is also a far more sinister obstacle facing African American young people today: a culture steeped in bitterness and nihilism, a culture that is a virtual blueprint for failure.
The emphasis on young people in today's civil rights struggle is rooted in demographics. America's black, Hispanic and immigrant population is far younger than its white population. Those young people of color live in the big cities and rely on big-city public schools.
With 50 percent of Hispanic children and nearly 70 percent of black children born to single women today these young people too often come from fractured families where there is little time for parenting. Their search for identity and a sense of direction is undermined by a twisted popular culture that focuses on the "bling-bling" of fast money associated with famous basketball players, rap artists, drug dealers and the idea that women are at their best when flaunting their sexuality and having babies.
In Washington, where a crime wave is tied to these troubled young souls, the city reacts with a curfew. It is a band-aid. The real question is how one does battle with the culture of failure that is poisoning young people -- and do so without incurring the wrath of critics who say we are closing our eyes to existing racial injustice and are "blaming the victim."
Recently Bill Cosby has once again run up against these critics. In 2004, on the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Cosby took on that culture of failure in a speech that was a true successor to W.E.B. DuBois's 1903 declaration that breaking the color line of segregation would be the main historical challenge for 20th-century America. In a nation where it is getting tougher and tougher to afford a house, health insurance and a college education -- in other words, to attain solid middle-class status -- Cosby decried the excuses for opting out of the competition altogether.
Cosby said that the quarter of black Americans still living in poverty are failing to hold up their end of a deal with history when they don't take advantage of the opportunities created by the Supreme Court's Brown decision and the sacrifices of civil rights leaders from Martin Luther King Jr. to Thurgood Marshall and Malcolm X. Those leaders in the 1950s and '60s opened doors by winning passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and fair housing laws. Their triumphs led to the nationwide rise in black political power on school boards and in city halls and Congress.
Taken as a whole, that era of stunning breakthroughs set the stage for black people, disproportionately poor and ill-educated because of a history of slavery and segregation, to reach new heights -- freed from the weight of government-sanctioned segregation. It also created a national model of social activism to advance the rights of women, Hispanics, gays and others.
Cosby asked the chilling question: "What good is Brown " and all the victories of the civil rights era if nobody wants them? A generation after those major civil rights victories, black America is experiencing alarming dropout rates, shocking numbers of children born to single mothers and a frightening acceptance of criminal behavior that has too many black people filling up the jails. Where is the focus on taking advantage of new opportunities to advance and to close the racial gap in educational and economic achievement?
Incredibly, Cosby's critics don't see the desperate need to pull a generational fire alarm to warn people about a culture of failure that is sabotaging any chance for black people in poverty to move up and help their children reach the security of economic and educational achievement. Not one mainstream civil rights group picked up on his call for marches and protests against bad parenting, drug dealers, hate-filled rap music and failing schools.
Where is the civil rights groundswell on behalf of stronger marriages that will allow more children to grow up in two-parent families and have a better chance of staying out of poverty? Where are the marches demanding good schools for those children -- and the strong cultural reinforcement for high academic achievement (instead of the charge that minority students who get good grades are "acting white")? Where are the exhortations for children to reject the self-defeating stereotypes that reduce black people to violent, oversexed "gangstas," minstrel show comedians and mindless athletes?
In order to face this century's class battles, young minds need the self-confidence that comes from examples of inspiring historical personalities, such as a black woman born into slavery who made herself a national leader, Sojourner Truth, or a black man living under rank segregation, A. Philip Randolph, who defied corporate power to break segregation in organized labor. Frederick Douglass had to teach himself how to read before standing up to defeat slavery.
These examples should empower young people to believe in themselves and to organize across racial lines and build institutions with a solid footing in the nation's political and economic power. This is real black culture, and it is based on strong families creating determined, self-reliant young people.
The defining challenge for this generation of Americans dealing with poverty is putting the next generation in a position to move even higher. Individuals must now use the opportunities made available to them by the sacrifices of past generations if they are to achieve victory in America's long and still unfinished civil rights movement.
Juan Williams is a senior correspondent for National Public Radio, a political analyst for Fox News and author of "Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965."
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A twisted pop culture that offers a virtual blueprint for failure is a far more sinister obstacle than racism to African American young people today.
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President Bush Holds a News Conference
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SPEAKER: GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
BUSH: Thank you all. Please be seated.
Fancy digs you got here.
Thanks for your hospitality. It's good to visit with you. I look forward to taking some of your questions.
I do want to talk to you about the latest developments in Lebanon, what we're doing to ensure U.N. Security Council 1701 is implemented and its words are quickly put into action.
Resolution 1701 authorizes an effective international force to deploy to Lebanon, which is essential to peace in the region and is essential to the freedom of Lebanon.
An effective international force will help ensure that cessation of hostilities holds in southern Lebanon once the Israeli troops withdraw.
An effective international force will help the Lebanese army meet its responsibility to secure Lebanon's borders and stop them from acting -- and stop Hezbollah from acting as a state within a state.
An effective international force will help give displaced people in both Lebanon and Israel the confidence to return to their homes and begin rebuilding their lives without fear of renewed violence and terror.
International force requires international commitment. Previous resolutions have failed in Lebanon because they were not implemented by the international community; in this case, did not permit Hezbollah and its sponsors from instigating violence.
The new resolution authorizes a force of up to 15,000 troops. It gives this force an expanded mandate. The need is urgent.
BUSH: The international community must now designate the leadership of this international force, give it robust rules of engagement and deploy it as quickly as possible to secure the peace.
America will do our part. We will assist the new international force with logistic support, command-and-control communications and intelligence.
Lebanon, Israel and our allies agree that this would be the most effective contribution we can make at this time.
We will also work with the leadership in the international force, once it's identified, to ensure that the United States is doing all we can to make this mission a success.
Deployment of this new international force will also help speed delivery of humanitarian assistance. Our nation is wasting no time in helping the people of Lebanon.
In other words, we're acting before the force gets in there. We've been on the ground in Beirut for weeks and have already distributed more than half of our $50 million pledge of disaster relief to the Lebanese people, who've lost their homes in the current conflict.
BUSH: Secretary Rice has led the diplomatic efforts to establish humanitarian corridors so that relief convoys can get through; to reopen the Beirut airport to passenger and humanitarian aid flights and to ensure a steady fuel supply for Lebanese power plants and automobiles.
I directed 25,000 tons of wheat be delivered in Lebanon in the coming weeks.
We will do even more.
Today, I'm announcing that America will send more aid to support humanitarian and reconstruction work in Lebanon for a total of more than $230 million.
BUSH: These funds will help the Lebanese people rehabilitate schools so the children can start their school year on time this fall; directed that an oil spill response team be sent to assist the Lebanese government in cleaning up an oil slick that is endangering coastal communities; proposing a $42 million package to help train and equip Lebanon's armed forces.
I will soon be sending a presidential delegation of private sector leaders to Lebanon to identify ways that we can tap into the generosity of American businesses and nonprofits to continue to help the people of Lebanon.
We take these steps -- I'll also work closely with Congress to extend the availability of loan guarantees to help rebuild infrastructure in Israel, infrastructure damaged by Hezbollah's rockets.
America's making a long-term commitment to help the people of Lebanon because we believe every person deserves to live in a free, open society that respects the rights of all.
BUSH: We reject the killing of innocents to achieve a radical and violent agenda.
The terrorists and their state sponsors, Iran and Syria, have a much darker vision. They're working to thwart the efforts that of the Lebanese people to break free from foreign domination and build their own democratic future.
The terrorists and their sponsors are not going to succeed. The Lebanese people have made it clear they want to live in freedom. And now it's up to their friends and allies to help them do so.
I'll be glad to answer some questions.
QUESTION: More than 3,500 Iraqis were killed last month, the highest civilian monthly total since the war began.
Are you disappointed with the lack of progress by Iraq's unity government in bringing together the sectarian and ethnic groups?
BUSH: No, I am aware that extremists and terrorists are doing everything they can to prevent Iraq's democracy from growing stronger.
BUSH: That's what I'm aware of.
And, therefore, we have a plan to help them -- them, the Iraqis -- achieve their objectives. Part of the plan is political; that is to help the Maliki government work on reconciliation and to work on rehabilitating the community.
The other part is, of course, security. And I have given our commanders all the flexibility they need to adjust tactics to be able to help the Iraqi government defeat those who want to thwart the ambitions of the people. And that includes a very robust security plan for Baghdad.
We have, you may or may not know, moved troops from Mosul -- Stryker Brigade -- into Baghdad, all aiming to help the Iraqi government succeed.
BUSH: You know, I hear a lot of talk about civil war. I'm concerned about that, of course. And I've talked to a lot of people about it. And what I've found from my talks are that the Iraqis want a unified country and that the Iraqi leadership is determined to thwart the efforts of the extremists and the radicals and Al Qaida and that the security forces remain united behind the government.
And one thing is clear: The Iraqi people are showing incredible courage. The United States of America must understand that it's in our interests that we help this democracy succeed.
As a matter of fact, it's in our interests that we help reformers across the Middle East achieve their objectives. This is the fundamental challenge of the 21st century.
A failed Iraq would make America less secure.
BUSH: A failed Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will provide safe haven for terrorists and extremists. It will embolden those who are trying to thwart the ambitions of reformers.
In this case, it would give the terrorists and extremists an additional tool besides safe haven, and that is revenues from oil sales.
You know, it's an interesting debate we're having in America about how we ought to handle Iraq. There's a lot of people -- good, decent people -- saying: Withdraw now.
They're absolute wrong. It'd be a huge mistake for this country.
If you think problems are tough now, imagine what it would be like if the United States leaves before this government has a chance to defend herself, govern herself and listen to the -- and answer to the will of the people.
QUESTION: Iran has indicated that it will defy the U.N. on nuclear enrichment. It's been holding military exercises, sending weapons and money to Hezbollah. Isn't Tehran's influence in the region growing despite your efforts to curb it?
BUSH: You know, the final history in the region has yet to be written.
BUSH: And what's very interesting about the violence in Lebanon and the violence in Iraq and the violence in Gaza is this: These are all groups of terrorists who are trying to stop the advance of democracy. They're trying to thwart the will of millions who simply want a normal, hopeful life. That's what we're seeing.
And it's up to the international community to understand the threat. I remember, right after Hezbollah launched its rocket attacks on Israel, I said: This is a clarifying moment; this is a chance for the world to see the threats of the 21st century, the challenge we face.
And so to answer your question on Iran, Iran is obviously part of the problem. They sponsor Hezbollah. They encourage a radical brand of Islam.
BUSH: Imagine how difficult this issue would be if Iran had a nuclear weapon. And so, therefore, it's up to the international community, including the United States, to work in concert for effective diplomacy.
And that begins at the United Nations Security Council. We have passed one Security Council resolution demanding that Iran cease its enrichment activities. We will see what their response is. We're beginning to get some indication, but we'll wait until they have a formal response.
The U.N. resolution calls for us to come back together on the 31st of August.
BUSH: The dates -- you know, dates are fine, but what really matters is will.
And one of the things I will continue to remind our friends and allies is the danger of a nuclear-armed Iraq.
But, no, you're right. They're a central part of creating instability, trying to stop reformers from realizing dreams.
And the question facing this country is: Do we understand the threat to America -- in other words, do we understand that a -- failed states in the Middle East are a direct threat to our county's security?
And, secondly, will we continue to stay engaged in helping reformers in working to advance liberty to defeat an ideology that doesn't believe in freedom?
And my answer is: So long as I'm the president, we will. I clearly see the challenge. I see the challenge of what these threats pose to our homeland, and I see the challenge of what these threats pose to the world.
What's so funny about me saying "Helen"?
BUSH: It's the anticipation of your question...
QUESTION: Israel broke its word twice on a truce. And you mentioned Hezbollah rockets, but it's Israeli bombs that destroyed Lebanon. Why do you always give them a pass? And what's your view on this breaking of (OFF-MIKE) for a truce?
BUSH: I like to remind people about how this started. How this whole, how the damage to innocent life -- which bothers me -- what caused this?
Let me finish. Ma'am, please let me finish the question.
It's a great question to begin with, to follow up with a little bit. I know you're waiting for my answer -- aren't you? -- with bated breath. This never would have occurred had a terrorist organization -- a state within a state -- not launched attacks on a sovereign nation.
BUSH: From the beginning, I said that Israel, one, has a right to defend herself, but Israel ought to be cautious about how she defends herself. Israel's a democratically elected government. They make decisions on their own sovereignty. It's their decision-making that is what leads to the tactics they chose.
But the world must understand that now is the time to come together to address the root cause of the problem, and the problem is you have a state within a state. You had people launch attacks on a sovereign nation without the consent of the government in the country in which they are lodged.
And that's why it's very important for all of us -- those of us who are involved in this process -- to get an international force into Lebanon to help the Lebanese government achieve some objectives.
BUSH: One is their ability to exert control over the entire country. Secondly is to make sure that the Hezbollah forces don't rearm, don't get arms from Syria or Iran through Syria, to be able to continue to wreak havoc in the region.
Let's see. We'll finish the first line. Everybody can be patient.
BUSH: It's, kind of like dancing together, isn't it?
If I ask for any -- any comments from the peanut gallery, I'll call on (inaudible). By the way, seersucker is coming back. I hope everybody gets...
QUESTION: It's the summertime East Texas county commissioner look.
QUESTION: That's quite all right.
QUESTION: Mr. President, I'd like to go back to Iraq. You have continually cited the elections, the new government's progress in Iraq -- and, yet, the violence is starting to worsen in certain areas. You have to go to Baghdad, again.
Is it not time for a new strategy? And, if not, why not?
BUSH: You know, you've covered the Pentagon. You know that the pentagon is constantly adjusting tactics because they have the flexibility from the White House to do so.
QUESTION: I'm talking about strategy.
BUSH: The strategy is to help the Iraqi people achieve their objectives and their dreams, which is a democratic society. That's the strategy. The tactics -- now, either you say, yes, it's important that we stay there and get it done; or we leave. We're not leaving so long as I'm the president. That would be a huge mistake.
It would send an unbelievably terrible signal to reformers across the region. It would say we've abandoned our desire to change the conditions that create terror. It would give the terrorists a safe haven from which to launch attacks. It would embolden Iran. It would embolden extremists.
BUSH: The strategic objective is to help this government succeed. That's the strategic -- and not only to help the government -- the reformers in Iraq succeed, but to help the reformers across the region succeed to fight off the elements of extremism. The tactics are what's changed.
Now, if you say, "Are you going to change your strategic objective?", it means you're leaving before the mission is complete, and we're not going to leave before the mission is complete.
I agree with General Abizaid. We leave before the mission is done, the terrorists will follow us here.
And so we have changed tactics. Our commanders have got the flexibility necessary to change tactics on the ground, starting with Plan Baghdad, and that's when we moved troops from Mosul into Baghdad and replaced with the Stryker Brigade. So in essence we increased troops during this time of instability.
QUESTION: Sir, that's not really the question. The strategy is...
BUSH: Sounded like the question to me.
QUESTION: You keep saying that you don't want to leave, but is your strategy to win working?
QUESTION: Even if you don't want to leave, you've gone into Baghdad before, these things have happened before.
BUSH: If I didn't think it would work, I would change -- our commanders would recommend changing the strategy. They believe it'll work.
It takes time to defeat these people. The Maliki government's been in power for, you know, less than six months.
And, yes, the people spoke. I've cited that as a part of -- the reason I cite it is because it's what the Iraqi people want.
And the fundamental question facing this government is whether or not we will stand with reformers across the region. It's really the task. And we're going to stand with this government.
You know, obviously I wish the violence would go down, but not as much as the Iraqi citizens would wish the violence would go down.
But, incredibly enough, they showed great courage, and they want our help.
Any sign that says we're going to leave before the job is done simply emboldens terrorists and creates a certain amount of doubt for people, so they won't take the risk necessary to help a civil society evolve in the country.
BUSH: And this is a campaign -- I'm sure they're watching the campaign carefully. There are a lot of good, decent people saying: Get out now; vote for me; I will do everything I can to, I guess, cut off money is what they're trying to do to get our troops out.
It's a big mistake. It would be wrong, in my judgment, for us to leave before the mission is complete in Iraq.
QUESTION: Back to Lebanon. The Lebanese prime minister, over the weekend, said that Israel flagrantly violated the cease-fire with its raid into Lebanon.
And, so far, the European allies have committed forces. The U.N. Security peacekeeping forces have expressed reservations. Those Muslim nations who have offered troops have been shunned by Israeli officials.
Why shouldn't we see the cease-fire as one that, essentially, is falling apart?
And what makes this more than a piece of paper, if you don't have the will of the international community to back it up?
BUSH: No, listen, all the more reason why we need to help our friends and allies get the forces necessary to help the Lebanese forces keep the cessation of hostilities in place, intact.
BUSH: And that's why we're working with friends, with allies, with Security Council members to make sure the force that is committed is robust and the rules of engagement are clear. And it's an ongoing series of conversations and discussions, and hopefully this will happen quite quickly.
QUESTION: Will you press the French to contribute more troops?
BUSH: We're pressing on all. I was asked about the French the other day at Camp David. And, listen, France has had a very close relationship with Lebanon. There's historical ties with Lebanon. I would hope they would put more troops in. I mean, they understand the region as well as anybody.
And so we're working with a lot folks trying to get this force up and running.
Look, like you -- I mean, you sound a little somewhat frustrated by diplomacy.
BUSH: Diplomacy can be a frustrating thing. I think the strategy can work, so long as the force is robust and the rules of engagement are clear.
QUESTION: Mr. President, as you mentioned, we're just 10 days from the U.N. Security Council deadline on Iran. Judging by the public comments from the Iranians, it appears, at least, highly unlikely that they're going to stop or suspend their enrichment program.
Are you confident that the U.N. Security Council will move quickly on sanctions if Iran thumbs its nose at the world again?
BUSH: Certainly hope so. In order for the U.N. to be effective, there must be consequences if people thumb their nose at the United Nations Security Council. And we will work with people on the Security Council to achieve that objective. And the objective is that there's got to be a consequence basically ignoring what the Security Council has suggested through resolution.
QUESTION: Understanding that diplomacy takes time, do you think that this could drag out for a while?
BUSH: You know, I don't know. I certainly want to solve this problem diplomatically, and I believe the best chance to do so is for there to be more than one voice speaking clearly to the Iranians.
BUSH: And I was pleased that we got a resolution; that there was a, you know, a group of nations willing to come together to send a message to the Iranians -- nations as diverse as China and Russia, plus the E.U.-3 and the United States.
When you talked today about the violence in Baghdad, first you mentioned extremists, radicals, and then Al Qaida. It seems that Al Qaida and foreign fighters are much less of a problem there and that it really is Iraqi versus Iraqi.
And when we heard about your meeting the other day with experts and so forth, some of the reporting out of that said you were frustrated, you were surprised. And your spokesman said: No, you're determined.
But frustration seems like a very real emotion. Why wouldn't you be frustrated, sir, about what's happening?
BUSH: I do remember the meeting; I don't remember being surprised.
BUSH: I'm not sure what they meant by that.
QUESTION: About the lack of gratitude among the Iraqi people...
BUSH: No, I think -- first of all, the first part of your question: You know, if you look back at the words of Zarqawi before he was brought to justice, he made it clear that the intent of their tactics in Iraq was to create civil strife.
In other words, look at what he said. He said, let's kill Shia to get Shia to seek revenge and therefore create this, kind of, hopefully, cycle of violence.
Secondly, it's pretty clear -- at least the evidence indicates -- that the bombing of the shrine was an Al Qaida plot, all intending to create sectarian violence.
Now, Al Qaida is still very active in Iraq. As a matter of fact, some of the more -- I would guess; I would surmise that some of the more spectacular bombings are done by Al Qaida suiciders.
BUSH: No question there's sectarian violence, as well.
And the challenge is to provide a security plan such that a political process can go forward.
And, you know -- I'm sure you all are tired of hearing me say 12 million Iraqi voted. But it's an indication about the desire for people to live in a free society. That's what that means.
And the only way to defeat this ideology in the long term is to defeat it through another ideology, a competing ideology, one that -- where government responds to the will of the people.
And that's really the fundamental question we face here in the beginning of this 21st century, is whether or not we believe as a nation and others believe it is possible to defeat this ideology.
Now, I recognize some say that these folks are not ideologically bound. I strongly disagree.
BUSH: I think, not only do they have an ideology; they have tactics necessary to spread their ideology. And it would be a huge mistake for the United States to leave the region, to concede territory to the terrorists, to not confront them.
And the best way to confront them is to help those who want to live in free society. Look, eventually, Iraq will succeed because the Iraqis will see to it that they succeed. And our job is to help them succeed. That's our job.
Our job is to help their forces be better equipped, to help their police be able to deal with these extremists and to help their government succeed.
QUESTION: Are you frustrated, sir?
BUSH: Frustrated? Sometimes I'm frustrated. Rarely surprised. Sometimes I'm happy, you know. But war is not a time of joy.
BUSH: These aren't joyous times. These are challenging times, and they're difficult times, and they're straining the psyche of our country. I understand that.
You know, nobody likes to see innocent people die. Nobody wants to turn on their TV on a daily basis and see havoc wrought by terrorists.
And our question is: Do we have the capacity and the desire to spread peace by confronting these terrorists and supporting those who want to live in liberty? That's the question.
And my answer to that question is: We must. We owe it to future generations to do so.
QUESTION: Mr. President, as you have reminded us a number of times, it was Hezbollah that started the confrontation between Israel and Lebanon. But you were supportive of the holding off of any kind of cease-fire until Israel had a chance to clear out Hezbollah weapons.
QUESTION: By all accounts, they did not exactly succeed in doing that. And by all accounts, the Lebanese army, as it moved into southern Lebanon, had a "wink and a nod" arrangement with Hezbollah not to disturb anything but just leave things as they are, a situation not unknown in the Middle East.
Do you demand that the peacekeeping force, if and when it gets up and running, disarm Hezbollah?
BUSH: The truth of the matter is that, if 1559 -- that's the United Nations Security Council resolution number -- had been fully implemented, we wouldn't be in the situation we were in to begin with.
There will be another resolution coming out of the United Nations, giving further instructions to the international force. First things first is to get the rules of engagement clear so that the force will be robust to help the Lebanese.
One thing is for certain, is that when this force goes in to help Lebanon, Hezbollah won't have that safe haven or that kind of freedom to run in Lebanon's southern border.
In other words, there's an opportunity to create a cushion, a security cushion.
BUSH: Hopefully, over time Hezbollah will disarm.
You can't have a democracy with a, you know, armed political party willing to bomb its neighbor without the consent of its government or, you know, just deciding, "Well, let's create enough chaos and discord by lobbing rockets."
And so the reality is in order for Lebanon to succeed -- and we want Lebanon's democracy to succeed -- the process is going to -- the Lebanese government's eventually going to have to deal with Hezbollah.
QUESTION: But it's the status quo if there's disarmament.
BUSH: Not really. I mean, yes, eventually, you're right. But in the meantime, there will be -- there's a security zone, something where the Lebanese army and the UNIFIL force, a more robust UNIFIL force, can create a security zone between Lebanon and Israel.
BUSH: That would be helpful.
But ultimately you're right. Your question is: Shouldn't Hezbollah disarm? And ultimately they should. And it's necessary for the Lebanese government to succeed.
The cornerstone of our policy in that part of the world is to help democracies. Lebanon's a democracy. We want the Siniora government to succeed.
Part of our aid package is going to be to help strengthen the army of Lebanon so when the government speaks, when the government commits its troops, they do so in an effective way.
BUSH: How are you feeling?
BUSH: Good to see you.
QUESTION: Good to be back. Thanks.
BUSH: Yes, it's good to see you. Sorry we didn't spend more time in Crawford. I knew you were anxious to do so.
BUSH: That's good. It's why we love seeing you.
Let me ask you about presidential pardons. Last week you issued 17 of them. That brought the number of pardons you've issued in your presidency to 97.
QUESTION: And that's far fewer than most of your recent predecessors, except your dad.
I want to ask you: Do you consider yourself to be stingy when it comes to pardons?
What is your philosophy on granting presidential pardons?
BUSH: You know, I don't have the criterion in front of me. But we have a strict criterion that we utilize; we being the Justice Department and the White House counsel.
And I, frankly, haven't compared the number of pardons I have given to any other president. Perhaps I should. But I don't think a score card should necessarily be the guidepost for pardoning people.
QUESTION: What do you say to people who are losing patience with gas prices at $3 a gallon?
And how much of a political price do you think you're paying for that, right now?
BUSH: I have been talking about gas prices ever since they got high, starting with this. Look, I understand gas prices are like a hidden tax -- not a hidden tax; it's taking money out of people's pockets. I know that.
BUSH: All the more reason for us to diversify away from crude oil. That's not going to happen overnight.
We passed law that encouraged consumption through different purchasing habits like, you know, hybrid vehicles. You buy hybrid, you get a tax credit.
We've encouraged the spread of ethanol as an alternative to crude oil.
We have asked for Congress to pass regulatory relief so we can build more refineries to increase the supply of gasoline, hopefully taking the pressure off of price.
And so the strategy is to recognize that dependency upon crude oil, in a global market, affects us economically here at home. And, therefore, we need to diversify away as quickly as possible.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.
As you know, the one-year anniversary of Katrina's coming up. And there's a lot of retrospective about what went wrong down there last year.
Specifically, what has your administration done in the past year to help the folks down there? What remains to be done?
You know, I went to New Orleans, and in Jackson Square I made a commitment that we would -- we'd help the people there recover.
I also want the people down there to understand that it's going to take awhile to recover. This was a huge storm.
First things -- first thing that's necessary to help the recovery is money. And our government has committed over $110 billion to help.
Of that, a lot of money went to -- you know, went out the door to help people adjust from having to be moved because of the storm.
BUSH: And then there's rental assistance, infrastructure repair, debris removal.
Mississippi removed about 97 percent, 98 percent of what they call dry debris. We're now in the process of getting debris from the waters removed.
Louisiana is slower in terms of getting debris removed. The money is available to help remove that debris. People can get after it. And I would hope they would.
BUSH: Let me finish. Thank you.
We provide about $1.8 billion for education. That money has gone out the door. We want those schools up and running. As I understand, the schools are running now in New Orleans; a lot of schools are.
Flood insurance -- we're spending money on flood insurance.
There is more work to be done, particularly when it comes to housing.
BUSH: We spent about -- appropriated about $16 billion, $17 billion for direct housing grants to people in the Gulf Coast and in Louisiana.
I made the decision, along with the local authorities, that each state ought to develop a housing recovery plan. That's what they call the LRA in Louisiana. They're responsible for taking the federal money and getting it to the people.
Same in -- Mississippi has developed its own plan. I thought it would be best that there be a local plan developed and implemented by local folks.
And so there's now, as I mentioned, $16 billion of direct housing grants. Each state has developed its own plan of how much money goes to each homeowner to help these people rebuild their lives.
BUSH: And so I think the area where people will see the most effect in their lives is when they start getting this individualized CDBG grant money.
QUESTION: Is there anything that's disappointed you about the recovery, the federal response?
BUSH: You know, I was concerned at first about how much Congress and the taxpayers would be willing to appropriate and spend. I think $110 billion is a strong commitment, and I'm pleased with that.
Any time we -- I named a man named Don Powell to go down there. And, you know, the thing that's most important is for the government to, you know, eliminate any bureaucratic obstacles, when we find something that's not moving quick enough.
I think, for example, about debris removal. You know, there was the issue of whether or not the government would pay for debris removal on private property or not, so we worked out a plan with the local mayors and local county commissioners, local parish presidents, to be able to designate certain property as a health hazard.
BUSH: And when they did so, then the government money could pay for it.
In other words, we're trying to be flexible with the rules and regulations we have to deal with.
But the place where people, I'm sure, are going to be most frustrated is whether or not they're going to get the money to rebuild their homes. And my attitude is: We've appropriated the money, and now we'll work with the states to get the money out.
I suspect you have a follow-up on this.
QUESTION: Yes I do, sir, and another question, sir.
The follow-up: Some have a concern that you have given all of the money, but the federal government has moved away to let the local government, particularly in New Orleans, handle everything. And things are not moving like they expected. And that's one of the concerns.
BUSH: Let me address that. And I promise you can ask another one.
As I mentioned to you, the strategy from the get-go was to work with the local folks in Mississippi and Louisiana. And they would then submit their plans to the federal government, particularly for housing; and that, upon approval, we would then disburse the appropriate monies, in this case about $17 billion for housing grants.
And so each state came up with a grant formula. And I can't give you all the details, but the whole purpose is intended to get money into people's pockets to help them rebuild.
BUSH: And once the strategy is developed at the state and local level, it makes sense for the monies to be appropriated at the state and local level. And if there's a -- you know, if there's a level of frustration there, we will work with the LRA in this case.
BUSH: Well, how many -- are you trying to dominate this thing?
QUESTION: No, sir. But I don't get a chance to talk to you as much as the others.
BUSH: That's not -- wait a minute.
QUESTION: But a follow-up. Do you think that then more needs to be done? Does the federal government need to put its hands on what's going on? Because New Orleans is not moving...
BUSH: I think the best way to do this is for the federal government's representative, Don Powell, to continue to work with Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco to get the money into the hands of the people.
The money's been appropriated. The formula's in place. And now it's time to move forward.
Now, you have another question, I presume.
QUESTION: Yes. And this is it, sir.
Chinese officials are saying that you need to get involved in the six-party talks, you ultimately have to be a part of the six-party talks...
QUESTION: ... dealing with North Korea. And, also, they are saying that you need to stop dealing with the issue of money laundering and deal with the real issue of ballistic missiles. What are your thoughts?
BUSH: Well, counterfeiting U.S. dollars is an issue that every president ought to be concerned about. And when you catch people counterfeiting your money, you need to do something about it.
We are very much involved in the six-party talks. Matter of fact, I talked to Hu Jintao this morning about the six-party talks and about the need for us to continue to work together to send a clear message to the North Korean leader that there is a better choice for him than to continue to develop a nuclear weapon.
The six-party talks are -- is an important part of our -- the six-party talks are an important part of our strategy of dealing with Kim Jong Il, and the Chinese president recognized that in the phone call today.
BUSH: And so we talked about how we'll continue to collaborate and work together.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.
You mentioned the campaign earlier. Do you agree with those in your party, including the vice president, who said or implied Democratic voters emboldened Al Qaida types by choosing Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman and it's a message that how Americans vote will send messages to terrorists abroad?
What all of us in this administration have been saying is that leaving Iraq before the mission is complete will send the wrong message to the enemy and will create a more dangerous world. That's what we're saying.
Look, it's an honest debate, and it's an important debate for Americans to listen to and to be engaged in. In our judgment, the consequences for defeat in Iraq are unacceptable.
BUSH: And I fully understand that some didn't think we ought to go in there in the first place.
But defeat -- if you think it's bad now, imagine what Iraq would look like if the United States leaves before this government can defend itself and sustain itself.
You know, chaos in Iraq would be very unsettling in the region.
Leaving before the job would be done would send a message that America really is no longer engaged nor cares about the form of governments in the Middle East. Leaving before the job is done would send a signal to our troops that the sacrifices they made were not worth it.
Leaving before the job is done would be a disaster. And that's what we're saying.
I will never question the patriotism of somebody who disagrees with me. This has nothing to do with patriotism. It has everything to do with understanding the world in which we live.
It's like, the other day, I was critical of those who heralded the federal judge's opinion about the terrorist surveillance program.
BUSH: I thought it was a terrible opinion. And that's why we're appealing it.
And I have no -- you know, look, I understand how democracy works. Quite a little bit of criticism in it, which is fine. That's fine. That's part of the process.
But I have every right, as do my administration, to make it clear what the consequences would be of policy. And if we think somebody is strong or doesn't see the world the way it is, we'll continue to point that out to people.
And therefore those who heralded the decision not to give law enforcement the tools necessary to protect the American people just simply don't see the world the way we do. They see maybe these kind of isolated incidents. These aren't isolated incidents; they're tied together. There is a global war going on.
And, you know, somebody said: Well, this is law enforcement.
No, this isn't law enforcement, in my judgment. Law enforcement means kind of a simple, you know, singular response to the problem.
BUSH: This is a global war on terror. We're facing, you know, extremists that believe something. And they want to achieve objectives.
And, therefore, the United States must use all our assets and we must work with others to defeat this enemy. That's the call.
And we -- in the short run, we got to stop them from attacking us. That's why I give the Tony Blair government great credit, and their intelligence officers -- and our own government credit for working with the Brits to stop this attack.
But you know something? It's an amazing town -- isn't it? -- you know, where they say on the one hand you can't have the tools necessary and herald the fact that you won't have the tools necessary to defend the people and, sure enough, attack would occur, and say, "How come you don't have the tools necessary to defend the people?"
That's the way we think around this town.
And so we'll continue to speak out in a respectful way; never challenging somebody's love for America when you criticize their strategies or their point of view.
And, you know, for those who say that, well, all they're trying to say is, "We're not patriotic," simply don't listen to our words very carefully, do they?
BUSH: What matters is that in this campaign that we clarify the different points of view. And there are a lot of people in the Democratic Party who believe that the best course of action is to leave Iraq before the job is done. Period. And they're wrong.
And the American people have got to understand the consequence of leaving Iraq before the job is done. We're not going to leave Iraq before the job is done and we'll complete the mission in Iraq.
I can't tell you exactly when it's going to be done, but I do know that it's important for us to support the Iraqi people who have shown incredible courage in their desire to live in a free society. And if we ever give up the desire to help people live in freedom, we will have lost our soul as a nation, as far as I'm concerned.
QUESTION: Is that a make-or-break issue for you? In terms of domestic politics, there's a Republican in Pennsylvania who says he doesn't think that the troops should go. Would you campaign for Mike Fitzpatrick?
QUESTION: And would you campaign against Senator Joe Lieberman, who's a Republican candidate (OFF-MIKE)?
BUSH: I'm going to stay out of Connecticut.
QUESTION: Mr. President, you were born there.
QUESTION: How can you say that...
BUSH: I may be the only person, the only presidential candidate who never carried the state in which he was born.
Do you think that's right, Herman? Of course, you would have researched that and dropped it out for everybody to see, particularly since I dissed that just ridiculous-looking outfit.
QUESTION: Your mother raised you better than that, Mr. President.
BUSH: So I'm not going to say it.
BUSH: And I don't want anybody to know that I think it's ridiculous-looking.
QUESTION: Make-or-break issue for you.
BUSH: And by the way, I'm staying out of Connecticut because, you know, that's what the party suggested, the Republican Party of Connecticut. And, plus, there's a better place to spend our money, time and resources.
BUSH: Right. I listen to them very carefully. I'm a thoughtful guy. I listen to people.
I'm open-minded. I'm all the things that you know I am.
Other part of your question.
Look, issues are won based upon whether or not you can keep this economy strong; elections are won based upon economic issues and national security issues.
BUSH: And there's a fundamental difference between many of the Democrats and my party. And that is: They want to leave before the job is completed in Iraq.
And again, I repeat: These are decent people. They're just as American as I am. I just happen to strongly disagree with them. And it's very important for the American people to understand the consequences of leaving Iraq before the job is done.
This is a global war on terror. I repeat what our major general said -- our leading general said, in the region. He said: If we withdraw before the job is done, the enemy will follow us here. I strongly agree with that.
And if you believe that the job of the federal government is to secure this country, it's really important for you to understand that success in Iraq is part of securing the country.
We're talking about a long-term issue here, as well. In the short term, we've got to have the tools necessary to stop a terrorist attack. That mean goods intel, good intelligence-sharing, the capacity to know whether Al Qaida's calling into this country and why.
BUSH: We've got to have all those tools. The Patriot Act -- you know, tearing down those walls between intel and law enforcement are a necessary part of protecting the country.
But, in the long term, the only way to defeat this terrorist bunch is through the spread of liberty and freedom. And that's a big challenge. I understand it's a challenge. It requires commitment and patience and persistence.
I believe it's the challenge of this -- the challenge for this generation. I believe we owe it to our children and grandchildren to stay engaged and to help spread liberty and to help reformers.
Now, ultimately, success is going to be up to the reformers, just like in Iraq. It's going to require Iraqis, the will of Iraqis to succeed. I understand that.
And that's why our strategy is to give them the tools necessary to defend themselves and help them defend themselves; in this case right now mainly in Baghdad, but as well around the country.
BUSH: At home, if I were a candidate for running, I'd say, "Look at what the economy has done." It's strong. We've created a lot of jobs -- let me finish my question, please. These hands going up; I'm kind of getting old and, you know, just getting into my peroration.
I'd be telling people that the Democrats will raise your taxes. That's what they said. I'd be reminding people that tax cuts have worked in terms of stimulating the economy.
I'd be reminding people there's a philosophical difference between those who want to raise taxes and have the government spend the money, and those of us who say, "You get to spend the money the way you want to see fit. It's your money."
I'd remind people that pro-growth economic policies had helped us cut that deficit faster than we thought. I'd also remind people, if I were running, that a long-term problem facing the budget is Social Security and Medicare.
BUSH: And Republican or Democrat ought to say: I look forward to working with the president to solve the problem.
People expect us to come here to solve problems. And thus far, the attitude has been: Let's just kind of ignore what the president has said and just hope somebody else comes and solves it for us.
And that's what I'd be running on. I'd be running on the economy and I'd be running on national security. But since I'm not running, I can only serve as an adviser to those who are.
BUSH: I don't need to, now that you've stood up and everybody can clearly see for themselves.
QUESTION: Mr. President, polls continue to show sagging support for the war in Iraq. I'm curious as to how you see this developing.
Is it your belief that long-term results will vindicate your strategy and people will change their mind about it?
Or is this the kind of thing you're doing because you think it's right and you don't care if you ever gain public support for it?
Yes, look, I mean, presidents care about whether people support their policies. I don't think -- not that I don't care. Of course I care.
BUSH: But I understand why people are discouraged about Iraq. I can understand that. We live in a, you know, world in which people hope things happen quickly. And this is a situation where things don't happen quickly because there's, you know, a very tough group of people using tactics -- mainly the killing of innocent people -- to achieve their objective, and they're skillful about how they do this. And they also know the impact of what it means on the consciousness of those of us who live in the free world. They know that.
And so, yes, I care, I really do. I wish -- you know, and so, therefore, I'm going to spend a lot of time trying to explain as best I can, you know, why it's important for us to succeed in Iraq.
On the other hand, I don't think you've ever heard me say -- and you've now been covering me for quite a while, 12 years.
BUSH: I don't think -- 12 years? Yes.
BUSH: I don't think you've ever heard me say: Gosh, I better change positions because the polls say this or that. I've been here long enough to understand, you cannot make good decisions if you're trying to chase a poll.
And so the second part of your question is, look, I'm going to do what I think is right, and if, you know, if people don't like me for it, that's just the way it is...
QUESTION: A lot of the consequences you mentioned for pulling out seem like maybe they never would have been there if we hadn't gone in. How do you square all of that?
BUSH: I square it because imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein, who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction, who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who had relations with Zarqawi.
BUSH: Imagine what the world would be like with him in power. The idea is to try to help change the Middle East.
Now look, part of the reason we went into Iraq was -- the main reason we went into Iraq, at the time, was we thought he had weapons of mass destruction. It turns out he didn't, but he had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction.
But I also talked about the human suffering in Iraq. And I also saw the need to advance a freedom agenda. And so my answer to your question is that -- imagine a world in which Saddam Hussein was there, stirring up even more trouble in a part of the world that had so much resentment and so much hatred that people came and killed 3,000 of our citizens.
You know, I've heard this theory about, you know, everything was just fine until we arrived and -- you know, the stir-up-the-hornet's- nest theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned.
The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. They were ...
QUESTION: What did Iraqi have to do with that?
BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what?
QUESTION: The attacks upon the World Trade Center.
BUSH: Nothing. Except for it's part of -- and nobody's ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- Iraq -- the lesson of September the 11th is: Take threats before they fully materialize, Ken.
Nobody's ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq. I have suggested, however, that resentment and the lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists who are willing to use suiciders to kill, to achieve an objective. I have made that case.
And one way to defeat that -- you know, defeat resentment -- is with hope. And the best way to do hope is through a form of government.
Now I said, going into Iraq, "We've got to take these threats seriously before they full materialize." I saw a threat.
BUSH: I fully believe it was the right decision to remove Saddam Hussein, and I fully believe the world is better off without him. Now the question is: How do we succeed in Iraq?
And you don't succeed by leaving before the mission is complete, like some in this political process are suggesting.
Stretch? Who you working for, Stretch?
BUSH: Glad you found work.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
Mr. President, some pro-life groups are worried that your choice of FDA commissioner will approve over-the-counter sales of Plan B, a pill that they say essentially can cause early-term abortions.
Do you stand by this choice? And how do you feel about Plan B, in general?
BUSH: I believe that Plan B ought to be -- ought to require a prescription for minors. That's what I believe. And I support the Andy's decisions.
Thanks for letting me come by the new digs here. They may be a little too fancy for you.
QUESTION: Are we coming back, ever?
BUSH: Absolutely you're coming back.
QUESTION: Can we hold you to that...
BUSH: Coming back to the bosom of the White House.
I'm looking forward to hugging you when you come back, everybody.
When are you coming back?
QUESTION: As soon as you tell us.
BUSH: May, is that when it is?
QUESTION: They've sealed off about -- they've sealed off the door. You know, we're wondering if we're really coming back.
QUESTION: The decision will be made by commanders on the ground, sir.
QUESTION: We want to do withdraw from...
BUSH: What you think this is, a correspondents' dinner or something?
Aug 21, 2006 11:38 ET .EOF
Source: CQ Transcriptions © 2006, Congressional Quarterly Inc., All Rights Reserved
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For Kurds, a Long Wait for Justice
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DAHUK, Iraq, Aug. 20 -- Mustafa Arab Youssef walked up the grimy, stone steps of the crumbling, sand-colored Nizarkeh fort. As he reached the second floor, his neighbor Haji Mohammed pointed at dark patches on the cracked floor and said, "When I first came in 1988, there were bloodstains here."
Youssef, 35, who wore a gaunt look, a thin beard and oil-stained clothes, nodded in agreement and walked inside a room with a stove, a refrigerator and peeling walls. He gazed up at the ceiling: Thin, black ropes dangled from a long, rusted hook. "Saddam's men used to hang people here to beat them and make them talk," said Youssef, as his 3-year-old son Cihad grabbed his hand.
This room is now Youssef's home, and he has left the ropes hanging from his ceiling as a reminder of what he and other Iraqi Kurds endured during Saddam Hussein's infamous 1988 Anfal campaign, in which poison gas was dropped from the skies and hundreds of thousands of Kurds were killed, tortured, maimed or displaced. Youssef, too, was beaten with clubs at Nizarkeh, leaving his right arm lame and curved.
On Monday, Youssef and his neighbors in Nizarkeh, now home to scores of poor Kurdish families, plan to tune their television sets to watch the Anfal trial of Hussein; Ali Hassan al-Majeed, also known here as "Chemical Ali," who ran the campaign; and six other defendants. The trial is to be held in Baghdad. Both Hussein and Majeed are charged with genocide, while the others are charged with crimes against humanity.
"He destroyed us. Our families and neighbors are all gone. I will be very happy when I see Saddam in that cage," Youssef said, referring to the courtroom box with steel bars where defendants sit.
Across the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the Anfal trial is raising a flurry of expectations and emotions. In interviews Sunday, survivors said they were living proof of Hussein's atrocities, and, in their minds and hearts, they have already convicted him. Still, the trial, they said, is the biggest development in 18 years to bring the justice that has long eluded them.
"This is a gift from God," said Haji Musa Mohammad, 76, who spent weeks in several concentration camp-like detention centers and lost seven relatives, including a son, during the attacks. "Saddam made us cry for our children. Tomorrow, we're going to laugh."
But the trial, survivors said, is also a painful reminder of the immense, and irreversible, losses they've suffered. A 60-mile drive from Dahuk to the village of Chemanke on Sunday, partly along the road Hussein's army controlled during the attacks, unveiled a Kurdish landscape still reeling from the Anfal campaign.
Shattered villages lie silent, their stone homes left in ruins. Sons grow up without fathers, and widows struggle to provide for their children. Women remain unmarried in the hope their husbands, who disappeared 18 years ago, will miraculously return.
Headaches, coughs, burn marks and other ailments plague those who were exposed to poison gas. Grown men, including peshmerga fighters, cry openly when they speak about Anfal, while children have grown up with nightmares and other psychological problems.
"We're nearing justice, but it's too late," said Rizgar Mohgadeh Basher, 24, whose father was taken away by Hussein's soldiers and never seen again.
Anfal, which in Arabic means "the Spoils," is the name of the eighth sura of the Koran. The eight-stage campaign lasted 6 1/2 months and followed a long history of attacks against the Kurds by Hussein's Baath Party, which viewed the Kurds as a threat to their power.
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DAHUK, Iraq, Aug. 20 -- Mustafa Arab Youssef walked up the grimy, stone steps of the crumbling, sand-colored Nizarkeh fort. As he reached the second floor, his neighbor Haji Mohammed pointed at dark patches on the cracked floor and said, "When I first came in 1988, there were bloodstains here."
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Iran Rejects Offer For Nuclear Talks
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The Iranian government has told senior European officials that it will not accept the only condition set by the Bush administration and its Western allies for talks on the country's nuclear program and will continue enriching uranium, despite the threat of international sanctions, several senior U.S. and European officials said yesterday.
Diplomats in Washington, Tehran and European capitals said the Iranian government is willing to enter negotiations and to consider a freeze of the program, but it will not accept a freeze as a precondition for the talks.
Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, informed Javier Solana, foreign policy chief for the European Union, of the decision in a phone call over the weekend. The two men will likely meet again today, along with representatives of France, Britain and Germany, to discuss the Iranian position. But U.S. officials said they would push for strong financial sanctions against the Tehran government and expected support from Europe.
The Iranian position is nearly identical to its initial reaction to the offer, which was presented in June and includes a package of U.S.-backed economic and political incentives. U.S., British and French diplomats concluded yesterday, after receiving word of Iran's intention, that the government simply bought time to advance its nuclear program, rather than scale it back as the U.N. resolution requires.
In Tehran, the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the nuclear program is peaceful and will continue. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has made its own decision, and in the nuclear case, God willing, with patience and power, will continue its path," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television.
Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told an Iranian news agency that "under current circumstances, the suspension of uranium enrichment is not possible." Still, he said Iran's response would be "very comprehensive" and would provide "a suitable opportunity for the West to solve the nuclear dossier through negotiations."
President Bush said yesterday that he would wait for the formal reply, but, anticipating the rejection, he urged the United Nations to respond forcefully. "There must be consequences if people thumb their nose at the United Nations Security Council, and we will work with people in the Security Council to achieve that objective," he said.
Earlier this month, the Security Council passed a resolution giving Iran 30 days to stop the program or face the threat of sanctions. For the first time, U.S. officials began feeling optimistic that sanctions could be achieved. "The U.N. resolution calls for us to come back together on the 31st of August," Bush said yesterday. "Dates -- you know, dates are fine, but what really matters is will, and one of the things I will continue to remind our friends and allies is the danger of a nuclear-armed" Iran.
But even some of Washington's closest allies worried yesterday that the effort was becoming more difficult, complicated by the recent fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed financially and militarily by Iran.
"The Iranians are extremely confident following the outcome of the Israel conflict," said one senior European official, who agreed to discuss sensitive details in the matter on the condition of anonymity. "Their Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis has gone from minority player to lionized hero of the Arab street."
A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said senior U.S., French, German and British diplomats agreed during a conference call yesterday to press for sanctions.
Even before fighting broke out in Lebanon, many Security Council members seemed skittish about imposing financial measures against a major oil exporter.
For years, the Bush administration has tried to convince allies to pressure Iran to give up a program that the Tehran government insists is for generating electricity, and not part of a covert nuclear weapons effort.
But Iran, rich in oil and natural gas, built its nuclear program in secret over 18 years. It was forced to acknowledge the large-scale program and accept an outside investigation after an Iranian exile group, listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization, publicly revealed the location of Iran's largest nuclear facility, in Natanz, four years ago.
Since then, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency have been trying to determine the scope and history of Iran's nuclear efforts. They have conducted hundreds of inspections, uncovered Iranian experiments with plutonium and uranium, and exposed a secret relationship between Iran and Pakistan, which was instrumental in the development of Iran's nuclear program.
The inspectors, however, have been unable to confirm Tehran's claims that its nuclear energy program is peaceful. Yesterday, officials in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, said Iran had refused a request by inspectors in the past week to view construction progress at the Natanz site, a vast complex that houses uranium-enrichment efforts.
Inspectors, preparing to report on Iran's program to U.N. members next month, are trying to determine how much uranium the Iranians have enriched in the last several months. Although Iran is advancing its nuclear efforts, U.N. inspectors, as well as analysts working for U.S. and British intelligence, believe the Iranians are technically poor at enriching uranium.
Based on what is known about Iran's program, Western intelligence believes that it will be years before Iran can manufacture enough uranium for a nuclear bomb.
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The Iranian government has told senior European officials that it will not accept the only condition set by the Bush administration and its Western allies for talks on the country's nuclear program and will continue enriching uranium, despite the threat of international sanctions, several senior...
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Italy offers to lead U.N. force for Lebanon
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said on Monday his country was ready to lead a U.N. force in south Lebanon, where shooting by Israeli troops at Hizbollah fighters showed the fragility of a week-old truce.
Prodi told reporters in Italy that he had informed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who he said would make a final decision on the command of the force this weekend.
The Beirut government welcomed Italy's offer of 2,000 troops, the biggest commitment any country has yet made. Israel has already said it would be happy if Italy led the force.
Italy's right-wing opposition warned the deployment could prove a "kamikaze" mission.
President Bush called earlier for the urgent dispatch of U.N. peacekeepers to south Lebanon,
Turkey, Spain and other countries are still hesitating over whether to send contingents after France, earlier tipped to lead the force, sharply reduced its anticipated contribution.
"The international community must now designate the leadership of this international force, give it robust rules of engagement and deploy it as quickly as possible to secure the peace," Bush told a news conference in Washington.
Bush also announced a $230 million aid package to Lebanon that includes 25,000 tons of wheat.
In a sign of how shaky the truce is, the Israeli army said its troops had shot and hit three armed men in the south, but did not say if they had been killed. It said there had been no return fire. Hizbollah denied any of its men had been killed.
The U.N.-backed truce has already been jolted by an Israeli commando raid in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Saturday which the United Nations described as a violation.
The United Nations has vowed to move 3,500 extra troops to the south by September 2, but has received few firm offers of help to build the force to its authorized strength of 15,000.
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said
on Monday his country was ready to lead a U.N. force in south
Lebanon, where shooting by Israeli troops at Hizbollah fighters
showed the fragility of a week-old truce.
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Tiger Finds Way To Exclusive Club
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MEDINAH, ILL. There's no sense in trying to tell the story of Tiger Woods in the context of the PGA Championship because the final major tournament of the year isn't grand enough to provide the context. There's no sense in measuring Tiger against Phil and Sergio and the others because they can't measure up right now and chances are they never will. Sunday's victory at the PGA, Tiger's 12th career major, pushed him past the legendary Walter Hagen and leaves him No. 2, only six shy of Jack Nicklaus's all-time, once thought to be unapproachable mark of 18.
Professional golf isn't big enough to hold the conversation that must be had about Tiger Woods now because he's dominating a sport that has never been dominated, not by the great Bobby Jones, not by Arnold Palmer and not even by Nicklaus. Before the age of 35, presuming relatively good health, Tiger will have blown past Nicklaus statistically to become officially "the greatest golfer of all time." Until then, it's not only fair that we let our imaginations wander, it's mandatory. The great thrill of sports, after the final bows have been taken and the last cheers have been muted, is comparing the kings of kings, in their sports and beyond.
Watching Tiger now is as much theater as competition, which is what happens when sport is raised to art, when it commands not only respect but admiration. At the turn of the 20th century, Jack Johnson raised sport to that level. And then Red Grange and Jack Dempsey. And then, of course, Babe Ruth raised it to a level that, 80 years later, defines great athletic performance in America.
After Ruth there was Bobby Jones, then a long run by Joe Louis, then Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. Jackie Robinson's impact was cultural even more than athletic. And it led us into an era of television, where entertainment became as valuable as winning. And delivered the exceptionally rare hybrid who could master both, the way Muhammad Ali did, and most of us fell in love. Of course, Ali has to be considered the father of modern greatness, the supreme athlete in the television age, redefining what winning meant to kids who grew up watching him, kids such as Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis, Joe Montana and John Elway, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and, of course, Michael Jordan.
So, we've come now to Tiger Woods, who is all these things we've come over the decades to value, including some ingredients we've never seen in the pot until now. Tiger striding up the 18th fairway in that red shirt on Sunday might as well be Ali's red tassels popping in the ring or Jordan's tongue wagging in the fourth quarter. He swings with the prodigious physicality of Ruth, while maintaining the precision of Joe Montana. He controls a golf ball the way Pete Maravich did a basketball, thinks his way around a golf course with the depth of intelligence that Ted Williams thought about hitting, and goes about the mission of winning with the same ferocious will that characterized Jordan.
Whatever Tiger Woods needs to do on a given weekend, fine -- done. By any means necessary, win.
In Liverpool at the British Open a month ago, Tiger was called upon to hit off parched grass that had the consistency of concrete.
He did so by constructing an irons-only game plan that none of his peers had the skill or imagination to even attempt. Here in Chicago, with Mother Nature having evened the playing field by softening Medinah, Tiger was called upon to take divots the size of toupees in the fairways while firing at pins. And he did that better than anybody else in the field.
The mark of any great player in any sport in any era is finishing what he started. And Tiger, after his 68 in the final round, is now 12 for 12 when leading or sharing the lead entering Sunday. Nobody in golf has done that. Lance Armstrong was seven for seven in his final Tours de France. Michael Jordan sandwiched six straight championship seasons around two that carry an asterisk because of retirement.
And the worst news imaginable for his peers is that Tiger won't be satisfied. Earl Woods didn't raise him to be satisfied. And Tiger, far from being bored, still has time to get better. He's 30. And he likes beating people -- especially a sniveling little punk like Sergio Garcia, who, despite his prodigious talents, is at the opposite end of the spectrum as it concerns fortitude. Garcia, whining little brat that he is, had nerve enough to walk off the course Sunday and talk about how Tiger got all the breaks once again.
"The bad shots he hit all week long, he got away with them," Garcia said. With that, the kid reminded us of exactly why he hasn't won a major championship, exactly why he melts down every time he's paired with Tiger, and more important, why we should never get bored with greatness.
The opposite of greatness is Sergio Garcia.
But even the worthy competitors who have the stomach for a challenge are in trouble because Tiger said after winning Sunday that he has a "better understanding of how to get more out of my round" than he did after winning here in 1999. He said he handles his emotions better, is better mechanically, better mentally. "I've made a bunch of strides" since winning at Medinah seven years ago, he said.
That first PGA victory was the beginning of the stretch that carried Tiger to seven majors in 11 tries, which makes us wonder whether he feels, once again, he is on the cusp of something special. Tiger was asked whether he's playing as well now as he was in 1999-2001 and he said, somewhat surprisingly: "Yes. Yes. I've learned since then, yeah. I feel like things are pretty darn good right now."
If you're one of the people trying to break through and challenge to be the best in the world, Tiger Woods saying things are pretty darn good right now isn't what you want to hear. You don't want to see him hitting 5-woods while you're swinging a driver. You don't want to see him draining 40-foot putts twice on the front nine. You don't want to see him splashing bunker shots within three feet for up-and-down. Really, you don't want to see him, period, not if you're Luke Donald or Mike Weir and you're directly in his sights.
Then again, Tiger's not really playing with Donald and Weir as much as he is with Wayne Gretzky and Jim Brown, with Ruth and Jordan. It's a small, private club and doesn't take long to call the roll.
"It's not something I could get next year," Tiger said of catching Nicklaus. "It took Jack over 20 years to get his. It's going to take a career. . . . These events are the most fun events to play in, the major championships. I just thoroughly enjoy coming down the stretch on the back nine with a chance to win it. That's why I practice as hard as I do and what I live for."
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Watching Tiger Woods right now is as much theater as competition, and Tiger, who has raised his sport to art, is competing not with the field but with with the great athletic icons of the 20th century.
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Fish, a Hyena and John Brown's Glare
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From its very beginnings, the Smithsonian Institution has taken and collected photographs. Masses of them.
John Brown's steely eyes were captured in a daguerreotype by August Washington in 1846. A now-extinct Tasmanian hyena, sleek and striped, attracted photographer Thomas W. Smillie in 1891. Harry Bowden went to Jackson Pollock's chaotic studio in 1949 and found an unintentional abstract of cans and brushes. As the 20th century ended, the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory Center recorded hot gas in the Milky Way.
Spread across the Smithsonian's 18 museums, nine research centers and the National Zoo are 13 million photographs. In the hallways and laboratories are about 700 collections of photos. Harnessing them into a form that gives researchers and the public some access has long been a goal for Smithsonian caretakers.
But like a lot of things at the Smithsonian, you had to know where to go to find what you were looking for. Some photos were locked away in the researchers' storehouses.
Tomorrow, the Smithsonian Photography Initiative is launching an electronic means of looking at a small part of this vast collection. A Web site, http://www.spi.si.edu/ , will provide access to 1,800 digital images, the work of 100 photographers, who used 50 different processes.
"The Smithsonian was born at the same moment as photography. Then, the Smithsonian was a very modern institution and quite naturally picked up the new technology," says Merry Foresta, director of the SPI projects. "Photography could bring back to the Smithsonian things from the world and this gave the Smithsonian a way of disseminating itself back into the world."
The question, Foresta says, was how do you find what's important and artistic when there are photographs of every subject the Smithsonian touches, from archaeology to marine science to space travel to celebrity portraits and presidents. "Almost 2,000 images in the face of 13 million may not seem a lot. We have tried to create a good sample and an interdisciplinary sample. This allows us to test in a small way how this might work," she says.
For about 30 years, the idea of a physical institution, a Center for Photography, was debated. But that faded as fundraising became an uphill battle and the Internet provided new possibilities. "In the early part of the 21st century, this seemed like a lot of work, to create a building. We decided to embrace fully the idea of the virtual world," Foresta says. Museums were beginning to digitize their collections, and many curators and scientists were very protective of their materials.
"Quickly we realized we would have a war on our hands if we were loading up the trucks and saying, 'Bring your photographs.' It would have destroyed what is unique about the Smithsonian. The photographers are embedded in the subjects," Foresta says.
The Web site was built with a $500,000 gift from the Comer Foundation, a Chicago-based family fund.
One test, now that thousands of frames are quickly available, will be how people use the site.
In the first format, people can build their own scrapbooks; for example, portraits of Native Americans. The opening page has an interactive feature called "Enter the Frame." The visitor can browse by name, photographer, Smithsonian museum, decade and other key search terms. Then they can string them together or go on to another topic.
But will people be looking for a cultural benchmark, a personal memoir or scholarly information? "At first it seems free-form and gives people an opportunity to experience the interconnectivity of the images. So is that what they want to do?" Foresta asks.
The depth of the Smithsonian collections will be quickly apparent. Foresta, a longtime curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, flipped over the holdings in the engineering division of the National Museum of American History. Here are photographs of the building of the Washington Aqueduct in 1885 near Great Falls. Montgomery C. Meigs of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who oversaw a number of important construction projects in Washington, including the Capitol, recognized the value of photography and documented many projects. Meigs had pictures taken of the Pension Building, now the National Building Museum, rising with a series of pillars in 1883.
"They also have a collection of bridges and dams. Many are extraordinary examples of engineering feats but they are also beautiful photographs. So we have collections that have incredible examples of photography that was used for other kinds of reasons," Foresta says.
For the photo historians, William Henry Fox Talbot, Richard Avedon, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Raghubir Singh, Antoin Sevruguin, Hans Namuth, Mathew Brady, Edward Steichen, Frances Benjamin Johnson and James VanDerZee are represented.
The rugged majesty of the Great Pyramid was captured in 1858 by Francis Frith. A contact sheet of John F. Kennedy and his daughter, Caroline, shows their playfulness in the weeks before his inauguration. There's a zany self-portrait of Adams, taken in a photo booth. This 1930 snapshot with his hat pulled down to his eyes contrasts vividly with his open landscapes.
There is a photo showing Washington's Addison Scurlock protesting outside a theater showing "Gone With the Wind" in 1939. Bob Dylan was snapped at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 by Diana Davies. And Sandra J. Raredon used digital radiograph to show the lines and bones of the surgeonfish.
This is a beginning, Foresta says. "The Web site is the first manifestation. . . . It's not complete. We have built the house with many rooms yet to be furnished."
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Search Washington, DC area museums and art exhibitions from the Washington Post. Features DC, Virginia and Maryland entertainment listings for museums, galleries, studios and monuments. Visit http://eg.washingtonpost.com/section/museums today.
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Station Break - washingtonpost.com
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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.
Farhi was online Tuesday, Aug. 22, 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 to "our thing" (as they say on "The Sopranos"). It hasn't exactly been a quiet week in Lake Wobegone. To bore you with the lowlights: I wrote a (rather negative) critique of Tony Kornheiser's debut on "Monday Night Football" in the Style section last Tuesday, and Tony took a couple of pokes back at me ("two-bit weasel slug," "putz," etc.). This being slow-news August, and sportswriters needing lives (I guess), the point/counter-point became newsworthy (or maybe just "blog-worthy," a much lower standard). Two points to get outta the way upfront: 1) No, I'm not mad at Tony or insulted; I think his comments were amusing, really; and 2) stop with the emails, Tony fans--I'm not "jealous" on his success (as if I had only played my cards right, I'd be sitting in the MNF booth right now. Not.) Anyway, it's been a fun ride; now I'd like to get off....Let's go to the phones...
Alexandria, Va.: Hi Mr. Farhi --
I wanted to let you know that I am a huge Tony Kornheiser fan, and last week, as I watched his debut on MNF, I felt queazy for him -- wanting to go and give him a hug -- he wasn't the Tony we know and love -- he was very tepid and polite and respectful (not Kornheiser qualities) -- and you were right to point it out -- hopefully as the weeks progress the real Tony will come out of his shell.
Paul Farhi: Yes. Exactly what I tried to say last week.
Waterford, N.Y.: Mr. Farhi, was it your intention to be harder on Tony Kornheiser because he's with The Washington Post to help the paper's credibility, or are you really a two-bit weasel slug crying for attention?
Paul Farhi: Well, here's the thing: Writing a review of a colleague was/is a no-win situation. If I went easy on Tony, people would say I was in the tank. If I went too hard, people would say I was trying to hard to seem "independent." So--and you may not believe this--I tried to play the honesty card and just call it as I saw it. Sue me.
Arlington, Va.: Did Tony Kornhieser steal your lunch at work? What DID he do to you to make you want to rip him so badly?
Paul Farhi: Again, you may not believe this, but I LIKE Tony. I've seen him around the office for years, have talked with him from time to time, etc. And I think he's funny, a great talent, and an absolute franchise (to The Post and ESPN). He just didn't show his real stuff on MNF the other night.
Pittsburgh, Pa.: What up, P-Far?
Stay the course. Write the truth. And be a bigger man than a certain thin-skinned colleague in the Sports section.
Keep up the great reporting.
Paul Farhi: I thought I told you not to post to these chats, mom. It's kind of embarrassing...
Washington, D.C.: The Post restaurant critic waits a month before trying a new restaurant and then visits multiple times. Didn't Tony (and others) deserve similar "exhibition" time? Or is the world too impatient for that. I don't necessarily disagree with you but I think you need to revisit Tony after 3-4 weeks of regular season football.
Paul Farhi: No. Not at all. Yes, the tradition in restaurant reviewing is to give the place some time to work out its kinks. But the tradition in theater reviewing is to show up on opening night. So, too, in movies, TV, AND sportswriting. Did anyone wait to "review" Reggie Bush's first game? Did Tony ever hold back until, say, the Redskins had their act together before opining?
washingtonpost.com: Farhi: Kornheiser, Not Yet in Game Shape On 'MNF' , ( Post, Aug. 15 ) Kornheiser: Whaddya Mean, Don't Quit My Day Job? , ( Post, Aug. 16 )
Silver Spring, Md.: Of course you saw Weingarten's essay today, but did you also see the e-mails he posted in the beginning of his chat today from sports fans who can't recognize satire? Very funny.
Paul Farhi: Incredibly and perhaps tragically after all these years, we continue to live in an irony-impaired society, divided between a small minority of "get its" and the vast mass of people who still can't afford to buy a clue.
Re-Ramsey Revisited: So do you think the Cable TV news Chattering class have any idea how rediculous they look when at one moment they are talking about how wrong it was to jump to conclusions regarding the Ramsey family ten years ago, and now are in "Do you think this guy is guilty, lying, crazy, begging for attention etc"
Just once I want someone to say "What am I, Kreskin, how the hell should I know?"
Paul Farhi: What am I, Kres---...Actually, the JonBenet thing is just another in a series of embarrassments for the chattering cable TV classes. Remember all the speculation about who the D.C. sniper might be? How about Chandra Levy's killer? How about Natalie Holloway? How about [fill in blank of story in which speculation is allowed to pass as credible information].
washingtonpost.com: Chatological Humor* , ( Post, Aug. 22 )
Arlington, Va.: Hey Paul. Here's a radio question. So I have a little radio here at work and just tuned it to 100.3. It was "Rocket Man". The next song: "Runnin' Down a Dream" by Tom Petty. Has 100.3 had an identity crisis already?
Paul Farhi: I've been enjoying the bumpers that promote what they're playing as "the greatest rock music of all time," followed by...something by Styx.
St. Mary's City, Md.: I know Kornheiser best from his Post columns, and to a lesser extent from PTI. But I don't see myself sitting through three hours of MNF just to catch some of his humor. Do you think he will adapt to the announcer role, instead of being a host?
I think that was a big reason why Dennis Miller bombed. An announcer is supposed to have some respect for what he is announcing, which went completely against Miller's nature as a satirist. Imagine "A Night at the Opera" if Groucho Marx interspersed his wisecracks with serious commentary on the singers' performances.
Paul Farhi: Well, here's why I liked Dennis Miller on "MNF:" because it's just a game, played for entertainment purposes, and Miller recognized that. There is no way any football game needs a third announcer. The play-by-play man and the "color" guy tell me just about everything I need to know (and a lot I could care less about). The third guy has to ADD something--commentary, humor, an argument, even bizarre statements (a la Miller)--or he (never she) should get the heck outta there. I tuned in to otherwise crummy games just to hear Miller. He stunk a lot of the time (especially when he tried to be a serious football guy), but he was at least INTERESTING during many games.
Port Washington, N.Y.: On the subject of writers insulting one another, Weinigarten's piece seemed to take a veiled shot or two at you (one that said, "Because this is a dispassionate, professional review I am going to avoid ad hominem commentary on strictly personal matters, such as Tony's ostentatiously bald head, which resembles not a cue ball so much as an enormous, bulbous knuckle made of some sort of pink processed meat, like bologna or olive loaf.").
That seems to be a reference to your line about Tony needing a tan. Considering the relevation that Tony was treated for skin cancer this summer, do you regret making that remark?
Paul Farhi: Yes, I do regret that remark. I was not aware that Tony had had treatments. If I had been, I never would have said such a boneheaded thing...And Gene is a god. I will read and enjoy anything he does, including his grocery list.
Dear Mr.Weasel Slug: Boy, was I disappointed to see that Mr.Tony could not take even mild criticisim such as you dispensed. Also, what's up with these guys who won't fly? Big,bad John Madden ("All-Madden Team", etc.) and now TK. Maybe they're in the wrong line of work.
Paul Farhi: Weird, ain't it? And, please, let's not point out how driving across country is a whole lot more dangerous than flying across it, okay?
Washington, D.C.: Do you think part of the backlash on the Kornheiser thing has to do with him having received mostly positive reviews from other sources?
Paul Farhi: Yeah, he mostly ignored that, didn't he? I think it was two things: 1) it was his own paper coming down on him; and 2) the amazing notion (to him) that someone, somewhere wouldn't tell him how fabulous he is every single minute...Btw, he also went after Mike Golic of ESPN radio, who gave Tony a so-so review.
I don't mind the guys in the booth, but please get the females off of the sidelines with their inane chatter.
That's the most annoying part of MNF.
Paul Farhi: I love the notion of being able to interview players and coaches in real time, but sideline reporting almost never amounts to anything. The only memorable thing ever said on the sidelines during a game was when Suzy Kolber interviewed a drunk Joe Namath a few years back (find the audio file on the internet if you can--it's fabulous!)
Payton Place: There's some local car dealership who advertises on WTOP with sappy piano music, overwritten copy and a whispering announcer, and the ads all appear that the selling of cars at this place is somehow some dramatic, life-changing event. The ad ends with the announcer saying something like, "And one more thing, we leave you with this ..." as if it's a lecture. Hey, sappy dealership: We don't need to be lectured or talked-down-to, and we don't need melodramatic radio ads to buy cars. Just tell us what you have, and how much they cost!
Paul Farhi: I absolutely cringe at those ads! They're for a high-end car dealer, and they all but drip with implied contempt for people who can't afford a $50,000 "motor car." So sincere. So snobby. So abominable.
Silver Spring, Md.: Have you seen John Kelly's band yet?
Paul Farhi: No. But I have seen Desson Thomson's band, Cairo Fred. Twice. Joe Bob says check 'em out...
Reston, Va.: I'm confused. Is channel 5's late news a 1-hour show followed by a half-hour show, or is it one long 90-minute broadcast? I can't figure out when to tune in to find the weather and sports.
Paul Farhi: Doesn't the weather lead the 11 p.m. segment? I guess they're trying to differentiate themselves from the other 11 p.m. newscasts. Or maybe weather really IS the thing that people want most from their local news.
Greenbelt, Md.: Am I the only person who's already sick to death of "Triple-X" ESPN's Eastern Motors commercials? I swear if I hear once again hear that my job is my credit (credit), someone's gonna get hurt. The only good thing is I have to listen to ESPN Radio on XM after dark because the "Triple X" signals are so weak.
Paul Farhi: The Eastern Motors ads are kinda the opposite end of the spectrum from the European Motorcar ads, no?
Perry Hall, Md.: When ESPN has the MNF doubleheader on Sept. 11th, who will call the other game?
Paul Farhi: Don't know. But I AM available...
On a scale of 1-10, how worried are you about technological singularity?
Paul Farhi: I'll go with "1" because, with a little luck, I myself may soon become Bluetooth-enabled...
Charlotte, N.C.: It's not the FEMALES on the sidelines that are a problem, it's ANYONE on the sidelines. Unless there has been an injury or a fan running across the field, there simply is no need for anyone to be reporting from there. Especially since for some reason they have to have the camera there also, which means we're missing things on the field.
Paul Farhi: Yes. No slight on women on the sidelines. They are every bit as useless as the men who are there. I'll give the sideline folk this: They occasionally tell you something newsworthy, particularly about injuries. But mostly they handle that obligatory coach-walking-off-the-field-at-halftime interview, in which the coach ALWAYS frowns and frets and says his team will have to "adjust" in the second half. Pointless.
Arlington, Va.: Fine, get the women off the sidelines and put them in the booth. It's unbelievable that there can't be a female play-by-play announcer somewhere out there that's better than many of the men in the booth. I'm thinking mostly about baseball (with the "Let's throw it to Tina in the stands").
Paul Farhi: Totally true. Sports announcing is a last visible vestige of sexism. Very few female play-by-play announcers, on men's sports (I notice that ESPN will plug in a woman for women's sports, like the WNBA or softball). But at best, women can only rise to being sideline ornaments on big games...
San Diego, Calif.: Your mother calls you P-Far?
Paul Farhi: Yes. She is very, very hip, for a 76-year-old. I refer to her as "Ghost Face Killa." It's our little term of endearment.
Wall Street, New York: Katie Couric has been doing the jovial, hey how are you, nice to see you when you wake up thing for a long time....but soon it will be time for her to put on her hard hat and get to work on the serious news for CBS. How do you think she will do? Also, I heard recently that an up and coming junior producer just took a 9 month leave from the evening news team....will this affect her debut?
Paul Farhi: Katie's gonna do fine. She can read a teleprompter. She's attractive. She can do interviews. She can report. She's "credible" (whatever that's supposed to mean). Don't know what else anyone wants in that job (other than a man).
Severna Park, Md.: Wilbon! Wiiiiiilllll-bon!
Paul Farhi: Y'know, I'd love to see Wilbon with Tony on MNF. Who exactly likes Theismann, anyway?
Washington, D.C.: What do you think will happen with the Bryant Gumbel/NFL drama?
Paul Farhi: Fascinating. This blew up yesterday--Gumbel, on his HBO show, criticized Gene Upshaw, head of the NFL Players Union, for being a tool of the NFL. The NFL, specifically outgoing commish Paul Tagliabue, took offense and said Gumbel might be out as an announcer when the NFL starts broadcasting its own games this season on its NFL Network. Goes to show you what chains sports owners can and will yank (Dan Snyder, the Nationals, etc.) when they own the channels that broadcast the team's games. Total Orwellian control of the sports media.
Richmond, Va.: So, are you checking any dark alleys you pass for Kornheiser, lying in wait? Seriously, have you spoken to him since the review?
Paul Farhi: I haven't talked to him in weeks, maybe months. I called him for an interview for a story I wrote the day of his MNF debut but still haven't gotten a call back. I guess I shouldn't be holding my breath now.
Enough about sports: Have you noticed what a mess the Today show is without Katie? Only bright spot has been our old friend Willard. Although come to think of it, maybe Willard adds to the chaos? Some of the current crew clearly don't know how to handle him. It's a hoot!
Paul Farhi: They need a shaking out period, just as Tony does. I suspect they'll get better, just as Tony will...
Green Bay, Wisc.: Say this for ESPN -- they've used a woman play by play announcer on college football (there isn't any women's college football, is there?) and have used women (notably golfer Judy Rankin) as analysts on men's events with success. I still think more women would get the shot if execs weren't old-boy network types. The viewers can handle it.
Paul Farhi: No, the viewers CAN'T handle it. That's the key to all this. Hard-core sports fans, a really reactionary bunch, would scream about having a woman in the booth, as a play-by-play announcer for sure. This is what has stopped every network from giving women a bigger role in announcing...
Silver Spring, Md.: What do you think about Fox showing the D..C news in Baltimore? I do not think the two markets are merging at all with respect to what people find newsworthy -- OK, maybe in Columbia, but people in Timonium do not care squat about Fairfax County, and vice versa.
Paul Farhi: Agreed. It's just a cheap way for a station (WUTB in Balmore) to get a newscast. This is an all-in-the-family deal, because both stations (WUTB and WTTG in Washington) are owned by Fox/News Corp./Rupert Murdoch.
Red Sox Nation: You are so right about the irony impairment of most people. But it's not a problem with me, I'm a Red Sox fan, so I know irony, pathos, and pure pain.
By the way, I love Mr. Tony and disagreed with your review, but I disagree with many reviewers over particular reviews without turning it into an ad hominem attack. I think you are right to be amused by his reaction, but I am horrified by the ability of the "blogosphere" to ratchet anything up into World War III. I guess it is the end of nuance as we know it.
Paul Farhi: Yeah, it's not like there's a war on or anything (What? There is? Several?...) Okay, never mind...
Bethesda, Md.: The suits at the Sci-Fi Channel are today's pop culture villians: They've announced that, for some mystical, unexplainable, ridiculous reason (forget the "lower ratings" b.s. -- that's not entirely true or accurate, for the record), they've stupidly decided to cancel what is literally one of the best shows on television: "Stargate SG-1." And that's not a sci-fi nerd thing to say. It really is an excellent show, and if you watch, say, a couple of dozen episodes to start, you'll see for yourself. That's why it's been on the air for 10 years--one of the longest-running, if not THE longest-running, science fiction shows in television history. And many fans feel the show is just as good as it's ever been. There's no real reason to cancel it. MGM said it still supports the show, and it will shop around for another outlet. Meanwhile, if you haven't seen "Stargate SG-1," give it a shot. It's a lot of fun.
Paul Farhi: Have never seen the show. But I will say this: Whenever any network cancels a sci-fi show, the fan base goes nuts. If I were running a network, I would never mess with the nerd crowd.
Baltimore, Md.: Re Dennis Miller on MNF: I agree that when he tried to be serious about football, it didn't work. But it was really his style of humor that was out of place for the audience. When he said, re notoriously emotional coach Dick Vermeil that, "This guy cries more than Sylvia Plath," I found it uproarious. But I don't think too many pro football fans are up on their mid-20th Century suicidal female American poets.
Paul Farhi: Yes, that's funny, and yes, that's totally out of touch with the mainstream that is watching Monday Night Football. I never really understood why Miller thought he had to go all Ph.D with his cracks on MNF. He had to know they'd sail over his audience's heads, and besides, it was totally out of character for Miller, who really isn't some obtuse egghead comedian. That was weird--but, heck, it was really interesting, too.
Leesburg, Va.: I LOVE Theisman!
Paul Farhi: Thank you, Mrs. Theismann.
Silver Spring, Md.: It was ever thus with female sports reporters on TV. Remember the Mary Tyler Moore exhibit where the female sports reporter talks about women's diving and Lou Grant gets all upset?
That was 1974 and nothing has changed. Except that he wouldn't call it "girls' diving" these days. Maybe.
Paul Farhi: Don't recall that. But, yeah, it's the 21st century. Women can do all kinds of things. Just not talk about sports on TV (or radio), I guess...
Atlanta, Ga.: TV execs would never admit this, but people watch games for the game and not for the announcers. We may complain about bad announcers, but they won't keep us away from a game we want to see. Conversely a great announcing team won't get us to watch a crappy game.
Paul Farhi: True, but announcers enhance a game, good or bad. When you see a game in person, you sorta miss that human element. It's kinda like deejays on the radio--you could listent to music without an announcer, but the human voice adds a certain intangible something, I think.
Arlington, Va.: If the New York Yankees can have a female announcer (radio), any city can have one.
Paul Farhi: Really? That's amazing. Good for her and the Yankees. Is she any good?
Silver Spring, Md.: Did you happen to catch the beginning of the Don and Mike show yesterday when they really went at each other? Even though they were seriously arguing it was pretty funny. There are days when they make me laugh out loud and days when I turn to WTOP.
Paul Farhi: Didn't hear it, but D&M have that chemistry that makes an argument "work." Kornheiser and Wilbon have it, too. Kornheiser and Theismann do not.
I've been enjoying the bumpers that promote what they're playing as "the greatest rock music of all time," followed by...something by Styx.: At least they don't play Barry Manilow!
Paul Farhi: No, but they play Elton John, Billy Joel and a lot of stuff that you'd never call rock. Pop is more like it.
Paul Farhi: Folks, thanks for the onslaught of questions, Tony-related and otherwise. I've got to get back to important business now (i.e., have lunch). But let's do it again in two weeks, same time and channel. By then, I will have returned to my normal one-bit weasel status, and we can get back to regular programming. Catch you then. In the meantime, regards to all....Paul.
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Telling NASA's Tales With Hollywood's Tools
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Every once in a while when a new movie with mind-blowing special effects or oh-my-gosh-it-looked-so-real animation opens, a nondescript office at NASA Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt will mysteriously empty of employees during matinee hours.
Before an investigation is launched into the whereabouts of these workers -- particularly, say, around last year's opening of "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" -- understand that they are not blowing off work. The absentee employees are animators, NASA staffers and contractors who use the same software Pixar Animation Studios uses to tell stories about talking cars to instead tell stories about the Earth. They just want to see what their counterparts in Hollywood have been up to.
There is the occasional did-you-see-that elbow nudge, but in their case it's about craft, not cinematic delight, said Horace Mitchell, project manager at the space center's scientific visualization studio. Mitchell is a NASA employee, but the studio is staffed primarily by animators working for Global Science & Technology Inc., a government contractor in Greenbelt. The company uses the Hollywood software, including Pixar's RenderMan and Autodesk Inc.'s Maya, to translate complicated data into animated movies that illustrate what is happening in and around Earth. The videos often end up on the evening news.
The crucial difference in NASA's use of the software is that Hollywood uses it to spin inspiring, happy-ending stories about love and courage and friendship and hope, while the animators in Greenbelt are often telling stories about bad things happening in the atmosphere, such as last year's hurricane season. In their chilling short film "27 Storms: Arlene to Zeta," set to Vincenzo Bellini's eerie music, viewers can watch the ocean heat up, helping fuel one storm after another -- thanks to the same Pixar software used in the upcoming version of "Charlotte's Web."
NASA oceanographer Gene Carl Feldman frequently collaborates with the Global Science studio. He studies the ocean from space.
"Visualization is that link between the flood of data coming down from space and the ability of the human mind to interpret it," Feldman said. "That's the crux of the story. Better than most other groups in the world, they are able to take this fire hose of data coming down and turn it into images -- visual animation -- that then allows the general public to see this data in ways their brains can interpret and study."
The Hollywoodization of NASA data is in part the result of Pixar's success in creating real-life worlds from fantasy stories. People have come to expect that even the most fantastical of ideas -- a talking, curmudgeonly Mr. Potato Head -- can look and feel exceedingly real. "They don't expect to see crudity," Mitchell said. "They expect to see sophistication because they see it everywhere. In order for us to tell the story, we have to be sophisticated about telling stories and we have to use sophisticated technology to tell them."
Pixar was spun off from George Lucas's film company, and its early days were spent selling animation software and hardware -- a way to pay the bills until computer technology caught up with the firm's vision of making the incredibly life-like films that it produces today.
Today, anyone can purchase versions of RenderMan online, for $995 to $3,500.
Global Science, a private company that employs about 250 people, is definitely not a movie studio. It was founded in 1991 by Chieh-san Cheng, a former employee of an aerospace and technology company with advanced degrees in technical management and meteorology. Global Science provides services in applied science and research, geospatial standards, engineering services, and information technology. The firm's contract with NASA is a small part of its business, contributing about $650,000 a year to about $45 million in revenue.
Global Science and Pixar know about each other, but interaction between the staffs is generally limited to animation conferences and trade shows. But the Global Science staff does feel a strong bond with Pixar, particularly when watching one of its movies.
Jim Williams, a Global Science animator, said, "I'll go into it thinking I'm going to look at the technical stuff and then I'll get completely sucked into the story."
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Every once in a while when a new movie with mind-blowing special effects or oh-my-gosh-it-looked-so-real animation opens, a nondescript office at NASA Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt will mysteriously empty of employees during matinee hours.
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In Southwest, the Competition Thins
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Plans for redevelopment of the District's worn-looking Southwest waterfront have been winnowed to two competing visions, one distinguished by a health club and grocery store, the other by a cultural zone with a water park and Cirque du Soleil.
Last week, the Anacostia Waterfront Corp., a quasi-public group charged with revitalizing the Southwest and Southeast waterfronts, chose two teams as finalists for the project, which had originally drawn 17 proposals. The two were selected from the five that survived an earlier cut in the process.
One team is District retail developer Madison Marquette, paired with housing developer KSI Services of Vienna. They have financing help from Earvin "Magic" Johnson's investment fund and want to bring in a health club and a grocery store such as Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Their plans also call for putting in a river walk with cafes and stores, a "market hall" that would sell produce, and two hotels -- one, a boutique type for a younger, hip crowd; the other a "Washington version" of the luxury Charles Hotel in Boston.
"We're thrilled and honored to have been selected from such a fine group of competitors," said David Brainerd, a managing director at Madison Marquette.
The other team is PN Hoffman, a District housing developer, and Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, a Baltimore developer that has worked on revitalization projects throughout that city. Their plans involve a cultural zone with a water park, piers, an aquarium and a space for Cirque du Soleil. "It's a great opportunity for the District to transform the Southwest neighborhood and bring the community to the water," said Monty Hoffman, founder and chief executive of PN Hoffman.
"The area will be primarily residential with cultural and retail venues, along with the marinas," Hoffman said. "The stakeholders will have a say in how this is all developed."
The two teams will be asked to provide details about financing, the inclusion of affordable housing and the employment of minority contractors. A final selection is expected in the fall, and construction would probably start in 2008.
The plans to redo Southwest's waterfront date to 2001, when community opinion about what should be built was solicited. In general, plans call for 2 million square feet of development on land that is now mostly parking lots and concrete buildings, although some businesses operate there, including the Channel Inn Hotel, nightclubs and the Phillips Seafood restaurant.
The redevelopment would bring in 850 residential units, with 30 percent of them marked as affordable; 250,000 square feet of retail; 2,000 parking spaces; 180,000 square feet of cultural attractions; and 250,000 square feet for a hotel.
The five finalists competing to be master developer were selected in June, and they presented their experience and ideas for the Southwest waterfront at a packed public meeting a few weeks ago to community leaders, city planners and area residents.
The three other finalists were EastBanc Inc., a retail developer in Georgetown that did Cady's Alley, a row of upscale shops; office and housing developer JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase; and the John Buck Co., a major developer in Chicago.
"They're all great developers," Adrian Washington, president and chief executive of the Anacostia group, said of the applicants. "They're all qualified. But these two [Hoffman and Madison Marquette] demonstrated the capability to develop a first-class waterfront. They showed in their experience and their vision that they were the creme de la creme."
· ProLogis, an industrial real estate group, has purchased a 109,000-square-foot building in Glen Burnie near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport for $9.5 million.
· Washington Real Estate Investment Trust has purchased a five-story, 140,000-square-foot office building in Falls Church for $30 million. The property, at 6565 Arlington Blvd., has four tenants occupying about 80 percent of the space.
· Trizec Properties has begun construction on Two Reston Crescent, a six-story, 185,000-square foot office building along the Dulles Toll Road. The property will be available in late 2007.
· Gretchen M. Dudney has joined the board of Bresler & Reiner Inc., a Rockville-based real estate investment firm. From 1995 until 2005, Dudney worked for the Kaempfer Co. of Washington. Before leaving Kaempfer, she oversaw the redevelopment of Waterside Mall at Fourth and M streets in Southwest, where Fannie Mae had plans to open an office but later backed out.
· Laura Westervelt will serve as vice president for brokerage at Trammel Crow Co.'s Baltimore office. She will focus on the Route 50 corridor and Anne Arundel and Howard counties. Westervelt previously served as vice president at Manekin LLC, a commercial real estate firm based in Columbia.
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Plans for redevelopment of the District's worn-looking Southwest waterfront have been winnowed to two competing visions, one distinguished by a health club and grocery store, the other by a cultural zone with a water park and Cirque du Soleil. · ProLogis, an industrial real estate group, has... ·...
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A Soapbox on Wheels
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The S2 bus pulled out of Silver Spring at 7:23 Tuesday morning, straddled the D.C.-Maryland border for a few minutes, then came to a jolting stop on Alaska Avenue NW across from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Driver Sidney Davis strode to the middle of the bus and made a public service announcement: There is a critical election in the District this year for mayor -- has everyone decided who they will vote for in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary?
Davis, 60, a native Washingtonian and Metrobus operator since May 2003, said he is worried that people don't have all the facts to make an informed choice. So his bus routes have become a "D.C. Politics Hour" on wheels, a rolling civic conversation on who might best move this city forward -- strictly within the speed limit, of course.
Jovial and smiling as riders boarded, Davis began his lecture. Headphones were removed from ears, and faces emerged from behind newspapers. "If you don't have a choice, I'd like you to consider the records," he told the dozen or so commuters, many of whom were clearly startled by his speech. And if they hadn't made up their minds, he had a recommendation among the five leading contenders. And he just happened to have pamphlets on hand.
As the race for mayor enters its final month, the leading candidates have shifted into high gear to woo voters. Glossy campaign brochures are landing in District mailboxes, television ads will soon hit the airwaves, and once-polite community forums have turned into bouts of mudslinging.
But Davis said the District voters he encounters every day know little about the candidates. On his voyage across the city, Davis chatted up his riders: a multicultural mix of white-collar professionals who commute from Shepherd Park and Crestwood to downtown offices, Latinos who pack the aisles in the afternoon headed to and from jobs in the city and suburbs, and young people lugging yoga mats and iPods between Dupont Circle and Mount Pleasant.
The S2 bus, which mostly travels along 16th Street, cuts through three wards of the city, including Ward 4, which is the political base for the front-runner in the Democratic primary, council member Adrian M. Fenty. D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp, who is second in the polls, also lives in Ward 4, as does candidate and lobbyist Michael A. Brown. Other candidates include Marie C. Johns, a former telecommunications executive, and council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (Ward 5) -- Davis's pick.
Heading southbound from Silver Spring on Tuesday morning, Davis's riders gave the impression it was a two-person race for mayor.
"I'm for Fenty," said Barbara Daniels, who boarded the S2 at Sheridan Street near Rock Creek Golf Course. Daniels said that although Cropp visited her church, she liked the youthful energy displayed by Fenty, who represents her neighborhood.
Zenaida Mendez, who works for the National Organization for Women, said she prefers Cropp (D) because the city needs more women in office.
Davis urged both women, as well as other passengers on the route, to check voting records and do their homework on the candidates. "The absence of information always makes you more vulnerable," he said, as the relatively new blue-and-white Metrobus idled and waited for a light to turn green.
Davis stressed that he is only exchanging information and provoking discussion, but he sometimes goes beyond that. He engaged riders with a gentle nudge of the arm as they robotically slapped SmarTrip cards and wiggled dollars bills into the fare box. "Are you a D.C. voter?" he asked one rider. "Have you made a decision in the mayor's race?"
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The S2 bus pulled out of Silver Spring at 7:23 Tuesday morning, straddled the D.C.-Maryland border for a few minutes, then came to a jolting stop on Alaska Avenue NW across from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
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'Happy Warrior' Campaigns To Unseat Md. Comptroller
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It had been a long day on the campaign trail -- two news conferences, a television interview and a stop at a hospital -- but if there is any time for Peter Franchot (D) to play the "happy warrior," his favorite term for describing his campaign for Maryland comptroller, this stop at a Prince George's County mall was it.
He's a wealthy, veteran state delegate from Montgomery County, and the shoppers at the Boulevard at the Capital Centre in Largo are middle-class teachers and service workers. He's 58, and they're in their thirties. He's white, and they are black. Undaunted, Franchot rolled up the sleeves of his light blue herringbone dress shirt and exited Five Guys Famous Burger and Fries, confident that he could earn some votes.
"Do you vote in Maryland?" he asked a few dozen people he walked past. "Hi, I'm Peter Franchot, and I'm running for comptroller."
A blank look flashed across their faces, and their eyes seemed to say: "What is a comptroller? Who is this guy?" But they listened to his pitch; Franchot has a kind of earnest charisma that doesn't let people politely walk away.
Sometimes he would explain that the comptroller is one of the most important offices in Maryland, serving as a kind of chief financial officer for the state government. But the comptroller also belongs to a powerful committee called the Board of Public Works, where, together with the governor and treasurer, he helps decide whether public projects get funding.
But Franchot wasn't there to give a civics lesson; he needed to make connections. So he moved to something shoppers likely would be familiar with: "William Donald Schaefer -- have you heard of him?"
Ah! Mentioning the incumbent's name works almost every time. Franchot describes the comptroller race as "an obscure election wrapped in obscurity." But Schaefer, the 84-year-old Democratic titan of Maryland politics, is known everywhere for his blunt and increasingly eccentric remarks.
Schaefer gained national notoriety in February when he ogled a young aide to the governor at a public meeting. At another meeting, he made a connection between the North Korean government's missile launch and South Korean immigrants learning English in the United States.
The sense that Schaefer is ready for retirement after 50 years in office has prompted six challengers to take to the field. The two Democratic candidates are Franchot, a 20-year veteran of the House of Delegates, and Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens.
Baltimore City Paper summed up their campaign mantras cruelly but simply in a recent headline: "Vote for Me, I'm Not Old and Crazy."
The bad publicity has shattered Schaefer's hopes of an easy march to victory. A Baltimore Sun poll of 604 likely Democratic voters in July found that 31 percent of those polled planned to vote for Schaefer Close behind are Owens with 22 percent and Franchot with 11 percent of the vote; 36 percent of those polled were undecided. A Washington Post poll of 453 registered voters in June showed that Schaefer was more popular with Republicans than his fellow Democrats.
Nearly everyone Franchot encounters appears to be fed up with Schaefer's antics.
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It had been a long day on the campaign trail -- two news conferences, a television interview and a stop at a hospital -- but if there is any time for Peter Franchot (D) to play the "happy warrior," his favorite term for describing his campaign for Maryland comptroller, this stop at a Prince...
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Worker Hurt In Robbery of Georgetown Jewelry Store
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A jewelry store worker was shot and critically wounded yesterday afternoon in Georgetown during a brazen midday robbery at the Wisconsin Avenue shop where he worked.
The man, whose name was not released, was shot in the back and taken to Georgetown University Hospital, where he underwent surgery. A police spokesman said yesterday evening that he was in critical but stable condition.
The holdup of Georgetown Fine Jewelry and Art, at 1265 Wisconsin Ave. NW, marked the second time in just over a month that a robbery in Georgetown ended in bloodshed.
In early July, a British political activist was killed when he and a friend were accosted on a residential street as they walked home from a movie. Alan Senitt's throat was slashed, allegedly by one of the robbers, when he tried to aid his female companion.
The July 9 slaying was one of 14 during a 12-day stretch last month, and D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey declared a crime emergency, saying homicides and especially robberies had been occurring at a troubling clip.
Inspector Andy Solberg said at least two and possibly three men entered the jewelry store about 2 p.m. asking to see some merchandise.
What happened next is under investigation, said Solberg, the acting commander of the 2nd Police District, which includes Georgetown. Police would not say whether anything was taken.
After the shooting, Solberg said the assailants went north on Wisconsin, then east on N Street, where they got into a white sedan and fled.
Police sealed off Wisconsin Avenue in front of the store for much of the afternoon as police commanders, detectives and crime scene technicians tried to gather evidence.
Curious passersby, seeing the yellow police tape and the activity, buttonholed those there to ask what had happened. Traffic up and down Wisconsin Avenue was detoured onto side streets for hours. Shops on the affected stretch were closed to the public. Relatives and friends of the wounded man showed up, anxious and searching for answers from police.
Eric Jackson, who works at a nearby hotel, said he sometimes visits the store and knows the family that runs it. "There's no place safe in Washington anymore," he said.
Omid Shaffaat, who said he is a close friend of the wounded man, said he hoped store surveillance camera footage would aid police.
"The person has to be on camera," he said.
Police described two suspects as men in their thirties. One was in an orange turtleneck and a dark sweatshirt. The other was pulling a wheeled suitcase with a duffel bag on top.
Police asked anyone with information to call 202-727-9099.
Up to $10,000 is available for information leading to an arrest and conviction in a District robbery.
Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.
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A jewelry store worker was shot and critically wounded yesterday afternoon in Georgetown during a brazen midday robbery at the Wisconsin Avenue shop where he worked.
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Gibbs Voices Concerns
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The raw emotion that engulfed Coach Joe Gibbs after Saturday night's lopsided loss to the New York Jets had subsided by yesterday afternoon, but the content of his message was unchanged. Gibbs reiterated his concerns with all aspects of the Redskins' play after two ugly preseason defeats, and he will demand a much better effort in the final two preseason games.
The Redskins, who lost, 27-14, to the Jets at FedEx Field and have been outscored 46-17 in the preseason, have slumped on offense, defense and special teams, leaving Gibbs arguably more perturbed Saturday night than at any point since he returned to coaching in 2004. Gibbs was terse and direct in his responses to questions after the defeat, and during his news conference yesterday he provided more depth and context to his remarks but voiced the same disappointment.
"I thought we would get a great effort and play extremely hard," Gibbs said in explaining his anger Saturday night. "We're coming home and I talked about it, and we play a game like that. So it does a number of things to you. You get upset about it and you get concerned about it, too, because there's no reason why you shouldn't play well there."
As Gibbs lashed out at the team on Saturday night, he seemed to be sending a reminder to anyone on the club who might presume success this season after last season's trip to the playoffs. Gibbs has guarded against inflated expectations throughout this training camp, urging his players to make no Super Bowl predictions, while realizing that hopes are high after an offseason investment of millions of dollars on the coaching staff and roster. He has adopted a mantra with players and media alike about the difficulty of playing in the NFC East, the strength of Washington's schedule and the volatile nature of the league, with teams dropping and rising unexpectedly every year.
"If you think the past buys you something, or expectations buy you something, I think you're headed for a fall," Gibbs said. "Up here, very close football games are going to be played, and certainly you can't play the way we played in the first two games. I think that [high expectations are] something you've got to live with up here. You've got to realize what the NFL's like. . . . You see it played out every year."
The timing of the team's uninspired play has not gone unnoticed, either. Coaches rewarded players by having them report to camp on the last day possible, conducting just three two-a-day sessions, moving practices back because of heat and curtailing the amount of contact in drills.
In addition, the offense is still learning associate head coach Al Saunders's new timing scheme and has failed to move the ball with any regularity.
The three quarterbacks -- Mark Brunell, Todd Collins and Jason Campbell -- have combined for a 50.2 passer rating, with one touchdown pass and five interceptions. The defense, meantime, has yet to produce a fumble or interception, resulting in a 0 to 6 turnover margin. The coaches have focused on this tendency for the entirety of their tenure here, with the team turning it around only during its stretch run to the playoffs last season.
"We did not make the plays that we wanted to make," Brunell said. "We wanted to progress from the first preseason game to the next. We need more consistency on offense and to score some more points, obviously."
Washington's run defense, remarkably strong the last two seasons, lagged against the Jets, a team with no recognizable NFL running back on its roster Saturday. New York repeatedly rushed directly into the heart of the field and came away with quality gains against the first-team defense, rushing for 216 yards overall to the Redskins' 84. The starters also surrendered a 61-yard touchdown on a reverse, while the special teams crumbled amid penalties and shoddy coverage -- allowing an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and another 47-yard return. Punter Derrick Frost was erratic again as well, and came up short handling kickoff duties for kicker John Hall.
"All three -- special teams, defense, offense -- all of us have a long ways to go," Gibbs said. "We were all disappointed."
The positive news is that preseason is generally a weak indicator of success in the regular season, and the Redskins' starters have essentially played one half of football. They are likely to play more Saturday in New England -- particularly the offense, given its adjustment to a new scheme -- and a few good quarters of football would erase memories of much of the last two weeks.
"It was a reality check," fullback Mike Sellers said of Saturday's loss. "Everyone knows how successful the season went last year. We need to come with the same energy and focus on each snap."
Redskins Notes: Defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin, who left Saturday's game with a sprained knee, might be held out of the upcoming game as a precaution, said Bubba Tyer, director of sports medicine. The sprain is mild, Tyer said, and Griffin might practice this week.
Wide receiver Brandon Lloyd (hamstring) sat out the weekend as a precaution, and is questionable to return to practice today, Tyer said. Tight end Robert Johnson, who sprained his ankle in the game, is day-to-day. Offensive lineman Jim Molinaro is back from minor knee surgery and should be ready to face the Patriots, while cornerback Ade Jimoh (sternum), defensive back Curry Burns (hamstring) and defensive lineman Nic Clemons (knee) should practice today, according to Tyer.
Linebacker Khary Campbell bruised his knee Saturday and is day-to-day, rookie linebacker Rocky McIntosh has a swollen knee and starting center Casey Rabach has a mild shoulder sprain, but none of the injuries is serious, Tyer said.
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Info on Washington Redskins including the 2005 NFL Preview. Get the latest game schedule and statistics for the Redskins. Follow the Washington Redskins under the direction of Coach Joe Gibbs.
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Hear the Music, Avoid the Mosh Pit
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Musician Suzanne Vega got her start in the New York folk scene, but now the 1980s star has found a following in cyberspace.
With the help of some programmers, Vega created a 3D animated image of herself, called an avatar, and she recently performed inside a world accessible only through a Web site, where other people represented by avatars attended the concert, streamed live to computers all over the globe.
As Vega strummed her guitar inside a real studio, about 100 lucky fans sat at their computers and guided their avatars into the online scene of an outdoor amphitheater, where Vega's avatar -- youthful-looking with short hair and bangs -- appeared on stage. When the real-world artist played and sang, her online alter ego did the same -- though the avatar's lips did not move. Fans heard the concert on their computer speakers and commanded their avatars to smile or move to the music.
Later, Vega answered audience questions, sent as instant messages visible to everyone in attendance.
The Aug. 3 event, organized by a public radio program, was one of the first attempts by a major artist to interact with fans in a completely computer-fabricated world.
"The response was terrific!! I am still hearing from people who were in the 'room,' friends of friends and people all over the world who were 'there,' " Vega said in an e-mail, noting that she took an active role in picking out the maroon blouse, black cardigan and white tennis shoes her avatar wore.
Marketing and record label executives say Web sites that put users into video-game-like virtual worlds are a unique way to reach out to audiences, who are increasingly spending their time and money on the computer instead of at concerts and music stores. Although still experimental, such sites offer fans more ways to interact with one another and band members directly.
The 1980s band Duran Duran has reunited and plans to perform a live concert later this month on Second Life, the world where Vega performed, on its own virtual island. A few months ago, singer and pianist Regina Spektor built four virtual Manhattan lofts where fans could walk around, hang out and listen to streaming music from her new album a month before it was released. Even fans are taking part: A group of friends created avatars of the band U2 and has put on several virtual concerts, using music from the band's real shows and mimicking every detail, down to lead singer Bono's hairstyle, sunglasses and clothing.
Other, lesser-known bands and musicians who typically have used social networking site MySpace.com to build a following are also turning up on Second Life and other virtual worlds, such as There.com, to showcase their music.
"A virtual world brings something to the table that a Web site doesn't -- it's building a more immersive experience. . . . You kind of lose yourself in it," said Ethan Kaplan, director of technology for Warner Bros. Records, who said he has played around with Second Life for years. "It's really cool and a lot more fun and creative than just putting a MySpace page up."
Musicians are increasingly using the virtual world to hold live concerts, at specific times and dates, or listening lounges where their music plays when an avatar pays a visit. The virtual world provides a rich and colorful environment similar to computer-animated films like "Toy Story," only a notch less sophisticated.
Users control their avatars by clicking on arrows or moving the mouse, but the movement and appearance seem a bit slow at times. Unlike the real world, though, avatars can fly around or beam themselves instantly from beach to urban environment. Savvy avatars can even record an experience on Second Life and turn it into a short movie or music video, many of which are posted on online video sites like YouTube.com.
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Musician Suzanne Vega got her start in the New York folk scene, but now the 1980s star has found a following in cyberspace.
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Pausing The Panic
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Prime-time television and its mighty 30-second commercial were supposed to be in trouble when a new, cutting-edge technology arrived on the scene several years ago, giving viewers a tool to zip past the traditional, on-screen ads.
Digital video recorders were like VCRs with super powers: able to pause live television, effortlessly record a season's worth of shows and even pick programs they think you will like. By shifting television's time schedule and watching recorded programs at their convenience, viewers could skip those annoying ads with the click of the remote.
Today, as the DVR becomes more accessible to the mainstream -- notably because cable and satellite companies are starting to incorporate the technology into the set-top boxes already in millions of living rooms -- the technology is having a different impact.
Most viewers have not radically rearranged their television schedules. People are watching more, not less, television. And, most interesting, DVRs may end up preserving mass-audience network television by offering viewers more choices and giving advertisers novel solutions to reach potential customers.
TiVo Inc., which pioneered the DVR, owns about one-third of the market and has entered the lexicon as a replacement for the phrase "to tape a show." But with the cable and satellite companies on board, industry researchers say 12 million to 15 million homes are likely to have a DVR by the end of the year. By 2010, that number could be as high as 65 million.
Now, TiVo and television advertisers are working hand in hand to revolutionize the decades-old model of supporting network television. The Silicon Valley company announced last month that it would start selling customer commercial-viewing data to networks and advertisers. And this fall, viewers will be introduced to prime-time commercials made expressly for DVR users -- ads that include extra content seen only when viewers go frame by frame through the commercials, creating a deterrent against using the fast-forward button.
"When the DVR came on the scene, there were all these apocalyptic predictions as to how it was going to destroy the mass market and mass-market TV," said David Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision, the company's research shop. "People became infatuated with the technology and the idea that people were going to take total control of their TV viewing."
Poltrack is one of the industry's experts on researching viewing habits and telling programmers and executives what the data mean. At presentations, he likes to flout a photograph of a 2000 New York Times Magazine cover story that predicts "The End of the Mass Market" because of DVRs.
What the millennial doomsayers missed, Poltrack said, "was the logical conclusion that the amount of TV that people watched was limited by the fact that these programs ran against each other."
That limit disappears with the DVR, which can record one show while you watch another.
True, a videocassette recorder can do the same thing. But programming a VCR and taping a show can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Seven out of 10 owners use VCRs to play recorded tapes (such as rented movies) rather than to record television programs to watch later, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The joke of the "blinking 12:00" -- a sign that viewers never learned how to program their VCRs -- turned out to be true.
But with DVRs, viewers can, at the touch of a few buttons, record all of their favorite shows for an entire season, all of which are stored neatly on a hard drive inside the recorder.
Given the opportunity to easily record shows, people wind up watching more of the most popular television programs. Overall television viewing in households that own DVRs increases after their purchase, according to a number of surveys. That means those viewers are exposed to more advertising.
This fall, ABC is moving one of its most popular shows, "Grey's Anatomy," to Thursday nights, opposite CBS's most popular show, "CSI." Poltrack expects viewers with DVRs to watch both shows instead of having to choose between the two or spend the time and effort remembering to program VCRs and put in tapes.
It also turns out that DVRs are not killing live viewing or shuffling the weekly prime-time schedule, at least not yet. From Sunday to Friday, 84 percent of all prime-time television viewing in DVR households is live, according to Nielsen Media Research. According to the same data, 61 percent of all prime-time programming recorded by DVRs is watched on the same days it airs.
And in more good news for the networks, even though there are only six major broadcast networks compared with hundreds of cable channels, 77 percent of the shows recorded by DVRs air on a network such as ABC or Fox, rather than a cable channel such as ESPN or TNT, Nielsen reported.
The networks think they can make more advertising money if they can figure out how to get past one other statistic, and it's a troubling one: Ninety percent of DVR owners say they fast-forward past some or all commercials, CBS data show.
But new information about how DVR users interact with commercials raises questions about that statistic.
A March survey by Millward Brown marketing researchers found that 42 percent of non-DVR owners recalled specific brands in commercials they had seen, such as Ford or Taco Bell. For DVR owners, the number was 43 percent.
There are several possible explanations for differences between what people say and what they do when it comes to commercials. Poltrack said it's smiled upon socially to say that you don't watch commercials. Also, people tend to remember action -- fast-forwarding -- better than inaction, or not fast-forwarding. Further, it's almost impossible to not catch at least some of a commercial block when trying to zip through it. With that in mind, advertisers now make commercials that keep the company logo on screen for the entire ad, for example. Advertisers call it a "logo burst."
More DVR-inspired creativity is at work.
In May, General Electric Co. began showing commercials touting the environmental benefits of some of its heavy industrial products, such as jet engines and diesel locomotives. One 30-second spot featured an elephant dancing in a jungle to "Singin' in the Rain," as other animals look on. Viewers with DVRs were shown how to pause the commercial at certain moments. When they did, up popped whimsical, fictional biographical information about the animals. Gamers call such hidden content "Easter eggs." GE calls the project "One-Second Theater," and it is designed to nudge DVR owners to spend more, rather than less, time with commercials.
It worked, according to GE's research. Viewers spent a little more than two minutes watching and reading the 30-second spots, said GE's Jonathan Klein, marketing communications leader.
So instead of DVR users never seeing the GE spot, as advertisers and networks have feared, "viewers ended up spending over two minutes with the GE brand in front of them," Klein said.
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This is your source for news on personal technology. Find info and reviews on the newest technology that affects your life. Read our latest features on new tech gadgets.
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For Hagel, Standing Up Brought a Fall From Favor
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University of Nebraska Press, 230 pp. $25
Not long ago, Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and John McCain of Arizona were the Stardust Twins of the GOP, both decorated Vietnam War veterans and fearless conservative mavericks who occupied much the same political ground.
Hagel was at McCain's side when the Arizonan waged a bitter presidential primary battle against George W. Bush in 2000, and he introduced McCain to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. By then, of course, McCain's "Straight Talk Express" campaign had been derailed by Bush, while Hagel's popularity among party regulars surged to the point that he was mentioned as a possible running mate for Bush.
But six years later, that picture has been turned upside down: McCain has morphed from party outsider to Bush administration booster and a leading contender for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Hagel, meanwhile, has tumbled from grace within the party after repeatedly challenging the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill and leveling bruising critiques of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and domestic policy.
How could the onetime toast of the GOP have fallen so far, and what are the chances that Hagel will run for president in 2008 in the face of so many obstacles? In her new book, "Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward," University of Nebraska at Lincoln journalism professor Charlyne Berens attempts to answer those questions with a sympathetic portrait of a public figure who is immensely appealing and astute, yet the architect of his own political frustrations.
Berens begins her book noting that Hagel, a loyal Republican and internationalist in outlook, "time and again has taken shots at his party's and his president's engagement -- or lack of it -- with the rest of the world" and has scolded his conservative colleagues for their unilateralist tendencies. Hagel strongly values international alliances and global institutions such as the United Nations and NATO, a view that he has enunciated from his perch on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and that put him at odds with Bush's early go-it-alone approach to foreign policy.
Hagel commands respect for his thoughtful views on foreign policy, his one real passion in the Senate, and his candor has made him a favorite of the Washington press corps, as when he declared after Bush was nominated for a second term that the Republican Party "has come loose of its moorings."
Yet that same independent streak that marked his formative years and his remarkable climb to power has hurt his relations with many of his Republican colleagues and diminished his effectiveness as a lawmaker. While McCain has vigorously defended Bush's war policies and mended fences with the Rev. Jerry Falwell and other right-wing foes, Hagel's complaints about the war and his opposition to the No Child Left Behind education plan and other signature Bush domestic initiatives have marginalized his prospects as a presidential candidate.
As Hagel's chief of staff, Lou Ann Linehan, often lamented: "I don't know why we have to run in front of every bullet."
"So now he's considering running for the presidency," Berens writes. "Just how will his outspokenness affect that aspiration?"
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Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward Charlyne Berens University of Nebraska Press, 230 pp. $25
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Ivy Rankings? Rah, Rah, Sis-Boom-Blah
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Really, they say, they couldn't care less. Really.
Washington area alumni of the Ivy League -- the Ivy League vérité , please, none of that Dartmouth-Cornell-Columbia-Brown-and-Penn nonsense -- are playing it cool this week over U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of the best colleges in the nation.
After suffering for three years tied with Harvard as the No. 1 university in the land, Princeton finally broke free to hoard the top spot all to its $11.2 billion-endowed self in the magazine's highly scrutinized rankings, which were released last week. A university in New Haven, Conn., nabbed the third spot.
But graduates of these schools who live in the Washington area -- the country's most hospitable nesting ground for the Limited Liability Partnership set -- say the rankings constitute little more than light social jousting among friends, if that. Some reported that they had not heard or don't track when the rankings are published, while other alumni had heard, but, abiding by their sense of decorum rather than humor, declined to comment for this article.
(Rule No. 1 among the most status-conscious of Princeton alumni: When asked where you went to college, meekly say, "In New Jersey.")
"Yes, I definitely heard about it. A friend told me that we -- the collective we -- were No. 1 by ourselves," said Jennifer Kogler, a District resident who is a 2003 Princeton graduate and a published novelist. "I think people make their decision about Princeton because it's a great school, whether U.S. News thinks so or not. . . . I don't know how they do these rankings. They're important and meaningless at the same time."
For schools in the Washington area -- an editor forced us to mention this lowly tier for readership purposes -- the rivalry over cachet between Georgetown and the University of Virginia was settled: After the schools tied for 23rd last year among private and public universities, Georgetown held on to the spot this year, while U-Va. went down a notch. Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University is still the best in the area at No. 16, although it slipped from 13th. (The full rankings can be found at http://www.usnews.com/ . )
At U-Va., the public relations folks apparently couldn't help themselves. "University of Virginia Scores High in Two National Magazine Surveys," the school touts on its Web site, referring to how U.S. News ranked it the second-best public university in the country and Newsweek anointed it as one of 25 "New Ivies."
Michelle Quiroga, who graduated from Osbourn Park High School in Prince William County, starts her first classes at U-Va. this week. She would have applied to Harvard, she said, but the tuition was too much.
"If someone who went to Harvard applied for a job, they're definitely going to trump someone who didn't go to as prestigious of a school," she said. "But costwise, I didn't feel the need to spend $40,000 a year when U-Va. is considered an Ivy public school."
(Rule No. 1 among Ivy League alumni: Nod politely upon hearing this statement.)
Were the men and women of Harvard and Yale -- or is it Yale and Harvard? -- disgruntled over their rankings? After all, isn't the time-tested expression Harvard, Yale, and Princeton etched in the cultural vernacular?
"It seems like [the magazine] always juggles the top three around just to get you to pay attention, in a very, very, very minor way," said Jake Bittner of Falls Church, a 1998 Yale graduate who is a sales director at a software company. "I hadn't thought too much about it, but I have friends who went to Princeton, friends who went to Harvard, and I'm sure we'll go out for a drink and kid each other about it."
We need a Harvard man to weigh in on this. They must be fuming. Princeton beat them after a three-year epic battle. Michael Gaw, president of the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C., said he read about the rankings on the Internet and claimed, oozing sang-froid, "I can't believe anyone in Cambridge is losing any sleep over this."
For those not in the know, Cambridge is located next to Boston, in Massachusetts, up east.
(Full disclosure: This reporter was a 2000 graduate of a college in New Jersey.)
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Really, they say, they couldn't care less. Really. Washington area alumni of the Ivy League -- the Ivy League vérité , please, none of that Dartmouth-Cornell-Columbia-Brown-and-Penn nonsense -- are playing it cool this week over U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of the best colleges in the...
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N.C. Colleges to Study Report on Klan Violence
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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- City leaders gave it a lukewarm reception, but area college students will be paying close attention to a report on a 1979 clash between members of the Ku Klux Klan and the Communist Party.
Instructors at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Guilford College and Guilford Technical Community College plan to include -- or are discussing inclusion of -- the 600-page report in classes on an array of subjects, including communications, civil rights history and argumentative research.
Five people were killed and 10 were injured when Klan and Nazi members opened fire on people gathering for a march and rally in Greensboro's Morningside Homes neighborhood.
The report was compiled by the Greensboro Truth & Reconciliation Commission. It spent two years investigating the incident and held three public hearings last year to take testimony from people present at the time.
The document will be used as part of a larger curriculum focusing mainly on modern Greensboro history in Spoma Jovanovic's class on communications, community and civil rights at the UNC campus there.
"We'll be studying up to 1960 through William Chafe's book ['Civilities and Civil Rights'] and then beyond to 1979," said Jovanovic, an assistant professor of communication studies.
Jovanovic has taught the course twice. This will be the first time it has been offered since the report was released in May.
The Greensboro incident will be compared with violent incidents in Wilmington, N.C.; Orangeburg, S.C.; Tulsa; and elsewhere.
The commission was formed to address long-standing dissatisfaction among minority groups and liberal activists in this city, where the sit-in phase of the civil rights movement began in 1960. Hard feelings built over a lack of criminal convictions for the shootings, along with a feeling that city leaders swept the incident under the rug.
The report laid the bulk of the blame on Greensboro police, saying officers knew white supremacists planned to attend the "Death to the Klan" march on Nov. 3, 1979, but failed to take action. It also recommended that the city issue a formal apology, but Mayor Keith Holliday has refused, and other city leaders are divided on the matter or have refused to comment.
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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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Outlook: Civil War in Iraq?
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Daniel Byman: Let me begin my discussion by noting that while the piece I wrote is co-authored, my online discussion today contains only my own thoughts. Dr. Pollack's own responses to the various questions may differ considerably.
Daniel Byman: Let me begin my discussion by noting that while the piece I wrote is co-authored, my online discussion today contains only my own thoughts. Dr. Pollack's own responses to the various questions may differ considerably.
Van Nuys, Calif.: The de-stabilization of The Middle East seems to be the outcome of the United States and Israeli wars in the area. Does the United States and Israel benefit from this civil war and the potential civil war which will very likely break out in Lebanon? What about Iran? Does it look likely that the United States and Israel will get us into another war in there? It seems to me that the United States and Israel and the Middle East are better off if the United Nations becomes much credible; stronger and independent to impose terms of peace in the region, without participation or intervention from the warring factions.
Daniel Byman: As our piece made clear, the United States does not benefit from a massive civil war in Iraq -- it tarnishes our credibility and creates a host of strategic and humanitarian problems. And all this occurs at a horrific human cost and painful financial cost.
In Lebanon, the Bush administration, to its credit, tried hard to push for a Syrian withdrawal and to support democracy there. The recent war is a setback for both efforts -- and, as Hezbollah has emerged strong, Israel didn't do well by it either.
Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.: There was a piece recently in the LA Times advocating continued U.S. support for Iraq's reconstruction. Senator Reed has stated we should give more. I agree. Leaving Iraq half-destroyed would only make things worse no?
I know that means tens of billions of more money, but I thought the operating rule was "you broke it, you buy it"?
Daniel Byman: We certainly have a strong moral debt to pay given that many of the problems in Iraq today occurred on our watch.
However, reconstruction only works in a secure environment. Part of the problem with reconstruction in Iraq today is that thieves take half the money, and the other half indirectly aid various warlords who end up controlling the allocation of the money because they are the ones with people on the ground at the local level. So without security and an impartial government, reconstruction dollars largely are wasted or go to making the problem worse.
We need a more integrated strategy on reconstruction -- one that takes into account politics and the security situation as well as economic needs.
Lyme, Conn.: What would happen if we were to announce that we declare that Iraq is indeed in civil war and that our military presence from now on will be only of a police nature to protect citizens from being killed by others, yet otherwise we are not interfering except to assist Iraq in its rebuilding of its infrastructure and its economic development?
Daniel Byman: The practical problems with such an impartial approach are twofold. First, rebuilding Iraq is a political act that threatens some groups -- if parts of Iraq are more stable, and better off, some warlords will lose influence. So what seems like an uncontroversial act (building a hospital or a school) will lead some people to use violence to stop it. Second, much of the conflict now involves the sort of policing you describe ... so we would still be heavily involved in the day-to-day violence, as we are now.
Indiana: After describing all the horrors that would accompany a full-blown civil war in Iraq, you say "How Iraq got to this point is now an issue for historians." So, in other words, GW Bush, Dick Cheney, and the rest of the neocon cabal that is responsible for this mess will simply walk away from all this at some point, to live out a comfortable retirement.
In the U.S., there is a sense that one must be held accountable for the crimes one commits. Whether you consider the irresponsible and foolish invasion of Iraq a "crime" or not is beside the point. Bush and his cabal have caused great harm to the U.S. and to the world by launching this war. Is there/should there be some way to hold these individuals accountable?
Daniel Byman: We also noted in the piece that this is an issue for voters as well -- of course we should hold our leaders responsible, giving credit where appropriate as well as pushing leaders out of office who do not deliver.
In my view, the Bush administration and the senior leadership of the U.S. military made many grievous mistakes in Iraq. However, the Democratic Party did not distinguish itself on Iraq.
Washington, D.C.: Can there be a 'civil war' in Lebanon if the Bush administration says that there isn't one?
What -objective- measures are there to determine that a continuing intra-country civil disturbance is a 'civil war'?
Daniel Byman: Scholars use a range of measures to determine if a country is in civil war. Needless to say, there is not universal agreement, and much depends on the size of a country. (One thousand people dying in India differs in scope from the same number dying in a small country.)
But looking at the deaths, and looking at the number of refugees, things look like we're well into the civil war stage. In addition, in the last year in particular the violence among Iraqis has grown considerably.
Although U.S. attention understandably focuses on anti-U.S. and anti-coalition violence, the biggest problem in Iraq is violence among Iraqis, both sectarian and between factions of the same sect, group, or tribe.
Reston, Va.: Prof Byman - Sometimes war in general, and civil wars in particular, actually resolve problems. You did pioneering work on the resolution of ethnic conflicts. Why shouldn't the Shia be encouraged to unite with the Kurds to defeat the Sunni insurrectionists?
Daniel Byman: Thank you for the kind words on my previous work.
Wars can and do resolve problems -- to pick and obvious and important example, fascism ended as a threat because of Allied militaries defeating fascist armies in World War II.
But in Iraq the problem is not good guys versus bad guys, but rather an untidy mix of groups. Some that are U.S. allies are quite brutal and unwholesome -- their "victory" would not be good for Iraqis or for U.S. interests. Moreover, the Shi'a show no sign of uniting (and recent fighting in Basra suggests the opposite).
Picking a winner in a civil war is exceptionally difficult. One condition that helps is a high degree of unity among the different factions. This is true to some degree with the Kurds, but not true with the Shi'a.
In part because of this lack of unity, it would be hard, but not impossible, for the Shi'a to defeat various Sunni forces outright. Another problem is that the Sunni are well armed and would probably receive some backing from neighboring states.
Unfortunately, in the end all the options are flawed.
Leesburg, Va.: Dr. Byman, Is there any serious question about whether or not Iraq is in a state of civil war? Is the question a difference of degree or kind? Does it matter for the rest of your analysis and recommendations?
Daniel Byman: The degree of the civil war matters considerably. A massive civil war would lead to an incredibly tragic loss of life as well as economic devastation.
A low level war, which generates few refugees and causes relatively few deaths, would not generate the same degree of problems that we identified in the article. In particular, neighbors would feel less need to intervene, and the destabilizing effects of refugee flows would be diminished.
If the United States and the Iraqi government can reduce the level of violence considerably, then many of the most dire problems for the region may not occur -- let us hope this can be done, though I am pessimistic.
Fairfax, Va.: You recognize the danger of civil war spreading to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Isn't it also true that the Shiites of this province may now be a majority and that they have so long oppressed by the Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia that they are ready to rebel and look to Iran for assistance?
Daniel Byman: The Eastern Province Shi'a have long suffered considerably discrimination. Some of them may find inspiration from the events in Iraq, particularly if aided by groups in Iraq itself. The tribal and religious ties between Iraq and the Eastern Province are considerable.
However, the Saudi royal family understands this danger and has both tried to coopt Shi'a leaders and repress potentially dangerous voices. In addition, much of the luster is off the Iranian revolution for the world's Shi'a community.
Chicago, Ill.: As of today, I'm not sure whether one would call the state of Iraq as one in civil war or utter chaos. Nevertheless, this state has been brought about by the underlying enmities among the various cultural and religious groups in Iraq, but primarily by the incompetence and mismanagement of the occupation by this Administration.
What's clear is staying the "Bush Administration" course will lead only to further disasters. This Administration is tied to it's self-indulgent sense of righteousness. Nevertheless, it's clear that three things must occur before anything can be accomplished with respect to setting Iraq on a course towards stability. First, this Administration must admit it lied to the world about why it went to war with Iraq. Second, it must admit it's complete failure to rebuild and stabilize Iraq. Finally, it must ask for help from the European Union, from China, from all who can provide help to stabilize Iraq, and hand over the management of the rebuilding Iraq to some other entity. This Administration can no longer be allowed to be the one solely in charge of Iraq's reconstruction.
Daniel Byman: Although the Bush administration has made many mistakes in Iraq, I don't think future policy is aided much by public mea culpas -- though politically that may be appropriate.
Regardless of who is in the White House, the United States faces serious problems in Iraq -- and has few ways of getting help for solving them. European militaries, Brits aside, are limited in capacity, and their governments have no interest in being involved in the hard fighting in Iraq. So we cannot hope to solve this one by turning it over to others.
Having greater multinational involvement earlier might have offset some of the problems with Iraqi nationalism that were at the heart of much of the insurgency at the start. But it doesn't do much good now that we are in a state of civil war -- Iraqis are fighting Iraqis, and the color of the helmet of the peacekeepers doesn't really matter much to them.
Fairfax, Va.: You note the danger of an Iraqi civil war spreading to the oil-rich Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia where a restive Shiite population has long been an oppressed underclass. Does this not prove that the ultimate interests of the United States in the region remains that of securing oil?
Daniel Byman: Of course one of the ultimate interests of the United States is oil -- or, more accurately, ensuring a stable supply of oil to the global market. But this is an interest of the entire industrialized world, including U.S. rivals such as China as well as U.S. friends such as Britain and Mexico. Given the importance of oil to the world economy, we should not be ashamed of caring about this.
But we have other interests in Iraq today. In addition to the humanitarian responsibility we bear, we have concerns about terrorism and regional war. In the region we also care about Iran's nuclear program and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. How Iraq plays out affects these interests in fundamental ways.
Harrisonburg, Va.: What role can the U.S. possibly play that can be helpful in the Middle East given the huge problems they have set up for themselves there? Is the UN the best hope, and how can it be given their record of inadequacy?
Daniel Byman: You've hit on some serious problems. U.S. credibility is low, and U.S. popularity is even lower. But what are the alternatives? Middle Eastern regimes, many of which are brutal and corrupt, do not appear ready to solve their own problems. The EU is internally divided on Middle East issues, and in general lacks influence in many Middle Eastern capitals. And the UN is weak and not respected.
Because the U.S. has more capacity and influence, it is the best hope for improving things. But that is easier said than done.
Fairfax, Va.: Would the rise of a radical Shiite state controlling all of Iraq or at least the southern portion overwhelm the efforts of the Saud dynasty to placate Shiites in the oil-rich Eastern Province?
Daniel Byman: I think that any likely Shi'a government of Iraq would pose serious challenges for the Saud dynasty. But Saudi Arabia's rulers have a long history of weathering difficult storms. First Arab nationalism, and then pan-Islam threatened the regime. And in each case a mix of cooptation and repression has won the day for the regime. With the Eastern Province, they have a particular advantage in that the Shi'a there are not well led and that the rest of the country, while often critical of the Al Saud, is often very anti-Shi'a. Indeed, many Shi'a recognize that free elections in Saudi Arabia might usher in a government that is far more anti-Shi'a than the Al Saud. So that tempers the Shi'a, as they know things can be much worse.
Sewickley, Pa: On a practical level, how can the U.S. military continue in Iraq when troops are serving multiple deployments and equipment is wearing out at a very fast pace? Do we have the manpower and material to do much better than we are doing? I see we have been reduced to inducting 42-year-old grandmothers into the army. How do you assess the national will to expand the mission?
Daniel Byman: I am not an expert on U.S. public opinion, so please take my comments with several grains of salt.
The military strain is considerable, particularly in the Guard and Reserve. Clever recruitment techniques have helped improve things, but this is a very heavy burden for the military -- indeed, I am amazed at how well things have gone given the small size of the overall Army force and the demanding nature of the mission.
Politically, I see no desire to expand the mission. With the possible exception of Senator McCain, no leading politicians of either party are calling for escalation. The public is dubious about staying the course, let alone putting more effort into this. The cost is already incredible and threatens a range of other initiatives, from health care to tax cuts, depending on your political stripes.
My take is that by 2008 the Bush administration (or, perhaps, its immediate successor with McCain being one possible exception), will declare victory and go home. We will pretend that we are handing off to the Iraqi forces, when in fact they will not be ready for the mission. And then we will be shocked, shocked when a massive war occurs.
Bethesda, Md.: Do you think that if we had not gone to war with Iraq, the United States would have (or could have?) devoted the right amount of resources and soldiers to stabilize Afghanistan?
Daniel Byman: If we had not gone to war with Iraq, we certainly could have done a much better job of stabilizing Afghanistan. One of the stories most people (but not you) missed in the last year is how bad things have gotten. What looked like a success in 2003 is closer to the brink of failure -- violence is up, as is suicide bombing. More troops could have helped this considerably, but all our spare capacity is in Iraq.
Columbia, Md.: I hope you will take this question even though it is somewhat off-topic. A questioner earlier mentioned wars sometimes do solve problems. I'm of the believe that often deep-rooted ideological conflict (as opposed to territorial disputes, etc..) are often ONLY solved by violence (for the record, I'm a liberal Democrat, too)... I view the conflict in Israel/Lebanon as one of these types of conflicts. What do you feel about notion that possibly the best way for lasting peace there is years of all-out war?
Daniel Byman: The problem with history is that there are too few clear patterns to guide future policy. But it does give us enough hints where we can do better if we pay close attention (I think it was Mark Twain who said "history doesn't repeat itself -- but it rhyme.")
The Cold War was a deep-rooted ideological conflict. Although there was considerably violence along the periphery (Vietnam, Angola, etc.) there was not a direct U.S.-Soviet clash of arms. In the end, one system collapsed, and we are all better off.
Ethnic and religious groups at times fight, but they often get alone. India is home to myriad linguistic groups and seems highly divided. And it has suffered some bitter strife. But most of the country gets along well, though tension remains.
So my answer is a decisive "sometimes."
Albany, N.Y.: I've just finished Thomas Rickett's excellent book FIASCO, which casts the American problem in Iraq as a classic counterinsurgency mission which can be addressed through more or less classic strategy and tactics appropriate to the situation. In your view, is this approach appropriate in the current situation, where the fight seems to be between Iraqi sectarian groups as much as between the Iraqis and American forces?
Daniel Byman: I agree the Ricks book is superb -- in fact, I gave it a glowing review for the Post.
I've written my own views on what to do in Iraq in a little-noticed piece that appeared a while back in Survival ("the British Foreign Affairs"), and it is called "Five Bad Options for Iraq." As the title conveys, I think that we have few good choices there -- and things have gotten much worse since I wrote that piece.
As I note in the Survival piece, a classic counterinsurgency strategy has a chance of working (it is by no means a certainty) under some conditions. The first, is a military that embraces the mission (Ricks describes many of these problems). Second, you also need many, many troops and these troops must do a mission that, at first, risks many (more) casualties. For now the Iraqis can provide some of these troops, but coalition (US) would provide the bulk of them, particularly in dangerous areas. As a result, the US would have to withdraw from much of the country and slowly reestablish control. Third, it needs time -- many, many years in my view. And as a I noted in a question on politics, I'm skeptical the time is there.
Another approach is a limited drawdown. This would essentially be accepted that the United States cannot change much in Iraq but would use a much smaller US presence (20,000 troops or so, much of which would be based outside the country) to help shore up a few factions and to go after the jihadists.
My colleague and co-author, Ken Pollack, has published a very long report available on the Brookings Web site called "A Switch in Time." Dr. Pollack argues for embracing a counterinsurgency mission and gives an extremely detailed explanation of what is required.
Mt. Lebanon, Pa.: Isn't the first step to stability in Iraq or any place else to first acknowledge the reality of the situation?
George Bush just gave a press conference. He thinks things are hunky dory; stay the course; stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight; terrorists can't win; et al.
Chutzpah, pomposity, and cluelessness are poor substitutes for recognizing reality.
Iraq is a mess. "If what you're doing ain't working, it's time to do something else."
Thanks much. Vietnam Era Draftee/Veteran
Daniel Byman: This is in part my motivation for writing this piece. The first step toward fixing a problem, or at least limiting it, is recognizing it.
I am hopeful that in internal deliberations the Bush administration is more willing to recognize the many difficulties Iraq faces.
Jamestown, R.I.: The Kurds in Iraq have been under U.S. protection since 1991. They have developed their own security forces, taxing systems, local governments and other autonomous devices separate from Baghdad. Isn't it naive to think that they will ever give up their autonomy to a central government now?
Daniel Byman: I agree that the Kurds are unlikely to give up their high degree of autonomy. They have suffered too much under leaders like Saddam to risk going back to strong rule from Baghdad.
The question is how much autonomy? The Kurdish leaders have responsibly walked the line between a high degree of autonomy and outright secession. They recognize that neighboring states, particularly Turkey and Iran, might intervene if they secede. But polls suggest many Kurds want their own state.
Lyme, Conn.: What are your thoughts on the proposal of Professor Galbraith and others to divide Iraq into multiple countries with different warring groups in control of their own portion of the country?
Daniel Byman: I wrote a piece ten years ago that basically said "if Iraq falls apart into three pieces, it is not bad for U.S. interests."
I've changed my views in a number of ways since then. First, I overestimated the solidity of the Iraqi Shi'a. Shi'a infighting is horrendous, and it is not clear whether there could be a "Shi'astan" that comes out of Iraq. The Kurds have the capacity and probably the unity to pull it off, but I'm not sure about the rest of the country. Second, when I wrote the piece, I did not think this would be done after the United States occupied Iraq. Having partition occur is one thing ... creating a mess and then having it occur is another.
This is compounded by the practical difficulties of partition. Who gets what? What do you do about pockets of one community living inside areas dominated by others? And, of course, partition might lead some neighboring states, particularly Turkey, to meddle even more.
But Iraq may end up partitioned in the end, at least in a de facto sorta way. (Right now, the Kurdish north enjoys a high degree of autonomy, and it is reasonable to call it a de facto state.) If the U.S. leaves (and even if it doesn't), the war could go in about 20 directions, some of which lead to partition.
Rockville, Md.: "And then we will be shocked, shocked when a massive war occurs."
Not entirely the only way it can play out. I expect to see some deal making and compromise. Is that possible?
Daniel Byman: There are many ways this can play out, and I hope my cynical view is wrong. My question is how committed the U.S. will be to enforcing any deals. In the past we've cut deals, recognizing that they will fail ... and then we've cut deals (e.g. Dayton) and worked hard to enforce them.
Much depends on leadership as well as on events in Iraq.
Potomac Falls, Va.: Mr. Byman,
I am from that part of the world, and think that the genie is out of the box now, and that there is little the U.S. or anyone can do at this point. That part of the world has many many centuries of violence, and rhetoric moves whole populations one way or another overnight. I believe that civil war is inevitable in Iraq and probably in other surrounding countries. So since civil war is inevitable, do you think that the sooner we get out of there, and let them fight their own civil wars, the sooner they will stop out of exhaustion? Also, there will be oil disruption, but it is going to happen sooner of later, and eventually it will resume as much of these Middle East countries live from oil revenues, and could not survive long without them. Please comment. Thank you.
Daniel Byman: I'm always nervous about saying "let a civil war play out" simply because the humanitarian and strategic consequences are often so painful. As the article makes clear, I am very concerned about an array of potentially horrific problems that a massive civil war could bring.
But to say that we should stay requires a plan with a realistic chance of success. Our options are few and, as we say in the article, the ones we have are incomplete and difficult.
Chicago, Ill.: From what I've read in your article and from this transcript, where ever are we going to get the 450,000 troop we need to provide security and stability in Iraq? The U.S. does not have the resources.
We must have international involvement - and I believe the price we will have to pay is making a mea culpa statement. Plus the fact that those countries supplying the troops and their supplies are going to request a significant level of management control.
Daniel Byman: The 450,000 figure is beyond current U.S. capabilities -- it would require a truly massive international contribution (highly unlikely) or a major expansion of the U.S. military (also unlikely, in my view).
Daniel Byman: Thank you all for such a stimulating discussion. I am glad so many people are thinking hard about the problems we face. Dr. Pollack and I hope that our article will kick off a broader discussion in this country about the challenges the United States faces in Iraq and how to best meet them.
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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Science: Gorillas and Heart Disease
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For Monday's Science Page feature, Dybas writes about the growing number of captive gorillas who are dying from an unexplained heart condition. Read more in the story: Success Beats in the Heart of a Captive Gorilla .
During her research for the story, she also found interesting correlations of heart disease between gorillas and humans.
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, everyone, welcome to the noontime science discussion.
Researching and writing this article has been like being a detective in a mystery story.
The heroes and heroines are the scientists trying to solve the puzzle, a young Alabama girl named Sadie Chapman who has a similar disease to the gorillas...and the gorillas themselves.
I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on unexplained heart disease in gorillas.
Washington, D.C.: How old were all the gorillas who died that you talked about in your article? I had no idea that this was happening to so many of the gorillas in zoos around the country! Thank you.
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, the gorillas in the article were all in their mid-20s to mid-30s, except for the one female gorilla, Pogo, who was in her late 40s. Most of the gorillas affected are males in their 30s.
Washington, D.C.: This is odd, I realize, is it true that monkeys peel a banana from the bottom, that is the non stem end. I have asked the national zoo, several forums and no one will answer... please solve this office mystery for us! Thanks
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, I don't know the full answer to that question, but from what I learned, gorillas, at least, tend to peel away the outer covering of the roots and shoots they eat, and consume the tender interiors.
Washington, D.C.: Question about gorillas. They seem like amazing creatures from watching shows on Discovery channel and others. What was it like to get your first close encounter with one of them?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hi, I watched many gorillas from the borders of their "outdoor gorilla yards," and had a chance to "meet" Babec up close and personal, although with a barrier between us, at the Birmingham Zoo.
In gorilla society, eye contact is minimized with strangers, so I waited to be "invited in" when they came closer to me and met my eyes, out of curiosity. They usually do the same with visitors to zoos around the country, when the visitors approach cautiously and respectfully.
Wheaton, Ill.: Is the lack of exercise in captive gorillas related to this heart disease like it would be in humans?
What species has the larger heart - gorilla or human?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, lack of exercise might be related to this disease, no one knows for sure. Gorillas in the wild forage for their plant foods for many hours every day. In captivity it's spread around their enclosures so they have to find it, but they don't get the same amount of exercise they would in the wild.
Thanks, Katie and Caroline, for your question!
Arlington, Va.: Hi, how did Babec and Sadie Chapman first meet?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hi, Sadie, who's 9, was diagnosed with a heart condition when she was small. She read about Babec's heart condition and contacted the Birmingham Zoo and asked to meet him. Zoo officials arranged for the two to meet, and they're now "patient care mates."
Lake George, N.Y.: How long is the life expectancy of these gorillas?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, gorillas in the wild live around 35 years, while those in captivity might reach 50 or even 55. No one knows for sure how long gorillas in the wild live, however, so more study by scientists is needed.
For those in captivity, Pogo, the gorilla who recently died in San Francisco, attained the ripe old age of 49.
Thanks for a great question.
Annapolis, Md.: Would it be possible for the zookeepers to add Aframomum to the captive gorilla diet and possibly protect the gorillas from heart disease?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, great question. Zoos try to feed gorillas in captivity diets as close to the animals' diets in the wild as possible. Aframomum is available outside of Africa mainly as a spice called Grains of Paradise. Interestingly, in this country, one of the main users of that spice is Samuel Adams Brewing Company, which uses it to make its Summer Ale beer.
Aframomum is just one of several native African plants that may antiviral or antibacterial substances in them.
Perhaps this is something zoos could look into further. Scientists are discussing this possibility.
Hilton Head, S.C.: I am shocked--any indication how long these captive gorilla deaths have been going on? Do zoos communicate this kind of information among themselves? (prior to establishing the specialized database you mentioned). Has anybody tried consulting with botanists to add local ginger relatives or similar antiviral/antibacterial edible plants to captive gorilla diets? Ellen
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, gorilla deaths from heart disease have been happening for a number of years, although scientists have begun to document these deaths in earnest only in the past decade or more, as they learn more about heart disease not only in gorillas, but in people.
Zoos communicate information, and work together, under something called a Species Survival Plan (SSP), in addition to the National Gorilla Cardiac Database mentioned in the article. Western lowland gorillas have an SSP, under which recommendations for how best to care for gorillas are made.
Veterinarians and cardiologists are discussing ways of solving the heart disease problem in these endangered primates. Looking at the possibility of adding plants from the ginger family is one of the many ideas under consideration.
Arlington, Va.: Hi, could you talk about how gorilla hearts are similar to or different from human hearts? They're a lot bigger animals than we are, but it sounds like our hearts are very similar.
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hi, gorilla hearts and human hearts are actually very similar, although gorilla hearts are larger--because they're bigger animals.
Some cardiologists say that in looking at echocardiograms of these animals, they can't tell a gorilla heart from a human heart on first glance, the hearts are so similar.
Interesting things scientists have found are:
Gorillas have very high cholesterol levels compared to ours, but that doesn't seem to be the reason for their heart disease. Some cardiologists think they may have a different way of processing cholesterol from ours.
Also, heart specialists have discovered that the electrical conduction system in their hearts is actually more advanced than ours, in terms of evolution.
Annapolis, Md.: Do scientists believe that Aframomum can have application to human health?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, no one knows for sure, but it's interesting to think about ways in which plants like Aframomum might have applications to human health...if they do serve as antiviral or antibacterial "drugs" for gorillas, what might be hidden in them that humans could learn from, and possibly develop new drugs from?
Hidden in the African lowlands may be answers to disease for gorillas, and for humans.
Arlington, Va.: Are these gorillas in breeding programs, and if so, has the genetic factor been considered? Joe
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hi, these gorillas are all managed under the SSP, the Species Survival Plan, I mentioned above. Under that plan, gorillas are bred in captivity according to carefully managed plans for the population.
At this time, there are about 375 Western lowland gorillas in captivity in this country; the SSP calls for a total of about 400 to maintain the population in a healthy way.
The "gene factor" is another possibility for why gorillas may be developing heart diseases like cardiomyopathy. There is a particular gene called MMP3 that has links to heart disease, and there are also other genes, currently under study.
Thanks for a great question!
Bethesda, Md.: Hello, is there a link between all the gorillas in Africa that have died because of the Ebola virus, and these gorilla deaths in the U.S.?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Ebola, which is the virus that has caused so many of the gorilla deaths in the wild in Africa, has very different symptoms, like heavy bleeding, from the heart disease that gorillas in captivity are developing.
Captive gorillas' heart disease may well be caused by a virus, but if it is, it might be something like the Coxsackie B virus, which often causes viral cardiomyopathy in people.
This area, viruses, is one in which zoo veterinarians and consulting human cardiologists are very interested.
If heart biopsies are someday done on gorillas, this will give scientists a very good way of determining more information about this unexplained heart disease.
Annapolis, Md.: Is it possible that gorilla heart disease is caused by a virus and if so, how is it transmitted from gorilla to gorilla and from zoo to zoo?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Captive gorillas' heart disease may well be caused by a virus, please see answer above.
If it is, it could possibly be transmitted from zoo to zoo. Scientists who study infectious diseases say that could happen via people (zookeepers who move from zoo to zoo, or visitors who come and go), or by something else that moves from zoo to zoo, like some piece of equipment or various supplies.
But scientists are a long way from knowing for sure what is causing captive gorillas' heart disease. If they discover that a virus is the culprit, then they can begin to look for how that virus could get from place to place.
Anonymous: If it has been determined that a member of the ginger family is a "potent antibacterial" (natural drug) why is this not incorporated into the captive gorilla's diet. A good source of preventive medicine would seem a solution rather then expensive pacemaker implanted into the gorilla's body. Would the ginger be difficult to grow in this the U.S. and couldn't it be planted in the gorilla's compound and they could graze on it when needed?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, you have some great ideas that might work, and which scientists are looking into now.
Studies need to be done to determine which exact plants these substances are coming from (there may be more than one plant, and likely is).
Then, since Western lowland gorillas live in swampy, tropical lowlands in West Africa, botanists would need to figure out ways of either growing the plants here, if that were possible, or getting the "natural drug" compounds from the plants in a form that could be brought here, and still retain the important substances.
In the wild, gorillas strip off the outer coverings of plants and eat them "on the spot." It may be that eating these plants "fresh" is important, no one really knows.
Bethesda, Md.: I was shocked to instantly recognize the gorilla as I glanced over my husband's shoulder and said, "I know that Gorilla - where is he from?" We moved here from Birmingham almost 15 years ago and had spent many, many hours at the zoo with my young son observing this gorilla and his family behind the glass. I'm saddened to learn of his and other's ill health - as a dietician - I wonder if the lack of Omega-3 fatty acids in the zoo diet contributes to this
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, the happy news is that Babec is doing very well now, and everyone hopes he will for a long time into the future.
Vitamin E has been one of the things under consideration in captive gorillas diets, along with how much iron they are taking in, and other dietary considerations such as those you mention.
Bowling Green, Ky.: I am not a physician, so someone please correct me if I state this incorrectly. Aren't there certain bacteria such as histoplasmosis (spelling uncertain) that cause thinning of heart valves, and might it be possible that these bacteria are more prevalent in the human population and the gorillas, when exposed to the human population, become themselves more exposed to such bacteria (or viruses, sorry for not recalling which can damage the heart.)
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, in humans, there's something called Mitral Valve Prolapse, a very common and usually benign "floppy" heart valve. The mitral valve, if it's a floppy one, can accumulate bacteria and cause something called endocarditis. Some people with Mitral Valve Prolapse need to take antibiotics before they visit the dentist, because of the likelihood of bacteria spreading to the valve.
In times past, rheumatic fever, when it was prevalent, damaged heart valves in people.
In gorillas, since they're prone to dental problems, bacterial infections may be a connection to heart disease, although, again, no one knows for sure.
I don't know the answer to your specific question about histoplasmosis, if there's anyone reading along who does, please let me know and I'll share the answer.
Bowie: Seeing as the age of these gorillas seems to be a little older than their life expectancy in the wild, is it possible that this disease would be very common in the wild, but gorillas tend to die of other causes before getting it?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: It'd be great to know the answer to that. Projects that are ongoing in Africa by veterinarians doing research there are looking at the health of Western lowland gorillas. It'll be great when results of that research are known.
West Orange, N.J.: Apes are mainly vegetarian, yet not known for longevity. Intestinal parasites may kill most in the wild. What kills most in captivity? Lack of exercise? How do their cholesterol and arterial plaque levels compare to those in humans? Any lessons on cause and effect?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Gorillas' cholesterol levels are very high, but this doesn't seem to affect them in the same ways it would us.
Their arterial plaque levels, in spite of that high cholesterol, are very low, so they must have some way of processing cholesterol.
Scientists have found that gorillas have high amounts of LDL, the "bad" cholesterol, and low amounts of HDL, the "good" cholesterol, but when veterinarians do autopsies on gorillas who have died, they don't find much, if any, plaque in gorillas' arteries.
Arlington, Va.: This is very important research that could also benefit humans. Has research been done on the human heart and it's potential benefit from Aframomum? The gorilla's could teach us something!! Judy
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, I'm not sure of the answer to that, although it's a very intriguing question! Maybe we all should be eating "Grains of Paradise," who knows? Gorillas and humans can definitely teach each other something, especially about heart disease.
Rockville, Md.: I can see how heart disease has roots in our behavior. It is a recent disease as they go and was once called "the doctor's disease." How can we fix things?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, I'm not sure we'll know how to fix this, until we know why it's happening. Basic biological and biomedical research by scientists is the key: without that basic understanding of what's happening, we won't know how best to treat the disease.
Rockville, Md.: I know it's not always feasible, but are the gorillas being maintained in captivity in group sizes that are similar to those in the wild? Stress due to less-ideal troupe sizes and therefore fewer social contacts?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Gorillas in captivity are indeed maintained in group sizes very similar to those in the wild. If anything, in captivity, gorillas probably have more social contacts than fewer, as they are together in smaller spaces than in the spread-out lowlands of Africa.
Arlington, Va.: Your answer to the question about virus, and the possibility of this having come from zoo-keepers, makes me wonder if there have been any studies of the human populations in the same area to determine if they suffer from the same disease. Joe
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: That sounds like an interesting idea. As far as I know, no such studies have yet been undertaken, in terms of correlating fibrosing cardiomyopathy in gorillas and humans in the same general area.
Turmeric?: I found that plant you mentioned interesting. Turmeric, a root, is used in Indian folk medicine and has similar anti-inflammatory properties, and is widely available in America. Human populations with the highest turmeric consumption also have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer's. What are the thoughts of trying and adding turmeric to gorilla diets, pending actual ability to cultivate said natural gorilla medicine plant?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: I haven't heard of tumeric in relation to captive gorillas, but it's another plant that scientists should perhaps investigate...
Silver Spring, Md.: What percentage of the captive population that are old enough to reproduce do these deaths represent? How will the deaths impact the ability of the captive gorilla population to maintain itself?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: I'm not sure what percent of the captive population these deaths represent, but thus far, the deaths don't seem to have impacted the population's ability to maintain itself.
The gorilla SSP I mentioned earlier, and those who manage the SSP, keep careful track of captive gorilla population numbers.
Hypercholesteremia?: Has the issue of hypothyroidism been studied in gorillas? Many things in America (PVC, phalates, perchlorate) etc. can cause hypothyroidism, as well as the lack of iodine in their diet. The EPA water safety standards are based on humans, and even these may need to be revised to make drinking water safer in terms of perchlorate. Dog hypothyroidism is also at a high in the US and I'm not certain that is genetic, when I see my dog drink twice the water I do when he's half the weight. I filter our drinking water. Both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism can affect heart disease. The peridontal disease, though, makes me think of hypothyroidism. I developed early stage peridontal disease when I was untreated for hypothyroidism. After I returned to normal levels, a year or so later I saw my dentist and he denied I had any sign of gum disease, and my mouth did look better then.
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, I'm not sure whether hypothyroidism is on the list of things being studied in captive gorillas, although I think that is likely being looked at in blood tests done on a routine basis. Your own history sounds of interest to those reading this.
Silver Spring, Md.: Hi, Do you track this problem globally in Zoo's around the world or just in the US? In Berlin/Germany right now one of our Gorilla Lady "Fatou" seem to die of the same problem. Poor thing has lost already 30 kg in a very short amount of time and it looks like she is not going to live much longer, she is 51 years old. Will maybe a global exchange program for breeding help, if the cause is genetic?
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: Hello, I'm sorry to hear about Lady Fatou.
Although this article looked primarily at captive Western lowland gorillas in the United States, I've heard that the same problem exists on a worldwide basis, so whatever process is causing heart disease in captive gorillas, is likely present in captive populations in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere.
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: One of the main issues is the importance of studying gorillas as a population to understand the scientific principles at work, say researchers who specialize in infectious diseases, cardiology, and related areas.
Many people have asked about whether this cardiac disease, if viral, could "spread" to humans.
There's still some distance to go before there is a proven cause-and-effect between any viral infection/disease in gorillas, so it would be very premature to worry about this finding its way to humans, scientists say.
Cheryl Lyn Dybas: We're unfortunately out of time for this Post on-line discussion today.
Thanks so much to all of you for participating, and for your interesting questions and thoughts on gorillas and heart disease.
Hopefully scientists will soon find the answer to this mystery.
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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A Covert Chapter Opens For Fort Hunt Veterans
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For more than 60 years, they kept their military secrets locked deep inside and lived quiet lives as account executives, college professors, business consultants and the like.
The brotherhood of P.O. Box 1142 enjoyed no homecoming parades, no VFW reunions, no embroidered ball caps and no regaling of wartime stories to grandchildren sitting on their knees.
Almost no one, not even their wives, in many cases, knew the place in history held by the men of Fort Hunt, alluded to during World War II only by a mailing address that was its code name.
But the declassification of thousands of military documents and the dogged persistence of Brandon Bies, a bookish park ranger determined to record this furtive piece of history, is bringing the men of P.O. Box 1142 out of the shadows.
One by one, some of the surviving 100 or so military intelligence interrogators who questioned Third Reich scientists, submariners and soldiers at one of the United States's most secretive prisoner camps are, in the twilight of their lives, spilling tales they had dared not whisper before.
"It's good. Very good to talk about all this, at last," Fred Michel said last week, steadying himself on his cane as he looked over the rolling, green land along the Potomac River in Fairfax County that once was home to prison cells and interrogation rooms embedded with hidden microphones.
Michel, 85, slowly lowered himself onto a picnic table bench next to his old friend, H. George Mandel, 82. Although they have lived just a few miles apart for most of six decades, they had not spoken since their discharge Dec. 13, 1945. So hush-hush was their work for P.O. Box 1142 that the men recruited for it were ordered to never mention it. To this day, some have refused to speak to the park ranger gathering their oral histories, believing that the oath they took more than 60 years ago can never be broken.
For others, the taboo has eroded as documents have been declassified in waves, starting in 1977 and continuing into the 1990s. Nevertheless, many of the activities of P.O. Box 1142 remain shrouded in mystery.
According to a history cobbled together by the National Park Service, the unit was conceived as an Army/Navy installation to gather information from prisoners who had been captured or surrendered and were brought to the United States for questioning. Germany had superior technology, particularly in rocketry and submarines, and the information that was gleaned from interrogations gave the United States an advantage going into the Cold War and the space age.
In the beginning, the prisoners were mostly U-boat crew members who had survived the sinking of their submarines in the Atlantic Ocean. As the war progressed, P.O. Box 1142 shifted its attention to some of the most prominent scientists in Germany, many of whom surrendered and gave up information willingly, hoping to be allowed to stay in the United States.
The prisoners stayed at Fort Hunt for as little as two or three weeks and as long as nine months. They were held incommunicado; when they had told everything they knew, they were transferred to regular POW camps elsewhere in the United States, and the Red Cross was then notified of their capture. After the war, some returned to Germany, and some stayed in the United States, slipping into the fabric of American life.
Michel and Mandel were German Jews who had immigrated to the United States before the war and were recruited to the unit. They and other interrogators said they obtained information about discoveries in microwaves, atomic and molecular studies, jets used in German planes and submarine technology, including a snorkel that allowed U-boats to stay underwater for long stretches. All they learned was put into top-secret reports that went straight to the Pentagon.
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What Next?
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The debate is over: By any definition, Iraq is in a state of civil war. Indeed, the only thing standing between Iraq and a descent into total Bosnia-like devastation is 135,000 U.S. troops -- and even they are merely slowing the fall. The internecine conflict could easily spiral into one that threatens not only Iraq but also its neighbors throughout the oil-rich Persian Gulf region with instability, turmoil and war.
The consequences of an all-out civil war in Iraq could be dire. Considering the experiences of recent such conflicts, hundreds of thousands of people may die. Refugees and displaced people could number in the millions. And with Iraqi insurgents, militias and organized crime rings wreaking havoc on Iraq's oil infrastructure, a full-scale civil war could send global oil prices soaring even higher.
However, the greatest threat that the United States would face from civil war in Iraq is from the spillover -- the burdens, the instability, the copycat secession attempts and even the follow-on wars that could emerge in neighboring countries. Welcome to the new "new Middle East" -- a region where civil wars could follow one after another, like so many Cold War dominoes.
And unlike communism, these dominoes may actually fall.
For all the recent attention on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, far more people died in Iraq over the past month than in Israel and Lebanon, and tens of thousands have been killed from the fighting and criminal activity since the U.S. occupation began. Additional signs of civil war abound. Refugees and displaced people number in the hundreds of thousands. Militias continue to proliferate. The sense of being an "Iraqi" is evaporating.
Considering how many mistakes the United States has made in Iraq, how much time has been squandered, and how difficult the task is, even a serious course correction in Washington and Baghdad may only postpone the inevitable.
Iraq displays many of the conditions most conducive to spillover. The country's ethnic, tribal and religious groups are also found in neighboring states, and they share many of the same grievances. Iraq has a history of violence with its neighbors, which has fostered desires for vengeance and fomented constant clashes. Iraq also possesses resources that its neighbors covet -- oil being the most obvious, but important religious shrines also figure in the mix -- and its borders are porous.
Civil wars -- whether in Africa, Asia, Europe or the Middle East -- tend to spread across borders. For example, the effects of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, which began in the 1920s and continued even after formal hostilities ended in 1948, contributed to the 1956 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars, provoked a civil war in Jordan in 1970-71 and then triggered the Lebanese civil war of 1975-90. In turn, the Lebanese conflict helped spark civil war in Syria in 1976-82.
With an all-out civil war looming in Iraq, Washington must decide how to deal with the most common and dangerous ways such conflicts spill across national boundaries. Only by understanding the refugee crises, terrorism, radicalization of neighboring populations, copycat secessions and foreign interventions that such wars frequently spark can we begin to plan for how to cope with them in the months and years ahead.
Massive refugee flows are a hallmark of major civil wars. Afghanistan's produced the largest such stream since World War II, with more than a third of the population fleeing. Conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s also generated millions of refugees and internally displaced people: In Kosovo, more than two-thirds of Kosovar Albanians fled the country. In Bosnia, half of the country's 4.4 million people were displaced, and 1 million of them fled the country altogether. Comparable figures for Iraq would mean more than 13 million displaced Iraqis, and more than 6 million of them running to neighboring countries.
Refugees are not merely a humanitarian burden. They often continue the wars from their new homes, thus spreading the violence to other countries. At times, armed units move from one side of the border to the other. The millions of Afghans who fled to Pakistan during the anti-Soviet struggle in the 1980s illustrate such violent transformation. Stuck in the camps for years while war consumed their homeland, many refugees joined radical Islamist organizations. When the Soviets departed, refugees became the core of the Taliban. This movement, nurtured by Pakistani intelligence and various Islamist political parties, eventually took power in Kabul and opened the door for Osama bin Laden to establish a new base of operations for al-Qaeda.
Refugee camps often become a sanctuary and recruiting ground for militias, which use them to launch raids on their homelands. Inevitably, their enemies attack the camps -- or even the host governments. In turn, those governments begin to use the refugees as tools to influence events back in their homelands, arming, training and directing them, and thereby exacerbating the conflict.
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By any definition, Iraq is in a state of civil war -- one that could easily spread to neighboring countries in the months and years ahead.
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The Uneasy Sleep of Japan's Dead
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TOKYO -- The past is present everywhere, but Japan is an unusually history-haunted nation. Elsewhere the Cold War is spoken of in the past tense. Japan, however, lives in a dangerous neighborhood with two communist regimes -- truculent China and weird North Korea. For Japan, the fall of the Berlin Wall did not close an epoch. Even World War II still shapes political discourse because of a Shinto shrine in the center of this city.
Young soldiers leaving Japan during that war often would say, "If I don't come home, I'll see you at Yasukuni." The souls of 2.5 million casualties of Japan's wars are believed to be present at that shrine. In 1978, 14 other souls were enshrined there -- those of 14 major war criminals.
Between that enshrinement and 1984, three prime ministers visited Yasukuni 20 times without eliciting protests from China. But both of Japan's most important East Asian neighbors, China and South Korea, now have national identities partly derived from their experience as victims of Japan's 1910-45 militarism. To a significant extent, such national identities are political choices .
Leftist ideology causes South Korea's regime to cultivate victimhood and resentment of a Japan imagined to have expansionism in its national DNA. The choice by China's regime is more interesting. Marxism is bankrupt and causes cognitive dissonance as China pursues economic growth by markedly un-Marxist means. So China's regime, needing a new source of legitimacy, seeks it in memories of resistance to Japanese imperialism.
Actually, most of China's resistance was by Chiang Kai-shek's forces, Mao's enemies. And Mao, to whom there is a sort of secular shrine in Beijing, killed millions more Chinese than even Japan's brutal occupiers did.
Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's prime minister, made a campaign promise to visit the shrine regularly, and has done so, most recently last Tuesday, the anniversary of the end of World War II. Shinzo Abe, a nationalist who is almost certain to replace Koizumi, who is retiring next month, seems inclined to continue something like Koizumi's policy, and for at least one of Koizumi's reasons: China should not dictate the actions of Japan's prime ministers.
This is the Admiral Nelson Fire Poker Principle. Speaking with some of his officers the night before Trafalgar, Nelson picked up a poker and said: It doesn't matter where I put this -- unless Bonaparte says I must put it there . In that case, I must put it someplace else.
The museum adjacent to Yasukuni says "The Greater East Asian War" began because, when the New Deal failed to banish the Depression, "the only option open to Roosevelt . . . was to use embargoes to force resource-poor Japan into war. The U.S. economy made a complete recovery once the Americans entered the war." That is disgracefully meretricious -- and familiar. For years a small but vocal cadre of Americans -- anti-FDR zealots -- said approximately that. But neither Koizumi nor Abe includes the museum in his visits to the shrine.
It would be helpful if Abe would discontinue visiting Yasukuni. He could cite the fact, learned last month, that Emperor Hirohito, who died in 1989, stopped visiting it because he strongly objected to the war criminals' enshrinement. Because China decided to be incensed about Koizumi's visits, there has been no Japan-China summit meeting for five years. In 2005 there were vicious anti-Japan riots in China, and 44 million Chinese signed an Internet petition opposing Japan's quest for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. Relations between the nations are colder than at any time since relations were normalized in 1972, when Mao decreed that both the Chinese and Japanese people had been victims of Japan's militarists.
Things are so bad that, speaking about the incessant incursions by Chinese submarines and military aircraft into Japanese sea and air spaces, a senior Japanese official casually made the startling suggestion that China's regime, like Japan's regime before the war, does not fully control its military. But relations other than diplomatic ones are flourishing. China is, after America, the second-most popular destination for Japanese tourists. Ten thousand people a day travel between the two countries, and in 2004, for the first time since 1945, Japan's trade with China was larger than with the United States.
The controversy about Yasukuni should not mystify Americans. With their comparatively minor but still acrimonious arguments about displays of Confederate flags, Americans know how contentious the politics of national memory can be, and they understand the problem of honoring war dead without necessarily honoring the cause for which they died.
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TOKYO -- The past is present everywhere, but Japan is an unusually history-haunted nation. Elsewhere the Cold War is spoken of in the past tense. Japan, however, lives in a dangerous neighborhood with two communist regimes -- truculent China and weird North Korea. For Japan, the fall of the Berlin...
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Plans for Lebanon Force Faulted
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JERUSALEM, Aug. 20 -- Israel on Sunday objected to including countries that do not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in the nascent peacekeeping force for Lebanon, even as a U.N. envoy said the Lebanese army had fielded only 3,000 troops, about one-fifth of the force it plans to enforce the cease-fire in the south.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert raised his opposition to the participation of such countries at a cabinet meeting, a government official said. The list would include the Muslim countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, which are among the few nations that have pledged troops to the international force that is supposed to work with the Lebanese army to enforce the truce put in place after the five-week war.
"Israel has raised our concerns about having participants in the force that we cannot talk to," a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said Sunday evening. "The idea that you could have forces on our border from countries that we could not talk to, that we couldn't coordinate with, would cause problems."
In addition, Regev said, Malaysia recently hosted an Islamic conference that included calls for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
"We didn't hear any word on that from the hosts, Malaysia," he said. "How can they be a peacekeeper if they do not disavow those comments?"
Israeli officials acknowledged that the country does not have veto power over the composition of the force. But its objections will complicate the U.N. effort to gather 15,000 peacekeeping soldiers from other countries to work with an equivalent force from the Lebanese army to separate Hezbollah and Israeli combatants.
The forces are the central mechanism in the agreement that ended 33 days of fighting in which more than 1,000 civilians were killed. France, which vigorously advocated creation of the force, has offered fewer than 400 troops. Other countries, too, have been wary of pledging soldiers. [France called for a meeting of European Union countries this week to determine the number of troops they are prepared to contribute to the expanded U.N. peacekeeping force, the Associated Press reported Sunday night.]
U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, speaking Sunday in Beirut before traveling to Israel, sought to put a positive light on the Lebanese army's move into southern Lebanon while waiting for international reinforcements. The Lebanese were taking control of southern Lebanon "in a forceful and massive way," he said. "Lebanon is now forcefully establishing its authority."
But Roed-Larsen said that only 3,000 Lebanese troops have been deployed in the south. About 2,000 Lebanese troops are now at the Syrian border, and another 1,000 are on the Mediterranean coast, he said. He warned that the cease-fire "can easily start sliding again and lead us quickly into the abyss of violence and bloodshed."
Israel continued overflights of Lebanon Sunday, despite Lebanese protests. Israel also has not fully withdrawn its forces from southern Lebanon or lifted its sea blockade.
Israel insisted Sunday that it has the right to attack Hezbollah forces, as it did in a raid Saturday morning, to prevent the militia from rearming in violation of the cease-fire. Lebanese officials condemned the raid and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said it "endangers the fragile calm" in the region.
"The Lebanese are yet to carry out the resolution and are saying that Hezbollah will not be disarmed and that it can hide its weapons," the Israeli housing and construction minister, Meir Sheetrit, said after the cabinet met in Jerusalem. "What are we supposed to do? Sit idly and wait for Hezbollah to rearm?"
More than 100 Israeli commandos landed by helicopter in the Bekaa Valley early Saturday, wearing Lebanese army uniforms. Hezbollah discovered the group in a field, and a firefight broke out. One Israeli officer was killed and another was seriously wounded.
Israeli defense officials said the raid was an effort to intercept shipments to Hezbollah from Syria. Some Lebanese have said the commandos may have been sent to try to abduct a Hezbollah official.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr warned that no group should give Israel a pretext to strike again. He said that any faction, including Hezbollah and Palestinian groups, "would be considered collaborating with Israel" if it fired rockets into Israel, prompting another strike.
Murr insisted that Hezbollah was committed to the cease-fire that ended the fighting in southern Lebanon, despite the Israeli raid. There was no public statement from Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, inspecting the war damage in Beirut, called the devastation "a crime against humanity committed by Israel."
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JERUSALEM, Aug. 20 -- Israel on Sunday objected to including countries that do not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in the nascent peacekeeping force for Lebanon, even as a U.N. envoy said the Lebanese army had fielded only 3,000 troops, about one-fifth of the force it plans to...
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Redskins Remain a Ways Behind
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When it was over, and a humbling one-sided loss to the New York Jets was complete, Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs stood on the podium trembling with disgust, delivering grim postgame comments designed to dump a bucket of ice water on all of the hype, all of the expectations, and whatever sense of anointment his team believes it has attained without showing it on the football field.
Judging by the reaction of Gibbs and the universally humble attitude of players in the clubhouse, last night's 27-14 loss in front of 65,538 at FedEx Field was even more disappointing than last week's 19-3 injury-marred loss to Cincinnati.
The Redskins are 0-2 in the preseason, but worse than the meaningless record is the realization that they have little momentum upon which to build after two games. Unlike last week's loss, in which each of the Redskins' three quarterbacks threw an interception and the first-team offense struggled while the first-team defense sparkled, last night it was the Redskins' defense, special teams and an inconsistent offense that were a work in progress.
"I'm concerned. Let's put it that way. We didn't play good and that's it," Gibbs said. "I think we all need to take a serious hard look at all of this. From my standpoint, I sure haven't done my job so far. I think we're all together, all the way across the board. . . . I'm sure some guys did some good things, but I'm concerned about the team. You've got to play good as a team, and we're not."
The first-team defense, so dominant last week, was tested early by power running and was burned by a big, trick play. The second team, considered to be the major proving ground for players trying to win roster spots, was manhandled by the Jets' reserves, particularly in the third quarter, when the Jets held the ball for 11 minutes 58 seconds.
"They didn't do anything special. They just ran the ball down our throats," said safety Antuan Edwards. "When you let them stay on the field for what, 12 minutes? They just took it to us."
The first-team offense still has not scored a touchdown, after going three-and-out on its first two series, and the frustrations of learning a new offense mounted. The Redskins' time of possession was 22:29.
"I'm concerned with our level of consistency," quarterback Mark Brunell said. "If you have 12 plays, we want 12 good plays. Right now, we're at about six."
Punter Derrick Frost, who is being considered by Gibbs to take over kickoff duties to preserve the health of John Hall, did not fare well. Frost's first kickoff of the game was short and returned for 47 yards. His second was shorter, and was returned for an 87-yard touchdown.
There were few moments that on another day could soothe a chafing coaching staff, but Gibbs would not be mollified last night. Antwaan Randle El, unable to connect with his quarterbacks as a slot receiver last week, caught two passes for 42 yards, and quarterback Jason Campbell made his first significant positive impact in a game situation in his quest to win the backup job to Brunell. Proving himself as a short-yardage option, Mike Sellers rushed three times for 26 yards, and the one area in which the first-team defense did acquit itself was in showing a late stoutness. After once allowing the Jets to move up and then being forced to defend a short field because of a Campbell interception, the first-team defense yielded just 10 points.
But this was a night where the defense -- as well as the reserve players trying to win a job on special teams -- got pushed around.
"What do they say, that you're never as good when you're going good, and you're never as bad as when you're going bad? Right now, we're going bad," said defensive end Renaldo Wynn, who missed a chance to make a tackle on Brad Smith's first-quarter reverse that went for a 61-yard touchdown. "We're putting our credibility on the line and we don't like this kind of play to reflect on us the way it did. I'm ready to get this taste out of my mouth because it's not a good taste at all."
The first-team defense blitzed early but on their second series the Jets held the ball for 6:42 and moved 56 yards on 13 plays on Washington's first unit with a combination of hard running and moderately successful short passing. Jets running back Derrick Blaylock averaged 4.6 yards on 10 carries.
If the defense seemed to collect itself by sending the Jets' first unit to sideline by pushing it out of field goal range and then a three-and-out on its next series, it was badly burned on the Jets' next offensive series.
On first and 10 from his 39, Leon Washington took a Patrick Ramsey handoff and as he headed toward left guard, handed off to wide receiver Smith. The reverse caught the Redskins in over-pursuit. Smith raced toward the right and slipped past diving left end Wynn. As Smith turned the corner, newly acquired cornerback Mike Rumph was knocked out of the play. Left guard Pete Kendall buried Adam Archuleta and Smith danced 61 yards for a touchdown.
After the play, Gregg Williams, assistant head coach-defense, fumed. He singled out Rumph for being blown out of the play. Last week in Cincinnati, Williams's second-team defense was burned by another trick play, a 52-yard flea-flicker.
"We need to get on the ball. We need to get to work," said reserve safety Pierson Prioleau. "Because before you know it, we'll be doing this for real and we better be ready."
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Info on Washington Redskins including the 2005 NFL Preview. Get the latest game schedule and statistics for the Redskins. Follow the Washington Redskins under the direction of Coach Joe Gibbs.
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Endless Summer - washingtonpost.com
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Escape is found at the end of a tree-lined road, one that ducks into the woods off Central Avenue in Anne Arundel County, the hot pavement giving way to gravel as it winds past the horse barns, the swimming pool, the rustic cabins that smell like damp towels and sweaty flip-flops, a salty-sweet combination that never quite blows away no matter how many electric fans whir.
Rowdy boys trudge up the pathway, play-shoving. Silly songs pierce the air: "Peanut, peanut butter. And jelly!" "Princess Pat." "Baby Shark."
Bracketed by two inlets on the Chesapeake Bay, the YMCA's Camp Letts is a summer hideaway for 300 kids -- and for the 85 counselors who come from all over the world to spend a fleeting season sleeping in stifling cabins, eating endless hot dogs, sacrificing most of their free time and virtually all of their privacy.
For the kids, sleep-away camp is about tasting independence, trying new challenges, discovering things about themselves. A place to let go.
For many of the counselors, though, teetering on the cusp of adulthood, it's a place to hold on to something. A place that gives them the freedom not to figure it all out. Not yet.
For Kayla Owens, escape is standing chest-deep in that water, hours at a time, fending off the jellyfish and water snakes, strapping kids to water skis. She has flown from Australia to work at Camp Letts for a third straight summer. It will also be her last. Camp has been a way to defer her enrollment at university back home in Melbourne, as well as the excuse she uses when guys there want to get serious ( Why get close when I'm just going to go away?). A surfer, a water-lover, she wasn't ready for a life lived inside. She wasn't ready to seriously consider career interests and long-term goals. She turns 21 this summer. Time is about to run out.
For now, though, she has one more summer, one more chance to disappear in what she calls "this other universe."
Kayla's got a construction paper card on her bed in the cabin, pressed upon her by a camper who's already decided that she's "the best!" Tonight she's ordering pizza for her girls. The other morning she laughed hysterically, bumping and grinding, as her girls taught her some hip-hop moves so she wouldn't make a fool of herself at the camp dance. She also let them teach her the words to the "naughty" camp songs.
As a repeat counselor, Kayla could have requested some adorable 8-year-olds with their stuffed bunnies and easy-to-bed ways, or she could have asked to hang out with the senior campers, 16-year-olds who converse almost on her level. Instead, she picked the middle ground, girls still struggling through the agonies of adolescence, uncertain about boys, uncertain about themselves, beautiful and awkward all at the same time. Girls who worship college-age women like Kayla. She gets that. She gets them. She chos e them, and they love her for it.
So when she wears her Joe Boxer pajama bottoms to breakfast and surveys her troops, it's easy to see how she strikes her campers as the savvy big sister, one who would never try to lock them out of her room.
She's got one girl with a knee injury, one with a mouth sore, one talking about "Where's the overflow boy table? I know I can't go there, but I can loo k !" She gives permission to go to the nurse to the first two and rolls her eyes at the other. Then she looks across at the one camper who is absolutely morose, hair draped across her face, spoon doing circles in a bowl of Rice Krispies.
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Get style news headlines from The Washington Post, including entertainment news, comics, horoscopes, crossword, TV, Dear Abby. arts/theater, Sunday Source and weekend section. Washington Post columnists, movie/book reviews, Carolyn Hax, Tom Shales.
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Generations Will Feel Pension Act Differently
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The pension legislation President Bush signed last week will make the most significant changes to U.S. retirement laws in three decades, affecting workers of every age, from graduates on their first job to employees who are about to retire.
A key aim of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 is to give the 44 million active and retired workers who have earned a traditional pension a greater chance of actually receiving all of it when they retire. For these workers, the law is intended to make companies adequately fund traditional pension plans, stop using bookkeeping that makes plans seem healthy when they are not, and bar executives from promising future benefits they can't pay for. And it forces companies with financially ailing pensions to contribute higher premiums to the federal insurance program that, when pension plans fail, pays workers a portion of what they were due.
One concern among experts is that the changes may have the unintended effect of pushing companies to freeze or drop pensions rather than bear the additional cost of fully funding them and paying higher federal insurance premiums.
The law also gives financially troubled airlines, and some large defense contractors, more time to meet the new standards, largely out of fear that without such a break, the firms might walk away from their pensions, dumping them into the federal insurance plan and raising its costs.
In addition to shoring up the traditional pension system, the new law seeks to address newer forms of retirement plans offered in the private sector. During the past 20 years, many companies have shifted away from traditional pension plans, which offer defined benefits, and toward savings plans such as the 401(k), into which employers make set, or defined, contributions.
Experts who have studied the 900-page legislation say that different age groups benefit in different ways. For example, they say the new law is designed to spur younger workers to save more so they will have something to retire on. For these employees, the law provides incentives to save earlier and more often, and in sounder ways. Meanwhile, middle-aged and older workers will gain more from efforts to stabilize traditional defined-benefit plans. Here's a look at how the law affects different age groups, and at some issues it fails to address:
· The law makes it easier for financial firms that manage companies' 401(k) plans to also advise workers on how to invest their funds. It has a safeguard against conflicts of interest in that arrangement. It requires any manager who recommends financial products, and receives commissions on them, to rely instead on computer-generated recommendations.
· Lets workers leave benefits to a domestic partner or dependent, not just a spouse. And workers could draw on retirement funds for medical or financial emergencies involving domestic partners or other beneficiaries.
· Prevents employers from forcing workers to invest too heavily in company stock rather than in more diversified holdings.
Younger Workers (20 to 35)
· May be the biggest winners under this bill because they will be in the workforce the longest and have the most time to save, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis.
· Will find it easier to participate in 401(k) plans. The new law encourages employers to offer automatic enrollment, allows for contributions to automatically increase as pay increases, and makes it possible to automatically diversify holdings. Workers can elect to opt out -- a big change from the current system, in which they must opt in. The nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates that automatic enrollment will result in a 92 percent participation rate, compared with today's 66 percent. Low-income workers, EBRI estimates, will particularly benefit: Rates of participation by this group are expected to more than double, to 91 percent.
Middle-Aged Workers (35 to 60)
· Will be helped by the 401(k) provisions but not as much as younger workers because they have less time to save and join a retirement plan, according to EBRI.
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The pension legislation President Bush signed last week will make the most significant changes to U.S. retirement laws in three decades, affecting workers of every age, from graduates on their first job to employees who are about to retire. · The law makes it easier for financial firms that......
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Rail Tunnel Debate Raises Larger Issue
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Virginia leaders who are nearing a decision on whether to build a Metrorail line below ground through Tysons Corner face a question that goes well beyond disputes over cost estimates and construction timelines.
Is Fairfax County's hope of turning Tysons from a car-clogged, outsize office park into a vibrant, walkable downtown for Northern Virginia achievable?
The debate over whether to build a tunnel or an elevated track is partly tied to this vision and whether trying to achieve it is worth risking the extension of rail service to Washington Dulles International Airport.
The main argument for building the $4 billion rail line underground for its four-mile Tysons stretch is that it would enhance Fairfax's efforts to create a pedestrian-friendly downtown, similar to what Arlington has achieved along a Metro line in its Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. Tunnel proponents say that this, combined with less disruption during construction, justifies the extra cost, which they estimate at $200 million, in addition to a year's delay.
The tunnel's critics do not dispute that an underground line would be preferable, but they argue that the extra costs and time would be more than the tunnel's backers say. The extension's top congressional sponsors warn that delays and cost escalations associated with a tunnel could imperil the 23-mile line to Dulles.
More broadly, the tunnel's critics express doubts that Tysons is capable of the metamorphosis Fairfax leaders seek. Skeptics say Tysons might be too far from the District and too well-established as a suburban commercial center to duplicate Arlington's success.
In the skeptics' view, it seems foolhardy to risk the rail extension -- scheduled to reach Tysons by 2011 and Dulles by 2015 -- in reaching for an elusive urban vision. It would be nice, skeptics say, if Leesburg Pike (Route 7) one day became a lovely boulevard rather than a strip of auto dealers, but given how unlikely that seems, wouldn't it be better to have an elevated track in the pike's median rather than no rail at all?
David A. Ross, president of Atlantic Realty Cos. Inc., which owns a million square feet of commercial space at Tysons, is among those who say the priority should be getting rail of any sort to Tysons as quickly as possible.
"I hope the focus is [to] find the most efficient way to make this work," he said. "The goal is that [the rail line] needs to get in place, and it needs to get in place soon."
There are reasons for skepticism. To become a true downtown, both supporters and detractors of a tunnel say, Tysons would need a grid of streets to replace the winding office park loops that congest traffic -- no easy task with two large malls, Tysons Corner Center and Tysons Galleria, sitting in the middle of the area and the Capital Beltway slicing across it. To be more urban, the area would need thousands more residents to support more after-hours activity (about 17,000 people live there, compared with about 100,000 who work there).
And it would need to become much more developed, particularly around the four proposed Metro stations, to put more destinations within walking distance of a larger population. With 17,000 acres, Tysons is as large as downtown Boston, but much of it is parking lots and swaths of scrub and trees.
The county's plans call for allowing about 65 percent higher building density, mostly around stations, after the rail's arrival, but that still would leave Tysons less dense than much of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and far less dense than many downtown areas. A county task force working on a master plan is considering higher densities, but there might not be enough demand or community support for that.
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Virginia leaders who are nearing a decision on whether to build a Metrorail line below ground through Tysons Corner face a question that goes well beyond disputes over cost estimates and construction timelines.
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Ehrlich Vows to Deal With Effects Of Growth
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Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. gave the first broad outlines of how he would approach a second term in office yesterday, promising to step up his focus on helping the state come to grips with its rapid growth.
Speaking at an annual gathering of county leaders in Ocean City, Ehrlich (R) said he wanted to invest heavily in the construction of schools, draft plans for responsible development in Maryland's fast-growing suburbs and find ways to increase affordable housing.
"Our nurses, lab technicians, our policemen and firemen need to be able to live in or near the communities where they work," Ehrlich said. "Workforce housing" will be "a major, major issue," he said.
The speech, which led off with what the governor described as the most significant achievements of his term, helps set the stage for his bid for reelection this fall. Ehrlich, who was the first Republican elected governor in Maryland in a generation, will face a well-funded challenger in Democrat Martin O'Malley, the mayor of Baltimore who is ahead of Ehrlich in polls.
To date, Ehrlich's campaign has focused largely on the parochial question of how best to improve Baltimore's school system. His speech yesterday, though, never mentioned the subject. And while it was short on details, it was far broader in scope.
The topics ranged from an initiative he launched last year to increase monitoring of child sex offenders, to his success in gaining long-sought federal approval to build the intercounty connector highway to provide a new east-west route across the Washington suburbs.
But Ehrlich told members of the Maryland Association of Counties that, if elected, much of his attention would be focused on the rapid growth that's coming, in part, as a result of a federal base realignment that will bring thousands of new jobs to Fort Meade and the surrounding area.
"Yesterday I was asked what is the single most daunting challenge" facing the state, he said. "It is dealing with our success. We're going to have jobs paying $90,000 a year coming here in the thousands."
Ehrlich's speech came at the conclusion of a three-day conference for the association, and most who stayed to listen were the governor's Republican supporters. One Democrat in the room, U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, said that the speech touched on familiar themes but that he was pleased to hear the governor outline things that are going well in Maryland.
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Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. gave the first broad outlines of how he would approach a second term in office yesterday, promising to step up his focus on helping the state come to grips with its rapid growth.
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Tired of 'One Point, One Point, One Point'
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One by one, D.C. United's players tried to explain the dreary first half of the club's 1-1 tie with the Colorado Rapids yesterday at RFK Stadium -- an uninspiring deadlock that stretched United's MLS winless streak to four games.
Josh Gros said it "looked like nobody wanted to be out there."
Alecko Eskandarian told of a "sluggishness that just spread all over" and a "pretty intense" locker room during halftime.
Bobby Boswell called it "one of those days where the soccer wasn't the greatest."
Jaime Moreno said he was disappointed by the early performance and expressed concern about repeating last year's late-season slide.
Considering all that went wrong on this steamy afternoon before 18,006 restless spectators -- the poor start, the first-half deficit, more missed opportunities and the hamstring injury to playmaker Christian Gomez -- a tie did not seem like such a bad outcome.
Gomez scored the equalizer early in the second half and, for about 15 minutes, United (13-2-8) looked as if it would snap out of its mystifying funk and overtake the Rapids (9-8-5). But the end was just as quiet as the beginning, and although United remained unbeaten at home with eight wins and three ties, it had to settle for its third draw in the last four games.
"I wasn't happy, that's for sure," Coach Peter Nowak said of the first half. "I'm really tired of this one point, one point, one point, this way or another. We have to be a bit more hungry."
There were many problems. In addition to continuing its scoring slump -- United has only three goals in the last four games after averaging nearly two per outing most of the season -- D.C. did not pressure the ball with its usual intensity and had to work very hard for minimal results. The passing in the attacking third of the field was off and on several occasions, players made poor decisions with the ball.
The second half was better, but not enough.
"Maybe it's a little complacency, maybe fatigue," midfielder Ben Olsen said. "When we don't pressure the ball well, when we give other teams time, we're not good. We're good when we're on the offensive. [Yesterday] we didn't have the bite in the first half."
The Rapids, who came from behind to defeat United in May in Denver, took the lead in the 32nd minute when Kyle Beckerman's glancing header off Nicolas Hernandez's corner kick beat goalkeeper Troy Perkins to the far corner.
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United earns one point against Colorado on Saturday, but yet another tie pleases nobody from D.C. after a listless performance.
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As Virtual Universes Grow, So Do Ranks of the Game-Obsessed
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They are war heroes, leading legions into battle through intricately designed realms. They can be sorcerers or space pilots, their identities woven into a world so captivating, it is too incredible to ever leave. Unfortunately, some of them don't.
Video games have often been portrayed as violence-ridden vehicles for teen angst. But after 10 people in South Korea -- mostly teenagers and young adults -- died last year from game-addiction causes, including one man who collapsed in an Internet cafe after playing an online game for 50 hours with few breaks, some began to see a new technological threat.
Participation in massively multiplayer online role-playing games, also called MMORPGs or MMOs, has skyrocketed from less than a million subscribers in the late 1990s to more than 13 million worldwide in 2006. With each new game boasting even more spectacular and immersive adventures, new ranks of gamers are drawn to their riveting story lines. Like gambling, pornography or any other psychological stimulant, these games have the potential to thrill, engross and completely overwhelm.
The most widely played MMO, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, has 6.5 million players worldwide, most of whom play 20 to 22 hours per week. Thousands can be logged in simultaneously to four different WoW servers (each its own self-contained "realm"), interacting with players across the globe in a vast virtual fantasy setting full of pitched battles and other violent adventures.
Brady Mapes, a 24-year-old computer programmer from Gaithersburg, Md., and an avid WoW fan, calls it a "highly addictive game -- it sucks the life out of you."
An MMO differs from an offline game in that the game world evolves constantly as each players' actions directly or indirectly influence the lives of other players' characters. In WoW, players can simply attack one another, interact with the environment, or role-play in more complex relationships. More time playing means greater virtual wealth and status, as well as access to higher game levels and more-exciting content.
In addition, online gamers can join teams or groups (called "guilds" in WoW) that tackle game challenges cooperatively. Fellow team members see membership as a commitment and expect participation in virtual raids and other joint activities. The constant interaction with other players can lead to friendships and personal connections.
'All I Could Think About Was Playing'
"The main reason people are playing is because there are other people out there," said Dmitri Williams, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who has researched the social impacts of MMOs. "People know your name, they share your interests, they miss you when you leave."
As MMO fan sites filled with raving gamers proliferate, so have online-addiction help blogs, where desperate recluses and gamers' neglected spouses search for a way out.
"I don't want to do everything with [my husband], but it would be nice to have a meaningful conversation once in awhile," writes one pregnant wife on Everquest Daily Grind, a blog for those affected by excessive use of another popular fantasy MMO. "He does not have much interest in the baby so far, and I am worried that after it is born, he will remain the same while I am struggling to work and take care of the baby."
Another gamer writes that she was angry at her boyfriend for introducing her to online gaming, which began consuming her life at the expense of her personal and academic well-being.
"But I think deleting [your] character doesn't work, because the game haunts you," she said. "All I could think about was playing."
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They are war heroes, leading legions into battle through intricately designed realms. They can be sorcerers or space pilots, their identities woven into a world so captivating, it is too incredible to ever leave. Unfortunately, some of them don't.
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GOP's Financial Edge Shrinks
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The traditional fundraising advantage held by incumbent lawmakers -- which Republicans have regarded as a safety wall in their effort to keep control of Congress -- has eroded in many closely contested House races, as many Democratic challengers prove competitive in the race for cash.
In a year of bad omens for the GOP, the latest batch of disclosure forms filed with the Federal Election Commission offers one more: Incumbency no longer means that embattled Republican representatives can expect to overwhelm weakly funded Democratic challengers with massive spending on advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts.
There are 27 Republican incumbents classified by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report as the most vulnerable to losing reelection this fall. These incumbents still boast a clear fundraising edge, but it is much less pronounced than in years past. According to calculations made from FEC data, the Democratic challengers in these races have raised about 60 percent of what their opponents have collected and have about the same percentage of cash on hand.
At this point in the 2004 election cycle, by contrast, Cook listed nine Republican incumbents as similarly vulnerable. Their Democratic opponents had been able to raise 42 percent of what their opponents collected, and challengers' cash on hand was a lower percentage. There were similar disparities in the 2002 cycle.
Of this year's 27 most vulnerable incumbents, 14 face challengers who have raised at least $1 million, according to FEC reports. At this point in 2004, no Democratic challenger had raised $1 million. What's more, all but one of the 27 Democratic challengers has raised at least $400,000 -- a figure that many election experts consider a minimum price of entry for candidates hoping to mount a credible campaign. Taking into account all House races, 36 Democratic challengers have cleared the $400,000 threshold.
"Challengers, in general, and Democrats, in particular, have made marked improvements in fundraising this election cycle," said Michael E. Toner, the Republican-appointed chairman of the FEC.
For political finance experts, the data are striking because they show that the usual fundraising advantage of incumbents -- who tend to have more access to special-interest money -- is durable but not impervious to competing trends. This year, these include a highly motivated base of Democratic activists and low approval ratings for President Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress.
If anything, the financial figures show that political success can be self-reinforcing. After this year's first-quarter fundraising period, which ended March 31, operatives and campaign funding specialists were struck by how a surge in small, individual contributions was lifting many Democratic candidates -- incumbents and challengers alike -- closer to parity with historically better-funded Republicans.
In the second-quarter period, which ended June 30, in many instances the trend accelerated. Contributors appeared more likely to give to candidates who demonstrated through numbers -- polls and fundraising reports -- that they have a decent shot at winning.
Twelve of the 27 Democratic challengers in Cook's most competitive House races raised more money in the latest quarter than their GOP opponents.
One of those 12 is former Vice Adm. Joe Sestak, a 31-year Navy veteran whose candidacy in Pennsylvania's 7th District in suburban Philadelphia is being driven in large measure by his opposition to the Iraq war. His opponent, 10-term Republican Rep. Curt Weldon, has never faced a competitive challenger, even though the Democratic presidential nominee won the district in the last three elections.
Fueled by financial success in the most recent quarter, Sestak has raised $1.1 million to Weldon's $1.4 million.
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The traditional fundraising advantage held by incumbent lawmakers -- which Republicans have regarded as a safety wall in their effort to keep control of Congress -- has eroded in many closely contested House races, as many Democratic challengers prove competitive in the race for cash.
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Hundreds Worldwide Hit by Loss Of AP Tests
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Sections from hundreds of Advanced Placement exams taken around the world in May have been lost, according to the company that scores the tests, and students must now decide whether to retake them.
Tom Ewing, spokesman for the Educational Testing Service, which develops and scores AP exams for the nonprofit College Board, said that it was unclear exactly how many AP tests were affected but that the number was "in the hundreds, not thousands."
In some cases, Ewing said, the essay portion of the AP test is missing; in others it is the score sheet for the multiple-choice section that has been lost. ETS develops the AP exams and scores them for the College Board.
According to the Edmonton Journal in Canada, essays for 168 students who took the test in that country were lost. Students who spent spring semester at the Eisendrath International Exchange High School in Israel, which is accredited through the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, have been told that portions of their tests are missing. Eisendrath students took the AP English literature exam. Some of those students are from the Washington area.
Baruch Kraus, Eisendrath's principal, said his program was informed by AP central on Aug. 10 that 54 different parts of 81 exams had been lost. He said his school had documented proof that all of the score sheets had been properly shipped. Kraus also complained that he had difficulty contacting College Board officials about the missing test material.
College Board officials referred all calls to the Educational Testing Service.
Each year some score sheets go missing for a variety of reasons, Ewing said. Some are lost at the schools where the tests are taken, he said, or during shipping, or at the warehouse, where ETS receives 2.3 million boxes with AP materials and score sheets during May and June.
Ewing said that any student whose test is affected has options to consider, depending on what part of the test is missing: retaking it and accepting a partial score or canceling the entire grade.
ETS used to administer the SAT 1 tests for the College Board but lost the contract in 2003 to Pearson Educational Measurement, which has run into grading problems of its own this year. More than 4,000 students were sent incorrectly low scores for the SAT in March, and more than 600 had better results than they deserved on a test taken last October.
Ewing said the lost AP exams are a tiny proportion of those taken: About 15,380 schools around the world participated in the AP program in 2005, and 1.2 million students took AP exams.
Ewing noted that 262 AP tests taken by students at a South Carolina high school were reported lost this year but that as preparations were being made for the students to receive partial credit, the score sheets were found at the high school.
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Sections from hundreds of Advanced Placement exams taken around the world in May have been lost, according to the company that scores the tests, and students must now decide whether to retake them.
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Muslims Look to Science, Not the Moon, for Calendar
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Kari Ansari recalls getting ready to celebrate one of the most important religious holidays of the year -- the end of the month-long Ramadan fast.
She and her husband bought new clothes and gifts for their three children and planned a special family meal. But there was one obstacle to starting the celebration: Leaders of the two local mosques couldn't agree when the feast, called Eid al-Fitr, should begin.
"We would just be sitting up at night waiting to hear the decision," said Ansari, who lives in Herndon and is editor of America's Muslim Family magazine.
The Muslim practice of following a lunar calendar, requiring a naked-eye sighting of the new moon to start a holiday the next morning, has divided the Muslim community on its most sacred days. Now a scholarly panel that advises American Muslims on religious law is trying to end the confusion.
The Fiqh Council of North America announced last week that it would no longer rely on moon sightings to determine the start of holidays and would instead use astronomical calculations. The panel released an Islamic calendar that runs through 2011, hoping Muslims in the United States and Canada can be persuaded to trade the old way for the new.
The schedule problem is more than a minor inconvenience. School calendars and vacation time from work, for instance, depend on knowing dates in advance.
"There will be a lot of resentment at first," said Khalid Shaukat, an astronomer and research physicist with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who calculated the calendar for the Fiqh Council. "But I expect that as the time goes on and we educate them, people will see the benefit of this and understand that what may seem like a new approach to them is not against Islamic jurisprudence."
The date of the Eid is based on the Hadith, traditions taken from the life of the prophet Muhammad. The prophet taught that the holiday marking the end of Ramadan comes the morning after a nighttime sighting of the new moon.
Under the most conservative interpretation, two credible witnesses with expertise in Islamic sharia law have to see the crescent moon with the naked eye before their observations can be accepted, said Sulayman S. Nyang, an expert on Islam at Howard University.
But the Fiqh Council says that the prophet used direct sightings only because no other method was reliable in his lifetime. "Now, we know scientifically whether the moon is there, even if it is not sightable because of the weather conditions," said Muzammil Siddiqi, the council chairman.
Kareem Irfan of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, where an estimated 400,000 Muslims live, said the uncertainty of the old system has been costly.
Organizers of the massive community worship services that mark the holiday had to reserve convention halls for two different days, losing money on the double deposit, he said. Muslims who needed a day off from work or had to make plans for pulling their children out of school could not say when the celebration would be.
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Overachieving Students Under Pressure
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Upper Marlboro, Md.: Okay, we have an "overachiever" who is switching from private school to PG's new high school in the 9th grade next week. He would only agree to one AP class (English), with marching band, band as a class, maybe golf. He knows we expect 90's and above, and he has set the bar at 95 and above. Quite frankly, none of us want to dial our expectations back. The kid was moved up a grade from kindergarten to first and has never looked back. If we see strain, how should we as parents deal with it? He will fight dropping anything (golf only lasts for six weeks, I think - band is forever!).
Jay Mathews: It sounds to me like you are handling this right, but I am puzzled by one thing you said. The kid is only a 9th grader, and you have already negotiated how many APs he will take in two or three years? Or is he so far ahead that he is taking this English AP as a ninth grader, sitting there in a class full of seniors? If it is the latter, let me know how it works out. Strikes me just one AP as a FRESHMAN is one more than 99.9 percent of high school freshmen are taking, so you are ahead of the curve. If it is the former, and he only wants to take one AP his entire high school career, I strongly suspect, given his grades, he will change his mind about that. Many of the non-AP alternatives will bore him to distraction.
You WILL see strain, just as you see strain in your own life when you tackle a big project. Would you want your mom to call you up from Florida or wherever she is and tell you to drop that project before you hurt yourself? No. The successful educators I know say let him make his own choices, and only intervene if you are seeing the strain produce real differences in him---change of mood, changing of eating or sleeping habits, loss of friends, anything basic like that.
Although my highly intelligent -- and very nice guy -- oldest son was much more of an underachiever when it came to academics, I have to take comfort in the fact that there are no solid statistics that say that getting into a top-notch school -- with or without an athletic scholarship -- makes you a happier or better person in the long run.
My son did what he had to and got by; he didn't stress-out or over-tax himself. He played sports until his senior year, then stopped (and took up golf). What he ended up with was a pretty good time his senior year, developed into an awesome guitar player, and will still attend a state university.
My vision of him being a high-achieving student was just that: my vision. They were formed in a vacuum that didn't include HIS vision of himself. Should we have argued and punished him more in order to have him comply with our visions? Or did we do the right thing by largely letting him follow his own path? I hope I live long enough to get the final answer on that one.
Jay Mathews: I envy your son, having such smart parents. This is exactly the way to go. You make sure the kid is not making and unhealthy or dangerous choices, and intervene if he or she is. You keep track of school progress and be encouraging, but let them set the pace unless it is clear that they are not mastering enough concepts and skills to be able to handle the next year's work. You absolutely chill out about getting into prestige colleges, because almost all the research shows that the Ivies don't add any more value than hundreds of non-Ivies do. You enjoy all that lovely guitar music, and (quietly and secretly) pat yourself on the back. I have yet to meet a parent who took this approach and later regretted it.
MOCO, Senior Year: Hi Jay. I enjoy your columns. I grew up in an Ivy League college town but could never have believed the pressure of the DC area on students in high school here. What scares me is, it's clear from attending PTA meetings and the like, that it is the PARENTS heaping more and more pressure on the students.
Parents and school staff need to send the message "we believe in you and we know you will do well" rather than "make us look good." My daughter and her friends, who are good students, were really wilting under the pressure around AP exam time last year.
Jay Mathews: You have exactly the right attitude, but in my experience, having interviewed many of these kids, and watched my children's friends, the pressure is usually not from parents telling the kids they better get busy. The pressure is from the kids seeing their successful parents enjoy their own pressured lives, and deciding they want some of that for themselves. The pressure is also peer pressure, wanting to be a part of the smart kid gang and so taking all the same APs that your friends do. You have to listen and watch the kid and if you see unhealthy habits developing, have a conversation. But be assured that there will be strain, and there is nothing wrong with that. If we wanted our kids to have no stress, we would all drop out and move into a commune in Clarke County. (And even commune life has its pressures, I hear.)
Alexandria, Va.: Parents, keep in mind that this stressful, super-achieving mentality won't simply disappear once the acceptance letters arrive on May 1st. It sticks with you. I'm a product of a local magnet school, and it's a struggle to allow myself to relax, rather than frantically accumulating resume-builders. Your kids deserve better.
Jay Mathews: It will indeed stay with you, but I don't think that is because of the reason you suggest. It is not high pressure high schools that create high pressure kids, who cant shake the habit once they get out of that school. It is high pressure kids and their high pressure families, who LIKE high pressure because it gives them more choices in life, who create high pressure schools. The feeling that you have to keep doing stuff stays with you because that is the kind of life you are most comfortable with, and you would be very unhappy if someone told you you couldn't do all that stuff. This is my theory, at least. I would love to see evidence to the contrary.
Fairfax County, Va.: It's one thing to face stiff competition to get into an Ivy League school, but these days it's increasingly difficult for even top students to get into many state universities. Virginia's are a case in point. My daughter--a solid student with only one C on her high school transcript--won't even be looking at William & Mary or U.Va. She's been advised not to hope too much for Virginia Tech, Mary Washington, James Madison or Penn State. And George Mason and Christopher Newport won't be safe schools either. What do you advise?
Jay Mathews: Remember this fact: at least 70 percent of college spaces in the United States are in colleges and universities that accept at least 70 percent of their applicants. The intense pressure to get into name brand schools, even name brand state schools, affects only about 20 percent of students. And many of them, when they get into their safety schools that do accept a majority of applicants, find the safety schools give them just what hoped to get in the Ivies. If you look in the back of my book Harvard Schmarvard, you will find the names of many colleges---what I call the hidden gems---who accept most applicants but have terrific reputations. Christopher Newport is one. I would add Catholic to that list. And since the demographic pressure is soon to ease, at the end of this decade, I don't think we will see this crowding extent much further.
Lowville, N.Y.: As a former overachiever, I would do things differently if I could do it all over again. I took all the AP courses my school offered and was involved in soccer, baseball, newspaper, yearbook, honor society, and the foreign language clubs. I would do less extra-curricular and spend more time with my friends. I think high school students are pushed too far to be involved in every sport and organization a school has just so it looks good on a college application. Let them enjoy being a teenager!
Jay Mathews: This is a good comment from someone who was part of that 10 to 20 percent of high school students who really loaded up on AP, IB and activities because they wanted to compete in the race for selective college admission. Please keep in mind that they do not represent what happens to most high school students. The best studies show that the average American high schooler does less than an hour of homework a day and spends three hours watching TV, playing on the computer or chatting on the phone. And that includes two thirds of students who go to college.
Silver Spring, Md.: You mentioned earlier in the chat that almost all the research suggests that the Ivies don't add any extra value added to the non-Ivies. I know that Stacy Berg Dale and Alan Krueger concluded that in their study of the College and Beyond data set. Have there been other empirical studies since then that support their conclusions? I ask because I don't know of any others, and I would be wary of using "almost all" to describe one study.
Jay Mathews: There are several more, and if you just check out the colleges attended by your bosses, or people you admire, you will find far more have attended non-selective than selective schools. A January 2005 Harvard Business Review article disclosed that in 1980, 14 percent of top execs in the Fortune 100 companies had gone to Ivy League colleges. Another 54 percent had gone to private non-Ivy schools and 32 percent to state schools. A similar survey in 2001 found only 10 percent had gone to Ivies, 42 percent to other privates and a whopping 48 percent to state schools. the percent of Ivy grads in top jobs in the Standard and Poors 500 companies has dropped from 16 to 11 percent since 1998. I have some quarrels with Alexandra Robbins' new book, The Overachievers, but her points and data on this are very good. The Ivies make your grandma feel proud, but they don't do much else that you cant get at JMU.
Elgin, Ill.: "Less than an hour of homework a day" - do you think that's a problem? With the increased competition from foreign students, don't you think we should be pushing our kids a little harder - maybe not to the point of the previous poster - but somewhere in between?
Jay Mathews: I certainly do. I wouldn't mind if the amount of homework didn't increase, but those kids spent another hour a day reading for pleasure. But that is not what they are doing with their extra time. Mostly, they are watching TV.
North Potomac, Md.: As a parent of two teens (each with some learning challenges), an author, and now therapist, I have seen in my work how parents overpressure their children to succeed beyond their child's capabilities. Goal setting is one thing; pushing is quite the opposite. My co-author and I have written about angry children and overcoming passive-aggression, and when pushed like this, kids silently seethe inside....and trust me, it comes out in other ways such as totally shutting down in college when the stakes (and expense) are high.
Interesting articles in Washington Post Magazine months back and this current issue of Newsweek about whether pushing your kids into an elite school is really worth it -- and the consensus I've seen is that it's not.
Jay Mathews: You are right. It is not worth that kind of pushing. It is bad parenting. My only concern is that people will think this kind of overbearing parenting and too pressured high school standards is the norm, and all schools should do something about them. The problem is restricted to a few neighborhoods and schools where, not coincidentally, you find the highest concentration of Washington Post readers.
Washington Metro: As a parent of a 2nd and 4th grader, I was shocked to hear a parent of an 8th grader this past year talk about their son taking the SAT's. Is that what it has come to? How normal is this? When I grew up in this area, you took the PSAT in 10th and the SAT in 11th.
Also, we live in Oakton, my kids attend Oakton Elementary, but the kids that will eventually feed into Oakton High School go into I believe 3 different Middle Schools. Ours is Luther Jackson. I've heard both positive and negatives on Jackson, but no negatives on Thoreau, one of the other middle schools. I've debated the possibility of putting the kids in Flint Hill for middle school for 2 reasons: (1)Geographically, Luther Jackson is quite a hike from where we live, and (2) I don't know if it is as good as school academically as Thoreau. But, I tell myself, this is Fairfax County and there is no need to pay for private school. What can you tell me about Luther Jackson?
Jay Mathews: This is a classic case of schools being judged by their demographics. About 40 percent of Jackson students are low income and 35 percent are from non English speaking homes. The percentages in those categories for Thoreau are about 6 and 7 percent. But since they are both Fairfax County schools, you are going to find in each terrific teachers, good administrators and more than enough ambitious students and parents to give your child a very good academic experience. I would call Jackson and ask for the phone numbers of a couple of parents who have kids there, and call them with all yr questions, before you start shelling out a lot of money to Flint Hill.
Washington, D.C.: I think the whole US News and World Report college rankings business gives people bad ideas about college--that where you go can be rationally plotted on a list of the top 100 schools, and that #55 is therefore better than #56. I think choosing a good school is about finding the right fit for your kid--balancing things like big school vs. small school, classes taught by teachers vs. researchers vs. student TAs, progressive vs. conservative. I was ranked academically in the top 3 percent of kids in my high school class, a high school that was known as one of the top 5 public high schools in my home state. Yet I chose a small liberal arts college that drew mostly kids from the region, because I didn't want to be an anonymous kid at an Ivy or big university. I received an excellent education, grew tremendously as a person, and I wouldn't change a thing if I could, because I chose the right school for MY needs, not for meeting the needs of student #11 with 3.99 GPA and 4 AP classes.
Jay Mathews: That is very wise. You are have just the right attitude. But consider this. If we didn't have the US News list, would we suddenly adopt a healthier attitude toward colleges? I think the answer is no. We should still be affected by folklore on which school is the most prestigious. At least US News gives us some solid data, and you find several surprises in that top 100 list.
Springfield, Va.: We had a two activity rule while our kids were growing up -- school + 2 activities, nobody goes nuts running around, and there's still time together as a family, and time to just chill. The kids got into good schools (Carnegie Mellon & Northwestern) and still practice the 2 activity rule, since they've realized that balance is important.
Too many activities means you don't have time to do any of them really well.
Jay Mathews: I am nominating you for parents of the year. This is a terrific idea. Not only does it lead to better use of time, but the Ivies, and I want to put this in all caps, ONLY WANT TO SEE TWO ACTIVITIES!!! They want to see depth, not breadth, things the kids does that he or she is passionate about. Congratulations. Please tell as many other people as possible about what you did.
North Potomac, Md.: Following up on the poster from Illinois and Jay's reply, I also agree that kids spend inordinate amounts of time with electronic stimuli. When we try to set the parameters on Internet or even computer use, we hear "but I have to research such and such for school." I often wish teachers would assign kids to go to the library and look things up the old fashioned way because as soon as a kid logs on, his/her buddies go after them with instant messaging. Makes it really hard to enforce "go read a book" or anything non-electronic.
Jay Mathews: This is the first time I have encountered this very intriguing suggestion. I am all for it, but I wonder if we are not just too late. This is the age of computers, and you find them overrunning even the libraries. Maybe there is a way to rig the machine so that it sets off an alarm whenever the kid goes on MySpace or IMs a friend.
Vero Beach, Fla.: Newsweek this week has a story on top non-Ivy colleges that fails to communicate some useful cautions. I'm a contented alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (fellow grad students have thrived), I periodically remind kids that the difficulty of out-of-state admission to UNC-CH is excessive considering that there's wonderful faculty and degree programs, hungry for good students, everywhere. Including Florida, where the state universities are arguably underfunded and the newer ones are growing at breakneck speed anyway. At least they can recruit excellent young science faculty.
Jay Mathews: Very true. UNC-CH is now, in reality, an Ivy, as are Michigan, UVA, UC Berkeley and several other big state schools. But there are lots of other state schools, like Truman State or Keene State or Evergreen State, that are also good but less famous and easier to get into.
North Potomac, Md.: I agree Jay that in some DC metro neighborhoods the pressure remains highest. I moved here five years ago this month from Pittsburgh, Pa.
It took some adjustment when seeing the academic climate here. I think to sum it up, I'd say in other areas of the country, summer school catches a kid up. Here, it's to get ahead. And sadly, it's sometimes REALLY about a parent's penchant to brag.
Sure, I'd like one of my kids to go to my private liberal arts alma mater, or get accepted into a school folks are familiar with -- but kids will make it in life, their way, if we encourage them to be all they can be. My four-year liberal arts degree served me well as a writer for two decades, and at 42, I started my master's. I got so much more out of it later in life. There's time to figure out one's direction. Silly to push kids to do it all so young.
Jay Mathews: Another parent of the year. Bless you.
Princeton, N.J.: I am always amazed how much emphasis you place on earnings. Ask how what percent of productive scientists or mathematicians or scholars went to an Ivy or MIT or CalTech or Chicago or Stanford or... I think you will get a different answer.
Jay Mathews: Actually, we have a new college rating system, devised by the Washington Monthly, that does just what you suggest. It rates colleges on many factors that add value to American life, like joining the Peace Corp or the army or admitting lots of low income kids. One of their other rating measures is the percentage of undergrads who get Phds. The top three liberal arts schools are Swarthmore, reed, Williams, Pomona and Oberlin in that order. For national universities, the top five are MIT, cal tech, Yale, Princeton and Stanford. They don't say, of course, how productive those people are. Might be fun to look for a way to measure that. It is in the latest issue of the Washington Monthly, and on their web site.
Silver Spring, Md.: Our kids are out of the house--one a chemist, the other a college junior but 99% self-supporting, thanks to scholarships and jobs. My wife and I worked to try reduce the expectation that they be stellar students, because we recognized how unfair it was burden them so. It didn't really work. Both put huge amounts of pressure on themselves to excel, and excel they have. I expect they always will. In any event, they seem reasonably adjusted, mature and responsible,
What we did right--and this will identify me to Jay--is that that we let them do music, sports and the like on their own, encouraging them to have fun regardless of their "success," and we gave them as much responsibility as we could in managing their own lives. We let them pick their own colleges, we didn't nag about homework, we let them go places via public transportation, we let them travel both across the country & to Europe alone, etc. Learning to handle that kind of responsibility has been more important to their educations than all the AP courses in the world--and they took a lot of AP courses, earning As in every one.
Jay Mathews: Yup, and they had the excellent example of parents who also had busy lives and lots of interests, and clearly like what they do.
Vienna, Va.: In response to North Potomac's suggestion that libraries are underutilized for research, I couldn't agree more. I recently graduated from William and Mary with a major in history and I can tell you that I was unprepared to do serious research when I arrived at college. It wasn't that I went to a bad school but the focus was on technology, not research methods. High schools should focus on writing more in- depth papers which require a little "musty tome" leg work.
Jay Mathews: Absolutely right. We do a terrible job in giving high schoolers an experience in research that leads to a long paper. That is why I like the International Baccalaureate program, and its required extended essay.
Wheaton, Md.: Re taking the SATs early - my children took them at the end of 8th grade because they had just completed Geometry. It was suggested because the Geometry content is fresh in their minds. It seems to have been a good experience - the are not frightened of taking the exam "for real" and all of the resulting college material they were sent is exciting and encouraging them. At Einstein, the school pays for all 9, 10 and 11th graders to take the PSAT as practice and to identify weak areas.
Jay Mathews: I forgot to address that earlier SAT question. Your point is a good one. Also there are some gifted student programs, mostly in the summer, like the famous one at Johns Hopkins, for which admission is decided by SAT tests taken by 8th graders. It would not be something I would want my kid to do, unless he was hot for it. But many families and students have done it and thought it was a challenging change of pace. I don't think the SAT is so scary if you keep it in its place, just one of many tools we have.
Arlington, Va.: I'm very perplexed by this college stuff. I graduated George Mason U. in 1999 and American's grad school in 2001. I had a 2.0 average in high school, went to NVCC, then transferred to GMU without a problem. No stellar grades there either, but got into AU's grad school program (which takes only 60 students each fall) without issue. I have a hard time believing that some parent would think that GMU isn't a "safe" (meaning fallback) school. Oh, and I'm a white, American-born female, first-generation college student who paid my own way, just in case you think I had some kind of edge. I can only think this so-called "pressure" is something that parents hype among themselves and then to their kids. There are plenty of good schools around, and I would also say that going to NVCC for a year or two and then transferring is a smart decision, not only money-wise, but academically as well. NVCC is one of the top community colleges in the entire nation.
Jay Mathews: You are a very smart person. You just earned a 4.0 in life.
Northern Virginia: So, how do parents help a child deal with an extremely competitive magnet high school environment where "overachieving" is encouraged and smart, hardworking, capable, talented students feel more like underachievers?
Jay Mathews: Did the kid want to go to the magnet? If not, I would take him or her out of there and put him or her in a school he or she chooses. If the kid did want to go to the magnet, but is struggling, I would just be quietly supportive, ask if there was anything he or she needed, and let he or she work through it. That struggle is often the most important thing that happens to kids in such schools, because it is a great preparation for doing productive work--always a struggle---in life. There are lots of students who went to Thomas Jefferson, got Cs and Bs, and remain very happy they went to a school that stretched them so far.
Washington, D.C.: I apologize for going off topic, but maybe you can get to this anyway:
We will be moving to a new area next year. I have a choice between sending my daughter to the public school that is so-so academically and really monolithic culturally. According to their most recent report, only 6 (6!) out of hundreds of students are either black or white non-Hispanic, with 65% of the students classified as limited English proficient. I'm really worried about her having a difficult time fitting in socially, given that my daughter would be in a tiny minority there. But, it's a free education and money doesn't grow on trees.
The other option is a private school within walking distance of our new home with an excellent reputation, attractive curriculum, and a more diverse student body. But it's going to cost me a significant chunk of change!
Advice on which to choose?
Jay Mathews: I would give them the Challenge Index test. In each case, ask how many AP or IB exams they gave last May and how many seniors graduated last June. Divide the number of exams by the number of grads. If the ratios are significantly different, I would go to the school that has the higher number. If you child is a self-possessed young woman, she will make her way socially at either school. But I think the mark of a high school is how much it challenges its students, and it is hard to recover from a school that encourages kids to slide through.
Alexandria, Va.: Why are Arlington schools considered so much better than Alexandria? Both are relatively wealthy areas. Should I not send my kids to Alexandria public schools?
Jay Mathews: It is the old demographic thing. There is a higher portion of low income students in Alexandria than in Arlington, and when people see a lot of low income and minority kids, they just assume the schools are bad. Ignore it. The Alexandria schools are at least as good as Arlington's, and both systems are among the best in the country. To be able to have both diversity (Arlington is not that much less diverse) and quality teaching is a rare thing, and more people around here should appreciate that.
Fairfax, Va.: My parents never pushed me in school. I got by with a B-/C average and went to a College that was probably just a bit better than a Community College. I got straight A's my freshman year and transferred to a very good University. I graduated with Departmental Honors three years later. Looking back, I don't think that the degree with honors from the great school actually helped me at all in my career. My first job was an internship that turned into a job offer. All subsequent jobs were given to me based on my experience. I think it's so silly for parents to push their kids like they do in this area. They need to let children be children. Let them play and have fun. Just because you child does well doesn't mean they are guaranteed anything. And if you child doesn't do well, it doesn't mean they won't be successful in their life.
Jay Mathews: How very wise.
Atlanta, Ga.: Another former overachiever, looking at the first question, I would the first poster parents and students less than a "95" is not the end of the world. Are you sure the "we" in question is not you? In hindsight, I would have attended more football games, school dances, and all those other unimportant things about high school. I also would have pursued more of my personal interests, even if it took place outside of school- for me that would have French and visual arts.
Jay Mathews: Also a very good attitude.
Fairfax, Va.: Have you seen this week's cover story in Time about the world beyond the Ivies? It's an interesting read but I fear it won't do much to change the attitudes of too many DC-area families. I work with high school students and I'm constantly appalled at the level of intensity they are under to be accepted into a name school. It's made worse by the pressure their parents apply not only to the kids themselves but also to the teachers, administrators, and coaches.
What I can't get parents and students to understand is that these days there are schools to fit every students' needs. Honors colleges at state schools, small liberal arts schools with amazing travel opportunities, and all sorts of other gems that don't pop on the radar of people who just go with what they know.
Jay Mathews: Keep showing them the data that show the Ivies don't add any more value than the schools you are highlighting. Eventually it will sink in.
Montgomery county Parent: A Few weeks ago I attended freshman orientation for honors students at a major midwest university. It was refreshing. Not one parent played the my kid is smarter than yours conversation that is constant in Montgomery County. In fact it was much more, I have a normal average kid I hope honors won't be too much for them. It was nice to be reminded that the DC area and Montgomery County in particular may not be representative of how much pressure is placed on kids.
Princeton, N.J.: I have young kids and see that their peers are being sent to scheduled activities such as swimming, soccer, piano, etc 3-7 times a week. I am wondering if this is normal across the US or its a local trend in the "educated" over-achieving areas of the US. Also, what you would consider normal for elementary age kids? I believe in waiting to see what their own interests and abilities are while signing up for maybe one activity to keep them busy.
Jay Mathews: It is very normal for those neighborhoods that house the top 5 percent of Americans in income, of which we have a lot in the DC area. Most of the country doesn't work that way, thank goodness. Your approach makes great sense to me.
I'm going back to school this fall for my senior year of High School, but I still need to read a book. What books, under 120 pages, would be interesting reads.
Jay Mathews: What an interesting question. I am not sure about the total pages, but among the best short books I know are The Two Cultures by CP Snow, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Upper Marlboro, Md. again: No, no, only one AP this year. I think he set the mark low, but we all (yep, the entire family), think that he is better off being careful and successful this year. He plans to load up later.
Jay Mathews: Excellent. my email address is mathewsj@washpost.com. Keep me in touch.
Falls Church, Va.: Have you read: The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins that examines the lives of driven Bethesda, Md. students? Your comments are appreciated.
Jay Mathews: I have, and there will be an oped by me about it in the paper in the next few weeks. I think the oped editor would not want me to scoop myself, but I do not share the view I have seen in most reviews that her book reflects reality. Except, as I said above, in her view of the college race, in which she is quite right.
Silver Spring, Md.: Could it be that parents and students are just behaving rationally in what has increasingly become a winner-takes-all economy?
Jay Mathews: I don't see the economy that way. We have a hard worker is rewarded economy. That is why so many foreigners are trying to get here. If you speak reasonable English, are in good health and willing to work, a good life in American is more likely to come your way than any other country I know. (Unless, of course, you are the sort of person who lets the sight of Donald Trump ruin yr day.)
Washington, D.C.: Often Asian Americans are labeled as an academically elite, hyper-driven group in America. Asian parents are accused of too aggressively promoting the academic excellence of their children at the expense of more "all rounded" activities like sports or a social life, etc. Do you think this rhetoric also embeds culturally-specific notions into classroom definitions of success? Might this be a pernicious way of white America preserving its privileged positions in university halls under threat of an increasingly powerful Asian minority?
Jay Mathews: I have heard this often, and did a column about it. Our splendid Web site producer Francine Uenuma might want to put a link here to my Dec. 6, 2005, online column, "I am an Asian parent." These kinds of behaviors are common to many Americans of all ethnicities, and are fine if not taken to the extreme.
washingtonpost.com: "I am an Asian Parent." (Post, December 6, 2005)
Washington, D.C.: Do you think it hypocritical of highly successful - Yale, Harvard grads - recommending that kids nowadays take it easy? Often it seems like those advocating most strongly for an end to pressure on youngsters are those who have already achieved it.
Jay Mathews: Usually it comes from the best of motives. They think kids are hurting themselves. But their words are harmless. Most of the kids ignore them, and make their choices, having seen that a stressful life usually brings rewards.
Alexandria, Va.: As a high school underachiever(900 SAT, 2.0 GPA) who has a Master's Degree, I have come to find out that many of the overachiever's (1200 SAT, 3.5 GPA) from high school ended up dropping out of college. Do you think this is due to them being burned out from all of the pressure and work they put into high school?
Jay Mathews: I don't. The research shows the lower the high school grades and test scores, the more likely a student will drop out of college. There are plenty of people like you for whom this was not true, but I would prefer that we encourage more achievement in all high school kids, except those who are already achieving well.
Rockville, Md.: Jay, do you have an opinion on which test (SAT or ACT) is better for students with LD?
Jay Mathews: I see no significant difference.
Montgomery County, Md.: In 4th and 5th grades, my daughter was in one of the county's Center programs for the "highly gifted and talented." She worked hard and thrived. Now she is in one of the county's magnet middle schools, still doing well. But as I look down the road to high school, I'm inclined to opt out of this elite track and return to our regular high school program. Why? I'm worried she'll burn out and have no energy and motivation left for college. I also think that many students in the elite programs--and their parents--have an irrational and extremely unhealthy attitude about the necessity of getting into an elite college. My job as a parent is to raise a healthy child, not to ensure that she will acquire an Ivy League diploma. But I'm not aware that other parents of my daughter's classmates share my feelings. Could there be more of us than I know?
Jay Mathews: There are plenty of you, but in every case, I would let your kid decide. She is smart enough to get into TJ, she is smart enough to choose what is best for her.
Arlington, Va.: I think that "overachieving" has become a norm among IB/AP/honors students and, as a result, the culture will most likely trickle down to all students. How else are students suppose to survive in today's world?
Jay Mathews: I would be astonished if that happened. the underachieving culture is huge and strong, and getting most teens motivated is not something anyone has succeeded in doing so far.
I think the work you are doing to promote schools that challenge students is important. As a parent and an educator I would like to thank you for focusing your efforts on challenging our students rather than making excuses for our schools.
However, I am concerned about the direction your role as an educational reporter has taken. I understand that you were a featured speaker at an Advance Placement (AP) educational conference. This seems like conflict of interest and calls to question your objectivity. On the one hand, you are a great champion of AP programs, creating a sensational list of America's Best High Schools based on the number of students taking AP classes. On the other hand, you speak on behalf of the AP Tests to your own benefit. How are you able to maintain your objectivity when reporting on this program? It seems that you are more of a celebrity spokesperson than an educational reporter.
Jay Mathews: Good question. I am very careful not to accept any speaking fees from the College Board, the International Baccalaureate organization, the KIPP schools and any other organization whose work I have written about in such positive ways as a columnist or author. I share your concern about my views being characterized as quid pro quo. I have formed these opinions long before anyone cared, or ever asked me to speak, and I want to make that point clear. If they ask me to speak, and it is convenient for me, I will speak, but for free. They spend a lot of time telling me what they know, and I think I am obliged to tell them what I know, but not for money.
El Dorado, Ark.: My son is an incoming 9th-grader, and is taking all the pre-AP classes (3) at our school. He has dysgraphia (difficulty writing - poor fine motor skills).
We've had therapy for the problem. We have a very good school district.
He is very intelligent, but his performance on homework and exams is slow and labored. Timed tests, especially, can be very frustrating for him. (Needless to say, I am not really looking forward to the upcoming ACT and SAT tests.)
What can be done to help him and others like him, if anything? Thanks for your interest in education for our kids.
Jay Mathews: I think you have to be patient and encouraging. There are few magic bullets. If anyone knows of any, let me know.
Jay Mathews: Thanks very much for the great questions. I have to get back to work. If anyone wants to contact me individually, my email address is mathewsj@washpost.com.
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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Bill Clinton to Headline Webb Fundraiser
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Political friendships, and political animus, apparently are not made to last.
Six years ago, former Reagan Navy secretary James Webb was a Republican, and he opined that President Bill Clinton's administration was "the most corrupt administration in modern memory." He made the comments at a news conference endorsing Republican George F. Allen for the Senate, and renouncing his past support of Virginia Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb.
Today, Webb is a Democrat, running against the incumbent Allen. And Webb's campaign said last night that Clinton has agreed to headline a fundraiser for Webb this fall at -- just to complete the circle -- Robb's house in McLean.
"I think he has said it was a different time when he made those comments," said Webb communications director Kristian Denny Todd. "It was a very different situation."
Todd said that Clinton and Webb have not met, but that she believes Webb's rough assessment of the Clinton years was discussed when Webb met with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) "I wasn't in the room, but it seemed to be addressed and done," she said, adding that Sen. Clinton had offered her help as well.
Even a man as famously forgiving as Clinton must have paused over some of Webb's denunciations, which came as recently as 2001, when Clinton was leaving office. "It is a pleasurable experience to watch Bill Clinton finally being judged, even by his own party, for the ethical fraudulence that has characterized his entire political career," Webb wrote in the Wall Street Journal that year.
Webb has not fully explained what he meant when he said the Clinton administration was "corrupt,'' but the decorated Vietnam veteran said his anger was driven by the actions Clinton employed to avoid military service.
"My comments about the Clinton administration were more personal because of a lot of anger that's related to the Vietnam War," Webb said when asked about it a recent debate. "That's an anger that in my view really fell to the wayside when we look at what happened in this country after 9/11."
Webb has also said he has apologized to Robb, and told him that the Senate "would have been a better place" if he had been reelected in 2000. A large number of Robb's former aides endorsed Webb in the Democratic primary. Robb has an unlisted telephone number and couldn't be reached for comment.
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Pluto's New Place in Space Could Be as a 'Pluton'
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Hoping to end the agonizing over whether Pluto is really a planet, an international committee of astronomers has come up with a new definition that would save the tiny body's place in the sun's family.
Under the long-awaited proposal, Pluto would remain in the pantheon of planets by becoming the prototype of a new subcategory of small, outer solar system objects dubbed "plutons" -- planets, but distinct from the eight larger "classical" planets closer to the sun.
The changes would require astronomy textbooks to be rewritten and every schoolchild to be taught a new vision of the solar system, because three other orbs would get promoted to planet status, as well -- expanding the total from the traditional nine to 12.
"Everybody's been wanting to know: 'Is Pluto a planet?' " said Richard P. Binzel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who served on the seven-member committee assembled by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to settle the explosive issue. "The answer is: 'Yes, Virginia, Pluto is a planet.' "
The proposal to resolve the dispute is being officially unveiled today at the IAU's general assembly in Prague. It will be hotly debated until Aug. 24, when about 1,000 astronomers will vote on it. Some astronomers expressed misgivings about the new definition, but it generally drew initial praise, and several predicted it will be ratified.
"I think it's a good compromise," said Larry W. Esposito of the University of Colorado, who had opposed maintaining Pluto and similar bodies as planets. "They're really too small and don't amount to much. But it would be too difficult to demote Pluto. This way, we don't have to scratch it off the list."
The status of Pluto, the smallest of the nine planets, has been called into question by the discovery in recent years of other objects of similar size and distance from the sun. But suggestions that Pluto be demoted prompted heated debate and angry denunciations.
In an attempt to settle the issue, the IAU assembled a 19-member committee, which deadlocked after two years of intensive debate. That led to creation of the smaller committee, which met in Paris June 10 and July 1 to find a way out of the thicket.
Under the new definition, a planet would be defined as any body massive enough to be round that is not a star but is orbiting one.
"These are the most fundamental physical parameters that apply not only in our solar system, but everywhere in the universe," Binzel said. "That's what's so appealing about the definition -- it can be applied universally."
The eight "classical" planets would be Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Ceres, an object located between Mars and Jupiter that has long been considered an asteroid, would be considered a planet.
"One might call it a 'dwarf planet,' but that's not an official term," Binzel said.
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But I Just Saw Them At the Store!
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Though it is murder on the soul, celebrity gossip does keep us young, if only in the sense that it renders us childish and reliably gullible, the way some children can still be completely sideswiped by this particular bit of news: Honey, your father and I are getting a divorce.
Rare is the child who doesn't see a split coming in advance. Same with us, and Us. While magazines and gossip shows have prided themselves -- like savvy kids -- at turning a whiff of a rumor into a fait accompli, the celebs have gotten better at pretending everything's just A-OK, even better than they faked happiness in the studio-system days. It's not Hollywood, it's Iowa! Hush and eat your dinner. We just don't speak of it -- until we speak of it, or our publicists do:
"Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson have confirmed that they are separated," Brad Cafarelli, Hudson's publicist, confirmed Monday to the Associated Press.
Well, there you go. Another not-nice little moment of surprise about the dissolution of an actress and a rock star, brought to you by the steady waves of the infotainment surf. But they seemed happy. They had been married since 2000, which is forever in celebrity years. She had just been telling a round of reporters, in the course of promoting her last movie, some of what's she's learned about staying married: "I don't like this idea of the perfect marriage," Hudson explained to Elle. "People can be in love madly and deeply and go through so much and still end up together. That's what you hope for. . . . No one should get married if they think it's going to be a fairytale."
In Hollywoodspeak, that's the sort of quote that should have sent the gossip machine into at least a state of suspicious anticipation. We would then have been alerted in pink and yellow typography at the checkout line -- not big on the magazine covers, perhaps a few lines in a lower corner -- Trouble for Kate and Chris? -- another seemingly fine marriage bites it. This is how we like our gossip now: An alarm is sounded, and denials are issued, for weeks and weeks, until it comes true, as if enough bad press could will it to be. The last thing Kate Hudson did, besides "You, Me and Dupree," was settle a libel suit with the British edition of National Enquirer, which had written that she was dangerously thin. (Imagine being called dangerously thin when you weren't. Most of us would send thank-you notes.)
Hudson and Robinson lived in a marriage that could be admired by those with nothing better to do: She was young (20 when they met), the daughter and eerie update of Goldie Hawn. He was in his thirties, with that creepy, beady-eyed, rock-star look that only a starlet can love. Everyone said it couldn't work, which is why you root for it. Celebrities under pressure always forget this about celebrityhood: People who love gossip are, at heart, optimists. A middling movie star is still a skyscraper in our minds; we are there for the groundbreaking ceremony and the implosion.
Her career ascended (an Oscar nomination in 2001, for playing a rock groupie) while his became more and more niche. She is 27 and at a point where she can play the cute lovelorn chick for five more years; he is at the point where his back catalogue of hits cannot sustain a front catalogue of hits; it's all nostalgia now, rock at 39 is hell; consequently he has come to resemble a Civil War reenactor. Together they always looked as if they were headed to different worlds. They have a 2-year-old son. They got along for the lens, appearing odd enough together to convey a sense of the usual. She said she learned a lot about relationships from watching her mother's unwedded bliss for 23 years-and-counting with actor Kurt Russell.
Twenty-three years! That verges toward the gold standard of Hollywood pairing: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, who have been married 48 years. Whenever anyone says Hollywood marriages don't last, people look toward Connecticut and a salad dressing empire, and superstitiously genuflect, and say yes, they can -- setting aside the 11 years Newman spent married to his first wife.
But they can't: Nick and Jessica. Charlie and Denise. Shanna and Travis. Carmen and Dave. (Want to lose your love? Simply profess your love to a magazine or talk show, or on a weekly reality show.)
What else do we know about Kate and Chris? Nothing.
What did we ever know about Kate and Chris? Nothing.
What does it amount to, what can we take away? Nothing.
The beast of gossip loves this moment best: Befuddlement. News it didn't already know. That is the very freshest meat. That is like marrying Kenny Chesney over a weekend, and then unmarrying him just as sneakily five months later. Whanh? Hunh? Gosh! Those are the reactions you want in the express checkout line. (Unless of course you live in the world where the first question is Who, followed by a very disdainful Why? That world exists. That world has Hezbollah, the end of oil reserves and the trade deficit. That world has a special loathing for celebrities and anyone who would familiarize himself with their divorces.)
Setting aside an amazing film or an incredible song, the greatest gift a celebrity can bestow upon the public is this gift of utter surprise. Tragic death is the finest example of such a sacrifice, but it is extreme. Tragic divorce will do. To qualify, tragic splits cannot come in the slow, customary build-up; tragic splits must land with a thud.
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White House Talk
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Dan is also deputy editor of Niemanwatchdog.org .
Dan Froomkin: Hi everyone and welcome to another White House Talk.
My column today is about Bush's Bubble, which is alive and well.
The vaunted meeting with Iraqi experts on Monday that Tony Snow has been touting as Exhibit A for Bush's openness to dissent turns out -- surprise! -- to have been exclusively with people who fundamentally agreed with him.
If you ask me, it's about time the White House press corps asked Bush some really basic questions, rather than the incremental ones that he answers with his tired talking points. For instance:
* Have you ever actually sat down and talked about Iraq at any length with someone who wasn't fundamentally agreeing with you? If so, how did that go?
* Why don't you address the actual arguments made by your political opposition, instead of mocking the made-up arguments of imaginary opponents?
And some reality-check questions, like:
* Do you understand that many Iraqis view the American military as an occupation force?
* Do you understand how your policies are increasing, rather than decreasing, anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East?
Any other questions like that come to your mind? Send them in.
In other news, the column will be going dark the week of August 28. I intend to leave you a reading list of Web sites worth checking while I'm away. I'd be curious to hear from some of you out there which sites you bookmark, in addition to White House Briefing. (Which, incidentally, can always be found at this URL: washingtonpost.com/whbriefing.) You can alsoe-mail me.
Do any of you actually believe that Bush read Camus' "The Stranger"? If not, what do you speculate that he did read?
Dan Froomkin: The report that Bush read Albert Camus' existential classic "The Stranger" during his vacation is turning into quite the subject of amusement in Washington. John Dickerson wrote in Slate, noting all the potential "geopolitical literary misinterpretation" in Bush ostensibly reading a book about a man who dispassionately kills an Arab, demanded a book report.Louis Bayard obliged today in Slate, with his idea of what Bush's book report would be like.Maureen Dowd writes in her New York Times opinion column (subscription required) with the suggestion that Bush was inspired by a character in the NASCAR movie, "Talladega Nights."
The bloggers continue to express puzzlement.
Me, I'm dying to know how it ended up on his reading list. And I think that, realistically, at best he skimmed it.
Baltimore, Md.: Thank you Mr. Froomkin for your enlightening blog and chats. Maybe off topic, but do you think VP Cheney cares about his credibility anymore? His ham-handed attempt to link Lamont with Al-Qaeda certainly tops his "last throes" comment. Does he see himself as the chief lionkeeper: keep feeding the base red meat?
Dan Froomkin: Thanks. Great question. I think Cheney cares about exactly one thing: Getting things his way. So it matters not one whit what the press or the public thinks, as long as he and his people are making the big decisions.
Batesville, Va.: We read that half the nation still believes that a Saddam-Al Qaeda connection existed and that the Iraq war equates to the war on terror. These gross misconceptions come from the White House with little or no corrections coming from the media, and are often called "old news" by the latter. If our media is so liberal, how can the White House be getting away with this?
Dan Froomkin: What's liberal got to do with it? This is facts we're talking about. The Harris Poll of which you speak is a mighty indictment of those of us who consider ourselves truth-tellers. We appear not to be succeeding.
And your point about "old news" is a good one. Maybe journalists need to focus less on what incremental change happened yesterday, and more on making sure people understand the context.
Napier, New Zealand: Hi Dan,
In regard to Bush's reading list this summer - I would suggest he read my favorite book of all time, Catch 22, by Joseph Heller. It sure feels like that is where we are.
How long is Tony Snow going to get away with this answering legitimate questions with other questions? Will the reporters eventually revolt? When was the last Bush press conference? I certainly would like to have a one-on-one conversation with Mr. Bush. Enquiring minds want some answers, not this repeated fluff. Any thoughts?
Dan Froomkin: I was delighted to see Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank call attention to Snow's maddening and inappropriate habit of answering questions with questions. Milbank appropriately put it in the context of a White House that would rather keep the press at a distance.
Back when Bush was really avoiding press questions, before the election, I frequently called for more press conferences. And Bush hasn't had a solo press conference since July 7 -- and that was in Chicago.
But the reality is that Bush is making himself available quite often these days to take a few questions here and there. The problem, therefore, is not that he isn't taking questions -- it's that he's not answering them.
As to whether reporters will revolt, I'm afraid precedent suggests that they will not.
Philadelphia, Pa.: Hello Dan, love your column. I was wondering how the British government could stomach all the credit the bush administration is grabbing for their successful investigation that uncovered the plot to blow up U.S.-bound airplanes. It can't be playing well in the UK that British law enforcement cut their investigation short at our insistence to roll up the alleged bombers weeks earlier than they planned to do. It seems to lend a lot of credence to notion that Blair is Bush's poodle.
Dan Froomkin: I've been wondering about that myself. I didn't have a chance to do a thorough sweep of the British media today. Anyone have anything to contribute on this topic?
Here's what Bush had to say yesterday: "Because of the good work in Great Britain and because of the help of the people there at NCTC, we disrupted a terror plot, a plot where people were willing to kill innocent life to achieve political objectives."
Here's the NBC report suggesting the U.S. rushed things to their conclusion.
Newport News, Va.: Thanks for your enlightening columns, Dan. I look forward to reading them daily.
What do you make of Bush trying to say he had something to do with the arrests in the U.K. last week and why doesn't the media confront him on that? He evidently "pushed" the story out there. Now the U.K. police may have to let some of the "suspects" go. They had no tickets or passports, so where were they going to go?
Dan Froomkin: I think there's plenty of following up to be done. Especially, now that Bush has himself given the U.S. credit for this, it's incumbent upon the White House to explain what the U.S. role was, and respond to the charge that it was solely to rush things so Bush could scare people.
And I do so wish that the media wasn't so eager to believe everything they hear every time one of these announcements is made. But I guess we're just suckers for a good horror story.
Albany, N.Y.: The Lebanon experience demonstrates, if anything, how damaged our credibility is in the Middle East. Are you aware of any back-channel criticisms of the handling of the crisis from old Bush I hands?
Dan Froomkin: The conventional wisdom is that those back-channels were cut off long ago.
What I'm particularly curious about is what James A. Baker III (Bush I's secretary of state) and the rest of his Iraq Study Group are up to.
Laurel, Md.: You and the bulk of your posters seem to assume that there was no Saddam-Al Qaeda link. Why? Isn't it true that Al-Zarqawi was at the least an Al Qaeda associate prior to 9/11, and did he not receive a state-sponsored medical operation in Iraq, a third world country where operations don't just happen for whomever needs one?
It sure seems there was SOME link between the two. Perhaps Cheney and co. exaggerated it, but it was there.
Dan Froomkin: You and I have some link, too. That doesn't mean that you have the remotest responsibility for my actions. Which is the point.
Boston, Mass.: Hi Dan, I know you are fabulous. Your readers know you are fabulous. To what degree do you think your columns influence reporters and reporting? I know this is hard to measure, but humbleness aside, I'd like to know what impact you think your column has beyond your non-reporter general public readers. Thanks.
Dan Froomkin: Thank you. I was almost too humble to take your question.
The fact is that I have no direct evidence that my column has had any influence at all on the reporting of my journalistic peers.
Keep in mind that almost all of what I write in my column emerges from reading the work of those peers. A guy can dream, however, and my hope is that I'm an echo-chamber for the best work that they do, and that as a result, they do more of it.
Washington, D.C.: Dan - here is a question that someone should ask the President - "Do you truly believe that the spread of democracy necessarily eliminates terror? In other words, isn't is possible that terrorism and democracy are not exclusive of one another, and that terrorism could not only survive, but could thrive, in a democratic environment?" The situation in Palestine would seem to say that terrorism and democracy are not opposites, and therefore I wonder why the President continues to assert that they are with no challenge from the press or anyone else.
Thank you for a great column.
Dan Froomkin: Fine question. Thanks for posting.
Bridgton, Maine: Mr. Bush said, " Because of the good work in Great Britain and because of the help of the people there at NCTC, we disrupted a terror plot."
What's this "we" thing? From all reports, the Brits did all the work and it was THEIR pickup on the plan and their following up that did the job.
Is this going to be another "Saddam helped al Qaeda and had WMD" thing?
Dan Froomkin: Hmm. Maybe this story has legs.
(As for your last point: Don't go overboard.)
Niles, Mich.: What frequency can the public expect Press Conferences given by the President or Vice-President to be as November elections approach?
Dan Froomkin: Well, don't hold your breath for a vice-presidential press conference. That's part of what made his holding a conference call last week to talk about the Lieberman-Lamont race so bizarre. (See my Monday column, Did Cheney Go Too Far?
As for Bush, it's all about how well they work for him. Recently, my sense is that they've served him well. He looks presidential and doesn't look like he's hiding, and repeats his talking points so many times they're bound to get on the news. The fact that he doesn't actually answer the questions is apparently not upsetting either the reporters or the public so terribly much.
Madison, Wis.: Dan, In today's column, you write "And is the fact that the Iraqis aren't grateful for everything he (W) did really his top concern right now?" Isn't that the most critical part of this whole debacle? Anti-American views and beliefs have only been inflamed by this, and other recent "events". However much I strongly disagree with everything this President has done since took office, I must agree in some context that growing Iraqi anti-American sentiment is the rabbit hole of this fiasco and the crux of our past, present and future failures in that region. Perhaps he is finally starting to think about his legacy and what a mess he's left for the rest of us to figure out?
Dan Froomkin: Well, thanks. Interesting observation.
I'm shocked at how much news emerged from interviews with four outsiders who had a chance to talk to the president. Just goes to show how little we learn from the usual suspects.
Smyrna, Tenn.: Is it legal or ethical for any President, Vice-President, or first lady to go to private, closed, partisan fundraisers on the taxpayer's dollar?
Dan Froomkin: Legal, yes. They pay the taxpayers back a nominal fee for their travel when it's entirely political. The even bigger outrage is when they throw in a drive-by "public" event to make the trip official. Then they don't even have to pay that.
One of the many fascinating points Peter Baker made in a recent Post story: "[I]n closing the doors of some fundraisers, the White House has reversed a policy adopted under Clinton after fundraising scandals raised questions about what donors are seeking when they hobnob with presidents."
How did we let that happen, I'd like to know?
Vienna, Va.: Mr. Froomkin -
Thanks for your great columns and chats.
I think there should be at least one reporter at every press conference or appearance who asks "why have we failed to capture or kill Osama bin Laden to date?" It's a simple, short question that will have to have some answer. Bush should have to continually confront that failure - it is one of the most visible signs that he is still not really interested in doing everything it takes to fight terrorism.
Dan Froomkin: It's certainly a good question.
And it reminds me of one of my favorite columns ever, back in August 2004, when I wrote "that Bush treats bin Laden a lot like those wizards in the Harry Potter books treat He Who Must Not Be Named."
Since the election, he's mentioned bin Laden a lot more frequently.
Bel Air, Md.: As for Bush's reading list, I recall last summer 's vacation reading list, as related by an aide: A list of hefty political/historical work by prominent intellectuals. Later in the vacation, asked what he was doing that day he talked about biking and then "later on I'll read a little Elmore Leonard." Camus? Not a chance.
Dan Froomkin: Thanks. But there is nothing wrong with Elmore Leonard.
Love your chats and your column. In light of the President's refusal to let reporters travel with him to fundraisers, and his decision to move the press corps out of the White House (there must have been a way to accommodate the renovations short of moving the press corps out of the zip code), can't the press retaliate by refusing to cover any President actions that are not really newsworthy, for example?
It's too bad that the President gets to have it both ways - slighting the press and reporters at every turn, including denouncing them generally, but getting the benefit of press coverage for every trivial action he takes. Pretty dysfunctional relationship. Perhaps I should email Carolyn Hax with this?
Dan Froomkin: I would love to hear what Carolyn thinks.
Columbia, Md.: Re: Washington, D.C. question to Bush. A good follow up would be if democracy will eventually destroy terrorism, then how do you explain the Oklahoma bombing?
Dan Froomkin: Thanks. I've often wondered how Bush would address that.
New York City: Bridgeton, Maine isn't paying attention. It's been widely reported that the NSA assisted the British inquiry with communications intercepts. So Bush saying "we" disrupted a terror plot is entirely appropriate. It looks like the vaulted media is again not doing its job, if people don't understand even the most basic facts about the number one story of the last week.
Dan Froomkin: Hmm. I can't much about that beyond a Lisa Myers report on NBC on August 11. Either way, we should find out more about this. So we'll agree that there should be more and better reporting?
I really appreciate your column and your completeness in reporting.
One of the frustrating aspects of the U.S. media's reporting is that it seems mainly reactive and doesn't provide much coverage of issues that exist, yet are not raised by the WH or Congress. Case in point: the declining dollar coupled with the exploding personal and US government debt and the implications of this for the future. My question is how much can we the public influence the media towards covering these kinds of issues? And what's it like for reporters and analysts like you who really do try to cover all relevant issues?
Dan Froomkin: Thanks, and what an interesting observation.
There is a serious antipathy in certain journalistic quarters to "setting the agenda." But too often that results in the reactive kind of journalism you describe.
My case in point: There should be a "torture beat" at every major news organization. Just because no one's holding press conferences about it every day doesn't mean it isn't worth writing about every day.
The good news is that the public has more ways of influencing the media than ever before.
For instance, you can start a blog. Collect whatever information on the topic you can find. Support other bloggers who do the same. Invite reporters into your blogging community.
Eventually, you either influence the media, or become the media, or both!
Prairie Village, Kan.: Good afternoon, Dan-
What do think of the possibility that too much is being extrapolated from the rejection of Lieberman by Democrats in Connecticut? I think it may be a leap of hope to conclude that because the Connecticut voters rejected a Republican in Dem's clothing, that nationally all the Red State Righteous Right will automatically, or even reflexively, come on board with them to rid the raft of rats.
Dan Froomkin: You may very well be right.
Nevertheless, I couldn't help but be struck by the fact that even as "strong disapproval" of the president had spread from a small minority to a near majority of voters, this was the first clear expression of anti-Bush sentiment at the voting booth.
In response to an earlier question regarding your fabulousness and influence you said, "The fact is that I have no direct evidence that my column has had any influence at all on the reporting of my journalistic peers."
Well, I'm a political cartoonist, not a journalist, but for what it's worth I can tell you that your column and insights regularly impact my my understanding and thinking - n a positive way. However my spelling mistakes are my own.
And thanks for reminding me: I have heard that some political cartoonists have on occasion taken inspiration from something I dug up. Which means the world to me.
East Hanover, N.J.: Besides the rest of us, shouldn't those former Bush supporters who now vow to vote democrat be the ones who are worried about electronic voting and the fact that these machines are so easily hackable?
Dan Froomkin: Everyone should be worried about electronic voting, regardless of how they intend to vote.
Talk about an insufficiently covered story. See lots of questions over at NiemanWatchdog.org.
Deactur, Ill.: Inspite of growing anti-Bush sentiment, does there appear to be anything that would indicate that the administration will continue to do as they please regardless of who holds the majorities in Congress? This administration has not shown that they really care what Congress thinks, so why would they change now?
Dan Froomkin: Congress has plenty of muscle, should it choose to flex it. Like it could threaten to cut off appropriations. It could start firing out subpoenas. It can't be entirely ignored -- unless it chooses to go along.
Washington, D.C.: I'm a bit bemused by Bush's claim that Israel "defeated" Hezbollah. Has anyone been able to figure out what kind of bizarro metrics the White House uses to decide who wins and who loses? Maybe that's what I'm missing about Iraq; according to the White House definition, we've already won!
Dan Froomkin: I was somewhat perplexed myself.
Dan Froomkin: Thanks again for all the wonderful questions and comments. I'm sorry I couldn't get to more of them. I'll see you again here in about a month, or weekday afternoons on the home page. Please also feel free to e-mail me anytime. I get a lot of great ideas from your e-mails.
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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Back to School: Healthy Eating
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Washington Post staff writer and Lean Plate Club columnist Sally Squires was online Wednesday, Aug. 16, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss healthy school lunches and child nutrition.
Sally Squires: Welcome everyone! Back-to-school is around the corner. In fact some kids in Montgomery County are already having orientation. College kids are moving into the dorms...
So besides those books, backpacks, calculators and Ipods, students are going to have to be well nourished to do their best in school. Today we're going to talk about what to eat for breakfast and what to pack for lunch and after-school snacks. And no, this is not Tuesday where you'd normally find me hosting the Lean Plate Club web chat. This is Wednesday and a special web chat devoted to back to school food.
Let's get on with the chat!
Washington, D.C.: Sally, I'm the one that's going back to school -- in the evenings, three nights a week. What healthy offerings can I pack that will sustain me through that time? Thanks.
Sally Squires: Good for you for going heading back into the classroom, DC. Evening classes can be quite challenging because you certainly don't want to put in all that effort in improving your knowledge, only to be dragging from hunger. And you also don't want to sustain yourself on junk food either, right?
So you get an "A" for already thinking ahead.
Depending on what you have available in terms of refrigeration and cooking, there are several good options.
If you've got a microwave and a freezer available for late afternoon before you head to class, you're ahead of the curve. Stock up on some frozen dinners. Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Kashi and Amy's all have frozen dinners that are not high in calories and for the most part are reasonable in taste. Will they win four stars? No of course not, but they will certainly sustain you and won't send you off the charts, calorically speaking. (Most are, however, rather high in sodium. So if that's a concern, you may have to go to another option.)
If you don't have access to a refrigerator or microwave you could stop by a grocery on your way to class. The salad bars these days at most groceries have a lot of options, including soup. The choices are generally healthier than what you'll find at most fast food restaurants, and could be cheaper depending on what you buy.
Speaking of those fast food places, check out the salads. They're quite good.
You might also invest in a good lunch back. There are wide number available. Lands End and LL Bean have some pretty nifty lunch packs. A good thermos could also help you keep food particularly if you have a place to store it during the day. If not, then you might dry some of the soups that are made by Progresso, Campbell's and other companies. They're microwaveable. Don't require a can opener. Soup at Hand can even be sipped in the car on the way to class.
You could add some whole grain crackers and low fat or non fat cheese. Don't forget fruit--an apple for you AND that teacher of yours, never hurts and doesn't require refrigeration. In fact, fruit and cut up veggies would be great to have on hand.
Those are just a few options. Also look for peanut butter and jelly containers now available. And for new snack packs from Dr. Krackle with some whole grain crackers that are quite good.
Hope that helps. Other suggestions out there? Send them our way. Happy studying...
Rockville, Md.: My son is 3 1/2 and takes his son to preschool. Can you give me some advice on what to pack? Also, I pack him fruits because he loves those, but save the veggies for dinner, since he needs a pep talk from us before touching those. Is that okay?
Sally Squires: That's all perfectly fine, Rockville. You might like some of the individual applesauce and nonfat pudding containers. The applesauce comes in berry flavors too and doesn't have added sugar. The pudding obviously does, but it also has some calcium. The main thing is not to overload your son with food. So some of the small snack packs of whole grain crackers would be fine. So would have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread. No refrigeration required. And there's a new whole grain graham cracker from Dr. Krackle that I thought was pretty tasty.
Other options: small containers of yogurt. You might also make your son his own trail mix with soy nuts, raisins, seeds and other things he enjoys. In fact, you could make it together!
New York, N.Y.: You may have already answered this 100 times, but what are your thoughts on the South Beach Diet?
Sally Squires: I'm always happy to revisit popular topics and South Beach is certainly one of them. In fact, I did a column looking at South Beach for the Lean Plate Club. We're trying to find a link to it and if so, will post in this chat.
The pluses of South Beach: it emphasizes healthy fat, unlike Atkins which allowed a lot of saturated fat. If you stick to the letter, SB provides about 1,400 calories per day--which will help most people shed about a pound per week.
SB makes some foods off limits--pineapple is one--because of their glycemic index. That's how much they make your blood sugar rise after eating them. Evidence suggests that making food off limits doesn't work long term. So here's what I'd ask you: if you need a structured program to get you going, then by all means try South Beach. But remember that it is a diet. And diets imply that you go on them and then off them. If you don't change your eating habits and increase your activity, then you can lose weight in any fashion short-term, but that weight will return once you resume the habits that caused you to gain weight in the first place.
So ask yourself: is the South Beach program something that you can live with for the rest of your life?
Maryland: Elementary school menus usually give tips about importance of vegetarian food. But it lacks from menu. Does that mean to encourage lunches from home?
Sally Squires: I'm not sure that you can draw that conclusion. Do know, however, that the majority of nutritional advice these days encourages a mostly plant based diet. The majority of us are still falling very short on fruit and vegetables, beans and whole grains. In doing that, we're missing a huge opportunity to eat really flavorful food that is rich in all kinds of healthy nutrients, fiber and more. Plus, it's generally not very high in calories, unless, of course, you deep fat fry those veggies or add lots of sugar to that fruit.
washingtonpost.com: Low-Carb Diets Take a Punch ( Post, July 6, 2004 )
Regarding South Beach Diet:: I've been eating healthy and exercising a lot and I've tried to do a lifestyle change rather than a diet. I think one of the best things is to use some of the diet companies' frozen meals and incoporate them into healthy eating. This morning I had the South Beach western omlette burrito wrap which is only 150 calories. It was my first time having it and it was actually delicious. Much better than a bowl of cereal and with the same caloric intake.
Sally Squires: There you go. That's a great way to "make it your way" to borrow another company's famous advertising phrase. Thanks.
Maryland: If plant based diet is good then why not school menu's follow that? I wish school menus had healthy choices.
Sally Squires: Let your school officials, school board and elected officials know your wishes. Also, there's been a pilot program that Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) developed to provide free fruit and vegetables to schools for snacks. It's proven quite popular and successful. There's also a registered dietitian named Tracy Fox who has been leading the charge to get better food in the Montgomery County schools. I don't know where you live in Maryland, but you might try to contact her. If you'd like the name of her organization which escapes me right now, feel free to email me after the chat at leanplateclub@washpost.com.
Re: South Beach: I just have to say -- and I know this might not be typical -- but I tried South Beach for about a month, lost 15 pounds, and have since very slowly reverted to eating anything I want, and I've kept the weight off. I lost the weight almost all around my middle (yay!), and followed the diet pretty strictly for a month (two weeks of no carbs/sugars, then slowly adding back in complex carbs). Then I've slowly started adding back in all my normal foods (pizza and fried stuff!), and it's been about five months and I haven't gained back any weight. Don't know what that means, but I'm happy!
Sally Squires: Sounds like this worked well for you. Those 15 pounds are quite impressive. But just let me add that while you lost them around your middle, no diet can promise to produce spot reduction. In fact, as Dr. Arthur Frank, a weight loss expert at George Washington University likes to say, if you want to lose weight from a certain part of your body, pull the tape measure tighter!
My 8-year-old son loves having English muffin pizza as an after-school snack. I use low-fat mozzarella cheese and a pizza sauce that is low in sodium. He even likes those new whole wheat English muffins they have now. Yum!
Sally Squires: That's a wonderful choice of snacks. And as he gets older--maybe he's even doing it now--he can make this snack himself. Not only are you giving him the gift of good nutrition, but you're giving him a gift of being in control of his own healthy food. That's quite a gift! Thanks for weighing in.
Gaithersburg, Md.: Hi Sally -- My kids like white bread, but not the taste of whole wheat or the texture of multigrain. How much am I really impacting their nutrition if I use the white? I keep getting the "bad mom" looks from other parents. My kids generally get fruit, yogurt, crackers and a piece of cheese in their lunches as well. Thanks.
Sally Squires: Ignore those other parents because you can give your kids white bread and whole grain: just choose the new whole wheat white bread that is made by both Sara Lee and yes, Wonder Bread. You can even make your own white whole grain bread with King Arthur wheat white flour. So here's a way to let your kids have their white bread and eat it too. (Sorry, but I couldn't resist.)
Bethesda, Md.: My daughter will be attending Pre-K in September and this will be the first time I have to pack lunch. Can you give me suggestions on a nutritious yet appetizing lunch for her? She is picky (doesn't like PB & J, Mac and Cheese, etc.)
Sally Squires: Oh, these picky eaters challenge us don't they? Will she eat turkey? Could you make her a small wrap with a whole grain tortilla, turkey and lettuce? That's one thought.
Will she eat hummus? That's quite nutritious and you could put it in pita bread. Or give her the hummus in a small container with small pita bread loaves to dip into it. Then add some fruit (that she likes) Or a fruit cup. (By the way, these shelf stable fruit cups packed in juice are good for adult student too!) Ditto for some pudding or applesauce for dessert.
Will she eat any cheese at all? If so, you might give her cubes of cheese and whole grain crackers. If peanut butter is out, you might try other nut butters including almond butter, sun butter (made from sunflower seeds) or Nutella (made from hazelnuts and chocolate.)
How about yogurt? Or kefir? Both would be rich in calcium and protein. The little packages of plain Total yogurt with a side of honey or fruit could be quite appealing to a preschooler, but of course, she needs to like the taste.
South Riding, Va.: Any ideas for creative kid-pleasing healthy lunches? Most of the time when I send in carrots and apples in my four- and six-year-olds lunches they return uneaten.
Sally Squires: Don't you hate that? You go to the trouble of trying to provide the right stuff and it just comes back. Yep, been there too and done that.
So get your kids involved in packing that lunch. You might try sending in a little Ranch dressing with those carrots. Sometimes dipping helps. As for the apples, how about a small container of peanut butter and jelly? (You can now buy these prepackaged.) Or you might try a little cinnamon on those apples. Barring that, find other fruit and veggies that your kids will eat. Applesauce and fruit cups are good choices. Dried fruit and veggies are just fine too. Don't forget salsa and chips. Guacamole. Even pumpkin pie (a small slice or put the pumpkin filling in a small container.) They're all veggies too. So are bean dips. Your kids don't have to know.
And in this next posting, you'll see some additional tips from another parent...
Silver Spring, Md.: Re: ideas for packing a preschoolers' lunch.
I routinely use small Ziploc bags with healthy sandwiches, whatever fresh fruit is in season and a small amount of veggies. They could be left over from the night before. I don't worry about whether they eat them or not. Some days, they eat the veggies, other days they don't. My kids like frozen peas or dried peas for the crunch (available at Whole Foods).
My preschoolers also help me choose the foods for their lunches. There are plenty of whole grain crackers out there, including some shaped like animals. Sandwiches tend to be: peanut butter (or soy butter) and honey, grilled cheese (sometimes with a little spinach mixed in), salmon salad with "crunchies" -- thinly chopped celery and carrot, smoked salmon and cream cheese. I make all of them on light whole wheat bread. Another new winner: small, whole wheat tortillas quesadillas -- can mix cheese and anything in there and then slice them into small triangles.
I also make homemade mac and cheese and mix in a baby food jar of sweet potato or butternut squash and pack them some leftovers at lunch during the week. The kids have no idea the veggies are in there and it always gets gobbled up.
Sally Squires: Great suggestions! Thanks much.
Maryland: My son (8 years) just takes a glass of milk as breakfast (nothing else). He eats well at other times (lunch/snacks/dinner). He is a happy eater. Is it okay to have just milk for breakfast? He has been doing it since he was four years old and started preschool.
Sally Squires: That's fine. It's wonderful that he's drinking that milk. You might pack a couple of cereal bars in his back pack or have him stick them in his pocket for later. A single serving of trail mix would be another option when his stomach wakes up around mid-morning. Kashi makes a couple of good cereal bars that aren't high in sugar. Nature Valley does too.
We're out of time. Come into the regularly scheduled Lean Plate Club web chat on Tuesday at 1 p.m. if you want to talk more about back to school food and plenty of other nutrition and exercise topics. Thanks to all!
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.
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Washington Post staff writer and Lean Plate Club columnist Sally Squires discusses healthy school lunches and child nutrition.
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College Argues For the Right To Sell Art Gifts To Raise Capital
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It's a question that Fisk University has been grappling with for months as it seeks to sell two paintings from its Alfred Stieglitz Collection to raise much-needed funds. At the moment, however, its plans have succeeded only in raising the ire of some art lovers.
The Nashville school is awaiting a court ruling on whether it can sell a Georgia O'Keeffe painting and a Marsden Hartley painting, both part of the 101-piece collection, which was donated to the historically black college nearly 60 years ago by Stieglitz's widow -- O'Keeffe herself.
The collection also includes works by such artists as Cézanne, Renoir, Picasso, Arthur Dove and John Marin, as well as some of Stieglitz's photography. According to an IRS filing, Fisk's entire art collection was appraised at $31.4 million in 2002.
"I'm sorry that it has come to this, but I support the president in this decision," Denise Billye Sanders, chairwoman of Fisk's General Alumni Association, says of the move by school President Hazel O'Leary. "We're selling to keep the rest of our collection."
O'Keeffe's "Radiator Building -- Night, New York" and "Painting No. 3" by Hartley could fetch as much as $20 million if sold privately, speculates Gerald Peters, president of the Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M., which has sold Hartley paintings comparable to "No. 3."
"[They] could easily bring in 10 million each," says Peters, predicting that "Radiator Building" could break a record set by Christie's, which sold O'Keeffe's "Calla Lilies With Red Anemone" for $6.1 million in 2001.
Fisk plans to use the funds to construct an academic building, endow professorships and improve the security at the gallery that holds the remaining collection, says O'Leary, a former U.S. secretary of energy.
"When I got here, it was clear to me that in order to manage well, you have to have enough capital," says O'Leary, who's been at Fisk for two years. The school's financial troubles have existed for decades, and because there are 11 Hartley paintings in the Stieglitz collection, "to let one go continues to make sense," she says. "Radiator Building," which she called an "iconoclastic piece," is the more valuable of the collection's two O'Keeffe paintings.
Funds from the sale also would help rebuild the school's endowment, drawn down twice in the four years before O'Leary's arrival, says Fisk spokesman Ken West. The endowment is valued at about $15 million, he says.
Since the withdrawals totaling $7.7 million, various pieces of art from the Stieglitz Collection have been listed as part of the endowment to make up the difference.
But to fix financial troubles by selling famous artworks received as a gift?
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Search Washington, DC area museums and art exhibitions from the Washington Post. Features DC, Virginia and Maryland entertainment listings for museums, galleries, studios and monuments. Visit http://eg.washingtonpost.com/section/museums today.
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XM vs. Sirius: Endless Options Narrow to One
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You've had it with the disappearance of musical variety on the radio. You spend all too many hours in the car and you'd like one source for sophisticated music choices, a range of news and talk, comedy, audiobooks, kids' programming, and as full a menu of sports as cable TV offers. You're finally ready to shell out $13 a month for what used to be free.
But you can't tell the difference between the Coke and Pepsi of the satellite radio business, Washington-based XM and New York-based Sirius.
I've spent the past four months with both services in my car and house, listening to just about all of the two companies' combined 300 channels. Conclusion: Like colas, satellite services do differ, if subtly. Depending on your interests and how you use radio, one satellite service will be right for you. Both services offer an enormous amount of great stuff and also lots of mediocre programming.
Despite the considerable overlap in programming, a handful of distinctions are so clear that you can base your decision entirely on them. Baseball fan: XM. Football nut: Sirius. Movie maven: XM. Howard Stern addict: Sirius. Bob Dylan freak: XM. NPR lover: Sirius.
If movie soundtracks are your kind of music, XM is the only service with a channel dedicated to those sounds, including long-form profiles and interviews with composers such as Danny Elfman and Randy Newman. On the other hand, if you want Playboy Radio or Korean-language programming, Sirius is your only choice.
Sirius has the only all-gay channel; XM, the only black talk channel.
As both services reach beyond the early adopters to capture a mainstream audience, they are looking to big-name celebrities to win new subscribers.
Sirius has staked its future on the uncensored Stern, while XM counters with bad boys Opie and Anthony. XM has built its version of public radio around former NPR "Morning Edition" host Bob Edwards; Sirius doesn't offer original programming of that kind, but does have the real thing, two channels of shows produced by NPR.
XM has signed Bob Dylan, Oprah Winfrey and Snoop Dogg as celebrity hosts. Sirius's stars include Martha Stewart, Deepak Chopra, Judith Regan and Mark Cuban.
But while both services vie for big names, the main attraction on XM (6.9 million subscribers) and Sirius (4.7 million) is the music. The tunes are often similar; how they're presented is the difference.
In their original visions, the competitors touted a world of musical choice unfathomable on FM radio; they promised all the formats that listeners enjoyed before corporate consolidation so greatly narrowed the kinds of tunes available on free radio, plus lots of niche formats never before heard on the air.
Sadly, however, that vision yielded to a more mainstream approach. And some of satellite's early experiments have already been pulled down from the bird. Both XM and Sirius killed their world music channels, eclectic mixes of tunes from every continent.
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Storm Surge Is Flood, Judge Says
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A federal judge sided with the insurance industry yesterday and against water-battered victims of Hurricane Katrina by ruling that storm-induced surges are floods and therefore not covered by standard homeowner policies.
Paul and Julie Leonard of Pascagoula, Miss., in a case watched closely by Gulf Coast residents battered by Katrina a year ago, sued Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. for more than $47,000 of the $130,253 in damage to their home they say was caused by the storm.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge L. T. Senter Jr. is one of the first to address thousands of similar claims that have been filed by Mississippi and Louisiana residents in Katrina's aftermath. If upheld, it could save the industry -- and cost policyholders -- tens of billions of dollars in unpaid claims.
It is the clearest ruling, lawyers on both sides agree, on the pivotal issue of whether a water surge caused by a hurricane falls under the definition of "flood." For more than 40 years the private insurance industry has specifically excluded flood damage from standard property policies. A Nationwide spokesman applauded the decision, as did the rest of industry.
"In the insurance coverage debate over wind versus water, Judge Senter's ruling has taken much of the wind, literally and figuratively out of the plaintiff attorney's argument," Ernie Csiszar, president of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said in a prepared statement. "Judge Senter has made it very clear that the flood exclusion applies to storm surge."
The judge cited "similar" interpretations of law in other cases involving "damage caused by high water associated with hurricanes."
Neither the Leonards nor their lawyer, Richard F. Scruggs, could be reached for comment. But other lawyers representing policyholders, including commercial property owners, decried the judge's decision and said they expected Scruggs, a litigator known for taking on the tobacco and asbestos industries, would appeal it.
Gary Thompson, a lawyer at Reed Smith in Washington who specializes in representing policyholders, said he agrees with Scruggs's argument that a storm surge is inextricably intertwined with a hurricane and the force and damage it delivers and so should be covered under hurricane protection policies.
"This is an unfair attempt to dodge coverage obligations, and on an unprecedented scale," Thompson said.
The judge did hand the Leonards, and possibly other policyholders, one victory, ruling that Nationwide could not avoid paying wind damage just because water damage was also present.
He ordered the company to pay the Leonards $1,228.16 of the $47,000 they sought to cover wind damage. That is in addition to the $1,661.17 Nationwide had already paid the couple on their policy but far short of the tens of thousands in estimated damage to their home.
To fill the gap in private insurance for flood damage, the federal government offers homeowner policies under the National Flood Insurance Program. The Leonards said they did not seek coverage under that program after their Nationwide agent advised them they did not need it.
In yesterday's ruling the judge also said it was not the Nationwide agent's fault that the Leonards interpreted his advice to mean their existing policy would cover any hurricane water damage. "This was an erroneous inference," the judge said.
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A federal judge sided with the insurance industry yesterday and against water-battered victims of Hurricane Katrina by ruling that storm-induced surges are floods and therefore not covered by standard homeowner policies.
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Lockheed Says F-35 Could Fly Pilotless
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Lockheed Martin Corp. has proposed an unmanned version of its Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35, which would make it the first full-scale fighter to operate without a pilot and signal the Bethesda weapons maker's push into the growing market for drone aircraft.
The idea has been in the works for two years, Lockheed Vice President Frank Mauro said at a briefing yesterday. He provided few details but said the plane could be built as an interchangeable hybrid -- manned by a pilot for some missions and operated remotely for others.
The Joint Strike Fighter, funded with help from several other countries, is meant to replace the F-16 as the workhorse fighter of the United States and its close allies. Less powerful than the F-22 Raptor that Lockheed developed to give the United States an advantage in air combat, the Joint Strike Fighter is still designed to travel at supersonic speed and carry up to 15,000 pounds of bombs and missiles.
Test flights of the F-35 are expected to begin later this year. The idea of a remote-control version of the plane has not been pitched to the Air Force, though it has been through the company's conceptual design phase, Lockheed officials said.
Air Force officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Yesterday's briefing marked a strategic turn for Lockheed, which for years has stayed publicly on the sidelines as the Pentagon increased its spending on unmanned systems.
Such competitors as Northrop Grumman Corp. and Boeing Co. are entrenched in the market, with products such as Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk surveillance drone, which is deployed overseas.
Lockheed ceded the market in the late 1990s while it focused on winning the contract to build what many predict will be the Air Force's last manned fighter jet, the F-35. Lockheed then feared that the unmanned market could diminish demand for its more expensive fighter jets, analysts said.
"When you think about unmanned combat systems, I think about Boeing," said John E. Pike, executive director of GlobalSecurity.org.
But in the past three to four years, Lockheed's aeronautics division has spent 30 to 40 percent of its internal research-and-development budget on unmanned systems, company officials said. That includes $21 million the company has spent on the Polecat, a prototype drone that Lockheed plans to test at 60,000 feet or above this year. At a briefing yesterday, the firm trumpeted a stable of unmanned systems that can run on the ground, hauling equipment and supplies for troops, and underwater, searching for submarines and mines. Some of the systems are still being developed and some are deployed in Iraq.
Much of the work is being done at Lockheed's research-and-development lab in California, known as the Skunk Works, where the U-2 spy plane was developed in secret in the 1950s.
Some of the company's investment "is playing catch-up for all those big dollars that the government has invested" in unmanned technology, and some is "leapfrogging" existing systems, Mauro said.
The Pentagon, looking to save money, has accelerated spending on unmanned systems since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. This year, it allocated $2 billion for unmanned aircraft and millions more in the supplemental budget, compared with $363 million in 2001. The figure is projected to reach more than $3 billion by the end of the decade.
What has resulted is a hodgepodge of unmanned vehicles, such as small, bomb-seeking robots that can be carried in a backpack, and airplanes that provide surveillance for days at a time. The systems have become bigger and more expensive in recent years, such as the Predator, built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., and the Global Hawk, which has a 134-foot wingspan, comparable to the Boeing 737.
"Lockheed is playing catch-up and acknowledging that unmanned vehicles is a trend that is not going to go away," said Loren B. Thompson Jr., a defense industry analyst and Lockheed consultant. "It's going to be hard to penetrate a market where competitors are already established."
"We're looking at picking it up when we get enough customer interest, and that's the way they want to go," Mauro said. "Right now we're focused on getting the manned version of the F-35 flying."
While some analysts called the idea improbable, it could be an acknowledgment that the Pentagon's initial plan to buy about 2,000 F-35s is now considered likely to change -- in part because of improved drone technology. The decision to propose an unmanned F-35 may anticipate the day when all military aircraft are pilotless, analysts said.
The F-35 program has run into problems, including a rising price that is expected to reach $276 billion, up from the original estimate of $201 billion.
"I think they would be crazy not be looking at this," Pike said. "It's a foregone conclusion that at some point in the F-35 production program that [the Air Force is] going to decide we're going to replace the rest with unmanned systems." It would be smart "if Lockheed can come in and say, 'We have a solution for this.' "
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Former Paraguayan Dictator Dies at 93
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BRASILIA, Brazil -- Alfredo Stroessner, the canny anti-communist general who ruled Paraguay for decades with a blend of force, guile and patronage before his ouster in 1989, died in exile on Wednesday. He was 93.
Stroessner contracted pneumonia after a hernia operation in Brazil's capital, where he had lived i1102n near total isolation since he was forced from power.
He died of a stroke with his family gathered around him in the Hospital Santa Luzia, his grandson Alfredo Dominguez Stroessner said in a radio interview. Dominguez Stroessner said his grandfather left no instructions on his funeral but the family was considering burial in Encarnacion, the Paraguayan city where the former dictator was born.
Stroessner seized power in a 1954 coup and through fraud and repression, held it for 35 years to become one of Latin America's longest-ruling strongmen.
Finally ousted by his own generals, Stroessner remains hated by many in Paraguay, where he was accused of repression and human rights violations, even though some stalwarts credit him for big public works projects that modernized the country.
A staunch U.S. ally, Stroessner made Paraguay a refuge for some Nazi war criminals among 200,000 Germans he sheltered after World War II. He twice denied extradition requests for Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous "Angel of Death" at Auschwitz. Mengele later fled Nazi hunters to Brazil, where he died under an assumed name.
Stroessner also sheltered fellow right-wing dictators, including Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua.
"Stroessner didn't have any problem giving refuge to people with blood on their hands," said Aaron Breitbart, a senior researcher with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "His death is no loss to democratic values in Paraguay."
After his ouster, Stroessner lived as a recluse in Brazil, where his asylum status made extradition impossible. Neighbors said they rarely saw him leave his house on the shore of Lake Paranoa in Brasilia.
As Stroessner's health failed, President Nicanor Duarte said there were no plans to honor him after his death.
The son of a German immigrant father and a Paraguayan mother, Stroessner fought in the 1930s Chaco War against Bolivia, and became a general at age 40. He studied tactics in Panama, Brazil and the United States and became army chief of staff in 1951.
He rigged his re-election every five years after his 1954 seizure of power and brought Paraguay into the modern age, transforming a stagnating, politically tumultuous country with open sewers and no running water, even in the capital, into a relatively prosperous and modern nation.
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BRASILIA, Brazil -- Alfredo Stroessner, the canny anti-communist general who ruled Paraguay for decades with a blend of force, guile and patronage before his ouster in 1989, died in exile on Wednesday. He was 93.
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Beijing Rally Targets Japan's Leader
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BEIJING, Aug. 15 -- As uniformed and plainclothes police looked on, Chinese protesters incensed at the Japanese prime minister for visiting a controversial war shrine gathered Tuesday in front of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, chanting "Down with Japanese imperialism!" and "An eye for an eye, blood for blood!"
The demonstration followed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's trip earlier Tuesday to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which honors Japan's war dead, including 14 officers judged as World War II criminals. He had made visits to the shrine before but never on such a symbolic date, the anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the visit in a statement, but it also restated China's commitment to peaceful coexistence with Japan. The demonstration outside the Japanese Embassy appeared small and lasted only 20 minutes. Taken together, the statement and the protest represented a response far more muted than in years past, when Koizumi's visits to the shrine set off widespread anger among the Chinese public.
"On the one hand, the Chinese government is strongly against the visit. On the other hand, the government is strongly controlling the emotions of the anti-Japanese protesters. They will not allow what happened last year to happen again," said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at People's University in Beijing. "The protests last year had some negative effects. It wasn't good for stability inside China, and it wasn't good for the relationship between China and Japan. We can solve many problems without protesting."
Many Chinese, as well as Koreans, say Japan has glorified its militaristic past. During Tuesday's demonstration, about 30 protesters unfurled a red banner offering congratulations "on the 61st anniversary of Japan's fascist surrender!" A protester then read aloud a letter.
"Listen, Prime Minister Koizumi, we are Chinese citizens. Today, we are coming to protest your sixth visit to the Yasukuni shrine, which severely endangers the relationship between China and Japan," the protester said through a bullhorn. "Chinese do not expect war, but we are not afraid of war. If you really want to put China into war, we will have the honor to keep you company until the end."
Ma Yan, 32, a clerk with an architecture and design company, said she asked for the morning off to join the protest. "Prime Minister Koizumi is challenging the justice of human society," said Ma, who has protested at the embassy two or three times before.
Zhang Tianle, who sells electrical instruments, said he heard about Koizumi's visit while watching a Hong Kong-based television news program. He called a few friends to join him in protesting.
"What we are doing now is good for the development of the relationship between China and Japan," Zhang said. "I have a lot of Japanese friends, and we are quite harmonious as individuals. But when it comes to ideology, people's emotions and historic problems, the two nations are far apart."
Researcher Jiang Fei contributed to this report.
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Work to do, bills to pay, obligations to meet -- but in my mind hung a two-word sign: Gone Fishin'.
My wife, Jan, and I booked a houseboat on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, flung an overnight bag into the station wagon and sped toward the Saturday morning sun.
There are other places near Washington where you can rent houseboats -- Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia and Stonewall Jackson Lake in West Virginia, for example. But we were looking for something quick and quirky.
Jan wanted rest and read-laxation. I just wanted to land a fish. Nothing fancy. Get a cane pole, bait the hook, plop it in the water, see what I could haul in.
Two houseboats -- the Ark and the Dove, both for rent -- are permanently moored at the end of a pier at Fisherman's Dock in Edgewater, about 15 miles from Annapolis. We were assigned the Dove, the larger of the two. It sat in a peaceful cove among reeds and marsh grass. Perfect. Got there a little after noon.
I should have known something was amiss when I asked Ellen Croteau -- who owns the dock and the houseboats with her husband, Todd -- if people ever caught fish off her pier and she cheerily said, "They catch lots of crabs."
In our little houseboat, which had a queen-size bed, a sleeping loft, a tiny kitchen and a bathroom, we felt a million miles away from Washington -- though we were only an hour east. The houseboat was comfortable in a no-frills way. It was like camping out. We were there on a very hot night and suggest you go when it's somewhat cooler. The air conditioner worked pretty well; the shower did not. There were too many ants and not quite enough modern conveniences. The toilet, called an Incinolet, is actually an electric appliance that uses high heat to reduce everything to ash. The one mirror on the boat was above the toilet, and Jan remarked that they should move it.
There were some old books to read, a couple of board games to play and a CD player with a Willie Nelson disc nearby. "Perfect," Jan said. From the looks of the guest book, people have really enjoyed staying here.
On Saturday afternoon, Jan went her way and I mine. For lunch I stopped at Sam's Market, which advertised a full-service deli and live bait. Sure enough, the market offered up ham-and-cheese sandwiches, and near the door there was a small fridge full of bloodworms and night crawlers. But I saw no cane poles to put them on.
I tried a couple more shops in the area. No luck.
It's a wonderfully funky place, Edgewater, with marinas and fishy place names like Turbot Landing and Skiff Cove Road. Even the Episcopal church on the corner of Highway 214 and Carrs Wharf Road, less than a mile from our houseboat, was St. Andrew the Fisherman.
Near Sam's I noticed a store that had a bunch of nets out front. The woman inside the Peninsula Farms bait shop was selling tomatoes and crabs. There was some fishing tackle on the wall but no poles. I asked her where I could get one and she pointed to a burly bearded fellow who was unloading a truck. "He will know," she said.
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In search of something quick and quirky, a couple walks the docks of Edgewater, Md. to sample two houseboats.
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Post Politics Hour
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Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.
Washington Post chief political reporter Dan Balz was online Tuesday, Aug. 15, at 11 a.m. ET .
Dan Balz: Good morning to everyone from Washington and thanks for tuning into today's chat. It may be August but there seem to be a good list of questions piling up here. We'll get going right away.
Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.: Hi Dan,
As someone who would like to see some mass scale changes happen in Congress, I'm fearful that I'm going to be disappointed again. It seems that Rove is always able to allocate as many resources as necessary and do whatever is necessary to win the important battles. Is there any evidence that things look different this time around?
Dan Balz: No one knows at this point what the final outcome will be in November, but it continues to look like there will be significant losses by the Republicans. President Bush is still not able to push his approval rating above 40 percent (latest polls have him in the high 30s), a big majority of Americans say the country is off track, approval of Congress is lower than approval of the president. Whether that adds up to a shift in power in the House or Senate, I can't tell you, but Republicans seem very nervous at this point in the election.
Avon Park, Fla.: Let me give the Washington Post credit for covering the incident in which Sen. George Allen made a racial slur at a campaign event. I think that this story should be given quite a bit of national media attention. Considering that he's a presidential candidate, why aren't TV networks exposing this more than they have?
Dan Balz: Our Virginia reporters know a story when it happens and the Post gave this prominent display on the front page. My guess is that TV will pick it up more today. This obviously will not help Allen's presidential chances.
washingtonpost.com: Allen Quip Provokes Outrage, Apology (Post, Aug. 15)
Washington, D.C.: Your weekend article on bipartisanship repeatedly stated that the electorate is fed up with partisan politicians and wants an end to the "politics of anger." But nowhere in your article do you cite any polling that supports your characterization of the electorate's supposed disaffection with partisanship. At a time when Democratic politicians in Connecticut and elsewhere are just beginning to act as outspoken partisans after five years of acquiescence to extremely partisan national one party Republican governance, the premise of your article seems aimed at undercutting resurgent Democratic partisanship by asserting that most voters really want accommodationist leaders who will work with the ruling party rather than leaders who will fight to throw out the ruling party. Given that one party Republican rule, with the exception of Bush's social security initiative, has gotten its conservative agenda in place as well as its conservative judges on the Court, what is the reason for your focus on bipartisanship just four months before the mid-term elections? Frankly, your whole approach seems to echo Rovian talking points aimed at reducing partisan fervor against Republicans.
Dan Balz: This is one of several questions this morning about a story I wrote in Sunday's Post about whether Liebeman's call for a campaign of "unity and purpose" is a harbinger of what someone will try to do in 2008. I got a ton of email, most of it critical of the story, similar to this question from Washington.
My assertion that there are a lot of Americans fed up with the current tone and style of politics is based on reporting over many months, in conversations with elected officials from outside Washington and in talks with ordinary Americans on their doorsteps or in shopping malls as I've made the rounds.
At the same time, there are many people, particularly Democrats, who are fed up with the president and want their elected officials to fight back. I wrote in the Sunday story that Lieberman is a flawed messenger for this "lower-the-temperature" message because he hammered Ned Lamont right after the primary, saying a Lamont victory would be cheered by those who allegedly wanted to blow up airplanes headed for the United States.
However, a number of prospective presidential candidates are looking at the question of whether they should emulate the Rove-GOP strategy of trying to maximize turnout of the party's conservative base by pushing issues near and dear to them, or to move away from that by trying to fashion a campaign aimed more at the dwindling band of swing voters.
New York, N.Y.: I find it quite telling that Pres. Bush (through Tony Snow) has said he will no endorse the GOP Senate candidate in CT. Since Lieberman has stated many times he will caucus with the Dems if he wins, and with the balance of power in the Senate quite possibly at stake, how does it help the GOP if Lieberman is elected?
Dan Balz: Snow's language was positively bizarre, wasn't it? I think both parties are approaching this with some delicacy. Many Democratic leaders don't want to pound Sen. Lieberman for running as an independent because, if he wins, they want him caucusing with them and voting with them as much as possible. But the Republicans see an opportunity to use his defeat to paint the Democrats as extreme and that means saying lots of nice things about Sen. Lieberman.
Arlington, Va.: I think the greatest irony of the Allen saga is that the kid he was trying to demean as being a foreigner is actually more of a Virginian than Allen is, since Siddhart is Fairfax born and raised and Allen is from California and just plays a cowboy boots wearing tobacco chewing facsimilie of the old Virginia.
Dan Balz: Thanks for posting.
Culpeper, Va.: I was at a recent Jim Webb event, and there were several college age individuals present who were wearing George Allen stickers. One of whom was videotaping the entire event, including regularly scanning the audience. If his own campaign is doing the same thing that he accused Webb's campaign of, why bother pointing it out (much less with juvenile name calling)?
Dan Balz: This is now common practice in campaigns. Each side sends someone out with a video camera to capture everything the other candidate is saying. It's a way of gathering intelligence and, occasionally, capturing something the candidate regrets saying -- as was the case here. Most candidates take this in stride, but not always.
New York, N.Y.: What happened to Valerie Plame investigation, what happened to Frist insider stock investigation, what is going on with Abramoff investigation? Nothing?
Dan Balz: The Plame prosecutors are preparing for trial with I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff. No news of late on the Frist investigation. The Abramoff investigation continues, with the latest sign of its activity the decision by Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio not to run for reelection because he may have legal problems to deal with soon.
Philadelphia, Pa.: Are you and your colleagues at all skeptical when Cheney speaks?
Kamuela, Hawaii: For the past six years, the Democrats have been not only been the minority party but a particularly feeble minority party. An opposition party should be able to keep issues that it deems important before the public. The Democrats might be best named the "anti-Bushies." Why have they been so feeble despite a following of almost half of the electorate and based on their performance out of power, can we as citizens have any confidence in their ability to govern should the voters decide to throw the other scoundrels out?
Dan Balz: It's difficult for any minority party to mount a consistent opposition because there are so many power centers. Without the White House, the House or the Senate, the Democrats have no recognized leader. The presidency is a powerful institution in part because it attract a tremendous amount of attention. Presidents have no trouble getting heard. Opposition parties often do. Beyond that, Democrats have had a long, long debate about Iraq that has hampered their ability to explain clearly what they would do if they were in power.
Boston, Mass.: A quick Lieberman question. You wrote: "The Lieberman campaign, fearing that low voter turnout in the primary would favor Lamont, had plans to build a get-out-the-vote operation bigger than any seen in a state race in Connecticut. But in the face of discouraging polls, campaign officials concluded this week that the money likely would be wasted."
Did they end up scaling back their GOTV operation, or was that disinformation?
Dan Balz: They did scale back, and yet Sen. Lieberman probably had a larger get-out-the-vote operation than he has used in past campaigns. Because he didn't really have opposition in recent elections, he has never really had an election-day operation of any significance. But the campaign was preparing to spend a lot of money to build an organization almost overnight. In the end, they scaled back, took some of the money that was to go to turning out the vote and put it into television. One reason they decided not to go ahead was their fear that, with the voters moving toward Lamont, they might end up turning out voters previously identified as Lieberman supporters who in the end were probably Lamont voters.
Silver Spring, Md.: The "anti-semitic" rantings of drunken Movie Star Mel Gibson got and continues to get more coverage in the Washington Post and other papers than a U.S. Senator calling a dark skinned person a monkey and welcoming him to America. The tone of the story on Allen's monkey comment made it seem like politics as usual while you would have thought the reaction to Gibson would lead you to believe that Mel was a U.S. Senator. I guess the outrage meter doesn't register for Indian Americans the way it does for Jewish people or we expect more from movie stars than U.S. Senators.
Dan Balz: I thought out story was quite straightforward and not as you characterize it. I also disagree with your other assertions.
Minneapolis, Minn.: Polls are suggesting that Pres. Bush got no bounce after the London terrorist plot (note the recent CBS Poll showing no change in Bush's approval rating and no change is his rating on dealing with terrorism). Any sense as to why there hasn't been a rally-around-the-leader type of effect one may typically expect in this type of situation?
Dan Balz: You raise an interesting question. I suspect one reason the president's poll numbers didn't rise perceptibly is that this was an alleged plot, not an actual terrorist attack. Second, the politics of terrorism have changed over the past few years, in large measure because of Iraq. Many Americans see the issue differently and many have pretty fixed views of the president at this point.
New Hampshire: I appreciate Culpeper's question, but do not consider the racial slur Allen employed as "juvenile name calling". Macaca (macaque) despite Allen's professed ignorance and protestations to the contrary, is a racial epithet and slur of Belgian/French derivation and should be characterized as such, in my honest opinion.
Macaque - Belgium (French) - an Arab or a Negro; derived from macaque monkeys
Dan Balz: Thanks for posting.
Anonymous: The rap against the Dems. is that they can't explain what they would do about Iraq...other than possibly set time tables that the GOP describes as cut and run. My question is when the Media points this out, why doesn't it also point out that there seems to be a lack of a coherent plan by the president...stay the course seem inoperable on so many levels, yet Bush, Snow, etc. continue to say it with few in the media pushing for an explanation of what it means today, little less next week or next year.
Dan Balz: I think the press has repeatedly questioned whether the president has a coherent plan for success in Iraq. It's obvious that many Americans don't believe he does.
Horsham, Pa.: In the wake of the Bush administration's engineering of the Israel-Lebanon U.N. resolution, it looks like the Commander-in-Chief has a lot of new critics - from the right.
National Review: "the Bush administration's project in the Middle East will require the same sort of expedient we have just seen in the Israel-Lebanon conflict: a papering over of what is essentially a failure."
Peter Brookes, Senior Fellow, Heritage Foundation, NRO Symposium: "If there is a clear winner in this war, it's Iran."
Powerline blog: "Over at NRO's corner, John Podhoretz contends that this would mean the end of the Olmert government. I'm tempted to suggest that our government, having seemingly lost its will to oppose (or even to let others oppose) our deadliest enemies, deserves the same fate."
This talk is coming from among the same group that insisted for the last five years that such attacks are dangerous and wrong and that talk of American defeat helps the terrorists.
Dan Balz: The president has been getting a fair amount of criticism from conservatives on his foreign policy. The Post's Michael Abramowitz recently wrote about this and we'll post a link to the story.
Chicago, Ill.: The chairman of the GOP was on Meet the Press on Sunday and also completely dodged the question of whether he was supporting Schleisinger in Connecticut. Clearly the GOP hierarchy has consulted and believes it is a two man race between Lieberman and Lamont and they want Lieberman to win.
Dan Balz: I think you have cracked the code here. It's not likely that Connecticut is going to elect a little-known Republican to the Senate. Given that, the president and GOP officials obviously prefer Lieberman to Lamont.
washingtonpost.com: Critics Cite 'Constrained' Mideast Policy (Post, Aug. 6)
Thank you for your great political reporting.
The Philadelphia suburbs are shaping up to play a potentially pivotal role in the make up of the House of Representatives. Historically Republican Montgomery County, PA provided John Kerry with much of his margin of victory in 2004. In 2006 Montgomery County and surrounding jurisdictions are getting much national attention again. How do you rate the Democratic challengers' chances against incumbent Reps. Gerlach (PA-6), Fitzpatrick (PA-8) and Weldon (PA-7)? Do these Democrats really have a reasonable shot at winning?
Dan Balz: Thanks, Bethesda, for your kind words. Pennsylvania is a real target for the Democrats for precisely the reason you mention, which is that the Philadelphia suburbs have moved away from the Republicans in the past decade. I would put all those seats at risk, with Rep. Gerlach probably the most vulnerable, followed by Rep. Weldon and by Rep. Fitzpatrick.
washingtonpost.com: Conservative Anger Grows Over Bush's Foreign Policy (Post, July 19)
Atlanta, Ga.: Any chance of action on the illegal immigration front before the elections?
Dan Balz: It appears unlikely although there are some Republicans who hope they can get action on some kind of bill. That bill probably would deal with border enforcement first and other issues later. It's not clear that kind of bill can win passage in both the House and Senate.
Arlington, Va.: What a huge contrast between Israeli Prime Minister Olmert's stance on the recent Lebanon operation and that of President Bush and, even more so, Vice President Cheney regarding Iraq.
"There have been failings and shortcomings," Olmert, with deep circles under his eyes and a haggard look on his face, told a special session of the Israeli parliament. "We need to examine ourselves in all aspects and all areas. We will not sweep anything under the table, we will not hide anything. We must ensure that next time things will be done better."
Will we ever hear such words from anyone in the Bush administration? Or are they too vested in cheerleading the Iraq effort (and painting for political reasons those who actually want America to "do better" as giving aid and comfort to Al Queda) to understand the extent to which even the U.S. public, many of whom honestly believe in exceptionalism (and we really are a great country, in relative terms), now yearns for some straight talk?
washingtonpost.com: Olmert Accepts Blame For Operation's 'Failings' (Post, Aug. 15)
Dan Balz: Posted without comment.
Cottage Grove, Minn : Any chance Ed Rendell will run for President?
Dan Balz: Gov. Rendell probably would like to run for president but at this point I doubt he'll go for it.
Port Jefferson, N.Y.: I haven't seen much in the way of post-election campaign analysis of the Lamont and Lieberman campaigns (beyond the Iraq issue). Is it just me or did Ned Lamont thoroughly out-campaign a 3-time incumbent who had a well-established political machine? What are the implications for the next round?
Dan Balz: We'll have to end with this one.
Ned Lamont ran a better campaign than Joe Lieberman. He focused principally on the Iraq war, on Democratic anger at President Bush and on connecting the incumbent to both. In a state where almost 80 percent of Democratic primary voters oppose the war, Lieberman was on the wrong side of the dominant issue of the campaign. Beyond that, Sen. Lieberman had lost support in Connecticut over the years by doing what some long-time incumbents often do: fail to pay attention to people at home.
That as far as we go today. Lots of unanswered questions left in the pipeline and I wish I could have gotten to more of them. Come back tomorrow and Peter Baker will be here to take your inquiries.
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Fitness - Moving Crew
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Health section editor Craig Stoltz, section contributor John Briley and Health assistant editor Susan Morse were online Tuesday, Aug. 15, at 11:30 a.m. ET to talk with you throughout the hour.
Submit your questions or comments before or during the discussion.
As the Moving Crew, we specialize in helping beginners get started, regular exercisers reach the next level and everybody avoid injuries, stick with their programs and have fun.
And because the fitness world can be so intimidating to folks who are overweight and sedentary -- and since they can benefit so much from a fitness program -- we take special pride in helping them along the path to fitness.
The Moving Crew will be online to take questions every other Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
We usually start the chat with some snappy, snide or borderline offensive remark about something or other fitness-related. But today, we're taking our own advice from the Moving Crew column and incorporating 'active rest' into our chat. But we still have plenty of fitness and exercise advice for you - and some of it undoubtedly will be snide - so let's dive right in...
Washington, D.C.: Hello crew, I think I have plantar fasciitis. My arches hurt something fierce when I step out of bed in the morning, as well as by the end of days that involve periods of standing. I've started doing the stretching exercises I've found online to relieve this, and eliminated jogging intervals on the treadmill at the gym (focusing more on brisk walks and elliptical), but sometimes I feel like I'm only making things worse. The pain has only started recently. Any tips on how long it takes to get some relief? Many thanks.
John Briley: Hi D.C. - Sounds like you've correctly self-diagnosed. We are re-posting a column I wrote last winter on this, and hopefully that will help. I know it's frustrating (how? because I too had P.F. at one point) but *REST* is your best friend right now, plus icing the foot (feet) during periods or acute pain. Read the column for more detail.
washingtonpost.com: Plantar Fasciitis: Trouble Afoot , ( Post, Feb. 28, 2006 )
Chicago, Ill.: My company moved from the city to the suburbs two years ago. As a result, we left a building that had a free health club that I used, and my commute went from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. I can't afford to join an expensive club, and I don't have a lot of free time to exercise when I get home from work. I also don't feel safe exercising alone at night. I can't run due to bad knees, and walking isn't much of a workout when you live in a totally flat city. Help! What kind of an outdoors workout can you recommend for me?
Susan Morse: Hey Chicago, we feel for you. An hour and a half commute --ouch! -- ain't no fun, no matter how you slice it. If exercising before work isn't an alternative, you may have to look at your building space more creatively. Hoof it up and down the stairs a couple of times a day. That'll go a ways toward supplementing those longer lunchtime walks you should still take--flat or no. You might see if there are cheaper university athletic facilities nearby you can take advantage of. Back home, at night, you can make up for lost time indoors with simple equipment like an inflatable ball, stretch bands and hand weights. Remember, you don't have to do activity all at once for it to count. Good luck. Let us know what works.... Oh, and check out Sally Squires's Lean Plate Club column in today's paper on "driving yourself to fitness"-- meaning, some exercises you can do (yes, you can) in the car!
Dayton, Ohio: I started an exercise program in 1996 when I was 43 and in perimenopause. Since then, my options for exercise have been whittled away by various injuries. I had a good, conservative trainer, but developed bursitis in my hips, knee, and shoulder; sciatica, neck muscle spasms, and various cartilage inflammations. (Is there something about menopause that predisposes a woman to joint injuries?) Weight lifting now hurts my neck and hip; elliptical trainers and bikes aggravate the sciatica; swimming gives me ear infections no matter how well-protected the ears. All I do is walk and it gets old after a while, not to mention losing its effectiveness. Any suggestions? I do play golf twice a week despite the neck issue. Thanks!
Menopause is accompanied by a drop in bone density, but that alone would not explain your pantheon of minor ills. Also, as we age, fluid content in our joints goes down, which would contribute to some of what you describe.
Have you tried yoga? You could get into a mellow class that does not aggravate any of your pains (tell the tech your issues; he/she can help you avoid painful poses) then progress from there. Also drink ample water to help keep joints hydrated.
Avoid high-impact exercise until you get some of these things under control. If you find you cannot, consider seeing a physical therapist for the more nettlesome issues.
Check back periodically and let us know how you're doing.
Washington, D.C.: I read some of your archived articles and there was one where a trainer suggested only doing one set when lifting weights. I always try to do three sets or until I lose form. Do you need to do more than one set?
John Briley: Hey, I'm glad someone besides me goes back and reads those things! No, you don't need to do three sets. Two options:
1. Do two sets like you are now, choosing a weight that brings you to near failure after 8 to 12 reps.
2. Do one set of s-l-o-w reps - three seconds up, pause, four seconds down - with a weight that approaches failure after 10 to 15 reps.
With the type of lifting you do now (i.e., #1 above) studies have shown one set good, two sets fairly significantly better, three sets better but not by as wide a margin.
Washington, D.C.: What is the deal with the lap pool at Hains Point? Can you go and swim laps (not just wade around) even if you do not belong to a master's swim team?
John Briley: Hmmm, I don't know. I would imagine so since that is a public facility. Any other Crewingtons have any insight?
If not, try calling the pool (or, of you can't find a #, call the golf course and asked to be transferred).
Washington, D.C.: I'm looking to add swimming to my routine, but my gym doesn't have a pool. Are there any universities or community centers in the area that would allow me to swim for a (relatively) small fee? Must be Metro accessible. Thanks!
Good question, and one that keeps popping up. Because I'm sure there are such facilities, but I've lost track of where they are and which ones are open to the public (I've heard that's true of the Takoma Park campus of Montgomery County Community College and the old Gallaudet campus in NW, but haven't checked lately), I'm gonna turn this one loose to other chatsters.
Fellow swimmers, what say you? Where are those less costly swim lanes hiding?
Madison, Wis.: Greetings from the Midwest!
My question is regarding proper nutrition for exercise. I'm a runner - I've completed a marathon, do 30-35 miles a week, and am now working on building speed (I also include weights in my routine, and cross-train a bit as well). Despite this activity, I could stand to lose about 10 pounds (and yes, it really does need to come off). So I'm doing the South Beach diet and have one week left of the no-carbs, no fruit Phase I. I've noticed a definite decline in my running performance, but I figure it will help my running in the long run if I can take off some weight. My question is, will rigorous training during this diet put me at risk for injury? Thanks for your help.
John Briley: I am not familiar with that diet, but if you're body is telling you to back off you should either listen to it or recalibrate your diet to get your old spark back.
Yes, even a few added pounds puts significant extra pressure on knees, ankles, etc. but you should be able to find a safe, healthy way to lose weight without a major drop in energy.
Is all else stable in your life - sleep, job stress, family, etc.? External stressors can drain our energy as well.
If you want to stick with this particular diet for a while, make some minor adjustments in your running program until you feel as good about your training as you used to. And - to finally answer your question - exercising hard while fatigued does increase your risk of injury.
Gaithersburg, Md.: Post-menopausal exerciser, here. Several years ago, when I began moving from a fat slug to a thin "adult onset" athlete, I had periodic flare-ups of knee inflammation. Those went away entirely (as did considerable knee pain) when I started taking glucosamine and chondroitin. I have been taking these supplements for 4 years now, and have had -0- flare-ups. Anecdotal evidence, I know, but maybe it would work for the peri-meno poster.
I've had my share of other injuries: ruptured lumbar disc, calcified biceps tendon. What I've done is get patched up, when necessary, and modify my workouts to work around the affected body part, until it is stronger and able to take a little more of a (still conservative) workout. I also pay attention to stretches and warm-ups . . . very important, as older connective tissue is more fragile.
At 53, I consider myself to be in the "body part management" business!
John Briley: Thanks G-burg! Good post. Studies vary in their conclusions on the effects of gluco-chon, but it really does seem to work for many people, based on reports, especially as we age. Keep up the good work!
Gym equipment: Hi, I generally get my exercise through sports or other outdoor activity, but sometimes I hit the gym. I'm really bored with the aerobic machines, so end up switching to another type within about 10-15 min. Assuming I keep my heart rate up, is there a drawback to moving from the elliptical to rowing machine, bike, and/or treadmill throughout my allotted cardiovascular training time?
John Briley: No drawback at all, and in fact this is a great way to approach training: Keep your body guessing, work different muscles, avoid boredom (or at least try to fight it) and keep your heart rate up. Excellent.
London, U.K.: Love the chat, Crew, just wish the time difference wasn't so great (hence me posting early).
I've got a question about weightlifting. Roughly, how long should you lift at one weight for? How do you know when you're ready to move up to a higher weight? I'm a 25-year-old male who does a mix of cardio and lifting a couple times a week. I'm not looking for Schwarzenegger-type guns, but I would like to build a bit of muscle and keep my body from getting too used to things.
John Briley: Hi London and thanks for playing today. You should look to progress when you are no longer challenged by 12 to 15 reps of a given weight. Go up by 5 pounds (or 2 kg, if that's what you're working with) and see how that feels.
See my above post on number of sets - some good intelligence there for you.
Also, try to get cardio on more than a couple days a week - shoot for four to five - and keep lifting two to three times a week.
Last note: Make sure you work muscles in the back - hamstrings, calf, lower and upper back, etc. - to ensure your body is balanced. You don't always see those muscles in the mirror but neglecting them will throw you off center and increase your injury risk.
Washington, D.C.: Hello! My friend is in his early 20s and he has a very busy and unpredictable work schedule yet really wants to get back into a fitness routine. The problem is-that he will not go to the gym alone due to lack of motivation and insists on my attending with him. However, our schedules do not match well. What advice/motivation can I give him to help him go about it himself--time management and lack of motivation being his problems--that are not cliched and entirely predictable?
Susan Morse: Oh, Washington....Carolyn Hax would have a ball with this question...and your friend's demand. Is this friendship or indentured servitude? Okay, okay, you want to help him, and it's true that exercising with a pal is one of the best motivators there is to keep at it. But sounds to me like either he has to commit to a regular time you can plan for--say, before the craziness of the workday begins--or he'll have to look for other methods of behavior reinforcement. Like keeping an exercise diary and aiming to get a daily hour of exercise in one way or another.. rewarding himself with some treat (not food) for every week accomplished. He might get some other ideas from a Sally Squires column titled "Holding Fast for a Change." We'll post the link.
washingtonpost.com: Holding Fast for a Change , ( Post, Jan. 21, 2003 )
washingtonpost.com: Today's column: Even Bruno Believes in Holidays , ( Post, Aug. 15, 2006 )
Yokohama, Japan: Dear Moving Crew,
I am a 35 year-old man and I've been exercising for a year to get my weight down and reduce my body fat percentage. I am 6-1 and a year ago I weighed 230 lbs, which I've since reduced to 195. My primary goal in exercising is to reduce my body fat percentage, which is at about 18% now. I've kind of hit a plateau recently. I'd like to get my body fat down to at least 12%, so should I be trying to lose weight to do that, or can I reduce my body fat without losing weight? Should I go through phases of "bulking "and "cutting" like bodybuilders apparently do? Lately I've been jogging about 5 days a week in the morning for 30 minutes and lifting weights in the gym about 2 or 3 days per week. I read one article that suggested that for burning fat, the jogging should be low intensity because high intensity running burns carbs instead of fat. Is this correct? I had been doing fairly high intensity running for part of my run.
John Briley: Wow, we're big time here - London, Japan, Dayton...this is great! Okay, a few things:
1. The advice on jogging intensity is misleading. While your body does access fat stores for energy more readily at low intensities, you will still burn more fat overall at higher intensities simply because you're burning more energy overall. No problem throwing in a couple mellow days of running per week (see our Moving Crew column today), but don't be fooled by the low-intensity hype.
2. Perhaps your fat reduction has plateaued because your workout has gotten stale? Mix it up - do different things for cardio, work in intervals one or two days a week, mix up your strength training (you can work the same muscles with push-ups, bench presses, machines, medicine balls, exercise bands, etc.). Once your body gets too used to routine it gets more efficient and begins expending fewer calories to accomplish the same tasks.
3. You can reduce fat without dropping weight, if you are adding muscle. You *cannot* "turn fat into muscle* but by burning more calories than you consume you will lose fat, and by challenging your muscles with strength training you will gain muscle mass.
Fairfax, Va.: Hi, I'm turning 50 and used to work out on a regular basis.... I have since lost interest in working out and am going through menopause... and have gained 25 pounds. I really would like to get back into working out. Please help me!!
Walk walk walk walk. No, you don't have to stop there, but, especially if you've let your exercise regimen, um, slip, don't underestimate the ability of that simple activity to help burn off calories and start getting you back in shape.
Basically, you want to start slow, in whatever you do, and build up over several weeks to 40 mins. a day.
We've got a column for you that may help. Look for the link to "Just Starting Out? Not So Fast."
Arlington, Va.: Hi Moving Crew!
Could you help me in giving advice to a friend who wants to work out (and pays for a gym) but won't go by himself because of lack of motivation and has difficulty with time management as he works about 50+ hours a week with a rotating and unpredictable schedule. I can't help get him motivated-- without me going with him which is difficult because of conflicting schedules. Please help!
John Briley: How can we be sure he's reading this? Do you have him pinned in a half-nelson right now in front of the computer? In that case I'll be quick in case he breaks free:
Find some form of exercise he enjoys and focus on that for now. There are many many options for getting a workout outside the gym. Can you meet for lunchtime walks? No? Maybe sign up for a rock-climbing or kayaking class out by Great Falls.
Maybe rent bikes and ride the bike path to Mt. Vernon.
I know these are ideas, not motivation per se, but I'm trying to shift your thinking on this. One maxim of exercise is that people will not do it if they hate it. If he hates the gym, forget it.
As for real motivation, tell him to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to read about the ills associated with (or exacerbated by) poor fitness - obesity, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, poor mobility, etc.
Keep it fun and incremental. I inadvertently turned numerous people OFF from mountain biking by taking them on hard trails too early. They invariably thought, 'Wow, this sucks,' and never wanted to do it again.
Pop back in here occasionally for more ideas.
washingtonpost.com: Just Starting Out? Not So Fast , ( Post, Jan. 25, 2005 )
Washington, D.C.: Here's the thing: I've found if I don't have a snack before I work out, I can't last nearly as long. That means adding calories. On the other hand, a big reason I work out is to lose weight. That means burning more calories than I take in. How do I find the balance?
John Briley: You're close D.C. Just account for those calories and trim your intake elsewhere. And make sure you eat good calories - low in trans and saturated fats, high in fiber and vitamins and minerals (do I sound like a cereal commercial? sorry).
I know we say that to lose weight calories out need to exceed calories in, but obsessing over every single calorie can drag you down. If you're getting good workouts throughout the week, have enough energy and feel good about yourself - then that's a great start. Exercise has many benefits beyond a slimmer you.
For Washington, D.C.: Residents can swim for free in lots of D.C.'s pools. Go to the DC government site and look under parks and recreation. There's free swimming at Marie Reed and the Takoma Community Center, for example.
John Briley: Thanks! Good intelligence.
Falls Church, Va.: Hi Crew, you were talking about joint fluid decreasing as we age. I've also heard that people who have low body fat can have decreased joint fluid, making them more likely to get (or maybe just aggravate) injuries.
I'm female, 48, and my body fat is in the range of 11 to 12 % now (on the very low side for a woman). A couple of years ago, and for many years, it was around 50%, so I know my knees took a real pounding then. I've been doing a lot of running, biking, and swimming while training for a couple of short triathlons (my first time), and I've started feeling some pain in one knee. It keeps moving around a bit to different spots around it - kind of weird. I'm not aware of having done anything specific to injure it. I think it's just overuse. I also do a couple of hours of weight training each week.
I'm wondering if this joint fluid issue might be factoring into it. Do I need to be more careful? I do take glucosamine and chondroitin, and have the last couple of years. That seems to help, but not enough with this now. Maybe I need to take a more extended rest?
Susan Morse: Hi Falls Church,
Before blaming low body fat for middle age (sorry) knee pain, I'd be more inclined to consider joint abuse and trauma (think, jogging, falls off skis & bikes), genetics (in animals studies, at least, scientists have found genes that seem predictive of arthritis), age, and body weight. One of the first things an orthopedist will recommend for knee pain is losing weight--to relieve the amount of pressure on that tricky joint.
Speaking of orthopedists, it might be time to see one, if you haven't already. Knee pain can take so many forms and have so many causes. Best to have it diagnosed and get a more definitive answer on how to treat it. In the meantime, I'd ease up a bit and see if that helps. Good luck.
Washington, D.C.: Any suggestions for good core excursuses that I can do at home with no equipment?
John Briley: Yes, yes, yes. Start with crunches - lie on back, knees bent and together, feet flat on floor, arms across chest, and roll up until your shoulders and upper back are off the floor. Give me two to three sets of 15.
for this and some of the ones that follow). Then push-ups - yes, push-ups: If you do them right you will engage your core (ab and back muscles) to your everlasting benefit. Then bridges. Then side bridges.
Consider investing in a stability ball (about $25), those big air-filled orbs that look like they escaped from an astronomy book. Lots of good core exercises on those, from basic crunches to advanced balance moves.
Last idea: www.push.tv has great DVDs with a variety of no-gear at-home core exercises.
Alexandria, Va.: Fairfax Co. has great public pools! Costs less for residents, but open to all. Check out: Fairfax County Parks
Susan Morse: Thanks, Alexandria. Montgomery County, too. Mont Co Aquatic Center in Bethesda is terrific.
To the people with unmotivated friends:: Get new friends. Sorry, that's harsh, but come on. No one can do the work for anyone else. If someone is not motivated themselves, why should you break your neck to find ways to inspire them? I just think this is a huge red flag.
Susan Morse: Another vote for independence. Thanks.
Roselle, Ill.: Thanks for taking my question. I run 30 - 40 miles a week and have been running for a long time...18 years. My question is: When I do my long runs 10 - 12 miles, I hardly get three- four hours sleep. Does extended exercise adversely affect sleep? Thanks.
John Briley: I have heard this from other chat participants, Roselle. I do not have a scientifically sound answer for you now but will look into and perhaps write a future column about it.
If you have not done so already, check with your doctor about this. Extended exercise of course elevates your heart rate but if you're in good fitness (and it sounds like you are) your HR should drop to near normal within 30 to 40 minutes at most, even after a 10- to 12-mile run.
Email me at move@washpost.com and I will try to get you a complete answer.
Washington, D.C.: If you have a DC driver's license or residency, you can swim at any of the public pools for free. The outdoor ones are open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and the indoor ones are open all year round. Go to this website for more details: D.C. Swimming Pools
John Briley: Excellent - more details for the aquatically inclined! Thanks D.C.
Maryland: I've been working out twice a day recently. I've been getting plenty of water, etc.. Usually cardio in the morning and cardio and lifting in the evening. My muscles feel fine but wanted to get your opinion -- is there such a thing as too much cardio (2-3 hours a day?)
John Briley: See today's column on rest, Maryland (posted above). You do want to take at least one day off per week. Beyond that, your body should tell you what's going on. If you have any pains - chronic or acute - or persistent fatigue, or simply wake up one night at 3:30 a.m. and find yourself jogging along 15 miles out on the C and O tow path in your PJ's, maybe you're cardioing too much.
Alexandria, Va.: Lots of motivation Qs today...over the last 1.5 years I have lost 72 pounds, started running again, and am trying to complete 3 half marathons in Sept. as my goal for the year.
My husband started a new job in March, works 12 to 14 hour days, and has gained 20 pounds since starting the job. He complains about feeling bad, fat, etc., but it is hard to motivate when you are up at 6:30, at work by 7:30, get home at 8, eat dinner at 9:00...what can I tell him? We were playing tennis, but he has carpal tunnel so must lay off that and the rock climbing he was enjoying...I am trying to help, in both eating and exercise, but I know he has to come to it on his own.
Any thoughts, ideas, motivations, or inspirations that I can pass on?
Susan Morse: Gee, this sounds familiar. Some crazy way we live, huh? I know we begin to sound like a broken record, but one simple thing that might help, mentally and physically: the postprandial stroll. Meaning, walk after dinner, just the two of you, to reconnect, unwind and --without hardly trying -- get some exercise. Much more strenuous activity may have to wait until the carpal tunnel heals some. Sounds like, given his past activities, he'll be ready to get back in the action then.
And congrats to you on those major accomplishments of the last year and a half. Way to go!
Farmington Hills, Mich.: I seem to be prone to ankle sprains - it happens about one or twice a year, usually during a soccer game, but the last one was during a step class. Everything I've read has suggested that I strengthen the muscles around the ankle.
Could you recommend some specific exercises that would help? Thanks.
John Briley: Yes, exercises good, but there's more. First the exercises: Get one of those balloon-material bands (probably sold online, plus every physical therapist has lots), make a stirrup, hold ends with your hands and put foot in the stirrup. Do 3 x 15 to 20 reps up and down, plus out to each side. Also, classic calf raises while standing on a ledge.
Other: Work on balance (yoga good) and agility (like running drills with cones or that classic high-stepping through tires laid on the ground - improvise if you don't have access to these things). Also make sure you are wearing the right shoes and are not playing sports while tired (I sprained numerous ankles due to this). Good luck!
Arlington, Va.: I went running yesterday morning for the first time in a few months (yeah, yeah, but it was sooo hot this summer). I've been going to the gym semi-regularly. But I had to stop running after 15 minutes -- my muscles were fine, but I really couldn't breathe. Did my lungs get weak or something?
John Briley: You probably tried to blast right back into it where you left off. It takes a while to return to form - experts say it will take the same amount of time that you were dormant, so if you didn't run for five weeks it will take that long to get all the way back.
Don't get alarmed - you will probably get back to near-top form much quicker than that, just start a little slower, intersperse some walking with your jogging if needed and be patient with yourself.
I have been off for much of the summer due to hamstring injury. I expect my return to be pretty ugly.
I've started and stopped running a bunch of times this year because of shin splints. I only run indoors on a treadmill and not very long distances. I've been told it's good to lay off if there is pain, but I do that for a few weeks, start again and there's still pain in my shins. Any advice? Is it stretching? That I need new shoes (mine are six months old)? Some other kind of shin exercise?
It wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the shoes, and yes, exercise is a good idea.
Danny Dreyer, author of "Chi Running," a book we like a lot, recommends taking time off to heal, then doing exercises to strengthen the anterior tibialis (or shin muscle) by walking on your heals. The primary cause of the problem, he says, is bad form--pushing off with your toes. The idea is to learn to land on your mid-foot, instead, and relax your calves.
While you're healing--or learning, stay off hills; they force you onto your toes. You might want to check out his book. Good luck.
Arlington, Va: I am severely overweight and want to slim down. What exercises are best for overall toning and slimming?
John Briley: Hi Arlington - good for you for confronting this. Start with walking. I know it sounds boring but that will establish the building blocks your body needs to progress to more intense exercise.
Find a pleasant space - local park, neighborhood, even a mall, anywhere you feel comfortable - and start with 15 or 20 minutes a day. You'll want to feel your heart rate go up a bit, but you shouldn't be pushing it too hard to start. Shoot for 3 or 4 days a week to start, then edge up to 5.
Once that gets *easy*, pick up the pace and add a few minutes a day, so that you're breaking a sweat during these walks and breathing hard enough that carrying on a conversation would be tough. Vary the pace and route as needed to keep yourself interested.
A month or two down the road we can add light strength training, so check back.
And if the walking suggestion is really a non-starter, for whatever reason, try cycling or swimming. You won't see pounds vanish in the early going but - trust me - this is how you need to start and that weight will fade over time.
Va.: My toes start to get numb after a while on the elliptical. Is this weird, is something wrong? I just bought new shoes but it still happens. I try to wiggle my toes around and it helps a little. Any other tricks or something that I should be worried about?
John Briley: We get this one periodically and have been assured by docs that in almost all cases it is not a serious issue. Something about the way many people stand on the elliptical. Try to keep your heels down and spread the load out over your foot, not just ride on the balls of the feet all the time. Also vary your upper-body positioning so that you're not leaning forward the whole time (good elliptical positioning is more straight up and down anyway).
See if these adjustments help. Check back next time and let us know.
Bethesda, Md.: Hey Guys love your chat. I am training to do a century ride in the beginning of October so I been riding about 100 to 150 miles a week. What other excercises should I be doing to cross train.
John Briley: Quads, calfs and core, plus back exercises. Make sure you do stretches to open up your chest - lots of biking tends to tighten all that infrastructure.
Calf and quad is obvious, but you also need the core because that's where a lot of cycle power originates.
And keep leg muscles loose with stretching. Good for you on that ride! Sounds great.
Alexandria, Va.: What exercises do you recommend to overcome sciatica?
Ow. So very sorry...and hope you heal fast.
You're right. Exercise to strengthen the abs and back muscles can speed recovery from the painful spinal condition. But...We have to beg off on this one. Because there can be so many causes of sciatica, and because some of these may require further medical attention, it's best if you see your doctor about recommendations for specific exercises. Heal quickly!
Slightly odd question: This may sound odd -- and even embarrassing -- but it is an issue I am contending with as I work toward a healthy weight and a regular exercise routine. That is, how does one account for being a generously endowed woman? I have wrestled my way through the sports bra issues, and since I don't run, that is somewhat manageable. But how do I account for healthy weight? And how can I strengthen my core so that the "forward tilt" doesn't become problematic as I age (I am 37 now).
Thanks. (Not a question you can ask just anyone!)
John Briley: Keep your core strong to help support the rest of your torso (it has other benefits, but trying to stay on topic here).
And don't focus so much on what some chart says is a healthy weight for you. My BMI says I am way overweight and, well, I'm not. Just built like a fireplug.
Keep working out, watching what you eat and living a good, healthy lifestyle (with enough fun to remind you why you're alive in the first place) and the rest of it will take care of itself.
John Briley: OK, team, we are out of time. Great chat today. We couldn't do it without you, so please come back (and bring your friends!) in 2 weeks for more fun.
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Chatological Humor* (Udated 8.18.06)
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DAILY UPDATES: 8.16.06 | 8.17.06 | 8.18.06
Gene Weingarten's controversial humor column, Below the Beltway , appears every Sunday in the Washington Post Magazine. He aspires to someday become a National Treasure, but is currently more of a National Gag Novelty Item, like rubber dog poo.
He is online, at any rate, each Tuesday, to take your questions and abuse.
This Week's Poll is being presented by popular demand. Once again we remind you: All answers are, and shall always be, anonymous. We do not know and cannot discover who sent in which answers. Please enter via the appropriate door: Men Only | Women with A or B Cup Bra Size | Women with C Cup or Larger Bra Size
Weingarten is the author of "The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life. And Death" and co-author of "I'm with Stupid," with feminist scholar Gina Barreca. "Below the Beltway" is now syndicated nationally by The Washington Post Writers Group .
New to Chatological Humor? Read the FAQ .
Gene Weingarten: Good afternoon, dollface. Pull up a chair, and park your caboose.
Right now I'm pounding the keys like a man who pounds keys for a living and is sick of it, if you really want to know, which you don't, because I'm only a man who pounds keys for a living. I'm pounding on a Dell Inspiron series 8600 laptop purchased in 2004, so it may just explode any minute, like a cantaloupe that took a round from a howitzer. Not that you care.
I'm writing like this because it's a genre of stubblefaced writing that is both colorful and startlingly sexist, and we have a colorful but startlingly sexist POLL ( Men Only | Women with A or B Cup Bra Size | Women with C Cup or Larger Bra Size ) today -- but mostly because I fell asleep last night reading Rex Stout, specifically a passage I will quote below.
Do you know Rex Stout? A great 50s-era tough-guy writer. And reading this made me think of my column on Sunday, about Christie Brinkley, and how times have changed in matters of sexual roles, sexual civility and what it is okay to say and think. Check this out, and remember that the narrator, Archie Goodwin, is the good guy, and in his early 30s.
I pushed the bell button. In a moment the door opened, and there facing me was one of the three most beautiful females I have ever seen.
I must have gaped or gasped, from the way she smiled, the smile of a queen at a commoner. She spoke. "You want something?" Her voice was low and soft, without breath.
"The only thing to say was, "Certainly. I want you," but I managed to hold it in. She was eighteen, tall and straight, with skin the color of the wild thyme honey that Wolfe gets from Greece, and she was extremely proud of something, not her looks. When a woman is proud of her looks, it's just a smirk. I said, "I'd like to see the superintendent."
"Are you a policeman?" she asked. If she liked policemen, the only thing to say was "Yes." But probably she didn't. "No," I said, "I'm a newspaperman."
"That's nice." She turned and called, "Father, a newspaperman."
I knew damn well I ought t o say something, but what? The only thing to say was, "Will you marry me?" but that wouldn't do because the idea of her washing dishes or darning socks was preposterous. Then I became aware of something., that I had moved my foot inside the sill so the door couldn't close, and that spoiled it.vI was just a private dick trying to dig up a client.
Baseball geek quiz that I just came up with: What is the fewest number of pitches a pitcher can throw in a regulation nine-inning major league baseball game, if he pitches a complete game?
Cheers to Aric Campling, who has managed to place this chat, literally, into the American lexicon .
Here is a terrifying sign of the upcoming Apocalypse of prudishness.
On Monday, a Style section story in The Washington Post contained the following quote, about Tony Kornheiser: "I can only hope he gives a lot of [grief] to Theismann," Riggins said.
What rude word do you think was substituted for in the quote?
I am reliably informed that the word uttered by Riggins, before it was cleaned up, was "crap." Yes indeed, in an effort to be ridiculously protective of our readers' tender sensibilities, The Washington post actually whispered a much worse word into the ears of 90 percent of our readers, let alone making think Riggo was much bawdier than he was.
Thanks to several readers who pointed to a Washington Post article last week that quoted "Ken Troutman, a member of the local bass fishing club." I would call this an inaptonym. This is as opposed to an ineptonym, which would be like someone thinking it means something that there is a stripper named Chesty McBosom.
The best aptonym of the day comes courtesy of Amelia Stobaugh. It is from the Diary column in the Guardian:
According to every tabloid newspaper in the world, meanwhile, teenage girls at Arlington High in Texas have been banned from showing their cleavages in the classroom. "Everyone knows it's dicey for a male teacher to say, 'Susie, you need to go to the office. Your cleavage is showing'," says school board trustee Mr Wayne Ogle.
And thanks to Doug Wann, for pointing us to this absolutely spectacular headline , which no way was an accident.
Lastly, concerning my column on Sunday , here is a letter from Shannon Burkett that I found articulate, intelligent, argumentative, and provocative -- intellectually and otherwise.
"I also just wanted to make your day and say that I'm a very happily married woman who would not leave my husband if he had an affair with a younger woman... as long as she was of legal age. And I'll tell you why it wouldn't bother me. Because I'm confident that he would get bored of her. When the newness wore off and the only thing this woman knows about The Dukes of Hazzard is that Jessica Simpson has a great rear end... he'd come back. Mentally and physically. And when I say physically... I mean sexually because there wouldn't have been a break up. I think we make too much of affairs in the country. Monogamy is not biological. Period. But partnership[s] are wonderful. I am secure in my love for my partner and there is freedom in that. I consider myself a feminist and feel that when woman let go of the monogamy thing and start having fun themselves... everyone will be much happier and freer. Woman need to stop betting their happiness and self esteem on whether or not their men stray. At the end of the day...who really cares?"
Before people of either sex react to this, I feel there is some additional information that may or may not be pertinent. Ms. Burkett is an actress in New York. Here is her photo .
Okay, please take today's poll. I want to specifically thank the many, many women who were willing to ignore its blatant sexism, for the fun of it. We will discuss the results midway through, as always.
A weak comic week. The CPOW is Monday's Speed Bump . Honorables: Sunday's Fuzzy , Sunday's Sherman's Lagoon , today's Zits and today's Flying McCoys . Pearls ' sequence about the aging of the Family Circus characters would have been excellent, but Passtis didn't know when to stop, and it became tedious.
My grandparents' dog died this week; he was only 10. He was the best little dog, a Pomeranian, who, at his maximum weight was 37 pounds. Grandma has Alzheimers, and would forget that she fed him, and so would keep refilling his bowl. When he stopped eating kibble, she would get worried that he wasn't eating, and put gravy on it. Several bowls later, he'd stop eating that, so she would make him little finger sandwiches. He looked like a couch cushion with legs, but he kept her happy.
Gene Weingarten: Okay, now this shouldn't be funny, right? But we all know it is. This is the funniest post of the day. But I STILL can't tell the joke about the guy who has cancer and Alzheimers.
Thank you for this very educational column. I always have no humor and I am wondering: "what is funny?" For over one year, I read your chat each week. Now I laugh at right times during conversation. This gives me many new friends. Last week I went to humorous movie and I laughed.
But I have a serious question for you, I want to be funny like you, to make people laugh. What other things can I do to help me be funny? I can be very dedicated. Tell me and I will do these things.
Gene Weingarten: You have to eat a LOT of herring.
Pittsburgh, Pa.: Wow! I was the first person to respond to the poll (A-B cup female). Do I get a prize for that (the first to respond, not the A-B thing)?
washingtonpost.com: Gift cert. for a plastic surgeon.
Gene Weingarten: Ahem. It is possible you are not going to see this answer. I wrote it early, and its up to Chatwoman as to whether it gets posted.
I can tell you that you were actually the third person to answer this poll. I was first and Chatwoman was second.
Exercise logic. Draw conclusions. We have now learned something here, haven't we?
Laurel, Md.: Gene, I don't know where else to complain...
My wife and my favorite brand of toilet tissue used to go on sale once a month, and we'd buy a 24-pack that would last about until the next sale.
But sometime in the last year, they stopped having sales on their base-level product and are pushing their "double-thick 12=24 regular rolls" product. I do not believe their claim. We ran out in about three weeks on the new stuff.
Can anyone vouch for how effective half as much length at twice the thickness is?
Gene Weingarten: This is a very important question, but I think I will only accept an answer from a toilet paper engineer. It does lead pretty directly to the next question, though.
One Square: I know this is a very small problem but it is driving me crazy. I work in a small office of just two women. The other woman in my office over and over again leaves one square of toilet paper on the roll. This has to be a conscious effort on her part to just leave one square. I just get mad and cuss in the bathroom then come out and say nothing because I know she will just say something smart to me, or cut me down somehow, and then give me the silent treatment for days so I keep my mouch shut. What can I do? Guess I should just try to not let it bother me, but it just seems like just a selfish, stupid thing to be doing on her part that it upsets me. I mean how long does it take to change the roll, and I always thought that whom ever emptied it, would refill. It is such a stupid petty thing but it is driving me crazy. Thanks
Gene Weingarten: It's an interesting situation, actually, from an epistemological (haha) and ethical perspective. One could argue that she is actually bumblingly attempting to be selfless, denying herself adequate absorptive relief so as to leave at least a small amount for you.
Think about it. You never arrive and find the roll completely empty, do you? Meaning she is not a complete pig. Meaning that she must at times find herself with just two squares, and that she elects to split the difference.
Now this raises one of my favorite questions, raised by Pat the Perfect and answered in both Why Things Are and my hypochondria book: Why do toilet paper manufacturers make the squares so small that NO ONE can use just one?
The answer is to most efficiently give people a choice: Those who primly conserve paper can choose to use either two squares, or three. The companies have studied this.
What's in a name?: Hi Gene. Thought you'd get a kick out of this- I was on the Metro recently and was seated behind a young woman and her daughter. Little girl was about 18 months, and we're playing and giggling across the seat. She was adorable. I asked the mother what her name was. She said -- and I am not making this up -- "Cialis."
Not sure why she would name her child after an erectile dysfunction drug, but there you go. I vote her a "Toxic Parent," cause that's just WRONG.
Gene Weingarten: Wow! Is that how it was spelled. Not that it matters, I guess. You name a kid Dyareea, it's still pretty bad.
Maybe she was named as a testament to how she was conceived. Achenbach named his daughter Paris because Paris was a particularly important romantic venue in the birth of that child.
Baseball quiz: 27 pitches if he's on the away team, 24 if he's home.
3 pitches per inning -- all pop ups.
New York: "It takes a lot of nerve to assume there's a god out there who ignores all the prayers for world peace, an end to hunger, etc., to take time out to find a stuffed elephant."
Who said we can understand God's plan? Given his supposed omniscience, omnipotence, and ineffability, it would be arrogant for us to assume we can understand His mind, that He views the world the same way we do. We are promised that he answers every prayer -- but there are no guarantees he answers it the way we want him to. Sometimes, the answer is "No."
Gene Weingarten: Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that there is no God. No sentience at all behind everything that Is, except immutable physical laws. An implacable, uncaring universe. A place where the only goodness comes from what we make of it. Okay? A thought experiment here.
In such a scary place, wouldn't it make sense that humans -- particularly primitive, superstitious humans -- would invent a God, so as to tame their fears, give them hope, explain the unfathomable?
And when things happened that seemed to contradict logic or defy the notion of a good and loving God -- genocide, for example, or enormous natural disasters -- or when developing science seemed to serially contradict things contained in scripture and taken for granted -- wouldn't religious people quite naturally respond by saying things like "God works in mysterious ways?" Or, "God is doing this to test our faith" ? There is ALWAYS an answer when one begins with an unshakable presumption that stands not on rationality but on magic and mystery.
Falls Church, Va.: I need your advice from a male's side. My boyfriend eats like a pig, really it has started to make me sick to my stomach when we eat together. He sucks on his teeth, picks at his teeth with his fingers, and never uses a napkin! I know he was raised better but he doesn't care. How do I tell him to shape up but be nice about it?
Gene Weingarten: One word: Lysistrata.
Baseball quiz: Technically, a pitcher could never throw a pitch if the batter kept dancing from one side of the plate to the other and got called out for it, but that's not the spirit of the question.
A pitcher for the visitors could throw only 25 pitches, giving up a home run and losing 1-0 with the home team not batting in the ninth.
C Cup: I am 50 today. Yikes. I can see that it isn't my mother's 50, but still, I could use some heart. I'm counting on Gene to tell me, as always, that I am stunning.
Gene Weingarten: Well, I cannot see you. But if this helps, my wife is older than you are, and she is the sexiest woman I know.
Arlington, Va.: You said a few chats ago that you had changed your mind about a spouse sleeping with a prostitute. Because that spouse was potentially exposing the other to disease, you agreed with most of the chatters that this was a much more significant betrayal than you'd originally thought.
By the same analysis, a DUI, which exposes other drivers to incredibly dangerous behavior, is NOT, to my mind, less of a flaw than tax or insurance fraud. Yes, those involve deliberate decisions to defraud, but a DUI means that the person made a deliberate decision to risk others' lives for his or her own convenience.
Whether the spouse ACTUALLY transmits a disease, or the driver ACTUALLY kills someone, is irrelevant. The person knows the risks and goes ahead anyway.
I think you should rethink your position.
Gene Weingarten: This is a bad area. I got a lot of people riled. I got a lot of letters like yours.
I was not saying DUI is good. It's bad. DUI: Bad. I was not trying to excuse it. I was not saying it was "less of a flaw" than tax evasion.
What I was saying was that if I had to face something bad that my kid did, I would be less personally bothered by that than by the tax thing. What I meant was this:
1. First, my kid would probably be in less trouble with the law. You do TIME for tax evasion.
2. Someone who gets a second DUI has a problem that is going to be addressed. He will lose his license. He will be ordered for treatment. If he were my child, I would come to his side and apply extreme persuasive force. There's not much I could do to help the tax evader. And the tax evader is a certain recidivist, because we are talking about an essential dishonesty about life.
3. Someone who gets a second DUI, absent injury to others, has acted stupid and irresponsibly, but not, in my opinion, dishonestly. Many readers wrote in to say they could imagine themselves getting one DUI but not two, and they consider themselves good, decent people. Well, I contend that if you can imagine one, you can imagine two.
Since reaching 30, I have never driven drunk or impaired. I am certain that I have driven in a state that, had I been stopped for a broken taillight, I would have blown a .08, and that is a DUI in many jurisdictions. A .08 is about three beers over two hours. That's a ball game, or a wedding reception.
I am hearing from a lot of reasonable people contending that if you have had ANYTHING to drink, you have no business behind the wheel of a car. Some of these people have lost loved ones to a drunk driver. I respect their position.
But I think there are many people who know their limits quite well, who apply mature and reasonable judgement, who never drive impaired, and who will sometimes drive with some alcohol in their blood. Sometimes it is almost unavoidable.
I take responsible driving very seriously. I've never had an at-fault accident. And if I have driven, a few times, with some beer in me, I still think I am a lot safer than perfectly sober cellphone using nitwits or perfectly sober speeders and so forth.
Sorry. We don't have to continue this discussion. I know many people disagree. I am trying to be honest and I am doing it at the risk of offending some people, angering others, and leaving the impression that I am an alcohol abuser, which I am not, or an apologist for drunk drivers, which I am also not.
Harrisburg, Pa.: Is it me or has "Frazz" become too preachy? It never seems funny any more unless you're the type of person who takes 200 mile bike rides over the weekend and runs marathons in your spare time.
Gene Weingarten: There's been a little excessive preachin' goin' on, mebbe. Yeah. We may hear from Jef on this, or not!
Washington, D.C.: Gene -- Hoping you can answer a style/punctuation question. Saw this recently in Hank Stuever's "Question Celebrity" column:
Last month, a large chunk of the staff of the daily newspaper, the News-Press, resigned in a huff, fed up with the apparently iron-fisted rule of owner/publisher, Wendy McCaw.
I'm wondering why there's a comma after owner/publisher. It seems to me that would be like saying, "The Nationals won the game on a home run by outfielder, Alfonso Soriano." It would be different if you were saying, "...the newspaper's owner/publisher, Wendy McCaw," but you're not, right?
I see this fairly often (not in The Post) and it's a pet peeve of mine, but now I'm wondering if I've been wrong.
Gene Weingarten: I think you are right. Is Pat the Perfect within range of this phosphorus?
Undisclosed location: Two or three squares? Good god, how are these people accomplishing the necessary paperwork with that little? I find that only a nice wadded handful gets the job done. Actually, several handfuls, since if you apply the paper only once you're not doing a good job. You repeat until the stuff is virgin white. The thought that folks are going around with improperly cleansed bottoms because they're trying to get away with a sqare or two really skeeves me out. I might have to forgo public transportation.
Gene Weingarten: This HAS to be a guy. A woman would see the fallacy here in a second.
Bethesda, Md.: I note that your Wikipedia admirer split an infinitive in his entry on Marrying Irving. Personally, I think there are times when it makes sense to prudently split an infinitive, where it avoids making the sentence awkward, and do it without remorse. Where do you and Pthep come down on this?
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, he also misspelled Stuever's name. But it's a good entry.
I have no problems with split infinitives.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: I lost a friend who did have cancer and Alzheimer's. You are mistaking in thinking you can't tell that joke. You are also mistaken in thinking it's funny -- it's actually a situation which is probably going to become more and more common and matter of fact.
Gene Weingarten: Er, if it's not funny then I can't tell it ... right?
Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Sarah Silverman! No no no. Gene, are you going to let this stand? It was Lenny Bruce, and it was funnier, because he ended it, "And when he comes back, we'll do it again."
Gene Weingarten: Good grief, you are right. I knew it sounded familiar. Sarah has stolen it. That's bad.
Nooo, say it ain't so!: My older daughter (Hope's older sister) told me recently that when she has a daughter she wants to name her...(dum, dum dum)Madison!
I had to work very hard to not scream! I very carefully thought of every argument I could to persuade her that this is NOT a good idea. I think I got her when I explained that we had had a President Madison and would she name a daughter Jefferson or Washington? Whew!
We'll just have to wait about 20 years to see if it worked! (or hope that she has boys)
Gene Weingarten: Ah, yes, Holly.
This is the Holly Mother of the chat. (Hahaha.) She has occasionally sent me photos of Hope, the official baby of this chat. I have not shared them because we cannot afford an overabundance of Hope.
However, this one is themed. Liz, can you link to the picture of Hope's diaper VPL?
Dreamland: So now we know that Chatwoman has big breasts AND that she puts out! Amen!
washingtonpost.com: I hate you, Gene.
Gene Weingarten: Next: Her wiping habits.
Leg Man, Canada: The poll today is AWESOME. I can't believe you get away with this.
I'm a leg man, after the face of course. I'm an engineer though, so of course I've analyzed this, and I have come up with the following rationale. Please note that I have explained this to my girlfriend and she was impressed by my... tact. (Whew.)
The way I look at it, breasts are genetic. Anybody can have nice breasts. But nice legs (and a nice rump, which was a tough call) require some work. Nice legs imply that the woman takes care of herself. A woman who works out, or plays sports, is more attractive to me. Not because of image reasons, but because if somebody takes care of their body, it follows that they have a fair amount of self-respect and a desire to improve themselves, which I like. In other words, a woman who stays in shape is more attractive to me than somebody who relies on just their God-given gifts. You dig?
Gene Weingarten: Well, it's an answer. But it doesn't explain why you chose "face" as number one, does it, bobo?
Harrisonburg, Va.: Gene you make a good point about Rex Stout. How much sexism, racism, etc. should we put up when reading books written in the past? I am a feminist who would hate Archie Goodwin if I ever met him. Yet I love the books. Archie's voice is wonderful and funny. Wolfe's misogyny is a joy. But in a book written today it would be a horror.
Do you think Rex Stout meant Archie's attitudes to be taken seriously? I always sense some tongue-in-cheek there.
washingtonpost.com: I recently reread the Sax Rohmer Dr. Fu Manchu books and was cringing with the overt racism against any non-WASPs on almost every page. Really ruined an otherwise really good book for me.
Gene Weingarten: I think you need to read things within the context of the time, and take no offense. This stuff is nothing compared with vintage Agatha Christie.
I think I have noted this before, but I have a first edition of "Ten Little Niggers."
It contains several passages about hook-nosed, money grubbing Jews.
Trickydi, CK: "This HAS to be a guy. A woman would see the fallacy here in a second."
Heh, heh. Either you misspelled "fallacy" or your going all Freudian-slip here.
Bese-ball been berry berry good to, ME: 15 pitches. Rainout after 5 complete innings.
Gene Weingarten: I SAID a nine-inning game. We already published the answer: 25.
Silverman: Sarah Silverman hasn't stolen the joke, she's adapted it. The previous chatter only told you the first part.
She goes on to say that some people blame the Jews for killing Christ and some blame the Romans. She claims she's one of the few people who thinks it was the blacks.
Gene Weingarten: C'mon, though. Unless she says "as lenny bruce said...." it's stolen.
Pat the Perfect, ME: Re the extraneous comma in "owner/publisher, Wendy McCaw": Yes, that's a mistake. Not earthshaking, but definitely wrong. Without a totally identifying pronoun beforehand, "owner/publisher" is functioning as a title and gets no comma. I wonder if the word "its" before "owner/publisher" had been edited out and the comma inadvertently left there.
Some of your longer-winded publications have a rule against using such "false titles" as identifiers before someone's name (as opposed to official titles, such as Vice President), but the false title is a very economical construction that's extremely useful in journalistic writing. But no, it doesn't take a comma afterward.
By the same token, I also wasn't sure about two other commas in the same sentence, the ones flanking "the News Press." But it turns out that those commas refer to -- correctly -- the PREVIOUS sentence:
"In Santa Barbara, Calif., the answer, for now, is yes. Last month, a large chunk of the staff of the daily newspaper, the News-Press, resigned in a huff ..."
There is one daily newspaper based in Santa Barbara. So what Hank's phrase in the second sentence means is (if he wanted to use more words instead of that neat li'l comma) "The staff of the single daily newspaper there, the News Press."
But using a comma after the indefinite identifier "the xxxx" is a common mistake in modern American English. It is indeed wrong to write, "The humor columnist, Gene Weingarten," because it means only that Gene Weingarten is A humor columnist, not THE only humor columnist extant. As much as he would like to believe the latter.
Gene Weingarten: I would like to note, in all seriousness, that you have just heard from someone who might be the world's greatest authority on the use of the comma. There are areas of expertise in the copy editing field. Pat Myers could be qualified as a comma expert in a tort trial of the use of a comma.
I policed my use of commas very carefully in the above paragraph.
Washington, D.C.: I think I went to high school with Amelia Stobaugh. Is she from Minnesota?
Gene Weingarten: I do not know. Perhaps we will hear from her.
Ever since I turned old enough to be cognisant of such things, I've considered myself a feminist (I'm a man). I exercise feminist activism once in a blue moon, participating in the odd demonstration, but to me feminism basically boils down to treating women with respect and making sure society as a whole does the same.
Also, I'm totally a breast man. I've been intimate with a few women in my life based solely on their breast size (something I've usually realized after the fact). I am attracted to women of most shapes and sizes but I definitely have a special attraction for big breasted women. There has always been a touch of guilt involved with this preference. I mean, I don't try to hide it, I'm open and honest and comfortable with the way I am, however, I feel like the feminism and the boob fetish don't jibe with each other. Tell me I'm wrong.
P.S. How annoying is it when people say "jive" when they mean "jibe"?
Gene Weingarten: You want ME to exonerate you? Sure! What the hell!
Suffice it to say, I laughed out loud when I started reading your second paragraph.
Alexandria, Va.: RE: I'm just saying... As opposed to assuming there is no God, or there is a God for sake of argument, let's consider the universe as we think we know it: our best educated guess is the universe was born of the big bang. What triggered the big bang? What space/mass did the absence of the universe take? What triggered the big bang? Where did those primordial materials come from? Where they always in existence? Were they created from other matter? If so, where did that matter come from? What if the big bang theory is wrong and that the universe has ALWAYS (read for infinity) been in existence. How is that rational or comprehensive? How is any of this possible without a "spark"? In our human minds there has to be a beginning and an end. But does there in the universe? We truly do not understand the nature of the universe. Until we can fully explain it the ONLY rational conclusion is there was a devine spark.
Gene Weingarten: Total Bushwah and nonsense. Until we do know, the most logical answer is what has turned out to be the most logical answer to those questions we once had that we now have answered: There is something having to do with science that explains it. Science, not magic! We once thought that pancreatitis was caused by a little dwarf living in our stomach.
I am one of your "conservative" fans. While I disagree with you politically on some items, I do respect your reasoned opinions. Also, you are really funny. Now that I have sucked up -- do you know who I can contact to fix a Daneker (Baltimore, Md.) Grandfather clock? I know this is not a typical chat question/comment but can't find anyone after much search.
Gene Weingarten: Edward Compton, Ecker's Clock and Watch shop, Bethesda. He makes house calls.
Baby #2 is on his/her way any day now. We've had the boy name picked out for quite a while, but my husband and I cannot reach a concensus on name for a girl. (We are of the non-control-freak variety of expectant parent who like the surprise of finding out if it's a boy or girl when the baby is born.)
Since you are the arbiter of all things related to good taste and baby naming, which do you prefer: Katherine (we'd call her Kate) or Caitlin? One of us thinks the former is too staid, while the other thinks the latter is too trendy.
Gene Weingarten: Go with the currently less popular name. Kate.
A comma's tort trial: What would that trial look like, Gene? Comma vs. Semi-colon with the charge of alienation of affection?
Gene Weingarten: It would involve the interpretation of a law or a statute or a codicil in a contract. There is just such a case going on now, involving tens of millions of dollars.
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: I'm so tired of hearing the "monogamy is not biological" argument. You know what? Neither is pooping in a toilet!! But we live in a society!! These are the norms. This is how man (and woman) live together and take care of one another. And the species goes on.
Gene Weingarten: Agreed. But do you find nothing persuasive in her letter? I do. For the right people.
Lysistrata?: It's not nice to make a girl pee her pants at work.
Gene Weingarten: THAT'S WHY LIZ GOES PANTSLESS FOR THIS CHAT.
Gene Weingarten: Greek play. Aristophanes, I think. The women stopped the men from fighting each other in a bloody war. They did it by withholding sex.
You think gay guys are kidding?: So you can't believe that, deep down, gay guys aren't really into women. Well, the reverse is true, too. We all believe that, deep down, you'd all be on our team if nobody would find out. And I've got news for you: You guys believe this too. Why do you think all the most hypermasculine institutions -- the military, sports, fraternities -- are the ones with the biggest fear of gay guys? It's because our presence makes overt the homoerotic subtext in all your bonding rituals. Think of all the ass-slapping in locker rooms and barracks. And has there ever been a pledge class that didn't at some point have to drop their pants? The extreme anti-gay right believes the same thing. The often unspoken, and sometimes spoken, thread running through their screeds is that, without sanctions on homosexuality, everybody would be gay. The only logical explanation for this belief is that, deep down, they think gay is more fun.
Gene Weingarten: Ha. Well, honestly, I think you are overstating the degree of buttslapping and towelflicking in male bonding rituals, but there IS something interesting about guys' aversion to touching each other and sharing feelings. A fear of "seeming" gay does seem to mask a fear of "being" gay.
Once in my life, when I was around 30, I had a mildly homosexual dream. Not really erotic, but definitely gay-themed. It was so startling, it woke me up, and I started laughing.
At 30, you know who you are. But I always wondered, if I had that dream at 18, whether I would have found it so funny.
Meanwhile, I totally buy your point about homophobes latent fears. Whenever I get a letter from someone who is expressing obvious bias against gays, I always answer with some variation of: "Thank you for writing. I understand how someone with your secret desires might feel the way you do, and I hope that you someday find peace of mind in a loving relationship." Just drives them NUTS.
I once wrote about this. Liz, can you find my column on why Bush hates gay marriage?
washingtonpost.com: Aisle Be Damned , ( Post Magazine, March 21, 2004 )
Washington, D.C.: I'd like to get your take on something. The current Pope was criticized by a lot of people for having been a member of the Hitler Youth when he was a kid. As I understand it, at that time and place he didn't really have much of a choice.
Last week the author Gunter Grass (he wrote "The Tin Drum" and other novels), a hero of the literati/antiwar left, admitted that he joined the Waffen-SS in 1944. He says he didn't know at the time what the Waffen-SS did: as it happens, they were tasked with running the concentration camps.
My question: should Grass receive the same kind of scrutiny and criticism as the Pope? Do they have differing levels of culpability?
Gene Weingarten: In 1944, Gunther Grass was 16; the war was going badly and a desperate Hitler was conscripting kids as young as 12. Check out the sickening image below.
The pope was even younger when he was with the Hitler youth, which was essentially the boy scouts, and in many places nearly mandatory.
I give both of them a pass. Not that they asked me, but I do.
Not much to say, really. To me the most important headline is:
WEINGARTEN CHAT PREFERRED ALMOST TWO TO ONE BY LARGE-BREASTED WOMEN.
After that, we have the stunning fact that men appreciate breasts just fine, but do not prefer large breasts over small. There is a man for every woman. Make me proud of my gender.
I was surprised, therefore, by how horny the guys are. Two thirds get at least a bit of a thrill from a friendly hug?
I just don't see it. Maybe I am slightly less of a dirty old man than I'm made out to be.
My answers: On the smaller side, no arousal, face, butt.
Laurel, Md.: Do you have a reply to last week's request about the song "American Pie"?
Gene Weingarten: Ah, right. I don't for the simple reason that I see analyses all over the Web. I have my own, but it corresponds pretty clearly with most of the Webs. I will take questions, however. I am pretty much an expert on this song.
Bowie, Md.: Gene, having recently re-entered the singles scene (I'm a guy) I'm finding out how correct you are that basically all girls names have to be trashed every decade and new ones invented.
At singles functions, you can tell how old the women are by their names:
Debbie and Susan are in their 40s
Jennifer and Allison are in their 30s
Megan and Leah are in their 20s
Gene Weingarten: Yeah. And Renee and Barbara are in their 50s.
Amelia Stobaugh: Honestly, I don't get it. Why is this funny.
Gene Weingarten: Are you kidding?
Oh, you boys: Am I correct in my interpretation of the men's poll? Their responses to question one are running neck and neck. Could it be that when asked a question like that, men go into a sort of fugue state and all they can say is "Uh -- boobies huh-huh."
Gene Weingarten: Hahahahaha. This is one of the surprises in this poll, for sure.
Silver Spring, Md.: Everybody else seems to have an opinion about pre-season football. Do you think it's a good idea, or essentially pointless?
Gene Weingarten: Well, a team has to make some decisions to pare its roster from 70 to 50, or whatever. So I think it's important in that sense. I'm not sure regulars need to play in these games. The risk is just enormous.
Washington, D.C.: I find it interesting that Ms. Burkett assumes her husband would get bored with a fresh young thing. Maybe he would, but wouldn't it depend on what he was looking for and why he was looking? The men I have known (my uncle being among them) who have gone for the younger woman, tend to be looking to feel invigorated vicariously or to start families they didn't or couldn't with their current SO/wife or to make themselves feel more attractive. It doesn't always wear off (my uncle married his much to the chagrin of my cousins who were 7 and 10 at the time). I do agree with her assertion that there are things due to age commonality and just plain history that she can provide that the new woman can't, but her husband may want a break from all that. However, it also doesn't do to worry about it either. As long as you try to be the best spouse you can be and hold your partner to doing the same, then what will happen will happen. Neither of you will stop noticing attractive people (usually of the opposite sex) and you shouldn't if you are still alive and kicking. My husband and I admire attractive women together and I tell him which men I think are attractive. I don't care that he finds other women attractive somewhat because I know he is committed to me and isn't acting on the attraction but mostly because he never fails to make me feel beautiful, even when I feel grungy.
Gene Weingarten: A few people have asked me, all kidding aside, how young a woman I might seriously court if I were newly single and at my age. The bottom limit. My personal rule, as I have said, is four years older than one's youngest daughter. In that case, this puts the woman at 29. But there is one other factor involve: approbation of one's children. I am aware my daughter would be highly skeeved if I went out with a 29 year old woman. And that opinion would matter to me hugely. I am going with 35.
Er, not that any young woman would want anything to do with me. This is hypothetical.
Washington, D.C.: "Proposed Amendment XXVIII:
"It shall be unlawful to use the U.S. Constitution as a plaything for the politically self-righteous. Violators should all go to Hell." "
Dang, Gene. Nicely put, and I agree wholeheartedly.
Washington, D.C.: Is it dirty that I get a thrill if I think the guy is getting a thrill when I hug him without holding my "large" (snort) C-cups away from him? Hugging is going to become a lot more interesting.
Gene Weingarten: I do think women have learned something here.
Monday Night Footb, AL: What did you think of your colleague Tony K's debut last night?
And why didn't ESPN approach you to do commentary on Monday Night Football? I'd love to see today's poll -- or some good fart jokes -- being discussed during injury times-out and other dead spots in the game. I'd bet ratings would jump 20 percent.
Gene Weingarten: I meant to watch Tony and then forgot. I just can't get amped for a preseason game. The reason ESPN didn't ask me is that I would be dreadfully inept. It's not about my being ugly, obviously, considering Tony. But it takes a special talent to be good on TV, and I ain't got it.
You know, I used to edit Tony, side by side. In terms of sheer physical hideousness, it was like an iguana and a hyena, side by side.
Re: Fallacy: Clearly a guy because he mentions wadding. Everyone knows ladies fold TP, not wad. Well, I don't know, but apparently most ladies do.
Gene Weingarten: No, it was a fallacy because it didn't occur to him that women might well use two or three squares for number one.
North Bethesda, Md.: You blew it with your answer about last week's poll. You said (in part) "The occupation I want my kids to embrace at least at first is one that is a reach for them; a leap of the heart; something they will pursue with a passion" and that "Nothing wrong with these professions, you can do well and good in both of them, but they don't seem like leaps of the soul."
These might not be leaps of the soul for YOU but they are leaps of the soul for others. Is being a vet a leap of the soul? For you daughter, yes. For me, no way. Just because you don't find excitement in the job, doesn't mean others don't.
The only 100 percent correct answer -- the one all parents should wish their child not do -- is astronaut. What are the chances of dying while working as a high school English teacher, investment banker, pop singer, actuary or HR professional? I would say it is no different from just living (i.e. there is always risk of some maniac shooting you) - in other words the additional risk is ZERO! The chances of dying as an astronaut is extremely high. And I would assume all parents would want to see their children live.
Gene Weingarten: Nicely put, but I don't buy it.
I look at that list of job choices -- astronaut, high school teacher, insurance actuary, pop singer, government HR specialist, and investment banker -- and I ask myself, which of these is most likely to leave someone, at age 50, wishing they had done something different with their life, that they had settled for something less exciting/rewarding than they should have?
That was my criterion, and to me, the answers were evident. Yes, I was applying MY standards. You are applying yours.
Cube Farm: Tuesday you said "The occupation I want my kids to embrace at least at first is one that is a reach for them; a leap of the heart; something they will pursue with a passion."
While this is necessary for some, it is not necessary for all. You may have trouble understanding that because you seem to love your job.
I figure I don't need passion at work. My job is somewhat dull, but the pay is good, the hours are good, the workload is steady but not crushing, and my coworkers are great. If I could shorten my commute, I really wouldn't have anything to complain about. It's just dull, but so what?
I'm passionate about things that go on before and after work - my marriage, my family, my hobbies, and some activism. I think if I could make any one of these into my job I would start to lose passion about it. Plus, they really wouldn't pay very well which would mean I wouldn't have the time/money to do the other things that I feel passionate about. So, it honestly wouldn't bother me in the slightest to see my theoretical kid become an insurance actuary or government HR person. Some people work to live, not live to work.
Gene Weingarten: I like this point. It's like what the other guy said, only more human. You're right; I tend to define who I am inordinately by what I do for a living. (This is true of a lot of writers and journalists.) There are other ways to see it, and they are valid, too.
Concerning the poll. I generally find that larger breasts look better in clothes and smaller breasts look better naked, so I chose no preference. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule and a medium to large pair of shapely, firm breasts are stunningly amazing.
For the record, I am a face man with breasts (or maybe better, curves) coming in second. But there is nothing like looking into the eyes of a woman with a beautiful face when you are making love together.
Gene Weingarten: She doesn't need a beautiful face. She just needs a face.
Man, this chat goes down some sultry alleyways, doesn't it?
To the Breast man: He wrote (in a snooty tone):
P.S. How annoying is it when people say "jive" when they mean "jibe"?
My question to you is, how annoying is it when wanna-be spelling police spell "cognizant" as "cognisant"?
Alexandria, Va.: Gene -- my incredibly comfortable sandals which I can wear to work make little farty sounds when I walk. Not all of the time, and not TOO loud, but how do I handle this? Scowl and mutter "these darn sandals" when it happens and I think a co-worker heard it, or bet on the sound not being so loud that the co-worker heard it, and say nothing?
Gene Weingarten: Print this chat question and answer, enlarge it a lot, and post it on your cubicle wall.
I propose a related poll to this week's. I am a small-breasted woman, and I don't like wearing bras. I layer and wear camis and bra-ish things, but I rarely wear a real bra. A bra doesn't do much for support -- there's not much to hold up, unless I'm exercising. However, I am missing out on the other function of the bra -- nipple camo. Doubtless my nipples are on display more than a bra-wearing woman's would be. My question is, what do people think when they see a braless woman walking down the street? Does the size of her breasts matter? Does a man think, yay? Or yay, but I wouldn't marry that chick? Do women think I'm trashy? And women, what is the most important function of the bra -- antigravity boostage, or making the breast look pneumatically smooth?
Gene Weingarten: I'll just let this hang out there.
From last week's poll, I have met many unambitious people who are perfectly happy with their lives.
On the other hand, I have never met a fundamentalist Christian (or fundamentalist anything) who is truly happy. They seem to live their lives in a state of constant readiness to be outraged.
I would certainly rather have a happy, unambitious child than one who goes to funerals with God Hates Fags placards.
Gene Weingarten: Yeah, I admit that I probably place too much emphasis on ambition.
I think you are being unfair to fundamentalists. Some are bigoted knuckleheads, many are not. There is a certain comfort one can take in a literal interpretation of scripture; the world becomes a simpler and less scary place, our choices more apparent. I find it childish, but I don't condemn it out of hand, except where those people try to inflict their views on others.
Sterling, Va.: You only need one sheet of toilet paper.
1. Fold the sheet in half.
2. Fold it in half again so you end up with a square 1/4 the size of the original.
3. Tear off the corner where no edges of the paper meet. Save the torn-off piece; you'll need that later.
4. Unfold the sheet. You'll note a hole in the center.
5. Stick your middle finger through the hole.
6. Utilize the sheet for its intended purpose, making full use of said middle finger.
7. Grasp the sheet of paper tightly around the base of your figher, wrapping the paper around it.
8. Slowly pull the wrapped-up sheet of paper up off your finger, applying pressure so as to remove residue.
9. Take the torn-off piece you saved from before and use it to clean underneath your fingernail.
Gene Weingarten: Chats have been happening since 1999, basically, in newspapers around the country. But this is the classiest. How is it even debatable?
Herndon, Va.: Sorry for no funny city name.
Have you ever finally seen a radio personality that you have listened to for years, and you think "That's not what Don Geronimo looks like?!"? Well I just had the inverse experience with Chatwoman. I caught her Sunday morning bit on Washington Post radio. THAT IS NOT WHAT THE LIZ KELLY IN MY MIND SOUNDS LIKE. I'm not even sure what I expected her to sound like... we've certainly had enough description of your voice, Gene. Liz, on the other hand, we could mentally create from scratch. Have any of you print/online folks considered how weird it is to HEAR what our print journalists sound like? I am still reeling from the first time I signed on to washingtonpost.com online and saw my first picture of Krauthammer (I imagined he was a very fat person).
washingtonpost.com: Ya, but did I sound okay?
Gene Weingarten: And what did you THINK she would sound like?
See, in this poll we already have a clue about what Chatwoman sounds like, and LOOKS like.
Regarding Krauthammer, I'll bet there is something else you don't know about him. He is a paraplegic: A diving accident in college. Krauthammer is an amazing guy. I disagree with every single thing he says, but I read him religiously.
Louisville, Ky.: In their respective primes, who was funnier?
(I think I have the succession line about right...)
I vote for Eddie Murphy, but he gets points deducted for his terrible singing career.
Gene Weingarten: No one was funnier than Richard in his prime.
Blue Yonder, Va.: Gene, Saturday night Reston Town Center offered a free concert by the Airmen of Note, the U.S. Air Force Big Band jazz ensemble. The leader of that group is Chief Master Sergeant Dudley Hinote. It's pronounced High-Note.
Ellicott City, Md.: RE: Clutch, keeping it in while moving and why this is bad. From what I remember, the bearing used to push in the clutch while the clutch is spinning is not designed to be kept with pressure on it for long periods as you normally go in/out for each shift. This extra stress is why you should not coast down a hill with the clutch in, but instead, put it in neutral and release the clutch.
Gene Weingarten: Correct. I learned this by calling Warren Brown's radio show, and asking precisely this question. Fortunately, it is how I drive anyway.
Ashburn, Va.: I loved the poll this week! I have never thought once about what a man thinks when I hug him. I just hug. If he likes how it feels, great. I am not a whimpy hugger and am not gonna do the whole butt-stick-out thing like some prude. I'm a size 36C and am proud of my girls and don't feel a need to try to minimize them or pretend they don't exist. However, that is what I was taught to do. I grew up being taught that no one should ever see a bra strap, any part of a bra, or know that women have breasts. I could never understand it. It's the most beautiful part of being a woman!
Seattle: Give the guy a pass on "cognisant" -- might be one of those Brit spellings.
And it IS annoying when people say "jive" instead of "jibe."
Gene Weingarten: Why do people pronounce it "negoseeayshun?" there in no "see" sound in negotiation. This is a big one with me.
Humor, ME: To the poster who posited there must be a god otherwise where would the big bang come from?
This a logical fallacy - he is using the cosmological argument. Because we can't explain where the particles of the big bang came from, the answer must be a deity.
The logical extension to this is to ask where did this god come from? Or what caused god? The answer (he was always there) is logically inconsistent with the supposition that the universe and its particles had to be created - they could just as easily have "always been there" as a god.
String theory also posits that the big bang in fact could have been caused by two universes in other dimensions colliding, etc. - much more plausible than a benevolent magician to me.
Gene Weingarten: Well, yes. That was my point. HE will say, well, where did the two universes come from? It HAS to be a magic frog named Morris!
American Pie: Don McLean said quite clearly that the meaning of "American Pie" was that he never had to work again in his life.
I don't understand people who bash that song. Yes, all the code is a little silly, but it is just a gorgeous thing to listen to.
Washington, D.C.: I don't know if I buy men choosing the face as the first thing that determines physical attractiveness in women. I say this because two weeks ago I had the priveledge of being the only female in a group. The men in the group were going on about how gorgeous one coworker was versus another. While they both had great bodies, I would say one was better than the other (but not by much, I envied both women in that arena) however, one girl had an insanely gorgeous face than the other girl, with the previously mentioned slightly better body. After hearing them go on about "better body girl" for about 10 mintues I asked them if they had ever stopped to look at her face and (yes, this was catty) pointed out odd/out of place things some due to her lack of sleep and/or grooming. (I said I was catty) They all stopped and thought about it and it was clear they had never really examined her face. This story might not translate well to text, but my point is that men know that they should say they look at a woman's face first, but I think they are mostly lying if they say they do.
Gene Weingarten: I'm not. The face is a clue to everything: Intelligence, humor, etc., so it really encapsulates beauty in its purest form. Plus, hair. Don't get me started about hair.
Also, on a less noble note, if a woman is overweight to an extent that bothers you, you'll see it in her face.
Com, MA: I would nominate Lynn Truss (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) as the comma expert in my trial.
Gene Weingarten: Her book was filled with errors.
Re: Lysistrata: "One word: define"
Has this person never heard of a little invention called a "search engine"? People are so freakin' lazy...
Gene Weingarten: yeah, but what the heck. It allowed me to explain.
Arlington, Va.: Would you agree that Krauthammer is by far the best-writing columnist out there?
I suspect that you (as a liberal) read Krauthammer for the same reason I (a conservative) read Richard Cohen every time: it's good writing, and reading the opposition serves as a check/balance on my beliefs.
Gene Weingarten: Yes, exactly. No, I don't think he is the best writer, but he is a very good writer, and a very good thinker. I really respect him. BOY is he wrong about everything.
The Final (funny) Word on Female Grooming: Gene, I'm sure this can't be your or chatwoman's favorite subject to broach but I had to submit what I consider to be the final word on the female grooming issue, or it should be anyway.
When I asked my husband about the issue and whether or not he had any preferences or input on grooming down there, he said:
"Eh, not really. Its what's on the inside that counts."
Gene Weingarten: And who can argue with that, really?
Gene Weingarten: A good note to end on. Thank you all, and seriously: I am honored that women took this poll in large numbers, in good fun, and without complaint. It really was outrageous.
Thanks again. Next week, same time. And I'll be updating as usual.
Gene Weingarten: The e-mails keep coming, so I'm gonna do it. Today, for what it is worth and to all who care, my explanation of "American Pie." It will comprise the entirety of today's update.
FIRST SECTION:A long, long time ago...I can still rememberHow that music used to make me smile.And I knew if I had my chanceThat I could make those people danceAnd, maybe, they'd be happy for a while.
But February made me shiverWith every paper I'd deliver.Bad news on the doorstep;I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I criedWhen I read about his widowed bride,But something touched me deep insideThe day the music died.
So bye-bye, miss American Pie.Drove my Chevy to the levee,But the levee was dry.And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and ryeSingin', "this'll be the day that I die."This'll be the day that I die."
SECOND SECTION:Did you write the book of love,And do you have faith in God above,If the Bible tells you so?Do you believe in rock 'n roll,Can music save your mortal soul,And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Well, I know that you're in love with him'cause I saw you dancin' in the gym.You both kicked off your shoes.Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buckWith a pink carnation and a pickup truck,But I knew I was out of luckThe day the music died.
THIRD SECTIONNow for ten years we've been on our ownAnd moss grows fat on a rollin' stone,But that's not how it used to be.When the jester sang for the king and queen,In a coat he borrowed from James DeanAnd a voice that came from you and me,
Oh, and while the king was looking down,The jester stole his thorny crown.The courtroom was adjourned;No verdict was returned.
And while Lennon read a book of Marx,The quartet practiced in the park,And we sang dirges in the darkThe day the music died.
FOURTH SECTION:Helter skelter in a summer swelter.The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,Eight miles high and falling fast.It landed foul on the grass.The players tried for a forward pass,With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.
Now the half-time air was sweet perfumeWhile the sergeants played a marching tune.We all got up to dance,Oh, but we never got the chance!'cause the players tried to take the field;The marching band refused to yield.Do you recall what was revealedThe day the music died?
FIFTH SECTIONOh, and there we were all in one place,A generation lost in spaceWith no time left to start again.So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick!Jack flash sat on a candlestickCause fire is the devil's only friend.
Oh, and as I watched him on the stageMy hands were clenched in fists of rage.No angel born in hellCould break that satan's spell.And as the flames climbed high into the nightTo light the sacrificial rite,I saw Satan laughing with delightThe day the music died
SIXTH SECTIONI met a girl who sang the bluesAnd I asked her for some happy news,But she just smiled and turned away.I went down to the sacred storeWhere I'd heard the music years before,But the man there said the music wouldn't play.
And in the streets: the children screamed,The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.But not a word was spoken;The church bells all were broken.And the three men I admire most:The father, son, and the holy ghost,They caught the last train for the coastThe day the music died.
"American Pie" is one big ol' mysterious, confusing, immature, wonderful song presented in overly complex code, telling a not hugely complex story none too clearly. But you have to admire its audacity, and the sheer scope of it, and the playfulness of the riddle. It's long but not tedious. To call this a bad song is ridiculous. It's an anthem, an epic.
You will find analyses of it all over the Web; some of the conclusions people draw are obviously correct; some are obviously reaching. I began analyzing this song the second time I heard it in 1972, when I realized that "Angels born in Hell" meant the Hell's angels, and I made the connection with Altamont and Jagger and Sympathy for the Devil. (more below.) That's when I realized this song was more than just nonsense and began to seriously question whether most of it told a coherent tale. Which it did. I don't get some of it, still.
McLean has never explained this song, even the more obvious things, and that was smart of him. But when you realize just how many indisputable, complex references there are, you can have no doubt that he intended each line to have meaning.
In general, American Pie is a story about rock music losing its innocence and magic over a period of time. There are actually several days the music died. The first is the death of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959. The second is the 1969 Rolling Stones concert at Altamont -- the antithesis of Woodstock -- where things got real ugly, and a man was knifed to death as the Hell's Angel bodyguards beat people will pool cues. The third is the death of Janis Joplin. This song was written before John Lennon's murder; rest assured, it would have been in there if it hadn't been. There is also, in the refrain, an echo of a fourth, non musical, event that may or may not be in McLean's mind. We'll get to that below.
SECTION ONE:This is definitely about Buddy Holly. It was February. He left a widowed, pregnant bride. His biggest hit was "That'll Be the Day (When I Die.)"
Degree of certainty: 100 percent
THE REFRAIN:Who knows? Not me, not any of the online efforts, which are silly. From the first time I heard it, I found myself thinking about the deaths of Goodman and Schwerner and Cheney at the hands of drunk good ol' boys in 1964, which occurred during the early, sweeping scope of this song. They were buried in a Mississippi levee. But I dunno; that has nothing to do with music. Like many of the lines in Prufrock, involving action curtailed, it may simply be meant to evoke a notion of emptiness and barrenness. The levees are dry. I don't know. Degree of certainty: 5 percent
SECTION TWO:This is a flashback to the days of the purity and innocence and sexual power of early rock n roll. It's the only straightforward part of the song. It's good, except for that awful thing about "broncin' buck." He meant "buckin' bronc." To "bronc" is not a verb. I believe I am the only person ever to point this out.
Degree of certainty: 100 percent.
SECTION THREE:It moves rock forward. As he sings this, the Stones are getting old and tired, but McLean's looking back 10 years to an earlier time, the beginnings of post-Buddy Holly rock. The jester is Dylan. He's got James Dean's sense of alienation, but he's singing with all our voices (the definition of folk music.) He steals the thorny crown of fame from the King, Elvis. (Dylan always said he wanted to be as famous as Elvis.) Meanwhile, the Beatles are getting popular, and getting lefty political. If Elvis is the king, who is the queen? I am thinking this is a joke. I think it is Little Richard. Dylan has said he idolized Little Richard and patterned his early singing (in his own mind) after Little Richard.
Degree of certainty: 90 percent.
SECTION FOUR:Pretty confusing. It's about the starting of the corruption of rock. Helter Skelter is a clear reference to the corruption of the Beatles song, as used in the Tate-LaBianca murders. The birds are clearly The Byrds. (Eight miles High was their most controversial album... it was about drugs. That's the sweet perfume in the air, by the way.) The jester on the sideline in a cast is pretty clearly a reference to a period of time when Dylan got into a motorcycle accident, smashed himself up badly, literally was in a body cast, and recorded nothing for nearly a year. Some say it changed his music forever, for the worse. I don't know who the players are, though it may be people like McLean who could not break into the mainstream because of the dominance of the Beatles. A pretty petty and small-minded reference, if true. No, I DON'T recall what was revealed.
Degree of certainty: 75 percent.
SECTION FIVE:A generation all in one place is Woodstock . But then comes the stones, Jumping Jack Flash, and Altamont. Rock will never be the same again. The knife-murder of the guy in the crowd actually happened as Jagger was onstage, singing Sympathy for the Devil.
Degree of certainty: 100 percent.
SECTION SIX:The girl who sang the blues is almost certainly Janis Joplin, and her smiling and turning away is her death, and the final nail in the coffin of rock n roll. The religious purity of the medium is dead (this hearkens back to section two, where he equates faith in God above to rock n roll.) Life goes on, with all its cliches. The sacred store could be anything, but given the religious theme, I'm thinking it's a reference to the sock-hop days of section two, and the fact that music has changed for the worse, and juke boxes play crap. I have no idea what the remainder of this means, and any guess would be pointless.
Degree of certainty: 65 percent.
You may now have at me.
washingtonpost.com: I think this is a very well-reasoned explanation and I don't doubt you're right.
But -- and this goes to the heart of why I hate this song -- the analysis and the song itself are the antithesis of rock and roll.
Rock and roll is raw, blunt and hits you over the head. This song is none of those things. This song is rock and roll that went to a pricy liberal arts school.
Gene Weingarten: Of course, Liz has confessed to me that she really, really likes "Wildfire."
Gene Weingarten: Another day of "American Pie," but first, Jef Mallett writes in to answer this, from Tuesday --
Harrisburg, Pa.: Is it me or has "Frazz" become too preachy? It never seems funny any more unless you're the type of person who takes 200 mile bike rides over the weekend and runs marathons in your spare time.
Gene Weingarten: There's been a little excessive preachin' goin' on, mebbe. Yeah. We may hear from Jef on this, or not!
Reverend Jef Mallett here. Someone needs to preach me a good sermon about noticing that it's noon on a Tuesday. Apologies for missing the chat.
Regarding my own preaching, Harrisburg may have a point. I don't know. One person's enthusiasm is another person's preaching, but you've got me thinking. Writers write about themselves, and I'm a triathlete. I'm an enthusiastic, if not distinctive, triathlete. (Okay, I'm an old bike racer who can sort of swim and run.) I've got a lot of triathlete and bikie friends, too, so such talk and such jokes seem entirely normal. But one of the best ways for enthusiasm to look like preaching is if there's a sense of self-righteousness to it, and for some reason people who aren't inclined to spend their weekend mornings chasing their tails around three loops for the sake of a t-shirt and a sample packet of energy goo sometimes see us as self-righteous instead of, say, a little strange. I'd have to side with strange, but perception is perception. I will say the skinny-sports guys seem very much to like seeing something out there that they can relate to. There's not a lot of that in mainstream media.
The story I'm sticking to: No preaching taking place. I accept that I'm not a niche-spotting savant, and the best I can do is make fun of myself -- Frazz's tastes are intended to come off as much a weakness as a virtue -- and hope readers can relate. And adapt when they don't -- but not so much that the strip loses direction. And that, I suppose, is where guys like me really have to work for our wages.
I'll be sure to make the chat next week if anyone wants to have a go at me. But let's make one thing perfectly clear right off the bat: I don't run in a Speedo. Even I have my limits.
But not at self promotion, apparently, because I cannot forebear pointing out that the new Frazz book is now out. Then again, if I'm trying to defend myself against charges of athletic evangelism, it may be best that I didn't mention the title: "99 Percent Perspiration."
Gene Weingarten: Jef is amazingly civil and charming, even when wrong. In contrast, after the chat, I also heard from Stephan Pastis, whom I criticized for gilding the lily in his continuing ad nauseam weeklong theme of the Family Circus kids aging. His was a one-word message that I cannot print here. I responded with a two-word message that I cannot print here. We continued the conversation on the phone, graduating to entire phrases and dependent clauses.
I do have to say that the overreaching obnoxious weenieface wrapped up the series brilliantly today.
Gene Weingarten: Okay, I received five e-mails from people pointing out that the murder at Altamont did not occur during "Sympathy for the Devil." Unfortunately, the five readers were in disagreement about which song was being performed. We had two votes for "Under My Thumb," one for "Jumping Jack Flash," one for "Brown Sugar," and one for "Gimme Shelter."
I was wrong. Though "Sympathy for the Devil" was in the set, the murder occurred during "Under My Thumb."
Elsewhere in I Was Wrong news -- which isn't news, really -- Dave Scocca writes in to point out that it's just possible that Don McLean was not in error when he wrote "broncin' buck." Although no dictionary I have found contains "bronc" as a verb, you can find it on a few web sites dealing with raising and riding broncos. It seems to be an elastic word used to mean "raising broncos" or "riding broncos" or "the bucking of broncos."
Did Don know this when he wrote the song? Dunno. But we shall give him the benefit of the doubt.
300 ft. from the Beach: I'm surprised your analysis of "American Pie" didn't mention Vietnam at all. I think the lyrics allude to the war several times, sometimes more directly than others.
For example, the refrain (and title of the song itself) are about soldiers who know they may die in battle a long way from home, possibly in the levees of Vietnam.
The "confusion" near the end of the song evokes the chaos of anti-war protests, as the civil order of Buddy Holly's America falls apart. The "players" trying to take the field are the protestors, representing a growing majority of Americans. The "marching band" that refuses to yield is the out-of-control military of the day. (It's interesting that the word "marching" is used twice to segue from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper to the real military, but I don't think it's intended as a knock against the fab four.)
Personally, I think this aspect gives the song much of its poignancy -- it's a song about the dissolution of the American concensus, not just a song about rock 'n' roll.
Gene Weingarten: Those famous levees of Vietnam? With Chevys driving up to them?
I just don't think so. I don't buy the similar argument that follows, either.
Takoma Park, Md.: "American Pie" dissection:
I think the dominant theme of the fourth section is the war in Vietnam -- a huge issue during the "American Pie" time period not otherwise addressed in the song. The "players" are the National Guard troops at Kent State. I recognize that the marching band earlier in the section represents the Beatles (sergeants as in Sgt. Pepper). The "marching band" that "refused to yield" sounds like the students protesting the war that were shot by the NG at Kent State or perhaps the antiwar movement in general. What was revealed that day at Kent State in 1970?
The "players" might also refer to soldiers in Vietnam. Football ("forward pass") and war share a lot of terminology -- "bomb," "blitz," "shotgun," "bullet," and others made famous by George Carlin. "Birds" could doubly mean the Air Force bombers dropping bombs (napalm "landed foul on the grass"?).
McLean ironically sets the sergeants and the marching band (antiwar protestors) against the players (soldiers or guard troops).
No, they don't all fit perfectly but it makes sense to me.
Gene Weingarten: You guys are speaking so positively about something that is really stretchy. These interpretations require far more assumptions than I am making.
American Pie: I like your analysis. I have two comments.
"Do you recall what was revealedThe day the music died?"
I think what was "revealed" was our mortality. The song is about rock and roll, which is, primarily, a medium of the young and indestructible (us aging baby boomers notwithstanding). If the first "day the music died" is the death of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, all young men, what was "revealed" was that we, too, were mortal.
I think the closing of the "sacred store" is a reference to the Philmore East in New York closing on June 27, 1971. Heading "for the coast" would then refer to the music scene going out to San Francisco (the West coast, which many easterners referred to as "the coast," even though we actually lived on a coast ouselves) to the Philmore West, which closed on July 4, 1971, for its blow out, five day final concert.
Gene Weingarten: Both points are reasonable, considering when the song was writ. Fillmore, not Philmore.
American Pie, USA: Years ago I had a friend who was a DJ. He told me, in confidence, that the greatest reason DJs play "American Pie" is so that they can go take a crap (as the song is so long). I am incapable of listening to this song since without picturing the DJ in the bathroom. It's the pooping song.
Gene Weingarten: I think we can "end" with this.
Washington, D.C.: I am an ER doctor, and you may be interested to hear that "to bronc" is in fact a verb in the medical field. It is jargon meaning "to perform a bronchoscopy", i.e. putting a fiberoptic scope down the trachea and into the bronchi (the large airways in the lungs) (I guess technically it should be spelled "bronch"). Anyway, whenever I hear that lyric in "American Pie," I picture a Doogie-ish pulmonologist putting scopes down people's windpipes whether they need it or not, while female ancillary medical personnel coo adoringly. I'm going to go ahead and admit that most people probably don't share this interpretation, and it's probably not what Don McLean had in mind. But the philosophical school of I-forget-what-it's-called states that the meaning of a piece of art is whatever the receiver interprets it to be, so the hell with Don McLean and everybody else.
Gene Weingarten: It's called the Intentional Fallacy. If you were talking about insertion of a penile catheter, though, it would be the Intentional Phallusy.
Gene Weingarten: Speaking of which, I do want to thank the more than three dozen people who each exclusively alerted me to the rather startling aptonym in paragraph six here.
Gene Weingarten: Thanks to Patrick Murray for notifying me about the nice aptonym in a story from Durham, N.C. The story is about an ice cream store named the Marble Slab Creamery. It is owned by Mike and Lisa Fatfat.
Gene Weingarten: And the Higgledy Piggledies keep coming in. Here's a good one from Peter Owen --
Artistry-FartistryAmateuristically,Weingarten parses theBye Bye Pie song.
Gene Weingarten: And lastly, I don't recall what prompted this anecdote from Maureen Frank, but I love it:
I was employed by the USAF years ago and was a technician. I worked on analog radios, among other things. Some of the operators of this equipment were Marines and had gotten a new officer in as their OIC.
He was pretty green and they were determined to "ping" him -- little practical jokes that are designed to make someone look foolish. We received a trouble call that a radio would not work in "Official" mode. I went out with my Sergeant to check it out, since this was a new one on us. When we got there, the officer (poor first Lieutenant) took us to a radio and ran it through its various frequencies/bands, showing us how it worked in UHF, VHF, FM, etc. Then, he turned it to its final setting, and said, "See? Nothing in Official mode!". My Sergeant got very red in the face and nodded to indicate that I should handle this one, then walked off the floor and left me there. He did NOT want to laugh in this very large Marine's face. I said, as gently as I could, that the radio was functioning properly and we don't generally expect it to do much of anything when it's turned "OFF." The Lieutenant then got very embarrassed and turned to his operators, all of whom were on the verge of tears, choking back their laughter. I asked to be dismissed, received the okay, and ducked for cover.
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So, Three Guerrillas Walk Into a Bar . . .
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BEIRUT -- With a bit of fortitude and loads of wit, there are laughs to be had, even in wartime.
Barely a week into a war that sent the hopes of many Lebanese tumbling down with their bridges, buildings and roads, stunned civilians trapped in the crossfire started trading self-deprecating gags about their situation.
As sad as the tales of death and the exodus of 1 million people displaced from their homes into empty schools and government buildings have been, the Lebanese have found ways to make light of their own plight.
As one joke has it, residents fleeing the Shiite suburbs of Beirut were flashing the victory sign -- to indicate that only two buildings were still left standing.
It was followed by excited speculation that real estate values in the poor neighborhood of Ain al-Rummaneh, a crowded cluster of aging buildings overlooking the southern suburbs, had shot up by 50 percent. Why? It now has a sea view.
People are petrified of honoring their dental appointments out of fear they may have bridgework done, goes another favorite. So contagious have these stories been that in one refugee center, Marwa Saad, 15, whose family was driven out by fierce fighting near the southern market town of Nabatiyeh, did not dare utter a word without covering her mouthful of braces.
"Everyone keeps teasing me; they bully me to keep my mouth shut so we don't get hit by Israeli jets," she said about her friends, giggling with her hand to her mouth.
Another story has Haifa Wehbe, the curvaceous bombshell of Lebanese music videos, dispatched by the Hezbollah leadership to Israel to conduct negotiations. She returns pregnant. When confronted about her condition, the anecdote goes, Wehbe insisted she was only trying to help: "I thought I would get you another small hostage."
Some jokes target the Syrians for causing the crisis by allowing arms to flow to Hezbollah and pressuring the Lebanese government to let the group keep its arms. One joke says the Israelis cannot aim at the Syrian inhabitants of Homs. Why? Because the Israelis only have smart bombs.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is also the butt of some humor. The elderly women of the Christian neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh regard Nasrallah as their new idol and sex symbol, goes one line, because he has taken them back 40 years.
Another joke extols Nasrallah, saying he is now worthy of a statue since he managed to put the entire Shiite Muslim community, with its high rate of illiteracy, in schools.
The most popular joke about this round of war in Lebanon is crafted around a fictitious Archie Bunker-like figure who is a fumbling caricature of all the failings of the Lebanese. During 30 years of war, jokes about the character, Abul Abed, have carried many a social event into the early morning hours with thigh-slapping, fall-off-the-chair laughter.
The latest installment recounts how Abul Abed calls Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and boasts that he has four neighborhood thugs who will really make life difficult for Israeli soldiers if they dare venture north of the border. Olmert laughs and says that just one Israeli brigade could overrun his whole neighborhood in hours. "I'll get back to you," barks Abul Abed.
When he calls Tel Aviv again, Abul Abed threatens to collect every bar bouncer, alley hoodlum and thug from Tyre to Tripoli to fend off the Israeli assault. Olmert simply tells him that he will send the air force, naval fleet and ground forces to invade. "I'll call you after I have conferred with my generals," Abul Abed says confidently.
He calls back boasting to Olmert that he has now collected thousands of followers of the Abul Abed Movement who are ready with shoulder-mounted rockets like the Mujahedeen of Afghanistan. Olmert whistles facetiously: "You will be no match for the 2 million Israeli soldiers massed along the border, ready to attack."
"Two million?" asks Abul Abed. "In that case I am going to have to surrender. We simply do not have enough room to keep 2 million hostages."
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BEIRUT -- With a bit of fortitude and loads of wit, there are laughs to be had, even in wartime.
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Bush Says U.S. Safer But Far From Secure
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President Bush said yesterday he has made the nation safer but warned that it remains threatened by terrorists, accelerating an election-year debate over his leadership in the global fight against Islamic extremists five years after the attacks of Sept. 11.
Bush touted his accomplishments in a visit to the National Counterterrorism Center a week after British authorities broke up what they called a major plot to blow up airliners bound for the United States. But former president Bill Clinton accused Republicans of using the reported plot for political purposes and questioned Bush's national security priorities.
The back and forth illustrated the emotional punch of the terrorism issue as both parties head into fall campaigns with Bush's popular standing lagging and GOP control of Congress at stake. Republicans have argued successfully to voters in the last two election cycles that they do a better job fighting terrorists, but polls have shown a sharp drop in faith in their handling of the issue. The White House believes the reported London plot offers an opportunity to remind voters that the danger from terrorism remains stark, while Democrats see an opportunity to argue that the Iraq war has distracted from the hunt for al-Qaeda.
"America is safer than it has been. But it's not yet safe," Bush said during a break in five hours of briefings at the center. "The enemy has got an advantage when it comes to attacking our homeland. They've got to be right one time, and we've got to be right a hundred percent of the time to protect the American people."
Clinton, who generally refrains from criticizing Bush by name, said Republicans have been "trying to play politics" with the London arrests. "They seem to be anxious to tie it to al-Qaeda," he told ABC News. "If that's true, how come we've got seven times as many troops in Iraq as in Afghanistan? Why has the administration and congressional leadership consistently opposed adequate checks on cargo containers at ports and airports?"
Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said Bush has not done enough to keep the United States safe. "Five years after 9/11, al-Qaeda has morphed into a global franchise operation, terror attacks have increased sharply across the world, and the president has shut down the program designed to catch Osama bin Laden," Reid said.
The White House took issue. "President Clinton, I know, is sort of committing some politics here and accusing Republicans in so doing," spokesman Tony Snow said. "But I'll tell you what -- I think in the same position he'd be looking at the same options." Asked about Clinton's contention that the administration is not doing enough to go after al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Snow said: "He doesn't know what we're doing to go after al-Qaeda. Period. He doesn't know."
Vice President Cheney accused Democrats of "defeatism," citing the victory of antiwar candidate Ned Lamont over Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary last week. "What these Democrats are pushing now is the very kind of retreat that has been tried in the past," Cheney said at a Phoenix fundraiser. "It is contrary to our values, it would betray our friends, and it would only heighten the danger to the United States."
While the president asserted that the nation is safer, the public remains split. A Newsweek poll found that 50 percent think Americans are safer from terrorism today than before Sept. 11, 2001, while 47 percent said they are not safer. The same poll found that 55 percent approve of Bush's handling of terrorism and that Republicans have a five-percentage-point edge over Democrats on the issue.
Bush's visit to the National Counterterrorism Center, which aides said was scheduled long before the London arrests, took him to the heart of his government's interagency attack on radicals. The president attended sessions in the operations center conference room at a huge wooden table with pop-up computer terminals and drop-down video screens, where he was briefed by officials such as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Bush toured the operations center and made a point of walking into side alcoves where the FBI and CIA have staffs apart from the melded threat analysts on the main floor. Then, appearing before cameras, Bush thanked them for helping to break up the reported plot in Britain.
That, he said, "really is indicative of the challenge we face, not only this week but this year and the years to come, because the United States of America is engaged in a war against an extremist group of folks bound together by an ideology, willing to use terror to achieve their objectives."
Staff writer Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.
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Up Close And Too Personal
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She is already the most heavily scrutinized, psychoanalyzed and gossiped-about anchor in network history, and she hasn't yet uttered a single "good evening" on a CBS newscast.
Katie Couric's wardrobe has been analyzed by the Wall Street Journal, her makeup assailed in USA Today, her dating life examined by Parade magazine, her fitness for nightly news duty debated by columnists, cable combatants, bloggers and bloviators.
"I'm really focused on work and trying to tune the other stuff out, because it could potentially drive you absolutely out of your mind," Couric says in a conference room down the hall from the new set being constructed for her Sept. 5 debut.
When she takes the helm of the "CBS Evening News," Couric's challenge to NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charlie Gibson will mark the first such three-way showdown since Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings initially went at it in the early 1980s. But the media landscape has shifted dramatically since then, leaving this trio fighting for a shrinking slice of the audience and increasingly taking their battle online.
Because Couric is both the first woman to serve as a solo nightly news anchor and a big-time celebrity, some are casting her debut as the biggest event of the fall television season. After 15 years as a popular morning personality at NBC, she is armed with some new ideas -- including a regular soapbox segment for advocates and activists-- to jazz up an evening news format that sometimes seems set in concrete.
After conducting town meetings in a half-dozen cities last month, Couric concluded that "people are hungry" for more positive stories. She is, for example, working on a piece about an Alexandria foundation that teaches juvenile delinquents how to build boats and helps them get high school equivalency degrees.
"Sometimes when you watch the evening news, it's all gloom and doom -- and some of it has to be, because the world is a complicated and pretty scary place right now," says Couric, 49. "But there has to be a place for more hopeful stories."
But, she adds, "it's not going to be smiley-face happy news."
What viewers want is a constant topic of discussion among the staffs of the evening newscasts, which still reach a combined 25 million viewers but have seen their share of the total audience gradually decline for nearly three decades. Whether Couric can revive interest in the genre is the focus of considerable debate.
Williams, who has occupied first place since succeeding Brokaw at "NBC Nightly News" 21 months ago, calls her a "great communicator" who "brings to the job an already established personal relationship with millions of viewers. She will be formidable competition, no ifs, ands or buts. . . . Like any product launch in the marketing world, an introduction is going to get sampling. I think that dies down rather quickly."
But Williams, 47, sees no need to tinker with his newscast, saying: "We're the established industry leader."
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NEW YORK, Aug. 14 She is already the most heavily scrutinized, psychoanalyzed and gossiped-about anchor in network history, and she hasn't yet uttered a single "good evening" on a CBS newscast.
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It Came From the DVD Bin
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Anyone who has visited popular "Snakes on a Plane" Web sites like snakesonablog.com knows that the movie contains a line of dialogue originally demanded by Internet fans: "I've had it with these mother [bleeping] snakes on this mother [bleeping] plane!" In the spirit of that already famous line, I also highlighted the memorable one-liners in each of the following films, quips that could easily sneak their way into the mainstream if enough people check out these DVDs. Trust me: Even the B-movie-watching wisenheimers at Mystery Science Theater 3000 couldn't squeeze more camp value out of some of these stellar sentences.
Monster High (R, $14.94): Originally released in 1989 and now on DVD for the first time, this hilarious high school spoof takes all the conventional trappings of the tired genre and turns them on their head with a quick, wry wit. The normal lives of jocks, stoners, nerds and all the other teen horror archetypes are disrupted when a metallic-sequin-sporting, cocktail-sipping "Mr. Armageddon" comes to town with orders to end Earth's existence. As the opening theme makes clear, this doomsday with legs has "got a taste for making human bouillabaisse." Get past the first 10 shaky minutes and you'll be enthralled as "completely average" student Norm Median convinces Mr. Armageddon to rest Earth's fate on the outcome of a high school basketball game in which the school squad challenges a crew of bumbling zombies, mutants and mummies. Meanwhile, Norm and Mr. Armageddon scramble for the favor of a French exchange student, which leads to the protagonist's pitch-perfect delivery of the film's best Cult One-Liner: "He's not only ending the world, he's hitting on girls, too; I've got to stop him."
Tales from the Crypt: The Complete Fourth Season (Not Rated, $39.98): The fourth season of HBO's comic book-based half-hour horror series features Brad Pitt as a drag racer, Timothy Dalton as a werewolf hunter and contributions from directorial heavyweights such as Tom Hanks, Richard Donner and William Freidkin. Freidkin's throwaway episode, about a rock singer who gets inked with a killer tattoo, should have been destroyed. Still, the season, which originally aired in 1992, contains slightly more hits than misses among its 14 episodes, and the Crypt Keeper's pun stockpile hasn't diminished. The highlight is the campy yet creepy "What's Cookin'?"-- which features the surprising one-two-three acting punch of Christopher Reeve, Judd Nelson and Meat Loaf. Channeling "Sweeney Todd" with a side of "Soylent Green," Reeve's all-squid restaurant fails until it finds a new menu option that turns Meat Loaf into meat loaf. Judd Nelson's waiter character rationalizes the disgusting new entree with this gem of a Cult One-Liner: "It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and we're all just different flavors of Alpo."
Homecoming (Not Rated, $16.98): Made for Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series, Joe Dante ("Gremlins," "The Howling") directs this unabashedly leftist, controversial propaganda pic wrapped in zombie romp packaging. In "Homecoming," military men rise from the grave with one goal: to vote for anyone who will end an unpopular war. Dante definitely thumps his anti-combat drum to the point where one is inclined to yell, "I get it" at the DVD player. However, "Homecoming" is delightfully subversive when coyly skewering the hypocrisies of radical right-wing pundits; a thinly-veiled Ann Coulter replica is all for letting undead soldiers vote until it becomes clear that dead men don't vote Republican. Wielding a shotgun, the Coulter-esque character delivers the movie's most memorable Cult One-Liner: "We are definitely not giving up to a bunch of crippled, stinkin', maggot-infested, brain-dead zombie dissidents!"
The Best of Tromadance, Vol. 4 (Not Rated, $14.98): For the past seven years, Tromadance has dwelled in the shadows of Park City, Utah, taking place at the same time as the more "respectable" Sundance Film Festival. Tromadance falls under the direction of Lloyd Kaufman, who founded Troma Studios in 1974 with Michael Herz and has served as an inspiration to indie directors worldwide. Best known for 1985's "The Toxic Avenger" and Trey Parker's pre-South Park "Cannibal! The Musical," Troma has been turning out low-budget, cult horror-satires for more than 30 years. Many supplant story with blood and boobs, a tough sell for general audiences. Having said that, "The Best of Tromadance, Vol. 4" suggests that the offbeat Troma style may be best suited to the short form. Among the 14 brief films are fatuous vignettes ("Violin" features a CGI musician playing the "butt violin"), mindless gore fests ("Le Bagman" is essentially an extended killing spree), and the occasional thought-provoker (the loneliness of being a "freak" is wonderfully explored in the black and white, silent "Nosferatu: The Friendly Vampire" and reprised in "976-LARS," in which a desperate man falls for a prostitute). The most intriguing Cult One-Liner comes not from the DVD itself, but from the contest entry form that accompanies it: "Enter to Be a Chicken Zombie in the new Troma movie 'Poultrygeist: Attack of the Chicken Zombies!'"
Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace (Not Rated, $14.95): While many viewers may find it hard to make it through this entire film in one sitting, the latest installment in the Harry Knuckles saga from Odessa Filmworks ("Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter") is the perfect cult party movie. One can tune in for just about any five-minute portion of this Canadian oddity and find something to laugh at. The plot is borderline incoherent: Harry Knuckles, whose jumpsuit and sweatband combo is reminiscent of old-school Beastie Boys, is hired to regain a necklace from the legendary Bigfoot. But Harry and his sidekick, Santos (part luchador, part casanova) eventually realize the necklace is best kept with the rather friendly Sasquatch (which is actually some kind of bionic yeti that requires the necklace to power its computer mainframe -- yeah, it's best not to think too much about it). There's also a cameo from the aforementioned Lloyd Kaufman. "Plot" aside, the real fun lies in all the characters Harry and Santos encounter along the way, including a virtual reality leopard woman, killer nuns and heavy metal hooligans. The completely ludicrous action sequences are rife with (intentionally) poorly-dubbed dialogue. In one such scene, Harry uses a pair of fish to take out a villain, which leads to the film's best Cult One-Liner: "Smells like fish. Tastes like pain."
The Naked Monster (Not Rated, $19.99): With "The Naked Monster," writer/producer/co-director Ted Newsom wanted to build a '50s-style B-movie in 2005. He succeeded. This monster movie homage borrows a heaping handful of schlock-laced '50s and '60s film footage with little care for continuity while the titular monster (so non-threatening it could be a child's stuffed animal) wanders around in a world it doesn't understand. The cast knows just how far into their cheeks to stick their tongues, especially the late Kenneth Tobey, whose cult credentials trace back to the 1951 B-movie classic, "The Thing." Tobey reprises his old tough guy shtick with relish in this, the last credit of his long career. The best sequence features a torrent of Tobey's B-movie peers suggesting how humans might kill the big green monster, with a chuckle of a Cult One-Liner from the late Les Tremayne, who rehashes his "Gen. Mann" role from the original "War of the Worlds" here. "I know how to stop your monster," he says. "Poke sticks at it!" He then adds: "It worked for the slime people in '62." No matter how much money "Snakes on a Plane" rakes in, don't be surprised if it eventually finds its proper resting place on a shelf near these low-budget, high-camp creature features of yesteryear -- movies that "The Naked Monster" proves are gone, but not wholly forgotten.
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Got "Snakes" on the brain? Allow these cult DVDs to tide you over.
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The Art of Doing Nothing
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In Paris, you sit in the cafe, like Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Sitting in a cafe is one of the main activities in Paris. It's what Parisians do instead of working or jogging. They have a natural talent for it, the way Americans are good at going to the pool, grilling meat or driving interstate highways.
The crucial skill in a cafe is the ability to gear down, from second to first, and then down yet again to a special, Gallic gear that is nearly paralytic. It's a bit like being dead, but with better coffee.
The chairs in the cafes are lined up in rows, facing outward, toward the theater of Paris street life. Or perhaps it is the patrons who are on display. Their posture says: Here, look at us, full in the face, as we sit in the cafe so brilliantly, thinking our big French thoughts.
Like the other day, I was nursing an expensive thimble of wine in a cafe on the Rue de Something, near the Avenue des Whatevers, and to my immediate left sat a Frenchman in a pose so relaxed he might have been modeling for Toulouse-Lautrec. He was doing nothing, and doing it with panache. Between two fingers dangled a cigarette that remained lit even though he never did anything so animated as puff. It was hard to tell if he was truly drinking his glass of red wine; the level went down so slowly it may have been merely evaporating.
Why did he not try to achieve something? The cafe advertised WiFi, but no one had a laptop. This was not Starbucks. There was no American compulsion to multitask, to use the cafe as a caffeination station and broadband platform for another increment of accomplishment.
Conceivably I could have spoken to the Frenchman, but the language barrier is significant; I am afraid to attempt anything in French in a cafe lest it be incorrect both grammatically and existentially. Perhaps the Frenchman was dreaming up an elaborate sociohistorical theory, positing that human civilization has been in decline since the invention of the croissant. Or perhaps he was just enjoying the Latin Quarter, a section so old that I am pretty sure its residents still speak in Latin. The nearby Notre Dame Cathedral was built in the Middle Ages, when the European idea of comic relief was a stone gargoyle. Parisian commerce is quaint, which is to say, hopelessly inefficient, requiring that shoppers pay the equivalent of a charm tax. You go to one little market to buy your cheese, another to buy your jalapenos, another to buy your corn chips, another to buy your salsa; only then can you make nachos.
I had an urge to blast the Frenchman out of his reverie. "Excuse me, I'm from Wal-Mart," I could say. "We're putting in a superstore right over yonder on the Rue Dauphine. Gonna kick some serious retail derriere, ya dig?" Then, as though he could hear me thinking, the enervated Frenchman finally did something: He looked at his cellphone. Action in the cafe! He didn't make a call, let's be clear on that, but he studied the cellphone. It dawned on me: He was going over all the speed-dial listings of his mistresses.
Now we're getting down to business. Sure, he ponders the big Frenchy thoughts as he camps in the front row of the cafe, but he's also scoping out the Parisian femmes, who are tres magnifique! That is French for "bodacious." These women tend to be slinky and stylish and sophisticated, and they make American women look, by contrast, as though they just fell off a hay wagon. The femmes have an air of saucy liberation. You can imagine that they are writing Volume 4 of their projected nine-volume encyclopedia on les artes erotiques. They're on the chapter about the webbing between the toes. That lovely muscle tone in the upper arms? That's from all the time they spend on the trapeze. (Conceivably this is a projection from the tourist's subconscious: We've seen those subtitled films where a layabout Frenchman does nothing but smoke cigarettes and all the women take off their clothes.)
Eventually, I reached the obvious conclusion that the man beside me was a professional sensualist. It's a job that doesn't exist in America outside of certain Zip codes in California. For the sensualist there are long recessions, even depressions, as the economy of romance goes into a dive. One sits in the cafe and hopes for an upturn in the market.
I sympathize: It's hard work. A grind, at times. But it sure beats the heck out of doing nothing.
Read Joel Achenbach weekdays at washingtonpost.com/achenblog.
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In Paris, you sit in the cafe, like Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Sitting in a cafe is one of the main activities in Paris. It's what Parisians do instead of working or jogging. They have a natural talent for it, the way Americans are good at going to the pool, grilling meat or driving interstate.
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Portis Will Miss Rest of Preseason
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Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis, who partially dislocated his left shoulder making a tackle in a preseason loss Sunday in Cincinnati, will miss the remainder of the preseason, and Coach Joe Gibbs said he was uncertain if Portis would be ready for the Sept. 11 season opener against the Minnesota Vikings at FedEx Field.
Portis arrived at Redskins Park in mid-morning yesterday, wearing a sling, and groggy from a sleepless night because, he said, of the discomfort. By noontime, he was on a plane with Director of Sports Medicine Bubba Tyer, bound for Birmingham and an appointment with James Andrews, a noted sports injury surgeon who is the Redskins' senior orthopedic consultant.
"I think the feeling from Dr. Andrews and everyone here that has looked at him is that it will be something that will be sore. As soon as we get the soreness out of there, we feel he can start rehabbing," Gibbs said. "We would hope he will be ready for the opener. It will be up to Clinton and everyone working with him, but that's generally what Dr. Andrews and the doctors here concur after seeing everything.
"Portis said during and after the game that he didn't believe he should have been on the field in the first place -- he was hurt on the eighth play -- stoking a debate on the risks of full-contact preseason games.
"There's no need to be angry. Anger's not going to bring it back," Portis said. "I still stand on I don't know why myself or any other player of my caliber would be playing in the preseason. I don't know what's the question. I think over the last four years, I've done enough to show the world I'm going to be ready for the season."
The injury to Portis, who rushed for a franchise record 1,516 yards last season, left Gibbs defending the Redskins' approach to training camp and the exhibition season. On the flight from Cincinnati, Gibbs and Portis talked about their positions, though Gibbs declined to provide details. After the game, Gibbs said he took responsibility for having Portis on the field.
"With preseason, we came to camp late. We've had no real contact in our camps," Gibbs said. "You'd like them to get started with some contact and get them in some type of groove. You always run a risk."
Portis was injured with 4 minutes 25 seconds left in the first quarter as he tackled Cincinnati cornerback Keiwan Ratliff, who had intercepted Mark Brunell and run 52 yards. At the Redskins 30, Portis launched himself awkwardly into Ratliff. Portis felt a jolt in his left shoulder upon impact and lay on the turf for several moments before walking off the field under his own power.
The technical term for his injury is a subluxation and, according to medical experts, it is considered a less severe injury than a dislocation. With a subluxation, the humerus bone slides back into the joint on its own and with rest and a reduction of swelling, the shoulder can remain intact. However, with a dislocation, the shoulder is out of its socket, and must be physically reset.
A key, experts said, is the health of the rotator cuff and the labrum, two key parts of the shoulder. If there is damage to the rotator cuff, the shoulder is more likely to slide easily out of the joint. A healthy rotator cuff will provide enough support to keep the shoulder from popping out.
"The shoulder is a funny thing," said Jose Yasul, sports medicine supervisor at the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, Calif. "You have to look at it like placing a softball on a plate. The ball represents the top of the humerus. The plate is the shoulder socket. When the ball stays in or around the center of the plate, you have normal motion. When it rolls to the edge of the plate, that's a subluxation. When it rolls completely off the plate, that's a dislocation."
In either case, Portis's shoulder is loose, and susceptible. Gibbs said the Redskins have not opted for surgery because they believe rest can reduce the inflammation and allow a faster return.
"We have a great medical staff with a lot of resources," Gibbs said. "We sent guys wherever they need to go, and the first thing I tell people, and I told Clinton, 'the most important thing for you is what's best for you.' "
Portis's injury, while potentially devastating, was heightened by an injury to his backup, Ladell Betts. Betts, who has been nursing a sore hamstring, made the trip to Cincinnati but took himself out of the lineup the day before the game.
"He just didn't feel good. He just didn't feel comfortable," Gibbs said Sunday night. "I talked to him [Saturday] and he said, 'Hey, I haven't really tested it.' So when someone tells you something like that, I kind of felt like the best thing to do was to keep him out."
Over the first two weeks of camp, Betts has been an intermittent but promising participant in practice, and suddenly the running back position has become a trouble spot. In addition to Portis and Betts, running back Jesse Lumsden, whom the Redskins have liked in camp, did not make the trip to Cincinnati with a hip flexor.
Although Betts is slowed by hamstring trouble, he also has a strong supporter in associate head coach Al Saunders, who believes Betts can be a surprise impact player. In four seasons, Betts has appeared in 48 of 64 games. He played in all 16 once, in 2004.
"This is why you have to have depth," said Redskins cornerback Shawn Springs, his own groin injury part of the reason the Redskins traded last night for cornerback Mike Rumph. "It's why you have Ladell and Rock [Cartwright]. You don't want to ever see this kind of stuff happen, especially in a preseason game."
Special correspondent Rich Campbell contributed to this report.
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Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis, who partially dislocated his left shoulder making a tackle in a preseason loss Sunday in Cincinnati, will miss the remainder of the preseason, and Coach Joe Gibbs said he was uncertain if Portis would be ready for the Sept. 11 season opener against...
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Kornheiser, Not Yet in Game Shape On 'MNF'
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Tony Kornheiser played it safe in his "Monday Night Football" announcing debut last night, making few missteps but offering little for the highlight reel. It wasn't exactly clear at times why he was there at all.
It's still early, as the coaches like to say. But on the basis of his first preseason game, Kornheiser, the Post sports columnist and co-host of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption," wasn't many of the things that ESPN hired him for. He wasn't especially witty, provocative or insightful in calling the Raiders' 16-13 win over the Vikings from the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
It was enough to make one yearn for Dennis Miller, the comedian whose star-crossed tenure as a "Monday Night Football" analyst in 2000-01 was at least marked by a certain danger, a whiff of the unexpected, or the just plain loony.
Kornheiser mostly spluttered, typically emphasizing the obvious and playing third fiddle to his more experienced mike mates, play-by-play man Mike Tirico and fellow color analyst Joe Theismann.
"You fumble a kickoff on a nationally televised game on the opening kickoff, you want to crawl into a hole!" he offered on the very first play.
"These are not good numbers tonight, are they?" he asked at one point as the passing statistics for Aaron Brooks, the Raiders quarterback, flashed on-screen. Given that Brooks was 0-for-4 passing at the time, the question was either needlessly rhetorical or hopelessly naive.
Hyping next Monday night's game (with a full 3 1/2 quarters still to play in the one he was announcing), he offered, "Reggie Bush is the kind of player people will pay money to see!"
Of course this was a hugely meaningless preseason game, even by the standards of meaningless preseason games. The Raiders-Vikings contest had a few hypeable story lines -- former Minnesota star receiver Randy Moss playing against his old teammates, a new coach for the Vikings -- but all that was dispensed with after about 10 minutes. The game had even less moment than the usual "Monday Night Football" preseason kickoff, the Hall of Fame game from Canton, Ohio (the game and venue in which Miller got off perhaps the best one-liner of his short-lived "MNF" career: "Ironically enough, you can't find any good Cantonese food in Canton").
Kornheiser is the first to admit he's no matinee idol, but he looked oddly washed out under the TV lights (this may explain why ESPN had close-ups of Tirico and Theismann, as well as sideline reporters Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber, but not Kornheiser). Some unsolicited advice: Tony, get a tan.
Kornheiser's challenge is to translate his familiar "PTI" personality -- opinionated, sarcastic, bombastic, a little curmudgeonly -- into the announcing booth. That's a tough assignment. Sarcasm can sound mean in the wrong hands. Tougher still, Kornheiser doesn't have Michael Wilbon, his fellow Post sports columnist and "PTI" co-host, in the booth with him. "PTI" is watchable primarily because of the verbal fireworks and good-natured banter between the two.
On "MNF," Kornheiser's foil is Theismann, who -- and let's be charitable to a Redskins legend -- is kind of a stiff. Kornheiser should be bouncing off of him like a Superball. Theismann is plainly knowledgeable about the game but often goes off on his own personal lecture circuit. He's also so smug and pretentious -- did he mention that he used to play the game? Oh, yes, about 12 times -- that he invites deflation. All this could be a good thing, at least from Kornheiser's perspective. Sticking the pin in the Theismann blimp could create some nice tension from week to week.
To his or ESPN's credit, Kornheiser seems to understand the value of a good argument. Getting into one is the problem. Kornheiser did seem to loosen up somewhat as the game wore on, waving red flags at Theismann and drawing him into brief verbal exchanges.
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Debuting on Monday Night Football, Tony Kornheiser is uncharacteristically passive, playing third fiddle to more experienced mike mates Mike Tirico, right, and Joe Theismann, while offering little of the insight or sarcasm he is known for.
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For GOP, Bad Gets Worse in Northeast
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PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. -- When it comes to President Bush and the Republican Congress, Rep. Jim Gerlach says voters in his suburban Philadelphia district are in a "sour mood."
That's why when it comes to his reelection, the two-term incumbent says "the name of the game" is to convince those same voters that he can be independent of his own party. He has turned his standard line about Bush -- "When I think he's wrong, I let him know" -- into a virtual campaign slogan, repeated in interviews and TV ads.
"It is a combination of things, from the war in Iraq to gas prices to what they are experiencing in their local areas," Gerlach said of the surly electorate whose decision he will know on Nov. 7.
The Iraq war and Bush's low approval ratings have created trouble for Republicans in all regions. But nowhere is the GOP brand more scuffed than in the Northeast, where this year's circumstances are combining with long-term trends to endanger numerous incumbents.
Sounding very much like Gerlach, state Sen. Raymond Meier, a Republican running for an open seat in Upstate New York, observed: "People around here are anxious and concerned not just about the national state of affairs, but also their personal state of affairs. As a Republican candidate, the challenge is to show you have even a clue about what their lives are like."
Also sounding very much like Gerlach is Rep. Rob Simmons. His eastern Connecticut seat is the most Democratic-leaning district in the country still held by a Republican. "My friend calls me Salmon Simmons . . . because I am always swimming upstream" against a Democratic current, he said.
Last week's defeat of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut moderate who has supported the Iraq war, in the Democratic primary gave Republicans a vivid look at some of the same angry currents likely to buffet them this fall. A Washington-Post ABC News poll this month found Bush's approval rating at 28 percent in the Northeast -- 12 points below his national average. The Republican Congress fared no better.
Republican losses in the region could echo well beyond the 2006 campaign. Because much of the region is tilting Democratic, history suggests Republicans would find it hard to recapture seats once lost.
That is why GOP operatives in Washington are alarmed not just about Gerlach's predicament, but about that of two congressional neighbors in suburban Philadelphia: Reps. Michael G. Fitzpatrick and Curt Weldon, both in tough districts.
In Connecticut, Republican Reps. Nancy L. Johnson and Christopher Shays -- like Simmons -- are in highly competitive contests. And several New York Republicans are facing their most difficult reelection fights ever.
One reason Republicans understand the risk is that they were beneficiaries of a strikingly similar regional upheaval a decade ago.
Before the 1994 elections, when Republicans won control of the House for the first time in 40 years, Democrats held dozens of Southern districts in which the electorate had been gradually growing more conservative. That year, Republicans picked up 20 of those Southern seats, including several held by Democratic incumbents who -- like Northeast Republicans today -- tried to distance themselves from an unpopular White House and Congress controlled by their party.
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PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. -- When it comes to President Bush and the Republican Congress, Rep. Jim Gerlach says voters in his suburban Philadelphia district are in a "sour mood."
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Science: Air Pollution and the Environment
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In Monday's Science Page feature, she reports on new findings that show government scientists underestimated the amount of pollutants generated annually by diesel trains: Research has linked soot and smog to premature heart attacks as well as lung disease and childhood asthma, leading environmental activists to argue that the government has no choice but to impose tighter rules on locomotives.
Read the rest of the story: Attention to Locomotives' Emissions Renewed (Post, Aug. 14, 2006).
Kensington, Md.: I'm curious how the emissions from gasoline-powered lawnmowers compare to those of other sources. I understand that mowers have no emission controls whatsoever, yet this source of pollutants (and greenhouse gases) is seldom mentioned by the media. There are alternatives - electric and push/reel mowers - but people may not be aware that the gas ones are a problem.
Juliet Eilperin: This is an excellent question: gas-powered lawnmowers are a signficant source of pollution, and Congress has been fighting for a while over whether to require manufacturers to put catalytic converters on them in order to cut down on pollution. Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), whose state boasts a major manufacturer of lawnmower engines, has been able to block such rules in the past, but it's an ongoing source of debate. California, which under the Clean Air Act can go beyond the federal government in cutting down on air pollution, is moving ahead with new regulations for lawnmowers.
Brunswick, Md.: As a commuter that lives in Brunswick, where a major train yard exists that services commuters from Frederick County and the West Virginia Panhandle, how concerned should I be about this? I ride the train into DC from Brunswick every day and live only 1/4 mile from the train yard. Needless to say, this article definitely caught my eye.
Juliet Eilperin: Well, I don't want anyone to panic because of my piece, but I think it's fair to say you are more exposed to air pollution than folks who live further away from the railyard. A spokesman from the American Association of Railroads told me that his members are working on ways to cut down on the idling trains do at railyards: that's a major source of railyard-related pollution. Chicago has a pilot project aimed at testing this new technology.
Los Angeles, Calif.: Isn't it true that if enough soot gets into the atmosphere, maybe it will block the sun and we can reverse global warming?
Juliet Eilperin: You've referenced an interesting development in climate science: some researchers are looking at how soot in the atmosphere blocks the sun's rays and in doing so, reduces the impact of global warming. Unfortunately, policy makers have a strong incentive to reduce soot because of its impact on public health, so I don't think we'll be relying on this effect in the years to come.
Thane, India: Pollution is everybody's problem and hence it has become nobody's problem...The chaos now is due to a lack of Governmental initiatives or true willingness of all the people/establishments involved...
An approach to solve the problem could be a Public Private Partnership (PPP)where the findings of the Government Scientists could be analysed by an independant body of scientific community.
The delay in setting the priorities right is a cause for alarm... We need to get the willpower from the Governments worldwide to ascertain on the matter...This can be done by the media alone and effectively.
Thanks for allowing me to participate/comment on the problem.
Juliet Eilperin: You're very welcome. I think policy makers and activists across the globe are becoming more open to the idea of creating international alliances in order to deal with air pollution, since people are become more aware of how this pollution can travel across wide distances.
Arlington, Va.: My husband and I are planning to have children, and are concerned about the poor air quality in DC. A number of colleagues and friends in the area have children with asthma or respiratory problems. Are the incidences of these childhood diseases higher in the DC Area, or does it just seem that way? What can we do to reduce our childrens' exposure to smog and other pollutants? (e.g. are certain times of day worse than others to be outdoors, etc.) Thank you!
Juliet Eilperin: I don't know the precise answer in terms of childhood asthma rates in DC, though it's certainly true that DC's air quality fails to meet federal standards. As a native Washingtonian, I would hate to tell anyone to move away from DC-you could check with a local environmental group, or call the DC government's information hotline and I'm sure they could tell you the answer. I would say you might want to avoid moving to California's Central Valley, where there is serious air pollution and the childhood asthma rates are four times higher than the national average.
Clifton, Va.: Hello, thanks for doing this chat on this vital issue. Can you refer me to studies on the long-term health effects of exposure to smog? The current standards for 8-hour exceedences for severe/moderate non-attainment can mean that only a few days of smog puts a community in non-compliance. Some years ago, I was trying to convince some (conservative) local politicians on the health effects of smog, since the DC region is in non-compliance. The meta-studies I found said that during exposure, lung function decreased, but recovered shortly thereafter.
I was disappointed, because I was hoping the smog issue could help us get ahold of our traffic challenge here! (I used to say, "clean cars and clean engines mean we'll be stuck in traffic in clean cars", and strove to achieve other traffic management strategies.)
I have devoted the last 25 years of my professional life to environmental protection, but/and try to be scrupulous about truly "good science" - not that political term meaning, if you can't prove it don't regulate it. I know that soot/particulate matter has proven long-term health effects, but I want to learn more about smog. Texas A&M had some good meta-studies.
Juliet Eilperin: The American Lung Association would probably be the best place to get information on this issue, since they've been quite active in collecting the relevant scientific studies when it comes to pollution and health effects. Alternatively, you could check with the group Environmental Defense, which is based in New York but has a DC office as well.
Washington, D.C.: So if I live in DC's exurbs, I shouldn't drive because that's bad for pollution, and now I shouldn't take VRE or MARC because they idle and cause pollution? Maybe I should just walk. I think I'll get to work in about a day.
Juliet Eilperin: Well, you could move closer to DC so you could bike or walk, the revival of urban areas is really one of the keys to cutting down on pollution. (My colleague Michael Grunwald wrote about this in the Outlook section on August 6.) And trains are still more fuel effecient and less polluting than trucks and buses right now, it's just that once the new federal diesel rules take full effect in 2030, trains will be behind unless they, too, will be subject to stricter rules. I have a sense that they will be.
Memphis, Tenn.: Hi Juliet! I'm the Air Quality Coordinator for Memphis and Shelby County, Tenn. I'm so glad that you are hosting this forum on diesel emissions from trains. What are the best voluntary reduction programs/projects available for railroad? Memphis has all five of the major railroads in town, and we are going to get more, so finding a way to reduce their impact is important! Thanks!!
Juliet Eilperin: Nice to hear from you-I'm a fan of Memphis, so I'm glad to hear you're on the case. I'm not sure what are all the various voluntary projects, but I'm sure the Environmental Protection Agency keeps track of these-as I mentioned earlier in the chat, I do know of a pilot program in Chicago. If not I would bet you could find out more from the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators/ Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials-William Becker is their executive director, and they're based in Washington DC.
Berkeley Springs, W.Va.: I was wondering if there are any plans for alternative fuel trains in the future?
Juliet Eilperin: I know that train engine manufacturers, such as General Electric, have been developing cleaner engines, but I believe these still use diesel. I'm not sure if they've explored powering locomotives with alternative fuels, it's a good question.
Washington, D.C.: Has there been any response to these findings from other countries that rely more on trains, or have most already taken measures to keep their engines running cleaner?
Juliet Eilperin: I'm not sure about that, but I know some countries, such as Switzerland, have recently adopted transportation policies that emphasize trains over trucks and buses. It's a question that's worth exploring.
Silver Spring, Md.: I heard that air pollution is one of the leading causes of water pollution. Can you verify that and, if so, what are the most important steps we should take to minimize air pollution's impact on the Chesapeake Bay?
Juliet Eilperin: It's true that nitrogen oxide emissions, which come from trains, cars, trucks and buses, contribute to water pollution once they come down from the atmosphere in the form of precipitation. It's also true that some of the excess nitrogen in our waterways, including the Bay, stem from fertilizer that farmers use. So I think most experts think you need to work on several fronts to reduce the amount of nitrogen that's entering the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere.
Baltimore, Md.: I remember an essay written several years ago by a locomotive design engineer, in which he proposed, half-farcically and half-seriously, that the answer to the pollution concerns of railroads was to revert back to steam locomotives. The gist of his argument, as I recall, was that the by-products of burning coal in a steam locomotive were largely carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide and other organic compounds more readily processed by nature, whereas diesel locomotives by comparison produced an "alphabet soup" of more noxious and inorganic compounds such as nitrous oxides. True, steam locomotives can produce particulates, but they are mostly cinders that fall to the ground in seconds as opposed to soot remaining in suspension for minutes or hours.
Now, this gentleman was also a known railroad historian and steam locomotive enthusiast, so it's safe to say that one had to take his arguments with a grain of salt or a sense of humor. Besides which, it's far more important to improve the overall efficiency of a locomotive (and reduce unburned fuel belching from the stack in the form of smoke, for example) than to change modes so drastically.
Left unnoted in your article, however, is the growing trend of the major railroads in North America to experiment with hybrid technology. Several railroads have hybrids (engines running generators charging battery banks) at work in high-pollution areas like Los Angeles, and many more are on order to replace aging switchers in yards.
Juliet Eilperin: First I have to thank you for providing an answer to a question posed by an another reader-that some trains are experimenting with hybrid technology. Los Angeles has been working hard to reduce pollution from its port, which includes railyards: my colleague John Pomfret had a good piece about this earlier in the month.
And in terms of steam locomotives, I'm no expert, but carbon dioxide emissions have an obvious downside, which is contributing to climate change, even if they're not as obviously damaging to the public's health.
Alexandria, Va.: In Alexandria we have a power plant that has had some major environmental violations. For a while it was shut down, and now it's running again. Should I and residents living near and around this plant have to be worried and what kind of precautions can we take?
Juliet Eilperin: I've had a couple of questions about Mirant, which has come under scrunity for the amount of pollution it emits. While it was shut down for a short time, government officials decided the local region needed the power Mirant supplied, so they reopened it. While our metro section has been covering this story, I think it's safe to say government officials are still looking at the power plant and trying to see how to reduce its pollution. The Environmental Integrity Project, which is based in DC, is a group that has focused on this issue.
Washington, D.C.: Considering that, since the 1970s, the United States has made and continues to make remarkable progress with respect to pollution of our air, water and soil; and considering that a sizeable majority of the American public believes the opposite to be true (namely, that the pollution situation has gotten worse), why don't The Post and other major media outlets feel an obligation to publicize more of the good news?
Juliet Eilperin: I do write about good news, in fact on Saturday I had a piece in the Post about how the EPA had negotiated a pact with the auto and steel industry in which the two industries agreed to pay $2 million each to help remove mercury switches from vehicles that are being scrapped, because once these autos are melted to make recycled steel, the mercury from these switches goes back into the atmosphere. This program won't cost taxpayers anything, and by 2021 it will likely remove 75 tons of mercury from the air. I always believe in giving the government and independent groups, whether it's industry or advocacy groups, credit for the work they do to make the environment better.
Crofton, Md.: You mention in the article that trains will emit almost twice as much soot as trucks by 2030. Is that also true for greenhouse gases like CO2?
Juliet Eilperin: I've checked with some experts and since carbon dioxide emissions from trains have not been such a big public policy question, I would guess cars and truck emit far higher amounts of CO2 than trains.
Brookeville, Md.: How do emissions from locomotives compare to pollution from cars, including particulate from tire wear? I've heard that tire dust is a significant asthma factor in cities.
Juliet Eilperin: Pollution from car exhaust is expected to drop sharply from automobiles in the coming years because of federal rules. I'm not sure about the question of particulate matter from tire wear-I know there have been some studies on it, but I don't have any definitive data on that issue.
washingtonpost.com: Pact on Mercury in Scrap Yards , Aug. 12, 2006
Memphis, Tenn.: Thanks Juliet for answering my question! I have one more for you. What do you think about trains running on biodiesel? Have you seen or heard of trains using it as an alternative to petrodiesel?
Juliet Eilperin: I know trains are expected to transport biodiesel in the future, since there is not the kind of pipeline network for alternative fuels in the way we have a pipeline network for natural gas. I'm not sure what are the merits or disadvantages to running trains on biodiesel, but I'm sure it's worth looking into.
Washington, D.C.: So what would it take for diesel locomotives to reduce pollution? Is the technology already out there in other countries like France and Japan, or is this a major overhaul that would cost train manufacturers and therefore commuter lines a prohibitive amount of money?
Juliet Eilperin: My understanding, from talking to EPA officials, is that in order to reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate matter pollution from trains by an order of 80 to 90 percent, engine manufacturers would have to change the design on train engines and there may also be a need to install new technology to treat locomotive exhaust. I'm not sure what the cost would be for this, though I know auto manufacturers have said they can comply with similar rules regarding trucks and buses.
washingtonpost.com: Here is the story that Juliet referenced by Michael Grunwald: Dig the Big Dig and here is an earlier story, also by Grunwald, on a similar topic: Warming to the Inconvenient Facts
Arlington, Va.: While electrified rail is probably the most clean (land-based) way for bulk goods movement, it has been widely cited that diesel-powered freight rail uses 1/8 as much diesel as 18 wheel freight per ton/mile. Does any recent findings refute this ratio? If so, what is the ratio of diesel-rail freight vs. diesel trucking per ton/mile?
Juliet Eilperin: The spokesman from the Association of American Railroads told me trains were three times as fuel efficient as trucks per ton/mile, not eight times as efficient. So those are the most up-to-date statistics I have on that issue, though again, that's a comparison under current conditions, not how trucks will be once the new federal diesel rules take full effect.
Washington, D.C.: I was struck by the stat that trains spend 3/4 of their time idling -- why is that? Is there awareness in the industry that it's a waste of fuel or at least a public health hazard?
Juliet Eilperin: Yes, as I mentioned, the locomotive industry is working to cut down on idling since after all, it's not in its interest to waste fuel.
Washington, D.C.: How close do you have to live to a railway station to experience the ill effects of the pollution? Your story mentions the Houston/Galveston area -- does that mean the whole city is at risk or just the area close to the railway? Should D.C. residents ask questions about our own railway stations? What organization is a good contact?
Juliet Eilperin: I'm not sure about how close you have to be to a railyard to be at higher risk for pollution-I would suggest you contact the scientist I quoted in my piece from the Natural Resources Defense Council, who is based in San Francisco. And in terms of Houston/Galveston, that's obviously a very busy traffic center.
Thanks for all the great questions this morning: I'm signing off now.
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Too Hot or Too Cold at Work? Best Bet Is to Chill Out
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Office managers are under siege. They know that if they set the temperature to 74, they hear from the woman in human resources who says it is too cold. If they turn it up to 76, they hear from the man in marketing who wants to know why it is sweltering hot.
It is summer, which means inside the supposed comfort of air-conditioned buildings, thousands of people are swearing that they are dying of heat, freezing to death or otherwise experiencing thermal discomfort.
These are not trivial wars: People have been known to bring their own thermometers to work to triumphantly prove to office managers that the temperature is not what has been advertised.
(This has prompted a certain caution when the topic of temperature comes up in the workplace: When I asked our office manager about the temperature in the newsroom and she called the folks in building engineering to find out, their instant response was a defensive, "What's wrong?")
On the home front, conflict usually rises with the mercury, as people in the same household fight over the thermostat setting. Marital compromises usually leave one party freezing and the other burning up at the same bedroom temperature. At a certain stage of our lives, apparently, we might be willing to concede failure on many fronts, but we are unyielding about what the temperature is and what it ought to be.
Sorry to burst your bubble. Psychological experiments show that people are not remotely as sensitive to the temperature as they think they are.
For one thing, why is it that the same temperature -- say, 78 degrees -- can feel right during the summer but too hot during the winter? And why is it that a person will cite different optimal temperatures when asked in the summer and the winter?
"There is a very large mental component to feeling hot," said the psychologist William C. Howell, who has conducted experiments about how accurate people are at telling what the temperature is and about when people feel comfortable.
The experiments do not mean people cannot tell the difference between 70 degrees and 110. Of course they can. But the experiments do indicate that for the kind of arguments people have all the time -- in which the range of temperature being argued about is often less than five degrees -- psychological factors play at least as large a role in determining comfort as the actual temperature.
In one experiment, Howell had two groups of volunteers describe how comfortable they were in a room. Then he called one group back a couple of days later, after he had raised the temperature by five degrees. He told the volunteers that he had lost their original answers, and quizzed them again about their perceptions of the temperature and their comfort.
With the second group, Howell held the temperature in the room steady but told the volunteers that it was warmer than on the first day. Again, he had them fill out questionnaires about perceived temperature and comfort.
Both groups reported exactly the same changes in perception of temperature and comfort; Howell's suggestion to the second group that it was warmer seems to have had the same effect as actually making the room warmer.
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Still Battling Voter Suppression
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"It was not a difficult walk. It was for a good reason."
Those were the words of Besisa Mbaguna, a Congolese man who last month walked barefoot for two and a half hours to reach his polling place and cast his vote in his country's elections. Considering Congo's troubled history and its oppressive ruling class, it's fair to marvel that people such as Mbaguna got to vote at all. One can also wonder whether those votes will actually count, despite the best efforts of United Nations officials who oversaw the elections.
It's easy to imagine, for instance, that in such a country, Mbaguna could have been stopped short of the polls and turned away for some untenable reason -- say, lack of a photo ID. In Congo, sure, but certainly not in the good ol' U.S. of A.
Or so one would like to think. But the efforts of Republican lawmakers in Georgia, Indiana and, most recently, Missouri seemed aimed at making it as difficult to vote beneath our spacious skies as it is in war-torn Third World nations. Missouri, my home state, became the third member of this notorious trio in June, when Gov. Matt Blunt signed into law a requirement that voters show government-issued photo IDs at the polls starting in November.
Blunt and others say the law will prevent fraud. Their opponents rightly point out that the measure disproportionately affects those who have been disfranchised in the past, such as the poor and racial minorities. Besides, they argue, Missouri hasn't exactly suffered from an epidemic of imposters showing up to vote.
As one of the lawsuits filed to block the measure puts it, "It is statistically more likely for a Missourian to be struck by a bolt of lightning than to have his or her vote canceled by someone posing as another voter to cast a ballot."
Lower-income Missourians will have to fork over their feeble funds to buy the documents needed to get the ID cards, which will be free. That most of those folks tend to vote Democratic is just a coincidence, proponents of the cards contend. Right, and I have some nice fertile Missouri mules for sale.
Two of the state's Democratic congressmen, William "Lacy" Clay Jr. of St. Louis and Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City, are among those supporting the lawsuits. Cleaver said the law's "sole intention is to disenfranchise and reduce the number of citizens allowed to vote." Clay called the measure "nothing more than a 21st-century poll tax."
His reference to Jim Crow-era tactics used to stop African-Americans at the polls takes on additional resonance in the wake of last month's extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. When President Bush signed the legislation, he impressively asserted "the right of ordinary men and women to determine their own political future."
That eloquent comment acquires no small share of irony when one recalls that last year Bush's Justice Department approved Georgia's photo ID measure. That law, like the poll taxes of days gone by, would place a modern-day hurdle between ordinary folks and that vaunted future the president memorably invoked. Georgia's ID requirement has since been blocked in both state and federal courts, which ruled that it imposed unnecessary burdens on voters. (A district judge in Indiana ruled in favor of that state's law. Her decision is under appeal.)
The voting-rights extension that Bush signed had been passed over the objections of a stubborn faction of Southern Republicans, including Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, who claimed, "we have repented, and we have reformed." Where voter-ID laws fit into that reform is a mystery to me.
I'm fairly sure that nobody in the United States has to journey barefoot for hours to cast a vote. Compared to the ordeals of Besisa Mbaguna and his countrymen, simply acquiring a photo ID is a walk in the park. But it is a hurdle nonetheless, especially if you're poor. Given our nation's anemic Election Day turnouts, discouragement is the last thing a prospective voter needs. If anything, our state governments should be looking for ways to bring more citizens to the polls, not fewer.
Gov. Blunt has described the new law as a new way to build public trust in elections. He no doubt is familiar with our state's most popular expression: I'm from Missouri, you have to show me.
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GOP lawmakers in Georgia, Indiana and Missouri seem determined to make it as difficult to vote beneath our spacious skies as it is in war-torn Third World nations.
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TSA Tries To Balance Security, Efficiency
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U.S. security officials had long anticipated the kind of terror threat that threw global air traffic into an uproar last week -- they'd even stepped up training to head off terrorists trying to sneak improvised explosive devices onto airplanes.
But when British authorities announced they had foiled such a plot, the Transportation Security Administration had only one option in its playbook: a sharp crackdown at security gates, with new stringent rules restricting carry-on baggage. The move caused a recurrence of the long, slow security lines and massive inconvenience for passengers that have blackened the agency's reputation since its inception after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The response highlights the tough predicament that the TSA repeatedly faces as it attempts to become a more sophisticated security operation. The agency has the difficult task of ensuring airline security with a minimum of hassle for millions of travelers pouring through airports.
After analyzing intelligence reports and assessments of the alleged plot, TSA Administrator Edmund S. "Kip" Hawley said it did not take long for authorities to figure out what to do. "There wasn't any balancing on this one," Hawley said.
The TSA, which has a budget of $6.2 billion and has seen its number of screeners drop to 43,000 from 55,000 in 2002, is one of the last lines of defense in the country's efforts to battle terrorism, particularly attacks directed at airplanes.
Travelers and their advocates have long complained that lines are too long at many airports, that some security measures seem inconsistent and that security officers seem to be in short supply. Others say that TSA officers seem to be doing little but hanging out at checkpoints, even when the lines grow. A joke among pilots is that TSA stands for a "Thousand guys Standing Around."
Watchdogs have hammered the TSA from the other side -- contending that the agency has been slow to tackle the most serious security concerns. Critics and outside security experts say the TSA has been sluggish to grapple with not only carry-on security issues but also with a range of other threats that include cargo shipments and checked baggage on passenger jets.
The TSA should have banned liquids long ago or pushed more aggressively to develop technology to detect them because the threat from such explosives has been well-established for at least a decade, critics argue. They also wonder why the Department of Homeland Security, of which the TSA is a part, has seen its research and development budgets slashed from $110 billion in 2003 to $44 billion this year.
"This points out a much larger issue," said Clark Kent Ervin, a former inspector general at the department. "The terrorists are always one step ahead of us. They are adaptive and learning and proactive. We are always focused on the last war. We need to make sure we don't lose the next war."
TSA officials defend their approach, saying the agency was formed in direct response to the 2001 terror attacks and faced congressional mandates and other pressures to hire as many screeners as quickly as possible.
It was a tough task, they say, and consumed their focus for years. They also were receiving pressure from struggling airlines and airports hoping to ease passenger security burdens to boost travel. As they were monitoring intelligence for new terror threats, current and former TSA officials said they felt it would not have been prudent earlier to ban all liquids and gels from flights. Hawley says he is confident that his screeners, who receive training on how to detect liquid explosives, would have stopped bombers from boarding U.S. airlines at airports.
In their constant effort to balance risk and security, TSA officials announced yesterday that they were tweaking some of their restrictions. Revisiting a previous policy enacted after other terror threats, TSA officials said they are requiring all passengers to remove their shoes to be screened by X-ray machines. They are also banning all aerosol products but allowing small doses of nonprescription medications, solid lipstick and baby food. "This refinement affords the same level of security that has been in place since last Thursday, but is intended to minimize the impact on travelers," officials said in a news release.
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Iran Said to Support Shiite Militias in Iraq
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BAGHDAD, Aug. 14 -- Through proxies, Iran is giving weapons, bomb technology and training to Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq, U.S. military officials said Monday.
"We do know that Shia extremist groups have received training through some sort of third element associated with Iran," said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman. "We do know that weapons have been provided."
The U.S. assertions echo previous warnings about Iranian support for Shiite militias in Iraq. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told The Washington Post in March that Iranian agents in Iraq train and arm Shiite militias such as the Mahdi Army, which is linked to the powerful, anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
"Our judgment is that training and supplying, direct or indirect, takes place, and that there is also provision of financial resources to people, to militias, and that there is presence of people associated with Revolutionary Guard and with MOIS," Khalilzad said, referring to Iran's main military force and its Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
The assertions have resurfaced as tensions grow on two fronts -- between the United States and Iran over Iran's support of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, and between the United States and Sadr's Mahdi Army, which is emerging as the major Shiite threat to U.S. efforts to stabilize the capital.
Iran's Shiite theocratic government, which has long-standing ties to Iraq's Shiite political and religious leaders, has repeatedly denied that it foments instability in Iraq and instead has blamed the United States.
On Monday, Caldwell appeared to tone down the U.S. position on Iran as a force of unrest in Iraq. He said Shiite extremists have received technology for roadside bombs from Iranian proxy groups. He also said the United States has evidence that Iranian-made weapons and munitions produced after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in April 2003 have been found in Iraq.
But Caldwell stopped short of alleging that the Iranian government was directly involved or that Iranian agents were in Iraq.
"There's nothing that we definitively have found to say that there are any Iranians operating within the country of Iraq, but rather some clear surrogate elements have been doing this," he said. "We do believe that some Shiite elements have been in Iran, receiving training. But the degree to which this is known and endorsed by the government of Iran is uncertain."
Nor would Caldwell identify the Shiite groups the United States believes Iran is supplying with weapons and training. When asked whether Hezbollah was "the third element" training Iraq's Shiite militias, Caldwell said, "We've made no direct connection with anything involving them at this point."
Officials from two of the most influential Shiite groups denied receiving any weapons or training from Iran or its surrogates.
"Usually such statements of the United States of America come after they have proven their incapability to control the security situation in Iraq," said Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, a Sadr spokesman. "This is unrealistic. The Iraqis are not followers of Iran."
Saad Jawad Qindeel, a political official with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's largest Shiite political party, denied that its armed wing had received weapons from Iran.
"All the Badr Brigade has is its personal weapons, which are available in Iraq," Qindeel said. "Why should they go to Iran? There's no evidence."
Also Monday, U.S. military officials unveiled new uniforms for the Iraqi national police that they said would be difficult for insurgents, death squads and criminals to counterfeit and use to impersonate officers. The bluish-gray uniforms, to be issued in October, have a stamp-size Iraqi flag printed into the cloth. The current uniforms are easy to duplicate and can readily be purchased in markets across Baghdad.
Meanwhile, violence continued across Iraq. Five people were killed and seven were wounded when a car bomb exploded Monday night on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, according to Kasim Yahyehya, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
U.S. military officials said a gas explosion caused the deaths of 62 people in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday. But senior Iraqi officials said a barrage of rockets and bombs caused the destruction, echoing what police and some witnesses said. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement blaming Sunni insurgents.
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Will He Go Long?
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Talk about managing your expectations. Facing his big new TV gig, Tony Kornheiser is setting his somewhere south of ankle-high.
Partly because of that low-ball approach, Kornheiser's debut on "Monday Night Football" figures to be one of the more interesting story lines as the venerable but creaky show begins its 37th season tonight at 8 on ESPN, as the Oakland Raiders visit the Minnesota Vikings.
Kornheiser -- who wrote in his Washington Post columns last week that he was "terrified" and fully prepared to just "wing it" in the booth -- is only the third non-athlete to sit in the color commentator's chair on "Monday Night Football." And the subplot thickens: The performance of one of those predecessors, smart-alecky comedian Dennis Miller, was widely panned.
Kornheiser's self-scouting report notwithstanding, his friends and colleagues are convinced that the co-host of ESPN's yakfest "Pardon the Interruption" will ably step up to the mike.
"He'll be terrific," said Don Ohlmeyer, the veteran sports producer and TV programming executive. "Three announcers don't work unless you have three distinct voices. And no one will ever confuse Tony with the other two" -- play-by-play man Mike Tirico and fellow analyst Joe Theismann, the ex-Redskins quarterback. (Among "Monday Night Football's" innovations has been the three-announcer format, which relies on the chemistry of a play-by-play man, an analyst and an opinionated "third chair.")
The retired Ohlmeyer knows a thing or two about sports broadcasting. He produced "Monday Night Football" during its golden years of the '70s, when it featured Frank Gifford and Don Meredith -- and the non-jock other than Miller to whom Kornheiser is most often compared: the polarizing, love-to-hate-him legend that was Howard Cosell.
While working for ABC in 2000, Ohlmeyer chose Miller as "Monday Night Football's" Third Man, after giving Kornheiser an off-air tryout. (Ohlmeyer deemed the pre-"PTI" Kornheiser as not quite ready for prime time.)
Miller was something else again. During the comic's two seasons in the booth, beginning in 2000, the media criticized his know-it-all persona. They also derided Miller for his frequently quizzical exclamations, such as, "Perhaps the referees were not really penalizing Denver for delay of game, but in fact were trying to let Paris know that Conde-sur-l'Escaut had been captured from the Austrians."
Ohlmeyer maintains that Miller was a success -- he said the games' ratings among young male viewers grew about 10 percent during Miller time -- and that Kornheiser will succeed, too, but for a different reason.
"The press will love Tony because he's one of them," Ohlmeyer said. "Every newspaperman in America, every sportswriter, is hoping he'll be a magnificent success, because he's opening doors for them in broadcasting. It was just the opposite with Dennis. He was the guy who they thought shouldn't have been there in the first place."
Kornheiser isn't the only thing new about "Monday Night Football." The aging institution -- and we're referring here to the show, not the 58-year-old Kornheiser -- has moved to cable's ESPN from its Disney-owned sister network, ABC (which revolutionized sports television in 1970 by putting NFL games on Mondays in prime time). The switch to ESPN could ease Kornheiser's transition, since he's a familiar face to so much of the network's audience.
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Jurassic Park - washingtonpost.com
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IT WAS THE PROSPECTOR WHO FOUND IT FIRST. Maybe 30 years ago, back when uranium was worth a lot, when people thought nuclear power was your friend. He was working a ridge up at Spring Creek, Wyo., looking for ore with a scintillometer, a modern-day Geiger counter. He was getting a lot of hits.
But there was something else. Big, off-color rocks in strange shapes were lying loose on the ground where the wind had blown the dirt off them. The prospector was a geologist. He knew what those were. Dinosaur bones. From big dinosaurs -- like the ones that fill up museum exhibits.
The prospector knew that dinosaur bones store trace uranium from groundwater, so he couldn't tell whether there was uranium ore buried down there, and he wasn't hopeful there was: Dinosaur bones were everywhere, loose on the ground and probably a lot more down below, making his meter ping. When the prospector got home he told his partner what he'd discovered. They decided to leave the ridge alone and say nothing about it. Prospectors, if they're any good, don't talk much.
A couple of decades later, a lot had changed. The first prospector was deep into his seventies by then, and the partner, a Colorado-based geologist named Fred Groth, was almost 70 himself. Nobody was buying uranium much. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl had scared off the power companies.
For reasons not entirely clear, though, Groth in 1999 decided to tell somebody about the Spring Creek ridge. He said later it was because there was suddenly "a lot of interest in dinosaurs" after a long time when there wasn't. He said he was afraid "local people" would stumble on the ridge, figure out what it was, steal the bones and sell them. Except that bone hunters had been digging up southeastern Wyoming for almost 130 years without finding that particular outcrop.
The most important change at Spring Creek was that the property had a new owner. Groth and his partner had had a deal for access to mineral rights with Spring Creek's former owner back when they first found the dinosaurs. But they had no deal with the new one. That was Allen Cook, a cattle rancher who owned 120,000 acres in all. Spring Creek was in the extreme northwest corner of his property.
Groth started talking about the rich deposit of dinosaur bones with the University of Wyoming, down the road in Laramie, and with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He took a University of Wyoming paleontologist out for a visit.
Only then did he call Cook.
By all accounts, this was a short but volcanic conversation. "I said, 'There is a dinosaur occurrence out there,' " Groth recalled. "He wanted to know where it was, and I said I wouldn't tell him unless we had an agreement." Groth said he was concerned about preserving the bones and was thinking of "some kind of surface lease" to allow the museum or the university to develop it. "I had no interest in dealing with Mr. Cook."
Cook, 51 in early summer 1999 and 58 today, is a soft-spoken, solitary man, polite but off-putting, with great presence. He is heavyset, strong not fat, and moves his hands slowly, almost without gesture. Anyone who meets him remembers him. He is the sort of person people want to impress without really knowing why.
Groth had made a bad impression. Even today remembered rage flares in Cook's eyes when he recalls the conversation. Cook said he concluded that Groth "just wanted to get his hands on the land so he could exploit it. I told him, 'I don't know what you're talking about, but one thing I do know is that I'm not going to donate it to you.' " They haven't spoken since.
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Allen Cook wanted to do right by his land. It's a good thing -- since his Wyoming ranch contains recently discovered dinosaur beds in rare pristine condition.
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Shawn Henderson , moderator of the D.C. Young Poz Socials , a support group for HIV-positive gay men in the Washington area, and Jose Antonio Vargas , author of Sunday's article about gay men and HIV, took questions and comments on Monday, Aug. 14, at 11 a.m. ET .
Read the related story: D.C. Gay Group Battles AIDS Fatigue
Thanks very much for joining us. Let's get to the questions....
Shawn Henderson: Hey there, this is Shawn Henderson. Thank you all for joining us today!
Arlington, Va.: This question is for Shawn Henderson: What has the reaction been so far among members about The Post's story?
Shawn Henderson: For the most part, the group's members thought the article was incredible. A few I have talked with via email and in person were a little concerned that so much of gay men's lives was put out there (i.e. manhunt, tina, etc.). My response: well, it's part of reality. It's time the LGBT community come out of the closet -- all the way.
San Francisco, Calif.: Good morning, gentlemen, and thanks for chatting with us this morning. Thanks also for your work with poz gay men. Are there prevention programs in DC for sero-discordant couples, those in what we San Franciscans call the "magnetic love?" Seems to me that these couples face unique challenges that are often unmet by the HIV-status divide in programmatic funding.
Jose Antonio Vargas: I'm from San Francisco...and good morning to you! In researching this story, I've found that San Francisco is considered the friendliest city to be "poz" in. I heard that from members of SF-based poz support groups and from local health officials, who fear that maybe being "poz" has become too much of an accepted thing. As far as I know, there aren't any prevention programs for sero-discordant couples. But you're right. It is a unique challenge.
Chicago, Ill.: That was quite a piece. You included so much of gay men's lives, it was astounding. I was reading thinking to myself, how did the reporter get all this in? To Shawn Henderson: What did you think of the story? Were you weary about having a mainstream paper write about this topic? To the reporter: How long have you been researching the article? Was it hard to write? Are you gay?
Shawn Henderson: Hi, thanks so much for the feedback on the article. I personally thought the article was very well written. I think it's about time mainstream media include all aspects of the LGBT community. For so long the focus was on the negative stuff. So, we take the good with the bad.
Jose Antonio Vargas: Hi. It was a three month process, researching the piece, hanging out with Shawn, interviewing other members of the group, and finally sitting down and writing it, which was a tremendous experience. (Shout out to my excellent editor, Marcia Davis.) Am I gay? I could tell you that it's irrelevant to the story whether or not I'm gay. The story is out there, and the story needed to be told, simple as that. Having said that, the piece was rather tough to write -- I wanted to put in as much context as possible, to ask the tough questions, yes, but also provide as much context so that readers, both gay and straight, can connect to the group and the struggles they're facing.
McLean, Va.: If I weren't gay and were instead someone who wasn't exactly sure about my feelings on homosexuality (as many straight people who can't quite grasp the "concept" are), I would probably have finished your article thinking that gay people with AIDS basically deserve what they got and that the gay community in general is pretty shady. After all, straight people don't realize that many of their gay peers (if they even know they're gay) are just looking for committed relationships like they have. They probably wouldn't understand the importance of Internet dating and gay bars on the gay community in terms of meeting potential partners, just as they wouldn't understand the sexual frustration that gay youth face as they watch their straight friends get involved in relationships that are much more difficult to come across when you're gay. Nevertheless, the article did touch on some important trends and I'm glad that such organizations exist to help people with AIDS cope.
Shawn Henderson: Thanks so much for the feedback. I can only speak for myself and what I believe. While I agree that some straight people would be "shocked" to learn about gay dating/hook-up sites, they should realize it's because of not being 100% accepted in society these things have developed. I would also pose this question, "Are gay dating sites any different from widely publicised dating sites geared toward heterosexuals like match.com?" Until the LGBT community is fully accepted in society, and young gay men and women can take their significant other to prom, there will exist alternative venues for finding love.
McLean, Va.: If I weren't gay and were instead someone who wasn't exactly sure about my feelings on homosexuality (as many straight people who can't quite grasp the "concept" are), I would probably have finished your article thinking that gay people with AIDS basically deserve what they got and that the gay community in general is pretty shady. After all, straight people don't realize that many of their gay peers (if they even know they're gay) are just looking for committed relationships like they have. They probably wouldn't understand the importance of Internet dating and gay bars on the gay community in terms of meeting potential partners, just as they wouldn't understand the sexual frustration that gay youth face as they watch their straight friends get involved in relationships that are much more difficult to come across when you're gay. Nevertheless, the article did touch on some important trends and I'm glad that such organizations exist to help people with AIDS cope.
Shawn Henderson: Thanks so much for the feedback. While I agree that some straight people would be "shocked" to learn about gay dating/hook-up sites, they should realize it's because of not being 100% accepted in society these things have developed. I would also pose the question to them that gay dating sites are no different from widely publicised dating sites like match.com.
Jose Antonio Vargas: Thanks for the comment. The toughest part of writing this piece was making sure that readers, gay and straight, could somehow connect to it. One could argue, and argue well, that gays are just as consumed with sex as straights are, but that because of the effects of HIV and AIDS in the gay community, gays and sex get more press. I thought the quote from Marsha Martin, who runs the AIDS office in the District, was quite telling. Here it is:
"The truth is the urgency of the HIV prevention messages we've been sending -- safe sex only! use a condom! -- has worn off. And if you think about the political and social climate we've been in and we're still in, what message is that sending to gay men? 'No, you can't get married as gay couples.' 'No, you can't be openly gay in the military.' 'No, you don't have equal rights.' Those things produce a lack of self-esteem, a kind of self-loathing, and in that environment is HIV."
A friend who lives in Washington told me about this piece. I went online last night and read it and couldn't put it down. First off, kudos to The Washington Post for publishing this story. (I subscribe to the New York Times, and they haven't done a piece like this.) And here's my question: because of the effective drugs, do you think more and more gay men will keep getting newly infected with HIV? Because they don't think it's a big deal?
Jose Antonio Vargas: Excellent question. (And thank you for reading the Washington Post. We may not be in every Starbucks in this country, but you can certainly read us online.)
There's a Catch-22, I think, that faces the gay community when it comes to the effective drugs. (The FDA approved a once-a-day pill last month; I hear that it should be available this fall.) You want to tell guys who are HIV-positive, these are good drugs, you're going to be okay. Yet you want to tell HIV-negative guys, HIV is no picnic, there is still no cure. Frankly, I don't think there's a lot of discussion going on within the gay community about this Catch-22.
Washington, D.C.: I wasn't sure what to think of this piece. It got me mad, frustrated, and I felt kind of helpless. I'm gay, 27, and sometimes I feel like all my life I've thought about AIDS but also tried to not think about it so much. Talk a little more about this fatigue.
Shawn Henderson: Thank you for writing into the forum. I personally think your feelings are exactly what this "fatigue" is. So many of the younger generation has lived their entire life hearing about safer sex and HIV/AIDS. Just as you have tried not to think about it much, so have many others. We need to rethink prevention education. Don't feel helpless, feel empowered to educate others!
Miami: As a 33-year-old gay man who is HIV negative, I found the piece very, very disturbing. It seems to have put Shawn Henderson in this sort of a pedestal, when, really, it's his fault that he got infected. I guess I wanted to ask to the author of the piece -- what was your goal in writing this story, what did you want to accomplish? I do sense the division within the gay community, I get that, but how there not be a division. I mean, it's very easy NOT to get infected.
Jose Antonio Vargas: Thanks for the question. The goal of the piece was not to put Shawn in a pedestal, or, as a reader said to me on the phone this morning, to castigate Josh. The goal of the piece, quite simply, was to capture the complexity of this epidemic as it relates to gay men. This sounds cliche, I know, but what I had to do was write the story as I saw it. Here's Shawn, who runs this group, dedicates a tremendous amount of time in it. In a way, HIV woke him up. Here's Josh, new to the group, still navigating his way around being young and gay -- and now being young and gay and HIV-positive. What does Josh's world look like? Where does Shawn fit in? Those were the questions I had to answer.
Washington, D.C.: I am a woman working on a college campus and I sometimes counsel young men, both gay and straight. Many of them are just not "joiners." They're not into joining a group or club to make friends or seek support. Josh, the young man portrayed in the article, struck me as one of these men. What are some ways we can reach out to HIV+ people who want to make social connections, but not in the context of an organized group? Thanks.
Shawn Henderson: Hi, thanks for joining us today and thank you for the work you do on the campus! I agree that many younger people are not likely to join a group on their own. Through my work, as a church youth director and within DCYPS, I've discovered what works for me is to make personal connections. People are more likely to attend a function with friends. So, get a few of the stronger "leader" types and the likelihood of others joining will grow. DCYPS, to the everyday member, may not seem structured at all. We've done an excellent job at maintaining the feeling of a casual, social Yahoo group. The majority of our members have no idea how much work goes on behind the scenes. So, a group being "organized" is really about perception. Good luck!
Omaha, Neb.: Thank you both for the story, incredibly moving so important for -everyone-to be aware of. Mr. Vargas, you mention in the story that AIDS used to be a rallying point for the gay community; more specifically the push for treatment and awareness was a motivating call to arms. Why do you think this is no longer so, or is it still a rallying point but isn't reaching the entire community?
Jose Antonio Vargas: There are still activists, Shawn Henderson being one of them. But in my reporting, I do sense that HIV/AIDS isn't a rallying point any more within the gay community. The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association found in a 2005 survey that the most important issues to members were same-sex marriage and the Catholic Church's stance on gay priests. AIDS came in third, just ahead of crystal meth use and "Brokeback Mountain." I profiled Larry Kramer, who grew up in Washington, more than a year ago when his latest book, "The Tragedy of Today's Gays," came out. I spent a couple of days with Kramer, who as many gays know is the father of the AIDS movement. As far as I can tell, he is frustrated by the lack of activism about AIDS among young gay men.
Washington, D.C.: I currently attend a Whitman Walker group for people newly diagnosed with HIV. My partner is HIV negative. Do you know of any support groups for people like him?
Jose Antonio Vargas: Thanks for the question. No, I don't. That's something that the Whitman Walker Clinic might think about doing. I did meet a few guys in D.C. Young Poz Socials -- Henderson among them -- who are dating HIV-negative guys.
Mount Rainier: Do you guys think it's okay for an HIV positive man to knowingly have unprotected sex, as one of the subjects claims in the story? This strikes me as horribly inappropriate, even if his partners consent, and downright criminal if he hides his status from them.
Shawn Henderson: Thanks for joining us today. I personally feel that the decision to have protected intercourse or not is between consenting adults -- gay or straight. If status is discussed, and the use of protection is decided against, both parties understand the possible consequences. If I am not mistaken, all states now have laws which would make it possible to prosecute any person living with HIV/AIDS for NOT disclosing.
Washington, D.C.: Wow. What a piece, couldn't put it down. We were all talking about at JR's last night, actually, while looking out for biohazard tattoos. Who knew? But my question is this. I'm a pretty well-read gay man, and I've read all these stories about bugchasing and bugchasers, including the one from Rolling Stone magazine. I was surprise and I must admit relieved to not see bugchasers in your story. Why didn't you include bugchasers?
Jose Antonio Vargas: Thanks for the question. I did think about including "bug chasers" in the story. ("Bug chasers," for those who are foreign to the term, are guys who actively seek to get HIV. Why? So they can get it and stop worrying about it.) I did find three guys (one in his 20s, the other two in their 30s) in the Washington area -- through online sites -- who claim that they are "bug chasers." But in the end I decided that they are such extremes that to include them in the article would have done the article a disservice. For many gay men, "bug chasers" are a myth. I, too, read the Rolling Stone piece and followed the retractions that followed the story. I also read Andrew Sullivan's essay on it.
Arlington, Va.: A few concerns re the article, coming from a gay longtime HIVer....
1. "fighting AIDS fatigue" is a prevention issue, the story spoke of dealing with the aftermath of infection. Is the group actually imparting a "HIV stops with me" type message?
2. The article rambled into meth use and rampant unprotected sex in a manner that startled a number of my hetero co-workers. Just bad writing.
3. The Post also featured another story reiterating that the face of HIV in America today is black and brown and female. Where's the support for those women? Are the Gay men reaching out to them and other young non-gay people with HIV?
Jose Antonio Vargas: Thanks for the questions/comments. I think prevention is a personal and governmental responsibility. Yes, there are some members I interviewed who have that "HIV-stops-with-me" mentality. And as Marsha Martin, who runs the city's AIDS office, said, the HIV prevention messages have "worn off."
The article was for gays and straights alike, and meth use and unprotected sex are parts (not the only parts to be sure) of the story.
This piece is the second in a series of stories about HIV/AIDS in Washington. The first story, which ran in March, focused on an African American woman who gets support from the Women's Collective, an D.C.-based HIV/AIDS organization for women in the Washington area.
Vienna, Va: This is a question to Shawn Henderson. I'm 44, out to friends but closeted at work (and to my family). I got infected three years ago. (I heard about your group but opted not to join.) I can only imagine what it must be like to wake up on a Sunday morning and see your picture splashed on the front page of the paper. Were you worried how your group was going to be portrayed? Were there trust issues with The Post reporter?
Shawn Henderson: Hi there. Thank you for reading the article. Please know that you are welcome at any of our functions! At first, yes, we were all very apprehensive to be open with the Washington Post's reporter, Jose Vargas. We've had a few bad experiences with other articles. However, the more time I spent with Jose (hours as it were), and after I read some other articles he had written, the more I became confident that his portrayal of DCYPS would be fair. I was not, however, prepared for what I read. We were all blown away at how the article came out. Jose just did a fabulous job!
Anywhere USA: This may not be of any relevance to the piece, but has anyone done a 'study' on the effects of so-called 'straight-married men' that seek gay encounters? This happens all the time, in all kinds of places. It's amazing to me the amount of married men that are into this form of risky behaviour. They are not only putting themselves at risk, but their spouses; and most (if not all) of these wives have no clue what's going on. It's out there, and it's happening.
Jose Antonio Vargas: This is definitely relevant to the story. As far as I know, no specific study has been done on this. In my reporting on HIV/AIDS in the past two years, I've met several women who got infected because their husbands/boyfriends were having unprotected sex "on the side," as one woman said to me.
Sterling, Va.: Shawn, you just mentioned something that I think is really interesting. That "hookup" Web sites exist because so many traditional forms of social interaction deter or flat out bar gay men. Has any work been done (sociology angle) to trace this flow of interaction? In my mind, not being allowed to get married, adopt, join the military, led Boy Scouts etc are all symptoms of a larger social construct and it would be interesting to specifically identify the interpersonal need that the gay community has difficulty filling. Sort of a "social policy affects public health" kind of thing. Are either of you aware of any work done in this area? Thanks for indulging my long winded question and thank you both for doing this chat!
Shawn Henderson: Wow, great point. I do recall reading somewhere that the APA (American Psychological Association), if I'm not mistaken, did a study of this type. It may not have been in the context of "social health" but was focused more on gay men's health. Perhaps it's time they expanded their study!
In the mean time, if we all work toward acceptance of those whom we deem different from ourselves, our little world will be a much more peaceful place.
Jose Antonio Vargas: Thanks very much for reading the piece -- and taking the time to join us today.
Kensington, Md.: A thought on Mr. Henderson's suggestion that organizations try not to appear too terribly organized. A friend, negative, organized an all-positive bartenders bowling team to get his partner, an avid bowler, out of the house more. He used my connection with a bowling alley owner in a nearby town to organize a bartender's league and now it's a hit in Ft. Lauderdale. All sports bar 'tenders, all strip club 'tenders, etc. Too much fun. And it's not just a gay or poz thing, it's a shared profession.
Shawn Henderson: Thanks for telling us about this, and for logging into the Post's site today. Your friend's actions can also help break down the stereo types we all have. Keep up the great work!
While I think that it is important to target a number of different groups - including gay men in their 20s and 30s - doesn't having a specific group for this demographic further the divisions within the gay community that you allude to, this "us against them" - only this time around ageism?
Shawn Henderson: Thank you for asking this very poignant question. We've been discussing this very issue in the group in the past week. We are currently looking at changing the wording in our description to be more inclusive. We've never excluded anybody, as our Web site states, but it is misleading. We will still be the DC Young Poz Socials though. The majority of our members who are in their 40's, have never felt excluded. I think DCYPS' members have done an outstanding job at inclusion.
Personally I feel every aspect of our society differentiates based on age, or some identifier. We have youth clubs, church youth groups, retirement homes, clothing stores targeting specific age groups, groups based on race, the list goes on. There are some times when the segregation based on issues, gender, age, etc. are appropriate and necessary for one to feel welcome and to feel a connection. Should a straight man be allowed to join the Gay Men's Chorus? What about men joining Curves? Just some thoughts.
Chicago, Ill.: I have been in a serodiscordant relationship for over three years. We negotiate safety, what risks I as the positive partner am willing to take, vs. him as the negative partner. except for a few worskhops here and there, no-one in this country that I know of is addressing the difficult communication that must occur for serodiscordant couples to survive. Having said that, don't hold your breath on government funding providing the resources for negotiating safety programs. the HIV/AIDS divide is huge and growing. Much if not all of the prevention bureaucracy in this country is stuck viewing the epidemic through the lenses of pre-retrovirals. when you see prevention messages in Europe or Australia, you beginning to wonder if the divide will continue to grow where those who see HIV differently than the professionals will no longer be able to speak to one another.
Shawn Henderson: Thank you for reading the Post's article and for logging into today. The work began by our forerunners when HIV/AIDS first appeared is certainly not over. We have made some amazing advances, especially in the medical field, but we do have a long way to go. Until there is a cure, we must keep working!
Mount Rainier Again: I understand what you're saying, but as something of a community leader, don't you think it's a responsibility to tell someone when their behavior puts themselves and others at risk and is a detriment to society?
Shawn Henderson: We all have a responsibility for our own actions. As a person of faith, and a community leader, my only responsibility is to make available the resources needed for a person to make an educated decision. Nobody should live their life in judgment of others. I can not make a person quit crystal meth. I can only be there for them, and when they are ready to quit continue to be there through the process. Am I to stand in condemnation of a person who may be an alcoholic? No. What I can do is love that person through their dependency and help them realize they may have a problem.
So, we always tell our members to educate themselves and make a decision that is best for them. If something bad happens after the fact, shoulder it! We'll still be here to hug you and help pick up the pieces. Because that is what community does.
Shawn Henderson: Thank you all for reading the article and for chatting with us today. If you would like further information on the DC Young Poz Socials, or for HIV/AIDS resources in the DC area, please visit us at DC Young Poz Socials. You may also contact me at info@dcyngpozsocials.com. Until there is a cure, we will try to make living with HIV a little easier.
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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Shawn Henderson, moderator of the D.C. Young Poz Socials, a support group for HIV-positive gay men in the Washington area, and Jose Antonio Vargas, author of Sunday's article about gay men and HIV, will take questions.
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David M. Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, was online Monday, Aug. 14, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss his Sunday Outlook article, The Neighborhood War Zone , ( Post, Aug,. 12, 2006 ), on rampant crime rates in cities major U.S. cities.
Washington, D.C.: I thought your observations about the "thug ethos" and outing act to avoid being "disrespected" were fascinating. I know there's no easy answer to this, but what can we at least start to do about that -- to de-glamorize that culture and change attitudes?
David M. Kennedy: You're right, there's no easy answer. The first step, I think, is to accept that this is a terribly important issue, and add it to the way we think and act: along with more traditional issues like race, economics, law enforcement, community issues, and the like. We should try to create a sense that making money fueling this, through music, TV, etc., is reprehensible. And we need, city by city, to seek out those in the community who stand in opposition to these values and help them find and elevate their voices. Those people are there, even in the hardest-hit communities, and my experience is that they're eager to speak out, if they can do so safely. But they need help.
Alexandria, Va.: Dr. Kennedy, thank you for an insightful article. This is a subject my colleagues and I have been discussing with greater intensity of late. As you know, many local elected prosecutors are involved in crime prevention such as advocating for after-school programs, engaging in community prosecution, and seeking dispositions for juvenile delinquents that balance community safety, offender accountability and competency development. I recognize that causes and solutions are complicated. But... in your opinion, if you had to put all of your limited resources into one strategy, where can prosecutors focus their attention to achieve the greatest results in crime reduction and while helping to build a safer community? In other words, what works? The reason I am asking, other than your work in this area is well respected, is that I am conducting a prosecutorial leadership training for elected and chief assistant prosecutors interested in addressing juvenile delinquency issues. The rising rate of violent crime has been attributed, at least in part, to the rise in juvenile crime you referred to in your article. Any insight you can provide to prosecutors would would much rather see juveniles in school than in jail or, worse yet, dead, is much appreciated.
David M. Kennedy: My view these days is that the biggest thing those formally charged with public safety can do is work with communities to help them establish informal social control. The kind of serious "street" violent and drug crime I was talking about in the piece is generated by a very small population of hard-core repeat offenders. Communities can engage directly with them, face to face, and set standards for their behavior. We learned ten years ago in Boston how to do that, and back it up with enforcement and services. What we've learned since then is how to add to that the very, very powerful moral voice of communities, saying "we love you but what you're doing has to stop". That turns out to be transformative.
And people in law enforcement have to acknowledge publicly that they've been part of the problem, and that they need to change what they're doing, too.
Washington, D.C.: I read your article, and I find it interesting, however isn't this approach a little 'warm and fuzzy' for the types of crimes that we are seeing these days? The kids are so much more violent, and don't appear to be receptive to this type of approach...
David M. Kennedy: The great news is that they are receptive. Many, maybe most, want a way out too: they're the ones getting killed. It's a mistake to infer from behavior, which is often unspeakable, to underlying character. A lot of what we're seeing is a product of a group dynamic on the street. Change that and the individuals change too.
Fairfax, Va.: Having recently finished "Freakonomics," I read your article yesterday with interest. I'd like to hear your opinions about the data and theories discussed in Freakonomics with reference to crime. The book gives pretty sound statistical data suggesting a drop in crime in the 90s was partially due to a drop in the birthrate of poor and probably unfit mothers. This is a subject people don't want to discuss: that Roe v. Wade enabled disadvantaged women who probably had little chance of raising kids who did not become criminals, to abort their pregnancies. Given the hard fact that the data show this to be a contributing factor to the reduction of crime in the 90s (coupled with a gradual increase in prison sentencing since the 60s), I am interested in why you did not discuss any changes in trends or statistics related to the abortion issue. States have gradually begun tightening abortion laws. Do statistics show changes in crime for states in which abortion laws were tightened 15 or so years ago? I think Alliance of Concerned Men is a fabulous idea and probably one of the best ways to start refocusing kids growing up in these high-crime areas. Thanks.
David M. Kennedy: This is a longer discussion, but the short answer is that I don't buy the original argument at all. One reason why not is that it's routine, as we're seeing lately, to see very large shifts both up and down in violent crime. When we see big reductions and big increases, both in the space of less than a decade (and in much shorter periods in many places) that's not about big underlying factors like abortion on demand (or demographics, or many of the other factors we usually consider). It's about something else.
Thank you for your years of work on this issue and for your compelling article this weekend.
I am interested in what you describe as the second new factor contributing to violence: an obsession with 'respect.'
What do you make of the fact that, while more women engage in violence, the overwhelming majority of this violence is committed by men? How do you relate the obsession with 'respect' with how communities, families, and the media are raising young men, particularly with traditional definitions of masculinity that rely upon a sense of toughness, invulnerability, and power?
In my experience as an educator, it seems that social definitions of young masculinity, in many different communities as well as in the national media/advertising, have become more and more limited and centered on power. Almost all communities are facing this narrowing definition, but when economic disparity and low support resources are added, increased violence would seem to be a natural result.
Would it make sense to investigate and attend to the messages young men receive regarding their gender identity? Many new organizations and researchers are doing so, with some success.
David M. Kennedy: My belief is these issues are among the most important. This is not to neglect more traditional concerns -- the worst of these problems only arise in communities of dire historical and present oppression and neglect, and that always deserves attention. But these normative elements also matter a great deal, though they get very little attention. There's good evidence, for example, that part of why New York is so much safer is that the cohort of young men that grew up during the crack epidemic learned from it that crack use and the violence that went with crack dealing was stupid, and created and enforced informal norms against both. Now I think we're seeing a serious migration of "respect" culture throughout society; I collect these examples, and routinely now see middle-aged white businessmen talking "respect" talk. For them it's an indulgence; for those less well-off, it's a disaster. I don't think we know how to counter this on a macro scale, but it's a critically important question.
Reston, Va.: I read your article as linking disparate phenomena. On the one hand there's an increase in crime. On the other, you say "the violence is much less about drugs and money than about girls, vendettas and trivial social friction. But why would young men be more uptight about honor, respect, girls, and feuds in 2006 than in 2003? I might accept the argument that the percentage of deaths caused by such issues has increased while the percentage caused by drug turf wars has declined, but I don't see the mechanism to cause a sharp increase in absolute numbers.
David M. Kennedy: Great question. What I find city by city, and I think is also true more generally, is that the most serious violence comes out of a very small superheated street population -- a few percent of the young men in even a rough neighborhood. When that population is quiet, there's little violence. But it doesn't take much to set it off, and when it gets active the violence tends to build, through vendettas, self-protective behavior like gun carrying, fear, etc. So it's not uncommon at all to see big spikes and big reductions in violence, without much shift in underlying conditions. It's also not uncommon to see homicide, for example, spiking, while other kinds of crime are steady or falling.
Alexandria, Va.: Interesting piece. Would you agree that there is something in American official culture which sanctions the insanely belligerent attitudes that lead to violence in the inner cities? After all, the "culture of respect" is essentially the same as the government's craving for "prestige" and "credibility," which is why it involves us in a seemingly perpetual state of war. In no other western country is the military (at bottom, an instrument for killing) so glorified. TV and films are saturated with gratuitous violence. Is there a connection or am I wrong? Thanks.
David M. Kennedy: It's tempting to make these connections -- I'm tempted too -- but I think we should be careful. Our basic national culture doesn't shift very much very quickly, while many of these problems we're discussing often do. The resonances are certainly there; I'm a lot less sure about the causal connections.
Mount Rainier, Md.: Mr. Kennedy
I found your article timely and informed. In my role as coordinator of a local hotspots program - now called CSAFE for collective supervision and focused enforcement, I deal everyday with the prospects of making community policing actually work and reach the most hard to serve-those individuals who are committing recurring crimes. I agree we haven't fixed broken windows by serving the full lifecycle of the few who are actually impacting our safety. In my business I can get law enforcement, courts, juvenile services to collaborate but I can't get social services, housing, education to come to the table to deliver backend direct services, i.e., training, job placement and entitlements that work to benefit who needs help. I'm not talking about truancy, delinquency or even the majority of kids on the brink of falling into the system. I'm talking about the hard to serve that commit most of our crimes. We need to build on successes (noted in your story)and link resources into community action evolving out of law enforcement. In Maryland CSAFE works but the there's no funding stream to the local municipalities that depend on federal and state support. In Prince Georges County we have to deal with three levels of funding that in the end nothing comes to the border communities that have to deal with roaming criminals that cross boundaries to prey.
Experts understand the broken window theory but where's the money to impact at the street level senseless crimes? Let's fix the windows with jobs to community people who will take pride and ownership instead of taking the attitude they will throw bricks through newly installed, but not protected windows.
David M. Kennedy: Let me use this question to try to answer the several that have asked something similar, about what government can do, especially the federal government. First, it's clear that the federal government has largely walked away from this problem. There are exceptions, such as the Justice Department's Project Safe Neighborhoods, but overall both attention and funding has gone elsewhere. I don't think for a moment throwing money will work, but everybody at the local level, whether in the enforcement or the prevention business, feels desperate. So we need to restore some balance there. Beyond that, the federal government has a unique ability to frame important problems for state and local government, help find solutions, and move best practices around. I think we need to face that no amount of attention to the usual solutions -- whether "enforcement" or "prevention" -- is going to work here. But there are things that do work, and hopeful directions that require research and development. My biggest frustration is that what works is not being moved around to those who need it, and in very important problems -- meth, for example -- desperate communities are being left to flounder on their own. We can do better than that.
Washington, D.C.: Dr. Kennedy - I am a member of the law enforcement community, and I read your article yesterday. But how can you possibly say that our role in enforcing the law is serving to break up families and ruin young people's prospects? If these young folks weren't dealing drugs and killing people on our streets, we'd have no reason to lock them up. I agree that we have some societal issues that must be addressed if we are to ever solve the problem, but I don't think that labeling law enforcement as 'oppressive' is serving to help matters any.
David M. Kennedy: Both things are true. It's not a question of justice or injustice, and certainly not about corruption or misbehavior. But if 100 fathers get caught for selling drugs and go to prison, those are 100 fathers taken from their families, and who probably won't be able to get work when they get out. The tragedy here is that these effects are the unintended consequences of trying to do good: but that doesn't make them go away. And, on top of that, in most places this kind of enforcement does not solve, especially, drug and violence problems: and then, over the long term, helps cement them. We need to find ways to do the work differently. And, to say it again, any successful way will have an important place for law, standards, and enforcement: but, I hope, in ways that don't rely nearly so much on widespread arrest and incarceration.
Rockville, Md.: It's well known, or at least widely believed, that the sorts of neighborhoods you describe lack positive male role models.
What can be done to introduce positive male influences into these communities?
David M. Kennedy: If this is framed, as it often is, as "rebuilding the family," I have no idea. If we frame it a bit differently, I have a lot of hope. We absolutely can aspire to reinforcing the influence of responsible adults in the community. They're there, they can be enormously influential, and the most good can be done by some very unlikely allies, such as older offenders. Many older offenders have great standing among young men and on the streets and are hungry for a chance to make up for what they've done and keep others from doing the same. I've had extraordinary conversations with inmates in maximum security state and federal prisons about how they can use their own channels to send signals back to the streets that the craziness has to stop. Many still in the community would do likewise. I think the possibility is there for a social movement in the community saying that things have to change: the killing, the dying, the endless returns to prison, the not finishing school, all of it. If that's true, than the biggest step we could take would be to help that movement along.
Washington, D.C.: In your work on the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, you argued that the key to combating violent crime was to target one violent group of offenders (gangs), arrest and prosecute them to the maximum degree possible, then make a very public example of them by "calling in" other violent groups and warning them that they faced the same fate if they continued their violent ways. Surprisingly, there was no mention of this "call in" tactic in Sunday's article. Rather, you seem to focus now almost exclusively on the concept of the "thug culture." Is the "call in" tactic incompatible with -- or at least ineffective in combating -- today's "thug culture?" And, given the thesis that tough enforcement may only serve to break up families and further alienate communities, what role can the police play in combating the "thug culture" you describe?
David M. Kennedy: I'm talking with a specialist here... No, it's much the same framework, or at least one version is. The "Boston" idea was always about direct engagement with hard-core offenders, in which law enforcement made it clear that certain misbehavior would bring swift and certain consequences, that acted on the groups (like drug crews) that drive most of the worst crime, that offered social services to those who would take them, and that had the community speak for itself about its own interests and standards. That basically hasn't changed. But if law enforcement used to be in the lead in these face-to-face meetings -- and it did -- the community is now in the lead, speaking with uncompromising directness about why what's going on has to stop, why the community needs young men alive and out of prisons, and the like. And it's now even clearer than before how group dynamics and group norms -- like "respect" norms -- are central to all this. So we can, for example, have an old-head offender talk directly about how toxic those norms are, how he used to follow them because he thought all his friends really believed in them, and how he now knows they were all just following along together. So it's the same basic framework, but with what turn out to be transformational elements added in.
Baltimore, Md.: The question of "respect": There have been a number of books written about the culture of violence in the Old South and how hypermasculinity and demand for respect played into it. (e.g., Honor and Violence in the Old South by Bertram Wyatt-Brown.)
These Southerners were white, of course, Scots-Irish in origin, and quick to resort to the gun or knife in fairly trifling matters. Don't know how this plays into the behavior of some African-American males today, but it nonetheless shows that this is deeply rooted in the American psyche and not a new development.
David M. Kennedy: Yes, it's a striking parallel, and deeply ironic. But I don't think there's anything peculiarly American about it. Respect cultures and vendetta cultures are very common historically; it's one of the great successes of the liberal democratic tradition to move responsibility for public safety and crime control out of these informal relationships and into the realm of the state. That's why the recent movement of "respect" talk off the streets and into the boardrooms scares me so much: people are turning their backs on centuries of social progress, and I don't think they even know it.
Albany, N.Y.: From what little I know, it seems that most aspects of the prison system are absolutely counterproductive to almost any goal of incarceration. Is there any debate going on in policy circles about the futility of the increasing incarceration rates and mandatory sentencing in light of the crime rate, or do you predict that the our culture will merely buy into the false promise of more and longer incarceration as a panacea? Thanks.
David M. Kennedy: There absolutely is this debate, and has been for some time. Not everybody agrees with it, of course -- there's still an audience for increasing imprisonment, though levels have now reached a point that it's hard to argue for more. In many circles, though, there's agreement that we're no longer doing good and doing considerable harm. The question has been what to do instead. I don't think we'll get anywhere simply critiquing current practice; we need to frame alternatives that do less harm and do a better job of increasing public safety (and that incorporate a role for law enforcement, which many "antis" can't abide). I think, as we've discussed, some approaches that fit that bill are emerging. I hope so, anyway.
Maybe I'm being overly simplistic, but it seems to me that in a previous era an armed robber would would demand money, etc. and leave the victim unharmed as long as he or she complied. Nowadays it appears more often than not the perpetrator will shoot or stab the victim even if there is no resistance. In your opinion, what is the cause of this change in behavior?
David M. Kennedy: Many thanks, everybody. I apologize for not getting to the remaining questions; I tried to touch on most of the range of issues represented. I appreciate your attention --- and the interest and concern shown. I hope you got something from it.
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Fairfax City Split On Open Spaces
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Open space is scarce in Fairfax City, especially along Lee Highway, the traffic-choked corridor of auto dealerships, motels and chain restaurants likened by some residents to a three-mile strip mall.
The dwindling supply of undeveloped land has ignited a debate this summer over the fate of two large parcels bordering the road. One could become a condominium development, the other ballfields. The discussion in the six-square-mile community has hit an almost philosophical note, with some asking: When is open space truly open?
The disputed sites are on the north side of Fairfax Boulevard (the name of Lee Highway in Fairfax City) between Plantation Parkway and Stafford Drive. In 2004, the city purchased one of the parcels -- 24 acres behind an Outback Steakhouse -- as part of an open-space program approved by Fairfax voters to buy and protect green spaces.
This spring, city planners recommended that the land, known as the Stafford property, be devoted to a baseball diamond and a large field for soccer, lacrosse or rugby.
Some residents of the nearby Mosby Woods and Cambridge Station neighborhoods said that when they voted in 2000 to allow up to 5 cents of the city's real estate tax rate to be used for buying and maintaining open spaces, they expected that the Stafford property would be left undisturbed or developed as a park.
"The public understood, as I did, that this would be open space in the truest sense," Elisa Lueck, a Plantation Drive resident, said at a City Council hearing last month.
Others said it was clear that some of the open space would be devoted to recreation.
"Open space to me means the lack of a building. To some people it means woodlands," said Tom Scibilia, a member of the board of the Fairfax Police Youth Club, who supports using the Stafford property for ballfields.
Scibilia, who served on a citizens advisory committee on open-space issues, said the city needs more athletic fields. Of Mosby Woods, where Scibilia lives, he said: "There's no place for kids to play pickup football or throw a Frisbee, except in the street."
Fairfax City Mayor Robert F. Lederer, along with some members of the council, acknowledged that the city needs to be clearer on the potential use of open space and called the Stafford property "a classic case of miscommunication." The plan is pending before the council.
Mosby Woods residents are divided over the future of the second site, a privately owned 13-acre area known as Rocky Gorge that is west of the Stafford property and adjacent to their neighborhood. The council is scheduled to vote next month on a developer's proposal to build 123 condominium units for people 55 and older on the land.
Much of the thickly wooded Rocky Gorge is in a flood plain, where construction is prohibited. The developer, KMRG, said the condominiums would take up only three of the 13 acres, with the rest proffered to the city as open space. The builders also said the closest unit to the neighborhood would be 450 feet away.
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Open space is scarce in Fairfax City, especially along Lee Highway, the traffic-choked corridor of auto dealerships, motels and chain restaurants likened by some residents to a three-mile strip mall.
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Iowa Swings for a Big Ten Championship
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Iowa quarterback Drew Tate plays golf to relax, though that doesn't stop him from occasionally throwing clubs. "I can drive," Tate said. "But once I pull out an iron, I'm trouble."
While playing in a fundraising tournament staged by the Iowa athletic department this summer, Tate stared down the 199-yard 13th hole at Finkbine Golf Course in Iowa City and pulled out one of those troublesome irons.
He took a swing and watched his 6-iron turn into a hole-in-one.
"That's a once-in-a-lifetime thing," said Tate, who remains slightly bitter about the NCAA rules that kept him from claiming the sport-utility vehicle that came with the feat.
Nevertheless, Tate in many ways is Iowa's ace in the hole.
The Hawkeyes look positioned to challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten championship. At the center of it is Tate, who passed for 2,828 yards and 22 touchdowns last season. The star quarterback wants to make the most of his senior campaign in which he has at least an outside shot to win the Heisman Trophy.
"This is my last camp, my last year, and football is never going to be the same again after this year," Tate said. "Even at the next level, it's going to be fun, but there's other stuff. It's business."
Even with a young wide receiving corps this season, Tate is in position to put up big numbers. Running back Albert Young, who overcame two injury-plagued years, comes off a breakout season. Young rushed for 1,334 yards and eight touchdowns after starting the final 11 games.
At 6 feet 7, tight end Scott Chandler gives Tate a big and reliable target. Chandler caught a team-high 47 passes for 552 yards -- second among all Iowa receivers.
The Hawkeyes welcome back plenty of talent along both lines, though the defense looms as Iowa's biggest question entering the season.
Defensive end Kenny Iwebema created problems for opposing offenses with seven sacks, though his status is uncertain after Coach Kirk Ferentz suspended him for a week during camp.
Outside linebacker Edmond Miles needs to pull together a unit that loses Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge, who finished 1-2 in the Big Ten in tackles last season.
Safeties Marcus Paschal and Miguel Merrick bring consistency to the middle of the secondary, but the Hawkeyes also lost a pair of cornerbacks with a combined 7 1/2 years of starting experience.
But Iowa has built a 45-17 record over the past five seasons, despite lesser talent compared with Michigan and Ohio State. Much of that success comes from the stability provided by Ferentz and his coaching staff.
Because of his time as an NFL assistant with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, Ferentz is often trailed by rumors of a jump to pros. But Iowa athletic officials restructured Ferentz's contract through 2012, with a new salary that reportedly pays him $2.8 million annually.
"My contract situation has been addressed, so that might help curtail some of that talk now," Ferentz said. "We focus on what's in front of us."
Iowa's schedule proves somewhat unforgiving, with a bye not coming until the final week of the season. But the Hawkeyes have a good chance to go 4-0 before playing Ohio State on Sept. 30.
"My goal personally -- and I'm pretty sure it's one of Coach Ferentz's -- is starting fast in September," Tate said. "If we can start fast, that's going to help us in the long run."
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Iowa looks positioned to challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten championship and quarter back Drew Tate is the center of the Hawkeyes campaign.
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THIS WEEK
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Back sooner than usual from his vacation in Texas, President Bush is in Washington this week tackling issues of national and global security. As the war in Iraq rages, a truce in Lebanon and Israel is supposed to take effect this morning, while U.S. and British authorities continue to probe the terrorist plot to blow up as many as 10 transatlantic flights.
The commander in chief will meet this morning with his defense policy team, led by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, at the Pentagon. He will lunch with Iraq experts. Then he will travel back into the District to Foggy Bottom, where he will hope to get a fogless assessment of world affairs from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her team.
Tomorrow the president visits the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean. He will meet with his National Security Council and Homeland Security teams.
Meanwhile, August vacationers will brace for delays and disputes over what can and cannot be carried onto airplanes.
HEAR US NOW: Senators and House members will fan across the country with field hearings on immigration, largely looking to hear viewpoints they agree with. There are hearings planned in San Diego and Gainesville, Ga., for today, Dalton, Ga., and Houston tomorrow, and other cities the rest of the week.
BET ON A CONTEST: Nevada holds its primaries tomorrow, with eyes on the governor's race. Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt is challenging Rep. Jim Gibbons in the GOP primary, while State Sen. Dina Titus is challenging Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson in the Democratic contest. Gibbons leads Gibson in a one-on-one matchup, but the gap has been closing recently.
ECON-O-RIFIC: With the release of the producer price index tomorrow and the consumer price index on Wednesday, market observers will look for evidence of inflation. Confidence that inflation will remain low propelled a decision by the Federal Reserve last week to stop hiking rates after 17 consecutive increases.
Throughout the week, the president will talk about his economic agenda. He tours a Harley-Davidson manufacturing facility in York, Pa., on Wednesday before attending a fundraiser for Lynn Swann, who is running for governor. On Thursday, Bush will sign pension overhaul legislation. On Friday, he will meet with his economic advisers at Camp David.
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Back sooner than usual from his vacation in Texas, President Bush is in Washington this week tackling issues of national and global security. As the war in Iraq rages, a truce in Lebanon and Israel is supposed to take effect this morning, while U.S. and British authorities continue to probe the...
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A 4th Day of Slow Going in Britain
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LONDON, Aug. 13 -- Thousands of travelers in Great Britain slogged through the fourth day of heightened security at airports as more than 210 flights were canceled, some delays dragged on for hours, and one airline executive called on the British government to bring in the army and police to help move passengers and avoid the collapse of the country's main airport.
British Home Secretary John Reid said Sunday that another attempted attack is "highly likely." He said authorities have thwarted four major terrorist plots since the July bombings in London last year. British police are holding 23 suspects -- most of them London-based Muslim men in their twenties -- in connection with an alleged terrorist plot unveiled last week to blow up as many as 10 airliners leaving Britain and bound for the United States.
"We think we have the main suspects in this particular plot. I have to be honest and say, on the basis of what we know, there could be others out there," Reid said in an interview on BBC television. "So the threat of a terrorist attack in the U.K. is still very substantial."
Reid said al-Qaeda had first attempted to attack Britain in 2000, and he suggested that more than 20 terrorist conspiracies are currently being investigated in the country.
Responding to a question about a report in the British press that there were "two dozen" terror cells under investigation, Reid said: "I'm not going to confirm an exact number, but I wouldn't deny that that would indicate the number of major conspiracies that we are trying to look at. There would be more which are not at the center of our considerations, and there may be more that we don't know about at all."
At London's Heathrow Airport on Sunday, security officials hand-searched every passenger, which created four times the normal workload and caused lines of passengers to stretch out of the terminal. Airlines operating from Heathrow canceled about 130 flights, people were prohibited from bringing any hand luggage onto airplanes, and some flights left without passengers who couldn't arrive in time, said British Airports Authority spokesman Duncan Bonfield.
"These are unprecedented circumstances: four times the volume of searches in the busiest international airport in the world," Bonfield said. "There has been a significant disruption, but I think people do understand that their safety and security is paramount.
"As yet we've had no indication whatsoever from the government about how long it's going to go on," he added.
One of the airlines operating in Britain, Ryanair, criticized the government's "heavy-handed" security measures that disrupted the travels of thousands of British passengers. The airline said in a statement that it was in favor of "all sensible and effective security measures" but that they should be limited so that fewer people are searched.
"If the main U.K. airlines are forced to continue to cancel flights because the airports cannot meet these security requirements then the extremists will have succeeded," the company said.
Ryanair's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, said his airline cannot cope with the security measures and asked the British government for security personnel to help with the searches.
"If the British government is serious about defeating terrorism and not allowing the terrorists to disrupt normal, everyday British life, then it must provide the additional security staffing -- either police or army reserve personnel -- immediately to prevent London's main airports from grinding to a halt over the coming days," O'Leary said, according to wire service reports.
Airport officials expected the problems to continue into the week, and British Airways on Sunday was planning to cancel 20 percent of its Monday flights from Heathrow to comply with a British Airports Authority directive.
[Late Sunday, U.S. Homeland Security cut the threat level for U.K-U.S. flights to orange, or high, from red, or severe, the Reuters news agency reported.]
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Evangelicals Hate Gibson's Sin but Love His 'Passion'
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It has taken a couple of weeks, but the reviews from evangelical Christian leaders about Mel Gibson's latest performance are now in.
Gibson's drunken remarks about "[expletive] Jews" being responsible for "all the wars in the world," which the actor made to a Los Angeles sheriff's deputy who pulled him over on July 28, were "hurtful and unfortunate" (James C. Dobson), "reprehensible . . . shameful" (the Rev. James Merritt) and "cause for concern" (the Rev. Ted Haggard).
But has the actor-director's intemperate speech by the side of a highway prompted any prominent evangelical leader to voice second thoughts about the portrayal of Jews in Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ"?
"Not as far as I know," said Haggard, who is president of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
"This incident is not relevant in any way to 'The Passion of the Christ,' which is one of the finest films of this era," Dobson said in a statement issued Thursday by his organization, Focus on the Family.
Before "The Passion" came out in 2004, Gibson screened it privately for select audiences, including megachurch pastors. Many members of the clergy responded enthusiastically, urging their congregations to see it and rejecting the contention of some Jewish and Roman Catholic commentators that the film perpetuated the anti-Semitic message delivered by Passion plays through the ages: that the Jews killed Jesus.
Some of those who warmly embraced the "The Passion" two years ago have defended Gibson's character since his arrest and subsequent apology. ("I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge," Gibson said in a statement released by his publicist, Alan Nierob.)
"People say things when they're intoxicated that they don't necessarily mean. And I wasn't there, I didn't hear it," said the Rev. Garry Poole, director of spiritual discovery at Willow Creek Community Church, which draws about 20,000 people to its Sunday services in South Barrington, Ill.
"I met with Mel two times during pre-screenings [of "The Passion"], and I saw his heart to portray the life of Jesus the way the Bible portrays it," added Poole, who co-wrote a popular study guide to the movie. "I didn't see him as prejudiced at all in his actions or statements."
Merritt, pastor of Cross Pointe Church near Atlanta and a former president of the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, remembered that evangelicals who attended the pre-screenings asked Gibson, a Catholic, to add a brief scene at the end of the movie showing the resurrection of Jesus. Gibson did so, and evangelicals appreciated it, Merritt said.
"Obviously his recent comments were, to say the least, reprehensible and, as he said himself, shameful. That doesn't change my view of the film or make me believe that the film was anti-Semitic," Merritt said. "I don't believe there was any subliminal message by Mel Gibson that had any kind of anti-Semitic undertone to it at all."
Among the points repeatedly made by evangelicals in Gibson's defense are that he filmed his own hand nailing Jesus to the cross; he has apologized for his arrest remarks; and the virtues of a work of art should be considered separately from the sins of its creator.
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Post Politics Hour
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Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.
Washington Post Congressional reporter Jonathan Weisman was online Friday, August 11, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the latest in political news.
Political analysis from Post reporters and interviews with top newsmakers. Listen live on Washington Post Radio or subscribe to a podcast of the show.
Arlington, Va.: If the British have been watching these guys for a year and sharing info with U.S. officials, I don't understand why someone in our Homeland Security Department didn't anticipate today's airport security mess. Is there any evidence someone thought to come up with liquid and gel security protocols in anticipation of these arrests?
Also, I assume Cheney, Rove and Snow were all aware of the impending arrests when they started describing the Lamont victory in Connecticut as a victory for terrorists (selecting the war on terror talking point rather than the cut and run in Iraq, or raise taxes on Americans or other theme). Isn't this a pretty creepy use of highly confidential intelligence?
Jonathan Weisman: I am not so sure the poobahs in the administration knew of the arrests at the moment the police were moving in, though they certainly knew they were imminent. Any move to change security procedures ahead of the arrests would surely have tipped off the plotters. Remember, the reason folks are kept under surveillance for a long time is to collect as much evidence as possible, identify as many plotters as possible and make sure the deal is real.
Bremo Bluff, Va.: John Edwards: potential Presidential candidate in 2008? (I liked him in 2004.)
Any word on his wife's health?
Jonathan Weisman: Edwards has made every move to indicate he wants to give it another go. Lots of trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Just this week, he jumped into the Connecticut fray and promised to campaign for Ned Lamont. He's a go, and the last I heard, his wife is doing well.
Augusta, Maine: The British thwarting of this plot is unquestionably a major success, especially due to the fact that the British were able to accomplish it without trampling their citizen's civil rights. Do you think this event will be taken as evidence that it is possible to achieve national security objectives without significant infringement on civil rights for the citizenry, or do you think the Bush administration will use the evidence of ongoing terrorist threats as a justification for their current tactics?
Jonathan Weisman: Ummm, the latter. The White House is certain that debates over civil liberties versus anti-terrorism tactics (i.e. -- warrantless wiretapping, sleuthing of banking data, peeking at library check-outs) is the one true winner they have. They would love to have the debate you are picking.
Indianapolis, Ind.: In light of the anti-war left's triumph in Connecticut, what do you think are the chances we'll se an Al Gore candidacy in 2008?
Jonathan Weisman: Gore has done lots to indicate he wants to be considered, but he has not done the nuts and bolts things like the requisite trips to Iowa. I think he's pretty happy with his high profile. I'm not sure he wants to jump back into the political fray that way.
Carrboro, N.C.: Even the zaniest people I know on both extremes are not in disagreement about the importance of protecting the U.S. The broad disagreement is about HOW to do that, and whether or not "staying the course" in Iraq contributes to or ultimately detracts from preserving our country's safety.
Does Joe Lieberman know that when he goes around warning about the "anti-security" wing of the Democratic Party, he sounds like Bill O'Reilly? Is this an intentional rhetorical strategy that is just ugly to watch, or is he so unhinged that he thinks such a group really exists?
Jonathan Weisman: This is the big question for November. He has taken on the rhetoric of the Republicans when he blasts Democrats for being weak on national security and beholden to the left wing of the party. Republicans -- and Lieberman -- hope the weak-on-defense strategy will work as it did in 04 and 02. The question is, has the political atmosphere changed so much, mainly because of Iraq, that the old game plan only looks like more of the same in an election season based on the need for change.
Washington, D.C.: President Bush said yesterday that we are at war with Islamic fascists who hate our freedoms. I can see--with some sadness--how such comments can be helpful to him and his party in domestic politics, but do they have any effect internationally, and if so, what effect?
Jonathan Weisman: I was actually struck how the rhetoric is beginning to line up more with Europe than his older lines. The "hate our freedoms" bit has been around for awhile, but invoking fascism is usually the purview of the left, not the right.
Detroit, Mich.: If Bush was allegedly informed last Sunday of the terrorist plot in London to blow up planes with liquid explosives then why did the administration wait until Thursday to inform the TSA of this potential threat? Doesn't Bush's delay here in fact mean that for 3-4 days American air travelers were put at credible risk of being blown up while flying on U.S. planes?
Jonathan Weisman: As I said earlier, any change in security procedures ahead of the arrests may have tipped off the plotters. That was not gonna happen.
Freiburg, Germany: Now that Republicans in Texas were forced to either keep Tom DeLay running in Texas 22 or go without a candidate on a ballot, it seems that Democrats are favored to win this seat, especially since already more than a couple of Republicans showed interest in running as a write in. Do you think Republicans will be able to overcome that disadvantage or is this seat, at least this year lost? I can't think of many successful write-in-candidacies in a general election for Congress besides Strom Thurmond's first senatorial campaign. Can you think of any others?
Jonathan Weisman: There have been a few. Republican Ron Packard won a California election as a write-in in 1982, as did Republican Joe Skeen in New Mexico in 1980. Arkansas Democrat Thomas Dale Alford won his seat the same way in 1958.
But this is much tougher. The Democrat, Nick Lampson, has more than $2 million in the bank and is an experienced former congressman. The Republicans have very little time to get behind one candidate, mount a campaign and educate voters about how to write in the name. And writing in will be no mean feat. Virtually all the polling places will use touch screen voting machines without keyboards. Voters will have to hunt and peck, translating numbers into letters, as I understand it.
The Republicans, with so many seats to defend, will have to think long and hard about how much money to dump into such an uphill climb.
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.: Bush just started using the "Islamo-fascism" expression. Is that just a one-off speechwriter's turn of phrase or the beginning of a new characterization of the enemy? If so, what do you think the impact of this new communcation strategy will be?
Jonathan Weisman: As I said earlier, I think it is a significant change, more in line with European rhetoric. Fascism is a line slung usually by the left, not the right.
Houston, Tex.: Yesterday, President Bush used the term "Islamic Fascists". While this term is thrown around a lot in the War on Terror / Iraq debate, this is the first that I recall the President or anyone in the administration using it publicly. How significant is this?
Jonathan Weisman: See above, twice
Elizabethtown, N.J.: The Jerusalem Post reports that most of the new hires, as well as old counselors in the Bush administration are Jews. Bolton, et.al.. What effect do you think this has on American policy?
Jonathan Weisman: You're treading on difficult ground here. Josh Bolten is Jewish but he is no new hire. He has been very close to the president since the 2000 campaign, from deputy chief of staff to budget director to chief of staff. His most important counselor, of course, is Karl Rove, not Jewish, nor is his new Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson. One of his most prominent first-term Jewish advisers, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, is no longer with the administration. Ditto Doug Feith. So I beg to differ.
Washington, D.C.: Have you heard any broader definitions of "national security" than the one this administration is using? It seems that the politicians opposing the current administration's policies need to redefine the meaning of national security more broadly to include threat reduction at the political and strategic levels.
Jonathan Weisman: I was listening to the Brits this morning talking about this. Sounded like a way to distance the Blair administration and its successor from the White House.
Alpharetta, Ga.: I've been pondering what the shift in the Democratic establishment might do for Lamont, and while I don't think politicians endorsements matter much, I do think that some of the interest groups, notably big labor, might lead to some small shifts. Any word on what some of the interest groups might be doing, especially those who supported Lieberman?
Jonathan Weisman: Not yet. All eyes are on the Connecticut AFL-CIO, which got behind Lieberman in a big way. I imagine they, like the Democratic politicians, will shift allegiance in deference to the Democratic Party. But it will be important to watch.
Washington, D.C.: Re the earlier comment by Augusta, Maine: the British have much greater surveillance powers than is allowed in America. Basically they can check anything, anytime.
Jonathan Weisman: Yes, no bill of rights. I lived there for two years, ad you speak the truth.
It is well reported that the Democratic leadership has moved solidly from Lieberman to Lamont, but what about the Democratic power groups? Are the labor unions and civil rights orgs sticking with Lieberman or is it still unclear?
Jonathan Weisman: See above answer.
Cincinnati, Ohio: As I head the news about the fantastic work the U.K. security services did to arrest the two-dozen people involved in the plot, it occurred to me that the people who detest President Bush might well say the administration raised the alert level to Red for political reasons. This way, the conspiracy might go, this could distract the public from Iraq and the Middle East.
I'm not a huge fan of the Iraq war, but I disagree with the Ned Lamonts of the world, and I've seen what the Daily Kos has speculated in the past.
Any thoughts--or am I as off-base as I think this possible speculation is?
Jonathan Weisman: Actually, I would have expected those charges as well, but I have not seen any evidence of it. Since the arrests were in Britain, I imagine the left does not think it has a leg to stand on this go-round.
Baltimore, Md.: Hello. I'm bothered to no end that the thwarting of this most recent terrorist plot will somehow translate into a bump for conservatives here. I'm wondering if voters truly believe that Democrats would really be any less vigilant about terrorism. And why do they believe that? When will Democratic candidates stand up and say, "This is crazy. Of course I'll be tough on terrorism"? Or have they already and conservatives are shouting louder?
Jonathan Weisman: We will have to watch polls in the wake of the arrests. An AP poll out this morning but taken before the news shows a distinct Democratic advantage in the handling of terrorism. That may indeed slide. Remember, one of the real hits to the president's approval rating came after Katrina on the question of competence. The administration looked very competent yesterday. That's gotta help.
Medford, Mass.: Exactly how is it that our sitting Vice President can get away with saying basically that people who exercised their constitutional right to vote for change (ie: Conn. primary) are helping terrorists? How is this not the headline of a story, instead of a footnote?
Jonathan Weisman: The vice president also said the insurgency in Iraq is in its death throes, and that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators. I'm afraid to say his utterances are losing their news value.
San Francisco, Calif.: Good morning, Jonathan, and thanks for chatting with us this morning. Meaning no disrespect, can you tell us about the day of a Post during the August recess? Are there stories to research and cover? Isn't just about everybody you'd speak with out of town now? Thanks!
Jonathan Weisman: Wow, someone interested in the news process. The bureaucracy goes on in Washington, as does the news. I always expected August to busier than I hoped, with so many investigations on-going and news like yesterday's terrorism plot always popping up. More importantly, we political reporters have to focus on the election now. I'll be heading to Arizona to look at the House races there next week. My colleagues on the congressional team are on the campaign trail right now. It's gonna be a busy month.
Washington, D.C.: Seems to me that we could do what the Brits did in terms of surveillance if it were approved by a court. Those of us unhappy with the current administration's trampling of civil rights would be much happier if only there were some independent, probably judicial, oversight; at least I would. George Pataki hit the right note on this last night on Hardball. Why can't the Dems do it?
Jonathan Weisman: I think the Democrats have been saying that over and over, so much so that, to their chagrin, we've grown tiring of repeating it.
Washington, D.C.: After 9-11 N.Y. forged an alliance with Interpol to have more leads and better info on Terrorists.
Why doesn't the Fed do the same? FBI and CIA are slightly less than spectacular.
Jonathan Weisman: They have. The foiling of the plot in Britain involved intelligence agencies on three continents, ours included. Let's give some credit where credit is due.
Lieberman's petitions: Are you looking into the story on Lieberman's petitions for his Connecticut for Lieberman line? I read that 29 people collected 18,000 signatures and that strains credulity.
Jonathan Weisman: Good tip. Thanks.
Louisville, Ky.: In these discussions, the fact that 60% of Americans are now against the Iraq War is seldom brought up. I highly doubt that 60% of the country makes up the "anti-war left."
Perhaps voting out war supporters may become a more common theme as November approaches. When such a solid majority of the country is against the Iraq adventure, silly labels like the "anti-war left" are no longer relevant.
Jonathan Weisman: I think you're right on this. When Joe Lieberman says he'll bring independents out in droves in November, he's neglecting to recognize that independents have turned against the war in numbers almost as great as Democrats. The Republicans are pursuing a risky strategy. Most believe they cannot credibly turn against the war at this point, so they hope that when voters actually enter the voting booth, they will -- as they have done before -- decide that for all its faults, the GOP has kept us safe.
Anonymous: Can I just respond to Cincinnati Ohio's comment about Bush detesters? I am a totally liberal dem, and can't stand too much more of this Administration. But I find no conspiracy theories, nor do I have a problem with how the plot/arrests went down. I'm glad to see that terrorists can be caught and stopped. I also don't have a problem with the raised alert level, although I find it to be irrelevant. What I do have a big problem is people implying that if any other person were president of this country, those airplanes would have exploded and all us liberals, democrats, and people opposing the war would somehow be pleased by it. That's what bothers me most.
Harrisburg, Pa.: Please answer this, since it has been lost amid Ned Lamont and terror alerts: Any chance that Ohio Democrats sue to to keep Bob Ney on the ballot in Ohio, similar to what was successfully done with Tom DeLay in Texas? I understand Ohio election statutes allow the party to choose a successor even after a candidate has won a primary, but there is now case law on the Democrat's side (albeit from a different Federal Appeals Court).
Jonathan Weisman: No chance. Ohio election law is different. Ney is off the ballot and the Ohio attorney general ruled that the Republicans' hoped-for successor, state Sen. Joy Padgett, can run. That will be a tough race, but Republicans must be heartened by recent events.
Why no story about the fact that the RNC has a doctored photo of Howard Dean that makes him look like Hitler on their Web site? Why no press outrage? Also, why can't the press get it straight. Ned Lamont is not anti-war, he's anti-Iraq war. Have heard of any Democrat say that they were against the invasion in Afghanistan? So why must the media continue to paint all Democrats with a wide brush?
Jonathan Weisman: I have to tell you, I looked at that photo and it is very hard to see whether that's a Hitler moustache or a shadow. The only people looking at it are true partisans anyway. It is not being used in a way that would give it mass exposure. There are far more important things for us to spend limited resources on.
Harrisburg, Pa.: While we are worried about terrorism, isn't it ironic that our own negligence is causing damage as well? We're worried about terrorists blowing up the pipeline, and then the pipeline fails due to negligence. My question: What is this report about the NSA uses so much electricity that there are fears the NSA could soon short itself out? Is that report for real, and, if so, what is being done about it?
Jonathan Weisman: I have not heard it, but somehow, I doubt it. Fort Mead, where the NSC is located, is a very big place. If the NSA needs more power, the NSA will build more capacity. Zoning ain't gonna preclude it.
Houston, Tex.: On Tom Delay, the talk among us real citizens (not political junkies or journalist) is that we re-elect Tom and then he can resign and the party will appoint someone to his seat thus keeping it in the party. Can this not happen as he is still real popular around here.
Jonathan Weisman: That could have happened if DeLay had chosen to stay on the ballot, but he didn't. His statement Monday said his decision to move to Virginia and go into business is irrevocable. You could mount a write-in campaign for him, but you would only be dividing Republican votes further.
New Orleans, La.: Mr. Weisman, The arrests yesterday in the British plot seem to indicate that in many ways the war on terrorism is being fought more effectively with traditional policing (as it was prior to 9/11), including the use of intelligence and surveillance rather than with the military as in Iraq. How does this jibe with the assertions made after 9/11 that policing terrorism had failed, and that this war was dependent on military rather than police action? And, how have our resources been spent? Have they favored the military approach, over the police/intelligence approach?
Jonathan Weisman: Well, funding for the FBI has doubled. Counterterrorism now takes up half its budget. Perhaps you could make the case that more can be done, but law enforcement hasn't been ditched altogether.
Glenside, Pa.: What do Republicans in CT plan on doing? Supporting Lieberman, getting the GOP Senate candidate replaced with a more, solid viable one?
Jonathan Weisman: The GOP has not given up finding a stronger Republican candidate, but the three embattled Republican House members, Chris Shays, Nancy Johnson and Rob Simmons, all put out statements Wednesday praising Lieberman. Shays pledged to vote for him. That would indicate they want Lieberman to draw out lots of independent and Republican voters opposed to Lamont, and by aligning themselves with him, they hope to get those votes. They will also associate themselves with every Lieberman blast at a Democratic Party weak on defense and beholden to the loony left.
Iowa: Two invitations received to a picnic for John Edwards tonight and one for a luncheon with Evan Bayh on Monday. And I am assuredly not a major Dem. party donor. How long till those caucuses?
Jonathan Weisman: If you're not into the politics, get out of the state. You ain't seen nuthin yet.
Ft. Myers, Fla.: I've noticed that Condi Rice uses the phrase "I don't think anyone could have anticipated..." quite a bit, most notably immediately following another one of the administration's catastrophic failures. I've also notice that, without fail, in every instance some actually had anticipated exactly such a thing, wrote it down or otherwise had it published, and then handed it to someone in the administration.
Will this affect her prospects for elected office?
Jonathan Weisman: I don't gather she has those prospects or wants to pursue them. In this political atmosphere, anyone so closely aligned with President Bush's foreign policy is pretty toxic.
Washington, D.C.: Isn't Ohio's attorney general an elected republican official? I don't see any reason at all that his interpretation of state law would be the final word. I mean, this is why we have state courts, isn't it?
Jonathan Weisman: Yes, I think he is a Republican, but I have heard no rumblings from Ohio Democrats about a suit. His opinion on the matter was pretty strong.
Pennsylvania: "The administration looked very competent yesterday."
I'm not sure I follow. Didn't the British uncover this plot? Didn't the British manage the investigative process? Didn't the British make the arrests and coordinate with Pakistani intelligence? How does Bush get to claim any credit for this one? Furthermore, this incident proves the stupidity of buying into one favorite Administration sound bite, namely "we are fighting them over there (in Iraq) so we don't have to fight them here at home". Seems to me that there are plenty enough terrorists to go around. Obviously fighting in Iraq is not draining their resources to attack us in our backyard.
Jonathan Weisman: All true, but Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, heretofore known for his Katrina performance, held lots of press conferences, interviews and media availabilities. Attorney General Gonzalez was by his side, and as anyone who was at an airport knows, the U.S. did respond. Atmospherics are important, especially in a political season.
Dean's picture: People, please, get real. I'm a Democrat but even I recognize there's no mustache there. What's more interesting is that the home page for the GOP site includes a big banner attacking the Democrats as "Defeat-ocrats" while the Democrat home page features a headline saying "America's Safety Must Come First." Very telling example of the two parties' approach to communicating with the rest of the world.
Jonathan Weisman: Ya see, I'm not the only one who failed to see Hitlerian undertones.
Rockville, Md.: It is true that computers use a lot of power and have they have grown smaller the density has increased. But industrial processes (like aluminum) use much more power and they were active in the Maryland area until prices went up. I think there is plenty of power for NSA. I would worry more about getting people who know what to do.
Jonathan Weisman: Turn down the AC and let the NSA have its juice.
Memphis, Tenn.: Recent world events indicate that terrorist activity and attempts to foment terror will be around for the foreseeable future. If you accept that premise, is it practical for the U.S. to assume the problem can be solved militarily? Assume, God forbid, the London plot had been successful or there is another successful attack on U.S. territory, what nation would we then preemptively invade? I fear the nation is on the brink of being in a perpetual state of war just as is our ally Israel. And that's not good.
Jonathan Weisman: It's also very expensive. And good point about a military response. Would we invade Pakistan or South London?
San Diego, Calif.: The Republicans are trying to spin the latest terror plot as a sign that public opinion will change on the war in Iraq. But isn't the real problem for them that the voters have figured out that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with responding to the 9/11 attacks?
Jonathan Weisman: Actually I think it's just the opposite. The GOP has done such a good job kinking the war on terror to the war in Iraq that the morass in Iraq is coloring opinions on the Republicans' handling of terrorism. They've become inextricable, so bad news in Iraq, or even South Lebanon, has raised questions about the party's biggest strength.
Atlanta, Ga.: Reading some of the profile accounts of the campaigns, it seemed that Lamont really did a nice job on the technicals of the campaign in terms of understanding how to deal with these grievances, most notably the war, but also identifying small cities where Lieberman had 'lost touch', and he picked folks that really worked for him like Tom Swan and Bill Hillsman. Have you heard about how team Lamont is planning on retooling their campaign team?
Jonathan Weisman: My colleague, Shailagh Murray, did an excellent story on just this point, showing how Lamont won it in the trenches, with a truly great grassroots organization. It will be more of the same until November. The real question will be, can Lieberman respond?
Kansas City, Mo.: Maybe it's just that I don't follow politics enough but it seemed in 2004 when John Kerry said something about the need for more policing on terrorism the GOP ridiculed him saying terrorism wasn't a law enforcement matter. Are we going to see the GOP now praise the law enforcement efforts that took down this plot?
Jonathan Weisman: Your memory serves you well. The Republicans mocked Kerry mercilessly for calling terrorism a law enforcement issue. I doubt they will change their tune, since military action is still very much in evidence.
washingtonpost.com: Democratic Leadership Welcomes Lamont, (Post, Aug. 10)
New Jersey: We kept hearing that bin Laden's organization was so "degraded" that they would be unable to mount anything large scale. But, here they are, back again, and I think that there's been enough time and money spent that we should not be hearing from them.
Also, I read the Post's long Tuesday article by Karen DeYoung on the disorganization among national security institutions, and I do NOT think the Bush administration can claim much success. The war in Iraq has drained our resources.
washingtonpost.com: A Fight Against Terrorism -- and Disorganization, (Post, Aug. 9)
Jonathan Weisman: I recommend Karen's article as well, along with her article linking the British plot to al Qaeda in today's paper. But hey, it didn't succeed. So the talking point remains.
Los Angeles, Calif.: I am wondering about the interesting timing of the UK terror discovery. Elections back in the U.S? Eyes of the world on Israel as it pounds Lebanon while the U.S. gives it a green light? I just think it is interesting how the media is blowing it up so much, makes me wonder if the U.K. and the U.S. governments waited for this moment to take action.
Jonathan Weisman: Ah ha, we were waiting for this. And I had just said the left would not repeat the charge of political motivation, since the British did the surveillance and set the time for the arrests. Do you think Scotland Yard cares so much about the mid-term elections in the United States? Maybe they should have waited until after Nov. 7.
Fargo, N.D.: Don't you find it an odd coincidence that "U.S. and U.K. officials" decided to crackdown on the latest plot after Lieberman's defeat in Connecticut? Was it just a coincidence that Cheney said that Lamont's victory "would embolden al Qaeda types?" Cheney was following the U.K. investigation daily. Do you think anyone in the press corps will have the nerve to ask about the timing, or will the threat of terrorism once again stifle the voices of a free press?
Jonathan Weisman: Ugh. See above.
Baltimore, Md.: It sounds to me like Joe Lieberman is campaigning to win the Republican and Independent votes this November in order to beat Lamont. If he continues on the route of trashing the democrats (and scaring everyone else) to win, would he even be welcomed into the caucus? Or are things much more pragmatic than that?
Jonathan Weisman: That is a good question. Lieberman says he is campaigning as an independent Democrat and still intends to caucus with the party. But boy would he have a lot of fences to mend. On the other hand, in a Senate that could very well be split 50-50 next year, Democratic leaders will take all the votes for Harry Reid they can get.
Washington, D.C.: Good morning. As a conservative Republican, and as an American, I have always respected and admired the thoughtful Newt Gingrich. However, by his comments with respect to "an emerging third world war", I must say that I am far more troubled by his rhetoric than I am of getting on a plane.
I believe that there are too many in this country, not just abroad, who are interested more in doing battle than in finding solutions.
Jonathan Weisman: It is interesting that in recent weeks, the conservative wing of the Republican Party is really finding its voice against the neo-conservative wing. Republicans used to believe in minimizing if not avoiding foreign entanglements, and the likes of yourself and George Will have really become more vocal, especially as the neo-conservatives clamor for U.S. military involvement in Iran, and perhaps the Israel-Lebanon conflict. Republicans have harped on Democratic divisions over national security. I think by November, the schisms in the GOP will become much more evident.
Los Angeles, Calif.: Re: your response to Kansas City, what military action was in evidence in apprehending the British terrorist? It was law enforcement. I think the public gets the difference between the Iraq war & fighting terrorists even though the media does not -- yet.
Jonathan Weisman: I was not thinking of the UK plot. The military is fighting insurgents in Iraq who are certainly using terrorist tactics, whether you think Iraq is part of the war on terrorism or not. And let's not forget U.S. and NATO military action that is on-going in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are showing new strength in the south.
Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker's piece this morning said, "Campaigning in Connecticut, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who lost Tuesday's Democratic primary and is now running as an independent, said the antiwar views of primary winner Ned Lamont would be 'taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England.'"
So Lieberman is now campaigning on the link between Iraq and al Qaeda?
The only step remaining seems to be for him to declare himself a Republican.
washingtonpost.com: Both Parties Claim Edge as Terror Is Reinforced as a Campaign Topic, (Post, Aug. 11)
Jonathan Weisman: Lieberman has long seen those links. That was part of Lamont's reasoning for running.
Boston, Mass.: What are the implications of Bob Ney losing his seat? How likely is a Democratic pickup now?
Jonathan Weisman: The Democrats have less of a chance of winning the Ney seat now that Ney won't be in it. The Democratic candidate, Zack Space, built his whole campaign around beating Bob Ney, Now he will have to make a bank shot, saying the new Republican, Joy Padgett, was handpicked by Ney and Ohio's very unpopular Republican governor, Bob Taft. That's much harder to do. Really, the Dems win that seat if there is a real tidal wave against Republicans in general, and if that happens, they win lots more seats you haven't heard of.
Rockville, Md.: Is there anyone in the Administration truly reminding Bush and friend the cost of this unsuccessful war being waged in Iraq? I saw on one of the morning shows that it will cost $22 bil to upgrade the screening equipment, and this feat would not be completed for at least another 15 years. I feel sorry for the coming generations of Americans. Thanks!
Jonathan Weisman: The war itself has cost more than $300 billion, all of that money borrowed, and much of it borrowed from abroad. Cost has never been an issue, but it will some day.
Re: Who to Invade?: Do we know how many of the arrested terrorists are Iraqi?
Jonathan Weisman: None that I know of. Virtually all were British of Pakistani origin or Pakistani. Your point?
Steamboat Springs, Colo.: Kind of an inside baseball question: Do other Dem. Senators get personally offended when Lieberman describes himself, in essence, as the only Democrat who cares about national security?
Richmond, Va.: Who didn't know the GOP would, in a nanosecond, seek to exploit this alleged terror plot for its own campaign? But in the same nanosecond, the Dems, instead of falling apart on how to respond, crafted a message that laid the blame for such plots right at the feet of the Republicans -- saying they have diverted funds to Iraq that could have been used for security. Does such a Democrat response mean there is a new confidence -- perhaps supported by the polls over the last six months, and lately the Lamont win? Or do such plots work in the Republicans favor?
Jonathan Weisman: By the end of the day, Republican leaders were decrying the Democrats' "politicizing" yesterday's arrests. It does seem that both sides are playing the game with aplomb. I think the net effect is to cancel each other out and let us think about the real news of the events, not the politics.
re: Houston: Shoot! Because I'm a political junkie, I'm not a real citizen? Man, that stinks!
Where do I turn in my passport? Do I have to move now? What do all the informed, interested, fake citizens do?
Jonathan Weisman: Dude, turn in your passport and your hair gel and get to Heathrow. There's a customs inspector waiting.
Land of cynicism: It's just amazing the timing these terrorists have. Every even-numbered year they try to pull something which causes the terror alert to jump to orange or red. By the way, have we found the man who attacked us on Sept. 11 yet? It's been almost five years.
Jonathan Weisman: Alright everyone in the land of cynicism, I will say it again, then sign off cause my time is up. Pulleeze, Scotland Yard does not give a damn about the U.S. midterm elections. Osama bin Laden probably doesn't either, although he was keenly watching the presidential campaign. If the plot had succeeded, the political effects would have been overwhelming. So maybe, in the land of cynicism, somebody is wishing they had.
Be thankful for British law enforcement and get on with your lives.
Til next week, salaam aleikum.
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 Congressional reporter Jonathan Weisman discussed the latest buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.
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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.
Los Angeles, Calif.: Does this beat all: I received a "save the date" card for an August wedding a couple of months ago, but no wedding invitation followed. Should I make a snarky comment? Send a lovely gift out of spite? Ignore and move on?
Carolyn Hax: Things do get lost in the mail. So do manners, unfortunately, so the best way to deal with it is to ask nicely--i.e., assuming the best--"I saved the date but never heard anything, so I thought you should know in case it looks like I'm blowing you off." For all you know, the bride/groom could be complaining that you were a no-show no-RSVP.
Carolyn Hax: Oh, and hello.
Shiksa: I understand what you were saying in the Wednesday column, and I agree that the writer should be with someone who loves her and is willing to stand up for her. But I can't get past the feeling that, if she breaks up with him, that horrible mother won.
Carolyn Hax: Agreed, is is tough to do things that indirectly make awful people happy. But that just means you have to spin things a little harder to make yourself okay with it. E.g.: He and his awful mother lose the privilege of her company.
New York, N.Y.: A close friend is in a coma and has been for a week. I am finding it hard to go about my usual routine, mainly because I feel so helpless and am so worried about her. How do I come to terms with the idea that she may be in this coma for awhile, and I can't let my own life slide because of it? She's the first person in my peer group to ever have something happen like this. I never even had to visit the hospital to see a sick friend before this occurred. I feel like I've had to adapt to a steep learning curve, and while it gets easier to accept it everyday, I feel guilty that I can't do more to help her.
Carolyn Hax: I'm sorry. It is a steep learning curve, but I hope one of the first things you learn is that you can't go about your usual routine. Instead, think of your routine as being on emergency power, and only the essentials get your attention for a while. As your emotions adjust to the new circumstances, then you can slowly start adding things back in.
As for the guilt, it's understandable, but you're also just doing what humans are wired to do--learn to think about what a mere week ago was unthinkable. One thing that might help is if you use your growing acceptance of the situation as a chance to think more clearly about what you can do for her--like dropping by the hospital--as part of your list of essentials.
Re: Shiksa: Even better, she's free of having to deal with their drama. Better choice for her in the long run.
Carolyn Hax: Definitely. It shouldn't be this hard. Plus there's the added bonus of denying the mother her drama.
Anywhere but D.C.: I'm no Mary Sunshine by any stretch of the imagination, but I can't help but notice how many people write in to you looking for snarky comments or advice about whether to do things out of spite or in payback. We're all only human, but geez, doesn't it seem easier on your blood pressure and on your psyche just to try to give people the benefit of the doubt or let stuff go? I mean really.
I guarantee there's a ton of stuff I've said and done that has created a completely unintended impression (including how obnoxious this post probably seems), and I'm sure I'd be mortified to know that anyone was wasting any time or energy trying to think of something snarky or spiteful to do or say in response. Life's too short, man.
Carolyn Hax: Okay, but if you're truly mellow, you'll leave DC out of this.
Is it me or the hormones?: Carolyn,
I could really use your perspective: I find that I am taking the slightest things at work personally, feeling as though the smallest mistake is an indication that I'm not good enough/incompetent--at what I do, as a person, following the spiral down to tears. Friends who have had children tell me that it's the pregnancy hormones (I'm in my 7th month), but I'm having a hard time seeing if I really just suck at my job or not. I'm not used to doing poorly professionally, academically, etc. Help.
Carolyn Hax: Is that something anyone ever gets used to?
From what I've seen, all pregnancies (and effect thereof) are different, so I'm not going to file you under "hormonal" and call it a day. It could definitely be hormones--and one way to tell is if this compares at all to PMS, assuming you get PMS. Another way to look at it that I've found helpful: Is the situation something that would upset you under normal circumstances, except now you feel your reaction is out of proportion and/or out of control?
I think regardless you should talk to your OB, but you'll get more out of that conversation if you take the time to tease apart what's going on, to help you explain more precisely what's going on.
Boston, Mass.: I think you were a little hard on the guy from Wednesday's column given their age. If they were both in their mid-20s I would agree entirely. But since they are college students I think he should be given some benefit of the doubt and/or some patience. Standing up to your parents isn't easy to do and he's just at the stage of life when you learn how to do it.
Carolyn Hax: I would agree if it weren't for the extreme nastiness of the mother. Besides, he didn't write to me, she did, and she needs to get out, whether he's destined to grow a spine at 23 or not.
Re: "That horrible mother won": Life isn't a contest, every conflict isn't about "winning" or "losing." Why do people have to couch their perceptions in such terms? If the woman in the Wednesday column breaks up with the boyfriend, she didn't "lose" and the mother didn't "win" (as if the spineless boyfriend is a prize), the girlfriend just decided to move on with her life in a direction that didn't include the boyfriend because that seemed to be the better way to go.
From reading your column and the chat here, it seems to me that a lot of the problems people make for themselves are because they think of things in terms of "winning" and "losing," rather than what works and what doesn't.
Carolyn Hax: I should have pointed this out. I am such a loser.
Let stuff go: I'll let stuff go if someone will explain to me exactly how to do that.
Carolyn Hax: Realize that 99.7 percent of it just doesn't matter. X says mean things about you? Okay, so I guess it's time to stop hanging with X because X isn't very nice. Your relationship with Y implodes? Wallow, sort it out in terms of you being you and Y being Y and your not belonging together--as opposed to blaming, blaming, blaming. When you have Z, enjoy Z, and don't spend the whole time looking for ghosts of X and Y.
It's a more complicated process than that, obviously, but there's a start for you.
Washington, D.C.: My girlfriend has a male friend who is definitely interested in her. I'm not threatened in any way, but I do find it annoying that he seems to be just hovering around waiting for us to break up so he can pounce. Anything I can do here other than just grin and bear it?
Carolyn Hax: "Doesn't it bother you that he's kind of hovering around waiting for us to break up?" Since it should bother her. It's skeevy.
Just be judicious with this approach. Said once, it's a good point; dwelled upon, and it's the opportunity he's been hovering for.
Washington, D.C.: Should I marry just for love, or should I marry someone who I could grow to love but has high earning potential and family money?
Carolyn Hax: Always go for the money.
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Re: wedding RSVP: My cousin didn't show up at my sister's wedding. No note, no present, nothing. And, she hardly speaks to us any more.
I asked my folks repeatedly if perhaps the invitation had gotten lost, and repeatedly suggested they contact her to ask, and if she hadn't received it, for us to offer the first apology.
My folks refused. This was 20 years ago. I am still baffled at how bitter this is. Call your friend, ask the question, you'll both feel better.
Carolyn Hax: Anger is stunningly corrosive. (Ask any divorce attorney.) More stunning, though, is how much anger is based on assumptions. Thanks.
St. Paul, Minn.: Hi Carolyn,
Is it ever okay for me to want my husband to dump one of his friends? I thought this guy was one of my friends, too, but after some decidely un-flattering behavior from him (namely, repeatedly lying to us, blowing us off, and his fiance openly hates me) I've pretty much taken the signals that he's really not.
However, my husband still thinks that this guy is our friend because most of his insults were "only" done to appease his fiance, and that I should let it go. But as we continue to be nice to both of them, we are repeatedly treated like poo, and it is making me feel foolish and used.
My husband does not, and will not, share my sentiments. It's upsetting me to have to put up with this friend and his awful fiance, and that my husband won't see his friend for his actions. But I don't WANT to be like this guy's fiance and tell my husband who he can and cannot be friends with. What can I do?
Carolyn Hax: You've done enough to call your husband's attention to your viewpoint, so now I think you just accept that he wants to stay friends with this friend--as is his prerogative--and do your best to limit your own exposure, which is your prerogative. There's nothing that says you have to go along on every outing with them.
If it makes you feel better, what's happening with this friend happens all the time--weak person meets domineering person, and the weak person's friends pay the price. Don't take it personally and enjoy your nights off.
Silver Spring, Md.: You let things go by thinking how they will affect you in 10 days, or 10 years, or longer -- will it really matter on my deathbed that somebody cut me off in traffic in the summer of 2006?
Carolyn Hax: Great for the little stuff, thanks. For the big stuff, which can absolutely affect you 10 or more years out, you upgrade to reminding yourself that you don't choose your life, you only get to choose your response to it.
Marry for Money: I wrote that question and I think it deserves a more legitimate answer...
Seriously, isn't there something to be said for having a comfortable life where I can stay home and raise my kids, not having to argue about money, and not having to pray that my checks clear? I said I could learn to love the rich guy. I love the other (non-rich) guy but I have serious doubts about whether he will be able to support a family. What say you?
Carolyn Hax: I say you haven't met your kids' father yet. (Everybody, hide!)
A life with someone you don't love is not "comfortable," not to me, I doubt it will be for your kids (this is their model for marriage: no love, nice clothes), and explain to me please how it's fair to the guy whose own wife doesn't love him but is happy to cash his checks. You're such a prize that he'll be happy to have you, even on those bankrupt terms?
If you can "learn to love him," then go for it. And once you love him, fully, genuinely, and for poorer, THEN you can marry him.
Springfield, Va.: My husband's family (who lives right next door) is a bitter steaming cauldron of bad decisions, addictions, co-dependancy,and small criminal acts. Why I didn't see this years ago (love-blind?) is beyond me, but after 10 years, I'm done. How do I and my young children, since he won't/can't cut the cord, begin to slowly distance ourselves so we are not involved in the daily minutiae of misery? It's wearing me out and down. Thanks!
Carolyn Hax: Move. Find a way. It's poisoning your kids. I don't know what the state of the love is between you and your husband, but if there's any left, you need to lay it out for him that you and he are going to do X, Y and Z to save yourselves from this situation, and then start doing it. (Obviously if there's any history of abuse between you two or in his family, you have to take careful precautions, with the guidance of trained counselors. Write to me if you need numbers--tellme@washpost.com)
Re: Marry for Money: If you want comfort, wouldn't the best path be creating your wealth? Then you wouldn't have to worry about your checks clearing, but you also wouldn't have to feel like an a-# because you married some schmuck you don't love. You can marry for love AND be comfortable. Put enough in your savings account and you can stay home with your kids and be a decent human being at the same time. Sorry if this is harsh, I just hate the whole gold digger thing.
Carolyn Hax: No apologies necessary. It's hard to love.
Arlington, Va.: my husband is a recovering evangelical who still maintains casual friendships with his circle of friends from that period of his life, some 10 years ago. I HATE spending time around them. Aside from deep political/value differences, strict gender role expectations mean that I get stuck hanging out with the women, whom I find dull, while we prepare the food, clean up, and tend the children together, or else choose to stay with my spouse while he and the men sit on the couch and watch the game. The whole thing stinks and I don't want to be there, but he reasonably says, hey, we see these people four times a year, why can't you suck it up? I think he's right that I should be more patient so infrequently, but also that the men in this circle of friends benefit at the expense of the women and my sensibilities get offended whether I'm the one serving or being served in this situation. What to do?
Carolyn Hax: Ask him how he'd feel about eating his principles four times a year and condoning something he finds offensive. That's what he's asking you to do, and that's not the same as suffering through a boring dinner four times a year.
Unless your principles demand that you occasionally eat [dirt] to make your spouse happy; after all, it's possible he does the same for you in other cirumstances. Then you suck it up.
The important thing is that you put it in the context of your marriage, and then see what kind of deal you can live with.
Carolyn Hax: I haven't keeled over, I'm just reading questions.
New York lawyer: So today is just a horrible day at work -- messed up something, got yelled at, was just told I have to work this weekend when I thought I was free, demanding bosses on competing assignments... and I kind of hate my job to start with. It's easy to feel depressed when I spend so many hours doing work I don't like, missing my family and friends who I never see anymore, wondering what it is all for. Any words of advice to talk myself through the end of the day?
Carolyn Hax: It really will be over, soon--and 10 years from now, if you even remember today, you'll wonder why you let it get to you.
And when today is over, change into something comfortable and ask yourself why exactly you're making yourself miserable like this. And then ask if the reason you've given yourself is as necessary as you think.
Virginia: I am in the middle of a week's worth of the "silent treatment" from my SO. The reason for the treatment is I was in a grumpy mood the other night and told him so. He ended up storming out of my apartment in a huff and haven't talked to him sense.
Here's the thing: I know what he is doing is hurtful, wrong and controlling. I realize I need to back away slowly from the disfunctional relatonship. He tried something very similar a few years back and I called him on it and made it clear if he ever pulled this again, I'd be gone. So here I am -- cognizant of the fact its time to move on but... how? I find myself dialing his number when I see something funny -- and hanging up mid dial, etc. I've gone from being pissed off to realizing exactly how hard this is going to be -- especially as he hasn't returned my voicemails, texts or e-mails asking what is going on and boy do we need to talk. Exactly how does one wrap up a rather long relationship when one is being so... petty and the other is trying hard not to throw a temper tantrum (that would be me)?
Carolyn Hax: A week of the silent treatment means you have some free time to make an appointment with a reputable therapist to get some counseling. The impulse for anyone in this situation is to try to make sense of the whole mess, and the person you're naturally going to seek out for this is your SO. Which is the crux of the problem. He knows you're looking for him, and that you'll look harder the less accessible he is. Enough, please. Go make sense of it somewhere that doesn't involve the words "storming" or "huff"--or threats that you act on for less than a week before you cave by every electronic means available to you.
From a former lawyer in private practice to NY Lawyer: Take Carolyn's advice to heart -- think about whether it's worth it. You may find that it's not. Deciding that BigLawFirm is not for you is a liberating moment, and it's not a sign of failure, it is its own form of success. Take it from someone who did it a few years ago...
Carolyn Hax: Brings us back to the not-letting-evil-mother-win thread. Same underlying principle. Thanks.
Recovering evangelical: That's a new one... not even sure what to make of it.
Carolyn Hax: Not too much of it, I suggest. Put "recovering" in front of "lawyer," and you wouldn't be writing in.
Gaithersburg, Md.: I really, REALLY need your help. Everyone in my life seems to negate or dismiss my feelings. If I say I'm angry, they tell me to get over it. If I say I'm scared, they tell me "you'll be fine." If I'm nervous, they say I'm being silly and "you'll do great!" Why won't they LISTEN? For example, I just got a promotion, and every time I think about the new job, I get very scared and anxious when I think about the new duties I'll be assuming. My mother thinks I walk on water, so she doesn't hear me. My friends are all saying, "Well, you think YOUR job will be bad, look at mine!" GAH! PLEASE, help me get them to listen! Gee, do I even say anything, they don't listen anyway. Sigh.
Carolyn Hax: Um. Don't worry about it? This is normal?
This is kind of like getting upset when people ask, "How are you?" just to be polite vs. to find out how you really are. People aren't negating or dismissing your feelings, they're trying to be polite and reassuring while also avoiding a deeper discussion.
So, if you want something different, you need to do three things: 1. Stop expecting detailed counsel from your mother when you know she's just going to say, "YOu'll do great!" 2. Be specific about asking for more from the people you believe can give more. "Thanks, but I'm serious--I'm really worried and I was hoping you could hear me out." 3. Ask only when you need it, lest you become the topic of a future posting about a drama queen who needs friends and family to parse every feeling s/he has.
My parents are divorced, and my father, who I'm not especially close to, remarried a few years ago. I have a new baby, and whenever my father and his wife sign cards that they've sent, or refer to themselves, it's always as "grandpa and grandma." His wife is a perfectly nice woman, but I no more consider her my child's grandmother than I consider her my own mother, and this really bothers me. How do I deal with this?
Carolyn Hax: To your baby, this will be grandma, right? One of three, okay, but still.
I don't mean to invalidate what you're feeling here (see, now I'm all jumpy), but sometimes a battle over a label isn't a battle worth fighting. You call her by her name, your baby calls her what s/he's going to call her, she calls herself whatever she wants, and you find a way to manage the anger the underlies this issue--for your own sake, for no other reason than it feels awful to be angry all the time.
South Carolina: How does one continue to be friends with someone who takes everything as a personal slight? Example: if she's not in a random picture taken on night when we all went out, its because we were purposely excluding her. If we don't immediately respond to her emails, its because we're mad at her. If we even attempt to make conversation with her boyfriend, we're hitting on him. Its gotten to the point where I do things just so I don't make her mad and go out of my way to be nice just so I don't get a nasty email the next day. I don't have the energy for it anymore. When is it ok to say something? And what can I say?
Carolyn Hax: One thing you can try before you say something is just acting naturally and letting her get angry, if that's what she's going to do. We throw around the word "controlling" all the time in this forum, and you've done the great service of spelling out exactly what that means: Your friend, through her insecure, defensive and punishing behavior, has grabbed the strings and made you her own little friend-puppet.
So, get the strings back and act like yourself again. If she cries something absurd like exclusion from a picture, your response is, "Oh brother." Next topic. If it's something more reasonable but still an untrue accusation, point out that she's incorrect and explain what happened--once--and if she persists, don't bite; just say sorry, there's no there there, and say there's nothing more to discuss. And if she gets angry at your email response time, ignore it and keep responding at your own speed.
See? Because what's she going to do, drop you, the friend in whose pictures she MUST appear, and whose emails she MUST receivge? No. She's going to adjust to your speed, and she's not going to drop you (or she will and you'll have a cake and balloons).
Okay, I admit it. I haven't been reading as faithfully as I should. So, have you weighed in on the Mommy Wars thing? The whole Linda Hirschman/women who stay home with their kids are bad for feminism?
Just interested in your opinion.
Carolyn Hax: I haven't read the article myself, just a bit on the reactions to it, but ignorance never stopped me before: I think people who think what's right for them is right for all women are bad for feminism. I always thought feminism was about having the power to choose for ourselves.
Washington, D.C.: A friend and her husband and their two young children want to come visit. I don't like the husband. His idea of a visit is for me to help watch his kids with his wife while he gets drunk all weekend at my house. The women are the ones who clean, cook, and last time my friend was tired and he REFUSED to even change a diaper!
I want to see my friend, but how do I lay down the rules when I've been so accomadating in the past? We now have a dog and that is going to complicate things (they do too, but he feels it's okay to poke a dog in the butt. I don't.) I want to tell my friend that I want to see her, but things will be different?
Carolyn Hax: You can tell her her husband isn't welcome; you can welcome him just because your friend needs the break; or you can come up with another idea where you and she meet somewhere not your house. What to do to help those kids and the dog, I wish I knew.
Break Up City: I've broken up with my SO - not yet (if ever) ready to want to see him. How do we split the mutual friends? Do I ask them to make choices not to invite us to the same social events, and then not get offended at the ones I'm excluded from? Or do I wait for the mutual friends to come calling for me and then, if they do call me, hope they don't invite me and the ex to the same events?
Carolyn Hax: My advice to your mutual friends would be to invite you both and let you two be adults about sorting it out. So, unless you have legit grounds to ask your friends to keep you apart--he was abusive to you, for example--then I advise that you either get used to the idea that you can't avoid him, or accept that your need to avoid him is going to cost you a few parties (since you can still see these mutual friends one-on-one).
Not marrying for money:: After I graduated from college, I dated a really sweet guy, Brian. We had a lot of fun together and enjoyed each other's company. He was nuts about me, and I him. But, the thing was that I wanted more out of life than he could have given me. I wanted to travel the world, live in a more interesting place than my hometown, have a more stable financial future. I knew that he was not capable of helping me have those things. He worked as a clerk in a liquor store and did not have many motivations beyond that. I was heading off to law school. I broke up with him during that summer because it really wasn't fair to either of us to continue to grow more fond of one another when I knew I ultimately wanted more than he did. Flash forward ten years. I am with a guy whom my mom said remindered her of Brian in personality, except for the job/motivation thing when she first met him. I hadn't realized it when I started dating the new guy, but she was right. We both have well-paying jobs, travel the world, get along well, have fun, etc. He's my perfect match. There's nothing wrong with NOT marrying for money reasons. I don't think that concept gets highlighted enough.
Carolyn Hax: Possibly because the money in your story is a symptom of something larger and much, much more important: approach to life. Brian's didn't align with yours. Had it aligned, he could have been a clerk at a liquor store who was your partner in everything you wanted out of life--maybe even one for whom you provided financial stability. Money comes and goes. The ability to be an equal, a partner, a valuable contributor to the kind of life you both want to share, is a quality someone is likely always to have.
Wheaton, Md.: Nothing big, but I am bored. Good job, nice dog, lovely partner, comfortable house, plenty of friends.
What's missing? Am I just sliding into middle age? No plans to shake things up, but how does one live through the long middle slog of life?
Carolyn Hax: I don't know. Purpose? Which would you rather do, backbreaking labor, or backbreaking labor for Katrina victims? Maybe it's time to put your middle-age comfort where your mouth is.
Assuming I'm making even the remotest of sense.
Fairfax, Va.: When I was in college many eons ago, one of our professors told us: "Marry for money, you can always fall in love later."
Now that I'm older and wiser, I can't help but wonder if perhaps he was correct...
Carolyn Hax: Marry for love, you can always make money later.
Or, man can't live on cute phrases alone.
Washington, D.C.: Please also tell New York to talk to her friend who is in the coma. My sister was in one for three months and afterward she told us what people had said to her. She could hear but not respond. She should tell her what is going on in her world and give her encouragement etc. Love your column and chats!
Carolyn Hax: Thanks! And I love this as a closing thought. Bye everyone, and type to you ... ooh, I might not be able to be here next week, as I mentioned earlier. I'll huddle with Liz and make sure the schedule reflects whatever we decide. Thanks for stopping in and have a great weekend.
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Ingredients for a Bomb Are Not Hard to Find
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Many easily obtained liquid chemicals can be used to produce an explosive capable of causing a devastating fire or blast aboard an airplane, experts said yesterday.
While hesitant to provide a specific recipe that would aid terrorists, several experts said it would not be difficult to obtain a liquid explosive or chemical mixture that could be smuggled in.
"From available commercial material, and with the right basic knowledge, it doesn't take too much expertise," said Tal Hanan, a security expert at Demoman International Ltd. in Israel. "Any second-year chemical engineering student, probably with the right guidance and some handbook they pull off the Internet, could probably compose such an explosive."
Nitroglycerin may be the best-known liquid explosive. Though terrorists tested the explosive in the mid-1990s as part of a plot to bomb 11 airliners over the Pacific, several experts said it is relatively hard to get and very difficult to handle.
"If it freezes, it detonates. If it falls just two or three feet, it will detonate. It's so sensitive that it's not practical," Hanan said.
One of the explosives most commonly used by Middle East terrorists is triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a highly potent explosive used by would-be "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. Usually found in the form of a crystalline powder, experts said TATP could be dissolved into a liquid that could be carried aboard a plane.
"Some terrorists have actually held TATP in water in order to reduce its sensitivity," Hanan said.
But terrorists could simply carry aboard a plane the two chemicals used to make TATP.
When the chemicals are mixed together, "chances are it will instantaneously and violently react," said Neal Langerman, a chemical industry consultant who acts as a spokesman for the American Chemical Society. "If it didn't, you can stick in a detonator, hook it up to the battery in your iPod, and you're dead."
Even if the chemicals fail to create an explosion, a major fire will probably be sufficient, Langerman said.
"Fire aboard an aircraft is a very bad thing," Langerman said. "If you create a hot, energetic fire, the aircraft is in very big trouble."
Many other substances could potentially be used to create a fire or an explosion, such as oxidizers used to clean pools or a combination of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel.
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Signs Point To a Surviving Terror Network
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Strong indications of an al-Qaeda link to the alleged airliner-bombing plot uncovered in London yesterday suggest that the terrorist network has survived and adapted despite heavy blows to its leadership and organizational structure over the past five years, U.S. intelligence officials said.
Possible evidence of an al-Qaeda footprint, officials said, includes the trips made by several of the alleged plotters to Pakistan, where remaining al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be ensconced, and the sophistication and scope of plans to simultaneously attack aircraft headed toward the United States. The reported plot, as outlined here and in London, closely parallels one begun and aborted by al-Qaeda a decade ago.
Neither U.S. nor British officials were prepared yesterday to proclaim definitive evidence of direct involvement by Osama bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. They acknowledged that their conclusions are to some extent inferential and are based on bin Laden's repeated warnings of another major assault, the organization's known affinity for targeting commercial airliners, and their belief that no other terrorist group has the brains or the capability to plan such an audacious undertaking.
Elements of the suspected plot reflect their assessment of a newly evolved al-Qaeda strategy that depends -- unlike the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- on the Internet; indirect, local recruitment of disaffected Muslim youth; and an emphasis on European passport-holders less likely to be stopped at airports.
"It tells you that the enemy, as the military is fond of saying, is both thinking and adaptable," one official said. "They've gone through a thorough process, given the increase of security that we've done on flying planes, of thinking, 'Is there a way we can still get on board and take airplanes down?' . . . This is an extremely talented, thinking group."
Although terrorist groups in Iraq and elsewhere have long been described as having al-Qaeda links, none of the significant attacks carried out since Sept. 11 has been proved to have been directly authored or orchestrated by the group. Instead, intelligence agencies here and in Europe have described bin Laden as providing "inspiration" to a new generation of "radicalized" Muslim youth spurred by their cultural isolation in the West and their solidarity with Islamic battles in the Middle East. U.S. intelligence officials now identify the war in Iraq as the single most effective recruiting tool for Islamic militants.
But the alleged British plot "is really, really serious," one intelligence official insisted yesterday. "This is the real deal. Honestly. This was not the Moorish Nation," he said, referring to the arrest this summer in Miami of a ragtag, FBI-infiltrated group allegedly plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. "We have reason to believe that this is an al-Qaeda-related operation. I don't mean in terms of a bunch of wannabes finding inspiration" in bin Laden.
"The current assessment is based on indicators," another official said. "The hope is that as a result of looking into some specific things, we'll be able to reach a conclusion" that is much more definitive than still-unconfirmed suspicions of al-Qaeda involvement in the London transport bombings that killed 52 people in 2005 or the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
During the early days of the Afghan war in 2001, bin Laden and Zawahiri, along with a number of their lieutenants, were driven from Afghanistan into the mountainous border region with Pakistan. Although those two remain at liberty, other major figures have been removed from the scene -- Muhammed Atef was killed in November 2001, and Abu Zubaida, Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, among others, were captured in 2002 and 2003. That has led the Bush administration, from the White House on down, to say that the leadership has been "decapitated" and the organization itself severely "degraded."
The White House has described bin Laden as both on the run and living in caves, and as a continuing major threat to the United States.
The question of whether he still maintains control over active terrorist operations around the world is one of constant debate and analysis within the U.S. intelligence community. Bin Laden has made frequent statements on audiotapes distributed over the Internet, and Zawahiri appeared in a videotape as recently as last month. Both claim to lead a widespread movement, involved in virtually every Islamic battle from Iraq to Indonesia, that is building an anti-Western "caliphate" across the world.
Intelligence officials describe the tapes as al-Qaeda's attempt to appear "relevant" and in control of widespread events with which it may have little to do. But while recent intelligence analyses have focused on the increasing likelihood of smaller, more localized terrorist attacks such as the bombing of the London Underground, few have discounted bin Laden's desire to stage another major assault.
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Strong indications of an al-Qaeda link to the alleged airliner-bombing plot uncovered in London yesterday suggest that the terrorist network has survived and adapted despite heavy blows to its leadership and organizational structure over the past five years, U.S. intelligence officials said.
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A Shock That Wore Off
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Just as the nation's airlines were experiencing their strongest resurgence since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Britain's announcement yesterday that had it foiled a transatlantic bombing plot sparked concern that nervous air travelers might once again start canceling trips.
But analysts and airline executives said this terrorism scare is not expected to have a lasting impact. Airline shares were down sharply yesterday morning but had largely recovered by the end of trading.
Calyon Securities Inc. analyst Ray Neidl said he didn't foresee a great deal of traveler cancellations in the near term, but if passengers do cancel flights through the Labor Day weekend, the industry may be forced to offer fare sales to boost passenger levels.
"We're going to have to monitor the operations during the next few days, but it's unlikely there will be any long-term implications," Neidl said.
Shorter flights, such as the New York shuttle, were most at risk of losing customers who may opt to catch a train or drive rather than deal with security lines and the fear of flying. The shorter-haul flights along the East Coast had the biggest drop in passengers after the Sept. 11 attacks and were the last routes to return to normal.
"If you have to spend two or three hours waiting for a flight, it might be quicker to drive," said analyst Helane Becker of Benchmark Co.
Many carriers yesterday were in wait-and-see mode on the status of their daily operations as they sought to regroup. Some added staff members to help with congestion. Delta Air Lines called in employees to work overtime at several of its hubs, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Delta spokeswoman Gina Laughlin said the airline would consider using the additional employees today and through the weekend.
Airlines were encouraging travelers to arrive at airports at least an hour earlier than usual -- two hours for domestic flights and three hours for international flights -- to allow time for security.
Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways and Delta all reported average flight delays of about 20 minutes yesterday, though some United and US Airways international flights had delays of as much as two hours.
American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, canceled three of its 16 daily flights yesterday from London to the United States. The airline also canceled three of its London-bound flights from Chicago, Boston and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. American canceled about 1 percent of its 3,900 daily domestic flights.
"We're nowhere near the number of cancellations we thought we might have," said James May, president of the Air Transport Association. "Hopefully, we will be back to full capacity and an efficient system within the next day or so."
American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said he expected the airline to return to a "pretty normal schedule" today.
Yesterday, British Airways canceled one of its three London flights out of Dulles International Airport and one of its three London-to-Dulles flights. British Airways spokesman John Lampl said the airline hoped to operate about 75 percent of its flights between the United States and London today. "We're hopeful all of our Washington service will operate," he said.
Most airlines operating international flights will allow travelers to change their flights without paying a fee as long as they act by Sept. 1.
If travelers do shy away from flying, it could cut into airlines' improving financial performance. UAL Corp., parent of United, recently reported second-quarter profit of $119 million, its first quarterly profit in six years. US Airways reported earnings of $305 million, and American's parent, AMR Corp., had profit in the quarter of $291 million.
After falling as much as 5 percent yesterday, airline shares bounced back. UAL declined 31 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $25.52. Continental Airlines was down 35 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $23.86. US Airways' stock dropped 26 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $40.52.
Bill Connors, executive director of the National Business Travel Association, said many of his 1,600 managers reported that few members were canceling upcoming business trips. Connors said the biggest concern among his members was how to prepare and equip travelers for the new security requirements.
"At some point, you want to make sure that the restrictions aren't so onerous that you cannot conduct commerce conveniently," he said. "But I don't think we're there yet."
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Just as the nation's airlines were experiencing their strongest resurgence since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Britain's announcement yesterday that had it foiled a transatlantic bombing plot sparked concern that nervous air travelers might once again start canceling trips.
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Q&A: New Requirements for Air Travel
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What can I bring onboard?
On all flights except those from Britain to the United States, you can have carry-on luggage, but you can't bring any liquids, including beverages, shampoo, hair gel, toothpaste, suntan lotion or anything else of a similar consistency.
Baby bottles and juice are allowed if you are traveling with a small child. Prescription medications and insulin are allowed, as long as the name on the prescription has to match the passenger's name.
Be prepared to take a sip of your child's drink or your medicine. Though it's not TSA policy, some security agents have asked passengers to sample those items.
Electronics, such as digital music players, cellphones, key fobs and laptops are still allowed.
What items must now go in checked baggage?
Anything that is liquid or gel-like, such as toothpaste, creams, lotions or perfume.
Uncertain what to do with that tube of liquid eyeliner or can of mousse? The TSA advises that if you're not sure something will pass inspection, you're better off checking it.
Can I bring onboard beverages that I buy after going through security?
No. You will have to gulp them down before boarding or throw them away. Some airlines have increased in-flight beverage supplies.
What if I'm flying from Britain to the United States ?
All flights from Britain to the United States are subject to additional restrictions by British and U.S. authorities. No carry-on bags and no handbags will be allowed on those flights.
Some essential items can be brought onboard, but they must be put into a clear plastic bag to make searching easier. Only such essential items as wallets, eyeglasses, contact lens cases, prescription medicine, keys, travel documents, unboxed tissues, and sanitary items such as tampons, diapers and baby wipes are allowed. Contact lens solution is not permitted.
What does "code red" mean? How is it different from "code orange?"
All flights from Britain to the United States are on code red, the highest of five threat levels issued by the Department of Homeland Security.
Flights originating in the United States are on code orange, the threat level immediately below red.
Code red means additional restrictions on carry-on items for anyone flying from Britain to the United States. There could be more searches at the gate before a flight departs, random searches after a flight has arrived in the United States -- on top of the usual trip through customs -- and greater air marshal presence on flights.
Code orange can mean more random baggage searches at the gate. Passengers may be pulled aside at checkpoints for a search even without having set off the metal detector. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will increase enforcement efforts in international arrival areas, including search teams for baggage and aircraft.
Will I be subject to additional screening?
Travelers should expect another round of security checks by TSA or local law enforcement authorities at the gate before boarding.
Will my car be inspected at the airport?
Airports may institute random vehicle checks. As of yesterday, Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport was not conducting random vehicle searches. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority declined to comment on whether Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport were conducting vehicle searches.
What can I do to make boarding easier?
Before leaving home, call the airport or visit its Web site for information on possible delays.
Have your ticket or boarding pass and identification ready when you reach the security checkpoint. If you have baby bottles or juice for a child, or medicines you need to have with you during the flight, be ready to present those for inspection.
Wear shoes and belts that are easy to remove. Don't fill up your pockets with too many items or loose change, as you will have to empty them.
Are checked bags and freight on commercial flights being screened?
All checked baggage is screened for explosives, as is any cargo marked for a specific passenger.
Currently, there is no way of screening all air cargo for explosives. Air cargo is examined by cargo inspectors, and authorities have established a list of "known shippers" whom they have vetted.
How early should I get to the airport?
Most airlines are telling travelers flying within the United States to get to the airport at least two hours early, and three hours early if they are flying to a foreign country. Call the airline or airport or go online for the most updated flight information.
Will I be penalized if I cancel or reschedule my flight?
Probably not. Most airlines are giving travelers through the weekend to cancel or rebook flights to Britain scheduled for yesterday to Monday for no extra charge, provided all travel is completed by Sept. 1.
Some airlines have extended the same policy to customers traveling within the United States.
Restrictions vary by carrier, so call your airline for specifics.
How long will the restrictions remain in effect? TSA officials say that they do not know how long the restrictions will remain and that they have not decided what other steps might be taken.
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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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Greenland's Melting Ice Sheet May Speed Rise in Sea Level
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Two new scientific studies measuring Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet and the pace of Antarctic snowfall suggest that the sea level may be rising faster than researchers previously assumed.
The papers, both published yesterday in the journal Science, provide the latest evidence of how climate change is transforming the global landscape. University of Texas at Austin researchers, using twin satellites, determined that the Greenland ice sheet, Earth's second-largest reservoir of fresh water, is melting at three times the rate at which it had been melting over the previous five years. A separate study by 16 international scientists concluded that Antarctic snowfall accumulation has remained steady over the past 50 years, with no increases that might have mitigated the melting of the ice shelf, as some researchers had assumed would occur.
Taken together, the two reports indicate that global sea level rise may increase more rapidly in the coming years, though the Greenland study is based on only 2 1/2 years of data. The melting of 57 cubic miles a year from Greenland's ice sheet could add 0.6 millimeters alone, which is higher than any previously published measurement for Greenland, according to University of Texas Center for Space Research scientist Jianli Chen.
"It's a very big number," Chen said, noting that for at least a hundred years the sea level has increased an average of 1.8 millimeters annually.
Byron Tapley, one of Chen's co-authors, said the ice loss along the sheet's eastern shoreline is particularly significant because it could help weaken the counterclockwise flow of the North Atlantic Current. The more buoyant fresh water from the ice melt could lower water temperatures and ultimately make Western European winters colder, he said.
"If enough fresh water enters the Norwegian Current and you interrupt return flow, then there could be climate effects in Europe," Tapley said.
But Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, questioned why scientists are drawing broad conclusions from data covering such a short time span.
"We now have 'the sky is falling down' on the basis of a few years of data," said Ebell, whose group is partly funded by the fossil-fuel industry.
The second paper, written by 16 scientists from seven countries, challenges computer projections that higher temperatures in the southernmost continent will spur greater snowfall accumulation and compensate for the world's melting ice sheets. Using satellite data that looked at both the West and East Antarctic ice sheets, the researchers concluded there has been no real increase in precipitation in the region in the past five decades.
Andrew J. Monaghan, a meteorologist at Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center, said in an interview that his findings suggest the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2001 prediction that Antarctic snowfall would increase 15 to 20 percent by the end of the century may not be borne out. Some researchers had hoped increased snowfall in the region would thicken the Antarctic ice sheets and help counterbalance any future melt.
"It's a much more complex situation than assuming a temperature rise is going to lead to a commensurate increase in precipitation," Monaghan said.
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Two new scientific studies measuring Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet and the pace of Antarctic snowfall suggest that the sea level may be rising faster than researchers previously assumed.
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President Remains Eager to Cut Entitlement Spending
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The Bush administration has begun sounding out lawmakers and other key figures about mounting a new bipartisan effort to rein in the costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security after the midterm elections, according to officials in the administration and on Capitol Hill.
No specific plan has been advanced, and administration officials are proceeding gingerly given the political debacle that beset the White House last year when President Bush promoted a plan to create private accounts in the Social Security program. But they have been sending strong signals in recent weeks that they want to try something again after the elections in November.
The new Treasury secretary, former Goldman Sachs chief Henry M. Paulson Jr., has made it clear that a major reason he took the job is to tackle the rising cost of government health and Social Security spending, which he described last week as "the biggest economic issue facing our country."
In his first major policy address since being sworn in July 10, Paulson noted that he has been told by many in Washington that "reform of entitlement programs is just too difficult to achieve" and that politicians will "demagogue" the issue. He said he believes that "when there is a big problem that needs fixing, you should run toward it."
Bush, for his part, appears fixated on the issue, even as he is focused on securing new immigration legislation and preoccupied by several world crises. Despite being forced to shelve his Social Security plan -- which included establishing private investment accounts and reducing guaranteed benefits down the road -- Bush regularly mentions his desire to tackle the issue again.
"We need to cut entitlement spending," the president said in one typical comment last month, as he reviewed the midyear budget numbers. "The easy fix is to say 'Let somebody else deal with it.' This administration is going to continue trying to work with Congress to deal with these issues."
Fulfilling this pledge is a tall order and, even in the view of some of Bush's strongest supporters, beyond the capacity of a politically weakened administration facing the prospect of serious losses in the fall elections. Democrats appear eager to use the issue as a political cudgel for the time being; Paulson's comments triggered a new round of accusations that Bush plans to "privatize" Social Security.
Grover Norquist, a leading GOP strategist, said he can envision no circumstance in which Bush could secure any overhaul of the Social Security program, including creating personal accounts. "The Democrats cannot be bribed, cajoled or threatened into voting for Social Security reform -- it can't happen," he said.
But some administration officials and lawmakers are hopeful that the partisan wars may recede after the November balloting, that the public is eager for practical solutions -- and that there could be a small window to try again before the 2008 presidential campaign reaches full bloom. "It's a limited opportunity, but it's one that [Bush] is interested in," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman of the Budget Committee. "I have spoken to him innumerable times about this, and he's engaged. . . . He wants to move in this area."
Just how to do so is what White House officials are pondering. In his last State of the Union speech, Bush discussed his desire to create a bipartisan entitlements commission to explore the issue. A previous Bush commission was limited by design to proponents of private accounts and was broadly dismissed by most Democrats. The administration floated the idea of another bipartisan panel, with a broader mandate, but found no takers in the opposition party.
Now Paulson and others -- including Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman, a former lawmaker with extensive ties on Capitol Hill -- are looking for an alternative approach. White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the president has made it clear he wants to "openly engage at the appropriate time Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill." Bartlett said, "Those conversations are quietly under way."
"We know that there's not going to be a full-fledged debate 90 days before the election," he said. But he added: "The president believes that maybe as he leaves office, that would diminish the threat [Democrats] feel from dealing with this issue. Hopefully we can find a consensus."
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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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The Pastel Dream Of the Developer
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Once upon a time, there was a little house way out in the country.
Everyone called it the Little Pink House. It was bordered by two streams, and just across the dirt lane of Willard Avenue sat a dairy farm. Not far to the south, the trolley from downtown Washington made its last stop at Friendship Heights, which in the 1940s was nothing more than a filling station and a Howard Johnson's at the intersection of Western and Wisconsin avenues on the District line.
Today, the Little Pink House still stands, bordered by two soaring apartment buildings. Across Willard -- now a traffic-clogged four-lane road -- squats Geico's massive office complex. The Metro long ago replaced the trolley. Along Wisconsin, the nearly completed Chevy Chase Center boasts the region's most opulent shopping palazzo, home to the glittering facades of boutiques such as Christian Dior, Ralph Lauren, Barneys Co-op, Louis Vuitton and Jimmy Choo.
People sometimes take notice of the Little Pink House, but few know why it still stands, or who its owner is, and how she ranks among the most important developers in the history of Washington.
There she is now: a little old lady watering her roses this particular morning; or maybe, later in the day, waxing the grill of her white Rolls-Royce convertible.
Her name is Thelma Edwards, but everyone calls her Tim. She is 89 years old. She has lived in Friendship Heights for nearly 60 years. And she is not so little, really, when you see her up close. A thin woman, 5 feet 8, with a dancer's stiff posture, she ties her shirts around her waist, matches coral lipstick to her metallic nails and prances around the house in slip-on mesh sneakers.
Known in the soaring 1960s as Friendship Heights' "unofficial mayor," she was the only woman in the multimillionaire developers' club of the day, a shrewd businesswoman who flew a Piper Cub to scout land for Lord & Taylor, argued for a Metrorail stop at Friendship Heights and brokered deals for Geico's headquarters and the very high-rises that now tower above her cozy 1,400-square-foot cottage.
"Everyone thinks it's just a sweet old house," Edwards says sharply, tapping a nail on the kitchen's black granite countertop, "but this one is the key to assembling the block." In development terms, "assembling" means gathering together neighboring lots to create a large enough base for commercial property. But Edwards, who bought the cottage 40 years ago, is holding out. She doesn't need the money. This place, she says, is her sanctuary. The Little Pink House is the developer's last bastion against development.
Entering 4607 Willard Ave. feels like stepping into a Florida beach house. Its snow-white wall-to-wall carpet retains the lush stripes of a recent vacuuming. Terra cotta angels preen atop a bamboo end table. On the table sits a hardcover copy of a children's classic: Virginia Lee Burton's picture book "The Little House," subtitled on its cover, "Her-Story."
That story, as you may remember, is a parable of urban development. A strong and well-built pink house starts out life in the country, where she observes the passing of time: "the trucks and automobiles going back and forth to the city . . . Everyone and everything moved much faster now than before." She ends up surrounded by a city, with all of its vexations, grime and noise. Generations later, the house is finally moved to a new place back in the country.
Edwards bought the book, first published in 1942, because she has always enjoyed reading it to her nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
On the first page, the man who built the house vows:
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John Kelly's Washington Live
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Fridays at 1 p.m. ET John is online to chat about his columns and mull over anything that's on your mind.
Discussion Archives / Recent Columns
John Kelly: Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed your week away and are now ready to hit the ground running. It's not like things were actually quiet while I was gone from my chat keyboard. War. Heat. Shampoo confiscations. Whatever happened to the slow, lazy days of summer? Sometimes it seems like there's just too much news.
I think about my colleague who's leaving today for the United Kingdom. Get to the airport early, buddy! Leave your tinctures and ointments at home--or pack them in your checked luggage. Be content to purchase grooming aids over in Blighty, at the Boots chemists (where, I've noticed, everything smells of naptha and sulfur).
But it's a small price to pay, isn't it, I mean compared to a plane actually coming down? I applaud the British police and their American counterparts for being on top of this. I hope they "rolled up" all the people who were involved.
Are you surprised this sort of thing hasn't happened before? Were you getting complacent, figuring "the big one" might not ever come? I remember thinking just after 9/11 that we were in for horrible stuff: splinter cells popping up all over the U.S., crazed individual jihadis steering their cars into oncoming traffic just to take out infidels. That this didn't happen illustrates that the vast majority of Muslims want nothing whatsoever to do with bin Laden and his ilk. But it's also a reminder that what these terrorists want to do is bide their time and plan well.
And on that depressing note, let's look back at The Week in Columns. We started off Monday with a hard-hitting expose of the gumball machine industry, and how innocent little kids are made to cough up their hard-won quarters to get plastic crap--plastic crap that's DIFFERENT from the plastic crap they want. Tuesday we announced--yay!--that our Send a Kid to Camp drive had blasted past its goal. Thanks, all. Wednesday was about my trip to the beach, and how cellphones suddenly seem as common as seagulls. And yesterday I introduced you to local country singer David Wayne, whose song "Everyday Hero" took on added poignancy when the person he wrote it for--his stepson Ben--was killed.
Lotta questions and comments today, so let's get started.
San Francisco, Calif.: These new flight restrictions make me wonder if I ever want to fly again. I'm not afraid of the danger, but I'm supposed to fly to London next month and the idea of flying back home (11 hours) without so much as a book with me makes me want to cancel. I get restless enough on a plane as it is.
Does our latest "new world order" change your ideas on air travel?
John Kelly: I was musing yesterday that now would be the time to launch a low-cost, high-speed cruise service between the US and Britain. But as enjoyable as three or four days on the Atlantic would be, that would really cut into a two-week European vacation. So, if you gotta travel far, you're stuck in an airplane. It looks like the restrictions from Britain to here are worse than from here to Britain, at least right now. Maybe they'll slack off over there by the time you have to travel. If not, just think how many in-flight magazines you're going to be able to read. Not to mention whatever cheesy, badly-edited inflight movie is on offer.
Dupont Circle: John, I'm typing this from a plane. When you read this, I'll be on a beach in Bermuda!
John Kelly: Don't rub it in.
The hair gel, I mean. You don't have any to rub in.
(The gel, not the hair.)
John Kelly: Thanks a lot. I haven't eaten lunch yet, so busy have I been preparing for this chat. Lucky there are some stale pretzel sticks here.
John Kelly: Can you guys help me out with something? My Lovely Wife is having Palm problems again. Every six months or so when she synchronizes it with the PC, it erases all the data. She has to reboot it and load the info in from the computer. Of course she doesn't back up from/to the PC often enough and knows she's lost stuff. But is there a foolproof PDA out there? Or is the cost of having one just knowing you're gonna wanna murder some software developer every now and then?
Upsi, DE: So, if we now have to go to Europe without our deodorant, soap, and toothpaste, we won't stand out as ugly Americans anymore!
John Kelly: Now see, that's just the kind of xenophobic attitude that makes Will Ferrell movies such a success in this country. And I do recommend "Talladega Nights." Very funny.
A few weeks ago, I posted in this space my intention to shake things up on the Orange/Blue lines from my Eastern Market stop to Federal SW, where I get off. I was going to do a lightening fast disrobe during the trip and then get dressed again and walk off like nothing had happened. Funniest thing--I did it six times and not one person reacted. So I'm going to sell my rowhouse and move way out to the 'burbs, where people will notice things like that.
John Kelly: Didn't I ask that you inform me when this was going to take place? Don't you know the old adage: If a tree falls in the forest, and a Washington Post reporter isn't there to see it, did it really happen?
Washington, D.C. : I apologize if you've addressed this before, but...by the intersection of T and Florida NW there's what appears to be an old theater. The marquis says "Howard." What is that building, and when was the last time it was used. It looks like it could be stunning inside. Thank you!
John Kelly: It's the Howard Theatre, a famed establishment that was part of Washington's "Black Broadway." Duke Ellington performed there, and Ella Fitzgerald. As you noticed, it's in need of restoration. The city collected proposals to do that. I think they're supposed to pick a winner sometime soon.
washingtonpost.com: Reviving A Black Theatrical Landmark (Post, March 23, 2006)
John Kelly: Here's a story from March....
Anonymous: The U.S. is likely to have a big impact, for better or worse, on the Middle East for years to come. It would be great if our schools started focusing more on the region, in terms of geography, history and language (many schools are just starting to include Chinese; maybe in another 20 years we'll start having more students who can speak Arabic?). How many Americans could find Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Jordan and maybe even Israel on a map? How many have any idea of the region's history, even in this century, much less before? I'd bet that few American adults have any idea which of the countries were formerly colonies (this still affects today's history) and how many could, for example, explain how the Shah of Iran came to power (the U.S. helped put him in power and you can bet Iranians remember this). No matter how you feel about current politics in the region, it's a shame that Americans who have strong opinions on events in the area know so little about it.
John Kelly: Maybe I'm wrong--I hope I'm wrong--but I get the feeling that there are some at the top levels of our government who don't agree that knowing a thing or two about other countries helps in the long run. I think some feel like, "Hey, it's the job of the rest of the world to know about AMERICA. We don't need to know about you." But the rest of the world has a funny way of impinging on us, doesn't it?
washingtonpost.com: Many in State Dept. Can't Talk the Talk (Post, Aug. 11, 2006)
John Kelly: Like this, for example....
I know you're not Dr. Gridlock but I thought maybe you could help me out. I'm heading to a Nats game tonight, 7PM start with some Negro League festivities pregame so I don't want to be late. I could either get to the DC area through Frederick or through Baltimore (via 270, 95, or 295). I can leave at 2. I think my best option is 83 to baltimore beltway to 295 to New Carrolton station. Could go 270 to Shady Grove but I think hitting Baltimore rush at 3:30 won't be too terrible, and I should do OK on 295 from Baltimore to DC between 4-5 right?
John Kelly: You're thinking the Baltimore-Washington Parkway? I think 95 is a better bet, since it has more lanes. But I'll throw it out to the crowd to see what they have to say. Good luck.
Fairfax, Va.: Oh mighty John,
I have some old super 8 movies of my kids. The light burnt out on the projector years ago and I couldn't find a replacement. I know they once could convert to a VHS format. Can they somehow convert to CD or DVD? I'd love for my grandkids to see their father and aunt as kids. Please help.
John Kelly: I'm so glad to be of assistance. I've been carrying around a brochure for a place called The Video Editor for the last few months, waiting to do a column on them. They do video duplication and also convert film to tape. I bet you could then get the tape transferred to DVD. There's one in Rockville and one in Fairfax, on Nutley Street. The Fairfax phone is 703-560-1680. Or go to www.videoeditorinc.com. It looks like the cost to transfer Super 8 to video is 20 cents a foot.
Vacation: How many days of vacation do you get a year?
John Kelly: My vacation is covered by the Post's union contract. I get 7.5 hours of vacation for each 97.5 hours I work, up to a maximum of 150 hours (four weeks) a year. In three years, when I'll have been here 20 years, I'll get 7.5 hours for each 88.5 hours of work, up to 165 hours a year.
It's always a bit sad when I return from vacation and see that my little vacation bank has been depleted.
Germantown, Md.: I know you said it won't happen, but you have to understand and know that many, many people do not read your column anymore since it was moved from the comics pages--and some have even said that they won't go back to reading it.
Others note that the column doesn't look, feel, read or just appear right in the Metro section.
No matter what anyone says at the paper, the column is not a Metro-section column. And the column rested nicely in its same spot for at least 50 years--with a dedicated, loyal and friendly readership.
Now, the Post has lost much of that audience. And I have to say--the movement of an institution column for some stupid, juvenile little puzzles and games is an insult.
An open message to the Post: move the column back to where it belongs--the comics pages--and you'll get your readership back. As it is now, the move made no sense whatsoever, considering the people who've stopped reading the column!
John Kelly: Thank you, I think.
I'm glad you think my column is worth reading and I'm sorry there are some who think it's worth reading in one place but not in another. I know that people have habits when it comes to reading the paper--I do myself--and that those habits can be hard to change. But let me address some of your observations....
I think it is a Metro column. What do I write about? Local people, local things, local observations, local history, local tradition. Occasionally I stray, but my focus is 99 percent local, which is what Metro is. I've had people who say they don't read Metro because it's too "depressing." I agree, it can be that way, but my column isn't, or usually isn't. It's a bright ray of sunshine, one that glitters quite nicely alongside the new features you will find on Page Three. Also, it seems that Metro is a section that people SHOULD read. I mean, how are you gonna know what's going on in our area if you only read the Style section (much as I love that section)?
(An aside: The people I REALLY can't stand are folks who subscribe to the New York Times and NOT The Washington Post. I saw a neighbor yesterday grabbing his NY Times from his Post-free front yard. I wanted to punch him. My only consolation will be when we print an article that says "Asteroid Headed Toward Jerk's House" and he doesn't see it because he only reads the Times.)
Now, where was I? Ah yes, my column in Metro. A lot of this will matter less and less as more and more people read the paper online. I'm convinced there is something to this World Wide Web I've heard so much about. Finally, my great hope in my new home is that people who read Metro and not Comics would discover my column. There seems to be some data to support this, since our Send a Kid to Camp drive did gangbusters this year, compared to the last few. I attribute that at least partially to the new home.
Washington, D.C.: Three times now I have seen this guy around DC in women's clothing and when I say women's clothing I mean vibrant pastel skirts and shirts with pearl earrings. Nothing else about this man suggests that he's in any way trying to pass as a female. He has a conservative haircut with a left part; he walks like a basketball player; he slouches, etc. Who is this guy? What's his story?
John Kelly: He could be a transvestite. Or a pre-operative trans-sexual just sort of testing the waters. I haven't seen him. Are you suggesting I walk up to him and say, "Hey, what's your deal?" I think I'll have my assistant, Julie, do that.
East-West Highway: Hello John! I am sure this came up somewhere in the previous discussions but I got a question... WMATA says that they have the "longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere -at] Wheaton Station" (see http://www.wmata.com/about/metrofacts.pdf ). I've never been to Wheaton metro station, but do you happen to know which station has the second or third longest escalators in WMATA system? Dupont, Bethesda, and Rosslyn stations seem to have longer escalators. Thanks and have a great weekend!!
John Kelly: You've never been to Wheaton?!?!? What are you waiting for? Don't you want to see the longest escalator in the Western hemisphere? It is quite impressive, although I was always disappointed that WMATA didn't go for the world record, which I think is held by a subway station in Moscow. (There's also a really long four-part escalator in Hong Kong.) I mean, couldn't Metro have just dug a little deeper to get the world record, even if it meant riders then had to take an escalator UP to the platform?
John Kelly: Here are the details on the other ones.
Let's give John Kelly his due: Attention, Producer - or whoever decides who should be listed on the recap of discussions.
It's been months since John has been listed as prominently as some of the others. What is he, chopped liver? Please make it easier to find his name. Thanks.
John Kelly: Aren't you nice?
Under the Old WW Bridge: Welcome back John, you have been missed. Not a question (yet) just a statement that your chats are worth attending.
John Kelly: Thank you. I missed you guys too. You're a varied bunch, and I mean that in a good way. Like a can of mixed nuts, there's something for everyone.
(Except, who likes those Brazil nuts? They always taste to me like a mixture of dirt and furniture polish. And I swore off furniture polish a long time ago.)
Palm Bay, Fla.: Working as a pre-op nurse in an ambulatory setting, I had the pleasure of discovering that my last patient of the day and her husband were true DC natives. He thought I was from New York as the faster I have to work, the more northen my accent becomes. I don't know why, go figure. I told him that we had lived in DC for three years (military) before coming to Florida, and that maybe that was part of the cause of my speech pattern.
They were estatic to find someone from their home, even a transplant short termer.
Turned out that her family, years ago, owned the property bordering that flight of stairs that became famous from appearing in the Exodist? That pea-puking movie?
We discussed many DC type things and I told the husband that I still read the WP every morning before going to work. She whipped her head around at her husband and told me that a couple of her relatives that no longer lived there still looked the paper up on the internet,too.
It was the perfect ending for a workday, talking about the various places in DC that make it unique and personal. About their family history.
I've never enjoyed my work more than that afternoon. I loved the experience of living in DC but am quite happy in Florida. Wouldn't move back for the world but wouldn't give up my memories either.
Thanks for helping those of use who aren't there keep up.
John Kelly: Hey Paula. I think that's a wonderful use of the Web. I heard the other day from a young woman who grew up in MoCo but now lives in London and works at the British Museum. She keeps in touch with The Post too, and my column.
Snidetown: Hey, Heard you on the radio.
How many times did you have to watch "Capote" before you got the impression so perfectly?
John Kelly: Is it hard typing with your knuckles?
Washington, D.C.: So what happened last week? Or was it just my computer that wouldn't load your chat?
John Kelly: There was no chat. I was sucking down Hard Lemonade on a beach.
Do Tell: John, did you bring us any souveniers from your beach vacation? Or were you fairly drunk most of the time? If you space the drinks out just right, you can remain in a good (but not stupid) buzz during the whole trip.
John Kelly: I brought a big bushel of peaches. My Lovely Wife made five pies, four tartlets and helped my daughter make a galette. Mmmm.
I planned my drinking with the care of a NASA rocket scientist, or a Tour de France cyclist. The secret is to have one or two Mikes Hard Lemonades with lunch, then fall asleep on the couch with a book on your chest. Then you wake up, go to the beach, have a Corona, come home and have more Coroni. Only one glass of red wine with dinner though, so you're recovered in time for the next day.
John Kelly: So here's the alternative to divesting yourself of hair gel: a fast ferry across the ocean. Still, it took two days, 20 hours and nine minutes.
Washington, D.C.: According to the news, the airlines are making people throw out/leave their perfume, wine and liquor. You think I could go by the airport after work and pick up some perfume and wine from the check-in line?
John Kelly: I think they're going to pour all of the wine into one big barrel and call it Chateau de Dulles. Ditto with the perfume: Eau de Metal Detecteur.
Rockville, Md.: Maybe off topic, but I read in the paper on Monday (or Tuesday) that there are plans for a military-themed amusement park in Fairfax. I found it kinda disturbing. I mean, museum I understand, and of course memorials... but theme park... it creeped me out.
John Kelly: The Army nixed it, and I'm glad they did. It was really weird. I had just been reading stories about how the army in Cuba controls hotels and tourist sites, then I read how some developers were hoping to convince the US Army to build a theme park.
washingtonpost.com: Army Shuns 'Theme Park' Proposal (Post, Aug. 9, 2006)
John Kelly: There are still plans for an Army museum, though.
Speaking of military museums, I've received several questions in the past about the distinctive structure visible from I-95 near Quantico. It's the new Marine Corps Museum, designed to mimic the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima. On our way back from the beach, I noticed that traffic was really slow near there, and I wondered if it was people gawking at the building. Anyone else noticed this? I wonder whether it's a good idea to have it there, if it's going to cause rubbernecking. (Not that there's anything to be done about it now.)
Just Asking..: John, if a psychic read your mind, what knowledge would they gain?
John Kelly: The location of the lost treasure of the Knights of the Templar.
Ooops, did I just type that? Now I'll never get a moment's peace.
Ward 4, D.C.: They had you on the list for last Friday - even had its status at "live" for an hour.
First, I was happy, thinking you were doing a remote from the beach. Then I was sad, when I realized that nobody had bothered to correct the schedule and I had gotten my hopes up for nothing.
John Kelly: Sorry to play with your emotions like that. I did do both of my radio shows, one on the way TO the beach, the other o the way BACK.
University Park, Md.: New Metro grossout: At PG Plaza, I saw a man board the train while shaving his head with an electric shaver. Later, I heard and saw him cleaning it out, over a newspaper, using a brush. Blech.
John Kelly: I hope he was using a Washington Post.
What was he afraid of? Showing up at work with peach fuzz on his head?
Diplomatic Posting: I think much of the problems we have in the world is a failure of diplomacy. We don't understand the cultures, especially the Arab culture, so how can we communicate effectively with them.
Czarist Russian would send their future diplomats, as adolescents, to the countries where they would be posted so they could grow up within the culture and understand it intimately. They would be brought back every year for a month or so to remind them they were Russian. Our ambassadors are political appointments, given to the people who donated the largest amount of cash to the campaign. Is it any wonder our understanding of international culture stops at our border?
And whatever happened to Revenge Guy? Has there been any updates? I think you should interview him for a column.
Thanks, Johnny Boy, for being you.
John Kelly: Maybe Revenge Guy is now at peace with himself and his ex-(?)wife, and the last thing he needs is us egging him on. Let's all wish him nothing but happy, healthy relationships in the future.
Woodbridge, Va.: Any second thoughts about your anti-air conditioning comments from a few weeks ago or are you sleeping in the basement?
John Kelly: Did I make an anti-air conditioning comment? I don't recall that. It must have been the heat.
Remember, though, that I was gone for the heatwave, just like I missed the rain storms. It was hot at the beach, got up to 103 one day in fact. But at the peak of the afternoon we stayed in our (air-conditioned) beach house and at other times of day a nice beach breeze kept us alive. Plus the ocean was there to cool us down.
For Nats fan...: I'd take 95 over the BW parkway. The Baltimore Beltway backs up pretty early between 95 and 295 in the afternoon. 95 itself shouldn't be too crowded.
John Kelly: There's one suggestion.
BW Parkway into the city.....: is much better than 95. Except when it isn't.
John Kelly: Here's another. Do what Dan Snyder does: take a helicopter.
Gaithersburg, Md.: Yesterday around 8:00PM on the red line to Shady Grove (from Woodley Park to Cleveland Park) I was treated to the sight of a man in a short pink dress, pink earrings, and pink high-top sneakers. He had a lovely little pink handbag to match. If he was trying to pass as a woman, however, he was failing miserably. I've been trying to figure it out. Bad transvestite? Stunt? Certainly unusual for this conservative town.
John Kelly: Is this the same guy, or is there a sudden explosion of Metro-riding crossdressers?
Notjustacellpho, NE: YLW's PDA? Blackberry. Phone, email (with a full keyboard), calendar, and a cool brickbreaker game. It's the shiznit.
John Kelly: Yeah, but does she really need that? Does ANYBODY really need that? And while it may be cooler, if it erases its information just as much as the Palm, it's no better.
Central Pennsylvania: Your wife needs a good cellphone, not a new PDA. PDA's are so passe, they don't even bother trying to come up with better models nowadays. Your wife wants a Treo 650. She needs a Treo 650.
John Kelly: See my previous plea. Does a Treo crash?
John Kelly: If a Treo falls in the woods, and no one's there, does it make a sound?
Northwest, D.C. worker: John: I work downtown in the K Street corridor. The past couple years the rocket scientists running the DC Government have installed timed pedestrian lights at the intersections. Apparently too many pedestrians killed from darting out into traffic, so these timed lights let them know how many seconds they have to dart out into the streets anyway.
K Street is 8 lanes wide at 19th Street, where I have to cross and get to work. The timed light allows 31 seconds to cross 8 lanes of K Street. However, it allows 52 seconds to cross 3 lanes of 19th Street. DUH!!!! Did some jokester turn the lights around? What's going on here?
John Kelly: I hate to tell you this, but those lights aren't there to keep pedestrians safe, they're there to keep vehicles moving. People crossing 19th get more time because that means K Street traffic will be stopped for less time. We are a car-centered society and suffer from all the ills that come with that.
Palm Synch problems: Can't you just e-mail Rob Pegaroro, or does he make his fellow Posties submit their questions to his chat?
John Kelly: I could ask him. But he's not a "typical" user. He probably loves rebooting and reconfiguring and messing with IPO ports and Bluetooth connections. My Lovely Wife just wants a darn thing that works.
Re: reading your column: Is this person who says that people don't read you since you moved to Metro saying that people who read the Post are too lazy to open the pages of the paper to go to the third page of the metro section, or saying that they only read the style section with the comics? I just don't get it.
John Kelly: I've heard some people say that they are accustomed to a certain reading ritual that may start with Comics or not include Metro. Or the husband takes Metro and the wife takes Style. I can see how a change like mine would be annoying, but I hope people would bear with me!
Baltimore, Md.: For Central Pennsylvania - when you get to the Baltimore Beltway, start listening for traffic reports on 1090 or 1300 AM. 1090 has them every ten minutes on the 5s. That will tell you whether 95 or the BW Parkway is a better route. Also, parking at New Carrollton can be confusing with the farecard nonsense. If you park in the new garage, you'll need to buy a farecard to get out. If you park in the old garage (which is closer to the Amtrak station), you don't.
John Kelly: Great information. Thanks. Central Pa: Let us know next week what you did, and whether it worked.
Changes in the Post: I still read your column but I find it annoying that it moved for no reason. Don't read Barr any more b/c I don't remember to find it before recycling Business.
And the Post has continued to give me fewer pages to read:
Editorials? The subheads tell me what I'm supposed to think so I know longer read them to decide for myself based on what's there.
Style on the Go? Never look at it. There's already Sunday Source and Weekend. Sunday Source is only worth reading maybe once every few months (loved the "green" section this weekend, for example)
And there's more. At the rate Don Graham is going, I'll be among those who've dropped the dead tree version and only read what I want online.
John Kelly: Well, there was a reason (more puzzles!) and I think the move was defensible. I don't necessarily agree with all the changes the paper tries, but I think it's a good idea to be always looking for ways to improve/evolve. And even with those changes, The Washington Post is still a pretty darn good paper, doncha think?
Hummm: You might be a nerd, but you're certainly not a computer nerd!
John Kelly: Right, I'm a devil-worshipping nerd.
Wrong URL: John, you made a typo. The video editor Web site is at http://www.thevideoeditor.net/ (not dot-com).
John Kelly: Whoops, you're right. I hope the other one doesn't take you to a porno site.
Guy In Women's Clothes: I wonder if this is the same guy, but a few months ago at the Cleveland Park metro station I saw a kind of pudgy 30something computer-programmer type, brown hair, glasses, enter the station wearing a pastel-pink nightie. Like, spaghetti straps, very flimsy-looking, almost like a slip. I think he was also wearing sneakers. But nothing else. He was just walking along like nothing was unusual.
John Kelly: I hope he doesn't wear white shoes after Labor Day.
Pink woman's clothing!: I've seen a guy answering to that description walking down Connecticut in Cleveland Park in exactly those clothes. Maybe he only has the one matching ensemble?
John Kelly: Sounds like he needs a fashion makeover.
MAN-Lady: I think I've been seeing the same guy!! I was getting on the train red-line (Shadeee Grove) and this guy got off dressed in the floral print dress and pearls. Very prim looking, but a man!!
John Kelly: The pearls are a nice touch.
Redli, NE: Hey, Eastern Market--you're changing clothes on the Metro, and you think there's something wrong with everybody else? Hmm.
John Kelly: I think Eastern Market was engaged in a piece of performance art. (Actually, I think Eastern Market is pulling our digital legs.)
For many years (pre-internet) I swore that I would never live anywhere that I could not get the WP on my front step every day. Now, the internet has freed me! Thank you, Bill Gates, or Al Gore, or whoever invented it.
John Kelly: hey, you can still get it! Last I checked we deliver to Gaithersburg. Heck, we even go to Derwood!
Petworth: I would advise the person from Central PA to come down the parkway.
I would also advise them not to bother parking at New Carrolton. Parking at RFK is easy and plentiful.
John Kelly: More grist for the mill.
Columbia, Md.: "I mean, how are you gonna know what's going on in our area if you only read the Style section"
Considering that outside the Weekly section, there's almost no coverage of Howard County, I won't know what's going on even if I read Metro.
And I know this isn't your area, but whoever thought that combining the Anne Arundel and Howard Weekly sections is an idiot.
John Kelly: I will pass on your comments to the Powers that Be.
Don't worry! The recently approved Vietnam War Museum masquerading as a "visitors center" will feature a movie theatre and 3-D jungle war scenes!!! They originally proposed a virtual jungle fighting game for the kids, in order to enrich their experience of visiting Maya Lin's masterpiece, but were also quickly met with disgust, so now it's called simply "3-D Jungle War Scenes".
John Kelly: Maya Lin's monument speaks for itself. That's what's so great about it. It's a shame some people don't like to hear what it says.
PDA Help: My husband has had two HP Ipaqs (one he bought and one his work gave him) with no problem whatsoever. He syncs everyday. The only time his 'Paq ever crashed was once when he held the reset button down for too long (you gotta watch that!). We even use it as the screen for our GPS gizmo.
John Kelly: I'll put that into the databanks, thanks.
Anonymous: My favorite cross-dressing encounter was seeing a denim jacket/shirt clad man with short gray hair board the bus with red stileto high heels on. It was quite a fashion statement, as conservative as he looked. I was so impressed I got confused!
John Kelly: You mean you got so confused you hit on him?
Washington, D.C.: Okay, I know the staircase from 'The Exorcist' is over by Dixie Liquor in Georgetown. I always crane my neck when turning onto M Street from the Key Bridge, but I've never seen them. Are they hiding behind that dumpster?
John Kelly: They're kinda hard to see from a moving car. You gotta park, get out and go in search of them. They're kinda snug up against a wall. Worth the trip. But don't trip.
Silver Spring, Md.: You're not crazy to think that some feel we don't need to know about the rest of the world. I heard two commentaros on Fox News say, "We don't need friends. We have the most powerful military in the world." Such attitudes are well known around the rest of the world. More people could identify the Redskins' front line than could identify the countries in the Middle East, but the latter are affecting our lives (including the lack of hair gel on flights).
John Kelly: You know, there were plenty of Founding Fathers who thought it was important to know about the rest of the world. They even thought it was important to live over there, even in FRANCE!
The men in red are back?: Thats an annual thing- they get real drunk and load and then run a footrace through town.
Answer man should know that.
Why would be a harder question to answer.
John Kelly: How come I wasn't invited?
Helena, Montana: John, I was in D.C. recently and went to RFK. Really enjoyed it, but am confused as to why the concession stands take only cash. Every fast food place in America allows you to use your debit/credit card. I ran out of money pretty quickly and the line at the ATM was very, very long.
John Kelly: Yeah, it's a problem. I left a message for Aramark, the food supplier, but they haven't gotten back to me. It could have something to do with the antiquity of RFK. It may not have things like phone lines or data lines to plug in credit card machines. But I don't know.
John Kelly: This event, involving DC's hashing clubs, isn't till October. So maybe what you've seen recently have just been guys who like the feel of a dress.
Alexandria, Va.: If the tight restrictions on carry-on baggage continues, I suggest that the airlines create two lines. One for people with no carry-on baggage and another for people with carry-on stuff. I am traveling today and will have just my passport, $20, and my board pass.
Two friends of mine flew this morning. One had no trouble - she was flying out of a city in the midwest. My friend here said the only real problem now seems to be that people here in DC understand that there are rule changes but don't think that the changes actually apply to them. She witnessed some very terse exchanges.
John Kelly: That could be us in a nutshell, huh?
I wrote in a couple weeks ago about the sculpture at 17th and New Hampshire. You suggested asking Answer Man, but I'd rather remain anonymous and mysterious (much like the sculpture itself). Hope you can still use my info...
The old sculpture was of an abstract woman with flowing hair, about 7 feet tall, all silver. I liked her--almost like the figureheads on boats. This new one is a large square with a winking eye on a triangular pedestal. Also silver.
Same artist, maybe? Is this a rotating summer thing? Surely you can find out, right?
John Kelly: What, are you under the Witness Protection Program or something?
Oakton, Va.: So your work week is only 37.5 hours? Nice!
John Kelly: But I'm always working, my Spidey-columnist sense a-tingling.
20814: Question for Julie! Is John a great boss or the greatest boss (a la Stephen Colbert's interview style)?
(Now can I get a raise?)
John Kelly: There's your answer.
I had a serious question for you, but with all the comments about my appearance I thought I would share with you why I dress in pink woman's clothes: Much more comfortable on these hot DC Days.
John Kelly: Well call me up the next time the forecast is for 90 degrees or hotter. I'll run over to TJ Maxx then meet you somewhere to test this hypothesis.
Gaithersburg, Md.: "The Washington Post is still a pretty darn good paper, doncha think?"
Do you get paid extra to say that?
John Kelly: Okay, call me a company shill, but I do happen to think that. Remember I just spent a week reading the Myrtle Beach Sun News.
Petworth: Your wife should probably check her hotsync settings.
I've never had my palm eat data like that. I would suspect setup problems or a faulty palm.
John Kelly: I'll ask you to not mention my wife's hotsync settings, if you please.
Ref: Marine Corps Museum: I didn't notice it driving down I95 two weekends ago, but I noticed it comeing back up I95. I knew what it was so it was quite inspiring to me. Like everything, people will get used to it after a while.
John Kelly: I agree it's a cool building. And I hope you're right. But a lot of people on that stretch of highway won't have seen it before.
I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy listening to Washington Post radio and reading the newspaper online. The reporting at the newspaper is excellent.
John Kelly: You are a true connoiseur. Or however you spell it.
Washington, D.C.: I understand that the new Vietnam museum will have a My Lai room and an interactive hands-on napalm fun area for the kids. Good heavens, the reason that the Memorial was so poignant was its simplicity: You alone with the wall, your thoughts and memories, and the names of all families similarly affected. Leave the wall as it is. It is perfect.
John Kelly: It may be, but people aren't.
Ref: The Exorcist Steps: Should I see them before or after a visit to Dixie Liquors?
John Kelly: Definitely before, unless you want to recreate the scene from the film.
Out of Style: I think I've finally gotten used to you being in Metro now... at least I felt some vague feeling that something wasn't right when I read that section last week. Of course I get the same feeling every Friday too, but at least you're here. (Or I'm here, and you're wherever you are.)
John Kelly: Thanks, now we just have to spread the word. Sit in a public place with the Metro section open in front of you. Start chuckling, then say, "That John Kelly, he's something else, heh-heh." It's called viral marketing people!
2 hours and 10 minutes: and My day finally ends!!!
(Not another day, Not another day, Not another day, !!!)
John Kelly: Good for you! And good for the rest of us! Thanks for stopping by. I'll be in the paper on Sunday and on the radio with David Burd tomorrow. We're going to have a live, in-studio performance. Tune into 1500 AM or 107.7 FM at 8:10 am.
Can I get some lunch now?
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De Moraes has written "The TV Column" for The Post since 1998. She served as the TV editor for the entertainment industry trade publication the "Hollywood Reporter" for almost a decade.
Albuquerque, N.M.: How about the train wreck that the Today Show has become? Day by day, Matt Lauer is losing it, Ann Curry and Michelle Campbell prove they are no way qualified to co-host the show, and Al Roker is starting to look desperate.
Lisa de Moraes: Hi. I just watched Ann Curry's glutinous interview with some chick from US or whatever mag it is that had the "exclusive" on Vaughniston's engagement. Meredith needs to start quick before they all die of saccharin poisoning...
Columbia, Md.: Pookie -- I'm bored -- when does the new season start?
Lisa de Moraes: Officially, Sept. 18, but Fox starts rolling out its big guns this month: "Vanished" on Aug 21, "Justice" on Aug. 30, etc. Counting the hours....
Arlington, Va.: I get so captivated by these chats that I forget to ask a question. I've been meaning to ask this for a while now: Did CBS ever find enough money to buy Brooke Burke a bra?
Lisa de Moraes: Last I checked -- no.
Somewhere in Metro: Excerpts from your chat last Friday appeared in Monday's Express. What are the chances my question will get published?
Lisa de Moraes: They often do. But -- and I'm just guessing here -- this question would probably not be one that they would pick to publish because if appeared in the Express it would be redundant.
Herndon,Va.: The divine Ms. deM: If I follow this year's original "Law and Order" saga correctly, it's dumped Dennis Farina, and Annie Parisse wanted out, so . . . one new detective and one new junior DA. Is Dick Wolf trying to right the ship, or just plug leaks? (I thought Farina was great - not Jerry Orbach, but who would be?)
Lisa de Moraes: "Law & Order" does seem to be suffering from overplay fatigue, ratings-wise, what with all the reruns on NBC and then more reruns in USA, etc....it was inevitable.
Harrisburg, Pa.: How is You Tube related to NBC? And if they are related, is it coincidence that You Tube keeps posting spoilers of future episodes of CBS's Big Brother series?
Lisa de Moraes: YouTube recently got into bed big time with NBC, which was sad....
Rocqueville, Md.: Lisa! Project Runway question: How much do you think it hurts to have tattoos done across your Adam's apple? Go mean mommy!
Lisa de Moraes: Not half as much as it hurts the models to purge their meals in order to stay at a size 0...
Washington, D.C.: Any impressions about Lucky Louie? Too distasteful for you to even comment on, or creative and engaging?
Lisa de Moraes: It's not the 'distasteful' that bored me. It was the 'not funny' that bored me.
Alexandria, Va.: How did Last Comic Standing compare this year versus the prior three editions? At least this year, the final was seen on NBC instead of Bravo (or was it Comedy Central?)
The two finalists were very funny, but I think the best was the guy who got kicked off for having a Blackberry, I don't think he performed once.
Lisa de Moraes: It was much better for its sheer lack of Jay Mohr-ness....and that finale that NBC cancelled appeared on Comedy Central -- after NBC had already ruined it by announcing who'd won.. nice touch.
What do you hear from Andy Rooney these days? Has he actually passed on and is CBS just unwilling to acknowledge it, choosing instead to re-run his clips from the last five years (many of which would be plainly indistinguishable from the next)?
Lisa de Moraes: Sorry, you will never ever get me to say a mean thing about Andy Rooney. Let us not forget I'm the gal who wrote about an ad that featured Mickey Rooney's bare backside and, like an idiot, wrote "Andy Rooney" by mistake. I will be apologizing for that until the day I die....Mickey Rooney: Andy Hardy: Andy Rooney...so confusing.
Rockville, Md.: Hi Lisa: on behalf of myself and the three other people I know for sure are watching 'Blade: the Series,' can you tell me how many episodes the show will have and if there are any plans to bring it back? The four of us think it's a great show.
Lisa de Moraes: According to my notes, there have been 12 episodes ordered for this season...glad you four are enjoying it...
Castle Shannon, Pa.: I'm glad ABC wised up and moved "Ugly Betty" out of a dead in the water Friday time slot, but Thursday at eight won't be an easy time slot either.
Pookie, what are the chances of this one surviving? I have a feeling "Sons & Daughters" is going to go the way of Gina Davis's show, so if it's not doing well on Thursday, do you think ABC will break down and give it the plum Sunday at 10 p.m. timeslot? I know they've said it's not a 10 o'clock show, but from everything I've read about it, I think it would work there.
Lisa de Moraes: Given that "Sons and Daughters" just lost its show runner -- just the latest setback in the show that has been crowned this season's Troubled Show -- I'm still holding out hope ABC eventually puts "Ugly Betty" in the post "DH" timeslot it should have....
Clearwater, Fla.: Did you know that Jay Mohr was once the romantic lead in a Jennifer Anniston movie? How did that happen?
Lisa de Moraes: Honestly, there are some things you just can't explain -- like lunar eclipses. Have you ever seen that movie? I can't decide which was the worse actor. Yes, I confess, I've seen it multiple times. But only for research....I take my job seriously.
Richmond, Va.: Why did the Today show do a segment about the American Idol auditions at the Rose Bowl? Seriously...what was the point?
And can some tell Ann Curry to stop reporting the news all exacerbated. She has me all depressed at 7:03. I thought the Today show would be bearable with Katie gone, but boy was I wrong.
Lisa de Moraes: I know what you mean. It's like, be careful what you wish for, right? and yes, Curry needs to stop getting so exercised. And, finally, the reason Today show did a segment on the American Idol auditions is: ratings.
Pookie!: What's the scoop on "Work Out?" I love the lesbian drama angle but the latest "reality" segment of her employees trashing her house and then not cleaning up completely jumps the shark.
Lisa de Moraes: I have a hard time being objective -- you know, like I usually am -- about this show because Ripped Chick was soooooo full of herself and unpleasant at the press tour. One critic asked her some question about the "casual exerciser" and Ripped Chick said 'are you a casual exerciser?' and the critic said yes, and Ripped Chick responded "I can tell" like she meant it to hurt -- a lot. The other critics gasped and then Ripped Chick tried to fix it by saying "I mean, because you look so great' like she thought we were idiots and would actually swallow that...I'm not a fan....
Reston, Va.: Is a show runner the same thing as a producer?
Lisa de Moraes: a show runner is the producer who actually runs the show. Practically everyone gets a "producer" credit these days -- even some actors, rendering it pretty meaningless....
Washington, D.C.: OK, the best reality show I've ever watched is definitely Meerkat Manor. There's sex, intrigue, secrets pacts, and they're dern cute too boot. Please, please, please tell me that this is picked up for more episodes after the summer is over.
Lisa de Moraes: I'm sure it will be if it hasn't already. It's doing very well for the network.
Washington, D.C.: I'm already tired of that hostage-negotiator show and it hasn't even started yet. This in spite of the presence of that guy from Office Space. I give it three episodes before cancellation. Does that sound about right to you?
Lisa de Moraes: You mean Fox's new "Standoff" starring dreamy Ron Livingston? Clearly you did not join us for last week's chat...catch up, please.
Chevy Chase, Md.: Lisa: Just got off the phone with the GM of WTTG concerning the inappropriate dress of Gurvir Dhindsa this morning. She was an anchor with her breasts hanging out! I was horrified since I have been in the business for 30 years!
Lisa de Moraes: Hello -- it's Fox, pookie. Station now run by Roger Ailes. Get used to it.
Charlotte, N.C.: Is there anything The Office will be able to do with their season-ending cliffhanger (Jim and Pam kiss) that will NOT have a bad effect on the show?
Lisa de Moraes: The British version was lovely because it lasted two seasons. That's the trouble with U.S. TV shows -- they last too long. Having them kiss this soon was risky. On the other hand, it's on NBC, so there's a chance we will see absolutely no reference to it and the show will continue as if it had never happened. Like how Jennifer Anniston fell in love with Joey on "Friends" and then it was as though it had never happened. So NBC.
Washington, D.C.: I love Jay Mohr! No more Mohr bashing! Seriously, though, you couldn't possibly like Anthony Clark better?? He's horrible- can't tell a joke and looks like he's about to puke every time he's on stage.
Lisa de Moraes: I loved Jay Mohr in "Action." I just don't like him when he's playing himself......
Severna Park, Md.: Remember the 6 Million Dollar Man? I loved that show when I was seven-years-old, but I haven't seen it since. Being a television professional, you are uniquely qualified to tell me: is the show as awesome as I remember OR does it totally suck and I was just a stupid kid for wasting my time on that nonsense.
I don't think I'll get anything done until I get this issue settled.
Lisa de Moraes: I am sorry to report that when I have received DVDs of shows I thought were the living end as a child, I'm always shocked and horrified at how lame the show looks to me now. It's almost as disillusioning as when you meet some star you worshipped as as child and find out he/she is a jerk. So my advice to you is don't look back. You loved the show as a kid and that's enough. I don't want to ruin it for you. And if you're given the DVD, don't even take it out of the shrink wrap. Pitch it as fast and as far as you can.
Louisville, Ky.: Have you been watching this season of 30 Days? To me, it's the most compelling program on TV. How is it doing fox FX?
Also, why do FX shows allow profanity? I don't care much, but it's sort of jarring. It feels like cheap HBO or something.
Lisa de Moraes: I'm not understanding why the profanity would make it "cheap HBO"? Have you watched HBO's "Deadwood," or "Lucky Louie"? HBO oozes profanity -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Personally, I'm a big fan of profanity when used properly. Like by me.
Arlington, Va.: Ok, so I was watching the rerun of House this past week with a friend of mine (it was the one about the faith healer). And he had the audacity to say the show stunk and wasn't interesting, etc. Later on he was sitting at his computer looking up political news and I wanted to sneak up behind him and knock him out with one of those heavy hardback political novels. Would that have been wrong?
Lisa de Moraes: No, it would have been perfectly appropriate and I'm sorry you did not polish him off -- or so it would appear from your comment. Is it too late?
Tampa, Fla.: Is Gene Simmons the lamest human being on the planet? If not, who?
Lisa de Moraes: You know what's the lamest thing about him? When you are introduced to him in the hallway at the Ritz Carlton Huntington hotel in Pasadena and he gets all hi-there-little-nobody-reporter-chick,-aren't-I-the-hottest,suavest-thing-you've-met-in-ages?, like he's Colin Firth or Cary Grant or something. Ick, ick, ick! And why does he use boot polish on his hair -- can't he afford a proper color-job?
Ashburn, Va.: Did your opinion of Tina Fey change after the press tour? Do you think her show will do better than Matthew Perry's show?
Lisa de Moraes: No, it did not. Fey told several unfunny jokes up on stage and Lorne Michaels, who was sitting next to her, gushed about how she was the greatest thing to happen to TV comedy since forever. That said, Alec Baldwin is brilliant on her show and if it works he will deserve much of the credit. Her show pilot was like many of her SNL sketches; it got lost about half way through and didn't know where to go -- so naturally, she took the episode to a strip joint. Because, hey, strip joints are funny, right? Gak.
Serious question: I write this in all honesty even after years of taking heat from my friends: I love Matlock. And I try to catch it whenever I can on the Hallmark channel or TBS, however, it's just not on very much. Is there any chance this classic is slated for DVD any time soon?
Lisa de Moraes: isn't it already?
What Channel?: What channel will the new CW occupy? Will it take WB's old channel? I can barely wait for my 7th Heaven fix
Lisa de Moraes: In Washington it's on the former WB station. Where are you?
Englewood, N.J.: Big Brothers All Stars.
Horrendous people acting spinelessly. Is there a more frustrating show on TV?
Lisa de Moraes: stop watching...
Have you seen the recent Hyundai TV ad that shows a city being turned upside down, with paper flying out of skyscrapers and panicked people sliding on the sidewalks? It can't help but bring 9/11 to mind. How stupid are the advertising people at Hyundai not to notice this? It is incredibly inappropriate.
Lisa de Moraes: you noticed the ad and, more important, you remembered the name of the product it was plugging. That's called a successful ad campaign....
New York, N.Y.: I thought that 7th Heaven was done forever. Is it coming back on another channel next month?
Lisa de Moraes: Seventh Heaven was dead and buried, but then, on the third day, it rose from the dead and now sits in a timeslot of honor in the kingdom of CW....
Louisville, Ky.: No, no...I mean, HBO has swearing and it's premium. FX has cuss words too, but it's on basic. So it's like getting a lower-level HBO for "free."
Lisa de Moraes: oh -- I get that. Sorry!
"Buy Brooke Burke a bra": Say that three times fast.
Lisa de Moraes: impossible. can't be done.
Mt. Pleasant, D.C.: Hi Lisa--I recently bought the DVDs of Keen Eddie. My boyfriend and I were discussing why it had such a short life, and I think part of the reason is that Americans are not ready (interested?) in shows that take place in other countries. I can't really think of many shows that did take place in other countries, other than ones like MASH or Lost. Just wondering what you would think of this--thanks!
Lisa de Moraes: This show didn't last because the suits at Fox were cowards. They held it until the summer instead of putting it on during the TV season because they were afraid of how different it was and the British accents, and then they killed it in the summer. It was a crime.
Washington, D.C.: Okay maybe I'm just a loser but I think Lucky Louie is hilarious. It's like a tasteless version of Everybody Loves Raymond in that it takes normal family stereotypes and exaggerates them for comedic purposes. Despite your not liking it, did enough people like it that they'll bring it back?
Lisa de Moraes: If HBO brings it back it won't be because it did well.
Arlington, Va.: Lisa, I've been seeing lots of commercials for this new show "Smith." Is there any buzz on it? I love Ray Liotta.
Lisa de Moraes: The perfect CBS show...the real buzz is about Ugly Betty, though. CBS series tend not to be "buzzy" if you know what I mean....
You said NBC is in bed big time with YouTube. Does that mean NBC has bought out YouTube? Thanks...
Lisa de Moraes: No, just cut a cushy deal to turn YouTube into yet another promo platform for the General Electric network....sigh...
Herndon, Va.: Does "According To Jim" have enough episodes to be eligible for syndication? I think that's one of the signs of the apocalypse.
Lisa de Moraes: Yes and yes...
Chicago, Ill.: Please, Please tell us you will resume blogging when you return from vacation. Your reports from the Press Tour were wonderful. We need more pookiness.
Lisa de Moraes: There are discussions being had as we speak....Wheels within wheels...
Washington, D.C.: How awesome was Tim Gunn on Project Runway when he kicked out Keith? SOOO serious about protecting the integrity of the show...Good Stuff.
I find my self a little sad at the end of each project runway because it's over. But then I realize I will have about 17 times to watch it again before next week. Sometimes, I actually do watch in two or three times. Should I seek help?
Lisa de Moraes: Five times I get. Seventeen times -- not so much. May be sign of obsession. May need help.
Is it true you are moving to California? How are we ever going to meet and fall in love if we are separated by an entire continent. Must I move out there now?
Lisa de Moraes: I'm bi-coastal already....in D.C. now.. returning to LA in time for the Primetime Emmy Awards. You know how we love our trophy shows...
Washington, D.C.: Okay, I did not see Fox this morning and now I want to. Go Roger Ailes.
Lisa de Moraes: Honestly, her chest isn't' that exciting. But, by all means, go see for yourself...
Washington, D.C.: To Chevy Chase re: busty anchorwoman--you've got to give more details than that!!
Lisa de Moraes: Wow -- this must be a slow summer...
Washington, D.C.: Keen Eddie is out on DVD? I know what I'm putting on my Christmas wish list. Maybe we should chip in and buy a set for Jude Law.
Since it isn't PC to ask what Katie Couric is going to where the first night of her CBS broadcast, can we ask what you will wear?
Lisa de Moraes: She will wear something very tasteful and Hillary Clinton-esque. I predict pearls. I will wear nothing of the sort....
Newark, N.J.: OK, so I was stuck in the Hamptons last week in a vacation house at the beach that had no TV. Is is wrong that I went out to buy one on Tuesday morning so that we wouldn't miss the House rerun that evening? Reception was lousy so I made my husband hold the antenna for the whole hour. But feeding this Hugh Laurie addiction isn't wrong, is it?
Lisa de Moraes: Ohmygod -- you found a guy who would hold an antenna for a whole hour just so you could watch a rerun "House"?! Don't ever let him go....
McLean, Va.: Pookie, have you heard the rumors that Zach Braff plans to leave "Scrubs" after this season? I guess that means the end of this show.
Speaking of which, any word on when it might get picked up in syndication? I would love to see "Scrubs" replace Friends/Drew Carey/etc. in the after-the-news-anything-but-a-talk-show-or History-Channel-UFO/Hitler-documentary slot.
Lisa de Moraes: I think everyone is planning to leave Scrubs after this season...I'm assuming there are enough episodes for syndication but, what with it being bounced on and off the schedule so much, I've lost track.
Falls Church, Va.: Why won't they make Entourage an hour show. I would so watch it. Heck, I'd watch hours and hours on end... love it!
Lisa de Moraes: It should be a one-hour, you're right.
Fairfax, Va.: I know Jay Mohr's no prize, but geez, Anthony Clark? He is a travesty to humankind. The only thing I liked about him was how much he clearly enjoyed saying "Josh Blue!"
Lisa de Moraes: okay -- I give up, you win. It's a mediocre show, what can I say? I'm out of time. Bye.
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WTTG to Span Two Beltways With Washimore Newscast
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Washington's local news is about to become Baltimore's, too.
In a move that might reflect the increasing convergence of the Baltimore and Washington media markets, Baltimore's WUTB-TV next month will begin airing five hours of daily news also aired by WTTG (Channel 5) in Washington.
The agreement between WUTB and WTTG -- both are owned by Fox Broadcasting's television group -- will put Channel 5's morning news program and its 10 p.m. newscast on WUTB (Channel 24), which has been an affiliate of the soon-to-be-defunct UPN network. The same anchors and news, weather and sports will air on both stations simultaneously; the only distinction will be the on-screen logo, or "bug," that identifies each channel.
The arrangement evokes longstanding cultural questions about the two often-rival metropoli: How relevant is Washington's "local" news to people in the Baltimore area? And more broadly, are the two areas really distinct anymore as markets, or has sprawl turned them into "Washimore" (or perhaps "Baltiton"? "Baltiwash"?).
Although Baltimore and Washington are statistically separate entities (they are reported separately in the Nielsen TV ratings, for example), executives of the two stations say the differences are growing murkier. Among other things, an estimated 150,000 people commute from Baltimore and its environs into the Washington area each day, said Alan Sawyer, WUTB's general manager.
"Baltimore is a great city, and people here have a lot of pride in it," he said, "but the overlap [with the Washington area] is increasing every day."
What's more, he says, the news often crosses regional boundaries. Washington stations report on Orioles and Ravens games, and weather maps and traffic reports range up and down the I-95 corridor. Baltimore stations, meanwhile, are big on University of Maryland games. And significant developments on Capitol Hill are staples of newscasts everywhere.
Yesterday, Sawyer noted, Washington's news stations were all over Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport -- there's that B-W thing again -- in the wake of the foiled terrorism plot in Britain.
But Sawyer and his counterpart at WTTG, Duffy Dyer, acknowledge that Fairfax will never be Towson, and Chesapeake Bay crabs will probably always be as regionally symbolic of Baltimore as pork is to Washington.
"They both have very specific personalities, and they'll never really meld to such a degree that you won't notice the difference," Dyer said. "But there are many people who live in one place and work in the other." (For the record, Dyer prefers "Washimore.")
The arrangement will extend WTTG's potential viewing audience into areas that its broadcast signal cannot reach, and where cable companies don't carry it. The station will not add any Baltimore-centric elements to its newscast or hire additional reporters, Dyer said.
WUTB has been broadcasting infomercials and "Seinfeld" reruns in the time slots that beginning Sept. 5 will carry Channel 5's news, and has not produced its own news previously. Smaller, second-tier stations such as WUTB typically go without news programming, which is relatively expensive to produce. By plugging in WTTG's broadcast, WUTB will save millions of dollars in startup costs for its own news operation.
The cross-border local-news simulcast has been tried in other, smaller markets, Sawyer said, but the Baltimore-Washington arrangement might be a first for a pair of major cities. Nielsen considers the Washington region the eighth-largest TV market by population; Baltimore ranks No. 24.
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Protest to Encircle White House
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The nation's capital is becoming a stage where passions on both sides of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict are being played out with a series of protests, vigils and rallies in Washington in recent weeks, with more to come.
The largest demonstration -- billed as a protest of the "U.S.-Israeli war" -- is expected to draw "tens of thousands" of people who plan to surround the White House tomorrow, said Tony Kutayli, communications coordinator for the Washington-based American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, one of the groups helping coordinate participants arriving from across the country.
In the last few weeks, the National Park Service has issued several permits for demonstrations tied to the conflict, said spokesman Bill Line.
This month, groups of women dressed in somber black slowly circled in front of the White House holding candles in a silent tribute to those killed in Lebanon. Across the region, groups have held small meetings to raise almost $7 million in aid for those killed and injured in Israel.
"Somehow, the story of what is really going on is being lost," said Misha Galperin, executive vice president and chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. "We need to try and counter that to the extent possible, to demonstrate our support."
Galperin's group helped organize a rally of more than 1,500 people in Freedom Plaza last month to support Israel in the conflict. Teachers, lawyers, members of Congress and a governor spoke on behalf of the Jewish state.
The group is not planning a counter-protest tomorrow, and Galperin said he believes the event was purposely scheduled on the Jewish Sabbath to thwart any response on its part.
But protest organizers said that most of their massive mobilizations, such as the antiwar gathering in September last year, are held on Saturdays to accommodate travel schedules for out-of-town participants.
Organizers of tomorrow's event are coordinating bus transportation from as far south as Tampa, as far north as Connecticut and as far west as Michigan. They are posting ride-share arrangements online and urging communities to donate cash for bus rentals.
"This is the largest mobilization of the Muslim community since the 2002 Palestinian rally," said Mahdi Bray, director of the Washington-based Muslim American Society, one of the co-sponsors.
Bray said many of his group's supporters are coming to protest what they consider the feeble U.S. pursuit of a cease-fire in the conflict. "It has not been pursued with due diligence," he said.
Beyond the nation's stance on the conflict in Lebanon, many of the participants will be people frustrated with the domestic stance on civil liberties and harassment of Muslims across the country, Bray said.
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Playing Saunders's Name Game
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On the surface, the change is merely new terminology, made for the sake of simplicity. The Washington Redskins, under new associate head coach Al Saunders, no longer employ H-backs, but, the staff says, those previously deemed an H-back will now carry virtually the same responsibilities as either a tight end or fullback.
For the two most prominent former H-backs on the roster, however, Chris Cooley (now a tight end) and Mike Sellers (now a fullback), the move will result in several new wrinkles. The Redskins beefed up at wide receiver in the offseason and already had a star running back, but Saunders is just as intrigued by the possibilities presented by Cooley and Sellers, whose skills can create confounding matchup problems for opposing defenses.
In Cooley, he sees visions of Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow and Kansas City Pro Bowler Tony Gonzalez, both of whom shined in this system, while Sellers, a wrecking ball in the trenches with a knack for catching touchdown passes, stands to get more carries in the backfield and do more lead blocking, too.
"Chris's beginning point will be as a tight end at the line of scrimmage, and from there we'll move him to a lot of different places," Saunders said. "Mike Sellers will begin in the backfield and we'll move him to a lot of positions, but ultimately the end will be they will move the same way [as before], and they will have the same responsibilities both in the passing and running game."
H-backs were a staple of Joe Gibbs's system, a hybrid position that meshed with the multiple sets and elaborate motion he favored. Saunders is of the same mind, but labels positions and duties differently in his playbook. So when Gibbs brought him on board in January, it only made sense to implement Saunders's wording.
"That's the way, personnel-wise, Al was calling it," Gibbs said. "We didn't want to have a whole bunch of new things for him to have to cope with while he's trying to call plays."
Cooley, 24, learned of the demise of the H-back in his first meeting with Saunders, shortly after the coach joined the staff.
"Last year I was listed as a halfback or H-back or whatever," said Cooley, a free-spirited individual clearly not hung up on positional designations. "And [Saunders] said on the Pro Bowl ballot I was listed as a fullback, so he said: 'You're going to be a tight end. We're going to put you as a tight end on everything and I don't want anybody to call you anything else.' That's kind of how that happened."
Of much greater importance to Cooley, who more than doubled his receiving yardage last year from his rookie season in 2005 (314 to 774) on 71 receptions including seven touchdowns, was how he would be utilized in the new offense. Saunders wanted to draft Cooley when he was a coach with the Chiefs in 2004 -- Washington traded up in the third round to select him from Utah State -- and believes he has "an uncanny ability to catch the football." Cooley's speed is also underrated, Saunders said, and he wants to get the player much more involved in the deep passing game.
Cooley (6-feet-3, 250 pounds) works well with quarterback Mark Brunell in intermediate routes for the most part. This will be new for him, but he is well aware of the production Winslow and Gonzalez amassed under Saunders.
"Chris has a different size and a different stature than those two guys, but he can do the same things in our offensive scheme," Saunders said. "And it begins with throwing the ball down the field. He can still do the underneath stuff, but this will be a little bit of a change for him, and the more of that he can do, the more we'll ask him to do."
Cooley said: "Last year it was a lot of quick type of stuff, and this year it's all speed routes. It's no head fakes or weird steps, it's all speed routes: Get there as fast as you can and the quarterback is going to put the ball there. I never really ran routes like that, so that's the big change for me. But I feel like I'm coming along, and I feel like I can do it."
Saunders has already called a running play for Cooley in training camp practice, and promises more surprises to come. "There's a couple of secret things we may have coming up," he said. Sellers, meantime, has been begging for some carries since signing as a free agent in 2004.
Last year, Gibbs relented and gave him one carry (he scored from a yard out but nearly fumbled), and Saunders said he plans to run him more frequently. Saunders relies on more two-back sets, with effective lead blocking from the fullback a must. Current Minnesota Vikings running back Tony Richardson went to consecutive Pro Bowls as Saunders's fullback in Kansas City, and Sellers became so excited explaining his expanded role in this offense that he stopped mid-sentence to point out the goosebumps on his right forearm despite the 100-degree heat.
"My job in this offense has been a lot more extensive than it has been in the previous two years," said Sellers, 6-3, 277 pounds. "I couldn't be anywhere better than where I am right now. They're taking full advantage of everything I can do."
Sellers, 31, emerged as a red-zone force in 2005, catching seven touchdown passes after scoring just six times in five previous NFL seasons, and plans to build off that. He altered his diet this offseason, turning 10 pounds of fat into muscle, and after years of struggling in the NFL and getting his life straightened out in the Canadian Football League, he's finally found a home.
"I fit here perfectly," Sellers said. "Hopefully, I can get another five or six years."
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The Clarett Saga Is A Wake-Up Call for Us All
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It was a Friday night in the Arizona desert, Jan. 3, 2003, the greatest night in young Maurice Clarett's life. The freshman tailback ran five yards for a touchdown in the second overtime to deliver a college football championship to football-mad Ohio State University. He was a kid, a baby really. And with that touchdown run, he had stepped not only into football glory, but also into a royal group of preposterously young college athletes who had led their schools to national championships . . . people like Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas and Grant Hill.
That Fiesta Bowl game attracted the biggest television audience for a college bowl game in five years, and people throughout the country had seen Clarett carry his team past the University of Miami. There seemed to be no limit, not that night, to how far the kid might climb in the football world, to how big a star he might become.
You would have to have been the darkest of cynics to even suggest that Clarett's first big night would be his last, that his life would descend into a hellish nightmare that included an exit from big-time football, courtroom drama, a charge of robbery and now this unbelievable police chase on an interstate in Ohio with Clarett allegedly wearing a bulletproof vest and sitting next to a small cache of weapons.
What exactly are you preparing for when you get into a car with two handguns, an assault rifle and a bottle of vodka while wearing bulletproof clothing? At least in his mind, Clarett was about to do some serious battle with somebody, and the best news of the day is that the police found him first. The worst news of the day could be that he and his small arsenal of weapons were tracked down near the home of a witness set to testify against him next week in a hearing relating to the robbery charge. According to police reports, they couldn't stop him with a stun gun because of the bullet-proof vest, but they did stop him with a spray.
This comes eight months after being accused of flashing a gun and demanding property from a man and woman on New Year's Day, an incident which earned him two counts of robbery.
Perhaps football might have saved Clarett at one point. Even as someone who was not in favor of the NFL changing its rules to allow Clarett in early, I sit at the keyboard now wondering what might have become of Clarett had he spent the last three years within the structure of a football team, which is probably the only structure he had ever known -- certainly the only one he ever appreciated. It's impossible to not wonder what might have happened had Clarett been good enough to stick with the Denver Broncos, who brought him to camp last summer.
What's fairly safe to say is that football isn't going to save Clarett now, not after this.
"He's got some heavy issues," Broncos Coach Mike Shanahan told reporters in Denver yesterday. "It's just a shame this has happened to a guy that [had] so much promise and so much ability. I'm not sure what happened to him but it's a real shame. . . . We tried to reach him quite a bit when he was here. One thing he did have here was a lot of support from our veterans and our players tried to really take care of this guy and he wanted no part of it, and that was one of the reasons why he didn't make our football team."
One of those veterans, safety Nick Ferguson, is quoted on DenverBroncos.com as saying: "I was one of the guys who really had somewhat of a decent relationship with him and talked to him on a consistent basis. The first time he left camp, I was asked to kind of use that relationship to find out what was going on. But it just seems like the young man is troubled."
I'm sure there are any number of players and coaches who were in Denver last summer and in Columbus, Ohio, before that who thought they could reach Clarett . . . and couldn't. Shanahan went as far as to say, "He was one of the few players that we've had that really didn't want to be helped."
Imagine what Clarett felt when he could see LeBron James soaking up all that adulation, flirting with all that endorsement money, the NBA guaranteed salary. James was a hero in Ohio, too, but he hadn't taken the state school to a national championship.
Problem was, Clarett played the wrong sport for that kind of individual cash-in. The NBA sells its stars; the NFL sells its teams. Clarett wasn't sophisticated enough to see the difference. He wanted what he felt was coming to him, so he left Ohio State. He listened to the fools who told him it was his birthright to play in the NFL, even though labor laws and smart labor lawyers knew otherwise. Instead of getting tens of thousands of dollars up front to sign with the Broncos, which at least would have given him a little financial cushion (which more than 99 percent of kids coming out of college get), some knucklehead negotiated a back-loaded deal that presumed Clarett would make the team, which he didn't.
So he was left with nothing, really. No money, no education, no real NFL skills.
With the downward spiral Clarett is in, who's to say he could have lasted even if he had made the team? Then again, maybe carrying the football was the only dream the kid ever had, and maybe he felt utterly useless away from the locker room, the training room, the field, the huddle.
If that's the case, then every high school coach of every teenage phenom, especially the ones who walk around like the world owes them, ought to get the video of Clarett sitting in the back of that squad car being hauled away from his stalled car and his weapons and his half-empty bottle of vodka and say to them in the firmest possible voice, "Son, let me tell you the cautionary tale of a kid named Maurice Clarett."
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After his latest arrest, former Ohio State star Maurice Clarett now stands as a cautionary tale for young phenom athletes of what can go wrong.
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Yahoo, Wal-Mart Build a Virtual Catwalk
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Okay, maybe not. But perhaps your avatar is, and this week, Yahoo and Wal-Mart launched an online casting call.
It's a marketing pitch, of course: The biggest Web site in the world wants more users to think about developing an online profile, complete with an avatar, a cartoonish replica of oneself. And the world's largest retailer wants a chance to hook in with the fashionable Internet set.
At stake: Five (real) $100 Wal-Mart gift cards for the winners, and a shot at fame -- for their avatars.
As the Internet comes of age, more companies are trying to make it possible for Web users to give their online presence a lifelike personality -- or at least a lifelike appearance. AOL, for example, gives its users the option of choosing 3-D avatars that laugh, shake their heads and respond to things written during an instant-message conversation.
Thousands of avatars inhabit parallel Web-based worlds such as Second Life and a site called There, where users design humanoid versions of themselves, clothe them, buy things, socialize with other avatars, and read newspapers about current events in those worlds.
Avatars have also given Web sites opportunities to market themselves and encourage user participation. Earlier this year, MTV's broadband video channel, Overdrive, sponsored an avatar fashion show on Second Life. On ESPN.com, a user can set up an avatar to give sports commentary -- the best of which gets featured on the home page as the "Voice of the Fan."
To compete in the Yahoo fashion show, an avatar must come decked out in Wal-Mart style. That is to say, the contestant must dress his or her avatar in clothes, swimwear, hats and shoes chosen from the online armoire provided by Yahoo and Wal-Mart.
There is, for example, the "orange and yellow Hawaiian swimsuit and sarong." A more modest avatar might chose the "long blue coat w/ fur collar." There is also the "brown business suit & newspaper," which hews more to the K Street commuter look.
"It's a great campaign to reach the youth audience online, and we have marketing partners who want to reach their target audience," said Yahoo spokeswoman Terrell Karlsten. "Teens are obsessed with self-expression and personalization," and perhaps the ones who haven't created an alter ego will be inspired to create their own avatars.
As of yesterday evening, the front-runner in the show was a Madonna look-alike sporting dark shades and wearing a cropped navy tank top and striped green pants, accessorized with multi-colored bracelets and a brown belt. She's accompanied by the avatar of her German shepherd. Like many other contestants, she has her hands on her narrow hips, which are swayed to one side.
Votes -- "cast as many votes as you like" -- will be tallied through Nov. 8. They can be cast at http://promotions.yahoo.com/avatar .
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Stay updated on the latest technology news. Find profiles on different sectors of the tech industry. Learn about new developments in tech policy. Read technology reviews for PCs,laptops,cell phones,and other new gadgets.
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Viacom's MTV Unit Buys Atom Entertainment for Its Film, Gaming Web Sites
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For its $200 million, Viacom also gets Atom's gaming businesses -- Shockwave and Addicting Games, which allow users to download free games -- and Addicting Clips, for very-short-form video.
Among young Internet-savvy audiences, video games and Web-based video clips, such as those found on YouTube and Google Video, continue to grow in popularity. And major media companies such as Viacom and News Corp. count on revenue from the sales of short versions of their content on mobile devices.
"This acquisition is right on the money with our digital strategy," Viacom chief executive Tom Freston said in a news release. "It adds great scale with users, improves our growing casual gaming position and brings a world-class digital video library and a fantastic management team."
Atom, formed in 2001, was one of the Internet's first important distributors of short films, providing an outlet for aspiring writers, actors and directors that had not previously been available outside the film festival circuit or MTV. "Being John Malkovich" director Spike Jonze got his start directing music videos.
The site features more than 1,500 film and animation titles, ranging from a few to several minutes in length. Unlike YouTube, for which only a Web camera is required -- cogent ideas are optional -- the shorts on Atom Films are typically scripted, acted and shot with professional quality.
With the expansion of high-speed Internet at home and at work, which makes watching video on computers much more satisfying than with a balky dial-up connection, Atom has shown continued user growth in recent years and is now largely an advertising-supported site. Viacom already is an advertiser -- ads for MTV's "Beavis and Butt-head" DVDs appeared on AtomFilms yesterday.
The site also sells subscriptions and says it has been profitable since 2002. There is little capital cost associated with the site, which consists almost entirely of user-generated content.
Atom's game division may be the juicier acquisition in the eyes of Viacom Chairman Sumner M. Redstone, who has long held a personal investment in Midway Games Inc., maker of Mortal Kombat, and last year bought control of the company with 90 percent of its shares.
Last week, Chicago-based Midway reported widening losses in its second quarter, owing to declining sales, and said its 2006 losses would be worse than expected. Redstone's steadfast endorsement of the gaming company puzzles many analysts.
For Viacom, which split into Viacom and CBS Corp. in 2005, the Atom acquisition may provide some buzz. Viacom, which is home to cable channels such as MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, as well as movie studios Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks SKG, was promoted as the fast-growth piece of the split-off. CBS, meanwhile, got the slow-growth properties, including the CBS network, its television and radio stations and the outdoor-advertising division.
Since the split, CBS has continued to produce hit television shows, such as the "CSI" series, and has moved aggressively onto the Internet, webcasting all of this year's NCAA men's college basketball tournament games free. Though it continues to grow, Viacom has been relatively quiet until recently, when it announced a content-distribution deal with Google Inc.
Viacom reported strong second-quarter earnings yesterday, bolstered by the 2005 acquisition of DreamWorks, as Paramount continues to struggle. CBS reported its second-quarter earnings last week, showing flat revenue and declines in operating income, as the company is dragged down by a soft radio-advertising market.
Viacom is valued at $24 billion, $3 billion more than CBS. Viacom stock closed down 69 cents, to $33.75 yesterday. It has fallen more than $10 a share since January. CBS, meanwhile, which closed unchanged at $26.25 yesterday, has climbed steadily since March.
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Stay updated on the latest technology news. Find profiles on different sectors of the tech industry. Learn about new developments in tech policy. Read technology reviews for PCs,laptops,cell phones,and other new gadgets.
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The New Camp Casey: Protest Without the A-List
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CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 10 -- James Fain stood guard Thursday under the broiling sun at Camp Casey, the five-acre tract that antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan recently bought on the edge of town as a base for her protests.
Mostly, it was a lonely job. Fain, 21, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, came out from under his tent whenever a car turned in from the two-lane highway that runs past the encampment -- which was not often.
"The protests were originally supposed to start next week," Fain explained. "But the president's vacation is shorter this year. The protesters, these aren't people who have no jobs." So not everyone could make it, he said.
Not that they would see much here at Camp Casey: just a newly laid gravel road, some tents, an American flag, a few volunteers and row after row of small, white crosses representing the U.S. troops who have died in Iraq.
Last weekend, Sheehan, 49, led a small group of protesters here on a march along the narrow, winding road leading to President Bush's 1,600-acre ranch, about seven miles from Camp Casey. And Tuesday, she joined a small group of protesters just outside the Secret Service checkpoint.
But, so far, the demonstrations have been modest, and the news coverage and the reaction have been muted -- which is far different from the reaction Sheehan engendered last year during her 26-day peace vigil here. Then, she promised to follow Bush until he agreed to meet with her (they had met once, not long after her soldier son, Casey, was killed in Baghdad in 2004) -- a stance that seemed to galvanize the antiwar movement and catapult the former Catholic youth minister to international fame.
The story of a grieving mother who stood up to the president drew thousands of protesters, including a smattering of celebrities, to central Texas. Since then, she has followed Bush to Washington, where she has protested outside the White House and the Iraqi Embassy, and has become a figure whose name is known by leaders such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. She has written or inspired no fewer than five books, and a play about her exploits has opened in London.
Despite the stir created by Sheehan's protests last year and the unabated casualties in Iraq, there have been no celebrity sightings so far this year -- unless one was to count Sheehan herself.
Sheehan's demanding schedule had her in Seattle on Thursday, where she was scheduled to address the Veterans for Peace Convention on Thursday night. A week earlier, she was in Amman, Jordan. "She met with five members of the Iraqi Parliament," said Dede Miller, Sheehan's sister, who often travels with her.
Before that, there was the speaking tour across Italy. Miller said Sheehan is expected to be back in Crawford by this weekend, when she will lead more protests against Bush.
Sheehan's growing celebrity has caused her critics to charge that she is profiting from the tragedy of her son's death, making her more professional protester than grieving mother.
For the past week and a half, James Vergauwen, 60, a Vietnam War veteran, has manned a one-man counter-protest to Sheehan from a seat under a tent at the intersection that commands Crawford's only traffic signal. He spends much of the day listening to Fox's Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly and other radio talk show hosts, and he has several placards surrounding his site, including one that reads: "Cindy, making money on the back of a hero."
"That's my opinion," Vergauwen said, when asked about the sign. "If her son hadn't have been a hero and gotten killed, we would never know about Cindy Sheehan."
Some local residents also snicker that the reported $52,000 Sheehan put out for Camp Casey was too much to pay for the parcel, which they say has a tendency to flood during heavy rains.
But if Sheehan has been changed by the events of last year, so too has Bush. His planned 10-day vacation here is much shorter than the four weeks he spent here in 2005. Meanwhile, opposition to the Iraq war has become mainstream: Nearly six in 10 respondents to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll said the war was not worth fighting.
"It is clear that a majority of the population is now against the war," said Fain, who joined Sheehan's vigil last year and returned this year to "give President Bush a little taste of American sentiment."
Others are similarly committed. Jesse Dyen, 36, said he was inspired by Sheehan to protest the war by eschewing solid food for nearly a month, which he survived by drinking vitamin-fortified water. The event organizer and musician says he has "pretty much built my life around protesting the war" over the past year.
He wore a strip of purple duct tape on his T-shirt, marked with the number 2,591 -- for the number of American troops who have died in the war.
Asked whether he thought antiwar feelings were growing, he said, "They have to be, because more people are waking up to it every day."
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CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 10 -- James Fain stood guard Thursday under the broiling sun at Camp Casey, the five-acre tract that antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan recently bought on the edge of town as a base for her protests.
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