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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100700459.html
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https://web.archive.org/web/2005100819id_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100700459.html
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Storms Took Toll On Jobs In Sept.
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2005100819
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Hurricane Katrina wiped out thousands of jobs last month, helping push the nation's unemployment rate up to 5.1 percent, the Labor Department reported yesterday while also indicating that the U.S. labor market remained strong outside the areas devastated by the storm.
"We can't ignore the pain in the Gulf Coast, but we shouldn't ignore, either, that for the rest of the country, the economy looks to be in good shape," said William Cheney, chief economist for John Hancock Financial Services Inc.
The U.S. economy lost 35,000 payroll jobs in September -- the first decline in more than two years -- after gaining an average of 194,000 a month in the 12 months ended in August. Without Katrina, however, national job growth would have kept to that pace, Philip L. Rones, deputy commissioner in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said in a written statement.
"It is clear that Hurricane Katrina adversely affected labor market conditions in September," Rones said.
By last week, 363,000 people had filed new claims for unemployment insurance benefits because of Katrina, which struck Aug. 29, and Hurricane Rita, which hit Sept. 24, the department said in a separate report Thursday. The broader BLS employment report released yesterday was based on surveys conducted after Katrina but before Rita.
Katrina flattened workplaces and homes, pushed up energy prices and dampened consumer confidence, causing many analysts initially to wonder whether employers across the country would shelve hiring plans or lay off workers in anticipation of an economic slowdown.
But the BLS report eased such concerns. The net loss of 35,000 jobs in September left the national total little changed at 142.4 million. The number of jobs lost because of the storms and other factors was nearly offset by job gains resulting from recovery efforts in the disaster areas and hiring elsewhere.
Signs of Katrina's effects appear in the loss of 80,000 jobs last month in the leisure and hospitality industries, which include hotels, motels, restaurants and casinos, analysts noted. Employers in this sector had added an average of 31,000 jobs a month for the previous six months. Similarly, retailing shed 88,000 jobs last month after adding an average of 23,000 a month in the previous six months.
Meanwhile, employers across the country continued hiring workers to provide professional, business, education and health services. Some of that job growth reflects post-hurricane recovery efforts, which have boosted demand for temporary workers, architects, engineers, doctors and nurses. Construction employment kept growing last month as well, reflecting rebuilding needs in the Gulf Coast states as well as the housing boom elsewhere.
Employers also hired more workers in July and August than previously reported, the Labor Department said, adding a combined 77,000 jobs to its earlier totals.
The Federal Reserve is likely to see the labor market's health as another reason to keep raising its short-term interest rate in coming months to make sure inflation does not take off, analysts said.
The unemployment rate had fallen to 4.9 percent in August, the lowest level in four years. The rate rose to 5.1 percent in September in part because of job losses but also because hundreds of thousands more people rejoined the labor force to look for work, the department's data show.
The unemployment rate among white people rose to 4.5 percent in September from 4.2 percent in august. The rate among blacks fell to 9.4 percent from 9.6 percent. The rate among Latinos rose to 6.5 percent from 5.8 percent.
The September jobs report is "going to be the worst we get" as a result of Katrina and Rita, said Richard A. Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research Corp.
The federal government, insurance companies and businesses are pouring billions of dollars into reconstruction efforts, which should boost job growth in coming months, he said.
"Employment is going to soar as everyone flocks to the Gulf region to get jobs."
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Hurricane Katrina wiped out thousands of jobs last month, helping push the nation's unemployment rate up to 5.1 percent, the Labor Department reported yesterday while also indicating that the U.S. labor market remained strong outside the areas devastated by the storm.
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Katrina Contracts Will Be Reopened
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2005100819
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Lawmakers from both parties sharply questioned nearly every aspect of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina yesterday, focusing their discontent on suspect contracts and eliciting a pledge that hundreds of millions of dollars in deals awarded with no competition would soon be put up for bid.
Nine House and Senate panels held hearings on hurricane relief, with a sense of frustration frequently bursting to the surface. Several members chastised administration officials, citing tales of small businesses in the Gulf states losing work to giants such as Halliburton Co. Others challenged administration stances on tax breaks and health care for the displaced.
Under questioning about the agency's reliance on contracts that lacked full and open bidding, R. David Paulison, the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said, "I've been in public service a long time, and I've never been a fan of no-bid contracts."
Asked by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) why the agency did not hold competitions before Katrina struck, Paulison replied that "all of those no-bid contracts, we are going to go back and rebid. We're in the process of re-bidding them already."
A FEMA spokeswoman later said the new bidding process affects only the four largest no-bid deals. Those are $100 million contracts awarded to the Shaw Group, Bechtel Corp., CH2M Hill Inc. and Fluor Corp. to find and engineer sites for temporary housing for displaced residents.
Paulison told the panels that his agency had delivered nearly 85 million liters of water, more than 4 million meals and nearly 176 million pounds of ice by Oct. 3, while registering more than 1.7 million victims for disaster assistance. He also announced a higher estimate of Katrina homeless, from 300,000 to "between 400,000 and 600,000 households."
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, decried "a trail of missteps that calls into question what has been done during the last four years and that continues to plague the recovery even today."
Paulison's pledge to rebid some Katrina contracts showed a willingness to reexamine some of those decisions, though the actual impact of the move could prove limited.
The agency said yesterday that it has no plans to compete numerous other deals signed in the wake of Katrina with little or no competition. Also, FEMA has already committed a large amount of money to the four firms doing the housing site work -- $49.2 million in the case of Bechtel. And there is no timeline for how quickly the competition will proceed. All of the firms said yesterday that they will continue to work in the meantime.
The day's events indicated the administration has yet to regain its footing since its slow response to the hurricane's initial onslaught more than a month ago.
In a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.) called the Department of Homeland Security "dysfunctional" and suggested that Congress should rescind half the more than $60 billion it has provided for the relief effort unless FEMA can better document how it is spent.
Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Michael P. Jackson responded that the department will be watching the money closely. "The opportunity to go awry here is large, and we must be extremely diligent in preventing fraud and waste," he said.
Members of both parties raised doubts that President Bush's proposed business tax breaks would lure employers and employees back to the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, a continuing dispute over health care for Katrina evacuees led Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) to sharply rebuke Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. For weeks, the administration has blocked legislation that would temporarily expand Medicaid eligibility rules and raise federal health care reimbursement rates to states affected by the hurricane.
"Tell the White House to back off our bill," Grassley told Snow. "There are people hurting down there, and we want to get them help."
Lawmakers indicated they would also challenge Bush's proposal to create a vast, tax-favored Gulf Opportunity Zone, stretching from Louisiana to parts of Florida. Under the proposal, much of the cost of business investments would be tax-deductible.
"The energy of the private sector will be unleashed and ignited" by the plan, Snow told the Senate Finance Committee. "These are tried and true measures. They've worked. We've seen them work."
But a Congressional Research Service study presented to the committee appeared to indicate otherwise.
A "significant body of empirical studies focused mainly on state enterprise zones" in large part "have not found evidence of effects on growth or employment," the CRS found.
The Gulf Coast's situation is unique, said Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), since much of the workforce has simply left. "You can incentivize all the businesses you want to relocate in a depressed area, but you have to have a workforce to make those businesses work," he said.
Meanwhile, the incentives working now appear to be favoring large contractors at the expense of local companies, lawmakers charged.
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said union maintenance workers at New Orleans's Superdome and convention center have been replaced with out-of-state workers earning lower wages without benefits. And he charged that a Mississippi modular classroom maker was rebuffed in its bid to supply 300 classrooms when the Army Corps of Engineers turned to an Alaska firm charging more than twice the price.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) again assailed FEMA's $236 million contract with Carnival Cruise Lines, which has provided three ships to house evacuees and relief workers. Under that contract, Senate investigators have determined that Carnival will earn nearly 50 percent more per berth than the company would have normally.
Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said Carnival's contract price includes the cost of canceling the cruises of more than 120,000 passengers; paying travel agents' commissions on those lost cruises; loss of onboard revenues such as shore excursions, casinos, spas, alcoholic beverages and gift shops; loss of tips for crew members; and the cost of income taxes that otherwise would not have been paid.
Paulison defended the Carnival contract, saying the ships are now "almost completely full" and, at a cost of $168 a day per person, are proving "very cost-effective."
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Lawmakers elicit a pledge that hundreds of millions of dollars in suspect contracts awarded with no competition will be put up for bid.
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Right Sees Miers as Threat to a Dream
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2005100819
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If there has been a unifying cause in American conservatism over the past three decades, it has been a passionate desire to change the Supreme Court. When there were arguments over tax cuts and deficits, when libertarians clashed with religious conservatives, when disputes over foreign policy erupted, reshaping the judiciary bound the movement together.
Until Monday, that is. Now conservatives are in a roiling fight with the White House over President Bush's nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the high court. They fear that the president may have jeopardized their dream of fundamentally shifting the court by nominating someone with no known experience in constitutional issues rather than any one of a number of better-known jurists with unquestioned records.
The dismay among conservatives stems partly from the fact that so little is known about Miers, a well-regarded corporate lawyer, member of the Texas legal establishment, evangelical Christian and confidante of the president. But in a deeper way, it reflects the smoldering resentment about other administration policies -- from big-spending domestic programs to fragmentation over Iraq -- and enormous frustration that a president who prides himself on governing in primary colors has adopted a stealth strategy on something as fundamental to conservatives as the Supreme Court.
"No one has anything against her," said William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and one of the first conservatives to register his disappointment. "But the idea that one is supposed to sacrifice both intellectual distinction and philosophical clarity at the same time is just ridiculous."
For more than two decades, conservatives have been developing a team of potential justices for the high court in preparation for a moment such as this. They point to jurists such as Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, Judge Michael W. McConnell of the 10th Circuit and Judge Priscilla R. Owen, newly sworn in on the 5th Circuit, as examples of people who have not just paid their dues but also weathered intellectual battles in preparation for reshaping the Supreme Court.
Conservatives were deeply offended when presidential emissary Ed Gillespie told a gathering on Wednesday that some criticism of Miers has "a whiff" of sexism and elitism. They said there are any number of female judges who would have drawn an enthusiastic reaction from the right, and one former conservative activist noted that Owen, a hero among conservatives, went to law school at Baylor University, hardly an Ivy League institution.
The reaction to Miers has been in sharp contrast to the reception afforded new Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. when he was nominated. While Roberts did not come to the battle with a reputation as one of the activists in the conservative legal movement, conservatives were reassured by his experience in the Reagan and the George H.W. Bush administrations and dazzled by his brainpower. On that basis, they believed he was well equipped for the intellectual combat on the high court. Miers inspired no such feelings when she was nominated.
Bush's failure to look to conservatives on the appellate courts to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor proved to be a massive case of dashed expectations. "The feeling was after John Roberts that surely the president was going to have to go to the bench where there were all these very excellent people who are serving on the circuit court or scholars who have been grooming for this possibility for years and years," said Paul M. Weyrich, a leading voice in the conservative movement and one who has been openly skeptical of Miers.
Weyrich said he had once been told by Justice Clarence Thomas it was important not just to have conservatives on the court, but also conservatives who have "been through the wars and survived." Having won the White House and captured majorities in Congress, conservatives eagerly anticipated a fight in the Senate over a nominee like that and believed Bush would have the stomach for one.
From the White House vantage point, however, the very fact that Miers had not been through those wars was apparently part of her appeal -- she did not have a long record that Democrats could use as a weapon, as they did with such previous nominees as Robert H. Bork.
The conservative project to reshape the judiciary long predates this presidency. This only heightened the surprise and resentment that the president has asked all those who have been in the vanguard of that movement to sublimate their feelings and now march in lockstep behind someone on his word alone.
Moreover, some conservatives regard it as patronizing for Bush to suggest Miers will continue to share his views on legal philosophy long after he leaves the White Houses.
"With so much at stake, to many of us it seems ill-advised to nominate somebody that we're then told we should have faith in, when there isn't any evidence of intellectual rigor being applied to these contentious issues," said conservative activist Gary Bauer. "There are probably seven to eight names that have been looked to, have written wonderful decisions that are strong intellectually, compelling in their presentation. They are the kind of people you want to look to if you want to try to move the legal culture in America."
The uproar over Miers is particularly striking because it is aimed as much at the president as at his nominee and comes from that part of the party he has assiduously courted from the time he first ran for president. But conservative opinion leaders said he is bearing the brunt of pent-up frustration among conservatives, who watched as terrorism, the Iraq war, and now Hurricane Katrina led to massive growth in government and huge deficits under a president who ostensibly shares their small-government philosophy.
From the prescription drug bill to the failure to veto any spending legislation to what some conservatives regarded as a reincarnation of the Great Society in Bush's approach to reconstruction after Katrina, the president's credibility as a genuine conservative already was in question when he asked his loyalists to trust him on Miers.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who has written an op-ed piece urging conservatives to rally behind Miers, said he nonetheless understands why his ideological allies doubt the president. And he fears the White House may underestimate the reasons: "Do they understand that beyond getting past the unhappiness with this choice, there is a profound sense of discontent within the conservative movement?"
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For conservatives, the nomination of Harriet Miers amounts to a massive case of dashed expectations.
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Region's Poultry Farms on High Alert for Virus
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2005100819
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There were 561 million chickens -- broilers, roasters and Cornish hens -- raised last year on the Delmarva Peninsula, or, looked at another way, 468 chickens for every person on the Eastern Shore. Some of the biggest names in chicken -- Perdue Farms, Tyson Foods -- operate here alongside 5,500 chicken houses in the $1.7 billion industry.
All of which makes the spread of avian flu in Asia more than just some vague fear about what's happening half a world away, and is why Jenny Rhodes won't let you on her farm.
"No admittance. Nobody goes down to the chicken houses unless it's ourselves or our serviceman," said Rhodes, who raises 80,000 chickens on her farm in Queen Anne's County, Md. "For us, biosecurity is something we deal with every day."
In recent years, poultry farmers on the Eastern Shore and in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley have been struck by outbreaks of avian flu -- albeit a less deadly strain than the one that has killed 140 million birds and 60 people in Asia in the past two years -- and industry leaders say they have ramped up security to protect their poultry.
A drive through the fields of Queen Anne's County reveals signs on the low-slung chicken houses calling out the warning: "Restricted. No Admittance. Poultry Biosecurity in Place." Farmers change clothes before moving from their homes to their chicken houses. Their employees walk through disinfectant baths to kill germs on boots heading in and out. Farm supply stores spray the tires of feed trucks with bleach.
Agriculture officials are fitting poultry workers with protective suits and masks in case of an outbreak, and they are running simulations of how to respond if the virus spreads beyond state boundaries and -- the worst fear -- starts infecting people.
"The situation that we're all concerned about is the possibility of a pandemic. There are reasons to be cautious about this and not ignore it," said Maryland state medical epidemiologist David Blythe, stressing that the risk is remote. "I think the Eastern Shore is probably further along than anywhere else in the country for preparation for this type of event . . . but we have to remain vigilant."
In the Washington region, bookended by two poultry-growing areas, these lessons have been hard won. An outbreak of avian flu in the Shenandoah Valley in 2002 meant 4 million turkeys and chickens had to be killed on 197 farms at a cost of $130 million to the industry, said Hobey Bauhan, president of the Virginia Poultry Federation. One infected bird can prompt the slaughter of a farm's entire flock.
After a bird flu breakout last year on three commercial farms on the Eastern Shore -- two in Delaware and one in Maryland -- more than 30 countries banned imports of Delmarva chicken. The strain of flu found on the Eastern Shore did not harm humans -- it was known as a low-pathogenic variety -- and wasn't all that lethal to chickens, either, Maryland state veterinarian Guy Hohenhaus said.
"The disease doesn't destroy the industry. The reaction to the disease would destroy the industry," he said. "Nobody would want to buy Delmarva poultry."
To shift from a threat to birds to a threat to humans, the strain of influenza virus would have to undergo a genetic change. Researchers announced this week that the deadly strain in Asia appears to be slowly acquiring the type of genetic changes seen in the "Spanish flu" virus that killed 50 million people in the early 1900s.
The scenario that officials want to avoid goes like this: A poultry farm worker with human flu comes in contact with a chicken infected with bird flu. Those two strains then mix to produce a third that could pass more easily among humans.
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There were 561 million chickens -- broilers, roasters and Cornish hens -- raised last year on the Delmarva Peninsula, or, looked at another way, 468 chickens for every person on the Eastern Shore. Some of the biggest names in chicken -- Perdue Farms, Tyson Foods -- operate here alongside 5,500...
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Political Capital Running on Low
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2005100819
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The Harriet Miers nomination marks one of those rare instances in Washington where the president sees his allies on the right becoming critics while critics on the left have gone mostly silent. President Bush, meanwhile, is left somewhere in the middle trying to use whatever political capital he has left to avoid the embarrassment of rejection.
Yet, political capital is tricky -- as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said about pornography, it's hard to define, "but I know it when I see it."
Bush apparently thought Miers's lack of a published record would make it easier to push her nomination through. But the president is not dealing from a position of strength with this nomination. The "trust me" approach that has been successful in the past may be more difficult this time around, and indications are that many in Bush's party are beginning to question his judgment and management capabilities.
"Let me make this clear: I didn't want a fight," wrote conservative columnist and activist Maggie Gallagher. "What I wanted from President Bush was a nominee about whom, win or lose, we could all be proud. Instead, turning to His Girl Harriet, President Bush for once thought small. And that means, on this one President Bush is already a loser."
And with reliable conservatives openly rebelling against the nomination of Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court, it's becoming clear that the president has lost much of that political capital that was so handy one year ago. Conservative columnist George Will wrote in The Washington Post that "it is not important that she be confirmed. Second, it might be very important that she not be."
Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the former majority leader, said Wednesday: "I don't just automatically salute or take a deep bow anytime a nominee is sent up, I have to find out who these people are, and right now, I'm not satisfied with what I know."
The issue is not Miers's qualifications, really, but her judicial philosophy, which is code for: Where does she stand on abortion, gay rights, civil rights, affirmative action, voting rights and other hot-button social issues?
But mostly, it's about abortion -- for politicians on both sides of the fence.
Listen to what Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), one of the Senate's senior Republicans, had to say in defending the Miers selection yesterday: "A lot of my fellow conservatives are concerned, but they don't know her as I do. She's going to basically do what the president thinks she should, and that is be a strict constructionist."
Strict constructionist. By this, Hatch means someone who will not read into the Constitution rights that are not specifically enumerated.
Bush used similar terms at his news conference on Tuesday. "I know her character," the president said. "She's a woman of principle and deep conviction. She shares my philosophy that judges should strictly interpret the laws and the Constitution of the United States, and not legislate from the bench."
Despite their criticism of Democrats for trying to make abortion rather than judicial philosophy the issue during the Roberts nomination hearings, some conservatives reveal that they do, indeed, have a litmus test on abortion. And today, Bush, needs help reassuring his base that he's tending to its needs.
It was never quite clear what President Bush meant when he said he was going to be expending the "political capital" he earned in his reelection last year. Bush won the electoral vote by a narrow margin, and his advantage in the popular vote was the narrowest of any reelected president in American history.
A Republican strategist involved in the front lines of the battle for the Miers nomination, who asked to not be named because he is not authorized to speak publicly, said the White House plans to regain the upper hand by focusing on the nominee's conversion to evangelical Christianity.
"Conservatives love a fight with liberals," the strategist said. "And one of the things liberals are scared to death of is organized religion. And Harriet Miers is a born-again Christian. When liberal groups and others begin to read about her affirming the Texas sodomy law, contributing to pro-life groups and her religious faith, they're going to go crazy. It's already happening now."
In other words, for the president to regain his political capital, he'll recast the debate as a traditional one between left and right. But it will work only if he can get his own party to play along.
Comments can be be sent to Terry Neal at commentsforneal@washingtonpost.com.
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The Harriet Miers nomination marks one of those rare instances in Washington where the president sees his allies on the right becoming critics while critics on the left have gone mostly silent. President Bush, meanwhile, is left somewhere in the middle trying to use whatever political capital he...
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Lennon's Forgotten Album
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2005100819
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When Stanley Parkes was a teenager, he gave his grade-school cousin a hardcover stamp album. The cousin's interest in stamps lasted a few years. Yet because of history and fame, curiosity about the stamp collection and its owner continues.
So yesterday Parkes, now 72, found himself talking about his cousin John Lennon, and a circa-1950 album at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum.
"When I was at home from school" in Liverpool, "he noticed I had this stamp album and I was collecting stamps, and he took an interest in it," said Parkes, who resembles his Beatles kin in voice, though not in face. "I said, 'Well, John, the great thing about collecting stamps is that it helps with your geography. You see, the stamps come from all different countries, and you see the people on the stamps, and you take an interest in why the country exists,' " he said. Parkes, who grew up with Lennon, started collecting stamps from boarding school classmates who came from various countries.
In an alcove of the museum, the album is displayed in a case and opened to the flyleaf, where Lennon wrote his name and address, and how many stamps had been collected. His notation says 800, but only 565 are in the vintage album.
Parkes explained that the hobby at that time was to swap stamps with friends and buy packages of canceled stamps. Lennon persuaded his Aunt Mimi to give him the postage from their relatives' letters from New Zealand. Lennon added his own touches, drawing mustaches and whiskers in blue ink on the images of Queen Victoria and King George VI.
The exhibit's opening yesterday marked Parkes's first visit to the United States, and he was amused both at the reappearance of the album and its new status as a museum artifact. In Parkes's local newspaper, "it said John Lennon's stamp album had just been sold. And it quoted 30,000 pounds, and I thought, my God, I wonder if that is my stamp album that I gave to John," said Parkes, a tall man with thick silver hair and delicate gold-rimmed glasses. He glanced at the book and an accompanying picture of himself and Lennon. "What is this fuss over a stamp book, just because he owned it?"
Neither Parkes nor the Smithsonian knew where the album was until it appeared at an auction in June, when the museum purchased it for about $53,000.
The cousins remained friends as Lennon became a music idol and Parkes "had a bit of a mixture of a career." They both worked on a family dairy farm as youngsters, but Parkes trained to be a practical farmer, studied car mechanics and then owned a car repair business in Edinburgh. When Lennon started to make money, fancy cars were some of his indulgences, and his cousin was eager to share that passion.
"I was in my glory because John was blind as a bat and a hopeless driver, and he said just take it away, play with it, and I had it for about three months. It was a beautiful blue metallic 330 GT Ferrari. And he ruined it. He painted it matte black. Idiot! And did you ever see his psychedelic Rolls-Royce?" said Parkes, shaking his head.
Over the years the cousins met at family gatherings in Durness, Scotland, and wrote to each other until Lennon's murder almost 25 years ago: "The last letter I got from him," remembered Parkes, said: " 'It is a bright moonlit night tonight. Come on, man, send me a postcard. Life is short.' Shortly after that he was killed."
Sunday would have been Lennon's 65th birthday, and the museum has hired a Beatles tribute band to entertain visitors and will give away starter kits to what they hope will be another generation of John Lennons and Stanley Parkeses.
The National Postal Museum's open house will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE, next to Union Station. The event is free and open to the public.
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When Stanley Parkes was a teenager, he gave his grade-school cousin a hardcover stamp album. The cousin's interest in stamps lasted a few years. Yet because of history and fame, curiosity about the stamp collection and its owner continues.
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Greenspan's New Economic Model
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Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan got lucky Wednesday night.
His wife, NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell, and event planner Carolyn Peachey were chatting about his pending retirement in January. "You know, he's not going to have a car," Mitchell said. "He hasn't driven for 18 years."
Across the Hyatt Regency ballroom at the Spina Bifida Association fundraiser gleamed the raffle grand prize: a silver 2006 Porsche Boxster. "Come on, Andrea!" Peachey said. "We're going to win this car for Alan!"
The two women made a beeline for the raffle table, where Peachey plucked down her credit card for five $100 tickets; Mitchell promised to send her a check for $250. They wrote Peachey's name on the tickets, then returned to their table and told Greenspan, "You're going to win this car!" Much hilarity ensued.
Don Imus was all over the story yesterday until Mitchell called in to his radio show to explain that as a government servant, Greenspan can't accept anything over $25 -- especially a $50,770 Boxster. "He thought the whole thing was so funny," Mitchell said.
Now the joint winners have to figure out what to do. "We can't cut this car in half," Peachey said. "It's a beautiful car, but I'm not sure it's right for me, and Andrea's not sure it's right for Alan." The women are looking for ways to donate the car or the proceeds from its sale back to the Spina Bifida Association.
We have a better idea: Peachey gets the car every time Greenspan raises the interest rate; his wife drives it when he lowers it.
Idolizing Fantasia -- as an Author
Singer-writer Fantasia, removing a name and adding a hyphen.Who says Washington is out of step with the nation? From the 600-plus shrieking fans who mobbed a downtown Barnes & Noble yesterday for a book signing by former American Idol Fantasia (she's dropped her last name, en route to divahood), it was clear this city didn't waste a lot of phone calls on also-rans Diana or Jasmine .
The 21-year-old chanteuse wept when she saw the lines to buy her memoir, "Life Is Not a Fairy Tale," in which she reveals (with the help of a ghostwriter) her ongoing battle with illiteracy.
"Wow," she rasped, wiping away tears. "It's really encouraging."
A year after her catapult to pop stardom, the Carolina-bred single mom exuded the homegirl charm that won her so many 1-877 votes, greeting each autograph hound -- mostly middle-aged women telling her they wish they could have taken their kids out of school for the event -- with a hug or a "hey, boo!" One concession to fame: some of the most expensively furred and feathered mukluk boots this side of Beverly Hills.
Fantasia said she wrote her book after she met others struggling with illiteracy and "decided I'm going to give my testimony."
In recent interviews, she has also made seemingly pointed statements about how, because of her illiteracy, she signed contracts she couldn't understand. Given that 2002 champ Kelly Clarkson 's career truly took off only after she escaped the restrictive management contract imposed on all "American Idol" winners, we wondered if Fantasia was hoping to do the same.
"We have our ups and downs," she said of the "Idol" team, "but they've been good to me."
For Smithsonian speakers John Travolta and Kelly Preston, the sky's the limit.Not sure where "celebrity home decor" fits into the mission of the Smithsonian Institution -- but it sure did pack the house at Natural History! Must have been the presence of Smithsonian Associate magazine October cover boy and guest lecturer John Travolta. Heck, that's why we went.
Travolta and actress-wife Kelly Preston starred on Wednesday's panel, sponsored by Architectural Digest, which put the couple's Florida mega-mansion in its "Hollywood at Home" book; together they narrated a slide show of their rooms (the size of hotel lobbies) and the jet runway in the front yard.
"What if you built a carport, but for a plane, and with a Frank Lloyd Wright feel?" Travolta mused over one slide. If anyone else had said it, we'd want to slug him, but from him it was just so cute!
HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?
· Mick Jagger and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean at an eclectic Cafe Milano table that included Shakespeare Theatre's Michael Kahn, D.C. Council member Jack Evans, developer Brad Dockser andbaseball booster Winston Lord late Wednesday night. Later, Jagger and Lord were spotted at Modern nightclub in Georgetown.
· Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, posing for photos with a gaggle of twentysomethings Tuesday after emerging from CityZen restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental.
· Former attorney general John Ashcroft getting pulled aside by security for extra screening at Reagan National Airport before boarding the Delta shuttle Wednesday morning. We think he was randomly selected . . .
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Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan got lucky Wednesday night. Who says Washington is out of step with the nation? From the 600-plus shrieking fans who mobbed a downtown Barnes & Noble yesterday for a book signing by former American Idol Fantasia (she's dropped her last name, en route to......
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Tell Me About It
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2005100819
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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.
A quick etiquette question for you. When you are out in public, say traveling on the Metro, and you notice the man in front of you has his zipper down -- do you tell him or no? By telling him, I am saving him from possible embarrassment but I am also telling him I was looking at his crotch. [Not in THAT way -- but still] To tell or not to tell?
Carolyn Hax: Hm. I'm probably not saying anything, both because I'm a coward and because the consequences of my not saying anything just aren't that cosmic. But if I were traveling with someone who was conveniently (and quite assuredly) male, I might ask him to tip off the guy for me.
Olney, Md: Hey Carolyn/producer, it's 11:10am. Where's today's column? I'm going through withdrawal! :D
washingtonpost.com: Tell Me About It (Friday, Oct. 7)
Carolyn Hax: It seems to be where it should be, thanks.
Washington, D.C.: Carolyn- Submitting WAY early b/c I am living this now... Along the same lines of the "why is it hard to leave a crappy relationship" comments over the past few weeks... At what point do you just have to stand up for yourself and say "enough". He is semi-manipulative and has cheated (is cheating?) but is going to a counselor and getting help...and I still love him and want to see him, and us, make it. At what point do I stop giving him the benefit of the doubt and start giving it to myself. How do you know when you have reached that point? Or does it take hitting rock bottom...
Carolyn Hax: What's your definition of rock bottom? Why do you think you want so badly to stay with this guy? What, exactly, do you think you need from him for this relationship to make you happy? Are you being realistic in hoping for this, or are you ignoring clear indications of who he really is?
And if you are being realistic about his ability and willingness to change--ie, you've seen improvement, you've been getting progressively happier, you're sure he's doing these for his own reasons and not just to shut you up--then are you being realistic about the fact that these improvements will make you happy?
(An easy, non-abstract example of those last two: You want to lose weight. Is your goal realistic, or do you expect to get your tall, heavy-boned frame down to a size 0? And if a size 0 is within your reach, do you really think getting there will magically solve all your problems?)
Are you staying with him because your ego/self-esteem/stubbornness demands a happy ending? Sometimes I think it's as simple as not wanting to admit failure.
Anyway, those questions should get you started. I;m sure there are others; if I don't forget, I'll come back to this.
Virginia: Is there anything I can do about the fact that my sister is a really lousy mother to her 5-year-old? She's not abusive, but she just sets no limits at all. Typical conversation: "Mom, can I have a cookie?" "No, and don't ask me again." "Mom, give me a cookie!" "OK, fine, I'll give you one just to shut you up."
Carolyn Hax: Actually, I think telling a kid you're doing something just to shut him or her up is verbally abusive. But that doesn't add a whole lot of options to your list, since correcting her will make her angry and defensive, and (IMHO) it's not so egregious as to override her anger and defensiveness.
So, things you can do. 1. Jump in when this happens and give the kid some positive attention ("Hey, let's (favorite constructive thing here)"), thereby serving as a source of attention for one and a good example for the other; 2. you can try to get more involved without your sister around, by offering to take the kid to the zoo or library and give your sister a breather (possibly undeserved, but maybe a breather will restore her patience some); and you can trust the kid's school, friends, etc., to correct some of the problem by setting some limits.
Blue Stater in Ohio: Dear Carolyn,
While I usually love your column and agree with the vast majority of your advice, I had a wee problem with Wednesdays column about the boyfriend not invited to the wedding issue. Not that all couples have to be invited to weddings - especially if the SO is of relative new vintage, and I definitely think "and Guest" is a nice, but unnecessary gesture, IF you have asked a person to shell out for or invite him/her to any party prior to the wedding - that person should be invited to the wedding itself. It looked to me like the uninvited body was included in all the lead up events but not the event itself. I understand why his girlfriend is upset, but applaud him for being willing and able to let it go, and urge her to do the same.
Carolyn Hax: I do agree that if the partner had been included in all lead-up events, s/he HAD to be invited to the wedding. I'm glad for the chance to add this, because a few readers pointed out that if the partner was in fact female (where I had assumed male), then she might have gone to girl stuff, like the shower and bachelorette party--in which case her exlusion from the wedding itself was jaw-droppingly rude. A very different answer to a small change in facts.
That rule of inviting your shower guests to the wedding applies to everyone, of course, regardless of gender--if you're invited to give gifts at all the pregame events, then the bride/groom have no business saying, oops! You cost too much to invite! come wedding time. The only reason my answer changes night-and-day based on the gender of the partner in this particular case is the single-sex nature of the pregame stuff. Interesting.
Another interesting element to this: If the couple in the Wednesday letter was in fact girl-girl, that elevates the "No ring, no bring" edict from silly and arbitrary to flat-out offensive.
Which is why I would have expected the letter-writer to explain that they were a lesbian couple, if in fact they were ... ? It's usually an extraneous fact, the sex of the pair, but not here.
I am torn about having kids. One hand - I love kids and would love to create a loving family with my great hubby. Other hand - I find that bringing a life into the world to be audacious, like playing god. What gives me the right to determine who will live or die? I know it's a natural to procreate, but seems unethical.
I am struggling with this.
Carolyn Hax: I can relate. I had (and still have) serious guilt about producing people only to force them to have to endure middle school. Who in their right mind would choose to experience zits, humiliation and salisbury steak? And the common answer to this kind of speculation, "Aren't you glad your parents had you?" doesn't work for me at all, because if I weren't born I wouldn't exist to feel the loss. I mean, duh. And maybe I'd finally be getting some sleep.
As for your "right" to determine who will live or die, you were (probably) equipped to produce life, so God or evolution says you have the right.
So what you really have is selfishness. Having a kid, because you want a kid, is a me me me thing. Though, as I;ve said before, it turns out to be the last me me me decision you ever have a right to make. So, make it, and assuage your guilt by making sure, before you go off and procreate, that you would want the life you'll be giving your kid(s).
Anonymous: Do you think it's the small things that make or break a relationship? In other words, your relationship has the basics: love, honesty, mutual respect, common values...Yet you and your partner keep hitting the common wall because of personality differences, i.e. she's a planner and he's not; he thinks short-term and she's long-term. This is the basic theme though in different permutations.
Carolyn Hax: See, I think those things are huge. Don't minimize them just to suit some preconceived notion of the "right" or "wrong" reasons to break up.
Besides, size matters only in a relative sense. It's your ability, jointly, to reduce the size of your differences that will make or break your relationship. People live happily together with the same differences that break another couple up, because Couple 1 can let them slide while Couple 2 can't.
And this isn't pressure for her to let his short-term thinking slide. It's a call for her to be honest about her ability to be happy with--even better, explicitly enjoy--a person who flies by the seat of his pants, and for him to be honest about his ability just to roll with it and be a good sport when she has to plan things down to the last micro-detail.
Re: Torn about kids: Normally I think it's silly to recommend adoption to anyone, because everyone already knows of the option. But. This seems to be a perfect example of "Why not adopt?" You love kids and your wonderful hubby, but worry whether YOU should bring one into the world. Taking care of a little being whose bio parents can't do so seems a lovely resolution to this dilemma.
Carolyn Hax: Beautifully said, thank you.
Yikes - did you mean this?: "As for your "right" to determine who will live or die, you were (probably) equipped to produce life, so God or evolution says you have the right."
Having read your chats and columns for years I'm sure you didn't mean this as it could be read, but please confirm! Just because someone "can't" have children (and needs to adopt, or infertility treatments, etc.) doesn't mean you don't have "the right", right?
Carolyn Hax: Right. I put the (probably) there just so the people who were struggling wouldn't feel slapped by a breezy assumption.
Just don't get seven embryos implanted and then declare that it was God's will that you have septuplets, please. That's taking the right, and declaring it Divine, and putting it on Silly Putty, and going over it with a steamroller.
RE: Arlington, Va.: You mentioned in your response to Arlington that having a child is a selfish thing. I have always considered that using that word in any argument regarding childbearing decisions is inappropriate. Chosing to have a child and chosing not to have a child can be viewed as equally selfish acts. It's driven me nuts to hear people say "I shouldn't have a child - I'm too selfish" when I know of several people who selfishly chose to have children (pursuit of pregnancy, not accidental) regardless of their economic/emotional/physical ability to have one - yet they think they behaved selflessly.
Carolyn Hax: I dunno. I'd argue against misapplying it or--can't help myself--applying it selfishly. Taking it out of the argument entirely is like declaring surgery bad because it draws blood. Apply it carefully, with thought, and with regard to the person you're using it on. For a mother-in-law to declare her daughter-in-law selfish because the daughter-in-law AND HER SON have chosen not to have children is an abomination--NO ONE is ever entitled to someone else's child, and there's no right to have grandkids.
However, in arguing against the word, you give two excellent examples that use selfishness constructively. If a person know's s/he's selfish, then, yay to the decision not to have kids (a very unselfish act, in a way). And if a person decides to have kids without regard for the life those kids would have, then we need the word there, too.
And back to what I said to start this--that you don't have a kid for the sake of a kid, you have a kid, ultimately, for you. I think admitting that gives a potential parent a really, really important shot of humility before creating a new life.
No ring no bring: I appreciate you clarifying your answer, but I still think you seemed fairly supportive of the idea that it's OK to exclude people because of finances. Isn't that policy essentially saying to the un-invited, "I'd rather have beautiful flowers and expensive catering than share my day with you"?
Carolyn Hax: Who says the catering isn't reasonable? Who says they didn't already scrap the flowers? Who says having a pretty setting, for one day in a life, is morally inferior to inviting this or that person neither the bride nor groom really knows? Who says every bride and groom who know and like 300 people have to invite all of them to a backyard potluck? Weddingitis is silly, but anti-weddingitis can get silly, too. People aren't under any obligation to invite all their friends' possibly-temporary, possibly-permanent mates. They can decide to keep things intimate, they can choose a place that doesn't fit everyone just because it's affordable or means something to them, they can decide to save their money for things that matter more to them than whether their hyperpissy college buddy has someone to talk to instead of having to be friendly to strangers.
I am supportive of people giving largely decent couples a break.
Thanks for this other chance at clarity.
Washington, DC: About the "No right, no bring:" Invitation to a pre-wedding event does not guarantee an invitation to the wedding because the hosts are different people. Not only did I not have any say as to who was invited to my showers (as I did not throw them), I didn't even know who was until I got there.
My -small] wedding, however, was my husband's and my list.
And besides, it shouldn't be about the gift. If you don't want to give a gift, don't go.
Carolyn Hax: You're right, but this is an unfortunate example. Your shower-throwers should have been more careful (assuming you aren't talking about informal, whole-office-gathers-in-the-break-room-type showers, in which case I feel strongly that the obligation doesn't attach). And no, a wedding isn;t about a gift, but a shower is, which is why it's important to be careful.
Aaaaaand, because situations like yours do happen, usually with all well-intentioned people behind them, I'm going to use it as another argument for people to resist getting all huffy about these things. Thanks.
Washington, D.C.: Help me settle a dispute -- do people interpret a baby announcement as a call for gifts? Thanks.
Carolyn Hax: It's an announcement of a baby. If you want to give a gift, then go for it, but you are under no obligation. And you are also under no obligation to refrain from announcing your baby just because some people will mistakenly view it as a call for gifts.
I need a good breakup question.
Can't get over it -- online please: Hi Carolyn,
Love the column and hope you and/or the peanuts can help. Earlier this year, best friend and I competed over a girl. She chose him and they dated for the summer. It ended and lately she's been a bit flirty with me. My female friends have said she is giving me the go-ahead sign to ask her out. I can't get over that she initially chose my friend over me. How do I get over it and not miss out on something I wanted six months ago?
Carolyn Hax: She went for your friend based on early impressions. Now she's apparently gotten some later impressions that have pointed her to you. Remember, people who are enjoying their 2d, 5th, 20th year together aren't reveling in each other's early impressions. They're there for the character, personality, humor, conversation, intimacy--all of the slow-cooking stuff.
Or maybe she doesn't like you better, and instead is just working her way methodically through her teensy little pond.
One sure way to find out which of these (or other possibilities) is true is to go out with her and see what happens.
We're nosy. Let us know.
Re: Virginia "can I have a cookie?": Grrrrrr. I hate it hate it hate it hate it when someone who is not a parent takes it upon themselves to declare that someone else is a failure as a parent, based on either a "snapshot" view of the situation or that the parent person does something contrary to their own particular pet version of what should be done.
My brother once declared that my daughter, who was then about 4 years of age, was going to become a delinquent, drug addict, juvenile offender and I don't know what else, all based on the fact that when she was three hours short of a nap one very hot day when we went shopping, she threw a temper tantrum and I didn't immediately start punishing her. I knew the kid was just overtired and cranky and that punishing her would do nothing-- she needed to get home and get her nap.
"Virginia" should also know that when you're a parent, you're on 24/7, usually multitasking and ALWAYS tired, and sometimes to get things done (or even just for the sake of ten minutes peace so you can drink a glass of ice tea and take a mental vacation) you hand the kid a cookie knowing it isn't the best thing to do.
I sure hope "Virginia" is a perfect person. Maybe instead of criticizing her sister, she should offer to help her out a little.
Carolyn Hax: I'm sympathetic to your argument, and I agree that people can be rude, self-important, presumptuous, and flat-out awful in judging others' competence as parents--awful awful awful--but I think it's equally (and similarly) unfair to assume this sibling is being like your brother. S/he could very well spend a lot of time around the sister and her 5-year-old and know whereof s/he speaks.
Falls Church, Va.: For "can't get over it":
DO NOT ask her out. Are you nuts? She wants to enjoy taking every bit of pride you have and throwing it out the window. She didn't like you before. Now that someone treated her bad, (or whatever) you are all of the sudden good enough to ask her out?
If she must go out with you, she needs to do the asking here. Actually, begging and explaining.
Just be happy that in this "competition", you won when she picked your bud. Everyone knows it by now. Your buddy especially...
Carolyn Hax: Here's the other side. It's possible a lot of it is true, thanks.
I do object strongly to the notion that picking the other guy first means she still sees you as the next-best thing. I have a bottomless supply of stories from people who fell for their BF's or GF's friend.
So, yes, sometimes people are jerks. But sometimes they're slow to figure stuff out.
And, while I'm objecting: Who says going out with her depletes even a molecule of his pride? It takes guts to try, not hide.
Arlington, Va.: My colleagues were recently discussing the suicide of an acquaintance who had small children. They described his act as "selfish" because the children will have to live with his death for the rest of their lives. I tried to kill myself a few years back, and, while I don't have children, can clearly remember the desperate act of trying to stay alive when my depression was spinning out of control. In the end, I could not bear to live the life I had. I cannot imagine how this man who killed himself (1) could have been thinking logically enough to try and stay alive for his children and (2) could have managed to live a life he hated. Aside from the fact that yes, sometimes things do get better, only the person experiencing the pain knows how bad it is. I didn't say anything to my colleagues, but I am a bit upset about their negative view of this poor man. He had an illness and it killed him. It's horrible. I think he deserves our pity, not this self-righteous indignation. Am I over-reacting? Should I not judge those who don't understand severe depression? Or are they right? Thanks for your insight!
Carolyn Hax: I think it would have been appropriate to point out that you were sad for them all, and that it was possible--in fact, likely--he was so deeply under the influence of his illness that he truly believed his children wouldn't want him around.
And even if that's not true, it is true that depression warps people's view of the truth, and that the man is dead now, and that both undercut any indignation.
And that horrible losses should be grieved, not judged.
For your own peace of mind--it does sound like you're right, these people don't understand severe depression, and were thinking only of the poor kids.
Washington, D.C.: Once you are married must ALL desires for the opposite sex cease, aside from your spouse? What do you do if you find yourself attracted to someone?
Carolyn Hax: Of course you'll feel desires. You're still (more or less) human. The problem is when the desires are more compelling than the marriage itself. That's why tending to the couple aspect of being a couple is so important. If your flame at home is burning, you can get a stir from the outside and bring it home. If the flame at home is dead, any stir from the outside is going to be a painful reminder that the flame at home is dead.
And even if the flame is dead--it can happen even if well-tended--tending to your coupleness also means you still feel close, intimate, part of a joint life project, and that alone can nudge the marriage ahead of the outside desire.
I feel like a well-meaning old minister.
Carolyn Hax: Hi. I'm still here. I was just scrolling scrolling scrolling because there was a question I wanted to answer, but now I can't find it. Bleah.
But now that I've been through the queue (twice)--thanks for all the support re profligate cows. Please be assured that next time I answer a question about a couple who live together, I am going to get just as many why-buy-the-cows as I did before. What can you do.
Unless I suddenly see that question, I'm signing off. Thanks everybody, type to you next week, and have a great weekend. And if anybody's in a position to do so, please have a talk with the Sawx. Thanks.
Seattle, WA: I am a woman whose father committed suicide. It was the
most selfish thing he ever did. It was also a great tragedy
and the result of an illness that beat him in the end.
Both things can be true at once, and both things are.
While I think people who have not lived with severe
depression, or around it, tend to underestimate its power,
it is also my experience that people who have been
depressed but not been survivors of someone else's
suicide tend to underestimate the damage that having a
parent kill himself does to children.
Years of therapy have convinced me that my father's
death was the tragic outcome of his struggle with a
deadly disease. One of the things that disease did to him
was make him profoundly selfish -- so focused on
himself and his inability to see a way forward, that the
needs and humanity of his children receded into the
Everyone's right -- and what the situation calls for, I
think, is compassion towards everyone involved in such a
Carolyn Hax: Very very well said, thank you. (And I'm so sorry for how you gained these insights.) I especially appreciate your including the fact that depression does make people extremely self-absorbed. It's something that's difficult for both sides to understand and appreciate fully.
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.
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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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My girlfriend was invited to the wedding of a friend, but I wasn't. We are both friends with the couple, although I am a new addition to the mix (eight months). This is very upsetting to my girlfriend because the reason given was not that it was a close family affair or that the facility was limited, but that they were inviting only a limited number of people to save on expenses. This was not a factor during the engagement party, the bachelorette party and the bridal shower that my girlfriend and I both shelled out money for. Am I being petty? I couldn't care less about going, but my girlfriend wants me there, and knowing that is why I consider "no ring, no bring" such a feeble excuse.
If neither of you wanted to go, you'd still have a good reason to consider it a feeble excuse: It's a feeble excuse.
But a forgivable one, I think. Taming the size and cost of a wedding is an ugly business. Either you include everyone, which most people can't or don't want to afford; or you exclude everyone but immediate family, which most people don't want.
Or you include everyone and make it a backyard potluck barbecue, which isn't always what a couple wants, and they shouldn't have to apologize for that.
Or you make painful choices -- to, say, include this close friend's newish boyfriend, even though it means excluding that not-quite-as-close relative. Whom you'll regret excluding two months later, when the close friend and newish boyfriend break up.
Or you try to spare feelings by drawing an arbitrary line that says, "It's not personal, it's just business." Like, "No ring, no bring."
Which you'll regret eventually, when you recall with horror that you actually said things like this, as you made decisions that were genuinely wrenching and emotional at the time, and that, 10 years later, don't mean squat.
As for the pre-parties, two of them included your girlfriend alone, so using them to make your case against the couple isn't exactly fair.
But here's a better reason not to get huffy. Although there are some notable exceptions (who, you have to admit, are at least as entertaining as they are monstrous), most brides and grooms are decent people doing their best under circumstances that are highly charged, in senses both emotional and plastic. Assume they are such people and drop it.
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Dear Carolyn: My girlfriend was invited to the wedding of a friend, but I wasn't. We are both friends with the couple, although I am a new addition to the mix (eight months). This is very upsetting to my girlfriend because the reason given was not that it was a close family affair or that the...
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Natural Gas's Danger Signs
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Soaring natural gas prices threaten to propel winter heating bills sharply higher, slow economic growth and push manufacturers overseas.
U.S. consumers could face bills averaging 48 percent higher this season than last year, according to predictions by the economic research firm Global Insight Inc. The escalating costs could cause Americans to cut back on dinners out, trips to the mall and spending, crimping U.S. economic growth. Businesses, squeezed by high energy costs, could limit expansion plans. The high prices also are pumping up inflation.
Manufacturers that use huge amounts of natural gas are scouring the world for cheaper prices and considering moving operations to ease their costs. A renewed exodus -- many companies have already shifted overseas -- could further knock back growth in the United States and boost unemployment.
Andrew N. Liveris, chief executive of Dow Chemical Co., told a hearing yesterday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the country is in a "natural gas crisis." The Midland, Mich., company, which uses large amounts of the fuel to produce chemicals, must consider locating new plants in other parts of the world, such as China and the Middle East, because of U.S. energy costs, he said.
"How can I recommend investing here?" Liveris said.
U.S. natural gas prices are among the highest in the world. Though the United States imports some natural gas, most is produced domestically. But supplies have failed to keep pace with demand.
Power plants have increasingly turned to natural gas for fuel over the past decade because it is cleaner-burning than coal. About 17 percent of the country's electricity is generated by natural gas, according to government data. Natural gas accounts for about 63 percent of energy consumed in U.S. households. The fuel heats 55 percent of the country's homes.
U.S. natural gas prices have been edging higher for years and shot up sharply in recent weeks because of hurricanes Rita and Katrina, which damaged production in the Gulf of Mexico along with onshore processing facilities.
Imports are not able to make up for the lost supplies -- as they have for oil and gasoline -- because not enough liquefied natural gas is available. Too few ships and terminals exist to handle a significant increase in imports. Domestic production, which has been flat in recent years, cannot be quickly increased without significantly more drilling, analysts said.
"There is justification for concern about natural gas prices at these levels," said Jason Schenker, an economist with Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte. "Prices now are essentially twice what they were last winter. That's likely to squeeze consumers."
The cost to heat homes with natural gas could increase about $500 this winter compared with last year, according to Global Insight in Lexington, Mass.
In the D.C. area, officials with Washington Gas forecast that consumer bills could jump as much as 32 percent compared with a year ago. The company said it put large amounts of natural gas in storage over the summer, when prices were slightly lower, which will help hold down prices a bit. Costs could increase if the winter is unusually cold and demand increases, company officials said.
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Soaring natural gas prices threaten to propel winter heating bills sharply higher, slow economic growth and push manufacturers overseas.
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AOL to Buy Blog Site In Bid to Expand Reach
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America Online Inc. yesterday agreed to buy Weblogs Inc., the publisher of 85 freelance online sites about cars, movies, parenting, travel and other subjects, the latest move by the Dulles-based Internet service to increase the size of its audience and profit from ads.
Officials of both companies declined to comment on the record about the price. A source familiar with the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the transaction's confidential terms, said that the base price was $15 million and that AOL could end up paying as much as $25 million if Weblogs hits every performance target in the future.
Weblogs' most popular site is Engadget, which covers technology and is ranked as the third most popular blog by the Technorati rating service. AOL officials said the blogs, written by individuals and with comments from other Internet users, will continue to be published at their existing Web addresses while also being integrated with other America Online content.
In making its third acquisition since August, the Dulles-based Internet service said it was seeking to offer segments of its subscriber base, which numbers more than 20 million, more detailed information about dozens of subjects, in addition to the programming it aims at larger audiences.
AOL earlier purchased Wildseed Ltd., a company that offers services for wireless devices, and Xdrive Inc., an online storage provider, as part of a strategy to branch out from its declining business of dial-up Internet subscribers.
AOL officials also said they will allow Weblogs to retain complete editorial control and independence, a factor that entrepreneur Jason McCabe Calacanis, a co-founder of the two-year-old company, said in an interview was important to him.
"What makes this work is unfiltered citizens' content," Calacanis said of Weblogs. "My key question to America Online was, 'Guys, you understand this is unfiltered and that is what makes this special?' Traditional media companies are nervous about comments or opinions without editing. You don't have that in this business. It is people talking to each other."
AOL executive vice president James P. Bankoff said in an interview that AOL would benefit by providing more advertisers and a bigger audience for Weblogs' content. He said it will take a hands-off approach to the editorial content on Weblogs, citing the way AOL has allowed Baltimore-based Advertising.com, which it acquired last year, to operate as an autonomous unit. He also said the acquisition would enable AOL to increase its audience and provide opportunities for advertisers interested in reaching niche markets online.
Analysts had mixed reactions to the announcement of the deal. B.L. Ochman, a corporate blog consultant and publisher of Whatsnextblog.com, said the deal could begin the process of making some blogs more mainstream.
"This is pretty exciting news," she said in an interview. "AOL has bought some well-known blogs and can make a big bang in the blogosphere. AOL has been dangling, not knowing what it was going to be, and they are trying to get hipper. If they play this well, they will be a big player in the blog space soon."
Nick Denton, publisher of Gawker.com, a rival blog publisher, criticized the transaction. "The whole point about blogs is that they're not part of big media," he wrote on his site. "Consolidation defeats the purpose. It's way too early. Like a decade too early."
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America Online Inc. yesterday agreed to buy Weblogs Inc., the publisher of 85 freelance online sites about cars, movies, parenting, travel and other subjects, the latest move by the Dulles-based Internet service to increase the size of its audience and profit from ads.
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Ex-FBI Chief Puts Clinton Critique in Print
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Former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has denounced Bill Clinton over the scandals that marred his presidency and for his record on terrorism, saying the level of distrust was so great that he stayed in his post so Clinton could not appoint his successor.
In a forthcoming book and "60 Minutes" interview, Freeh, whose strained relations with Clinton were no secret, says he was so determined to distance himself from Clinton that he sent back a White House pass so that all his visits would be deemed official. This, he said, antagonized Clinton.
In an interview with CBS's Mike Wallace to be broadcast Sunday, Freeh says: "The problem was with Bill Clinton -- the scandals and the rumored scandals, the incubating ones and the dying ones never ended. Whatever moral compass the president was consulting was leading him in the wrong direction. His closets were full of skeletons just waiting to burst out." Freeh cited investigations involving Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers.
Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said last night: "This is clearly a total work of fiction by a man who's desperate to clear his name and sell books, and it's unfortunate he'd stoop to this level in his attempt to rewrite history." He noted Freeh contributed nearly $20,000 to Republicans, including President Bush, in the last campaign.
In his book -- "My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror" (St. Martin's Press) -- Freeh is scathing toward Clinton's handling of the 1996 bombing at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. He says Clinton refused to ask Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to let the FBI question bombing suspects being held by the kingdom.
"Bill Clinton raised the subject only to tell the crown prince that he understood the Saudis' reluctance to cooperate and then he hit Abdullah up for a contribution to the Clinton Presidential Library," Freeh wrote. Carson said that was one of the "untruths in a book that's full of them" and that Freeh was not at the meetings between Clinton and Abdullah.
Daniel Benjamin, a former Clinton counterterrorism official, said Freeh is "factually wrong" and that the former president "pushed the crown prince quite hard," and eventually won Saudi cooperation that led to indictments in the case. "Freeh has been clearly discredited by the 9/11 commission and the congressional joint inquiry," Benjamin said.
The Clinton camp says "60 Minutes" would not accept any surrogate to rebut Freeh on camera once the former president declined to be interviewed.
During the Lewinsky probe that led to Clinton's impeachment, Freeh says, the FBI acted "very confidentially" when it needed to obtain a blood sample from the president to compare to the semen stain on the former intern's blue dress. During a dinner, Freeh says, Clinton said he was going to the bathroom but entered another room where FBI technicians were waiting.
Freeh says their relationship was so bad that Clinton began referring to him behind his back with an expletive as his middle name. Freeh says he did not care because his job was to investigate scandals, including those involving the White House.
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Get Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland and national news. Get the latest/breaking news, featuring national security, science and courts. Read news headlines from the nation and from The Washington Post. Visit www.washingtonpost.com/nation today.
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DeLay Meeting, RNC Actions Coincided
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Former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) met for at least 30 minutes with the top fundraiser of his Texas political action committee on Oct. 2, 2002, the same day that the Republican National Committee in Washington set in motion a series of financial transactions at the heart of the money-laundering and conspiracy case against DeLay.
During the meeting at his Capitol office, DeLay conferred with James W. Ellis, the head of his principal fundraising committee in Washington and his chief fundraiser in Texas. Ellis had earlier given the Republican National Committee a check for $190,000 drawn mostly from corporate contributions. The same day as the meeting, the RNC ordered $190,000 worth of checks sent to seven Republican legislative candidates in Texas.
In the past two weeks, two separate Texas grand juries have returned indictments against DeLay, Ellis and a political associate alleging that these transactions amounted to money laundering intended to circumvent a Texas campaign law barring the use of corporate funds for state election purposes. The aim of the alleged scheme was to ensure that Republicans gain control of the Texas House, and thus reorder the state's congressional districts in a manner favoring the election of more Republicans to Congress.
The prosecutor who brought the indictment, Ronnie Earle, has not described the evidence he presented to the grand jury linking DeLay to the $190,000 transactions. But the fact that DeLay and his alleged co-conspirator, fundraiser Ellis, conferred on the same day the checks were ordered has attracted the attention of lawyers involved in the case because of speculation that the two men shared important information that day.
To prove that DeLay participated in money laundering or in a conspiracy to conduct it -- the two allegations in the felony indictment brought against DeLay on Monday morning -- Earle will have to prove two things, according to lawyers who are closely following the case: The transactions involving the $190,000 were illegal, and DeLay played some critical role, by approving them or by helping to carry them out.
DeLay and Ellis have so far given slightly different accounts of the substance of their discussion. Ellis's attorney, Jonathan D. Pauerstein, said that Ellis recalls that their Oct. 2 discussion did not concern or involve Texas or Texas candidates. But DeLay, interviewed last weekend on "Fox News Sunday," said that during a "scheduling meeting" with Ellis in October, Ellis said while they were leaving his office that "by the way, we sent money" to Washington.
DeLay's lead attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said in an interview this week that "there is no question that at some point Ellis told him," but that DeLay does not recall the precise timing. DeGuerin said "it could have been that day" -- Oct. 2, the day the same arm of the RNC began to process the seven checks for printing two days later, on Oct. 4.
But DeGuerin said that this does not mean DeLay was "the one who made those decisions" about collecting the funds, sending them to Washington and returning the same total amount to candidates in Texas. "It wasn't his role or his authority" because DeLay was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the committee.
Ellis, who still directs DeLay's Washington-based Americans for a Republican Majority political action committee (ARMPAC), "is the kind of guy who would say, 'I did this, how about that?' " according to DeGuerin. DeLay may have responded, DeGuerin said, by saying, "Hey, that's great," but "that does not make him a part of the agreement to do that."
In the indictment, the grand jury accused DeLay, Ellis and John Colyandro -- then the director of Texans for a Republican Majority, an ARMPAC offshoot -- of agreeing with the Republican National Committee to conduct the offense of money laundering and set forth a sequence of key events that began on Sept. 11, 2002. It alleges that Ellis "did request and propose" on that day that an arm of the RNC make the payments to Texas Republicans once it had received the check from Texas.
The next day, according to the indictment, Ellis delivered the check to the Republican National State Elections Committee, an arm of the RNC, and also provided it "with a document that contained the names of several candidates." He also "requested and proposed" how much each candidate should receive, the indictment said.
Earle has never disclosed the evidence behind these allegations, and Ellis, through his lawyer Pauerstein, denies this account. Pauerstein says that Ellis did not discuss donations to candidates while delivering the check, and that he did not "deliver the list, if there was a list," of the candidates that should receive checks.
According to documents disclosed earlier this year in a civil trial related to the same transactions, a staff member in the office of then-RNC Chairman Marc Racicot requested on Oct. 2 that checks be sent to the Texas Republicans. The next day, Racicot arrived in Texas to appear at a series of fundraising events organized by Texans for a Republican Majority, including a dinner with Gov. Rick Perry, a DeLay ally. With the approval of the RNC's lawyers and political directors, the checks were written and sent to Texas on Oct. 4.
The RNC has denied any wrongdoing and has asserted that all the transactions were legal.
Although the indictment alleges that DeLay and his two aides "conducted, supervised, and facilitated" the transactions, DeLay said last weekend, about the $190,000 sent from Texas to Washington, that "there was no way that I knew before this event happened that it would happen." Earle would need to prove otherwise to sustain his case.
DeLay, one of the most powerful politicians in Washington, was forced under House GOP rules to step down as majority leader on Sept. 28 after his first indictment.
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Former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) met for at least 30 minutes with the top fundraiser of his Texas political action committee on Oct. 2, 2002, the same day that the Republican National Committee in Washington set in motion a series of financial transactions at the heart of the...
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Report Warns Democrats Not to Tilt Too Far Left
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The liberals' hope that Democrats can win back the presidency by drawing sharp ideological contrasts and energizing the partisan base is a fantasy that could cripple the party's efforts to return to power, according to a new study by two prominent Democratic analysts.
In the latest shot in a long-running war over the party's direction -- an argument turned more passionate after Democrat John F. Kerry's loss to President Bush last year -- two intellectuals who have been aligned with former president Bill Clinton warn that the only way back to victory is down the center.
Democrats must "admit that they cannot simply grow themselves out of their electoral dilemmas," wrote William A. Galston and Elaine C. Kamarck, in a report released yesterday. "The groups that were supposed to constitute the new Democratic majority in 2004 simply failed to materialize in sufficient number to overcome the right-center coalition of the Republican Party."
Since Kerry's defeat, some Democrats have urged that the party adopt a political strategy more like one pursued by Bush and his senior adviser, Karl Rove -- which emphasized robust turnout of the party base rather than relentless, Clinton-style tending to "swing voters."
But Galston and Kamarck, both of whom served in the Clinton White House, said there are simply not enough left-leaning voters to make this a workable strategy. In one of their more potentially controversial findings, the authors argue that the rising numbers and influence of well-educated, socially liberal voters in the Democratic Party are pulling the party further from most Americans.
On defense and social issues, "liberals espouse views diverging not only from those of other Democrats, but from Americans as a whole. To the extent that liberals now constitute both the largest bloc within the Democratic coalition and the public face of the party, Democratic candidates for national office will be running uphill."
Galston and Kamarck -- whose work was sponsored by Third Way, a group working with Senate Democrats on centrist policy ideas -- are critical of three other core liberal arguments:
· They warn against overreliance on a strategy of solving political problems by "reframing" the language by which they present their ideas, as advocated by linguist George Lakoff of the University of California at Berkeley: "The best rhetoric will fail if the public rejects the substance of a candidate's agenda or entertains doubts about his integrity."
· They say liberals who count on rising numbers of Hispanic voters fail to recognize the growing strength of the GOP among Hispanics, as well as the growing weakness of Democrats with white Catholics and married women.
· They contend that Democrats who hope the party's relative advantages on health care and education can vault them back to power "fail the test of political reality in the post-9/11 world." Security issues have become "threshold" questions for many voters, and cultural issues have become "a prism of candidates' individual character and family life," Galston and Kamarck argue.
Their basic thesis is that the number of solidly conservative Republican voters is substantially larger that the reliably Democratic liberal voter base. To win, the argument goes, Democrats must make much larger inroads among moderates than the GOP.
Galston, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, and Kamarck, a lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, in 1989 wrote the influential paper, "The Politics of Evasion," which helped set the stage for Clinton's presidential bid and the prominent role of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. In some ways, the report released yesterday showed how difficult the debate is to resolve.
Their recommendations are much less specific than their detailed analysis of the difficulties facing the Democratic Party.
They suggest that Democratic presidential candidates replicate Clinton's tactics in 1992, when he broke with the party's liberal base by approving the execution of a semi-retarded prisoner, by challenging liberal icon Jesse L. Jackson and by calling for an end to welfare "as we know it."
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The liberals' hope that Democrats can win back the presidency by drawing sharp ideological contrasts and energizing the partisan base is a fantasy that could cripple the party's efforts to return to power, according to a new study by two prominent Democratic analysts.
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Blair Says Iran May Have Given Bombs to Insurgents
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LONDON, Oct. 6 -- Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that British officials were investigating evidence that Iran may have supplied sophisticated bombs to insurgents in Iraq. He warned Iran that "we're not going to be intimidated."
At a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Blair stressed that "we cannot be sure" Iran provided the devices, but that the British government had "certain pieces of information that lead us back to Iran" or to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon.
Iranian officials denied the allegations, which were first made Wednesday by an anonymous British official who told British reporters that the bombs had killed eight British soldiers since May.
Speaking on Iranian television, Hamid Reza Asefi, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said: "This is a lie. The British are the cause of instability and crisis in Iraq," the BBC reported.
President Bush also delivered a warning to Iran on Thursday, saying in a speech that "state sponsors like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists and they deserve no patience from the victims of terror."
In Baghdad, a senior U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that technology for the bombs, known as shaped charges, came from Iran. But he expressed doubt that the Iranian military provided the technological know-how.
Fifty-eight such bombs have been found in Baghdad alone since April, the official said.
The bombs are used both by Shiite and Sunni Muslim insurgent groups, he said. They include Moqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which Britain and the United States have blamed for deadly bombings of U.S. and British convoys in the southern city of Basra.
Blair's warning adds to already heightened tension between Britain and Iran over the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions. Britain, France and Germany, supported by the United States, negotiated unsuccessfully to persuade Iran to permanently stop elements of a nuclear program that could produce material for weapons. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has strongly asserted his country's right to undertake what he describes as a civilian nuclear power project.
The board of the International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution last week saying that Iran violated treaty obligations by secretly developing a nuclear program. That could eventually lead to the U.N. Security Council considering sanctions against Iran.
On Tuesday, Iran offered to return to talks, but only with no conditions. The Europeans have said that Iran must first suspend uranium conversion.
Blair said that if Iran was "trying to make some point about the negotiations over the nuclear weapons issue" by supporting the Iraqi insurgency, Britain was "not going to be intimidated."
Appearing at Blair's side at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's office, Talabani said that officials in his government had raised the issue with their "Iranian brothers" and they had denied involvement. He quoted Iranian officials as saying, "We are not doing anything against Iraqi people, or against multinational forces, because we want to see Iraq stable, and we are not ready to bring our differences with the U.S. to inside Iraq."
Speaking just ahead of next week's key referendum on a new Iraqi constitution, Talabani said it was critical that British and U.S. troops remain in Iraq.
Talabani urged Blair not to give in to pressure for a timetable on withdrawing troops, and Blair said British forces would remain in Iraq as long as the Iraqi government wanted them there.
Speaking in English, Talabani thanked Blair and the families of British soldiers for Britain's role in "liberating us from the dictatorship" of Saddam Hussein, the ousted president of Iraq. "Saddam's Iraq was a concentration camp above ground and a mass grave beneath it," Talabani said. "Your sons and daughters freed us from that nightmare."
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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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Nighttime Moonshine Operation Gets Howard Teenager Arrested
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In a midnight stakeout, government agents seized a Howard County teenager and the illicit moonshine distillery he allegedly built from a bucket, a trash can and some copper pipe in the woods near his home.
The boy, arrested early Tuesday at the Rocky Gorge Reservoir in the Fulton area, told investigators he'd learned the essentials of bootlegging in high-school science class and on the Internet. Agents withheld his identity because he is a minor. They would not give his age.
"It's amazing what you can learn on the Internet," said Kevin P. Kane, spokesman for Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, whose agency regulates the production of spirits.
It was the first illicit distillery seized in Maryland since 2000, something of a curiosity for the agents involved. Moonshining is a misdemeanor offense in Maryland, potentially punishable with a $10,000 fine and five years in prison.
"After 28 years, I can honestly say it's the first one I've run into," said George Hubbard of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which joined the comptroller's office on the case.
A woman walking her dogs at the reservoir spotted the fermentation equipment and reported it to authorities, Kane said. Agents staked out the site until the owner arrived, just after midnight. Agents closed in.
The boy was attempting to distill whiskey from corn, Kane said, in a trash can heated by propane. Agents believe he was just getting started and hadn't yet sampled the brew.
"What he was making, it wasn't really consumable at all," Kane said. "It was actually very toxic."
Kane said the juvenile court system will handle the case. The boy also faces the wrath of his parents, who knew nothing of his nocturnal activities.
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In a midnight stakeout, government agents seized a Howard County teenager and the illicit moonshine distillery he allegedly built from a bucket, a trash can and some copper pipe in the woods near his home.
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On TV
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2005100819
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Post TV Columnist Lisa de Moraes takes a look at what's on the tube in a fast-paced give and take about reality, non-reality, cable and you name it.
Lisa was online Friday, Oct. 7, at 1:30 p.m. ET to discuss the latest on TV.
Don & Melanie's WB Shows Go Their Separate Ways (Post, Oct. 7)
Clooney Breaks His Own Big Story, A Live 'Network' (Post, Oct. 6)
'Earl's' a Pearl, but Denise Richards Has Lost Her Sheen (Post, Oct. 5)
Martha, Caught in NBC's 'E-Ring' Circus (Post, Oct. 4)
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.
Arlington, Va.: Lisa, This morning you wrote that Just Legal had been shuttered. Does this mean the same thing as it will not be shown any more or that they will burn off the four other episodes that haven't been run before terminating the broadcast? I happen to like the show and do wonder how the people at the network could have expected it to build on a show like 7th Heaven which would appear to have a different demographic than a show set in Santa Monica that features a somewhat dissipated Don Johnson. I do note that this is the second beach law show, after Head Cases set in Venice, to get the boot. Beach people need representation too!
washingtonpost.com: Don & Melanie's WB Shows Go Their Separate Ways (Post, Oct. 7)
Lisa de Moraes: Hi.... Why, exactly, does America hate beach attorneys? I've been pondering this; no answer yet but I have not had my second cup of coffee. Yes, you have to wonder why, if WB was going after 12-34 year olds, they starred Don Johnson in Just Legal. And on what planet is a show about a dissipated lawyer compatable with a show about an annoying preacher. WB has pulled it from the schedule effective immediately. Whether they burn off the remaining episodes somewhere else on their schedule or over the summer, I do not yet know...
Over There: Love your writing and your chats. My husband and I have really been enjoying Over There, the FX Iraq war series and wondered how it was doing ratings-wise? Will FX be running another season? Thanks!
Lisa de Moraes: FX has not announced yet whether it's coming back. Season finale is on Oct. 26. Started big thanks to much hooplah over the show before its debut....
Arlington, Va.: Hi Lisa, Can you tell me why Tyra is on twice a day! I know it is two channels, but I am annoyed b/c it replaces King of the Hill on UPN. Thanks.
Lisa de Moraes: The miracle of the modern duopoly...NewCorp (Fox broadcast network parent) owns both the Fox station in our market and the UPN station. So Trya airs on the Fox station in the mornings and is rerun on the UPN station at night. And I feel your pain re replacing King of Hill....
Fairfax, Va.: Regarding E-Ring: On which espisode will Brad Pitt finally be introduced?
Lisa de Moraes: ... it's on the one that keeps re-running, over and over, in my head. sorry, it's a private screening...
Arlington, Va.: I really like 'How I Met your Mother'. Is it going to be around for a while?
Also, do you know when the next season of 'The Sheild' is going to start?
Lisa de Moraes: Mom is doing okay, though not setting the world on fire...Shield is returning in January....
Washington, D.C.: Any big suprises for you this new fall season? Are any shows you thought would tank doing well in the ratings now? I was suprised "My Name is Earl" is doing so well. I didn't like it all. I didn't like the much-hyped "E-Ring" as well -- and these shows are in my demographic -40, male. I'm still into my "Lost", "Desperate Housewives", and "CSI".
Lisa de Moraes: There were shows I was praying would tank. Commander in Chief comes to mind. Alas, it's off to a strong start. And, unlike you, I'm pleasantly surprised that so many people came to "My Name is Earl" on NBC. And once I learned that Ben Bratt and Brad Pitt were not one in the same person, I had little use for "E-Ring" so I'm not too upset that show didn't open big.. I'm surprised, pleasantly, that "Criminal Minds" -- starring Mandy Patinkin (voice of an angel -- has managed to do so well against the 800-pound monster "Lost." And I'm surprised that "Invasion" isn't holding on to more of its "Lost" leadin audience....
Richmond, Va.: You gotta like Rome. It's like the Sopranos in that you get to learn about a foreign culture (you know, Italy and N.J.) and you begin to care about people that are totally creepy. What's not to like?
Lisa de Moraes: Okay, I don't even know where to start with this one. So I'm just putting it out there...
Washington, D.C.: Any idea what That 70s Show will look like this year now that Ashton Kutcher is kinda gone and Topher Grace is really gone? That show jumped the shark so long ago, I'm surprised they're even going to try it. But its like watching a train wreck, isn't it?
Lisa de Moraes: pookie, I got over this show ages ago...it's so, well, 70's....
How did Earl (which thankfully got its full-season order) do on Tuesday night versus the second airing of CiC and the baseball on Fox?
Lisa de Moraes: It did well -- more than 13 million viewers, which is about 2 million more than the previous week. Every year at this time Fox gives its competitors a little gift by yanking its regular schedule off the air for baseball games that don't do big numbers. That night, for instance, they took off "House," which is a big hit for Fox. "House" viewers went scrambling for something to watch and, it appears, about 2 million of them settled on "Earl." Sampling is the name of the game in the early days of a new season and, thanks to Fox on Tuesday, "Earl" got more of it than it might have otherwise...
How are the ratings for Nip/Tuck this season?
Lisa de Moraes: Nip/Tuck after three episodes in this new season is averaging about 4.5 million viewers for its initial telecast only. Assume a few more see it in its reruns later in the week....
Shirlington, Va.: How many seasons do you think Lost can last? I say four good strong seasons and end it. Don't turn it into X Files and drag it along for nine, losing viewers after season six or seven.
Lisa de Moraes: Your mouth to Mouse House's ears....
Ashburn, Va.: How is Ghost Whisperer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt (body of an angel) doing in the ratings?
Lisa de Moraes: It's doing well -- 11 million and change in its first broadcast and just under 11 mil in its second broadcast. I didn't check demos after its second airing, but in its first it would appear, as the head of CBS suggested, that dead people do in fact skew a little younger than god...You'll remember that Les Moonves said he pulled some shows off his lineup because they skewed too old and, when asked by a critic who was clearly miffed that he'd cancelled "Joan of Arcadia," why he thought a show starring a woman in her late 20s who talked to dead people would skew younger than a show about a teenager who talked to god, he replied that he thought dead people would skew younger than god.
Earl!: I like it! A lot! It's like "Raising Arizona" for TV. A bunch of sad sacks that you can't help but feel sorry for.
Lisa de Moraes: It's funny, the same reason some people like it a lot -- "Raising Arizona" for TV -- the exact same reason some people have said they really don't like it --"Raising Arizona" for TV. Me, I don't care if it's "Raising Arizona" or not. I think it's great....
Have you seen any ratings for last night's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"? I was just wondering what kind of audience his all U2 show got last night. I stayed up to watch (and I've got the circles under my eyes to prove it), but most of my friends taped/TIVO-ed.
Lisa de Moraes: Based on metered market early stats, it appears Conan did his biggest number since May. Which, really, when you think about it, is not that big a deal...I'll have more information later...
Re: Your mouth to Mouse House's ears ... : Huh?
Lisa de Moraes: ABC, owned by Disney, home of Mickey Mouse...I know -- way too inside baseball...
Santa Fe, N.M.: Why do your chats always seem to start late? Is there something good on TV right now?
I'm really enjoying Kitchen Confidential. How many more shows will I get to enjoy before it gets cancelled?
Lisa de Moraes: I wish. I was at home with two very nice electricians who discovered that virtually every plug and appliance and light switch in my old house is on one circuit....thought it was going to be a short visit...I was wrong...
Rome vs. Sopranos: Englishmen play Italians vs. Italians play Italians.
Movie guys making a epic movie except it's TV and doesn't fit vs. TV guys making a great TV show
Writer doesn't know what the central conflict is and is limited by history vs. writer understands and develops central themes
I never met a Roman vs. I know plenty of Italians
Lisa de Moraes: Which brings me to a question that has kept me up many nights over the years. Why, when people are doing movies and TV shows about ancient Rome, do they always have the actors use British accents? What is up with that, really?
"Hooking Up": ABC News was running a series over the summer about single women in NYC hooking up on the Internet. Will it ever come back?
Lisa de Moraes: If there's a god in heaven, no. never, ever, ever...
Arlington, Va.: Ghost Whisperer is doing well? Did I miss the apocalypse? How did J love H do it? Who did she sell her soul to and are you sure that Les and Julie Chen didn't force all of their shareholders to watch the show and prop up the dilapidated network? I smell conspiracy and if God was told to attack Iraq then what is being told to people to make them watch J. Love H?
Lisa de Moraes: I think it's something being put in the water, personally. I only drink bottled water. But I do have to put you wise about CBS. It's no longer dilapidated. It was the most watched network last season, it's the most watched network this season and it did very well last season among 18-49 year olds. No longer just your grandmother's network...
Chicago, Ill.: Hi Lisa, I am a 39-year-old female struggling to find anything appealing to watch besides '24,' America's Next Top Model, and The McLaughlin Group. I loathe 'Desperate Housewives' and 'Lost,' and the end of Nightline as we know it leaves me despairing.
But my question to you is, will Charlie Rose ever realize what a moron he is and shut the hell up?
Lisa de Moraes: I love you! Your questions totally took me by surprise after that big buildup... And, re your question, do you believe in miracles?
Washington, D.C.: Why is SNL so horrible? And why did they let Horatio Sanz replace Tina Fey on Weekend Update? He's not even a little funny.
Lisa de Moraes: On the other hand, Tina Fey sucks on Weekend Update. I'm sorry but it's not cool to laugh at your own jokes when doing Weekend Update. The joke is that you're supposed to be a newscaster...SNL has been horrible for years ansd years and years. Except election years when it's brilliant....
Oakton, Va.: I am a big fan of the Office, and the season started out well, but this week's episode with the Olympics was kind of lame.
Are market researchers telling them to feature more of the young guy Jim? He isn't horrible but he CANNOT carry the show.
I want to see more Edgar, and more of the boss. They have something good here but need to balance out the show and stop with all the screentime for Jim. He is not the next Hawkeye.
Lisa de Moraes: I didn't see it -- did they really do Olympics in the episode. Really, this synergy thing at NBC is getting completely out of hand.....
Washington, D.C.: Is it a fair assumption in this decade that a woman can now become rresident, or does this continue to be a liberal ideal portrayed by Hollywood in a fictional world? More importantly, why do so many people, in particular men, in the U.S. instantly dismiss the thought as unrealistic?
Lisa de Moraes: No, a woman cannot become president of the United States. I know this because "Commander in Chief" did not do a huge number in Washington, D.C. I had thought it would open with a through-the-roof number in this market, what with it being a Washington D.C.-centric show. But Washington was not all that interested. I think that for the premiere, this market only ranked something like No. 23 out of the 55 metered markets.... Which just goes to show you that the longer I cover the industry, the less I know. And that a woman as president is still, as you suggest, a fantasy...
Alexandria, Va.: CBS ... now if they could only bring back Angela Lansbury and Magnum, P.I.!
Lisa de Moraes: Never happen. Too old. Unless they show up, talking to Jennifer Love Hewitt on her new CBS show.
Halifax, Pa.: Your column is more fun than most of the shows you write about. One show I do enjoy is "House" on Fox. It made a great return for its second season and then promptly disappeared to make way for the baseball playoffs. Doesn't Fox have enough failing shows that could be pushed aside for a month so that they could move House to another time slot temporarily?
Lisa de Moraes: I wish....
A Viewer: With all these shows about talking to dead people, I wonder why the networks don't make a public service out of it. You know: run ads: discover you've died? Then contact our resident psychic at guessivedied-nbcuniversal.edgeofdeath. They could probably make a series out of it.
Lisa de Moraes: I'm guessing Sci Fi is working on it as we chat...
Did I witness a new low?: Please tell me that NBC did not overlap the end credits of My Name is Earl underneath the opening segment of The Office on Tuesday night. Is the showing of credits that much of an anathema to the network? It's bad enough that they squeeze the end credits into a postage stamp while blasting you with promos for upcoming shows, but now they've hit upon a way to not only disrespect the makers of the show ending, but also the fans of the show beginning.
Lisa de Moraes: Like I said, I missed Office and so missed this as well. That's pretty lame if true...
Reston, Va.: Why are there so many "Lost" clones, but not any "Desperate Housewives" clones? Imitation is the sincerest form of television, right?
Lisa de Moraes: I don't think it was for lack of trying. I suspect they found that "DH" is a lot harder to knock off than the ooh-they're-out-there, scary things that go bump in the night, is it a polar bear or an alien, etc. show.
Washington, D.C.: The last people to do weekend update right were (God help us all) Norm McDonald, and I enjoyed Colin Quinn a bit too. SNL is almost as bad as MAD TV.
Lisa de Moraes: So glad I'm not alone. Sometimes when I say I think SNL is awful I get hate mail....
Washington, D.C.: I am just wondering, as a sports fan, why a network like Fox spends so much to grab baseball? Not many people watch the games, its a huge cost, and I would be just as happy to watch it on ESPN with a ton of Fox ads during the breaks. Actually, I might like it more, since I wouldn't have to see Luke Perry or Ashton Kutcher or Fox's next annoying young (or not so young) star after every big at bat.
Lisa de Moraes: You are my favorite baseball fan! Can you please write to Fox?
Woonsocket, R.I.: Ms. deMoraes --
No sign nor mention of "Yes, Dear" yet as a Big Eye replacement. Can I come out of my bunker now?
Lisa de Moraes: "Yes, Dear" airs on Wednesday nights. Sorry to break it to you but you need to stay in that bunker, probably all season..
Baltimore, Md.: I want more Hooking Up. It makes me feel good about my singlehood. After all, it could be worse, I could be dating one of those chicks.
Lisa de Moraes: And, on behalf of chicks everywhere, we're so glad not to be dating you...
20008: I don't know about her show, but J LOVE H made America forget about Audrey Hepburn, so she can't be all bad, now can she?
Lisa de Moraes: Are you out of your mind? Nobody forgot about Audrey Hepburn. Hewitt, on the other hand, is completely forgettable -- an insignificant piece of eye candy. Are you referring to the TV flick she did in which she lamely attempted to portray Hepburn. It only served to make painfully apparently that she's no Hepburn, and that it was one of the worst bits of casting in the history of television....
Arlington, Va.: You are one of the more popular chats ... how are you regarded as a journalist? Do they treat you okay? Do they realize you are the next Tony Korheiser (if that's a good thing)!
Lisa de Moraes: okay, you're being silly...But seriously, what's not to love -- look at what I get to write here. How lucky am I..
Arlington, Va.: Speaking of Yes, Dear, I was going to ask you what keeps this show on the air? I mean, good lord it is awful ... right there with Rodney and Hope and Faith.
Lisa de Moraes: Because the networks are having so much trouble with comedy....It's the only possible answer. I just can't bring myself to believe that the people I talk to every day at these networks actually think these are quality shows. It would be too depressing...
British Romans: Perhaps because we tend to associate ancient or medieval Rome with Shakespearean plays?
Lisa de Moraes: well, at least that's an answer...still, doesn't it seem silly. Why not, I don't know, maybe Italian accents...
Any further word on the FCC looking into Joan Baez dropping her "f-bombs" during her hilarious impersonation of Bob Dylan? Wouldn't you like to see Baez hand those jokers their clown heads in a First Amendment fight?
BTW, how were the ratings for the Dylan documentary?
Lisa de Moraes: Grievously, I dont' think any but one PBS station was brave enough to run it. My understanding is that PBS sent out a sanitized version which almost all stations used. I'm wondering what Scorsese thought about that, and if he knew that was PBS's plan...
Horatio Sa, NZ: In defense of Horatio: while he did suck as a Weekend Update anchor, he is usually pretty funny. His Aaron Neville imitation had me rolling ...
Lisa de Moraes: again, news anchors don't do imitations. THe joke here, once again children, is that the person doing it is supposed to be an actual newscaster....
de more-EYES is de BEST: Who is the male equivalent of Jennifer Love Hewitt? Any time a man mentions that she's talented/hot/intelligent women get positively apopleptic. So who is it that women prop up that we men can't stand? Ashton Kutcher would be the choice I guess, but ... the whole Demi Moore thing makes us hate him a tad less.
Lisa de Moraes: Pookie, have you ever interviewed Hewitt? Honestly, she's hot, yes, I'll give you that. And sweet, maybe, or at least does a very convincing imitation. But dumb as hair. I'm still thinking who would be the male equivalent. I was thinking Ashton Kutcher too. But it has to be someone who's so bad he can't break out of TV and into film, but is pretty...And
Roman's British Accents: They actualy tried to do some Roman plays with Italian accents on a live PBS presentation. But the actors kept breaking into Don Corleone impersonations..it was a shambles ...
Lisa de Moraes: Wow -- wish I'd seen that. I miss so much good television..
Washington, D.C.: I thought "Commander in Chief" was a Desperate Housewives clone ...
Lisa de Moraes: good point!
I've been corresponding with Tim Goodman out here and was glad to know my two favorite TV columnists are friends. So now I want your take on the question we sent to him.
Any chance you follow Gilmore Girls? I'm concerned that their writers have been tied up and tossed in a closet somewhere on the set, left for dead. Because whoever took over this year is on a crash-and-burn (think West Wing) course. Any chance of recovering the quick wit and awesome 80s references we have grown to love?
Lisa de Moraes: Tim's great.And, to tell the truth, haven't watched GG yet this season, been too wrapped up in the new shows. I thought Amy Sherman Palladino was all over this season of "GG" so I'm surprised to hear that the writers have been tied up, tossed in closet, and left for dead. Did they make fun of her hats?
Arlington, Va.: Anyone catch "Blossom" on Curb Your Enthusiam Sunday night? There's an example of a child star that did not age well ...
Lisa de Moraes: It was kind of sad, really...the episode, however, was great... I'm out of time. Bye...
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.
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Post TV Columnist Lisa de Moraes takes a look at what's on TV in a fast-paced give-and-take about reality, non-reality, cable and everything else that's on the tube.
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American University Controversy
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2005100819
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He was online Friday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the controversy.
Ladner remains on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation into his and his wife's expenses by the board.
Ladner has acknowledged some missteps -- such as not immediately reimbursing the university for his son's 13-course engagement party dinner last year -- but rejected an independent report that questioned more than half a million dollars in spending in the past three years. He said most of the thousands of dollars that his wife charged to A.U. for household furnishings, food and beverages and that was questioned by the companies hired to do an audit was consistent with the terms of his contract.
A longtime executive assistant said he made no effort to separate his personal and business expenses and insisted on "the best room with the best view" in exclusive hotels, even giving her a guide to fine lodging worldwide, The Washington Post reported.
Trustee Paul Wolff said in an online discussion with washingtonpost.com on Monday that he believed that "it is in the university's best interest that he step down before the Oct. 10 board meeting."
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: I appreciate the opportunity to respond to questions and charges that have been raised about my record at American University. I'm very proud of my record, but more importantly, it is a record that is shared with the entire AU community -- its students, faculty, staff and board members.
In my 12 years at AU, I know that the work is only as important as the challenging academic environment it creates for our students. Expanding our overseas locations, attracting foreign students, expanding university programs, and raising funds from an expanding list of donors are all designed to build a new and better AU.
Since arriving at AU in 1994, I have worked hard to raise the standard of academic excellence and to put our university on sound financial footing. With a team of talented administrators, we have seen the number of high achieving students seeking acceptance. Freshman GPA's have increased from an average of 3.2 to 3.55 while SAT score averages have risen 1133 to 1285. We have worked hard to increase AU's endowment from $29 million to $251 million and grown alumni giving from 6% to 20% annually.
Recent press reports based on leaked documents and anonymous sources have raised concerns about expenses I incurred in carrying out the duties of my office. Because of the recent leaks, it has become difficult to separate what's fact from what isn't. This morning I would like to provide answers to your questions.
Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C.: What are your objections to adding one or two student trustees to AU's board of trustees? Some colleges and universities have been using the practice for years.
This would be especially important at an institution like AU since it is so dependent on tuition rather than an endowment (thanks in part to your failure to build an endowment of note). Student trustees would serve as another check on the university's budget.
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: I have not said I'm against it, but that it is something the Board would probably be willing to look at. Since coming to AU, I have expanded the "Campus Representatives" group that sits on Board committees and participates in the general session of the Board. This group now has three students, one faculty,one staff, and an alumnus. It would be a natural next step for the Board to discuss this question. There are several constituencies at AU in addition to students--staff, faculty, alumni, etc.--all of whom could make the same argument. Obviously, there would have to be some kind of balance in representation.
How would you describe the ethical consciousness of the Board of Trustees? Thank you.
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: I appreciate your question, but I do not think it is appropriate for me to comment on the ethics of the board. This is for others to decide.
Washington, D.C.: Dr. Ladner, last night on AUTV you said that you had extended invitations to the students, faculty, and staff of American University to talk about the situation. When were those made, who were they made to, and why are we only hearing about them now?
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: I offered to meet with groups of faculty, students, staff, and deans as early as last week. Several of these meetings were actually set up. Then on the day of the meetings, the lawyer for the executive committee notified me that the invitation from the faculty and deans had been withdrawn. For the meeting with students, I was never notified that the invitation had been withdrawn, so I showed up but was denied entry into the meeting.
Washington, D.C.: The people on the board who are attacking you have really gotten the students and faculty upset, and yet only one side of the story has come out. What would you like to say to the students, faculty and AU alums?
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: The Board and I agreed at the outset that the process of inquiry would be confidential until all reports and information had been reviewed and discussed by the Board. Unfortunately, there has now been a series of anonymous leaks designed to present isolated data, out of context, that have not even been reviewed yet by the Board. I am confident that when all the facts are reviewed by the Board, the misleading information will be fully rebutted and there will be a positive outcome both for AU and for me. I still believe in the principle of "innocent until proven guilty," not the reverse.
I applaud your courage at participating in this discussion. I'm sure you will face some very unpleasant questions. My question involves compensation for university presidents in general. If a non-profit educational institution wants to hire talented individuals, they need to pay for them just like everyone else. I think if they doubled your salary and perks it still wouldn't be too much. Why do so many outside of education have a problem with paying university presidents on par with other professions in the for-profit sector?
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: The compensation of university presidents is not very well understood by the most people. In fact, most Boards, like AU's, spend a lot of time collecting data, comparing compensation at similar institutions, and evaluating performance. The simple fact is, whoever is AU's president, the general range of compensation will be similar, however the total is distributed among annual salary, benefits, etc. This is because the ranges have for years been tracked by outside consultants who have advised the Board on its decisions about my compensation. They have determined that the AU President's compensation "fits" within a range that is in line with other similar institutions with long-serving presidents.
Silver Spring, Md.: Good morning, President Ladner.
Given the widespread media coverage, both locally and nationally, of the allegations of misspending, do you believe that a fair investigation can take place and that the outcome of such an exercise will be accepted by the wide AU community?
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: I hope so. Unfortunately, there have been two processes going on: one by the full Board, and the other, a one-sided campaign conducted through anonymous leaks and misinformation to the media. I have confidence in the judgment of the full Board.
Washington, D.C.: I have read that it was the policy of your financial office to destroy receipts after only one year. Is this true? If so, why -- common practice is to keep receipts for five years.
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: This has been the policy of the finance office (not my own), which I have followed completely. One of the difficulties I have faced throughout the investigation is the requirement to produce receipts going back three years, which, because I complied with the finance office policy, have been destroyed. I agree that, going forward, this policy should be changed. This issue is one example of how the press coverage has failed to convey all the facts.
What do you think you've learned from this incident that would make you, if retained, a better president of AU? Would you do anything differently, whether in terms of compensation, communication with students and faculty, student discipline (in light of your own sense of injustice), or any other issue?
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: I've learned a great deal. Despite the fact that I average three months a year on the road raising money, setting up new programs, etc., I believe I can do a better job (and should have)communicating with the the campus. Although I have conducted Eagle Roundtable dinners with students, faculty and staff; held town meetings with the campus community; met with parents and alumni, attended campus events; taught a course; etc., I know there are ways in which I can be even more systematically available to the campus community. I'm certainly open to suggestions. I welcome an opportunity to engage in extended dialogue about the key principles that have been at issue throughout this process.
Van Ness, Washington, D.C.: Do you consider your "missteps" minor or major lapses in judgment?
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: I do believe I have made mistakes, and I understand how the perception of the significance of these has been exaggerated in the media. In a few instances, I overlooked the fact that certain personal expenses were charged to the university. Because of my single-minded focus carrying out university business, I regret these accounting errors and have already reimbursed the university. In hindsight, I should have been more vigilant and precise. The amounts being leaked to the media are overblown and inaccurate, and will be shown to be wrong.
Washington, D.C.: Why are you not answering questions about the specific allegations against you? You seem to be attacking the process but you are not disputing the facts that have been reported and affirmed by Trustees.
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: In fact, I do dispute the allegations and the exaggerated amounts leaked to the press. I have provided extensive rebuttals, which the press has not reported. Although a few individual trustees have accepted some of the leaks as true, it is interesting to note that a September 29 statement signed and released by a majority of the Board, noted that "Decisions on these matter cannot appropriately or legally be made by one or a small number of Board members." This statement was given to the press, but not reported fully.
washingtonpost.com: Dr. Ladner, as producer of this discussion I must tell you that several readers are writing in criticizing you for not answering any of the hardball questions. If I may, I would like to ask you three questions: If asked by the Board of Trustees to step down, will you? Have you offered to pay back the university for any expenses deemed inappropriate? Would you take a pay cut?
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: I will not make any personal decision about continuing or stepping down until faced with the actual decision by the Board. I have not only offered but have actually submitted a check for the expenses for which I am responsible. As with all compensation decisions, it is the Board, not I, who decides what my compensation will be.
Dr. Benjamin Ladner: Thank you for your questions. I realize the limitations of trying to respond to so many questions. Clearly, there are vital issues at stake, not only about me and my leadership, but also about the nature of dialogue, openness, and fairness within the university. I am eager to bring this process to a close, and believe the full Board will arrive at a positive outcome in light of all the facts.
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.
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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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Clone-Generated Milk, Meat May Be Approved
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2005100619
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The Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule soon that milk from cloned animals and meat from their offspring are safe to eat, raising the question of whether Americans are ready to welcome one of modern biology's most controversial achievements to the dinner table.
Hundreds of cloned pigs, cows and other animals are already living on farms around the country, as companies and livestock producers experiment and await a decision from the FDA.
The agricultural industry has observed a voluntary FDA moratorium on using the products of clones, but it has recently become clear that a few offspring of cloned pigs and cows are already trickling into the food supply. Many in agriculture believe such genetic copies are the next logical step in improving the nation's livestock.
Consumer groups counter that many Americans are likely to be revolted by the idea of serving clone milk to their children or tossing meat from the progeny of clones onto the backyard grill. This "yuck factor," as it's often called, has come to light repeatedly in public opinion surveys. Asked earlier this year in a poll by the International Food Information Council whether they would willingly buy meat, milk and eggs that come from clones if the FDA declared them to be safe, 63 percent of consumers said no.
Yet mounting scientific evidence suggests there is little cause for alarm, at least on food-safety grounds. Studies have shown that meat and milk from clones can't be distinguished from that of normal animals, although work is not complete and researchers say that clones do suffer subtle genetic abnormalities.
While milk from clones might reach grocery shelves, clones themselves are not likely to be eaten, since they cost thousands of dollars apiece to produce. They'd be used as breeding stock, so the real question is whether their sexually produced offspring would be safe.
The FDA has been promising a policy for three years, but hasn't produced a final version, and some biotechnology companies involved in cloning have run out of cash while waiting. Weary livestock producers have dubbed the FDA the "Foot Dragging Administration."
The FDA declined requests for an interview. In response to written questions, Stephen F. Sundlof, chief of veterinary medicine at the agency, said the FDA "really can't provide a reliable estimate on the time frame" for releasing a policy.
But there are signs the agency is preparing to move. Lester Crawford, before he abruptly resigned Sept. 23 as FDA commissioner -- for apparently unrelated reasons -- said the agency was drafting a formal scientific paper outlining its conclusions. Speaking at a conference earlier this year, John Matheson, an FDA scientist working on the issue, said the policy was under review at higher levels of the Bush administration.
"We're spending a lot of time briefing these folks, trying to make them comfortable with the technology," Matheson said. "I think that's a microcosm of what you're going to see in the public when the decision goes out."
When the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, was announced in 1997, American farmers and ranchers were as shocked as anyone. But by now, thousands of farm families have seen clones at agricultural fairs and grown comfortable with the idea.
The producers of prime pigs and cattle shown in contests at those fairs have been among the first to embrace cloning. Show animals represent only a small portion of the food supply, but the finest are sometimes used as breeding stock to upgrade food herds. Companies have been selling clones to some show-animal producers for years, practicing their cloning techniques for the day when they can put them to use in the far larger market for food animals.
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The Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule soon that milk from cloned animals and meat from their offspring are safe to eat, raising the question of whether Americans are ready to welcome one of modern biology's most controversial achievements to the dinner table.
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This Is a Cut?
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2005100619
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CONGRESS IS busy "reconciling" its tax and spending plans, a process that used to be aimed at controlling the budget deficit. Since 2001, however, reconciliation has become a way of ramming tax cuts past potential opponents, widening the deficit rather than narrowing it. This year, for example, the aim is to cut taxes by $70 billion while offsetting only about half of that with spending cuts. But wait, the news is worse than that. Some of the spending "cuts" turn out, on closer inspection, to involve large new commitments to the federal government's worst programs -- such as its subsidies for farms.
The new farm commitment is tucked into the spending cuts proposed by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Mr. Chambliss was told to come up with $3 billion in spending cuts over five years. This shouldn't have been difficult, because taxpayers spend $15 billion to $20 billion each year on wasteful farm subsidies, most of which go to a small minority of wealthy growers while penalizing developing countries that aspire to export their way out of poverty. President Bush has rightly called for a complete elimination of these subsidies, and his administration has proposed a way of saving $5.7 billion over 10 years. The suggested cuts would hardly be too painful: One of them involves capping the subsidy available to each farmer at $250,000 per year.
Mr. Chambliss nonetheless appears to have struggled with his task. Yesterday he proposed to cut a mere $1.1 billion in farm subsidies over five years, to be supplemented with cuts in conservation programs and food stamps. His plan says nothing about capping subsidies to the richest farmers; thus 300,000 lucky recipients will continue to divvy up about $10 billion a year. But the Chambliss proposal does include language that would extend farm subsidies beyond 2007, when they are currently due to expire, for a further four years. That would puncture the hope of using the 2007 expiration as an opportunity to replace the subsidies with measures that could be cheaper, less damaging to trade and better for the environment.
Using a measure that is ostensibly about spending restraint to extend the egregious farm program would mark a new low for Congress. The Agriculture Committee is due to vote on the Chambliss proposal today. It should reject it.
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Sen. Saxby Chambliss wants to pay rich farmers for another four years in return for just $1.1 billion in spending cuts. The Senate should say no.
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From Miers, Telling Words
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2005100619
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The nomination of Harriet Miers as a replacement for swing-vote Justice Sandra Day O'Connor poses entirely different confirmation challenges to the Senate from those raised when President Bush chose John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States.
Roberts had a lengthy record of service in government, two years of judicial experience on the federal appellate bench and an incomparable set of credentials in academia and private practice. He was also replacing another conservative.
Miers enjoys similarly high standing with colleagues in the Dallas and Texas legal circles. But she has never judged a single case or argued a constitutional issue before the high court. Her one distinguishing characteristic is the trust she has earned from her most important client, George Bush.
The words the president used in his news conference Tuesday conveyed his deep admiration for the woman he employed as a private attorney, campaign adviser and, most recently, White House counsel. He spoke not only of her intellect but also of her character, of his confidence that she shares his "strict constructionist" judicial philosophy, and of his certainty that she will not change. She will have the "same philosophy 20 years from now," he said.
Bush's words were clearly aimed at reassuring his conservative constituents, some of whom had greeted the choice of Miers with groans of disappointment because they had other favorites with records and views more obviously in line with their own.
It's too soon to judge this nomination. But my guess is that in the end it is the liberals who will have the most misgivings about Miers.
I came to that conclusion after a breakfast interview -- by coincidence the morning of the president's announcement -- with Leonard Leo, who is on leave as executive vice president of the Federalist Society to work with the White House on judicial confirmation issues.
The Federalist Society, an organization of conservative lawyers, has been influential in staffing the Bush administration and recommending candidates for the federal bench. Leo came late to the breakfast from a conference call, in which he was attempting to quash the arguments other conservative leaders were making against Miers.
He spoke as one who has known and worked with her for well over a decade, who has played host to her when she has been a Federalist Society speaker, and -- perhaps most significant -- who joined her in a battle to get the American Bar Association to rescind its resolution endorsing Roe v. Wade , the decision establishing a right to abortion.
The first thing Leo said was that Miers's statement accepting the nomination from Bush was significant to him. "It is the responsibility of every generation to be true to the Founders' vision of the proper role of courts in our society . . . and to help ensure that the courts meet their obligations to strictly apply the laws and the Constitution," she said. "When she talked about 'the Founders' vision' and used the word 'strictly,' " Leo said, "I thought, 'Robert Bork,' " Ronald Reagan's Supreme Court pick, who was rejected by the Senate after a bitter fight. "She didn't have to go there. She could simply have said, 'Judges should not legislate from the bench.' But she chose those words."
I asked if he was surprised that she did -- or whether it was consistent with what he knew of her judicial philosophy. He replied: "I'm not surprised that's what she believes. I'm surprised her handlers let her say it."
As for the fight within the bar association, Leo said that he and Miers and their allies argued that it was "inappropriate" for the organization to endorse Roe "when there are doubts about the legitimacy of the underlying legal doctrine."
Was she opposed to the Roe decision? I asked. "That was not the issue. The only way to fight this within the ABA was to talk about the process" by which the endorsement was made. "It took a lot of courage to be out front on that issue" within the bar association, "especially for a woman."
And then he added that Miers is "well-regarded by antiabortion leaders in Dallas" and has written a check to at least one such group.
Finally, I asked him to compare Miers to the justice she would be replacing, if confirmed. Unlike O'Connor, he said, "she believes in legal rules, that law has a content to it. She is not one who would vacillate back and forth in a world of murky standards, which is how I see Justice O'Connor."
Maybe that's what the president meant when he said he was confident she "won't change."
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The nomination of Harriet Miers as a replacement for swing-vote Justice Sandra Day O'Connor poses entirely different confirmation challenges to the Senate from those raised when President Bush chose John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States.
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Senate Supports Interrogation Limits
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The Senate defied the White House yesterday and voted to set new limits on interrogating detainees in Iraq and elsewhere, underscoring Congress's growing concerns about reports of abuse of suspected terrorists and others in military custody.
Forty-six Republicans joined 43 Democrats and one independent in voting to define and limit interrogation techniques that U.S. troops may use against terrorism suspects, the latest sign that alarm over treatment of prisoners in the Middle East and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is widespread in both parties. The White House had fought to prevent the restrictions, with Vice President Cheney visiting key Republicans in July and a spokesman yesterday repeating President Bush's threat to veto the larger bill that the language is now attached to -- a $440 billion military spending measure.
Senate GOP leaders had managed to fend off the detainee language this summer, saying Congress should not constrain the executive branch's options. But last night, 89 senators sided with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who led the fight for the interrogation restrictions. McCain said military officers have implored Congress for guidelines, adding that he mourns "what we lose when by official policy or by official negligence we allow, confuse or encourage our soldiers to forget . . . that which is our greatest strength: that we are different and better than our enemies."
The vote came hours after Senate Democratic leaders blasted Republicans for canceling a classified briefing on anti-terrorism matters by the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte. Senate Democrats also sent Bush a letter demanding more information about how he intends to succeed in Iraq.
The president, who defended his Iraq policies at a news conference Tuesday, plans to deliver "a significant speech on the war on terrorism" today, spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. He said Bush will "talk in unprecedented detail about the nature of the enemy we face" and "about our comprehensive strategy for defeating" that enemy.
The Senate's 90 to 9 vote suggested a new boldness among Republicans to challenge the White House on war policy. The amendment by McCain, one of Bush's most significant backers at the outset of the Iraq war, would establish uniform standards for the interrogation of people detained by U.S. military personnel, prohibiting "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment while they are in U.S. custody.
McCain's allies included Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a former military lawyer, and Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.). They said new detainee standards are needed to clear up confusion among U.S. troops that may have led to the mistreatment alleged at the Navy's Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and to the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
The military came under condemnation throughout the world two years ago upon the release of photos showing U.S. troops humiliating and terrifying inmates at Abu Ghraib. Some low-ranking soldiers have been sentenced to prison for the abuse, but many lawmakers and others said they continue to worry about tactics that border on torture in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay.
In his closing speech, McCain said terrorists "hold in contempt" international conventions "such as the Geneva Conventions and the treaty on torture."
"I know that," he said. "But we're better than them, and we are the stronger for our faith."
In its statement on the veto threat, the White House said the measure would "restrict the president's authority to protect Americans effectively from terrorist attack and bringing terrorists to justice."
But as new allegations of abuse surface, the chorus of McCain supporters is broadening. McCain read a letter on the Senate floor from former secretary of state Colin L. Powell, who endorsed the amendment and said it would help address "the terrible public diplomacy crisis created by Abu Ghraib." Powell joins a growing group of retired generals and admirals who blame prison abuse on "ambiguous instructions," as the officers wrote in a recent letter. They urged restricting interrogation methods to those outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation, the parameters that McCain's measure would establish.
McCain cited a letter he received from Army Capt. Ian Fishback, who has fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Over 17 months, he struggled to get answers from his chain of command to a basic question: What standards apply to the treatment of enemy detainees?" McCain said. "But he found no answers. . . . The Congress has a responsibility to answer this call."
Despite his victory last night, McCain has two major obstacles remaining: House GOP leaders object to attaching it to a spending bill, and Bush could veto it. However, senior GOP Senate aides said they believe the differences could be bridged, either by tweaking the measure or by changing the field manual.
The Maryland and Virginia senators voted for the McCain amendment.
Earlier in the day, tension over Iraq triggered an unusually testy exchange between the chamber's top Republican and top Democrat. Negroponte had accepted yesterday a Sept. 22 invitation from Democrats to brief all senators privately on intelligence matters. But Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said in a floor speech that he had told Negroponte to stay away. Frist said the invitation was a partisan ploy and unnecessary because of periodic briefings to Congress conducted by Negroponte and other administration officials.
"I have been offended" by the Democrats' move, Frist told Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). Reid replied that canceling Negroponte's planned appearance was another example of the administration and its congressional allies refusing to provide information about progress and challenges in the Iraq war and the broader battle against terrorism.
Reid and at least 39 other Democratic senators sent a letter to Bush saying it was unclear whether "your administration has a strategy for success that will preserve our fundamental national security interests and permit us to bring our troops home." The letter called on Bush "to provide direct answers" to several questions, including the number of adequately trained Iraqi security forces that will be needed to allow U.S. troops to begin withdrawing.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) was among several senior Democrats who told reporters that Bush risks a further erosion in public support unless he talks more openly about the challenges in Iraq and realistic plans to overcome them. "It's time the president tell us how he plans on getting us out of the hole he's dug us so deeply into," Biden said.
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The 90-9 vote to set new limits on interrogating detainees is a bipartisan rebuff of the White House.
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Defense Analyst Guilty in Israeli Espionage Case
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2005100619
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A Defense Department analyst pleaded guilty yesterday to passing government secrets to two employees of a pro-Israel lobbying group and revealed for the first time that he also gave classified information directly to an Israeli government official in Washington.
Lawrence A. Franklin told a judge in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that he met at least eight times with Naor Gilon, who was the political officer at the Israeli Embassy before being recalled last summer.
The guilty plea and Franklin's account appeared to cast doubt on long-standing denials by Israeli officials that they engage in any intelligence activities in the United States. The possibility of continued Israeli spying in Washington has been a sensitive subject between the two governments since Jonathan J. Pollard, a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, admitted to spying for Israel in 1987 and was sentenced to life in prison.
David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, said Israeli officials have been approached by U.S. investigators and are cooperating. "We have full confidence in our diplomats, who are dedicated professionals who conduct themselves in full accordance with established diplomatic practices," Siegel said.
Court documents filed along with Franklin's plea said he provided classified data -- including information about a Middle Eastern country's activities in Iraq and weapons tests conducted by a foreign country -- to an unnamed "foreign official."
The country was not named, but as Franklin entered his plea, he disclosed that some of the material he gave the lobbyists related to Iran. His attorneys stopped him from speaking further, and prosecutors immediately accused Franklin of revealing classified information in court.
Franklin said he passed the information because he was "frustrated" with the direction of U.S. policy and thought he could influence it by having them relay the data through "back channels" to officials on the National Security Council. He said he never intended to harm the United States, "not even for a second," and that he received far more information from Gilon than he gave. "I knew in my heart that his government already had the information," he said.
Franklin, 58, a specialist on Iran, pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and a third charge of possessing classified documents. As part of the plea agreement, Franklin has agreed to cooperate in the larger federal investigation.
Legal experts called the plea a major development in the long-running investigation of whether U.S. secrets were passed to the Israeli government. Franklin said he disclosed classified data to two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Those employees, Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, have been charged in what prosecutors said was a broad conspiracy to obtain and illegally pass classified information to foreign officials and news reporters.
Franklin probably will become the star witness against Rosen and Weissman. "This is not good news for the other defendants or for AIPAC," said Michael Greenberger, a former Justice Department official who heads the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland.
Prosecutors have said they have no immediate plans to charge anyone else, but Franklin's cooperation could change that, said Preston Burton, a Washington defense lawyer with long experience in espionage cases.
"Espionage debriefings are exhaustive and meticulous," said Burton, who is a former law partner of a Franklin attorney, Plato Cacheris, but is not involved in the Franklin case.
Also uncertain is how yesterday's developments will affect U.S. ties with Israel. The case has complicated relations between the two countries, which are close allies, and angered many supporters of the American Israel committee, which is considered one of Washington's most influential lobbying organizations.
Gilon is a career Israeli foreign service officer who spent three years in Washington focusing on weapons proliferation issues. His recall to Israel was unrelated to the investigation, Siegel said, and he is awaiting a new foreign posting.
One of Rosen's attorneys, Abbe Lowell, said Franklin's plea "has no impact on our case because a government employee's actions in dealing with classified information is simply not the same as a private person, whether that person is a reporter or a lobbyist."
Rosen, 63, of Silver Spring, is charged with two counts related to unlawful disclosure of national defense information obtained from Franklin and other unidentified government officials since 1999 on topics including Iran, Saudi Arabia and al Qaeda. Rosen was the American Israel committee's director of foreign policy issues and was instrumental in making the committee a formidable political force.
Weissman, 53, of Bethesda, faces one count of conspiracy to illegally communicate national defense information. His attorneys did not return calls late last night. American Israel Public Affairs Committee officials declined comment.
Franklin pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiring to communicate secret information and a third charge of keeping numerous classified documents at his West Virginia home. He said he took the documents home to keep up his expertise and prepare for "point-blank questions" from his bosses, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The Defense Department suspended Franklin, who said in court that he works as a waiter and bartender and at a racetrack. He faces up to 25 years in prison at his sentencing Jan. 20.
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A Defense Department analyst pleaded guilty yesterday to passing government secrets to two employees of a pro-Israel lobbying group and revealed for the first time that he also gave classified information directly to an Israeli government official in Washington.
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Conservatives Confront Bush Aides
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2005100619
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The conservative uprising against President Bush escalated yesterday as Republican activists angry over his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court confronted the president's envoys during a pair of tense closed-door meetings.
A day after Bush publicly beseeched skeptical supporters to trust his judgment on Miers, a succession of prominent conservative leaders told his representatives that they did not. Over the course of several hours of sometimes testy exchanges, the dissenters complained that Miers was an unknown quantity with a thin résumé and that her selection -- Bush called her "the best person I could find" -- was a betrayal of years of struggle to move the court to the right.
At one point in the first of the two off-the-record sessions, according to several people in the room, White House adviser Ed Gillespie suggested that some of the unease about Miers "has a whiff of sexism and a whiff of elitism." Irate participants erupted and demanded that he take it back. Gillespie later said he did not mean to accuse anyone in the room but "was talking more broadly" about criticism of Miers.
The tenor of the two meetings suggested that Bush has yet to rally his own party behind Miers and underscores that he risks the biggest rupture with the Republican base of his presidency. While conservatives at times have assailed some Bush policy decisions, rarely have they been so openly distrustful of the president himself.
Leaders of such groups as Paul M. Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation and the Eagle Forum yesterday declared they could not support Miers at this point, while columnist George Will decried the choice as a diversity pick without any evidence that Miers has the expertise and intellectual firepower necessary for the high court.
As the nominee continued to work the halls of the Senate, the White House took comfort from the more measured response of the Senate Republican caucus and remained confident that most if not all of its members ultimately will support her. Yet even some GOP senators continued to voice skepticism of Miers, including Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who pronounced himself "not comfortable."
"Is she the most qualified person? Clearly, the answer to that is 'no,' " Lott said on MSNBC's "Hardball," contradicting Bush's assertion. "There are a lot more people -- men, women and minorities -- that are more qualified, in my opinion, by their experience than she is. Now, that doesn't mean she's not qualified, but you have to weigh that. And then you have to also look at what has been her level of decisiveness and competence, and I don't have enough information on that yet."
The persistent criticism has put the White House on the defensive ever since Bush announced Monday his decision to nominate Miers to succeed the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor. While Miers has a long career as a commercial lawyer, Texas political figure and personal attorney to Bush before joining him at the White House, she has never been a judge or dealt extensively with the sorts of constitutional issues that occupy the Supreme Court.
Bush tried to defuse the smoldering conservative revolt with a Rose Garden news conference Tuesday, and the White House followed up yesterday by dispatching Gillespie, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman and presidential aide Tim Goeglein to meetings that regularly bring together the city's most influential fiscal, religious and business conservatives.
"The message of the meetings was the president consulted with 80 United States senators but didn't consult with the people who elected him," said Manuel A. Miranda, a former nominations counsel for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who attended both private meetings.
Weyrich, who hosted one of the meetings, said afterward that he had rarely seen the level of passion at one of his weekly sessions. "This kind of emotional thing will not happen" often, Weyrich said. But he feared the White House advisers did not really grasp the seriousness of the conservative grievance. "I don't know if they got the message. I didn't sense that they really understand where people were coming from."
Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform and host of the other meeting, declined to comment on the discussion because of its presumption of confidentiality but said there is widespread concern given the experience with the nomination of Justice David H. Souter, who proved more liberal once on the bench. "There's a great deal of frustration because of the Souter experience," Norquist said. "The problem is there's no fixing, there's no allaying those fears. For the president to say 'Trust me,' it's what he needs to say and has to say, but it doesn't calm the waters."
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The conservative uprising against President Bush escalated yesterday as Republican activists angry over his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court confronted the president's envoys during a pair of tense closed-door meetings.
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GOP Divided Over Range and Severity of Spending Cuts
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2005100619
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President Bush's call for spending cuts to offset the cost of hurricane relief has sharply split the Republican Party, with small- government conservatives emboldened to scale back the overall reach of government while moderates drive for more anti-poverty spending, not less.
The rift is growing wider as Congress moves toward a late-October deadline to produce legislation saving at least $35 billion from social welfare and health care programs over the next five years. That target was set this spring by a budget blueprint that narrowly passed Congress, largely along party lines.
Now, House Republican leaders, with Bush's encouragement, hope to raise the target to $38.5 billion, while cutting billions more from other federal programs. Some House conservatives say if they don't get at least that much, they may revolt against the GOP leaders.
"I can tell you if we don't see more than rhetoric, this leadership team is not secure," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
For moderate Republicans and Democrats, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath proved the need for more government, not less. Calls for austerity in other anti-poverty programs to pay for hurricane relief have elicited major protests -- especially since nearly $300 billion in emergency spending on the war in Iraq has never been offset by cuts in other areas or tax increases.
"There's this pent-up feeling that we've been working too hard on the president's agenda and not enough on what we want," said Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), an outspoken moderate.
After nearly five years of budget busting, the rush of spending since Katrina struck the Gulf Coast has awakened Congress's interest in controlling the budget deficit. With $71 billion in Katrina-related spending and tax cuts passed so far, a deficit projected to be around $314 billion for the fiscal year that began this month could be pushed toward $400 billion.
To stem that tide, House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) yesterday proposed increasing the $35 billion entitlement savings target by 10 percent, to $38.5 billion, while imposing a 2 percent across-the-board cut to federal programs subject to Congress's annual spending bills. That "haircut" would produce $16 billion in savings, still far short of the hurricane relief already approved.
"This is a down payment," he said. "This is not making that much of a dent in the total amount that will be needed to deal with all the proposals in their totality for the Gulf."
But for all the talk of fiscal discipline since Katrina hit, the momentum may be going in the opposite direction. Northeastern Republicans yesterday backed an amendment offered by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) that would boost home heating assistance for low-income people by $3.1 billion, to help cope with soaring natural gas and fuel costs.
Sens. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) are resurrecting legislation that would expand the benefits of the child tax credit by granting rebates to families too poor to pay income taxes -- at a cost of about $1 billion a year.
And with the Senate Finance Committee deeply divided since Katrina, Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) is trying to expand Medicaid and cut it at the same time. Last night, Grassley presented Republican committee members draft legislation that would cut Medicaid's growth by as much as $12 billion over five years, exceeding the goal laid out in the budget. But most of that savings in spending on medical care for the poor would be lost with an expansion of Medicaid eligibility and federal reimbursement spending to help Katrina's evacuees.
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President Bush's call for spending cuts to offset the cost of hurricane relief has sharply split the Republican Party, with small- government conservatives emboldened to scale back the overall reach of government while moderates drive for more anti-poverty spending, not less.
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Lips Bearing a Presidential Seal
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You would think one of the side effects of the president's slide from Top Gun would be an eruption of disloyal memoirs. Since the outbursts of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and terrorism czar Richard Clarke, there's been a lack of literary lava out of Washington's Mount Vesuvius.
Karen Hughes's memoir was as purpose-driven as her pantsuit. Ari Fleischer's was about as revealing as one of his briefings. ("After the press conference was over," he confides, "I joined the president in the residence and told him I thought he did great. He felt good, too, as he reclined in his chair and lit a cigar.") No doubt John Ashcroft has something in the works, but after the thudding dullness of his CNN commentary on the Roberts hearings it seems likely he'll be singing from the administration hymn sheet. And I don't think anyone is waiting with bated breath for a color-coded page-turner from former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, who on the job always wore a stunned-ox look.
In London it's a lot more fun. Some of Tony Blair's inner circle have gotten sick of waiting for him to go and have started to dribble out their indiscretions. Lance Price, a bitchy number two in the Blair press office, has done a sort of "The Devil Wears Cufflinks" job about life in the spin factory, featuring New Labor aides copulating on a Downing Street sofa and the PM saying uncharacteristically profane things about the Welsh.
Then there's the impending memoir "DC Confidential," by Sir Christopher Meyer, former ambassador to Washington, who knows a lot of tasty stuff about the days leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Its publication has been heralded by a Web leak that Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, instructed Meyer to "get up the arse of the White House and stay there" -- which sounds way better than anything we are likely to get from the churchy crew over here.
The most substantive of the Brit bunch will probably be the ruminations of Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Blair's man in Iraq in the Paul Bremer days. Greenstock has the subtle intelligence and watchful eye of a Graham Greene narrator. The mere thought of the book already has the British Foreign Office so exercised that Greenstock has decided to postpone it rather than censor it.
The big kahuna everyone waits for is Alastair Campbell, Blair's bombastic former communications guru. Campbell, who is as colorful as he is irreverent, made it known that he wrote in his diary every night of the seven years he was in No. 10 and plans to let 'er rip as soon as the door closes on Blair.
This is the big, boring difference in Washington. Except for the female president's daughter on ABC's "Commander in Chief," everyone is far too scared of subpoenas to keep a diary. (Blogs are not the same. Despite their pretense at candor, blogs are for effect.) A really juicy memoir has to be drawn from private contemporaneous scribbling, with the casual planting of major characters, the admissions of self-doubt, the gradual unfolding of consternations and omens. (Lance Price's diary, Jan. 19, 1999: "Tony seems almost bored with the ordinary stuff and interested only in the foreign leaders, Clinton, wars, etc. I get a sense of impending doom if not gloom.") You don't get the plot surprises by talking into a ghostwriter's tape recorder years later.
The demise of diary writing may also contribute to Washington's political distemper. The inability to vent recklessly on the page or confide secret grandiosity that looks ridiculous two weeks later is as bad for the psyche of power as it is for historians in search of the truth. There is no one here today who could risk writing entries as revealing of social attitudes as those from 1915 to 1951 by Duff Cooper, the British diplomat and minister in Winston Churchill's war cabinet who died in 1954. In these late-night pages, which have just been published in book form, Cooper effortlessly, unhypocritically mingles adultery with dinner parties, political observations and breezy bulletins of the war dead. Disaster seemed as casual then as extramarital affairs, without the overheating of round-the-clock media.
Cheney, Rummy and Rove are hardly likely to break omerta at this late date. Given the insipidness of the rest of W's loyalists, the only memoirs I want to read from this administration are those of President Bush himself, even if they're garnered from the marginalia in his well-thumbed copy of "My Utmost for His Highest." We've learned to parse his news conferences for body language and fractured phrases. We can decode what he doesn't say. When he tells us for instance that he has chosen Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court because he knows her "heart," we know he's confirming her fealty.
And maybe a Bush memoir will give us a road map at least to some of the mysterious gaps and silences of the past five years. What was really going on during the missing hours on 9/11 aboard Air Force One, or in the interlude after Election Day 2000 when he vanished from sight and then emerged talking as if he were already president? I want to know about that lazy hidden summer of 2001 when the Aug. 6 presidential daily briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." moldered in his in box, and why the governor of Louisiana couldn't find him when Hurricane Katrina was devastating the Gulf Coast. I want chapter and verse on the incident with the invasive pretzel. I want to deduce from parsing the punctuation the precise moment in the war in Iraq when his mood changed from swaggering certainty to the suppressed panic that now hovers at the corners of his mouth every time he goes into the herky-jerky routine of The War! On Terror! I want to know when the president first knew that the Valerie Plame leak was going to cause the long arm of the law to reach into the heart of his inner circle.
Bush these days seems more and more like Fredo Corleone in "The Godfather: Part II," wrestling with barely hidden rage and anxiety and relying more and more on the balm of loyal consiglieri who he believes won't give him up. It could make for a great memoir. Or better still . . . a novel. There's an amazing story inside that white box of a black box, full of shrieking.
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You would think one of the side effects of the president's slide from Top Gun would be an eruption of disloyal memoirs. Since the outbursts of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and terrorism czar Richard Clarke, there's been a lack of literary lava out of Washington's Mount Vesuvius.
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Brand Xed
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2005100619
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The laser shoots a beam of light that looks like fire and makes a sizzling noise -- Bzzzzzt! -- as it moves across Melissa Morrissette's tattoo. Morrissette winces. She closes her eyes, which are covered by orange goggles, and takes long, slow breaths, fighting the pain. It hurts to get a tattoo removed.
"It's 10 times more painful than getting it put on," she says.
The tattoo is on her left arm -- three ankhs connected in a circle around her biceps. An ankh is a cross topped with a loop, an ancient Egyptian symbol of eternal life. Morrissette, 37, has worn it for seven years. But now she's a real-estate agent working for an Annapolis company that doesn't permit visible tattoos. For a year, she covered it with long sleeves, but this summer she decided to get it removed. That's why she's here in the Laser Center of Maryland in Severna Park, paying $1,700 for six laser treatments that sting and burn.
Waiting to get zapped, her skin numbed by a cream, she remembers the day she got the tattoo, when the guy wielding the needle had a burst of artistic inspiration and decided to add flourishes.
"I could feel him doing something different and I looked and saw these red lines coming out of the ankh," she recalls. "I said, 'What's that?' And he said, 'It's a mystic mist.' I said, 'What does that mean?' To me, it looked like varicose veins."
She had to hire another tattoo artist to cover up those red lines with a reddish-orange cloud.
Now, seven years later, the whole glorious artwork is being blasted away.
"The interesting thing about tattoo removal," says Ross Van Antwerp, the doctor who founded the Laser Center of Maryland, "is that there's always a story behind every tattoo."
Over 16 years, Van Antwerp, 52, has erased thousands of tattoos and heard thousands of tattoo stories -- bizarre stories, hilarious stories, stories that support the recent revelation that human beings are 98 percent genetically identical to the chimpanzee.
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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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At Last, Fiona Apple's Finely Tuned 'Machine'
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2005100619
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Viewers of the recent Martin Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan will recall that the famed folkie released three of history's best albums -- "Blonde on Blonde" included -- in a 14-month period. And one of those was a double-disc set. Today, instead, we have singer/songwriter/musical martyr Fiona Apple who -- thanks to a well-documented combination of record label fumbling and artistic inertia -- took six years to release just one disc, her sublime new "Extraordinary Machine."
Inevitably, it isn't worth the wait -- "Blonde on Blonde" wouldn't have been worth that kind of wait, either -- but "Machine" is still pretty great, a giddy, inventive album that's one of the finest of the year. Originally recorded with longtime producer Jon Brion, "Extraordinary Machine" was, as almost everyone knows by now, shelved and (mostly) re-recorded with Mike Elizondo, a less auteur-y producer known for his work with Dr. Dre. Those who've heard the earlier version, which was leaked onto the Internet, will find that "Extraordinary" Part Deux doesn't differ too drastically from its predecessor, though it's been considerably stripped-down, smoothed out, and shorn of many, though not all, of its quirks.
The two surviving Brion tracks bookend the album: the closing piano-and-strings ballad "Waltz (Better Than Fine)" is a pointed ode to doing nothing ("No I don't believe in the wasting of time / But I don't believe that I'm wasting mine"); the opening title track is a spindly, faux-cabaret number that owes a great debt to both early Rufus Wainwright (another Brion client) and Gilbert and Sullivan. It simultaneously showcases the genius of the Apple/Brion collaborations (it's a nervy, superlative song) and demonstrates why an album filled with those collaborations would have been unworkable (about halfway through it would have begun to uncomfortably resemble Jewel fronting a road company production of "The Pirates of Penzance").
The rest of "Machine" is more restrained and linear, though by no means conventional. Most of the tracks here are meaty mid-tempo ballads that subtly tweak the standard singer-at-her-piano formula. There are standard, muted beats but most of the songs rely on unexpected instruments like optigans and marimbas: The bristly "Oh Well" is constructed around a gently wheezing pump organ and a French horn; "O' Sailor," precisely the sort of torchy ballad at which Apple excels, relies on strings and a Chamberlain; the slinky, sublime "Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)" is erected around a fuzzed-out organ.
Apple's voice is as much of a miracle as it ever was, and her songwriting is as crisp and unexpected. Who else could get away with couplets like: "I opened my eyes while you were kissing me once / And you looked as sincere as a dog / When it's the food on your lips / With which it's in love"?
Apple's gaze remains as inwardly focused as ever (there are Hilton sisters who are less self-involved), and while "Machine" concerns itself almost totally with a bad love affair, it is appealing even in its most indulgent moments. "My method is uncertain / It's a mess but it's working," she sings at one point, and she's half right. Apple is too good at what she does to be regarded as the erratic aunt of alt-pop, which is what happens when you take almost two presidential administrations to make an album. If she wants to claim her rightful place alongside the best artists of her generation, she had better get moving.
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Viewers of the recent Martin Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan will recall that the famed folkie released three of history's best albums -- "Blonde on Blonde" included -- in a 14-month period. And one of those was a double-disc set. Today, instead, we have singer/songwriter/musical martyr Fiona...
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Ask Tom - washingtonpost.com
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In a city loaded with diverse restaurants, from New American chic and upscale Italian to sandwich shops and burritos on the run, finding the best places to eat can be a real puzzle. Where's the best restaurant for a first date or an anniversary? Father's Day? What's the best burger joint? Who has the best service?
Ask Tom. Tom Sietsema , The Washington Post's food critic, is on hand Wednesdays at 11 a.m. ET to answer your questions, listen to your suggestions and even entertain your complaints about Washington dining. Sietsema, a veteran food writer, has sampled the wares and worked as a critic in Washington, Seattle, San Francisco and Milwaukee, and can talk restaurants with the best of 'em. You can access his Postcards from Tom to read his recommendations for other cities or read transcripts of previous "Ask Tom" chats . Tom's Sunday magazine reviews, as well as his "Ask Tom" column, are available early on the Web.
Tom Sietsema: News flashlette: Diners have until New Year's Eve to savor the cooking of chef Ris Lacoste at 1789, who told me yesterday that she intends to leave the venerable Georgetown address --- after a 10-year run -- to begin the process of opening her own place somewhere in Washington.
Lacoste, who turns 50 in January, calls the change "a birthday present to myself."
Much as the chef says she "loves the '89, my staff, its traditions," she says she needs the time away from full-time cooking to pursue the project ("I won't have a mistress anymore," she jokes.)
The idea for her restaurant is still in the works, but will be something that her regulars will be comfortable with, the chef promises. "I want a scene, something really fun and delicious." She intends to incorporate her interest in music, theater and the visual arts into her next restaurant, too: "If I'm going to be there 15-20 hours a day, I want to surround myself with things I love."
As of the moment, the restaurant does not have a replacement in mind. But whoever it is will have big pumps to fill.
In other news, I got a call last week from George Vetsch, whose work at Etrusco prompted me to award the Italian restaurant three stars ("excellent") earlier this year. I was subsequently surprised to hear negative reports from some readers and returned twice, a few months after my review, to see what the problem was. Indeed, the food was no where near as memorable as what I had experienced earlier.
Unbeknownst to me, Vetsch injured his hand -- badly -- shortly after my review and was unable to cook. In fact, his injury is so serious he can no longer work in a kitchen, period, and is considering a move to the front of the house (though not at Etrusco, which is looking for a replacement). I wish the chef well -- but I also wish I had known about the problem earlier.
Arlington, Va.: Each week, my wife and I, both ardent readers of your chat, wager a dinner out on who gets their question answered first. She is cleaning up. So my question this week is, where should I have her take me for dinner this Friday night for a moderate "masculine" meal (bbq/steak/potatoes) that she can also tolerate (good wine/tablecloths)? I'm reasonably confident the ESPNZone will not fly. ---Love ya, honey!---
Tom Sietsema: Artie's in Fairfax comes to mind. You can have your ribs, she can have a nice glass of vino. A table on the "front porch" (as opposed to the boat-themed main room) is gender neutral.
I would really appreciate your help! My boyfriend's birthday is later this month, and I have never treated him to a true culinary and dining experience. What restaurants have really knocked your socks off recently?
I guess I'm just asking where you would go for a very special occasion in Washington metro area, if money were no object. He has taken me to Citronelle and Galileo, so I'd like to try something else if possible.
Tom Sietsema: Stay tuned. I have some recommendations for you in my fall dining guide, which comes out October 16.
I dined at Zola last night for my birthday dinner. And while the starters and entrees were good, the real treat was the s'mores fondue dessert. Warm melted Scharffenberger bittersweet chocolate served with graham "crackers"--more like cake, homemade marshmallows, bananas, and strawberries. It was a fun dessert to share with my husband. I just thought others might like to know about this fun dessert.
Tom Sietsema: Fun -- and tasty -- it is.
Bethesda, Md.: Good Morning Tom:
Had a fabulous experience at Matchbox this week - the service was amazing and the food divine. I couldn't have been more pleased about the way my evening turned out. We had dined at 1789 the night before, service was slow (2 hours to get an entree) and spotty (no sugar or cream brought with tea) the contrast was astounding! The waiter at Matchbox was knowledgeable about the menu, made suggestions based on our likes not what was more expensive, and quickly solved the one minor problem that popped up. He was even able to recite the ingredients in a dish to put my friend at ease about allergies. None of us ate pizza; instead we enjoyed entrees worthy of any upscale American restaurant. Matchbox is a neighborhood treasure that I was happy to travel to, why doesn't it get more of the spotlight in your chat?
Tom Sietsema: Probably because I haven't eaten there in recent months and chatters haven't asked about it. I'm glad to hear a positive report from the field, however.
Pleeeeease answer me, you HOT HUNK OF FOOD WRITING LOVE!: There. Hopefully, I got your attention! It's my hubby's b-day this weekend and I need to make a reservation NOW! He was thinking maybe a steakhouse, but we're open. Can you give me some suggestions of places that won't totally leave our baby unclothed throughout the winter ('cause we spent too much $$$)? DC/Bethesda area (or even B-more...we live in Columbia). Just a great and memorable meal, cool atmosphere and yummy desserts....
Tom Sietsema: Flattery will get you everywhere (or at least get your question answered!)
If you've got steak on your mind, try Lewnes' in Annapolis (near you) or the Capital Grille in Washington (which has some great service and desserts in addition to slabs of meat).
I'm looking for a restaurant in Downtown DC to hold a dinner for around 60 people. I would like to avoid going to a hotel or larger venue and ideally find a restaurant with a private room that can accommodate the large group. This is an annual dinner and last year it was held at Zola - which was great. I would like to find another restaurant along the same lines - new, great food, upscale, and not too stuffy if possible. Any suggestions that you might have would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Tom Sietsema: What about the back room at the spruced up Marcel's? Vidalia downtown? Heritage India on Connecticut Ave?
Washington, D.C.: Good morning Tom,
A friend and me are avid readers of your reviews, and especially your chats. We got together to for dinner earlier this week at our favorite Indian restaurant, Nirvana. While we were eating, I noticed that it's never been very busy when we've had dinner there. What gives? We love their food, their service, their vibe, and their daily all-you-can-eat deals from various Indian regions. We are NOT employed there; we are just very concerned about their life span. I said, "We should ask Tom!" We know you
like Nirvana, but do you have any sense as to why they don't get more traffic? Or maybe we just miss their busy nights?
Tom Sietsema: It is PACKED at lunch. I mean, really hoppin'. I can't account for the slow nights, other than to surmise that its many fans leave downtown after work.
Gal Bonding in Va.: Hi, Tom. I am gathering a group of 7 women together in honor of a wedding and am desperately seeking lunch site inspiration. We will be in Falls Church for some dress shopping, and I was hoping to find an inexpensive place (all but Indian or Middle Eastern) that is cool-looking/fun, yet serves good food...thoughts?
BTW, how do you rate importance of atmosphere in your star system?
Tom Sietsema: I'm partial to Huong Que (Four Sisters), which offers a pretty setting and terrific service along with very appealing Vietnamese fare.
To answer your other question, atmosphere accounts for about a quarter of my star ratings.
Washington, D.C.: Overheard at Cafe Berlin on Capitol Hill:
Woman 1: Is this still Two Quail?
Woman 2 (looking at the promotion umbrellas): No, this place is called Bittburger.
Brookeville, Md.: Tom just wanted to make you and the readers aware that Famous Dave's is serving up some excellent barbeque in the Kentlands. The service is also top notch for a barbeque place. I watched the server and manager tend to a lady who didn't care for what she'd ordered and they went way out of their way to take care of her.
The food is much better than Urban, O'Briens and Barbeque Man.
Tom Sietsema: Thanks for the tip!
Big Disappointment: Can I give you a heads up on a restaurant NOT to review? Town Hall in Glover Park. Don't waste your time. Extremely disappointing follow up to Saveur.
Tom Sietsema: That's what I'm hearing, too ....
Here's one of those northern/southern issues that Washington brings into stark relief at the dining table.
Are there ANY restaurants in the city that can give you a decent (sufficiently strong, not as in one tea bag steeped in 4 gallons of water for 15 seconds) glass of sweetened iced tea (sweet, but not so much that a glass kicks your blood sugar to Type 2 levels)?
I've almost given up, convinced that it can't be found. You are my last hope...
Tom Sietsema: If any place can do it, it has to be Vidalia.
Quick bite before the caps game: Hi Tom! Please answer! My husband are snagged tickets to the Capitals Game tonight - it's our first hockey game ever! We'd like to grab a quick bite to eat beforehand - any suggestions around the MCI Center? Thanks!
Tom Sietsema: The new drinx (that's how it's spelled) is perfectly pleasant. It's at 601 F St. NW.
Looking for a good, medium priced restaurant on Capitol Hill for Saturday night for six ladies. What do you recommend?
Tom Sietsema: The French-themed Montmartre.
Adventurous Diner in Clarendon, Va.: Hi Tom,
My girlfriend just got an awesome new job, and this Friday I'm taking her out to celebrate. The problem is, I have no clue where to go, since there seems to be an influx of great new restaurants in DC.
I was thinking of Dino or Al Crostino until I read your reviews. Other places we've enjoyed in the past include Matchbox, Oyamel, Zaytinya, and Pesce. Something with a real "city" vibe and excellent food are musts - price isn't a huge factor, but I can't afford Maestro.
Tom Sietsema: The newish Tabaq Bistro on U St. is great fun, and I really like its selection of mezze (Mediterranean small plates). Aim for a seat on the rooftop. The recently reviewed Mark and Orlando's in Dupont Circle is also charming, though not quite as "sexy."
Arlington, Va.: Looking for someplace in Georgetown for a casual-ish lunch. Preferably someplace to sit at the bar and have a beer with lunch.
Tom Sietsema: Try Clyde's, Pizzeria Paradiso or Mendocino Grille
I wanted to notify your readers that over 60 restaurants in the District and many in Virginia and Maryland will be participating in an event titled "Dine for America", where over 16,000 restaurants across the nation will be donating a portion of their sales, or collecting donations from their customers, in support of the American Red Cross disaster relief efforts to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Establishments such as 1789 and Capital Grille are participating, but even if people are just grabbing a coffee, Caribou Coffee is also on board. A full list of restaurants can be found at www.dineforamerica.org. If people are dining out tonight, we would encourage them to dine for America to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina and Rita
Tom Sietsema: Thanks for the reminder!
Silver Spring, Md.: Have a hankerin' for Greek food. What's the best in the city, in your opinion? And is Zaytinya worth the high prices and long wait?
Tom Sietsema: The best Greek cooking is, in fact, at Zaytinya. I don't think the prices are high, considering the quality of the ingredients, but the place is LOUD. Mourayo on Conn. Ave. is fun, cozy and a bit more traditional.
Washington, D.C.: Hi, Tom. There always seems to be a fair amount of "Don't eat at X when Y is so much better for Ethiopian/tapas/seafood/etc." All your readers, even me, want the best dining experience possible. So I am submitting a plug for an event your readers might enjoy, DC Central Kitchen's Capital Bite Night where many of the boldface names that we discuss every week will compete head to head to be the best. The winner of the 2004 battle, Ris Lacoste of 1789, is back to defend her title against all challengers. Vying for the title are Greggory Hill of David Greggory, Morou of Signatures and Katsuya Fukushima of Cafe Atlantico. They'll be joined by special guest, Celebrity Chef Mark Bittman, author of the best selling How to Cook Everything and the Minimalist column in the New York Times. The event takes place at the Ronald Reagan Building on 18 October.
Tom Sietsema: Sounds like fun to me (even though Bittman has gone on record saying there's not much worth eating in our fair city. I'll forgive him. Once.)
Burke, Va.: C'mon Tom, throw that poor girl a bone in advance of your Fall Dining Guide -- she's not going to have much luck getting a reservation at a really good restaurant if she has to wait until the last minute...
Tom Sietsema: Okay. Here's a bone: Restaurant Eve's tasting room in Alexandria for a special occasion.
Upper Marlboro, Md.: We went to Notti Bianche on your review/recommendation last Saturday. Probably never would have gone there otherwise just because of the location. Excellent. Well worth the trip. We had 3 different appetizers, 4 different entrees, and 2 different desserts and all were superb. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't overly expensive either. The same price I would have paid for a nice dinner in the burbs. Thanks.
Tom Sietsema: Mr. Chittum is doing some really delicious work over there. Glad you liked his efforts as much as I did.
Reston, Va.: Husband and I recently were BLOWN AWAY by our experience at Restaurant Eve. I work in Old Town and must have walked down that street hundreds of times without going in. Our night in the tasting room easily ranks in my Top 5 dinners of all time and we have traveled to great restaurants all over the country and world. I really think it was that good.
That being said, do you think it is reasonable for us to visit the main dining room next time. While we found the tasting room enjoyable, we both admitted on our next visit we may rather "just" do the typical dining experience.
But boy the menu there was a real treat.
Tom Sietsema: The bistro is really good, but it's a totally different experience.
If you had to choose between the following right now, which would it be for a great dinner out - one that won't disappoint, from start to finish, beginning with service down to the food: Kinkead's, CityZen, Oceannaire, and Sam & Harry's. I'm not looking for a place based on reputation alone. Or, any other suggestions for a can't miss place would be appreciated. Thanks!
Tom Sietsema: I think Oceanaire does a great job of serving a lot of good food in attractive environs. It's part of a chain, but doesn't come across as one. I've not been to CityZen in some time, but I've certainly admired the chef's menu when I reviewed the place earlier this year.
Long Island, N.Y.: Tom, I lived in DC for 3 years and just returned to the NY area. Still read and LOVE your chats. I'll be in town this weekend and need to pick between my two favorite restaurants -- Sushi-Ko or the Quarterdeck (I know, big difference!). What would you choose? Or is there a third restaurant you'd recommend throwing in the mix? Thanks so much...
Tom Sietsema: Sushi-Ko is a blast. Go, go, go! And be sure to sit at the counter.
Please, please, please answer my question. I am having a little lunch time party at Andale on the 22nd and I am sure that most of us will be interested in continuing the good time after we leave the restaurant. Where would you take 6-8 people for drinks in that area? Most places aren't open that early in the afternoon on a Saturday. Please help!
Tom Sietsema: Poste? Rosa Mexicana? Zola? All are nearby, all are good for cocktails.
C'mon Tom: I usually follow lock-step with your reviews. However, Restaurant Eve doesn't live up to its top billing status. Yes, dinner in the tasting room is good, but at premium prices ($150pp w/wine pairings), you might as well go to Citronelle, Maestro, or one of the other special event places.
Tom Sietsema: I disagree. Cathal Armstrong is a very serious and talented chef. I could eat his food every day. It is DIFFERENT from that of the restaurants you mention, but it is nevertheless stellar.
Washington, D.C.: What is the deal with Landrum and the new place in Silver Spring? Enough of the Ray's the Steaks secrets already.
Tom Sietsema: Last I heard, the place is expected to open around Thanksgiving.
Artie's: Tom, you recommended the couple go to Artie's. I love that place. I miss working in Fairfax, but even closer is the sister restaurant Silverado for a fine dinner in a male friendly atmosphere.
Tom Sietsema: Thanks for the additional option.
PLEASE GIVE ME AN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION - I'm looking for a restaurant that has a seafood buffet that includes all-you-can eat Sushi. Does one exist in the area?
Tom Sietsema: Chatters? (I know of no such place. Not a big fan of "all-you-can-eat," either.)
Columbia, Md.: I am planning a weekend in D.C. (hotel, spa, top-notch restaurant) as a surprise for my husband's 30th birthday in a couple months, and I need some guidance re: the restaurant aspect. I want something very upscale and price is no object. I was thinking either Citronelle or Laboratorio (we have never been to either). The problem is that my husband doesn't like seafood, and I'm wondering if this would be a problem at Laboratorio since it is a set chef's menu? Of all of the restaurants in DC, where would you recommend we go? I want it to be a special-occasion-type place. Thanks, I love your chats so much!
Tom Sietsema: I'm a big fan of both restaurants, but I'd probably be most eager to return to Citronelle. At Laboratorio, twelve courses of food -- even when prepared by a soulful cook like Roberto Donna --is too much and too long an evening for this diner. At the Lab, by the way, guests are asked about food preferences when they reserve a table, so it's not a problem if your mate doesn't "do" seafood.
Herndon, Va.: Help! My boyfriend's mother is coming to town and has indicated an interest in Sunday brunch in Georgetown. I need to take her to a place that has relatively mainstream bistro food. I researched the Entertainment Guide and it seems I may be limited to Clyde's/Mr. Smith's/Chadwick's. Any other ideas? I'd like to stay in walking distance from the heart of G'town. Thanks!
Tom Sietsema: Bistro Francais is just what you're looking for.
Ellicott City, Md.: Submitted many times, but never got a reply. Do we have to extremely flattering to be recognized. Just Plain Doe's will not do looks like it. Love your reviews, but have been lately disappointed in not getting any response without a bling.
Ellicott City, Md.: Hi Tom, Greetings from Baltimore. We were in Boston last week for college weekend, and we wanted to take our son out to dinner. Checked out your postcards from the hotel and found a hotel you reviewed way back in 2002, Oleana. New to Boston we totally got lost getting there with my husband and kids being cynical that maybe your review was too outdated. But the person at the reception was very patient giving us directions multiple times and was still smiling and warm when we got there about 30 minutes late for our 10 pm reservation. They told us since they close at 11 they had no problems. Food was simply great and I saw in the menu that the chef Anna had won the 2005 James Beard award. Thanks. Also wanted to remind your "Washington" area readers who tend to claim you as their own, we in Baltimore also like to lay claim to your reviews.
Tom Sietsema: Thanks for the kind words -- and your family is right to be skeptical of reviews that are a few years old. I'm happy to keep sending people to Oleana (in Cambridge) and pleased to hear glowing reviews in return.
Vienna, Va.: Which restaurants in this are serve the best bread during meals?
(I'm not referring necessarily to bread included in sandwiches, etc., but if you feel there are any worth mentioning, feel free.)
Tom Sietsema: I could eat a whole loaf of those yeasty, bite-size, salt-flecked rolls dished out before dinner at CityZen.
Okay, now it's YOUR turn:
Reston,Va.: Dear Tom, I wanted to thank you for your review of Patowmack Farm in Loudon County VA. We have taken all types of diners there from jaded foodies to folks whose usual place of dinning is more likely to be TGI Fridays than huate cuisine all have loved the experience and the food.
Fri. night we took my in-laws who were in town from Walla-Walla WA,(I love saying that name) to dinner there we had the seven course tasting menu. The things that really stood out were the Mustard Crusted Lamb chops with a parsnip puree and pommeray sage cream My husband favorite was the Alaskan King Salmon with wilted chard creamy polenta and vanilla lobster reduction. I was not able to eat the salmon due to the fact I have a severe shellfish allergy. No worries, Chef Evans made my salmon with a very yummy saffron cream that was to die for. All in all my husband's parents were blown away,the meal came to around $385.00 for four with wine. Believe me I have spent more for less sad to say. Why go to the Inn at Little Washington or haul tail to D.C.? When right in Northern VA you have a place that has such a great setting and wonderful food? I can't wait eat there after the first snow. The glass enclosed garden room is heated and charmingly lit. So all I can say is go to Patowmack Farm for dinner or brunch and you will not be disappointed. Once again thank you for your great review.
Tom Sietsema: Glad to hear you had fun there. The views are pretty fabulous, aren't they? I'm not sure the place is open in winter, but I can imagine it being a lovely place to find myself.
Rockville, Md.: Please help! I'm taking my family out to dinner and am thinking about the following places - Addies, Il Pizzico, Grapeseed, Mon Ami Gabi, or L'oustalet. I eventually want to hit all of them, but which should be my first? Thanks so much!!!
Tom Sietsema: My vote is cast for Addie's.
Alexandria, Va.: Tom: Lots of new restaurants have opened in the D.C. area in recent months. Can you mention three or four highlights? We've got a chance for a nice meal out this weekend, and we're looking to try something that recently opened. Sonoma is already on our list. And we're up for anything.
Tom Sietsema: (Why do I always feel like these posts are from chefs wondering what I think of their new restaurants?)
Young sprouts showing promise: Willow in Arlington and Dahlia in Spring Valley.
Washington, D.C.: Last week I wrote in asking where I should take my boyfriend's brother, who returned from Iraq, to eat his first meal back in Georgetown. I went to Sea Catch, which you suggested, and I was very dissapointed. The food was expensive for it being so mediocre in quality. One dish was gross and the others were bland and uninteresting. Their bread basket looked and tasted like a hunk of wonder bread. While I don't eat in Georgetown, I eat downtown for business during the week quite often and I'm used to better quality for that price.
BUT - more importantly, there was a sports game and 2 dozen people shouting and screaming at a TV DIRECTLY behind us!!! They were loud and obnoxious, doing shots, screaming at the TV and one of them was making loud lewd comments. I think the manager should have done something, moved our table, take something off the bill, etc, but he did NOTHING! Even after one of the party told the manager he hadn't realized he was spending hundreds of dollars to sit in a sports bar. Our waitress apologized, but that was about it. Everyone was upset and dinner was ruined and I felt horrible and embarassed because it had been my suggestion. We left to have dessert elsewhere, and thankfully, that was better.
None of us will ever return to this restaurant and I plan on discouraging going there to all my friends and business colleagues. I am flabbergasted that nothing was done to alleviate the situation. Is it so wrong to think they should have done something?
Tom Sietsema: I'm sorry you had such an unfortunate experience at Sea Catch -- especially since your guest probably hadn't had more than MREs for awhile. Yes, the manager should have relocated your party to a more sedate part of the restaurant (which exists). Did you ask?
Centreville, Va.: Sho Chiku in Centreville by Grand Mart is great for sushi buffet. Lunch everyday $11.95!
Tom Sietsema: There you go, Mr. All-You-Can-Eat.
Seafood/sushi: Todai is a fun japanese seafood/sushi buffet place. I can't vouch for the particular location, but there is one in Fairfax.
Tom Sietsema: And another suggestion.
McPherson Square, Washington, D.C.: Tom,
Going to Montreal next Wednesday so this is my last chance to ask you. Any recommendations for good restaurants there? Good atmosphere, nothing too fancy, bistro is ok (love those!) but where the food is really something to write home about?
Tom Sietsema: Check out my Postcard column archives. Don't miss L'Express, a lovely bistro.
Best bread: I love the tomato covered bread dipped in olive oil at Teatro Goldoni!
Tom Sietsema: Sounds delicious. (Now THERE'S a place I haven't visited in a long long time....)
Washington, D.C.: The bread basket at Majestic Cafe in Old Town is always wonderful. Biscuits and corn bread, yum.
Woodbridge, Va.: Ozzie rolls from Best Buns Bakery (the fried dough balls-delish!!) served at Great American restaurants (Artie's, Mike's American, Sweetwater Tavern etc)
Tom Sietsema: I'm getting full just reading about all these carbs.
Go to Lewnes!!!: For the woman looking for steak, go to Lewnes. Food is good, and afterwards they can go over to the charthouse for drinks in the lounge, and enjoy the waterviews. The boatshows are in Annapolis for the next two weekends, so make reservations; traffic usually clears out by 7pm.
Tom Sietsema: Sounds like a great game plan there. (My, what a nice and helpful audience we have this morning. Obviously, we all got a good night's rest and plenty of coffee today.)
McLean, Va.: Tom -- you have said a couple of times today somthing along the lines of" "XXX might be ok, but I haven't been there is awhile." Can we safely assume that if you said that about a restaurant it won't be in the dining guide? I seem to recall you saying that you revisit every place in the dining guide. Are dropping hints on purpose?
Tom Sietsema: Maybe -- maybe not!
Great Bread: 2941 bakes a really impressive array of breads. It was one of the highlights of our meal there, and that's saying something...
Tom Sietsema: In the old days, the chef would bid guests adieu with loaves of bread to take home. I always thought that was a nice touch.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Tom! Love the chats...and your writing style. So this weekend my boyfriend and I are celebrating a special anniversary (ok, it's only 6 months) and are looking for a place in the dupont/adams morgan area where we can do a tasting menu in a cozy environment. Any particular favorites?
Tom Sietsema: Equinox comes to mind. Ask to sit in a booth if you can.
Fairfax, Va.: When is your book coming out?
Tom Sietsema: Thanks for inquiring. I'm still working on it, but the plan is to have it on book shelves (in stores) around T-Day.
Rockville, Md.: If you just found out you have an sudden meeting to attend, but still have about an hour to pick up lunch and eat it, where in Rockville would you speed to for Chinese takeout?
Tom Sietsema: A & J or Joe's Noodle House
Millersville, Md.: Flying out of Dulles at 9:30 pm weeknight. Hate airplane food--like to have nice meal before flight. Need a good place to eat early enough to get through meal, traffic, and shuttlebus and be at airport by 7-ish. We like everything!! Thanks.
Tom Sietsema: I like Thai Basil, tucked into a shopping strip, in Chantilly. Light and interesting Thai fare with a homey touch.
Fairfax Co., Va.: Thank you for your review of Annangol. My Korean family and I have been going there for years. If what we want is good Korean BBQ, that's where we go.
Tom Sietsema: Love that spot. (Obviously.)
Washington, D.C.: Tom, I'm sure you're answered this before, but what's a decent, moderately priced place for dinner near the Kennedy Ctr? I think there's a place that starts with a K?
Tom Sietsema: Or a "d", as in Dish.
Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.: Hey Tom, have you been to 15RIA since Troy Walter took over as chef? I walk by everyday but am reluctant to try it having not heard much about it these days. Thanks.
Tom Sietsema: I have not been, but former fans of the restaurant are less enthusiastic these days.
Los Angeles, Calif.: Hi Tom -- Still hooked on your column despite being away for nearly two years now. But hoping you can help me on this... I'll be in DC this weekend, and I'll be taking my foodie sig other and my former boss and her husband to dinner somewhere in NW DC. Price is not really an object, but I'd rather not suggest the priciest place in town. And someplace where we can laugh and not worry about having to whisper would be good... though someplace loud is not so good. Preferably not -too- trendy, though good food is a must. A tall enough order for ya? I'd love any suggestions you can offer. Thanks!
Tom Sietsema: Firefly in Dupont Circle certainly fits your cozy-trendy-we-want-to-laugh wishes. So does Buck's Fishing & Camping, which I adore but some diners have problems with (limited menu, bossy chef). In Penn Quarter, Zaytinya is another all-purpose crowd-pleaser, but it can get loud. A fourth choice: the Latin-leaning Ceiba downtown.
I am trying to plan a dessert-only outing for a group of 10-20 young professional women. Is there a place in the District that has a large (and good) selection of desserts that would suit our purposes? Thanks!!!
Tom Sietsema: That's a tough one. I can tell you where to find space for a group and where to find good desserts, but not a place that typically serves just desserts to a large party. Chatters?
Sweet Tea: Dixie Bones in Woodbridge and the Florida Avenue Grill both have decent sweet tea.
Tom Sietsema: Ah, more teas to add to the list.
Sea Catch: I've had some reliably good food there, and the canal view can be gorgeous. The bread is clearly much better than Wonder Bread. And I'm sorry that the poster's experience was unfortunate, however...
"Even after one of the party told the manager he hadn't realized he was spending hundreds of dollars to sit in a sports bar."
What's up with this passive-aggressive comment? If you want to move, ask to move! It's a huge space. And why on earth did this diner expect to be comped something by making passive-aggressive comments to the manager?
Tom Sietsema: I don't agree that food should have been comped, but someone should have moved the group to a quieter section. My question was, did anyone even ASK?
Washington, D.C.: I'm headed to San Francisco this weekend and was wondering if any of the places in your postcard had vegetarian entrees that were more than just pasta primavera or whatnot. Or if you knew of any restaurants in S.F. that were adventurous in their vegetarian creations. Thanks!
Tom Sietsema: Greens is a longtime player known for its meatless menu -- and postcard view of the city.
Your Postcards: why is it so hard to find them? I'd think they would be under Art & Living, Dining. I've been trying to find them for the last 10 minutes.
Tom Sietsema: Are they not at the very top of this online chat, in the intro?
New York City, N.Y.: Visiting this weekend and the group has reservations at Sequoia and Palette. Anything to avoid or must try at either place? Thanks so much!
Tom Sietsema: Frankly? It's not too late to change your reservations. Both restaurants are underwhelming.
Dino Review: Just wanted to say that your review of Dino was excellent. Just a great piece of writing and restaurant reviewing.
Tom Sietsema: Thanks, but I think its many fans will disagree with you.
Just Desserts: Tom--Would Les Halles fit the bill for that group of 20
women looking for dessert only?
Silver Spring, Md.: You can get a sushi buffet for lunch at Hinode in Bethesda. Buffet, drink, and miso soup for $12.50.
Tom Sietsema: And on that note, I bid you good-bye until next Wednesday.
Dine well. See you soon.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Test Results Cited in Delay of Mall Alert
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Area health officials were not notified for five days that sensors on the Mall had detected a potentially dangerous bacterium there last month because subsequent tests were not conclusively positive, a federal official said yesterday.
The Department of Homeland Security delayed in alerting the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the same reason, said Richard Besser, who directs the CDC's coordinating office for terrorism preparedness and emergency response. More than half a dozen sensors showed the presence of tularemia bacteria the morning after thousands of people gathered on the Mall for a book festival and antiwar rally, yet the CDC was not contacted for at least 72 hours.
Testing never identified all the definitive markers for which scientists were looking, and officials were wary of issuing a false alarm, Besser said. He called the entire incident "highly unusual," but he acknowledged that it would prompt the two agencies to review their protocol and the timeliness of their response "to make sure the system doesn't have any flaws in it."
"It really will cause us to look at the system and say, 'Should things have been different?' " Besser said in a phone interview.
Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) has suggested that the answer is yes. In letters he sent Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and CDC Director Julie Gerberding, he called the notification time frame "alarming" and asked for an accounting of the procedures triggered when the government's "BioWatch network" senses a biological agent.
His questions focused on what each agency knew and when it knew it, as well as which local and state officials were called and when. "Why weren't these officials notified immediately following the detection?" Davis wrote.
D.C. Health Director Gregg A. Pane, who learned of the situation in a conference call Friday morning, said he would have liked to have been involved sooner. Hours after being alerted by the CDC, he and his counterparts across the Washington region put out an announcement for the public.
"I wish they'd bring us in earlier," he said yesterday, with the "retrospective scope" clearly in place. "There's got to be a level of trust and communication" among the entities and layers of government, he said.
As of yesterday, local and federal health officials said they had confirmed no cases of tularemia from the Mall gathering and, through medical surveillance, had not found any spikes in possible symptoms. Although the germ that causes tularemia is highly infectious, the disease itself is not passed from person to person and can be easily treated with antibiotics. Left untreated, it can be fatal.
Besser said that if the initial evaluation had revealed true positives, the laboratory would have immediately contacted Homeland Security, which would have immediately brought CDC and local health agencies into the discussion.
Instead, as late as Thursday, CDC officials expected final testing to disprove the presence of the bacteria. "So we didn't really think there was a need to alert [area] public health officials," he said.
In his letter, Davis requested specifics about the bacteria levels ultimately detected and the government's plan to inform the public of risk. "How do you monitor the thousands of people who visited the affected areas?" he asked.
A Homeland Security spokeswoman did not return calls to comment on the issues Davis raised.
Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.
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Area health officials were not notified for five days that sensors on the Mall had detected a potentially dangerous bacterium there last month because subsequent tests were not conclusively positive, a federal official said yesterday.
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D.C. Schools Offer Free Breakfast to All
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Children in the District's public schools will no longer start the day with a rumbling in their tummies -- that's because they're now receiving free breakfast.
The school system launched the program this morning. It's for all children, not just low-income students.
School officials say studies show a link between good nutrition and achievement and they want students to be at the top of their game. D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey said breakfast is one of the ingredients needed to succeed.
Today's menu included cereal or an egg sandwich. It was served with graham crackers and juice.
The free breakfast program is being subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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Former Clinton Aide Violated Probation
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Two days after he was sentenced for smuggling classified documents from the National Archives, former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger violated his probation when he was ticketed for reckless driving in Fairfax County, according to court officials and records.
Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson admonished Berger yesterday for the traffic charge during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia but left him on probation as recommended by the federal probation office, according to court records.
Berger was clocked going 88 mph in a 55-mph zone while driving eastbound on Interstate 66 in Fairfax on Sept. 10, according to court records. Berger told court officers that "he was speeding because he was late to a meeting, and he was not aware of how fast he was traveling," according to a probation violation report filed in federal court.
The former Clinton administration official is scheduled to appear in Fairfax traffic court on Oct. 18. Berger's attorney, Lanny A. Breuer, could not be reached to comment.
The charge comes as some judges in Fairfax have begun cracking down on excessive speeding and other reckless driving violations, sentencing violators to jail time in some cases, defense lawyers said.
Reckless driving is a Class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia; it carries a penalty of up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine, although those limits are rarely approached, experts said. At the very least, Berger is likely to be fined and to have his driver's license suspended for several months if he is found guilty, according to traffic lawyers not connected to Berger's case.
"Going 88 on 66 by the Beltway is pretty fast, even by Northern Virginia standards," said Fairfax defense lawyer Mark J. Yeager.
On Sept. 8, Berger was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and surrender his security clearance for three years after pleading guilty to unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents. He paid the fine Sept. 9, court records show.
Berger, who served as national security adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001, admitted to stuffing copies of documents in his coat jacket as he left the National Archives in 2003 while preparing for questions from the Sept. 11 commission. He also admitted destroying some of the records at his office and lying about possessing them.
Officials with the Sept. 11 commission and the Archives have said that nothing was lost because the documents were logged and there were copies of all of them.
"My actions . . . were wrong," Berger told the court last month. "They were foolish. I deeply regret them and I have every day since."
Berger stepped down as an adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) after the investigation was disclosed last year.
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Two days after he was sentenced for smuggling classified documents from the National Archives, former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger violated his probation when he was ticketed for reckless driving in Fairfax County, according to court officials and records.
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Multiple Choice In California
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California voters went to the polls Tuesday to choose a replacement for former congressman Christopher Cox (R) -- but all they got was another election.
Republican state Sen. John Campbell led the crowded field of 17 candidates in the special open primary in the Orange County area 48th District but did not capture the 50 percent of the vote needed to win the seat outright.
Campbell took 46 percent of the overall vote, approximately 30 points better than the second-place finisher -- former state assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer (also a Republican). The biggest surprise of the day was the strong showing of American Independent candidate Jim Gilchrist, founder of the anti-immigration group known as the Minuteman Project. Gilchrist took 14 percent of the vote, not far behind Brewer's 17 percent.
Under California law, because no candidate received half of the vote or more, the top vote-getters from each party advance to a Dec. 6 special general election.
That means Campbell and Gilchrist as well as Democrat Steve Young, who won 9 percent of the vote, will all face off. Candidates from the Libertarian and Green parties will also be on the ballot.
Campbell enters that race as a strong favorite, given that President Bush easily carried the district in 2004. Cox vacated the seat to become head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dean Turns Up the Volume
When Howard Dean became chairman of the Democratic National Committee, he kept a low profile for a season to reassure some politicians and Washington operatives worried about his famous shoot-from-the-lip style. But that season is definitely over.
On MSNBC's "Hardball" yesterday, Dean sounded like the presidential candidate of yore, as he lashed an alleged "culture of corruption" in the Republican Party, said GOP leaders are putting money "in their own pockets," and added that "I don't think it's very credible" that Vice President Cheney was not aware of the leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. During his broadside, he bemoaned how Bush's "MO" is to "discredit your opponents and attack them personally."
In one eyebrow-raising moment, Dean invoked a crude phrase usually reserved for the locker room when urging Bush to make public Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers's White House records. "I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it's called," he said.
Cillizza is a staff writer at washingtonpost.com. The Fix, his politics blog, debuted this week at http://www.washingtonpost.com/thefix.
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Ex-White House Aide Indicted in Abramoff Case
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David H. Safavian, former chief of White House procurement policy, was indicted yesterday on five counts of lying about his dealings with former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and impeding a Senate investigation of him.
The indictment accuses Safavian, who previously served as former chief of staff for the General Services Administration, of falsely telling GSA officials that Abramoff had no dealings with the agency at a time in 2002, the government alleges, that Abramoff was seeking to obtain use of two GSA properties with Safavian's assistance.
It also accuses Safavian of repeatedly making false statements to investigators about a golf trip he took with Abramoff to Scotland the same year. GSA ethics rules prohibited receiving gifts from anyone seeking an official action by the agency.
Safavian was arrested Sept. 19 on the similar charges, the first criminal allegations levied in the ongoing corruption investigation of Abramoff's activities in Washington. Safavian had resigned as top administrator at the federal procurement office in the White House Office of Management and Budget three days earlier.
The indictment alleges that "from May 16, 2002 until January 2004, Safavian made false statements and obstructed investigations into his relationship with a Washington, D.C., lobbyist," who has been identified as Abramoff. The indictment refers to him only as "Lobbyist A."
Safavian's attorney, Barbara Van Gelder, said the charges are "an attempt to prove guilt by association." She said, "If this case did not involve Mr. Abramoff, the government would never have indicted Mr. Safavian on these charges."
Van Gelder said Safavian "will plead not guilty, and he will request a speedy trial." She added, "We believe that after all the evidence is aired, Mr. Safavian will be acquitted of all charges."
Abramoff has been indicted in Florida on bank fraud charges, and is under investigation in connection with at least $82 million he and an associate received from Indian tribes that operate gambling casinos, and for fees from other clients.
Federal investigators are known to be looking at trips to Scotland that Abramoff arranged for members of Congress and others, including former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and House Administration Committee Chairman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition and now a candidate for lieutenant governor in Georgia.
Safavian, Ney and Reed all went on the 2002 trip to Scotland, which cost an estimated $100,000.
If convicted, Safavian, who worked as a lobbyist with Abramoff in the 1990s, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the counts.
Staff writer Susan Schmidt contributed to this report.
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David H. Safavian, former chief of White House procurement policy, was indicted yesterday on five counts of lying about his dealings with former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and impeding a Senate investigation of him.
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Wizards' Focus Starts With Stops
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RICHMOND, Oct. 4 -- The Washington Wizards were going through a half-court drill Tuesday morning, the first day of training camp on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, when all-star guard Gilbert Arenas found himself defending Chucky Atkins.
Arenas crouched into a defensive stance that would have made Gene Hackman's character in "Hoosiers" proud. As Atkins started to dribble, Arenas reached in, swatted the ball away and forced Atkins to chase the ball down near midcourt.
The effort drew applause from Coach Eddie Jordan and Arenas's teammates, who are clearly buying into Jordan's belief that the Wizards must become a better defensive team after allowing opponents to shoot 45.9 percent and average 100.8 points per game last season.
Of course, it would help if such a movement were led by the franchise player.
"They're going to make me play D this year," joked Arenas, who finished seventh in the league in scoring with a 25.5 points per game average last season but didn't exactly earn a reputation as a lockdown defender.
"It's about growing up and that's one of the areas where I have to grow up in," Arenas said. "I worked hard this summer on all of my abilities and that's one of them. I'm going to take defense very serious this year and if I start slacking off, I have teammates who will keep me into it."
Any defensive improvement must come despite the absence of guard Larry Hughes, the team's best defender last season who signed with Cleveland as a free agent over the summer. Hughes typically drew the opposing team's best offensive guard, and his uncanny knack for reading the passing lanes helped him lead the league in steals.
Jordan believes his team can improve defensively even without Hughes because the addition of Atkins should allow Arenas more rest, which in turn should allow Arenas to expend more energy on the defensive end.
Also, Jordan is banking on the addition of guard Antonio Daniels and the healthy return of swingman Jarvis Hayes to change the team's overall defensive approach. Daniels won't play the passing lanes like Hughes, but he's a tough on-the-ball defender who often closed out games for Seattle last season in place of starting point guard Luke Ridnour.
"With Brendan [Haywood] back there, we did a good job at the rim," said Jordan of his 7-foot, 266-pound, fifth-year center. "What I want is for us to do a better job of cutting off penetration. We were able to get a lot of steals playing the passing lanes and that's good, but we can't allow guys to just blow by us and get into the paint. That's where we were hurt a lot of times defensively."
However, Jordan is preaching defense with one caveat: He still wants to score in bunches. The Wizards ranked sixth in scoring with a 100.5 points per game average while shooting a solid 43.7 percent last season. Arenas, Jamison and Hughes were the league's top scoring trio, and the Wizards led the NBA in offensive rebounding.
"We have to be balanced," Jordan said. "We have to execute on offense but, at the same time, we have to play better defense. We have to remember who we are. I'm going to go with my strength. If I think that we're a pressure team that's going to create turnovers like we did last year, that's what we'll do. If I think we have the personnel to be a little more physical, to be a little more half-court oriented and not press as much, that's what we'll do. A lot of it is about personnel."
But it's also about attitude, according to Caron Butler, who played under one of the most defensive-minded coaches in NBA history, Pat Riley, as a rookie with the Miami Heat. Butler, who was acquired in the offseason along with Atkins from the Los Angeles Lakers for forward Kwame Brown, has averaged 13.5 points per game during his first three years in the league while swinging between shooting guard and small forward. He believes the Wizards can use better defense to feed their offense.
"Defense can help you get on some magnificent runs and put teams away," Butler said. "That's what we're looking forward to because we know we can score. We have a lot of offensive-minded guys that can fill it up so, if we get stops, we'll have no problems on the other end."
Wizards Notes: On the health front, Jamison, who is coming off knee surgery, Hayes, who missed the second half of last season with a fractured knee, and center Etan Thomas, who was bothered by an abdominal strain throughout the season, worked at full speed during the morning session.
As a precaution, Hayes rode a stationary bike during the evening practice while Thomas did abdominal work on the side with a trainer. After practicing twice Tuesday, the team will practice once Wednesday, twice Thursday and once Friday.
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Coach Eddie Jordan is trying to get the Wizards to concentrate on being better defenders this season.
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Arrington's Hefty Contract Limits Redskins' Options
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The biggest question regarding linebacker LaVar Arrington's future in Washington may not be whether he will be here beyond this season, but when he will depart. Several NFL general managers and player agents expect Arrington, once the face of the organization and now relegated to the lower depths of the roster, to be playing elsewhere in 2006 given his hefty contract, recent history with the club, injuries and lack of significance on this defense.
Arrington, 27, has a $12.05 million salary cap figure in 2006 -- almost twice that of any other Redskins player -- and is scheduled to receive a $6.5 million roster bonus July 15; four general managers and three prominent agents who have assessed the situation agreed that those factors likely will lead to an offseason departure. Arrington himself referred to an apparent shift of the team away from him Monday, and alluded to possibly having to pass physicals for other teams to prove that his surgically repaired knee is healed. Both Arrington and Coach Joe Gibbs have said he is fit enough to play.
Arrington is virtually ensured of being here for the duration of this season. Dealing him before the Oct. 18 trade deadline would require $12 million of salary cap space for Washington; the Redskins are about $1.6 million under the cap, league sources said. Washington could attempt to deal him in the offseason, when it could absorb that kind of cap hit, but considering he may have gone nearly two seasons without playing full time by then, and the fact that other teams may feel the Redskins are resigned to having to cut him eventually, getting value for the three-time Pro Bowler could prove difficult. Two general managers suggested a second- or third-round pick as possible value for Arrington, if healthy.
Picking up Arrington's roster bonus in July would require Washington to pay him $7 million total for 2006 (bonus plus base salary), and would also ensure he counts $12 million against its 2006 cap. Cutting Arrington in March would require a $12.14 million hit, but he would be off Washington's books after 2006; the team has incurred steep penalties in the past to make such moves. (Arrington's contract carries a $6.5 million cap figure in 2007 and $9.133 million in 2008, for example, but that would disappear if he were released or traded in March.)
If there is no extension to the current collective bargaining agreement this season, there will be no June 1 cut date in 2006, negating the opportunity to spread cap hits over two seasons. However, the Redskins may opt to wait beyond March, save about $200,000 and carry Arrington's $12 million figure against their salary cap during that critical month when free agency begins, in hopes of an extension later in the spring that would restore the June 1 date and allow them to spread Arrington's cap figure over two seasons.
Arrington has essentially been relegated to the fifth linebacker on the roster, behind the three starters, as well as reserve Chris Clemons. Khary Campbell is the sixth linebacker, but even he gets on the field more than Arrington, given his key role on special teams. Arrington took part in two plays in Sunday's win over Seattle and sat out the entire second half despite the Seahawks' comeback, which included a 91-yard drive that tied the game at 17 in the waning minutes. The coaches have given no indication that Arrington's role will increase anytime soon, and it may require injuries to other linebackers for him to play regularly.
Staff writer Leonard Shapiro contributed to this report.
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Several NFL general managers and player agents expect LaVar Arrington to be playing elsewhere in 2006 given his hefty contract and recent history with the club.
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Potomac Confidential
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Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion by Metro columnist Marc Fisher of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.
Fisher was online Thursday, Oct. 6, at Noon ET to discuss the latest on Marion Barry's tax troubles, the departure of Mayor Anthony Williams from the political scene and the hullabaloo at American University over its president's hefty compensation package.
In his weekly show, Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.
Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks.
Please take a moment to vote in today's poll--if our tech folks can get the bugs out of it in time--which asks about Marion Barry's tax problems, the reign of Anthony Bowtie Williams, and the violence at high school football games in Montgomery County.
The trustees of American University meet Monday to decide the fate of president Benjamin Ladner. Watch for many more tuition dollars to flow his way. Ain't it sweet to be rich?
This business of having baseball playoffs go til 1:15 in the morning does not make for happy campers the following morning, let me tell you. But it is sweet to see those BoSox going down the tubes. Looks like the Nationals aren't going to get an owner til November or beyond. Bet on beyond. The legal battle over televising Nats games continues to wend its way through the courts with no end in sight and no particular effort by anyone to get the games on TV. Peter Angelos is happy enough to eat the fees he has to pay the Nationals because by suppressing the TV coverage of the Nats, he believes he is protecting the Orioles from competition.
On to your many questions and comments, after the Yay and Nay of the Day:
Yay to Mayor for Life Marion Barry, who has assured himself permanent election to the city offices of his choice now that we learn that he hasn't bothered to pay his taxes since 1998. This town loves a tax scofflaw; we've had one as our nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives ever since it came out that she and her then-husband didn't file tax returns. Barry carries his arrogance beautifully, and I meant that sincerely--it's always been fun to hear him talk about his expertise on municipal finance or his propensity to show up late to events; the explanation is always smothered in quips about how he knows things others don't. In this case, I guess he just thought taxes are not something that applies to Marion Shepilov Barry Jr.
Nay to the Washington area TV stations that are either declining to carry Sunday's Virginia gubernatorial debate or are showing it at the voter-friendly hour of midnight on Sunday night. Elsewhere in the state, TV stations are carrying the debate live at 7 p.m., but the D.C. stations can't be bothered with public service. There was once a time when license challenges, or at least the threat of one, would produce some semblance of attention to public service, but not anymore.
Your turn starts right now....
Alexandria, Va.: How can not filing a federal tax return for eight years be a misdemeanor? Can we at lesat assume that Mayor Barry will be required to cough up the unpaid taxes, along with interest and penalty payments?
Marc Fisher: It sure doesn't sound like there's any particular desire on the part of the prosecutors to make things uncomfortable for Barry. No jail, no serious charges. Presumably some sort of fine, but even that is not yet clear. Do you think you'd get off this easy if you just didn't bother to file returns for five or seven years?
Who "set him up" this time?! (D.C.): So Marion Barry is making a sequel appearance in federal criminal court? One would think after E.H. ("Representation without Taxation") Norton, that local pols would be more attentive to filing tax returns. No jail time may be a compassionate decision given Barry's age, but it also avoids his using it as a platform to bounce back again to higher office. The ex-Mayor-for-Life has hinted at a possible run for Council chairman (Cropp and Barry -- there's a ticket!). Any chance he'll just resign his seat after the plea, and give the city a chance to move on from the embarrassing Barry era once and for all?
Marc Fisher: Ah, but why would you think that politicians would be more attentive to their taxes after watching what happened to the delegate? In fact, she has been reelected virtually without opposition in every election since she got caught as a tax avoider. Chances that Barry will resign because of this: Zero.
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: It's just beyond me what all the fuss is about over the window of the Victoria's Secret store. If people are so offended by seeing mannequins wearing underwear, they should either stay away from the store or go back to the Middle Ages where they belong.
Marc Fisher: Well, it's a bit more than mannequins in underwear--it's a deliberate attempt to be provocative and garner publicity by recasting an already sleazy store as a haven for harlotry, and of course it's working beautifully. Of course some folks will be outraged and others will shrug it off. The bottom line will be the bottom line--if the raunch brings in more customers, they'll keep it.
A.U. prez: I think the time is ripe to bring Bill Bennett onboard.
Marc Fisher: Lovely idea. And with online poker all the rage on campus, he'd be right at home!
GreatFalls, Mt.: 47,000 condos? Isn't much of the D.C. area already completely gridlocked? Sure glad we took early retirement and moved when we did!
Marc Fisher: Goodness, no. This city has unusually light traffic thanks to Metro and the large number of people who walk, bike or bus to work. The city once had a population 40 percent larger than it has today and can easily absorb another 100,000 residents.
Did you press Kaine on whether he had given up his baseball allegiances for the Nats?
Marc Fisher: I did talk to him about that. Kaine grew up a Royals fan--he's from Kansas City--and remains loyal to his team, but the arrival of the Nationals provided him an easy opportunity to expand his allegiance to the National League, and he and his family have become strong and knowledgeable Nats fans. They've been to a bunch of games and he knows the players well.
Brandermill, Va.: After spending time with Kaine and Kilgore, do you have any more insight into why they are running TV ads that they are running, or do you think that is a whole process that's separate from their persona and their vision of the governor's office?
Marc Fisher: Sadly, the gap between candidates' real beliefs and the intellectually bankrupt, cynical messages they use in their TV ads only grows larger. Kaine is a much more interesting and flexible mind than anything you'd glean from the TV spots, but the core belief in the TV political advertising world is that voters cannot be trusted with a candidate's true beliefs or nature. Blame for that has to go ultimately to the candidates themselves, and the ones who alter their personalities to be consistent with their simplistic ads tend to do best, sadly.
Mclean, Va.: Just out of curiosity, did Kilgore mention widening 66 INSIDE the Beltway? His Chamber of Commerce debate performance seemed like it came straight out of Saturday Night Live skit.
Marc Fisher: Kilgore favors widening 66 inside the Beltway; Kaine favors it only in the westbound lanes (I think I have that direction right; his argument is that the right of way has room only in one direction.) It's all a silly academic discussion because the neighborhood opposition in Arlington would likely defeat or tie up any effort at widening for the rest of our lives, and anyway, it wouldn't do much good to widen that piece of road when you're still going to have the 3-to-2 lane bottleneck inbound at the TR Bridge (except during AM rush when the lanes are shifted.)
Rockville, Md.: Personality wise, then, is there any reason to think Kaine isn't the clear-cut winner?
Marc Fisher: Depends. Kaine is the more intriguing and open personality, but Kilgore has the advantage of being more consistent in his presentation. Simplicity sells, the experts will tell you. They're both likeable guys and neither has much in the charisma department. And hey, have you seen Mark Warner's TV spots endorsing Kaine? It's all about Mark, isn't it? The theme of the ad, hit over and over, is that Kaine showed courage in supporting Warner's efforts; there's something vaguely grudging about the gov's presentation.
Marc Fisher: Our man Rocci informs me that the poll is on the page now, so if you'd be kind enough to take a moment and go back up to the top and cast your vote, we'll get to those topics later in the hour. Thanks.
City once had a population 40 percent larger than it has today and can easily absorb another 100,000 residents. : Yes but that was at a time when not everyone, maybe not even a majority, had a car. Not everyone has a car now, I know. But a lot more people do than used to.
Marc Fisher: True, but thanks to Metro, we have the second highest dependence on public transit in the nation, so if those 100,000 new folks are clustered around Metro stations, the impact on streets would be minimal. That's certainly the case in upper Northwest, where the new development around the Friendship Heights and Tenleytown stations have left the streets as lightly trafficked as ever.
Silver Spring, Md.: Yeah, maybe there were 40 percent more residents but a large proportion of them were children, elderly, and other non-drivers. Plus people just drove less Back Then.
Today's residents are proportionally more likely to be driving at least some of the time.
Marc Fisher: Depends on where they are--the proportion of people who depend on transit in Arlington, Silver Spring and Bethesda is strong and increasing. That's why it matters so much where you put the condos.
Washington, D.C.: Have you asked the other D.C. councilmembers whether they have paid federal and/or D.C. taxes?
Marc Fisher: I haven't but it's a very good question. (Though what are they going to say, "By George, I hadn't thought of doing that!")
Clifton, Va.: Sorry your wrong about widening I66 inside the Beltway. It is now a National Security concern as a primary evacuation route. National Security trumps all in the court and the poor NIMBY Arlingtonians will lose time and time again. They can take it to the Supremes and they will still lose. Rt66 will be widened. Their DOD appropriations bills have provided the funding.
Marc Fisher: That's definitely the best strategy for the pro-widening forces to use, and the Eisenhower administration used it brilliantly to get the Interstates built. If that's how new roads will get build in this region, then it will have a big impact on WHERE they get built, and maybe the additional Potomac River crossing will get put where it belongs--downtown or Georgetown--rather than in Montgomery, where it would only increase development and further snarl traffic.
Virginia: Not paying taxes is not against the law, but you can be denied or lose your security clearance. Trust me.
Marc Fisher: I bet there's a good story there. Wanna tell us more?
Washington, D.C.: In your column about Tim Kaine today, you have to explain_ what "pigs in a blanket" are? Who doesn't know that? And if they don't know, what real danger is there in letting them think he's actually eating a live pig and it's wrapped in a cotton blanket?
Marc Fisher: I only explained it because the first four folks I had read the column had no concept of what they were, or assumed that it was a sausage sandwich. Which may reflect wider ignorance or may only tell us that the Post newsroom is not a place of big breakfasters (there's some ad on TV, airing during the baseball playoffs, for a fast food sandwich that involves "meat on top of meat on top of meat," and my kids break into hysterical laughter every time the announcer hits those words.)
Anonymous: Is it possible that Mayor Barry is not in that much trouble because virutally all of his income was subject to withholding? He doesn't strike me as someone who has made a lot of money in politics.
Marc Fisher: You're absolutely right that whatever his shortcomings, Barry did not fleece the government for personal gain during his four terms as mayor. In fact, he left government service with hardly any savings and one major reason he got back in was to have a decent income. That said, you're supposed to file tax returns--period.
Washington: We know who set Marion up: He can say Cora Masters Barry was in charge of the taxes, just like poor Mr. Norton! And Barry doesn't even have to wait for the divorce.
Marc Fisher: Right--in fact, I thought he would have said exactly that by now, but instead he's being uncharacteristically quiet about this. On the other hand, he has been smart enough not to bash Cora Masters since their breakup--he knows that she is politically savvy and entirely able to savage him were she to choose that path.
Washington, D.C.: Marc, get out from under your rock. V.S. is NOT sleazy. Right now, I am wearing a V.S. bra, which, by the way, are the best-made bras around. And the Tysons display was silly.
Marc Fisher: Ok, so does the display make you more or less likely to give them your money? Isn't that the only issue they will care about?
West Coast: Shouldn't Bill Bennett take it on the Comedy circuit at this point? If he did a stand-up routine with a coat hanger thru his head, like Steve Martin's arrow, and did card tricks and made rude social comments and observations, wouldn't he become a big star, especially in Vegas?
Marc Fisher: Somehow, I don't think of Bill Bennett and laff riot in the same universe. No, I think he'll stay in the world that loves what he's doing--talk radio. He's even got people picketing outside his studios now, and there's nothing a talk show host loves more than that.
Kingstowne, Va.: Re: Sunday's Virginia gubernatorial debate.
Debates are pointless except in showing how all candidates are expert at avoiding direct answers to simple yes/no questions. This debate will add nothing consequential to voter knowledge. So, I wouldn't blame any station for not showing it at all.
Marc Fisher: To the contrary, the last Virginia debate, a couple of weeks back in Tysons Corner, was very revealing about the ability of the candidates to handle questions and to speak beyond their rehearsed talking points. Sadly, almost everyone missed that debate because it aired only on NewsChannel8.
Victoria's not so secret anymore: HeHe -- you said "bottom line." What, is this: Weingarten's chat now?
Marc Fisher: These lines, however, are not visible, so Gene's not interested.
You surprise me: A sleazy store? Wow, I never pegged you for a Puritan. It's a lingerie store -- with incredibly overpriced underwear, sleepwear, perfume, etc. -- but hardly sleazy. Perhaps you feel women should still be wearing those black full-skirted swimsuits, too.
Marc Fisher: I don't care what they sell, and I don't especially mind them selling it with whatever degree of raunch they can dream up. But I can still think it sleazy and I'm all for folks debating its appropriateness and slapping the company around if that's what they want to do.
Pigs in Blankets: For me, a Jewish native of New Jersey, "pigs in blankets" are the little hot dogs served up at bar mitzvahs and wedding receptions. Never heard of the variety you mention in the column (and love going out for breakfast and lived in Georgia for five years).
Marc Fisher: Ha! See, we all have our own pigs in blankets, even the kosher among us. I share this confusion--cocktail franks in pastry shell are often called pigs in blankets a couple of hundred miles north of where they are sausages wrapped in pancakes.
Downtown Reston, Va.: Marc: In today's column you conclude that Kaine is a liberal -- oh wait, "sounds like a liberal." But by what evidence? That he continues to attend a church even though its racial makeup has changed? Or is it because he reads books and doesn't watch much television, likes jazz, gives thoughtful answers to questions, likes Harry Truman, drives American cars and was a religious missionary in Central America?
Seems to me that these are all values that any conservative could not only embrace, but admire.
Marc Fisher: No, he sounds like a liberal because he embraces the idea that government exists to serve the public and to care for those in need and because deep down beneath his TV commercials, he accepts the notion that we as a society should pay for those services and not pretend that the money will magically appear from nowhere. I happen to think that there are lots of conservatives who buy into those beliefs; I think this because I know them and have heard them make the same comments. But the gospel in American politics is that to say such things is liberal and therefore unacceptable. So we have the spectacle of Kaine pretending that he's as anti-tax as Kilgore is, when in fact both of them know that Virginia needs more resources to pay for transportation, higher education and other services.
Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.: Can we give a nay of the week to the genius who decided to allow a fireworks show in October without adequate notice? I was having dinner outside in Logan Circle and I seriously thought we were under attack. I almost bolted my table without paying. Only in D.C. ...
Marc Fisher: We should do a poll on this, because I am mystified by the parade of stories every year in which people get all up in arms over fireworks and argue that they should somehow have gotten a call from the mayor advising them to brace themselves because there might be a loud sound. Please. The more fireworks the better and they don't owe notice to a single soul.
Glover Park, Washington, D.C.: I'm a supporter of Mayor Williams but can't understand some of the criticism of his time in office. From my perspective, downtown and even some outlying areas are booming, and my condo's value and property taxes have more than tripled. My question is, what has D.C. been doing with this increased revenue? I don't want to make light of the fact that the deficit has been eliminated (yea!) abd the government has a tidy surplus. I think that's terrific. But couldn't some of this additional revenue be channeled to the school system and affordable housing?
I'm wondering if it's even possible to establish and maintain a high functioning innercity school system, anywhere, but that's another question.
Marc Fisher: Indeed the city's surpluses have been very healthy, driven in good part by the soaring property values. Where has the money gone? Into all sorts of new programs, some of them silly (the city is busy reducing the number of lanes at many traffic circles, which can only paralyze traffic), and some of them admirable (the mayor gets all kinds of grief for closing D.C. General, but it was the right thing to do, and his replacement for it--neighborhood clinics that are free to the poor--is really working.)
What do the latest polls say about the Virginia govs race?
Marc Fisher: Dead even. At least the last four polls around the state, including independent polls by newspapers and internal polls for candidates, show Kaine and Kilgore either tied or extremely close to it.
Richmond, Va.: Your column today seems insulting to conservatives. In essence, you say Tim Kaine seems more liberal than Jerry Kilgore because Kaine reads more and watches little television. There are no facts in the column that would identify Kaine as either a liberal or a conservative. By the way, I know quite a few well read conservatives.
Marc Fisher: It's probably my fault for cramming too much into a column, but you're conflating two separate conclusions in the columns this week: I found Kaine to be more intellectually curious and flexible than Kilgore, based on his willingness to jump into ideas and talk them through, and on his reading and his interests. I also separately concluded that Kaine is more liberal than his campaign lets on, and that came from our discussions about the role of government, taxes, and his experiences as mayor of Richmond.
Dupont/Logan, Washington, D.C.: Are women's undergarments inherently sleazy? News Flash. Many women wear bras. Many women buy bras at Victoria's Secret. In fact, as my twins need a heck of a lot of support and the only place to buy a decently priced, comfortable, supportive bra is Victoria's Secret, I have been known to darken those sleazy doors myself. (In fact I am wearing a V.S. second skin satin bra right this minute.)
Provacative models would probably make me less likely to buy, but I need the bras (I've tried everything else).
Marc Fisher: Ok, so the new look at the store doesn't bring the company any more money from you. And the fact that you don't like the new look isn't keeping you away either, so in the end, you're a vote of confidence for the company as they search for new customers. Obviously, they focus grouped the heck out of this before they did it and my guess is that they talked to a bunch of customers like you and concluded that you would not be offended enough to walk away. Thus, the scene at Tysons.
Arlington, Va.: Quick question, do the people who live around Tysons get a say about Victoria's Secret (which I think they do) but Arlingtonians don't get a say about I-66 widening? Just wondering what types of issues residents get a vote on. Thanks.
Marc Fisher: Gosh, I come at it exactly the opposite way. The folks who live near Tysons are irrelevant to what a big faceless national corporation does. They probably tested this thing thousands of miles from here and they don't really care what the folks at the mall in Tysons say except that the company loves the publicity and the notoriety.
Whereas the folks in Arlington ought not have any say at all about the widening of 66--the essential problem with NIMBYism is that it overemphasizes the voices of those who are most directly affected by a project and lets them trample on the rights and needs of the broader public. Politicians often make the mistake of listening to NIMBYs when their instinct should be to dismiss NIMBYs simply because they are too close to the situation to have the broader good in mind.
Arlington, Va.: The deal with the Victoria's Secret display is that the premise behind it is that all women want to be strippers and/or bisexual! There is a mannequin on a stripper's runway, and two in a bed clearly "making out". Trust me, it is BEYOND just lacy underwear. I don't understand how this is supposed to make me want to buy my bras there.
Marc Fisher: It's probably not meant for you. It's meant for some sliver of the population who now do not go to the Secret and probably do not frequent malls.
Virginia: People in these chats constantly complain that the so called "MSM" ignores stories that are on A-1 of the Post or the NYT. The Barry situation makes me think of a story that the "MSM" does ignore: Since June 22, 1998, there are no consequences for not filing your tax returns or paying your taxes regardless of whether you're poor, middle class or Bill Gates. The fact is, that you COULD go years without filing your tax return with little more than an occasional letter from the IRS that won't result in anything but possibly another letter being issued two years later. Track down some retired IRS employees ('cause current ones would be fired if they really spoke their minds) and ask them about RRA 98 and how honest Americans have been screwed over for the last 7+ years.
Marc Fisher: Good point, but still, even though the punishments have been eased, my sense from talking to accountants is that the IRS will still sic its auditors on folks who go long periods without filing, so there is still some enforcement, no?
Anonymous: Are there only two candidates for governor in Virginia?
Marc Fisher: Russ, is that you?
Silver Spring, Md.: I grew up in Georgia and to me, a pig in a blanket is a small weeny in pastry or biscuit dough.
Also, I don't think the government is really interested in putting non-filers in jail, as long as they don't owe tons of money. No-jail plea bargains are probably the norm.
Marc Fisher: I think we need a pigs in blanket cultural geography map akin to the sweetened/unsweetened iced tea line.
Arlington, Va.: Ditto on your comments on fireworks. The idea that "after 9/11" we should grab our ankles everytime we hear a big boom has just gone too far.
Marc Fisher: Right, but here's the other side....
Fireworks Show: I think the thing about the fireworks show that took a lot of people off guard is that it wasn't a conventional show. I've heard fireworks going off and been able to tell that they were fireworks. On Saturday, however, all that I heard was one long, extended five-second or so explosion, followed by silence. Then about five minutes later, the same thing again.
When we found out that it was a fireworks show, at first we didn't believe it, because it seemed like it would be a pretty terrible show if the sounds were any indicator of the pace of the entire thing.
People were fleeing my building, no exaggeration. When I opened the door, there were at least a half dozen people running to the elevator and stairs, and this is just one floor of one building.
Marc Fisher: Fleeing the building? Wow. I think we're all a bit jittery these days.
The Bottom Line: No one would even know there was a Victoria's Secret in Tysons if it weren't for the uproar over the display.
Vickie's: Is it actually the undergarments on the mannequins or the poses of the mannequins that are disturbing to some? I mean, we all KNOW what Victoria's Secret sells. I was under the impression it was the actual poses and displays that had people up-in-arms.
Frankly, for all the sex and violence teens and kids see on TV nowadays, what difference will a few whore-ish mannequins make?
Marc Fisher: But isn't it sad that you have to resort to the It's Everywhere So We Can't Do Anything About It argument? Shouldn't each breach of public respectability be treated on its own? If you oppose the trip down into raunch, why not stand against each new step down?
Marc Fisher: The poll went up late so we have fewer responses than usual, but here's a look at how it's going so far (you can still vote of course; the link is at the top of the page):
Most of you share a common cynicism about Marion Barry and have correctly come to see him more as an entertainment than as a genuine source of outrage or pride.
Almost none of you buy the street version of Tony Williams, the idea that he was just out for the rich; he remains, like Bill Clinton, vastly more popular on his way out than he ever was during his years of controversy.
And I'm proud to say that many of you take a very sophisticated and non-alarmist view of the violence at football games in Moco.
Gainesville,, Va.: Congrats to Senator Allen and Warner for getting an amendment in the current DOD appropriations bill which will allow DOD civilian and military members involved in antiterrorism and counterintel duties in D.C. area to use the HOV lanes with only one person in car. Amendment contains funding to allow Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia to produce special vehicle tags for this group. D.C. residents who fall into this group are out of luck.
Marc Fisher: Oh no, now we're going to have security clearances for HOV lanes?! How wildly Washington geeky can you get!
Fireworks: Yes, I do think I should have gotten warning. I live five blocks from the Kennedy Center and my whole house was shaking. The "show" was not in the normal pattern of fireworks. The prelude section did sound like fireworks, and I was fine with that. The deafening booms followed by brief periods of silence sent me, my husband, and my dogs fleeing to the bathroom with the emergency radio. Whether it was actually a fireworks show or GWU students doing something stupid didn't matter -- I thought my house was going to fall down around me.
Marc Fisher: But if the prelude did sound like fireworks, and you could look outside and see that that's what it was, why did it matter to you that the show then escalated into something much louder?
McLean, Va.: Sorry if this was already answered, but are you going to be doing any articles on Russ Potts? I find him a very appealing candidate with a pragmatic approach to solving the problems of the Commonwealth. Whaddya think?
Marc Fisher: I wrote a column on Potts a few weeks back and said that I find him refreshingly straightforward and trusting of the voters. That said, he's turning out to be very Bob Dole-ish as a candidate--all wrapped up in legislative lingo and minutia that has little appeal to folks who don't follow government closely. And he doesn't have the money to compete against the big boys on TV.
Washington, D.C.: I would SO not want to be married to someone who thinks that putting bras on giant pieces of plastic is pornographic.
Marc Fisher: I haven't heard anyone argue that it's pornographic. It's just sleazy, which is several notches below pornography.
Vickie's uproar: only in D.C.: Dear Vicoria's Secret:
Thanks for reminding us how uptight this area really is.
Marc Fisher: There is that.
BoSox: Even sweeter to see the Yanks bite the Big Weenie.
Marc Fisher: Hardly. Series is tied, with Johnson pitching next. Yanks in four (because if it goes to a fifth, Angels win.)
Van Ness, Washington, D.C.: Bye, bye Mayor Williams: Is the city ready for a white, Hispanic or Asian mayor, (should such qualified candidates exist in D.C.)?
Marc Fisher: No. And every single candidate for mayor is black.
Washington, D.C.: Hello! V.S. is not for women, it's for men. I think I read some stat where like 40 percent of V.S. merchandise is bought by men for girlfriends, wives, etc. Thus the slutty window ....
Arlington, Va.: So in denouncing NIMBYism, does that mean you are withdrawing your support of the D.C. government's lawsuit to force trains carrying hazardous waste to pass through other communities rather than D.C?
Marc Fisher: Hardly--that's not a case of NIMBYism at all. In fact, there's hardly any agitation on the part of neighbors of the rail lines. It's purely a matter of numbers--toxic chemicals can and should be transported out along rural routes where an attack would be relatively meaningless, not on routes through major population centers.
Pigs in Blanket (again): I grew up in southwestern Pa., and our pigs in blankets are also known as cabbage rolls or halupkis -- or if you want to get really interesting, Hunky Handgrenades. Anyway, they are ground pork/beef with rice wrapped in cabbage. They are common at weddings and my mom's are awesome!
Fairfax: Sausages? In pancakes? They're HOT DOGS in dough -- usually made from Bisquick and cooked over a campfire.
Marc Fisher: See--I told you I had to define terms.
Washington, D.C.: Pigs in a blanket: Not exactly relevant, but I was at a bris this spring, and they served pigs in a blanket. They were the hot dog kind in pastry shells.
Marc Fisher: Very short stumpy little dogs, huh?
Gaithersburg, Md.: Looks like Bobby Haircut has some bad hair competition: Harriet Miers!
Marc Fisher: She wins. Easily.
Burke, Va.: Marc I bet you are one of those guys who is to scared to walk into a Victorias Secret store and buy some sexy lingerie for your honey?
Marc Fisher: I don't do malls.
College Park, Md.: You know, as compared to the New Jersey governor's race, the Kaine/Kilgore TV tiff seems very tame. I was in N.J. over the weekend and saw an ad going against Doug Forrester which basically accuses him of causing everything from cancer to a toxic cesspool. It was so slimy that it didn't even mention the name of his opponent (who the makers are obviously rooting for). It is an interesting watch though, just to see how far we in the D.C. area have to slide before rockbottom.
Marc Fisher: Yes, this campaign has been surprisingly lackluster, from all sides.
Dunn Loring, Va.: If you widen I-66 in the West-bound lanes only, at least D.C.-ers will be able to get to the Tyson's Corner Vicky's Secret faster!
Marc Fisher: And we close with that, the winner of this week's ThreadWeaver of the Week award. Thanks all. More next week; back in the paper Sunday with more on the wacky doings at American University.
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.
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In his weekly show, Marc Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.
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Apartment Life Live
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Welcome to Apartment Life, an online discussion of the Washington area rental market, featuring Post columnist Sara Gebhardt.
In her monthly exchanges with the audience, Gebhardt discusses rental issues and lifestyle matters.
Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion.
Check out our special feature: Think Smart: Apartment Hunting Made Easy.
Read Sara's latest Apartment Life column.
For more news and advice on issues facing apartment dwellers, visit our Rentals 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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Welcome to Apartment Life, an online discussion of the Washington area rental market. Post columnist Sara Gebhardt discusses rental issues and lifestyle matters.
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PBS: 'Making Schools Work'
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"Making Schools Work" on PBS focuses on educational successes -- communities and school models that have significantly raised student performance and closed achievement gaps for minority and poor students. The examples cited in the program affect more than a million students in seven different school districts from coast to coast, from inner city to rural America. "Making Schools Work" aired on PBS on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 3 p.m. ET. (Check local listings.)
Host Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and editor, was online Thursday, Oct. 6, at 3 p.m. ET to discuss the educational successes, communities and school models featured in the PBS program.
The first hour of the program covers four diverse school reform models: Success for All, the Comer Process, KIPP Academy and High Schools That Work. The second hour covers district-wide reforms in three cities -- New York City's District 2, San Diego and Charlotte -- with commentary from experts.
Smith, who is also an Emmy award-winning producer/correspondent, has covered Washington and world capitals for the New York Times. He has authored several best-selling books and created 20 award-winning PBS primetime specials and mini-series on topics as varied as Washington's power game, Soviet perestroika, the global economy, education reform, health care, teen violence, terrorism and Wall Street. "Making Schools Work" is just one primetime special on education that Smith has created for PBS. Others include "Challenge to America (1994) and "Surviving the Bottom Line (1998).
I hope you were able to catch our program, MAKING SCHOOLS WORK, on PBS last night. It's got re-runs on many stations coming up this week and this weekend. So check those out. The point of the program is that there are educators out there who are making schools work for the kids that many people had given up on. The seven examples we show cover about two million kids. The strategies are different but there are some fundamental principles that you'll see in the program. I look forward to your questions.
washingtonpost.com: "Making Schools Work": Broadcast Schedule
Washington, D.C.: Mr. Smith, What made you interested in this topic?
Hedrick Smith: Education is critical for America's future. International tests show that among 30 advanced industrial countries, U.S. 15 year old came in 28th out of 30 in math and 18th out of 30 in reading. If we don't fix that problem, we're going to keep losing jobs to other countries. Our young people need much better education to compete with the world and to maintain the American middle class.
N.Y., N.Y.: I saw the first hour of the program, it was very moving. It showed that while many different systems may work, common themes are teamwork (among faculty, admin, students) and individual attention to students who are struggling. Was there something you learned while making the program that really surprised you? Thanks.
Hedrick Smith: I was surprised that there were so many different routes to academic achievement that were working well. I was not surprised, but I was impressed, that the most important ingredient for success is the rock solid conviction among educators and school systems that all kids can learn, regardless of poverty and regardless of family situation, and that when kids fail, it's the adults who have failed to teach them well enough. That sounds easy to say, but it's very hard to do, because a real commitment to all children's learning requires a commitment of time, people, extra training for teachers, extra tutoring for students who need it, and resources. So far, it appears that lots of communities and schools may talk the talk but not actually walk the walk.
Charleston, W.Va.: While you have been improving performance for poor and minority students, have students with disabilities, including significant ones such as autism, down syndrome and others been significantly improving in performance as well? Do you track these students after they leave to see if there is functional progress ... die, real jobs, more independence?
Hedrick Smith: Those are excellent questions and important ones. In our production team, we do not track any of the students, disabled or not. Our information comes from the school systems, and their effectiveness varies greatly from one city to another. The school systems that we've looked at, especially the one in Charlotte, North Carolina, seems to do a pretty good job of following the kinds of numbers you are talking about. Others don't do so well.
Fairfax, Va.: Dear Mr. Smith, Thanks for taking questions today. I am not a teacher but an active, concerned parent of an elementary school student. Last year we received a letter from the principal warning parents that they may find their school declared failing under the federal government's No Child Left Behind protocols. The letter stated that teachers are being forced to spend valuable instructional time preparing students to take the SOL tests, to the exclusion of activities that extend and deepen student learning. Many of the parents applauded the courage of the principal in taking such a stand. However, will this stance negatively impact the funding levels, etc., ... to the school. BTW - the school is a magnet, public elementary school in Fairfax County.
Hedrick Smith: I'm sorry that I don't know the particulars for your individual school. It is correct that any school which fails to meet the federal standards for annual yearly progress for several years in a row risks losing some of its federal funding. So that is something that your principal must keep an eye on.
There are many controversies about the value of testing and whether it's a diversion from or any enhancement to student learning. That depends greatly on the sophistication of the tests themselves. Please take a look at MAKING SCHOOLS WORK. And you will see in the section on Charlotte the way tests are used effectively to not only improve student performance but to guide teachers and to show teachers where they are falling down on doing the job right and how they might do it better. So that if the tests in your state or local area are well constructed, they should not conflict with the goal of student learning. Again, I would recommend looking at the explanation from Eric Smith, the former superintendent in Charlotte.
Atlanta, Ga.: Mr. Smith, why do you think education is considered a priority by the government yet we (the government) seem to be short sighted when it comes to resources, teacher training, etc. ...?
Hedrick Smith: Unfortunately, better schooling as a slogan, is like motherhood and apple pie. All politicians want to be for it. But when it comes to paying the bills, no politician wants to tell you that better education means higher taxes for teacher training, for textbooks, for extra tutors, for students who need additional help, for Saturday classes, for after school work or summer school - for all the things that are needed to raise student performance.
If we are going to make a serious dent in our education problems, we've got to get serious about providing the resources to get the job done. So, you, the interested public, have got to put the heat on the politicians, because they want you to believe that you can get all kinds of things done and still have a free lunch. Current federal law, passed by the current Congress and the current administration, imposes all kinds of new requirements on the states to raise educational standards and to prove educational testing, without providing sufficient federal funds to pay for these new federal mandates.
RTP, N.C. (formerly Houston): I enjoyed your program, but I wanted to comment/ask about standardized testing as a way to evaluate students. Houston has had some very serious problems with standardized tests, including teachers/administrators giving answers (or "correcting" mistakes afterwards), miscategorizing students (ESL kids are counted differently), suspending kids (or encouraging them to skip) during test time, or strategically hold back and then advancing kids so that they never take tests. The latter happens when certain kids are held back multiple times as 9th graders, then "advanced" to 11th grade (or they just drop out in frustration). In this way, they "skip" 10th grade, when the TAKS is given. How can we evaluate our schools when such deceptive techniques are used to falsely improve the overall performance?
Hedrick Smith: You put your finger on a serious problem, and it was widely exposed in Houston. Hopefully, the publicity and the embarrassment has caused and will cause educators in Texas and specifically in Houston to be more honest in the future. But if educators are willing to be dishonest on the tests to make themselves look better than they are, there is almost no way to stop from gaming the system -- except constant public scrutiny.
However, this does not mean that the tests themselves and the process of testing is unimportant. There is little question that student achievement in Houston and many parts of Texas has improved in recent years under the pressure of state standards. that progress shows up on national tests (NAEP) which are harder to game. The gains are smaller on national tests than on state tests, which was the first clue that the state tests were being jimmied by Texas principals and teachers. But nonetheless, there were gains. So just as the baseball commissioner has to go after the misuse of steroids by home run hitters and hot pitchers, so the public and the media have to go after educators who play games with our kids by playing games with the test scores.
Burke, Va.: Hello -- What is your opinion of using closed-captioned television in the classroom? Have you seen schools that have helped underachieving students with this tool?
Hedrick Smith: I have not seen schools using this technology, though it may be helpful. Certainly, use of visual teaching aids is fairly widespread and is often effective. The key, I was told, was not to let the video become a crutch to replace the necessary and continuous interchange between teacher and students and among the students themselves. The danger is not in the technology, it's in the misuse of the technology, because it is so tempting for a teacher to misuse it to replace her own work. But some excellent teachers use video technology effectively as a supplement to illustrate the lessons they are teaching.
New York, N.Y.: Mr. Smith, Recently PBS aired an inspirational film called The Hobart Shakespeareans about a teacher, Rafe Esquith, who teaches Shakespeare among other things to children at an inner-city school in Los Angeles. He spent many years and much of his own money trying to get funding to properly provide resources for these kids. Many of these kids have gone on to outstanding colleges and universities. The film successfully showed that even one dedicated teacher can make a difference. What was so frustrating is the difficulty Mr. Esquith had in obtaining funds. Why, when we see the successes of programs such as these is the government still so slow to put more funds into public inner-city schools?
Hedrick Smith: There are a couple of critical points here. One is adequate support for effect educators like the teacher you describe. The fad among politicians and governments at all levels today is budget cutting. And since education is often the largest chunk of a state's budget, budget cutting means cutting spending on schools. Only if there is a public outcry against such shortsighted budget cutting will the politicians change. So people like you and all your friends and others have to put the heat on the politicians to spend the money and find the money for what is needed to educate our kids.
The second point is that however good Mr. Esquith is, he is only one teacher and he can only reach so many students. The U.S. has an enormous problem in its system of public education. Unfortunately, it is just too slow to raise standards one teacher at a time, or even one school at a time. That is why in MAKING SCHOOLS WORK, we only focused on programs that are being widely used across the country. The reading program Success For All is in 1,300 schools, lifting the performance of 650,000 students. The high school strategy, "High Schools That Work" is in 1,000 schools affecting 800,000 students. The Charlotte district reform effected 150,000 students, and so on. We've got to focus on programs like these that will make a huge difference. Of course, we all applaud dedicated, selfless, effective, charismatic teachers, like Mr. Esquith. But the problem is bigger than he is, and so we need bigger solutions.
Austin, Tex.: What is the moral justification in having tax-supported education? In a country made efficient and affluent by virtue of free-enterprise, why have we relegated the education of our children to the 2nd class status of state run education? Has anyone considered encouraging the creation of more private schools by making tuition tax-deductible?
Hedrick Smith: Every other advanced country uses a system of public education and most of them do far better than we do. There's no evidence yet that if private schools had to accept all students, and not just the ones from affluent families or families whose parents put a high priority on education, that they could educate all comers.
What you see, in MAKING SCHOOLS WORK, is public schools who accept all comers, working in the toughest social and economic terrain, and producing results. American democracy needs those kids educated. The American economy needs those kids educated. The private school systems don't reach those kids.
So the track record of other countries which are overwhelmingly committed to public education, and the track record of educators who are seriously committed to educating all children and willing to spend the resources indicates that that system works just fine. And that comes from someone who was fortunate enough to personally attend private schools as well as public schools.
Philadelphia, Pa.: Mr. Smith, I've been a fan of your's since reading The Russians in high school in the early 1980's to Juggling Work & Family and Is Wal-Mart Good for America? What are some of your current projects? Thank you.
p.s. I studied Russian in College after reading The Russians.
Hedrick Smith: It's great to hear from you and nice to know that you have followed so many of my projects, whether books or television. Our latest project which aired just last night on PBS is MAKING SCHOOLS WORK, showing effective public education in America. It's a program about what works and how, and it's full of lessons for communities, schools and parents all across the country.
Arlington, Va.: Do you feel the voices of teachers are heard enough by administrators and then by the state and federal government? Shouldn't educators in a sense be advisors to administrators, politicians, etc., in terms of talking about what works and what doesn't in a classroom? Do you think teachers complaints about standardized testing not working -- or whatever their complaints might be -- are being heard and finally acted upon? Thank you.
Hedrick Smith: There's no question that no system of education is going to work well unless teachers feel engaged and feel that they are important stake holders. Of course, they need to be heard. They are on the front line. And the secret of the effective strategies in our program is that they all involve the teachers collectively, as well as individually -- in groups with each other, in dialogue with their principals, in exchanges with mentor teachers and higher administrators. The lesson to me was that we have to open up the process of education, have many more of the important players talking to each other. That's what builds the synergies that produce success.
No one has a monopoly on the right answers. There is no magic bullet. So dialogue and exchange of experience and listening to each other are all critical to the process of education. As Tony Alvarado, the former District 2 superintendent in New York City, says, schools must become learning communities. Only when the adults are learning do the students catch the excitement of learning themselves.
Washington, D.C.: I once read that learning can only happen after children are well-fed, safe from abuse or a dangerous neighborhood, in a healthy environment, not worried about whether they'll be evicted, and so on. This seems very common sense to me (thinking back to Maslow). How does this concept fit into the school programs you mention?
I'm thinking about a program a friend studied for her thesis that was a sort of extension of the school lunch program into summer (which is very rare in rural areas) and also provided meals to parents as well, going on the theory that parents who were malnourished weren't likely to be partners in the education process or effective parents.
Hedrick Smith: The ideas you lay out are at the core of what is called the Comer Process, developed by Dr. James Comer, a child psychiatrist at Yale University. The second segment of our program, MAKING SCHOOLS WORK, explains how that process works. Comer believes that schools must provide the safe environment you describe. Comer believes that child learning is built upon child development. Comer believes that schools have to become sites of adult cooperation and teamwork, so that the adults are modeling behavior for the children.
That is precisely what you will see happening at an elementary school in a very tough neighborhood in the North side of Chicago. The principal there adopted the Comer process as a way of getting a handle on the ethnic conflicts and tensions in the neighborhood and on reducing the violent behavior of the students in the school. And you should see the results it has produced, both in terms of student behavior and student achievement.
Arlington, Va.: What do you hope teachers will gain from watching "Making Schools Work"? Students? Parents? The general public overall? Thanks for your time.
Hedrick Smith: My hope is that first of all they will gain, or regain, the confidence that public schools can and do work at a large scale.
My second hope is that they will see new strategies, new tools, new techniques that they can take away from the program and apply in their own schools and their own communities, and perhaps even in their own homes.
Washington, DC: Do you think there is in the American culture an anti-education attitude extending from the President who thought it was cool to get C's in college and down. Thanks.
Hedrick Smith: That's a very serious danger. Because we have ambivalent public attitudes -- we're for education, but we're against hard intellectual work. It's a terrible mistake for public leaders to play games with the aspirations of young people. And to offer models that it's cool to act `not-smart', or not to have worked hard.
Clearly, among gang kids, and in the culture of the street, where some of the kids who are most difficult to educate run, it's cool to be against education, and not to study hard. That's one of the toughest things that education reformers are up against.
In our program, MAKING SCHOOLS WORK, you will see the KIPP program, meaning Knowledge is Power. It's in middle schools and it's going into high schools, the very ages where kids don't like to admit they are academic geeks or that they study hard, or that they want to get good grades. And KIPP reaches into the inner cities, pulling kids off the streets and competing with the gang culture with a strong culture of loyalty of its own. It's fascinating to see how the teachers and leaders at KIPP lure street kids into a culture of hard work and learning. Very tough to do, but they are doing it with more and more kids. In our program, you see a bunch of them, including one teenager who says openly he was headed for violence, drugs and juvenile detention except that KIPP turned his life around.
You see another program, High School That Work, that works with older kids who are drifting through teenage and have no idea why they are in high school. Many of them think it's cool to get C's and not to work hard. One objective of this program is to have teachers work terribly hard to find out what these kids are interested in, to find some activity that is a hook to motivate them and to see how their high school education will effect their lives beyond high school. And it's working. It's reaching hundreds of thousands of high school kids who were lost without it.
So it's possible to beat that anti-education attitude. But adults who are putting it out there are mistakenly playing with fire and a fire that will run far out of their control unless we all do a far better job of reaching the kids who resist learning.
Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii: I live in a state that has a centralized state board of education, with no representation on the outer islands (counties). This administration model does not allow any local input to the decision making process. My question is: Are their strategies to de-centralize this model, so that the local districts can have more input in the decision making process?
Hedrick Smith: In America we believe strongly in local control. Almost all the most effective educational systems in other advanced countries are much more centralized than ours. In fact, foreign educators often say to Americans, "How can you possibly improve student achievement in an educational system that is so fragmented and so decentralized?" So it's a question worth thinking about.
Obviously, America is not going to change on that score. And it does help to have local communities engaged in their own educational systems because people feel that they can be part of a solution. But we do need to think about whether local school boards are really well-equipped to know whether the 9th grade algebra or geometry class being taught in their schools, or the 11th grade physics class or the 10th grade world history class, is on a par with what is being taught in Copenhagen, Toyota City, Singapore, Budapest, Helsinki or Tokyo. Because that's where the competition is. If our kids continue to lose ground against the foreign competition - and they've been losing ground now for several years - then there aren't going to be the good jobs in America that the next generation needs to have a solid middle class standard of living.
It's not easy for local school boards to know and to keep up with what is a world class education in the 21st Century. There is ample evidence in the relatively poor performance of American students on international tests that local school boards are not doing a very good job of keeping up with the international competition so far.
So while it feels comfortable to push for more localized control, it may be worth thinking about whether that's the smartest way to go. What other countries, and what some states in America have started to do is to set the standards nationally or at the state level, to set the curriculum requirements and the testing requirements at the higher level, and then to leave the job of implementing those programs and trying to meet those standards up to the local school districts and local school superintendents. That seems to be producing some good results in states like North Carolina and Kentucky and Washington State.
The really local unit is the school itself. That's where parents, teachers, administrators and the community can come together and really have an impact on students -- not just on what they learn in the classroom but what kind of enrichment programs are available after school and on weekends. And also in terms of how parents and teachers can work together on making sure kids do their homework and understand classroom assignments. If you watched MAKING SCHOOLS WORK, you saw that kind of collaboration paying off. It seems to me that's the really creative and positive area for local effort and local control.
Washington, D.C.: Mr. Smith, You state, "Every other advanced country uses a system of public education and most of them do far better than we do." That is categorically false. Sweden, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, and several other very successful countries have thriving school voucher programs that enable all families to choose among an array of public and private options for their children. Denmark's school choice program is over 150 years old. In much of Western Europe, school choice is considered a human right, and those nations look down on our one-size-fits-all public education system as the root of our educational problems. Please get your facts right before you denigrate private schools that have helped thousands of children, including poor and special needs children.
Hedrick Smith: Those are predominately public school systems in all those countries. Publicly financed education, not privately financed education, by and large.
Washington, D.C.: When did you start making this program?
Hedrick Smith: We began the research looking for effective school programs in 2002. It took us about four months to consult with educational experts around the country and in major institutions to learn about the models that were offering best practices and that were compiling the best track records. We then wrote up our findings in a 75 page report and proposal, which we took to a variety of foundations to seek funding for the production. It took us about two years to raise the money and we began the production last December 1. So, in terms of full time work, we've probably put in about 14-15 months, plus a fair amount of part time work discussing the project and raising funds.
That's a lot of work and a lot of time. But the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from viewers that has been pouring in today on the Internet encourages us to believe that the program will have significant shelf life and positive impact among educators and communities around the country. We hope so. And that was our intention. We appreciate the interest not only of this questioner, but of everyone else who has joined in this chat. The issue of better education for our children is a critical one for the nation. It's vital that we all put our best efforts and our best thoughts into it. Without harboring specific ideological or personal preferences, the lesson of the successful programs is that people are open to new ideas and they are committed to continuous improvement. The job is never-ending, and we all need to get cracking on it.
washingtonpost.com: That concludes today's discussion with Hedrick Smith. Thank you for your questions.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Host Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and editor, discussed the educational successes, communities and school models featured in the PBS program "Making Schools Work."
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9th Ward: History, Yes, but a Future?
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NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 2 -- No one here wants to say it aloud, but one day soon the bulldozers will come, shoving away big hunks of a neighborhood known for its poverty and its artists, its bad luck and its bounce-back resilience.
It is likely to be the largest demolition of a community in modern U.S. history -- destruction begun by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and finished by heavy machinery. On Saturday, firefighters put red tags on hundreds of homes deemed "unsafe," the first step in a wrenching debate over whether the Lower Ninth Ward should be rebuilt or whether, as some suggest, it should revert to its natural state: swamp.
A neighborhood tucked into a deep depression between two canals, railroad tracks and the Mississippi River, New Orleans's Lower Ninth has spent more of the past five weeks underwater than dry. Entire houses knocked off foundations. Barbershops and corner groceries flattened. Cars tossed inside living rooms. What remains is coated in muck -- a crusty layer of canal water, sewage and dirt. Mold is rapidly devouring interiors.
The question now is whether the Lower Ninth Ward, which was devastated 40 years ago by Hurricane Betsy, should be resuscitated again. The debate, as fervent as any facing post-hurricane New Orleans, will test this city's mettle and is sure to expose tensions over race, poverty and political power. The people willing to let the Lower Ninth fade away hew to a pragmatist's bottom line; the ones who want it to stay talk of culture and tradition.
The flooded sections "should not be put back in the real estate market," said Craig E. Colten, a geography professor at Louisiana State University. "I realize it will be an insult [to former residents], but it would be a far bigger insult to put them back in harm's way."
The notion is not without precedent. In the 1800s, cities such as New York, Boston and Chicago rebuilt on filled-in marsh. More recently, the federal government has paid to relocate homes destroyed by the Mississippi River floods of 1993; the Northridge, Calif., earthquake; and the Love Canal environmental disaster in Upstate New York.
But never on the scale being contemplated here. And never in a predominantly black, low-income community already smarting from previous wrongs, perceived or real.
"This is a natural disaster; it's nobody's fault," said Lolita Reed Glass, who grew up in the Lower Ninth with her parents and 10 siblings. "My daddy worked. He did not sit on his bottom. You're not giving us anything. What we rightfully deserve as citizens of this country is the same protection we give to other countries."
Of the 160,000 buildings in Louisiana declared "uninhabitable" after Katrina, a majority are in the New Orleans neighborhoods that suffered extensive flooding. Mayor C. Ray Nagin, an African American who worked in the private sector before entering politics, has spelled out plans to reopen every section of the city -- except the Lower Ninth. His director of homeland security, Col. Terry Ebbert, said in an interview that most homes in the Lower Ninth "will not be able to be restored." Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson told the Houston Chronicle he has advised Nagin that "it would be a mistake to rebuild the Ninth Ward."
The mayor himself has spoken ominously about the need for residents to come in, "take a peek," retrieve a few valuables and move on. Historic preservation advocates fear that the city will capitalize on a program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that pays to tear down damaged buildings but not to repair historic private properties.
"There is a built-in incentive to demolish," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "The first instinct after natural disasters is almost always to demolish buildings. It is almost always wrong."
New Orleans, with 20 districts on the National Register of Historic Places covering half the city, has the highest concentration of historic structures in the nation, Moe said. That includes the Lower Ninth's Holy Cross section, with its shotgun houses and gems such as the Jackson Barracks, the Doullut Steamboat Houses and St. Maurice Church.
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NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 2 -- No one here wants to say it aloud, but one day soon the bulldozers will come, shoving away big hunks of a neighborhood known for its poverty and its artists, its bad luck and its bounce-back resilience.
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Silent on Putin's Slide
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On Sept. 23, a week after President Bush had been "pleased to welcome my friend Vladimir Putin back to the White House," Putin took another step toward choking off political freedom in Russia.
He had already sent a message to business executives not to challenge him, by indicting oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and destroying his company with tax bills, forced sell-offs and other tactics of selective justice. Now, hours after Khodorkovsky's appeal had been denied in a comically brief process, and an eight-year jail term affirmed, Putin went after the lawyers.
A Canadian lawyer working on the case, Robert Amsterdam, was rousted from his hotel room at 1 a.m. by agents of what used to be called the KGB and was given 24 hours to leave the country. More seriously, prosecutors said they would seek to disbar Russian lawyers who had defended Khodorkovsky -- and in Putin's Russia, prosecutors get what they seek.
It's tempting to call these tactics Stalinist, but Putin is both less bloody and in some ways more clever than Stalin. He doesn't have a lot of people killed. But he understands that he doesn't have to. He can reimpose authoritarian rule without a gulag, simply by spreading fear through example.
He can fire one editor for putting a negative story on the front page and other editors get the message. He can have one or two judges dismissed without pension and other judges toe the line. Threaten a few human rights organizations, allow the murders of a few journalists to go unsolved, open a criminal investigation of the one politician who mentions challenging you in the next election, throw a few businessmen into tuberculosis-infested prison cells -- and word gets around.
Amsterdam, who has worked in many countries euphemistically known as "emerging markets," told me after leaving Russia that he has never worked in a country where the fear was so palpable, and the political space so constricted, as in Putin's domain.
The Bush administration, after some zigs and zags on Russia, seems to have developed a fairly coherent strategy regarding Russia's slide from democracy: Ignore it. The National Security Council apparatus in the White House believes that what happens inside Russia is irrelevant to the United States; that the United States can't do much to influence domestic events in any case; and that dwelling on Putin's authoritarianism would compromise other U.S. interests in bilateral relations.
Because this strategy conflicts so baldly with Bush's democracy-promotion theme, administration rhetoric sometimes sounds fiercer than this strategy would suggest. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, for example, when she last visited Moscow, spoke frankly about democracy and human rights.
But if there is concern about the loss of freedom in Russia, it doesn't translate into policy. The administration reduces funding for democracy promotion inside Russia. It doesn't challenge Putin's standing to host the Group of Eight summit next year.
And judging by Bush's performance during Putin's most recent visit, he doesn't even feel obliged to pretend anymore. He checked off the democracy box in one sentence remarkably divorced from reality, saying that Russia "will be even a stronger partner as the reforms that President Vladimir Putin has talked about are implemented: the rule of law and the ability for people to express themselves in an open way in Russia."
Then Bush made clear that he doesn't really care whether Putin implements these reforms, which Putin has not, in fact, talked about: "And every time I visit and talk with President Putin, I -- our relationship becomes stronger, and I want to thank you for that."
You could argue that what the United States gets from that relationship is worth abandoning Russians who still dream of freedom: cooperation in securing nuclear materials, Moscow making less trouble than it might for the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, as Bush noted, "they've got products that we want, like energy."
In fact, though, Bush doesn't seem to be getting all that much out of the relationship, and the closing of political space in Russia does affect U.S. interests, particularly as Russia's foreign policy becomes more nationalistic and belligerent toward its neighbors.
During the Cold War, too, human rights didn't always win out in U.S. policy over the desire for natural gas or progress in arms control. But in Soviet times, U.S. leaders had an understanding of the nature of the system they were confronting and generally weren't afraid to say so. What's striking is that for the first time in decades Russia is becoming less, not more, free, and Bush can't even bring himself to acknowledge what is happening.
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Vladimir Putin continues to choke off freedom in Russia. President Bush can't even bring himself to acknowledge what is happening.
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Nicaragua's Creeping Coup
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MANY PEOPLE outside Latin America probably assume Daniel Ortega's political career ended 15 years ago when his ruinous attempt to install a Marxist dictatorship in Nicaragua ended with an election he decisively lost. The slightly better informed might suppose that his two subsequent electoral defeats, the allegations of corruption and child molestation that haunt him, or his single-digit rating in opinion polls have made him a marginal figure in Nicaraguan politics. Sadly, the truth is otherwise: Thanks to the weakness of the country's new democratic institutions, Mr. Ortega is close to regaining power and to broadening the Latin alliance of undemocratic states now composed by Cuba and Venezuela.
Mr. Ortega's comeback has been accomplished through a brazenly corrupt alliance with a former right-wing president, Arnoldo Aleman, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2003 for looting the national treasury. Mr. Ortega's Sandinista Party supported the prosecution, then abruptly switched sides and formed a pact with Mr. Aleman against President Enrique Bolanos, a member of Mr. Aleman's Liberal Party who bravely chose to tackle government corruption. The left-right alliance has used its majority in the National Assembly to rewrite the constitution and stack the Supreme Court. In the past week it has begun stripping the members of Mr. Bolanos's cabinet of immunity so that they can be prosecuted before Sandinista judges on bogus charges. If this power play succeeds, Mr. Bolanos will be next. Meanwhile, Mr. Aleman, who stole tens of millions from one of Latin America's poorest countries, was freed from house arrest last week.
Mr. Ortega's goal is to force Mr. Bolanos to accept his constitutional rewrite, which transfers almost all presidential powers to Congress. That would effectively deliver Nicaragua to Sandinista control without one of the elections that Mr. Ortega keeps losing. Scheduled elections next year could then be manipulated. Already, the corrupt alliance has lowered the percentage of the vote a presidential candidate needs to be elected to 35, and criminal charges have been brought against one of the leading candidates. The Sandinistas will have plenty of money to spend, thanks to Hugo Chavez. Mr. Ortega recently announced that he had arranged with Venezuela's self-styled "Bolivarian revolutionary" for a supply of subsidized oil.
Compared with Mr. Chavez's aggressive intervention, attempts by the Bush administration and other outsiders to save Nicaraguan democracy so far look feckless. The new secretary general of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, tried to broker a political compromise but pronounced himself frustrated when Mr. Ortega ignored his appeals to stop undermining Mr. Bolanos's government. The Bush administration managed to win congressional passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement this summer, but Mr. Ortega has blocked its ratification by Nicaragua.
Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick is due to visit Managua this week in what officials say will be an attempt to bolster Mr. Bolanos and persuade Mr. Aleman's right-wing supporters to abandon their self-destructive alliance with the Sandinistas. As happens so often in Latin America during the Bush administration, high-level intervention arrives late. It does have one thing going for it: Eighty percent of Nicaraguans say they oppose the Ortega-Aleman pact. Nicaragua's rescue will depend on people power, inside or outside the polls.
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As happens so often in Latin America, Bush administration intervention is arriving late. Nicaragua's rescue will depend on people power, inside or outside the voting booths.
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A Time For McCain?
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In the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush promised to bring a tone of probity to Washington. He said this despite having demolished his honorable rival in the primaries, Sen. John McCain, with the help of dishonorable slanders. Now that government corruption, as measured by the number of pork projects enacted, has more than doubled on Bush's watch, and now that Bush's chief procurement officer and chief congressional ally have both been indicted, Bush's promise of probity has become a hollow joke. If there is any justice in the world, McCain and McCainism should benefit.
McCainism ought to gain because both rival views of government are bankrupt. The small-government right has been discredited because it has presided over an astonishing 33 percent rise in federal spending since 2001, and a rise in non-defense spending of 29 percent. In 1987 Congress passed a highway bill that contained some 150 pork projects, but Bush and the Republican Congress have just produced a bill that contained more than 6,000. Conservative rhetoric about cutting government has proved totally empty.
Meanwhile the big-government left doesn't look any better. The reason for all that government-cutting rhetoric is that, guess what, government is frequently dysfunctional. Hurricane Katrina has taught this lesson once again, and you can't blame the disaster only on Bush's incompetence. New Orleans had inadequate levees because the process for allocating the government's water-infrastructure budget has been corrupt for years. Homes had been built in crazy places because of the government's crazy approach to flood insurance. Once the hurricane hit, the dysfunction of state and local government was just as profound as the dysfunction of Team Bush. It's hard to be a full-throated government booster in the face of all this evidence.
So the small-government right and the big-government left are equally exhausted. The only appealing political platform is good government. This is what McCainism is about. The senator has waged lonely battles not to make government bigger or smaller, but simply to make it better. Hence his campaign against corrupt campaign dollars. Hence the pigs on his Web site that link to a case-by-case denunciation of corrupt pork-barrel spending. Hence his fury at the Bush administration's mistreatment of foreign detainees, which undermines government by destroying its moral authority.
The point about McCainism is not that you have to agree with every one of the senator's positions. You just have to understand their spirit. McCain is saying that government cannot be an effective instrument until it earns back public trust, and, further, that a patriotic nation needs a government it can believe in. This is why McCain is willing to alienate his Senate colleagues by posting their pork projects on his Web site. The fight for decent government warrants making a few enemies.
In his 2000 presidential bid, McCain challenged the prevailing transactional view of politics. The transactional view holds that candidates must mobilize selected groups -- farmers, small-business owners, minorities and so on -- to support their campaigns, then repay them with government favors once they are in office. The transactional view brings you a system dominated by Terry McAuliffe, Karl Rove and Tom DeLay -- people who use interest groups to win control of government and government to win the loyalty of interest groups. The purest expression of the transactional mind-set came during a Bush-Gore debate in 2000. A questioner from the audience who was neither poor nor sick nor otherwise needy demanded to know what each candidate could do for her. Rather than retorting that government doesn't retail favors to individual voters, both candidates competed to oblige her.
McCain's candidacy rebelled against this style of politics. Echoing John F. Kennedy's famous lines, he urged voters to ask not what government could do for them but what they could do for their country. In town after small town in his victorious New Hampshire primary campaign, McCain preached the virtue -- and more than that, the satisfaction -- of committing to a cause larger than oneself: to the nation, to its system of values, to common ideals of honesty and decency. This appeal lays the emotional basis on which to build a better government. So long as voters regard elections as advanced sales of stolen goods, corrupt and dysfunctional spending will discredit federal programs. Government has to be rescued from the me-me mind-set.
It's tempting to say that McCainism is hopeless: that the appeal to patriotic selflessness is futile in a narcissistic culture. But Americans' impatience with conventional politics is too obvious to ignore. More identify themselves as independent than as supporters of either main party. Millions flock to maverick reformers from Ross Perot to Jesse Ventura to Arnold Schwarzenegger, tiring of them once they've been around a while and become part of the system. Only 29 percent of Americans say they trust government, down from 40 percent in 2000. McCainism -- whether practiced by the senator or by some other charismatic campaigner -- will eventually have its moment.
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The small-government right and the big-government left are both equally exhausted, leaving good government as the only appealing political platform. This is what McCainism is about.
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Bush Names Harriet Miers to Supreme Court
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President Bush named White House counsel Harriet Miers, 60, to be associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court today.
Miers, who was Bush's personal attorney in Texas, was the first woman elected president of the Texas Bar Association and was a partner at the Texas law firm of Locke Liddell & Sapp before coming to Washington to work in the Bush administration.
The announcement came just two hours before Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. formally took his seat as chief justice of the United States on the high court's opening day of the 2005 term.
Miers would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, generally considered the decisive swing vote on many close issues before the court.
If confirmed by the Senate, Miers would be a rare appointee with no experience as a judge at any level. Initial searches of news archives also suggested that Miers has not been an outspoken advocate for or against any particular issue.
Reaction from Democrats was noncommittal but not negative, mostly because of who she isn't (a prominent conservative judge similar to some of those on the White House short list) than who she is.
Vermont Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Miers has been a Bush loyalist and that "it is important to know whether she would enter this key post with the judicial independence necessary when the Supreme Court considers issues of interest to this administration."
But White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that both Republican and Democratic senators suggested Miers by name to the president.
One Democrat who appeared pleased by the choice was Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.).
"I like Harriet Miers," said Reid, who had voted against John Roberts as chief justice in Roberts' confirmation vote last week. "In my view, the Supreme Court would benefit from the addition of a justice who has real experience as a practicing lawyer."
Reaction from some non-elected conservatives, particularly on blogs, was less positive. David Frum, in National Review Online, said the president had missed an opportunity. "The Miers nomination," he wrote, "is an unforced error. Unlike the Roberts's nomination, which confirmed the previous balance on the Court, the O'Connor resignation offered an opportunity to change the balance."
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) said he "did not think" Miers had taken positions on many of the critical issues before the court. "One of the things that I talked to her about," he said after a private meeting today, "was the complexity of a Supreme Court nomination hearing because of there are a lot of complicated issues."
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The president names White House Counsel Harriet Miers, 60, to be associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. She was Bush's personal attorney in Texas, and if confirmed, would be a rare appointee with no experience as a judge.
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Bush Nominates Miers for Supreme Court
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Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Thank you for your time and insight, Mr. Kaiser.
As the day has progressed I've been watching various blogs and papers react to the Miers nomination and it has looked to me as though there is crescendo of anger and despair emerging on the right. Bill Kristol is apparently "Disappointed, Depressed, Demoralized", but the Weekly Standard Web site has been down most of the day because there has been so much traffic. Do you have a sense that there is widespread disappointment on the right? If so, does it add up to a mutiny of any significance either for Bush's presidency or the nomination?
Robert G. Kaiser: Good day to all. This is one of those moments that this newsroom loves--a genuine surprise, leaving ideologues on all sides confused--and us too. But our confusion will be gone within the next six hours, as everyone works together to prepare tomorrow's Washington Post. Then everything will be clear! Hopefully.
Yes, there are definite rumblings on the Right. Best evidence: Vice President Cheney, visiting Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, was suddenly available for an interview with Rush Limbaugh a couple of hours ago. Cheney's obvious mission was to calm Rush and his fans. Rush used the word cronyism to describe the appointment of Ms. Miers.
Will there be a significant mutiny? Don't know. Stay tuned.
washingtonpost.com: Cheney on Rush Limbaugh Today (Transcript)
Alexandria, Va.: So the President has been saying that his favorite Justices are Scalia and Thomas and he'll nominate judges "like" them.
Well, do you think he has? Like him or not, he's a guy who's comfortable in his own skin and apparently has nominated two people he's comfortable with as opposed to people who are perhaps more strident, arrogant and outwardly opinionated.
Robert G. Kaiser: There is no evidence I know of that would suggest that either Roberts or Miers is in any meaningful way like Thomas and Scalia.
Greenwood Village, Colo.: If Bush doesn't have any more Supreme Court vacancies to fill during his term, the next President will likely have two. If, after the confirmation of Roberts and presumably Miers, the court does not move decidedly to the right, do you believe this will energize the conservative base of the Republican party to reject candidates such as Frist, McCain and Giuliani?
Robert G. Kaiser: Good question. I learned long ago not to try to look so far into the future. Who knows what surprises lurk out there around the next bend in the road? Not I. But you are right; if Miers and Roberts turn out to be rather pragmatic center-right conservatives on the court, then the next vacancy or two or three will be all the more significant.
Salt Lake, Utah: Hi Mr. Kaiser,
Thank you for doing this chat - it is always a pleasure to read your thoughts.
It seems like we have forced ourselves into a situation where we assume that the only nominees that will survive a confirmation process are those without any paper trail. Of course, besides the fact that we severely limit the available pool of nominees, it is a bit frightening to see that we know less and less about the candidates.
Do you think the pendulum will ever swing back to the point where people with several years of judicial experience can be nominated?
Robert G. Kaiser: Well, I hope so, and I do expect that pendulum to swing back. This is a really bad moment for President Bush, almost certainly the worst of his presidency. His low poll numbers, the situation in Iraq, the two hurricanes and their aftermath, the Frist and DeLay matters--this is just a bad dream coming true at the moment. So it makes a lot of sense to me that he would look for a nominee without a paper trail or a meaningful reputation on the controversial issues to replace Justice O'Connor. This was a safe choice, perhaps a really shrewd one. It's a choice made by a president who, just now, is very much on the defensive.
Hampton, Va.: This is one of those moments that will look truly awful 20 years from now. Where is Bush's spine? Do the Senate Democrats scare him that much?
Robert G. Kaiser: See above. I think I understand where you are coming from, and I think a lot of loyal conservatives are going to share your view, but I'm not convinced it's entirely fair given the overall political situation.
Sure, Bush could have picked a fight with the Senate by picking an unabashed, forceful, anti-Rowe conservative, but at what cost politically? Remember, there are quite a few pro-choice Republicans still in the Senate. And there are three more years in Bush's term. A knock-down battle now could have left Bush in a pretty deep hole for those three years, no? I think so.
I honestly don't think the Senate Democrats scare Bush at all. I think he is worried about 38% approval ratings and other signs of real political weakness at the moment.
London, U.K.: How can this be perceived as anything but total capitulation by Bush to the Democrats? This woman gave money to Al Gore, for goodness sake. Bush is making a rash decision while his poll numbers are low -- a decision that we're stuck with for 20 years.
We elected a conservative President. We elected a conservative House. We elected a conservative Senate. WE KNEW WHAT WE WERE DOING! Give us a conservative nominee!
Robert G. Kaiser: This raises a lot of interesting questions for me. Do you honestly think that the small majority that reelected Bush, the smallest ever for an incumbent running for reelection, expected or wanted him to transform the Supreme Court in a staunchly conservative direction? I don' t think there's any evidence of that. On the contrary, polls continue to show strong majorities, for example, for keeping abortion legal. The country is not as conservative as this president or this Congress, judging by extensive polling by us and others.
I don't doubt that you knew what you were doing, but I don't doubt either that Karl Rove and President Bush knew what they were doing this weekend when they settled on Miers.
Austin, Tex.: Leaving ideology aside, what's your impression of the nominee's resume? She's not a heavyweight legal scholar like Scalia (or, apparently, Roberts), but she's had a fairly impressive career. (In other words, she's no "Brownie," despite what the leftwing blogs are saying.)
I'm asking in part because I think the "cronyism" charge will only work if her opponents can argue convincingly that she's not well-qualified to be on the Court.
Robert G. Kaiser: My first reactions are similar to yours. This woman is interesting. She devoted her life to her legal career; she did extremely well at it; she broke a lot of barriers for women lawyers in Texas; she is held in a high regard by many of her colleagues. A lot of people seem to think that only judges should go on the Supreme Court, but I disagree with that. In my personal opinion the Court has long been in need of more members who have played in the political arena and seen the blood flow up close--as both Rehnquist and O'Connor did.
Today the comments from Democrats and liberal interest groups make clear that they have found no handle to attack Miers yet. They'll keep looking.
Washington, D.C.: So some bloggers are saying Miers would be the least-credentialed Supreme Court Justice since Abe Fortas. But this strikes me as entirely unfair to Fortas, who was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, a Yale professor, and ran the SEC. Isn't it fair to say Miers would be the least-credentialed Supreme Court Justice in generations? And while that doesn't necessarily disqualify her, can't we admit that it's pretty shocking for a Supreme Court nominee (1) never to have been a Judge; -and- (2) to have such an undistinguished legal career (even if we credit her with the positions she's attained through her friendship with Bush.) I don't mean to be a snob, but putting aside her political connections, I'm not so sure Hogan and Hartson would bring her in for an interview, much less hire her.
Robert G. Kaiser: She was the managing partner of a successful 200-member law firm and then, after it merged with another, co-managing partner of a 400-member firm. Those are real credentials. I wonder if you're right about Hogan & Hartson.
I will leave it to others to say what credentials are sufficient. Personally I don't think the Republic is in danger because Ms. Miers hasn't been a judge.
Herndon, Va.: Well, Bush will certainly get unanimous Senate approval for this one. This is a truly awful pick, borne out of his weakness in the aftermath of the hurricanes and the drumbeat of bad news from Iraq. Six months from now, would he make this pick? I doubt it. We're going to regret this for years to come...
Robert G. Kaiser: I've already commented on your general proposition, but want to question your assumption that in six months, things will be much better for Bush. What do you base that prediction on? I'd say the odds are pretty good that things will actually be worse in six months, though again, I am out of the predictions business. But tell us, what do you think will improve for him in these six months?
Arlington, Va.: Let's check the box score:
How can the headline be anything but "Democrats win"?
Robert G. Kaiser: Well, I'm not going to hire YOU as a Post reporter! Democrats look surprised and a little baffled, but not gleeful. Ditto the liberal interest groups. "Media happy" implies a monolithic media that has made clear a shared view of the appointment. Where and how? Not all "right wingers" are apoplectic; a number of conservative individuals and groups have issued comments friendly to Miers.
So, if you look in tomorrow's Post, you'll find that the headline is NOT "Democrats win."
Iowa: Another country heard from: The local (right-leaning) radio host this noon pronounced Ms. Miers as a great choice because if the Senate Democrats derail her nomination, the President will then be free to nominate a far more avowed, hard-line conservative the next time, with the great advantage of having made the Democrats appear to be whiney obstructionists. This seems to be a divergent view from what some of your conservative posters are offering today?
Robert G. Kaiser: Thanks for posting. And hey, we think Iowa is part of THIS country.
New York, N.Y.: How is it that a person with no experience as a judge be considered for a position as a Justice in the highest court? Would that not be a drawback for her?
Thanks for taking my question!
Robert G. Kaiser: Many previous Supreme Court justices had no previous experience as a judge, including to of the last three Chief Justices: Earl Warren and William Rehnquist. Personally I welcome appointments that bring greater diversity to the Court.
Washington, D.C.: Dear Mr. Kaiser:I must tell you respectfully that your hatred of President Bush is incredibly obvious. As such, why do the Powers That Be continue to assign you to these chats about administration activities? I'm afraid I don't even bother reading your chats anymore because your responses are so predictably sour and condemnatory of the White House.
Robert G. Kaiser: Well, what's a guy to say about this? Only this: President Bush and I belonged to the same fraternity at Yale (he a few years after I did); I have never met him in my life; I feel no "hatred" for him, and such feelings do not come naturally to me, in private life or professionally. Do I think Bush will be recorded in history as a great president? On the basis of his record to date, I do not. Am I open to the possibility that he could still combine success in Iraq, a booming second-term economy and breakthroughs in Iran, Korea and such to create a good record for himself? I am.
Now I have a question for you: If you no longer read these chats, why are you asking questions in them? How will you know if your question was answered? I guess you won't.
Newark, N.J.: Why couldn't Bush just wait a month to make a selection? He's at rock-bottom now, but political tides shift quickly. With DeLay, the hurricanes, and gas prices battering him, why the need to hurry? Awful choice. Why do we need Republicans if they act like Democrats?
Robert G. Kaiser: We don't know the thinking in the White House about a delay Vs. fast action, but fast action makes sense to me. Everyone has been waiting for this choice. Sandra Day O'Connor wants to leave Washington as soon as she can (her husband is seriously ill). Of course the political tide could turn, but it could also turn for the worse, no?
Washington, D.C.: Today's nomination is beginning to confirm a hypothesis that I have been working on. It seems, despite their statements to the contrary, neither President Bush as any interest in seeing Rowe v. Wade overturned. At first, I thought that Sutter was a blunder - but now with the Roberts and Miers nominations I have to believe that they are consciously choosing pragmatic moderate conservatives (a position I am not unhappy with as a moderate conservative who has little interest in the "culture wars"). What's your opinion on this?
Robert G. Kaiser: Thank you for this very good question. I will not try to read the minds of either Bush, but as analysis, I think yours is sound. Look at W. Bush's record: like his father, he has studiously avoided ever trying to divide the country on abortion. I suspect he is more anti-abortion personally than his father was, but that's just a hunch, not information. And I see no evidence that he disagrees with the political conclusion that leaving the abortion dragon where it is lying makes sense. Remember, a strong majority of Americans wants abortion to be legal in some circumstances. That's a hard fact to evade, politically. If you're trying to build a new Republican majority in the country, would you make an anti-abortion plank central to your platform? No. Reagan, Bush I and Bush II have all avoided doing so.
Democrats not gleeful?: Maybe not the extreme-left, who would be unhappy with anyone that Bush nominated. But considering that the Democratic leadership is enthusiastically backing Miers, and that conservative blogs are full of comments about how Bush has betrayed them and that they're going to stay home in 2006, I think that (for the time being anyway) mainstream Democrats are extremely pleased with this turn of events.
Robert G. Kaiser: You may know more than I about the reactions so far, but what I read from Leahy and Reid earlier was very, very cautious, not gleeful.
Arlington, Va.: If two vacancies had occurred in the President's first term, would Roberts and/or Miers been nominated ?
Robert G. Kaiser: I doubt it.
New York, N.Y.: Mr. Kaiser,
You mention that the left has found no handle to attack the nomination. But my question is - do you really think that it is necessary to find that "handle." Like you said, many on the right are having trouble accepting this nomination. Would it be smarter, strategically, for Democrats to just stay out of the fray? What is the possibility of a potentially damaging fight within the conservative ranks?
Robert G. Kaiser: Good questions, can't answer them yet.
Annandale, Va.: I wonder if Republican Party strategists, Bush and his handlers, actually have ever had any intention of getting a Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v Wade. After all, the party has run many, many successful national campaigns on the premise that they will deliver all that the religious right is hoping for, but never actually seem able to deliver once in office (this worked two times for Reagan, and two times for Bush). If they ever actually do lose abortion as an issue, they risk the otherwise questionable coalition of fiscal conservatives (the American money base) with social conservatives (a great number of whom should otherwise be looking at a less status quo economy). Keeping the judicial branch on the fence just makes good sense for producing a permanent Republican majority.
Robert G. Kaiser: You have echoed my sentiments, above.
Detroit, Mich.: I'm a Democrat. I'm pretty gleeful! I can't imagine Bush picking a Gore supporter for the Court! The Senate Democrats did their job perfectly!
Robert G. Kaiser: Thanks for confessing. Do we know that she actually favored Gore over Bush, or merely that she gave Gore some money? I have grown cynical in this town, where lots of people and PACs give to both sides in the same race.
Seward, Neb.: Kaiser hates Bush? Jeez- I thought you were being rather deferential and rather generous in your observations regarding the Mier pick
Robert G. Kaiser: That's my long-lost cousin in Seward, probably. But I'm grateful anyway!
Washington, D.C.: I work for the Congressional Research Service, and we would like to thank President Bush for choosing a nominee with absolutely no paper trail. That means we won't have to waste time, effort and trees providing copies of all her reported decisions and other writings to all who request these.
Robert G. Kaiser: This is an interesting aspect to the choice of Miers. Reporters as well as Senators will be frustrated by the lack of her words.
Bethesda, Md.: This seems like a hurried pick. Did the President rush this one out there to dilute the media coverage of the Rove/Cheney/Libby/Frist/DeLay/Abramoff/Safavian/Williams ScandalPak (tm)?
Robert G. Kaiser: I doubt it.
New York, N.Y.: Do you think that Ms. Miers will be hurt by having to follow the performance of Chief Justice Roberts' during his confirmation hearings? Will Senators expect her to meet the standard he set in regards to vast knowledge of Supreme Court precedent, since she is not a constitutional expert? And, if she is not able to meet that standard, will it hurt her chances?
Robert G. Kaiser: Good question. I thought about this problem watching Roberts testify last month. I think anyone you could imagine would have a hard time following that performance. But I also think that as of this afternoon, she looks like someone it won't be easy to muster strong opposition to. Of course I have no idea what may come out in the days ahead.
Atlanta, Ga.: I admit to being left-leaning, but not partisan. I must say I am surprised the donations (Gore, etc.) made so long ago are considered "today's news." Why is that? Is it fair? What am I missing? Isn't it possible she changed her mind? Aren't people allowed to do that?
Robert G. Kaiser: In today's polarized and over-heated political environment, I think these factoids are seized on as evidence that someone belongs to this or that tribe--is "one of us" or "one of them." In reality, of course, there are a lot of people out there who (like me, if I may say so) don't think in these tribal terms, but find public figures to admire in both parties, and don't divide the universe into "us" and "them."
My hunch is you'll see the strongest tribalists on right and left reacting negatively to Miers precisely because she is the sort of person who could make a contribution to Al Gore, but work for years as a loyal right-hand-woman to George Bush. This makes her more interesting to me; it makes her more suspicious to the ideologues.
Louisville, Ky.: A piece of information: She gave money to Gore's '88 campaign. Does that make her a Democrat or clueless?
Robert G. Kaiser: Are those the only possibilities? I don't think so.
D.C.: I wish you and your readers would stop referring to the abortion decision as "Rowe." It's "Roe," as in Jane Roe, the female equivalent of John Doe. (Apparently, abortion was such a stigma back then that women were unwilling to use their real names.)
Robert G. Kaiser: Oy, I did it again. I'm sorry! This is a really dumb mistake, I freely confess.
Albany, NY: Your comments regarding Miers' qualifications reveal a stunning ignorance. The job of a managing partner is to "manage" a law firm. It is often the partner who is most removed from the practice of law
I actually do know what the role of a managing partner is. I cited that as evidence that this is a serious woman respected by her peers who actually put the fate of their law firms -- and thus their livelihoods -- in her hands. That suggests to me that they had a lot of confidence in her. And that, in turn, suggests that she is no lightweight. But obviously, we have a lot to learn about Harriett Miers.
Alexandria, VA: I've been stuck inside all day today and haven't seen any photos from the Court. Has Chief Justice Roberts continued the tradition of the late Chief Justice Rehnquist of those four gold stripes on his robe?
Robert G. Kaiser: There are no pictures from the court; Roberts has not changed that old rule. So you would have seen nothing had you not been stuck inside.
But, my colleague Chuck Lane who covers the Court and sits 20 yards from me says the new chief wore no stripes.
Houston, Tex.: On the subject of Harriet Miers' contributions to Al Gore, etc, there were a number of conservative Texas Democrats who changed party affiliation back in the late '80's, early '90's. Conservatives should look at her switch as a victory - there's no one more zealous than a convert!
Robert G. Kaiser: thanks for posting. Of course you're right. I expect we'll learn soon when she first registered as a Republican. In Texas, as I understand it, John Connally was the first Republican politician who prompted former Democrats to do so back in the '60s. Conversions continued ever since.
Nashville, Tenn.: I don't think you are a Bush hater. Just prior to the 2004 election you printed my comment predicting a massive Bush victory like Nixon's in 1972. Now we'll see if you print this comment, that like Nixon, he will be impeached.
Robert G. Kaiser: I'll gladly post it, but I won't agree with it.
Nashville, Tenn.: I'll be reading tomorrow's Post but it won't be to get the Miers reaction. I'd like to see some coverage of why the floodwalls failed in New Orleans. That's the proximate cause of most of the misery that we continue to experience in Katrina's aftermath. With three reporters in the area why haven't we been reading more on this?
Robert G. Kaiser: This will be the last question today. Thanks to all.
I hope we can give you a link here to a terrific story by Michael Grunwald of The Post on the failure of the levees in New Orleans. I don't know what prompted your question--did something come out on this today? If so I have missed it. But this is a big question of great interest to The Post.
Please come back for more next time.
washingtonpost.com: Experts Say Faulty Levees Caused Much of Flooding.
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.
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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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High Oil Prices Met With Anger Worldwide
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Rising fuel prices are stoking popular anger around the world, throwing politicians on the defensive and forcing governments to resort to price freezes, tax cuts and other measures to soothe voter resentment.
The latest example came this weekend in Nigeria, where President Olusegun Obasanjo promised in a nationally televised Independence Day speech that the cost of gasoline would not increase further until the end of 2006, no matter what happened in global oil markets. He acted after furious demonstrations shut down whole sections of major cities around the country over the past several weeks.
Antagonism over the strains inflicted by escalating energy costs is a phenomenon that stretches from rich nations in Western Europe, where filling up a minivan costs upward of $100, to poor countries in Asia and Africa, where rising oil prices have driven up the cost of bus rides and kerosene used for cooking.
Although prices vary widely around the globe, with many governments keeping fuel costs below market levels and others maintaining stiff taxes on petroleum products, the mood in many parts of the world can be summed up in the lamentations of Julia Seitsang, a mother of 10 who lives in Windhoek, the capital of the southern African country of Namibia.
"Gas prices are biting us so hard it stings," said Seitsang, a 46-year-old businesswoman, opening her wallet to show just a few Namibian coins as she stood on a busy street looking for someone to share a taxi. "I have to spend more and more for my husband to drive my children to school every day."
Adding that her children, who go to three different schools according to their grades and talents, might have to be moved to one school because of the family's gasoline bill, she said, "I swear we are living in the hands of Jesus with these gas prices."
The impact is particularly hard on people in nations like Namibia, where the average annual income is $5,000 and gas costs about $5 a gallon. They have watched helplessly as the prices of crude oil and petroleum products, which are set in global markets, have soared over the past two years, first because of the powerful demand generated in large part by China's rapidly growing economy and more recently because of the gasoline shortages generated by Hurricane Katrina. But in many wealthy countries as well, discontent among ordinary citizens is compelling politicians to respond.
In the European Union, there was a brief attempt by the 25 member governments to maintain a united front against consumer demands for tax cuts, rebates and other subsidies to offset rising fuel prices. Many of those governments depend on taxes that add as much as $5 to a gallon of gas.
But the unity cracked last month as Poland and Hungary approved fuel tax cuts and Belgium promised a rebate on home heating fuel taxes. In France, where a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline fetches up to $6.81 in Paris, thousands of farmers and truck drivers staged brief street demonstrations two weeks ago, and the government offered them a $36 million package of gas tax breaks and rebates.
In Canada, too, the government, facing an election next year, is scrambling to put together a package to present to the cabinet this week, including a new agency to monitor gas prices, help for low-income Canadians with their home heating bills, and new powers to investigate price-fixing complaints.
Canadians paid about $4.07 per gallon for gasoline shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit, reflecting the surge in petroleum prices for an industry closely tied to the giant U.S. market and taxes that are generally double those in the United States. Although the pump price subsided to an average of $3.50 a gallon last week, "there is a great deal of consumer frustration and outrage," said Cathy Hay, a senior associate at M.J. Ervin & Associates, an independent gas consulting firm in Calgary, Alberta. "It is hard for the average consumer to translate a refinery closed in Texas or Louisiana with how much they pay at a pump in Alberta."
In such countries, where stiff gas taxes help induce motorists to drive small, fuel-efficient cars, the griping by Americans about high gasoline prices evokes little sympathy. Ruth Bridger, a spokeswoman for the AA Motoring Trust, a British consumer advocacy group, said Britons look at the sport-utility vehicles that dominate U.S. highways and think, "Serves you right."
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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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Police Say Attacks in Bali Were Suicide Bombings
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BALI, Indonesia, Oct. 2 -- Investigators stepped up their efforts Sunday to determine the identity of suicide bombers who attacked three tourist restaurants a day earlier, saying they were looking for clues among tiny pieces of human flesh stuck to explosive material and scattered about the blast sites.
Bali's police chief, I Made Pastika, displayed pictures of the heads of the three suspected suicide bombers at a news conference. He said the men were responsible for the near-simultaneous blasts that killed 22 people, including several foreigners. Estimates of the death toll have varied, with some accounts reporting that 26 or more people were killed.
Pastika also showed an amateur video obtained by police that recorded one bomber, wearing a black shirt, walking into the Raja restaurant in Kuta Square, a popular shopping and dining spot. Seconds later, at 7:45 p.m., the man was obscured by a flash of light and an explosion.
As the police try to identify those responsible for the attacks, some Balinese said they wondered whether any amount of police effort would restore confidence in their island, whose tourism-dependent economy had just begun to rebound after terrorist bombings three years ago that killed 202 people.
"Of course what happened last night will hurt our income, just like the previous bombings," said Yani Kareng, as she waited for customers at her modest food stall on Jimbaran Beach, less than 50 yards from the site of the blast at Cafe Nyoman, a beachfront seafood restaurant. Business dropped by half at her fried rice stand after the 2002 bombings, she said.
"It started to get better only in the last couple of months," she said. "Then this happened."
Many of her customers are local Balinese who work as drivers and tour guides for the foreign tourists patronizing the five-star hotels and restaurants in the area, she said. On this day, her customers included police officers and soldiers who milled around the crime scene, defined by yellow police tape around a strip of outdoor restaurants with dozens of overturned wooden tables and chairs. Half-eaten plates of fish and crab and half-empty mugs of beer still sat on the tables that were left standing.
Hundreds of Balinese, dressed in sarongs and shorts, watched investigators comb the sand for evidence left by the bombers. Some wore white T-shirts inscribed, "[Expletive] Terrorist."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a quick trip to Bali on Sunday. He said at a news conference that authorities were trying to determine "the people, the cells and the clues supporting this incident to bring them to justice."
Investigators have not established who planned the attacks, but security analysts based in Jakarta said they were probably carried out by Muslim extremists associated with two Malaysian bomb-making experts, Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammed Top.
"They've got to be at the top of the list of suspects," said Sidney Jones, the Southeast Asia director for the International Crisis Group. "The question is who they would have ended up with as partners."
Jones said her group had received credible information in the last two months that the two Malaysians had formed an armed group, Thoifah Muqatilah, or Combat Unit. But it remained unclear whether this was a new armed wing of Jemaah Islamiah, the underground militant group blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and two subsequent bombings in Jakarta that killed 23 people, or a separate organization.
The two Malaysians have been working largely outside the Jemaah Islamiah command structure since at least August 2003, when their followers bombed the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Jones said. Many members of the radical Indonesian group believe attacks on civilians represent a misreading of Islam, she said.
Thoifah Muqatilah has been recruiting young Indonesians from outside the Jemaah Islamiah network, Jones said, adding that some were veterans of recent Muslim-Christian conflicts in other parts of the country.
In August, Yudhoyono called on Indonesians to heighten their vigilance because it was suspected that militants were preparing to strike again. But security analysts suggested his remarks were based less on specific intelligence than on the long period of relative calm since the September 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
"It was just a gut feeling they were overdue," said Ken Conboy, country director for Risk Management Advisory Indonesia. "Azahari and Noordin Top would not be biding their time just waiting to get caught."
Pastika, the police chief, said that unlike in the 2002 Bali attacks or the Marriott and embassy bombings, the bombers did not use a car or van to transport explosives. He said police were still investigating what triggered the explosions.
In Jimbaran, a head had been thrown 25 yards from the site of the blast, he said. "We found pieces of torso with explosive material stuck to them, evidence that the explosives had blown the torso apart," he said.
The pictures of the suspected bombers showed that all three were young men. The one who died at the Raja Restaurant was thin, his face clean-shaven with high cheekbones.
I Made Bona, the owner of an art shop, worried about the blasts' impact on business. Bona, 60, who opened his store in 1968, said oil paintings of Balinese landscapes that once went for more than $1,000 sold for $500 after the 2002 attack. Today, he said, "Even if you offer only $300, I'll say, 'Okay!' "
Down the street, Prastyawan Satriawibowo crouched on the sidewalk glumly smoking a cigarette in front of his tour package kiosk. The 33-year-old entrepreneur was forced to close his leather jacket business six months after the 2002 bombings. The tourism kiosk had been bringing him as many as 10 customers a day. But now, he said, business will be "very slow."
Some experts contend that Bali's economy will recover. The attacks Sunday were smaller than last time, said I Gede Pitana, a professor of tourism at Udayana University here and a former chairman of Bali's tourism board. And today, he said, people realize that terrorism can strike anywhere.
Sipress reported from Jakarta. Special correspondent Yayu Yuniar contributed to this report.
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Bomb blasts ripped through two locations on the tourist island of Bali on Saturday night, killing at least 19 people and wounding many more, including foreigners.
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Museum Quality
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The fashion designer Yeohlee Teng has been in business for 24 years and in that time her clothes have hung in more museum exhibitions than department stores. Teng's most vociferous supporters are curators. They wear her designs, attend her runway presentations and, occasionally, even serve as models.
Her aesthetic sensibility is influenced most profoundly by architecture, rather than literary figures, television characters, 1950s socialites or their spawn. Her work is spare, efficient and comforting.
Last year she won a National Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Her work has been exhibited at the Hayden Gallery at MIT and it is part of the permanent collection at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She designed uniforms for the staffs at the three restaurants in the recently renovated Museum of Modern Art. And her $175 unisex holster-pocket apron sells briskly in the MOMA gift shop.
Teng is the darling of the art world. But her place in the fashion industry is much less clear.
"Yeohlee is rare," says Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where Teng's work has been the subject of a one-woman show. "The genealogy she represents is more Corbusier than Dior."
Teng is not aloof, but she typically doesn't engage in fashion politics and the faux intimacy that is so prevalent among her peers. Most readers of fashion magazines probably have never heard of her because she receives little attention in their pages. Her shows are not documented on Style.com and she is not dressing Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez or other tabloid regulars. Teng is not vigorously pushing fashion in any new or trendy direction. She is loath to include anything as obvious as a logo or a hailstorm of beading on her clothes.
With Teng's clothes, form and function always peacefully coexist. A woman will always breathe easy in her clothes, never worry about an unexpected rain shower, never feel that her sexuality is too obvious. Teng, who designs under her first name alone, is a consummate modernist.
"I think people who design recognize the thinking process behind the end result. They understand modernism has to do with the use of materials, with solving a problem, with the awareness of a budget," Teng says. And that's not limited to the fashion community, she adds.
Teng describes her ideal customer as an "urban nomad" -- a woman who is in constant motion and for whom clothes function as portable shelter. Teng is a problem-solver, always searching for an answer to life's inconveniences, an intellectual conundrum or an aesthetic challenge. She experiments with fabric technology, making waterproof blazers, wrinkle-free shirts and stain-resistant dresses coated in Teflon. Although her designs are quite attractive, she doesn't make traditionally sexy or pretty clothes -- with ruffles, lace, exuberant beadwork. She makes thoughtful attire, putting an enormous amount of brainpower into something as simple as a seam on a skirt.
"I like the details to be part of the energy and the construction of the clothes," Teng says. "If I cut a skirt on the bias, when you step forward, it catches on the hip bone. It's sexy in a subtle way. To be subtle, it's interesting and challenging."
In Teng's way of thinking, a garment is like a room. One size should fit all -- at least whenever possible. She extends the analogy to include the construction of armholes, pant legs and necklines. These openings, she says, are like windows, and when she considers their placement -- besides the most functional concerns -- she worries about framing, aesthetics and environment. She obsesses about necklines and the way they highlight the face and show off the clavicle. A jewel neckline is never just happenstance in her collection. It is considered, debated and mulled.
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NEW YORK The fashion designer Yeohlee Teng has been in business for 24 years and in that time her clothes have hung in more museum exhibitions than department stores. Teng's most vociferous supporters are curators. They wear her designs, attend her runway presentations and, occasionally, even.........
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And She Loved Him
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LIVERPOOL, England -- As a wistful dusk descends, the car ferrying Cynthia Lennon to her hotel passes the old registry office on Mount Street where she and an aspiring singer-guitarist named John Lennon were married 43 years ago. The witnesses that day included Paul McCartney and George Harrison, John's main partners in a pop band then hovering on the brink of unimaginable success.
Now the car's up to Hope Street, around the corner from the art college where in 1958 she first met the impossibly wild, angry, infuriating, talented, cruel, funny, magnetic young rebel who would love and torment her and eventually cast her aside; and Ye Cracke, the scruffy pub where they used to hang out, play music and dream crazy dreams. Even the corner shop where they would buy sweets and potato chips is still there, catering to a new generation of nutritionally challenged students.
"It's like Memory Lane up here," says Lennon, with a rueful, knowing smile but not, she insists, an unhappy one. "I'm having lovely thoughts seeing all of this."
She is here, in the place where the Beatles were born, to promote her new book, a memoir of him and her and those hyper-intense years when she was the girlfriend, and then the wife, in the background as four blue-collar kids from this bruised northwest England seaport clawed their way to the top. The title is simply "John," and the book is Cynthia's attempt, at 66, to come to terms with the life, death and aftermath of one of the 20th century's most iconic musical figures. In the United States it will be published by Crown this week, the same week John would have turned 65.
In the standard accounts of the Beatles' rise, she's usually written off as the impressionable and clueless young thing who ensnared John in marriage after getting pregnant. Her own version is very different: They were young and madly in love and good for each other until fame, drugs and a bizarro performance artist named Yoko Ono swept him away. In person she has survivor's radar and a sweet, knowing demeanor that seems anything but clueless.
She's been married four times -- her current husband, Noel Charles, a former nightclub owner, hovers protectively -- and she's had her share of ups and downs. Her divorce settlement with Lennon left her far from wealthy, and she has worked as a restaurateur, bed-and-breakfast owner and TV personality. She sold her old drawings and Lennon's love letters (Paul McCartney once bought one, framed it and sent it to her as a gift), and wrote a thinner, halfhearted account in the late 1970s that succeeded mostly at enraging John and Yoko.
She's written this new book, she says, in part because everyone else has written theirs and she often didn't recognize reality in the other versions and wanted to set out her own.
"It's like when you whisper one word at the beginning, and by the time it gets around to the end it becomes a totally different word," she says. "This is my book, my experience, and if it's not the same as somebody else's, that's fair game. I have to speak from my point of view and my feelings about the whole story."
There's not much new here, truth be told, but it's Cynthia Lennon's eyewitness testimony that vividly captures the time and place and the characters. She casts a new and harsher light on John's autocratic Aunt Mimi, who provided him with a stable home after his mother gave him up, but who treated him with bitter disdain, mocked his ambitions and drained him of self-confidence.
Cynthia's depiction of those early Beatles days -- when the boys were the closest of friends, loyally supporting each other and sharing the adventure of becoming famous -- is fresh and all the more poignant because we know that eventually the friendship imploded as the Beatles fell out and fell apart.
Her portrait of John is loving but candid. There are some fond moments: the scene of the boys dressed in black suits, like undertakers, at the wedding is hilarious, and John's joy at seeing his baby son Julian for the first time is heartwarming. But he could be vindictive, controlling, cynical and egocentric, she says. He insisted that she dye her hair blond to look like Brigitte Bardot and became furious when she cut it too short. Later on he bullied her into taking LSD even though it made her sick.
Then, as the madness of Beatlemania overtook him, he shut her out altogether. He hit her only once, she says, in a jealous rage early on after she danced with his best friend, Stuart Sutcliffe. It took him three months to apologize, and it never happened again. But the verbal abuse, the mocking and the demands never ceased, she says, although she confesses that she was far too passive and forgiving, inevitably shying away from confrontation for fear of losing him.
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LIVERPOOL, England -- As a wistful dusk descends, the car ferrying Cynthia Lennon to her hotel passes the old registry office on Mount Street where she and an aspiring singer-guitarist named John Lennon were married 43 years ago. The witnesses that day included Paul McCartney and George Harrison,...
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Hot on The Story
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George Clooney is talking, talking, talking.
The man sure can talk -- enthusiastically, at length and, it must be said, often charmingly. At the moment, he's verbally bouncing all over the place: his career, the state of American journalism, his sometime nemesis Bill O'Reilly, Iraq. And, oh, his aching back.
"I wish it was one of those things where you just thought it was just a back issue, and you throw your back out again," he says. "The problem is, I've had all this surgery, and there's still seals in these little tiny holes, and when those get blown, the spinal fluid leaks."
Um, George. Too much informa --
"Yeah," he goes on, quite cheerfully, considering, "anything you do, if you just lift a chair, you can blow that seal. And then it's two months of injections. They take 30 ccs of blood out of your arm and shoot it directly into your spine to coagulate the holes and seal 'em up."
Clooney is talking about his back because it played a recurring role in his latest project, which is why he's doing all that talking in the first place. Clooney began directing, and acting in, "Good Night, and Good Luck" nine days after undergoing neck and back surgery early this year (he also wrote the movie, with Grant Heslov). Without getting as clinical as Clooney can about it, it was a painful experience.
Nevertheless, Clooney was determined to make the film, which opens in Washington on Friday, for several reasons -- some personal, some political, some professional. The movie is a dramatization of the events surrounding legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow's confrontation with Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the Communist-hunting conservative, on Murrow's "See It Now" programs in 1954. Actor David Strathairn plays the gloomy, world-weary Murrow. Through archival footage, McCarthy plays McCarthy at his slurry, alcoholic peak. Clooney is in the movie, too, as Murrow's producer, Fred Friendly, but this isn't a Clooney vehicle. Friendly is an unglamorous secondary character that Clooney decided to play, he says, largely to help attract financing for the picture. Plus, he adds, "I always wanted to play a Jew!"
"Good Night, and Good Luck" -- the title is Murrow's sign-off -- is certainly an accomplished piece of work. Strathairn won best actor at the recent Venice Film Festival, and Clooney and Heslov won the screenplay award. But this isn't "Ocean's Thirteen," a sure-fire, bound-for-box-office-glory kind of flick. It's small (there is but one exterior scene) and -- heavens! -- thoughtful. Clooney acknowledges that many people at test screenings had no idea who Murrow and McCarthy were. Some even asked for the name of the actor who played McCarthy. "We want to take out ads in the trades saying, 'For your consideration for best supporting actor, Joe McCarthy,' with quotes from Time magazine saying, 'He's mesmerizing!' " Clooney quips as he digs into a breakfast of bacon and eggs at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown. The personal part of the story is Clooney's own connection to the news business. His father, Nick, was a TV talk show host and anchorman for many years, most prominently at WKRC in Cincinnati, where his mother, Nina, also worked. Young George hung around the news desk starting at the age of 5 and was variously a cue-card boy, a teleprompter operator and occasionally newscast floor manager. He studied journalism at Northern Kentucky University and did some reporting for an Ohio cable-access channel. But his journalism career was brief; when his cousin Miguel Ferrer (the son of actor Jose and singer Rosemary Clooney) got him a small part in a movie, Clooney began thinking about acting, not newscasting.
Clooney sees his father's professional struggles -- constant fights with management and sponsors, battles to keep entertainment from encroaching on the news -- reflected in Murrow's.
Those tensions are prominent themes of the film, which was shot in black-and-white and made for the Hollywood equivalent of spare change, $7.5 million. Murrow was a journalistic giant after his radio broadcasts during the German blitz of London in World War II. But in the new TV era, CBS exploited his gravitas by having him host a frivolous, and hugely popular, celebrity interview program called "Person to Person." (Murrow, in an actual exchange captured in the film, innocently asks Liberace, "When will you be getting married, Lee?") When Murrow finally decides to challenge McCarthy's bullying methods on "See It Now," he has to navigate around his nervous sponsor, Alcoa, and the even more nervous head of CBS, William Paley (played by Frank Langella).
The movie gets many of the period details right -- the Brylcreem hair and starchy white shirts, the casual office sexism. Patricia Clarkson, playing the only female member of Murrow's merry band of newsmen, is regularly ordered to fetch newspapers and coffee. Cigarette smoke curls through almost every scene, including Murrow's on-air reports. Strathairn, a ubiquitous supporting actor and veteran of such films as "Silkwood" and "L.A. Confidential," says he smoked between 30 and 50 cigarettes a day during the five-week shoot. In real life, Strathairn's a nonsmoker. In real life, Murrow died of lung cancer.
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George Clooney is talking, talking, talking. The man sure can talk -- enthusiastically, at length and, it must be said, often charmingly. At the moment, he's verbally bouncing all over the place: his career, the state of American journalism, his sometime nemesis Bill O'Reilly, Iraq. And, oh, his...
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Everyone's On Board
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Every summer my son and I -- just the two of us -- take a vacation from school, work and strict rules. The theory is that playful downtime and shared memories will get us through the inevitable squabbles over homework, flossing and dirty socks. Last winter, I started noticing all those high-energy commercials from the cruise industry featuring attractive families having the multi-generational time of their lives. I'd never been on a cruise before -- never even tempted -- but this year, I needed a trip that straddled that fine line between adult relaxation and kid fun: My eighth-grader turned 13, which officially made me the mother of a wisecracking, precocious, hard-to-impress teenager.
As I watched the ads, somewhere deep in my brain a voice whispered, "You could read and play blackjack. Carter could have the run of the ship. Both of you could swim with dolphins. Quick, sign up while he's still willing to be seen in public with you."
So I signed us up for a seven-night Caribbean cruise in late August. If I was going to splurge, I wanted one we could both love. Carter had outgrown Disney, and therefore its ships, but wasn't quite old enough for a stately, sedate crossing. A spin on cruise critic Web sites convinced me that I needed a big ship full of amenities. My search quickly narrowed to Royal Caribbean's massive Voyager ships, which boast rock-climbing walls, basketball courts, mini-golf, arcades, ice-skating rinks and swimming pools with hot tubs. What clinched the deal was the elaborate Adventure Ocean program for children, which includes separate activities for teenagers 12 to 14 and 15 to 17, as well as a teens-only disco, lounge sundeck and Internet center.
I thought it was a safe setting for Carter to test his wings. I imagined my son, under the semi-watchful eye of a counselor, racing through the ship with a passel of giggling adolescents, and then I thought, "Yikes! He's going to be too busy for mom-son Kodak moments!" When I broached the idea of a cruise, I stipulated that he had to eat dinner and go on shore excursions with me.
Navigator of the Seas, a 138,000-ton, 15-deck mammoth that holds 3,000 passengers and a crew of 1,200, is a small city with more than 13,000 square feet dedicated solely to teenagers -- about a quarter of Deck 12. I was comfortable letting my kid wander the ship by himself, but wondered how we would find each other for meals and excursions. My travel agent suggested bringing walkie-talkies, but a ship representative told her a limited number were available free on a first-come, first-served basis from Guest Relations.
As it turned out, the free walkie-talkies had been discontinued. I declined to purchase a $50 pair from the ship store, and we decided to wing it on our first night on the ship: Carter went to the arcade and a Teen Mix & Mingle, I headed for the casino and Promenade, a three-story shopping mall that serves as a floating Main Street. We planned to meet up in two hours, but he missed the teen welcome and sensibly headed back to the cabin. His crazy mother wandered the decks for an hour hunting for him before it occurred to check the room. "We've got to come up with a better system," I muttered seconds before we both sank into a long, deep sleep. The next morning we devised a note-in-the-cabin method of keeping tabs, which we used exactly once before finding a noteless rhythm of designated meeting times and places.
Within 24 hours, we had settled into our temporary home. Our cabin was a small but comfortable interior room overlooking the Promenade. Hurricane Katrina was headed west, away from our scheduled path out of Miami, and the weather was sunny and warm.
Each day we received Cruise Compass, a comprehensive listing of the day's schedule and activities, and a separate roster of activities for the Navigators (ages 12 to 14). As with most cruises, most food and entertainment were included in the price, and we had plenty of options.
Our week-long cruise included two days at sea and four in Eastern Caribbean ports. By day, we lived in swimsuits or shorts. Nights were more complicated. As a rookie cruiser, I had tried to guess what passes for casual, "smart casual" and formal for a teenager. Renting a tuxedo struck me as excessive, and I decided dress pants, shirt and tie would suffice for him. I threw a couple of cocktail dresses in my bag, but correctly figured they wouldn't throw us overboard if I guessed wrong. Truth is, the definition of "formal" is broad, to say the least.
That first night, we bypassed the formal dining room and beelined for Johnny Rockets, an old-fashioned diner where we inhaled burgers, onion rings and chocolate malts. Carter fell in love with the place at first bite and declared it a perfect 10. "Mom, I can't find anything wrong with it," he said, shaking his head. "It's kind of disheartening, because I like to think I'm a tough critic. But it's perfect." But moms cannot live on burgers alone (not to mention the $3.95-per-person surcharge), so on our second night I dragged him -- tie and all -- to the soaring three-story dining room. We were escorted to a table in a side room, next to a waiter's station, where we were cheerfully served lots of mediocre food.
I asked for and promptly received a seating change, and we lucked out with a table in the main room and two delightful families with boys near Carter's age. But the dining room food never got a 10 from my teen critic, or from me. God knows there was plenty of it, and serving 1,500 people at once rarely lends itself to gourmet moments.
Ditto for breakfast and lunch buffets in the Windjammer Cafe. Then again, there were cookies and pizza 24 hours a day from the Promenade Cafe, and a $28 drink card bought Carter unlimited sodas from anywhere on the ship, which is all a kid really needs on vacation.
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Navigating the teen years of a child is tough for any parent, but finding quality time on vacation with your youngster without being suffocating is a challenge. Cue the cruise montage.
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For Reston Firm, a Menu of Worries
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Every time a Dulles passenger peels off the foil from a beef-in-gravy dinner, a layer of the troubled airline industry is revealed. And Reston's Gate Gourmet International, which prepares many of those meals, is right in the middle of those difficulties.
The company, which serves an average of 534,000 in-flight meals a day around the world, says it is losing money with nearly every forkful. As airlines have struggled to stay aloft in the face of intense competition and soaring fuel prices, they have been cutting back on food, as any economy-class passenger who feels lucky to score a bag of pretzels knows.
In the case of Gate Gourmet, there's more beneath that strip of foil than the hungry passenger might imagine: There's billionaire David Bonderman, a Washington lawyer-turned-financier who pulls the company's financial strings. Chief executive David N. Siegel, a corporate turnaround specialist who once headed US Airways. A nasty labor dispute in London -- seemingly resolved last week -- that resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations this summer. Even a guest appearance by the Rolling Stones.
The latest turn in the Gate Gourmet story began in 2002 when Texas Pacific Group, a private equity firm led by Bonderman, bought the company from Swissair Group.
The catering company already was in trouble. Airlines had been aggressively cutting back meal service, particularly on shorter-haul flights, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, briefly shut down the aviation industry and scared many passengers away.
Gate Gourmet, which is private and doesn't disclose many financial details, says that its overall revenue is down 35 percent since 2000 and that its operation at London's Heathrow Airport alone has lost more than $100 million over that period.
That may be chump change to Bonderman, whose $15 billion Texas Pacific Group portfolio includes brand-name companies such as Bally, Burger King and J. Crew. And Gate Gourmet doesn't lack for customers: It serves 220 carriers and is the world's second-largest airline caterer behind money-losing LSG Sky Chefs, owned by Lufthansa.
Still, airline industry experts are not giddy about the future of catering at 35,000 feet.
"With the airlines cutting out food, this is a tough, tough business to be in," said Aaron J. Gellman, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management who once sat on the board of a catering firm that went bankrupt.
Ray Neidl, an airline analyst at Calyon Securities (USA) Inc., said he opened a speech at a food catering conference in Tampa last spring with this: "I didn't think there was an industry in worse shape than the airline industry -- but I have finally found one."
Gate Gourmet figures its best hope of survival is to do exactly what the airlines have done -- cut staff and demand more favorable terms from labor unions.
Last year, Bonderman recruited Siegel, a longtime friend who had honed his cost-cutting skills as an executive at Continental Airlines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc. -- companies Bonderman's group also invested in -- and Avis Rent A Car System Inc.
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Every time a Dulles passenger peels off the foil from a beef-in-gravy dinner, a layer of the troubled airline industry is revealed. And Reston's Gate Gourmet International, which prepares many of those meals, is right in the middle of those difficulties.
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Health Officials Vigilant for Illness After Sensors Detect Bacteria on Mall
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A week after six bioterrorism sensors detected the presence of a dangerous bacterium on the Mall, health officials said there are no reports that any of the thousands of people in the nation's capital Sept. 24 have tularemia, the illness that results from exposure to the bacteria.
Federal health officials are still testing the samples from air sensors on the Mall and in downtown Washington that collected a small amount of the tularemia agent, which can cause flulike symptoms and is usually treated with antibiotics.
The bacteria probably was not the result of nefarious activity, according to federal investigators. "There is no known nexus to terror or criminal behavior. We believe this to be environmental," said Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.
The mission for health officials now is to figure out how the bacteria got there, why they were detected that day and whether they are from a strain that doesn't affect humans.
"Our purpose now is to reach into the medical community just to make sure nobody out there has any symptoms," said Von Roebuck, spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There is an incubation window of one to six days, but we still want to get this information into clinicians' hands."
Health officials in the Washington area were notified Friday that the filters on biohazard sensors that make up the BioWatch network detected the bacteria Sept. 24, when tens of thousands of people were on the Mall for antiwar demonstrations and the National Book Festival.
The samples were collected between 10 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday. The naturally-occurring biological agent -- which is on the "A list" of the Department of Homeland Security's biohazards, along with anthrax, plague and smallpox -- was detected in small amounts, said Gregg A. Pane of the D.C. Department of Health.
Detection of the bacteria turned into an incident with nationwide implications, because thousands of protesters had come from throughout the country. The infection is not spread from person to person, but tracking potential patients became a coast-to-coast undertaking. Police said that more than 100,000 people attended the rally; organizers put the figure at 300,000.
After the filters were tested in Washington, further tests were done by CDC laboratories in Atlanta, Knocke said.
Meanwhile, the CDC was using its nationwide tracking system to look for unusual occurrences of pneumonia-like symptoms in every state, Roebuck said.
After seeing no cases and finding that the levels of tularemia in their samples were low, health officials at the CDC decided Friday night to release their findings in the event that there were cases, on the sunset of the incubation period, that weren't being detected, Roebuck said.
Pane said he learned of the biohazard alert that night, when CDC officials told him that sensors at the Lincoln Memorial, Judiciary Square and Fort McNair tested positive for the bacterium.
He immediately put out an alert to hospitals, clinics, doctors and pharmacies in the area to be on the lookout for symptoms, which can resemble pneumonia. "The linchpin is that we're still in the incubation window, so we really don't know that there were no cases," he said.
Pane said one theory is that tularemia bacteria, which occur naturally in soil, might have been kicked up by the thousands of feet stomping on the Mall grounds that day.
Homeland Security and the CDC work together to operate the BioWatch sensors. The $60 million-plus system was created in 2001 to monitor air in more than 30 U.S. cities.
The system recently was criticized in a June report by the Government Accountability Office. It highlighted communication problems within the network and questioned the nation's capabilities in environmental surveillance, an emerging technical field.
A similar incident occurred in Houston in October 2003, when two air sensors detected fragments of tularemia bacteria. There were no human cases of tularemia reported after the incident, and some experts in the bioterror field said they believe the incident was actually spurred by a strain of the bacteria that does not affect humans.
"It's probably something that just lives in the environment," said Tara O'Toole, who is director of the Center for Biosecurity, sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "We forget that microorganisms rule the world. Now we're looking and finding things we didn't know were there."
Tularemia, often called "rabbit fever" because small animals are often carriers in rural areas, was amassed by the U.S. military as a biological weapon in the 1960s.
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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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Generals Are Upbeat on Iraq
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The two top U.S. commanders in charge of the Iraq war, appearing separately on a total of four network talk shows yesterday, amended more sobering statements they had made to Congress and reporters last week.
Gen. George W. Casey Jr., who oversees U.S. forces in Iraq, and Gen. John P. Abizaid, who leads the U.S. Central Command, stressed the military and political progress being made in Iraq.
"There are peaks and valleys that you go through, but overall the trend is good," Abizaid told NBC's "Meet the Press." "We're certainly confident."
The training of Iraqi security forces is "very much on track," Casey told ABC's "This Week."
On Thursday, Casey said the "Iraqi armed forces will not have an independent capability for some time." The day before, he backed away from earlier predictions that a "substantial" number of U.S. troops could by withdrawn early next year. "Right now, we're in a period of a little greater uncertainty than when I was asked that question back in July and March," he told reporters Wednesday.
It is not unusual for the administration to send out its top military commanders to clarify or speak optimistically about operations after congressional testimony or independent statements to the media that appear more pessimistic than the administration's position.
On Thursday, the generals also told Congress that the number of Iraqi army battalions that can fight insurgents without U.S. and coalition help had dropped from three to one -- meaning about 750 Iraqi troops out of 200,000 being trained were capable of operating independently -- and that the security situation was too uncertain to predict large-scale U.S. troop withdrawals anytime soon.
Yesterday, Casey confirmed that about one-third of the 119 Iraqi battalions are able to conduct operations with some U.S. assistance.
Abizaid, speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation," said Iraqi forces were courageously engaged in counterinsurgency operations and are now taking more casualties than U.S. forces: "Are they going to be capable of taking over counterinsurgency leads over the next several months? The answer is yes."
Both generals also said the political process was on track.
On Thursday, Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) asked Casey whether a Sunni vote against the Oct. 15 referendum on a constitution could "possibly lead to a worsening political situation, rather than a better one."
"I think that's entirely possible, Senator," Casey answered. "I mean, as we've looked at this, we've looked for the constitution to be a national compact, and the perception now is that it's not . . . particularly among the Sunni."
Asked a similar question on CBS yesterday, Abizaid responded: "Whether or not the constitution fails in the referendum should not necessarily concern us. What should concern us is whether or not the Sunni Arab community in Iraq participates in the referendum politically, and in the upcoming governmental elections. . . . As long as politics is legitimate in Iraq, with all groups participating, whether it's in the constitutional referendum or the elections for a new government, we'll be just fine."
The generals' largely optimistic tone in their television appearances yesterday still included grave worries. Asked on CNN's "Late Edition" whether he thought the nearly 2,000 American troops killed in Iraq since the war's beginning may have died in vain, Casey answered: "No, I don't worry about that. Not yet -- we're not there yet."
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Latest politics news headlines from Washington DC. Follow 2004 elections, campaigns, Democrats, Republicans, political cartoons, opinions from The Washington Post. Features government policy, government tech, political analysis and reports.
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These Roomies Stay Connected
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Imagine the depressing conversation at a College Park campus apartment last fall, the one shared at University Commons by Sam Hollenbach and Danny Melendez.
Hollenbach was fourth string on the Maryland quarterback depth chart, meaning he had a better shot at calling signals for an intramural flag-football team than the Terrapins. Melendez, the wideout who played in only five games before a hamstring injury ruined his season, also was about to hit his nadir.
He was hurt, the staff wasn't sure he wanted to block and Melendez was quickly falling out of favor with Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen. Two Pennsylvania kids were essentially put in the Fridge's crisper, where they wilted from neglect and seriously considered transferring.
"Last year, neither one of us knew where we were going to be at," Hollenbach said. "There was a time when both of us were thinking about leaving."
Hollenbach shrugged at the memory, letting it trickle away like Maryland's futility against Virginia last season. He spoke with gee-whiz graciousness and candor after throwing for 320 yards and two touchdowns. Melendez caught nine of Hollenbach's 25 completions, piling up 125 yards and one touchdown. The passing game opened up the running game and vice versa. Everybody but the redshirt freshmen had career days in a convincing 45-33 homecoming upset of 19th-ranked Virginia, sending the Cavaliers and their perpetually fidgety coach, Al Groh, back to the drawing board in search of new ways to avoid a return trip to Boise, Idaho, in late December.
Groh recently signed a five-year contract extension for $1.7 million per season. That's Frank Beamer money to play in the Smurf Turf Bowl.
Virginia's inability to control the line of scrimmage aside, Maryland's victory may have said much more about the Terps than the Cavaliers.
It was not merely the 570 yards of total offense piled up, nor the six touchdowns that made Friedgen feel like he was benefiting from the same schemes that pulverized Maryland's competition in his first three seasons. It was how those yards were piled up.
Pinpoint accuracy by Hollenbach, whose two interceptions made him more determined than gun-shy. Money, web-tipped catches by Melendez, Jo Jo Walker, Vernon Davis and Derrick Fenner. There was a big-play execution almost unseen in College Park for two years.
Leading 31-26 with 12 minutes 49 seconds left, the Terps embarked on an eight-play, 94-yard drive. Lance Ball crushed through the line and rumbled 35 yards to make it awfully hard for Virginia to come back. The big play? Hollenbach's 15-yard pass to Melendez on third and 10 from midfield, a slant in which Melendez was hit and kept going.
The roomies hooked up again in the final four minutes when Hollenbach dropped back on third and four from the Virginia 47-yard line and rifled it to Melendez for 20 yards, a deep square-out pattern on the left side that killed all hope for Groh's team.
The evolution of a fourth-string afterthought to a rifle-armed starter able to knock off a top 20 program is fairly impressive. From Friedgen's perspective, the best thing about Hollenbach's development is that he understands he still has a long way to go.
The coach called the 6-foot-5, 218-pound junior into his office Friday, asking the kid where he thought Maryland's offense ranked in the 12-team ACC. "I don't know, lower half," Hollenbach replied.
Then the coach asked Hollenbach where he believed he ranked in passing efficiency. Hollenbach had no clue.
"You're number one in passing efficiency in the ACC," Friedgen said.
Relating the story yesterday at the postgame news conference, the message behind the anecdote was clear: Friedgen was building Hollenbach up, making him believe in himself as much as Friedgen already believed in him.
Hollenbach spoke about his first touchdown, a pretty play to Melendez that involved a last-ditch slant in the back of the end zone. He said his roommate was the fourth read on the play, meaning he looked off three other receivers before finding the right one after Virginia's zone coverage had stifled everything else.
"I don't think we've ever hit that in practice," Hollenbach said.
This was large for Maryland for at least a couple of reasons. First, the Terps are now within three victories of being bowl eligible, which would be a huge accomplishment for Friedgen's corps of freshmen and sophomores. Second, Friedgen and Groh do not exchange recipes; they go toe-to-toe for incoming freshmen and don't appear to like each other all that much.
Davis, Maryland's junior tight end from Dunbar High School, remembered the fierce struggle for his services a few years ago. How Groh "asked if it was possible to go to church with my grandmother." There was one story about Davis's grandmother shooing away a Virginia assistant who wanted to drive her to Sunday services, but Davis could not remember that.
"They had a nice bond," Davis said. "It went beyond just trying to get me to go to school there. When I told Ron Prince [Virginia's offensive coordinator] I wasn't interested, he was crying. They were really hurt."
The Virginia staff bore no hard feelings yesterday. They told Davis how proud they were of his career at Maryland, which won a game yesterday as much as another recruiting war.
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Imagine the depressing conversation at a College Park campus apartment last fall, the one shared at University Commons by Sam Hollenbach and Danny Melendez.
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PBS: 'Cyberchase'
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Do you have questions about how to teach your children math and problem-solving skills? Have you thought about the best ways to help your children apply math to every day life?
Since its premiere on PBS KIDS in 2002, the math-mystery cartoon "Cyberchase" teaches math and problem-solving to children across the country through humor, action and adventure. Targeting 8- to 11-year-olds, "Cyberchase" features a team of curious kids and their cyberbird pal Digit (Gilbert Gottfried) who outwit and outsmart the ultimate bad guy -- Hacker (Christopher Lloyd) -- as he tries to take over Cyberspace.
Matt Wilson, otherwise known as "Harry" on "Cyberchase," and editorial director Frances Nankin were online Monday, Oct. 3, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss teaching math to children and the PBS program.
The series appears on over 349 PBS stations across the United States and reaches close to 5 million viewers weekly. (Check local listings.) Each CyberChase episode is followed by "Cyberchase for Real," a live-action educational supplement linking concepts learned in the show to real life experiences, and is hosted by Wilson ("Harry") and Bianca Marie DeGroat ("Bianca").
PBS Parents' Guide to Early Math
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: Thanks so much for joining us!
HARRY: Yes thank you very much ! I'm very stoked to be here!
FRANCES: Many kids feel they can't do math, and are easily problems they're faced with at school. For these kids it helps to show that math is everywhere and everyone can be successful with it. And we're delighted to be able to answer your questions today.
Warrenton, Va.: My 4 year-old loves Cyberchase and visits the PBS Web site regularly to "practice" her math skills. However, when watching the show the math concepts seem to be too evasive while the story's plot seems to grasp her attention. Is she simply too young to understand the math on most shows? I try to watch with her and teach her as the show is on, but can't always commit to this.
Thanks for the great show and accompanying Web site!
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: CYBERCHASE is targeted to kids 8 to 11, but we do often hear that the show is very popular with kids under 8. These younger children relate strongly to the story.
But many also relate to particular math topics that have relevance to their personal experiences. If your child is not yet relating to the math in the story, it's because the child is not yet ready. But research indicates that they are getting ideas from the shows that they can later apply to their math development.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Matt! Do you have fun playing "Harry" on the show? What's your favorite part about it? Thanks!
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: HARRY: Absolutely! I love getting to do on TV all of the different things that make up my life, like unicycling and juggling and eating... :) And the fact that we're simultaneously teaching math is a major perk.
Okemos, Mich.: (A parent typing in the following for a daughter.) How did you get the idea to make Cyberchase program? What was your first show you ever made of Cyberchase? I really like the show. My best one is the Halloween one. I hope you answer lots of questions. Lots of people like your show. I am seven years old. My name is Emma.
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: The idea for CYBERCHASE came in 2 parts. First we decided to do a show about math because we looked around and saw that no one was doing this. And we on the team saw a real need to help kids with math and show them that it could be fun and useful too. We then decided the show had to be full of action and adventure and mystery. We figured this was a good way to change how kids see math, and that would help them think "I can do this!"
HARRY: Hi Emma! Glad you like the show. I really like the Halloween one too. This year I'm dressing up as an ironing board. Hey! did you know there's a whole week of spooky fun episodes Oct 24-28 and on the big Halloween day too!
Maryland: I am a parent of 3 girls -- 2 in the target range for Cyberchase. I can't count the number of times my oldest was watching Cyberchase and would say things like, "Hey! Symmetry! We just did that in math class!" Cheers to you for making math fun and approachable, by both girls and boys.
And the girls think you're silly but fun. I like the "for real" segments, because they nicely tie in the skills from the animated portion to "real life".
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: Thanks for the support! Be sure to check out the "Symmetrizer" game in the Games section of CYBERCHASE Online.
Providence, R.I.: Hi Harry, do you dress the same in real life as you do on the show? And do you really like brussel sprouts? I like the show a lot.
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: HARRY: Yes! And yes! I love vintage clothing and bright colors and my eyewear is very important to me. (I have 7 pairs of glasses!) Brussel sprouts are truly my favorite vegetable, and I think they get a bad rap.
Alexandria, Va.: What are some ways to extend the math kids learn through the CYBERCHASE shows into our everyday family life?
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: There are a number of things you can do. For example, point out the math you are doing in your every day life - such as taking money out of the bank or shopping at the store or measuring in a recipe. Talk about it out loud with your child - what you're thinking, or what problems you're solving. Bring your children into the process and let them help you find the answer.
You can also go to the Parents & Teachers section of CYBERCHASE Online. There are a lot of activities you can do at home with your kids. Browse the site, and look, for example, at "Lesson Plans & Activities" and all the materials listed there.
Washington, D.C.: Hi Matt & Frances!
Matt - I noticed that you haven't been featured in some of the more recent Cyberchase For Real segments. Are you returning to the segment in the future or is Bianca taking over for awhile? Also, have you always enjoyed math or has that come with your work on Cyberchase?
Frances - Do you have plans to encourage teachers to utilize Cyberchase in their lessons? Or is it only meant to reinforce math concepts at home?
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: HARRY: Actually Bianca and I have done the same number of shows, it just depends how they're shown on TV. Sometimes they show a bunch in a row with me, and sometimes a bunch in a row with her. I have always enjoyed math. I happen to have a degree in biophysics and love the idea that I am helping kids eliminate their math anxieties. Yay math!
FRANCES: Lots of teachers use CYBERCHASE in their classroom. They tell us that CYBERCHASE is changing the way they're teaching because of our unique approach to math.
We hear they use it as a motivator to get kids interested in a particular topic.
Online games: I really like the online games that Cyberchase has available. They are even used in the computer lab classes at our elementary school. Keep up the great work!
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: HARRY: Rock on! I love those games too!
Harrisburg, Pa.: How did you get the job portraying Harry? Did you act before? Did you audition for the part or were you approached to play the role?
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: HARRY: Yes I auditioned for the role and it's still my favorite job. I've been acting since high school.
Sykesville, Md.: I just wanted to let you know that my two kids love Cyberchase! One is 11 the other is 7. One of each gender.
Keep up the good work and I hope you continue with more story lines (and hey, how about more advanced math ... more ordering of decimals, fun with fractions, moving along the road to calculus).
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: So glad you like it! You can use the math your kids are seeing on CYBERCHASE to extend their learning. For example with estimation, the next time you go to a restaurant challenge your kids to estimate the total bill.
And if you like decimals, be sure to play the "Railroad Repair" game at CYBERCHASE Online. For geometry, take apart cereal boxes to see how the 3-dimensional box is made from 2 dimensional shapes.
Sterling, Va.: My 4 year-old-son loves your son. I am so amazed at the math skills he has learned from watching. There was an episode that taught how to add with regrouping. My son picked up on it immediately and can now add multi-column addition with regrouping. I also repeat the math concepts he has learned in his daily activities. Thanks for such a wonderful educational television show.
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: Great! This is clearly an example where the story helps support the math concept and makes it accessible to your child. We often hear from parents and teachers that kids internalize the math concepts and apply them to their everyday experiences, both for fun and practical uses.
Washington, D.C.: My two kids have loved watching your show the past year or so ... Do you have any suggestions for interactives beyond watching. Any good sites they can check out that will be as engaging?
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: Have you checked out CYBERCHASE Online? That's obviously my favorite! You might want to participate the contest that's currently online through 10/31 for a fun bit of problem-solving and a chance to win great prizes like a laptop computer and great CYBERCHASE stuff.
New York City: What new Cyberchase stories and math concepts can we look forward to this fall?
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: HARRY: There are 5 great new shows on all this week! Find out about them at CYBERCHASE Online. You can watch a promo for them too!
FRANCES: The math concepts include using line graphs to track change; finding out why smaller gears turn faster than larger gears.
Madison, Wis.: My two boys and I love your show. They are both considerably younger than your target audience, but they are completely engaged by the show and find Harry hilarious. The older boy (4.5) really "gets" some of your themes and talks about them (e.g., patterns) frequently.
Thanks, and keep up the great programs.
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: HARRY: Why thank you! Be sure to watch me this week when I try out for the New York City fire department!
Alexandria, Va.: Not a question but a comment ... my 6 year old LOVES your show. What a great option to other stuff out there for this age. He loves to "beat Hacker," and hardly realizes that he's learning something in the process.
Compared to other shows for the early elementary set, this and it's time-slot neighbors Arthur and Maya are great.
We were so disappointed to lose Cyberchase when DirectTV switched from PBSKids GO! to Sprout last week. We hope to find Cyberchase on again soon.
Thanks again for such a great show.
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: Be think the concept of good versus evil is a great way to engage kids in our target age group. Hacker is a funny, villainous, not scary foil for our audience. He's voiced by the wonderful Christopher Lloyd.
washingtonpost.com: PBS Direct Satellite Schedules - 'Cyberchase'
New York, N.Y.: Hey guys,
Great show! I watch it with my son. My question is about the "real" sections at the end. I enjoy them as an adult because the music during them is full of musical jokes and references, like the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Who writes that for you and how do you do that? I picture a committee sitting around and saying "and now we want this particular visual wisecrack and also this particular musical wisecrack." It's really clever.
Ned, father of your fan Anthony
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: HARRY: I love the music too. It's always a treat when I see the final cut of each episode. We're lucky enough to have really talented composers working with us. One team does the live-action part and another does the cartoon.
Matt Wilson (Harry) and Frances Nankin: FRANCES: It's great to hear from so many of you! We're glad to hear your and your families are getting so much out of our show.
Your home and neighborhood are full of opportunities to explore math CYBERCHASE-style and we hope today's chat has been helpful.
HARRY: Thanks for logging into cyberspace with us! I gotta bail but I'll see you on PBS KIDS GO!
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.
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Matt Wilson, otherwise known as "Harry" on the PBS program "Cyberchase," and Editorial Director Frances Nankin discussed teaching math to children and the show.
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American University Controversy
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A majority on American University's Board of Trustees has concluded that suspended President Benjamin Ladner must be replaced, according to two sources close to the board. One trustee said some board members are negotiating to get Ladner a generous package for his departure.
Ladner's Severance Could Top $1 Million (Post, Oct. 2)
Ladner, who took over as president of the university in 1994, was suspended last month after the board began looking into his personal and travel expenses, an inquiry sparked by an anonymous letter sent to the board in March.
Paul M. Wolff , member of American University's Board of Trustees, was online Monday, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the controversy over suspended President Benjamin Ladner and his spending practices.
Programming Note: A request for an online discussion has been made to Mr. Ladner.
washingtonpost.com: Paul Wolff, thank you for being our guest today on washingtonpost.com.
A Washington Post report stated that A.U. President Benjamin Ladner could walk away with a severance package of $1 million but that the Board of Trustees is questioning the validity of a contract he signed in 1997.
Can you comment on this report. And do you expect Mr. Ladner to step down.
Paul Wolff: Two questions. Let me start with the second first. Do I expect him to step down? I won't hazard a guess. He has given no indication whatsoever that he is considering stepping down despite the fact that the faculty, the deans and the students have called for his resignation. I have yet to hear any faculty member speak out on his behalf yet he has indicated not withstanding this lack of support that he intends to stay. I believe that it is in the university's best interest that he step down before the Oct. 10 board meeting.
Your second question deals with The Post article on severance. First, for him to get the severance package outlined in The Post, the board would have to ratify the '97 contract. To date, there has been no approval of this contract by the board. Second, if the board chooses to ratify the contract, it would then have to decide if it's going to discharge Mr. Ladner and whether this discharge is for dishonesty.
So, if the contract is ratified and if he is discharged without a finding of dishonesty, then he would be entitled to the terms of the contract. If either the contract is not ratified or if it is ratified and he's discharged for dishonesty, he would take nothing.
Besides looking at any misappropriations, are the Trustees examining any bad management practices such as awarding no bid contracts authorized by Pres. Ladner or work/contracts that produced no results but cost the University lots of money?
Paul Wolff: Nobody has brought to the board's attention evidence of any no-bid contracts awarded by Mr. Ladner nor has anybody brought to our attention any contracts awarded by him for which no work or inferior was provided. Obviously, if there are such instances, the board would like to know. But the board is looking into the much larger and overriding issues of judgment, leadership, values and morale bearings. It is not simply a question of legal contract rights. The larger issue is whether Ladner has used the judgment in leadership in spending precious university funds.
Washington, D.C.: Does the Board of Trustees feel that it has the option of dismissing Dr. Ladner without a "golden parachute"?
Paul Wolff: I can't speak for the board but I will speak for myself, I believe very strongly that we can choose to discharge him without any golden parachute and without any further loss of valuable university funds. I support the resolution of the business school asking the trustees to provide no golden parachute.
Chicago, Ill.: I've heard the investigation into Ladner's practices is costing the institution $1 million. Is this true?
Paul Wolff: I don't know the exact number but when we are finished it will probably be close to that number. It is regrettable that the money had to be spent but you must do what is required by your fiduciary duty to the university. After we received the whistle blower letter, we could not sweep it under the rug. We had to investigate. Such investigations are expensive, especially when the subject, Mr. Ladner, made it increasingly difficult.
Towson , Md.: Do you think it is proper to accuse President Ladner of these charges in the press instead of allowing him to answer his accusers? Didn't you forbid him from speaking in his own defense?
Paul Wolff: That is false. He was allowed to speak at some length at the September board meeting. His lawyers were also allowed at the September board meeting to make presentations. Both he and his lawyers have been given every opportunity to present, statements and any other materials that they have and which they believe can help Dr. Ladner's position.
His lawyers specifically were asked if they, on behalf of Dr. Ladner, would render opinions on the legal issues before the board. They refused. Most importantly, Dr. Ladner has taken his case to the press. His supporters arranged a lengthy interview with The Washington Post Editorial Board. He has also given lengthy interviews to the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Journal of Philanthropy.
A.U. Senior, Mass. Ave.: Most people nationally don't even know about A.U. How do you think this will affect perception/recruitment/standards when the first time many people here about A.U. it's in the context of a scandal in the New York Times or Washington Post? And what will the school do to combat fallout?
Paul Wolff: I think the best way to deal with the fallout is to as quickly as possible remove Dr. Ladner, either by his own resignation or by board action. The university has an excellent faculty, a fine and ever improving student body. If we remove Dr. Ladner, we will have no trouble finding an outstanding leader who will take the university to higher levels and will take them there without the excessive use of university funds for living expenses.
The damage to American University will be long term only if we keep President Ladner.
Washington, D.C.: I have found through my classes that many students are frustrated that school officials and faculty/staff are not informing students about what is happening in the investigation and that the majority of our news is coming from the media. Why is the university trying to downplay the situation with Ladner?
Paul Wolff: I don't think the university is downplaying it. The deans and faculty senate have spoken out loudly and clearly calling for Ladner to resign or to be removed. The student demonstration last week followed by the meeting of a group of students with certain board members made it clear to me that the faculty and the students are well informed. From everything I see, the Eagle (student newspaper) is getting the word out and if this isn't sufficient, then BenLadner.com certainly is getting the word out.
Washington, D.C.: Hi, Don't the you think the Board of Trustees' apparent and dismal failure to effectively oversee the president's activities is a source of greater concern? One trustee/chairman negotiating a generous contract without the knowledge of others! Shouldn't we also be looking at revamping the entire Board?
Paul Wolff: It is most regrettable that a past chairman negotiated in secret a contract with Ladner. It is that much more regrettable that he never informed the board of its existence of sought either authorization or ratification from the board. That is in the past. His successor, George Collins, and our current Leslie Bains have brought a new transparency and openness to the board. That is why Ladner's last contract went through extensive evaluation -- not only by the compensation committee but by outside advisors and lawyers. The overwhelming majority of the board refused to approve any compensation agreement with Ladner unless the advisors and lawyers would sign off on such an agreement. There was a minority of trustees who opposed this approach and favored simply giving Ladner whatever he wanted. These are some of the same trustees who want Ladner reinstated. The board does not have governance problems. Our current and past chairs have been excellent at governing the board and making sure the board is kept abreast of all important decisions. What we do have it a people problem. People who wanted to give Ben compensation that was out of line with reasonable standards and who now not only want to return Ladner to office but have negotiated with him a contract at not only a higher salary but one that brings back the personal chef, his wife's personal secretary and gives his wife a salary that is rumored to be between $80 and 100,000. Nobody supporting Ladner has denied or refuted these numbers.
Silver Spring, Md.: Let's put aside the fact that Ladner behaved without dignity and honesty and used AU as his private treasury at the same time nickeling and diming the faculty for necessary expenses. Don't you think the AU board also deserves the blame for being asleep at the wheel for such a long time?
Paul Wolff: I certainly think the board has not covered itself with honor. I do point out that when Bill Jacobs was chairman I and others specifically stated on the record at board meetings that it was a breach of fiduciary duty for any chairman to negotiate without authorization or ultimately ratification a contract with Ben Ladner. Although he was not pleased with these remarks, Mr. Jacobs indicated that he would abide by them. Thus it came as a shock in 2005 to learn that the '97 contract existed. Mr. Jacobs did not even tell his successor, Mr. Collins, of the contract's existence. Furthermore, under its terms Mr. Ladner was supposed to bring the contract before the board every year for review. This he never did. Furthermore, members of the board, including myself, repeatedly asked John Petty, when he was chairman of the audit committee, to audit the cost of the presidency. We were told repeatedly that it had been determined that the imputed income, that is, personal expenses paid for by the university, were minimal, always less than $10,000 per year. We now know that the audit committee never audited these expenses, rather it simply took Ladner's word for it.
Under the new chairman of the audit committee, Len Jaskol, things have changed.
Washington, D.C.: What role, if any, can the AU student body and government play in the Ladner affair?
Paul Wolff: Speak out. Speak out. Speak out. Let us know what you think. There is a board meeting at A.U. next Monday, Oct. 10. Come to the meeting. Make your opinions known.
Clifton, Va.: Why doesn't A.U. have a large endowment? G.W. G'town and even my Alma mater GMU have large endowments. If AU would have bought real estate 30 years ago like GWU it would have been in better shape financially.
Paul Wolff: I agree. We are working to increase the endowment. The finance committee of the board, the investment committee, has done a good job of wisely managing the endowment. Al Checcio, our head of development, has brought a whole new spirit and enthusiasm to fundraising. We have a long way to go but Al has started us in the right direction. He is not only getting more alumni and friends to donate but he is getting larger contributions. I believe under his leadership and that of a new president, we will do better than we've ever done before.
Thank you for doing this chat. I sent you an email a couple weeks ago, outlining my opposition to the continued employment of Mr. Ladner as AU President and am glad to again have the opportunity to hear your thoughts on the matter.
I just don't see how the John Rigas-esque Mr. Ladner, especially after signing the secret contract in 1997, can establish credible leadership any more.
Additionally, myself, along with other alumni, have ceased donations to the University until this matter has been successfully resolved with his removal.
What do you see has the timeline for a final conclusion, and what that conclusion will be?
Finally, as a concerned alum, I want to make sure that no more of the University's money is wasted, and Mr. Ladner receives NO golden parachute whatsoever.
Please address these questions/thoughts/concerns. Thank you.
Paul Wolff: First of all, I agree with everything you said as has been made abundantly clear in statements I've made and the letter I wrote to my fellow trustees which I now learn is published on BenLadner.com. I wish it were already over. I had hoped that when the deans, the faculty senate and the students overwhelmingly asked Ladner to resign that he would have recognized that American University comes first and he would have resigned.
Regrettably, he has done just the opposite. He has dismissed the votes of no confidence and made it clear that he will fight to the end, including, as he has stated, litigation. This saddens me no end. I hope before the board meets next Monday, the 10th, that Ladner will rise above his selfish pursuits and do the right thing for the university by resigning.
AU 2006: I've heard a lot of random guesses, but no real hard data on how Ladner's salary compares to those of university presidents nationwide. Could you provide such a comparison, how is Ladner's salary compared to GW, Georgetown, Harvard, a state school, a liberal arts school, etc...
Thanks for taking the time.
Paul Wolff: Prior to the chairmanship of George Collins, when Ladner's salary was secretly negotiated between him and Bill Jacobs, it was always wildly out of line. Even though A.U. does not rank among the top 75 universities in this country measured either by size or reputation, Ladner's total compensation would have ranked him among the top 10 of all university presidents in the country. One can only assume now that the audit committee has uncovered the additional expenses incurred by him that his total compensation would clearly put him near/if not at the very top.
D.C .20005: In the chronicle article Ben Ladner spends much time discussing the disconnect between the executive committee and the board and that the former acted without the authorization of the latter. Comments?
Paul Wolff: That's false. The executive committee is empowered to act for the university on all matters between board meetings with the single exception of hiring a new president. As has been explained fully to all board members, the executive committee did this reluctantly but necessarily to protect the integrity of the university.BenLadner.com
Davidson, N.C.: In press coverage of this affair, various people on both sides of the issue have praised Dr. Ladner as an effective fund raiser. Yet AU is still 90 percent tuition dependent, a figure that hasn't changed in a decade. I know there is a nice new arts building. What other evidence is there of Dr. Ladner's fundraising prowess?
Paul Wolff: I think he's done a decent job. That's all that I will say. He has done better than his predecessors who did a dismal job. The audit committee, in reviewing his records and calendar, determined that he spent at maximum, 10 percent of his time on fundraising. The arts center and other significant donations came from long-time A.U. supporters, people who were generous long before Ladner became president. I know of no new significant donor that he was brought in.
Burke, Va.: As an AU alum, I'm getting communications from the university assuring me that my donations did not go Ladner. I think that's a laughable statement. Can you assure us that the money we've given the school actually went to education?
Paul Wolff: No, I can't. Obviously, the money spent by Ladner contract or no contract, for lavish birthday parties for himself and his wife, for an engagement party for his son and for chauffeuring his wife to the beauty parlor, obviously came from university funds that could've been used for scholarships or faculty salaries. I pointed out in my letter to my fellow trustees that the difference between a business class ticket and the first class ticket which Ladner purchased would have covered the tuition of one student for one semester. I also pointed out that the extraordinary salaries and raises given by Ladner to his chef and his wife's personal secretary could have been obviously better used to raise the salary of our faculty.
I have repeatedly pointed out that the salary of our longest serving tenured professor is but a few thousand dollars more than the salary and benefits Ladner gave his chef. I asked why wasn't the $500 dinner given by Ladner with university money to the chef and his wife not given to our teacher of the year.
Paul Wolff: I thank you for your questions. I am heartened to hear that there were many questions, many more than I could answer. This clearly shows that the A.U. family has an interest in this matter.
I call upon all alumni, faculty and students to speak out. I, of course, would hope that you agree with me that Ladner should resign or be discharged but even if you do disagree and have a different view of the mater, I urge you nonetheless to make your views known. The board in its deliberations must know what the students, the alumni, the faculty and friends of A.U. believe. Thank you.
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Post Politics Hour
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Don't want to miss out on the latest buzz in politics? Start each day at wonk central: The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.
Washington Post chief political reporter Dan Balz was online Monday, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m. ET .
Dan Balz: Good morning to everyone on a busy day in Washington. We're kicking off a new feature here, which is a daily chat about politics with members of the Post's political reporting and editing team.
This is one of two additions to the Politics page on washingtonpost.com, the other being the new column by Chris Cillizza called The Fix, which we hope will become a destination point for people interested in the latest political developments. Chris will have fresh material on the site and will update regularly through the day to keep you all abreast of what's happening politically.
We're excited by these changes, which reflect the newspaper's and the web site's commitment to bringing you bright, insightful and lively political coverage. And with that prelude, we'll move to the questions. Thanks for joining.
Kennesaw, Ga.: Good morning, Mr. Balz. I had expected President Bush to name someone he knew well personally to fill the next vacancy on the Supreme Court; he has a track record of preferring familiar faces for prominent posts if there are any available. Harriet Miers nomination will provoke some references to "cronyism" and questions about the legal views of someone who has never been a judge.
What can you tell us about her, apart from the resume? She has represented major corporate clients like Disney and Microsoft; what kinds of cases has she litigated for them? What did she herself actually do to "clean up" the Texas lottery? John Roberts was acknowledged to be one of Washington's most formidable litigators; does Ms. Miers have a comparable reputation? Lastly, she has interacted with many Senators in connection with judicial nominations -- has she made any strong impressions one way or the other?
Dan Balz: There are a string of questions this morning about President Bush's nomination of White House counsel Harriett Miers to the Supreme Court, many with the same basic question: who is she and what are her qualifications for the high court?
Most of what is known about her at this point is her resume, but very little is known about her judicial philosophy or views on constitutional issues. We have a team of reporters digging into many of the questions you all have raised, but at this point I'm afraid we don't have the answers you're looking for.
The reaction on both sides has been mixed. Some conservatives are very disappointed, others say she is a strong judicial conservative. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has had good things to say about her, but Democrats in general are raising questions about her qualifications and whether cronyism entered into this choice.
She has been a prominent and respected lawyer in Texas and was head of the Texas Bar Association. She has a long history with President Bush. She has done considerable work in corporate law. But she appears to have little constitutional law experience, from what we know. One person has asked whether she has ever argued a case before the court (you'll recall that one of Chief Justice John Roberts's credentials was that he argued 39 cases before the high court). We don't know, but we think not. Hopefully as the day goes on we will have more of these answers.
Weehawken, N.J.: Thanks for doing this Q&A.
Although many people disagreed with John Roberts' confirmation, few questioned his qualifications. In contrast, Miers is a stunning nomination. She has: no judicial experience; no federal government experience (apart from this administration); little state government experience; and meager academic credentials. Like Roberts, she has no staked positions in any of the major issues of the day; not due to discretion, but because she was never involved in them.
My question: can you think of any SCOTUS nominee with less qualifications or a more inauspicious career than Ms. Miers?
Dan Balz: I'll leave that to members of the Senate and others to decide. But she is not the first person nominated to the court without having been a judge. The late Chief Justice Rehnquist never served as a judge, nor did the late Justice Lewis Powell.
Chicago, Ill.: No one seems to have picked up on the President's mention of his new Supreme Court nominees work with Exodus Ministries, a group using controversial methods to "convert" homosexuals to a so-called "straight" lifestyle. These "ex-gay" groups have been under attack from many in the health care field, but are the darlings of the Christian right. What is known about her role with this group, and will it be a factor in her confirmation. Regards.
Dan Balz: There are two groups that share that name and from what we are told, she worked with the group that deals with ex-offenders, not the group involved with gays.
Washington, D.C.: Do you think Dems that want to fight this will take the strategy of painting Miers as another unqualified crony, who like Michael Brown, is getting a position because of past alliances with Bush? It seems it wouldn't be hard to portray her as such and that with the debate on Roberts being about qualifications and not ideology, it looks perfect.
Dan Balz: It's too soon to know exactly what the Democrats' strategy will be on this, but certainly her qualifications and her closeness to the president will be raised by her opponents.
Pittsburgh, Pa.: Where do you look to get a sense of what kind of judge a person will make in a case such as Miers?
Is it legitimate to assume Ms. Miers will give umbridge to corporate over civil interests and Congressional power because of her practice of corporate law?
Dan Balz: She is a blank slate when it comes to this, but some conservatives have said today that they believe she is a "judicial conservative." She has reportedly given some speeches that give some insight to her philosophy, but we have not obtained copies of them, if such copies exist. Democrats will assume that she will tend to side with corporate interests because of her legal work, but so little is known, they will attempt to draw her out more fully on that -- and many other questions.
Oshkosh, Wis.: You have been a political reporter for some time, so you have a good frame of reference on trends and the state of parties and politics in Washington.
Over the last several years starting with the Trent Lott resignation, leading up to the stepping down of Tom DeLay as House Majority leader, the Republican Party has been taking some public relations hits. Will these blemishes combined with the stalemate in Iraq, the President's low approval ratings plus the slow Katrina response, make it difficult for the country to elect another Republican president in 2008?
Dan Balz: I think the Republicans have problems right now and while they take solace in the fact that the Democrats have significant problems of their own, they will have to deal with this problems directly. President Bush is weakened right now because of Iraq, gas prices, Katrina and the economy. The Republican-controlled Congress is not popular with voters, and now you have ethics clouds hanging over a number of GOP officials. Perhaps as important is that the party's coalition is beginning to splinter and likely will continue to do so as 2008 approaches.
The Republicans, however, have been skilled at the mechanics of campaign politics -- far better than the Democrats -- in recent years. We'll get an indication of how serious the GOP's problems are next year in the midterm elections.
McLean, Va.: Don't forget, Chief Justice Earl Warren had also never served on the bench before his nomination.
Seattle, Wash.: I am surprised that I have not heard any reaction from Justice Antonin Scalia regarding being passed over for Chief Justice.
No, I do not expect him to give a press conference -- but I am surprised that nothing has leaked out about his reaction. Cannot imagine that he is happy about it.
Dan Balz: He did not attend the White House swearing in of Chief Justice Roberts last week, but apparently he had a legitimate conflict.
Minneapolis, Minn.: If you had to speculate (which, I guess, you do) do you think that the Bush administration actually nominated Ms. Miers in the hopes that she will be confirmed?
At first blush, she seems to be an average lawyer and personal friend of President Bush with virtually no qualifications for the job, and an easy target for Senate Democrats to block without looking too political doing it.
What might they gain from starting a fight they could easily lose?
Dan Balz: I don't think the president starts fights he doesn't expect to win. It appears he has a high opinion of Miers and will try to persuade the country she is the right choice. But it certainly does help to be in charge of picking people for important posts. First Cheney, now Miers.
Arlington, Va.: Do you think Miers will be able to get away with not answering questions the way Roberts largely did? She can make the same claim about not pre-judging cases, but do you think the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee will let her take a pass?
Similarly, will the White House actually release relevant documents or claim Executive Privilege...even without any other background on Miers?
Dan Balz: I'm sure she'll try to refrain from answering questions in the same way Roberts did, but I'd expect many of the Democrats to be even more insistent. As for documents from the White House, the Democrats will try and I assume the White House will resist.
Clifton, Va.: The Dems lost the last two presidential elections. Spoils go the victor. W has the right to pick who he wants as the next Supreme. The Dems also don't control the Senate. And it doesn't look like this is going to change in '06. So there really isn't a whole lot the Dems can do. Filbuster invokes the nuclear option. Hey Dems go for it and you lose big time!
Dan Balz: You're right: elections matter and that's what Democrats are recognizing. With Roberts, given his qualifications and his performance during the confirmation hearings, it was difficult to make the case that he wasn't qualified to sit on the high court, which is why in the end 22 Democrats voted for him. I doubt that many will support Miers.
As for the nuclear option, both sides may think they can win from that clash. Republicans will describe it as stubborn and obstructionist; Democrats will say if the only way Bush can get someone on the Supreme Court is by changing Senate rules, there will be a political price to pay.
Jersey City, N.J.: Can you explain Judy Miller's deal that she made with Fitzgerald? Specifically, why would she be worried about answering questions not related to Plame? Why would she think that Fitzgerald would ask her those questions, and what was (is?) she afraid would come out?
It seems a little suspect to be so worried about telling the truth to a Grand Jury when one's job is supposedly to tell the unvarnished truth to the entire nation/world.
Dan Balz: There are a lot of questions we all have about the deal Judy Miller made to get out of jail and testify -- the main one being why this deal wasn't cut long ago, since it is similar to the agreements other reporters who have testified made with the prosecutor.
Newark, Del.: Since Ms. Miers didn't serve on the bench there isn't much of a judicial record behind her. But would it be fair to say that we could draw conclusions from the other judges that the president has nominated? Not in a general sense but in specifics. Because wasn't Ms. Miers the lead in the selection process for most of the Judicial Nominations from the President? So couldn't we keen her positions on issues based on the positions of those she recommended to the President?
Dan Balz: Conservatives are split about her. Some who know her say they are confident she is a judicial conservative. What that means on specific issues -- Roe v Wade the main one -- isn't clear. But other conservatives see her as an uninspired choice and worry that she has not clearly known philosophy. Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society said her remarks this morning sounded like those of Robert Bork.
Iowa: Yesterday's article in The Washington Post by Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus raised some interesting questions about the likely role of senior White House aides in Plamegate. Since Ms. Miers has been White House counsel, would she have been involved in offering legal advice to these individuals as they were questioned by the special prosecutor? Also, would she have been involved in some of the decisions about the legality of torture procedures that were allowed in Iraq?
Dan Balz: The principal advice to any of the White House people involved would have come from their outside lawyers. If she had any involvement, and we don't know that she did, it might have come with regard to questions of executive privilege. Also, she has been White House counsel in the second term. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was White House counsel during the first term.
1. Would any president other than George W. Bush have even considered Miers as a Supreme Court justice?
2. Assuming the answer to 1 is "no", what does this tell us about Bush?
Dan Balz: 1. Very doubtful.
2. He has confidence in people he has worked with. Look at the elevations of Secretary of State Rice, Secretary of Education Spellings and Attorney General Gonzales. All members of the White House staff in the first term.
Out of curiosity, if confirmed, would Harriet Miers be the first Justice from a non top-25 law school?
Dan Balz: Nope. Former Chief Justice Warren Burger went to the William Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota.
Charlotte, N.C.: For Clifton, VA ...
Why would the democrats filibuster Miers? She is not Scalia or Thomas, and as Drudge is reporting right now, used to be a Democrat (Drudge has Ed Gillespie on record admitting that), and has given money to both Gore, and Clinton.
I think most Democrats, like me, are giggling right now.
Dan Balz: I wouldn't giggle too much, at least not until you know how she might rule on cases. Being a Democrat in Texas in the old days wasn't like being a Democrat nationally. There are lots of people who are now staunch Republicans in Texas who started out as conservative Democrats, particularly someone of her generation.
Washington, D.C.: Patrick Buchanan suggested that what Bush needed now was a nominee who would create a "bench-clearing brawl" in order to move the agenda past Katrina, FEMA, and gas prices. Does Miers have the potential to do just that?
Dan Balz: There are other candidates who would have created a far bigger brawl, among them Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown.
Chicago, Ill.: As a practicing attorney, I'd like to see more Supreme Court Justices with trial experience (either as a judge or an advocate). Accordingly, I'm heartened by the President's selection of a person who was a litigator in private practice.
While much was made of Chief Justice Roberts' experience as an appellate advocate, little was written about his lack of trial experience. I don't think he ever represented a client in a trial, or even filed a complaint or took a deposition.
I also think that Harriet Miers resume is comparable to that of Justice Lewis Powell, who was president of the American Bar Association and had never been a judge prior to his nomination to the Supreme Court.
Dan Balz: Interesting perspective. Thanks.
Portland, Ore.: Has the process for Supreme Court nominees changed due to increased partisanship?
It seems to me that interest groups from the right and the left try to pressure the Senators and the Senators are responding with lots of rhetoric, but no filibuster.
Is the process now any different than years past? Is is under more scrutiny? Or has it always been thus?
Dan Balz: The process is much more political and partisan than in the past. Remember that Justice Scalia was confirmed without a dissenting vote. Twenty years ago, a John Roberts probably would have been approved unanimously also.
Sydney, Australia: Hi Dan, If only one amongst the avalanche of ethical and performance question marks currently engulfing the White House and Republican party at large (Plame/Rove, DeLay, Frist, Abramoff, Ohio 'Coingate', Katrina, Education Propaganda, one battle-ready Iraqi battalion etc.) had occurred during Clinton's presidency, one would surely expect a more vocal public response. Could you comment how the supposedly family values/ethics based Republican government continues to brush off these scandals without significant ramifications?
Dan Balz: I don't think the public is necessarily brushing off these scandals. There's a long way to go on these, and if the allegations turn into convictions, they will take a heavy toll.
Washington, D.C.: Some will no doubt consider the Miers appoint cronyism. However, have their been crony nominees in the past who were confirmed?
Dan Balz: Justice Abe Fortas was an LBJ crony and nominated as associate justice in 1965. He was later denied elevation to chief justice.
Dallas, Tex.: Ms. Miers is very very close to Justice Nathan Hecht, the "Scalia" of the Texas Supreme Court. You might want to explore that relationship in your review of her judicial philosophy.
Dan Balz: Thanks. We'll check it out.
Washington, D.C.: First off, I am very excited about the continued expansion of the discussion topics at Washingtonpost.com. Ok now to my question, why does The Post Web site continue to use the "evil DeLay" photo in every article about him?
Dan Balz: Is that true? We'll get the web team to look into it.
Long Beach, Calif.: When the CIA leak grand jury ends, do you expect a report that chastises those involved that did not expose themselves to charges, but obviously involved themselves in a political smear job? Or will the report focus strictly on the breaking of laws?
Dan Balz: The million dollar question.
Washington, D.C.: Dan - How about Senator Byrd looking to make history with number 9? Does he not have the gumption and drive to keep it going or what...
Dan Balz: Just this morning, Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito announced that she will not run against him. She was considered the best candidate the Republicans had to challenge him. See Chris Cillizza's "The Fix" for more details.
Carrboro, N.C.: Shifting off the Supreme Court and looking to 2008, it sounds outlandish, but what about an Al Gore bid? The comparisons to Nixon's career (absent Nixon's paranoia) are intriguing... I also think Edwards looks formidable now. His poverty focus looks prescient post-Katrina. Thoughts?
Dan Balz: It seems unlikely that Gore will run, but he is still out making the case against Bush. Edwards's focus on poverty before Katrina has given him some added credibility and he's working hard. Right now it's HRC against the field, with opinion in the party sharply divided over whether she can win a general election -- giving hope to lots of others.
West Bloomfield, Mich.: There are reports that she is pro-life. Where are they coming from?
Dan Balz: This is the last question of the morning and I apologize that I couldn't get to many of you. Remember, we'll be here every morning at 11 with someone from the political team.
We don't know what her personal views are on abortion. She helped lead an effort to get the American Bar Association to rescind its position in support of Roe, but on the grounds that it was inappropriate for the ABA to take a position -- pro or con -- on an issue like that.
Thanks again. Have a good day.
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.
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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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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/09/30/DI2005093001131.html
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Metro: Roads and Rails
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2005100419
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Do you think Metro has grown unreliable and become downright unpleasant? Or are you happy with your commutes on rail and bus? Does the thought of the intercounty connector (ICC) keep you up at night or does it seem like it's long overdue? And what of the moves by Maryland and Virginia to encourage the private sector to build road projects, such as widening the Capital Beltway?
Washington Post staff writer Lyndsey Layton was online Monday, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m. ET to answer your questions, feel your pain and share the drama of getting from Point A to Point B. Lyndsey Layton is off today. Steven Ginsberg is off today.
Lyndsey Layton: Good morning road warriers, rail geeks, bus lovers of all stripes! Steve is leaving skidmarks somewhere on the Autostrada but I'm here and eager to chat. What's on your minds?
Alexandria, Va.: What I experienced on Friday evening on the Blue line to Franconia-Springfield bordered on the criminal -- for incompetence and poor planning. Anyone could look at a calendar and see that both a Capitals game and a Nationals game were being played that evening yet Metro in their infinite wisdom single tracked everything south of the Pentagon, causing hundreds and likely thousands of people to be delayed or stranded for long stretches at a time. Our train, which was quite full from returning fans and just the usual Friday crowd retiring from an evening in town were stuck on a stopped train before Pentagon City for over 30 minutes. Then we crawled through the next stations at maybe 5 mph with frequent stops. A normal 35 minute ride ended up being 1.5 hours! How can this be allowed and tolerated?!? The final insult to this was having to pay to get out of the parking lot after midnight.
Your Friday night ordeal is similar to what happened on the Blue Line the weekend before, when track work reduced service to one train an hour from Pentagon City south just as thousands of folks (many of them out of towners) poured onto the Metro from the downtown anti-war rally. Results were the same - overcrowded rail cars stopped in dark subway tunnels for 20 to 30 miserable minutes.
Metro says it has to perform track work and there is no good opportunity to do it, that every weekend in this region there's some kind of sporting event/protest/cultural happening.
But I wonder if they can't do better. Metro was running trains every 38 minutes. That's a commuter railroad, not a subway. Was it possible to schedule another run? How about shuttle buses instead of trains? Or if your level of service is going to be so low, why not shut down the affected stations altogether, allowing you to speed up the track work and get it done faster?
Nissan Parking Lot - Never Again: Wow - it took us 3 hours - repeat 3 hours - to drive 25 miles to Nissan Pavillion on Friday night. We missed the opening act and the beginning of the main show. Only took 2 1/2 hours to get home. Once we got out of the parking lot - yes, 2 hours of watching drunks become drunker, it only took 30 minutes to get home. Never again will we go to Nissan Parking Lot. Do they have any idea how bad this is - is anyone planning on fixing this?
Lyndsey Layton: Hi. I'm surprised you're not still in the parking lot. I vowed long ago to never attend another show at the Nissan Pavillion, or the Patriot Center, either, for exactly these reasons. Honestly, I don't think the Nissan people car - Coldplay sold out, didn't they? As long as they can fill seats, these venues aren't too bothered about accessibility.
Washington, D.C.: Would you be able to explain why metrobus seems to be stuck in time, and new advancements like the new coin machines, that don't seem to want to take cash, are a step backwards? I have asked the Dir. of Metro this question and he dodged it. Thanks.
Yes, Metrobus seems to be somewhere around 1972, doesn't it? The simple explanation is that the bus system has been chronically underfunded while most of Metro's resources and innovations have been lavished on the subway.
Still, I have to defend the new SmarTrip fareboxes on the buses as progress. The old fareboxes accepted most anything round - coins, slugs, foreign currency, board game pieces - and Metro lost some money because of that. The new boxes are calibrated to be more sensitive and reject stuff that's not U.S. currency. But the real beauty of the boxes is the way they encourage electronic payment, or SmarTrip use. If every bus rider carried a SmarTrip card, boarding would be so fast, it would speed up travel time on certain routes. It would be a beautiful thing.
Silver Spring, Md.: I've checked the WMATA web site and can't seem to find any schedule regarding maintence on Metro tracks. I know they have scheduled maintence, and they note current "disruptions," but I can't find anything regarding upcoming track work that could cause disruptions. Am I missing something?
Lyndsey Layton: Hi Silver Spring,
You're not missing anything. Metro puts out a media advisory about weekend track work on or about the Thursday before the weekend. There is no overall schedule that is posted and, unless you knew to look under press releases on Thursdays, you probably wouldn't find the advisory.
Washington, D.C.: Katrina highlighted a racial/socio-economic divide in our country. I am a Columbia Heights resident and a recent GW graduate. When I lived in Foggy Bottom, I spent far less time waiting on platforms. Is it possible the red, orange, and blue lines receive more funding?
Lyndsey Layton: Hi Washington, DC
No. The rail system is funded as a whole; there is no breakdown by line. You had shorter waits at Foggy Bottom because two lines run through that station - the Orange and the Blue lines - as opposed to one line that runs through Columbia Heights.
Annandale, Va.: My take on metro is that there are some people who are nice, but it is a work-welfare system for the District and they hire either incompetents, or under-educated people. Plus, the unions are over-expensive, the managers not that competent and the Board is oblivious. Board members should be forced to ride their own subway--new hires should take a competency and psychological test, and someone from the Federal Government should be govern oversight--because the regional jurisdictons simply do not get along: VA does not like DC or MD, MD does not like VA and I don't think DC likes either MD or VA. Additionally, the metro busses are dirty, most people are rude, the system is overworked. All in all -- I'd rather drive.
Lyndsey Layton: But tell us how you really feel.
Very Blue Line: Do you know how I can get onto the new riders board? Do you think they might actually pick people who have some real interest in improving metro?
Lyndsey Layton: I can answer the first question (check Metro's website at www.metroopensdoors.com) but don't have a good response yet for the second.
Metro's Ride Guide: It's usually good, but has some truly boneheaded suggestions, such as getting on a bus at the first metro station it crosses rather than waiting until the last one and speeding up the trip.
Is there someone at Metro I can point out these errors to?
Lyndsey Layton: You just did. They read these chats.
Springfield, Va.: I am a very frustrated metrorail user. On two consectutive Friday nights (23rd and 30th) my wife and I have had horrible metro commutes after an event downtown. Both times it has taken 2 hours to get back to Springfield.
I understand that they are doing rapair work at Braddock Road and they have info on their website. However, most normal commuters do not check the websites on a usual daily basis for repair work being done. Having said that, in order to find out about any repair work one has to know which page to go to. Why don't they make it obvious to people on their website by having that info on their homepage in big bold red letters? Futhermore, why can't they have WTOP or other news stations (TV or radio) announce repair work etc... that metro is doing similarly to VDOT with the mixing bowl construction? On top of that, why do they decide to single track the metro through the repair work, especially on weekend nights, when they can do the repair work while the metro is closed? I understand it will probably be more expensive because of the labor cost of doing the work at night. However, it is better than losing revenue because metro has erked their customers who might decide not to use the system again because of metros incompetence.
I hear a theme emerging. See the earlier post from a fellow Friday night Blue Line survivor. I think you make a very good point about Metro's communication with riders. Regarding the scheduling of track work, Metro does perform this work overnight (that's actually when most track maintenance work is done). But ever since the subway decided to stay open until 3 a.m. on weekends and to open earlier on weekdays, the overnight window for track work has been shrinking and more and more maintenance is being performed during normal operating hours.
Re: rail funding and wait times: But haven't you noticed that the green line always has a longer wait? I catch the Red line at the Takoma station, and when they shut down part of the Red line for contruction of the New York Ave. station, I had to transfer to the Green line at Fort Toten. My impression at the time was that Green line trains ran much few and far between.
The Red Line has the most frequent service on the system (every 2 to 3 mins in the peak) but that has nothing to do with funding and everything to do with the fact that it's the only line that does not share track with another line.
Springfield, Va.: "If every bus rider carried a SmarTrip card, boarding would be so fast, it would speed up travel time on certain routes. It would be a beautiful thing." And if Metro had a few more SmarTrip fare card machines, and placed them in locations convenient for bus riders, it would be a very beautiful thing.
Lyndsey Layton: No arguments there.
Alexandria, Va.: After my weekend experience on the Yellow Line 2 weekends ago -- an experience I consider being held hostage, it took 2 hours to get from Dupont to Braddock Rd -- I decided to take Metro's advice this past weekend and bypass the Yellow Line where track work was taking place and take a bus to Pentagon to catch a train into the city. This is what they specifically recommended people do. So I hopped on a bus that goes between Braddock Rd and Pentagon and Pentagon City -- the 10A. Did they run extra buses? Of course not! That would be the logical thing to do. Run trains only every 38 minutes, encourage people to take the bus instead, and then only provide sparse weekend bus service every 30 minutes. Which is hardly a better alternative than waiting 38 minutes for a train. Does it take a rocket scientist to figure out that maybe they could run more buses along the affected areas? And is this blasted track work finally over? This is the worst I've ever seen in 10 years of living here.
Lyndsey Layton: AAAAARRRRGHHH! I feel your pain. In fact, I'd like to talk to you more about it. Alexandria and the earlier posters and everyone else who has been caught up in this weekend Metro nightmare, please drop me an email directly at laytonl@washpost.com
I was wondering about your opinion on Metro's new Riders Advisory Council. I submitted an application, and am hoping that someone like myself will make it onto the council (bus-riders who are transit dependent), since the metrobus system seems to be overlooked in terms of funding and improvements. Do you think this council will be able to do any good? Or is it just a PR move on the part of metro to placate angry riders?
Lyndsey Layton: I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude, Washington, D.C. It's hard to know how this council will turn out. But I applaud you for being willing to serve and I agree that Metrobus needs some advocates.
Woodbridge, Va.: Hi, When will Metro decide to make announcements about bus delays? Those fancy electronic signs in the rail stations are great, but pity the poor bus riders (like my husband) who wait at major bus hubs with no information about delayed/cancelled bus lines. And don't expect the station manager to know or care, either. How hard could it be to make a brief announcement from the manager's office to let bus riders know a particular bus just isn't going to show up, so riders can find another way home? This has happened about 5 times in the last several months at Pentagon.
You're assuming that Metro HQ knows about the delays in the first place. I'd sure like to talk to your husband - please email me at laytonl@washpost.com
Anonymous: "Springfield, Va.: "If every bus rider carried a SmarTrip card, boarding would be so fast, it would speed up travel time on certain routes. It would be a beautiful thing." And if Metro had a few more SmarTrip fare card machines, and placed them in locations convenient for bus riders, it would be a very beautiful thing.
Lyndsey Layton: No arguments there. "
Actually, you can use those same SmartTrip boxes on the bus to add money.
Lyndsey Layton: Except you won't get a receipt. I never load value on the buses for that reason - if there's a problem, you have no way to prove it.
Metro restrooms: so, can we or can't we go there?
Lyndsey Layton: Well it all seems to boil down the the particular station and the particular station manager who's on duty at the moment you ask to use it.
Re: wait times: Having lived on the Green Line, the Red Line and now the Orange Line, I find that Metro is equally incompetent in all socio-economic areas. Don't take it personally.
Lyndsey Layton: there you go
Washington, D.C.: I may have been out of town when it was decided, what happened with random searches on Metro trains?
Lyndsey Layton: Hi Washington, DC. You haven't missed anything. Officially, Metro says it is still considering this option. Unofficially, they thought about it, how much manpower it would take, what they would get from it and opted not to do it.
Washington, D.C.: Hi, Lyndsey. Thanks for the chat!
If you can stand another observation about the Blue/Yellow Line debacle of the past two weekends from a heavy user of Metro who is generally satisfied: I accept that some track work has to be done during regular hours, and that it will make life miserable. But why didn't Metro use its electronic signs DURING THE WEEK to warn people of what was coming up instead of waiting until literally the last minute?!
Two weekends ago, I saw NO notices in any station until Saturday morning, after the work had already begun (and I ride Metro every day, using nearly every line). Metro did a little better this past weekend, getting warnings up Friday night, but that was still way too late.
Doing better on timely communication would go a long way toward mollifying patrons!
Lyndsey Layton: Ok, here's the last word on this subject.
Washington, D.C.: It's frustrating to see riders on Metrobus ignore the rear exit doors and slow enty of waiting passengers. Obviously, it the riders choice of exit to use, but can't Metro do something to encourage people to use the rear exist to facilitate getting passengers onto the bus in a more timely manner?
I've never seen Metro try to encourage bus riders to use the rear doors. I don't think the agency has spent a lot of time thinking about it.
SmartTrip Cards: Do these still cost $5.00? The Metro rail and bus systems get a lot of efficiency benefits from these cards, and I don't know it charges so much.
They should be free with a large fare purchase.
Lyndsey Layton: Hi, yes, Metro still charges $5 for the cards. The board of directors approved that amount, saying they want the cards to have some kind of value to the purchaser, so they won't be discarded like a used paper card.
Arlington, Va.: "Metro says it has to perform track work and there is no good opportunity to do it, that every weekend in this region there's some kind of sporting event/protest/cultural happening."
This is true, but two weekends ago there were -hundreds of thousands- of people heading to the anti-war rally. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that is not a typical weekend crowd.
The most irritating part of this collapse of Metro competence is there will be zero consequence. If they think they are doing a great job, why should they bother figuring out what to do better?
Lyndsey Layton: Arlington, maybe the consequences are train loads of angry customers who think the agency is incompetent.
Wheaton, Md.: How much are train and bus operators paid?
It varies with seniority and, in the case of bus drivers, whether they're part-time or full-time. Some of the most senior rail and bus operators are able to earn six figures, with overtime.
Rear Doors: The Rear doors are broken on the Metro bus I ride every day. I've been yelled at by the driver to exit at the front so many times that I don't even try anymore. I think it's just another example of how Metro desperately needs to pay more attention to its buses.
Lyndsey Layton: I've seen this plenty, too. Not every day, but frequently enough.
Washington, D.C.: "Actually, you can use those same SmartTrip boxes on the bus to add money."
Not only do you not get a receipt, but if you receive Metro checks from your employer you must go into a metro station to load them onto your Smartrip. They should put Smartrip fare machines at locations where many buses terminate or even where more than 6 or 7 bus lines stop.
Lyndsey Layton: Folks, I've run out of time. Thanks so much for spending the hour with me and I apologize if I didn't get to your question. See you in two weeks, when Mr. Ginsberg will be back with me.
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.
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Washington Post staff writer Steven Ginsberg and Lyndsey Layton discuss local travel and transportation.
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Why Louisiana Matters
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2005100119
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The Sept. 27 editorial "Louisiana's Looters" displayed a profound ignorance of the regional and national miscalculation of this national disaster. It's not just that people's homes are underwater; that happens with every hurricane. It's not just that roofs have blown off; those are the usual visuals of a storm of this nature. It's that an entire region vital to our national energy supply, security and commerce has been devastated.
South Louisiana is the anchor of America's Energy Coast, securing more than three-quarters of U.S. offshore oil and gas production -- a greater share of our nation's energy supply than even the kingdom of Saudi Arabia accounts for. The ports of south Louisiana, including New Orleans, are America's gateway to the world, handling more than 20 percent of U.S. imports and exports each day, including more than 70 percent of all grains as they move from farms across the nation to markets overseas. And 40 percent of the seafood consumed by Americans each year comes through coastal Louisiana.
But The Post dismissed the federal government's role in the rebuilding of these and other devastated sectors of our economy. It described an effort to rebuild the regional economy as extraneous, comparing it to a sports venue miles from Ground Zero in New York. The people of Louisiana do not share this simplistic view. Nor would an Iowa farmer unable to bring his grain to market, or a Virginia mother who can't keep up with rising gas costs for the family car, or a Chicago seafood restaurateur trying to expand his business even as supplies are constrained.
It is important to note that we will not rebuild New Orleans out of our own sense of need or nostalgia. We will renew and restore New Orleans and the region because its existence is dictated by the needs of U.S. commerce. The question is not whether Americans can afford to raise up Louisiana's economy; it is whether America can afford not to. The answer is clear: We must rebuild stronger, better and smarter than before.
Just as the Netherlands did after the devastating flood of 1953, we will build the world's strongest levee system. But rebuilding this region will take more than just higher levees. We must also build a better education system in the region, while figuring out a way to maintain the education of 200,000 displaced children and 73,000 displaced college students around the country. We must build a better health care system in New Orleans and throughout south Louisiana, and we must figure out how to extend health care coverage to a million survivors whose employers are either gone, teetering on the verge of bankruptcy or dropping their coverage. We must provide the infrastructure and appropriate incentives for businesses and industry that are positioned to accept the risk of reopening their doors amid their unprecedented losses and the destruction around them.
Finally, The Post's editorial accuses our delegation of disregarding the "root causes" of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. But even a cursory amount of journalistic effort would reveal years of requests to stem the repeated cuts to our flood and hurricane protection programs -- most recently in a letter to the president in November -- as well as efforts to restore America's Wetland, our primary hurricane protection. A search of Post archives would demonstrate decades of unity on the part of our congressional delegation in seeking restoration of Louisiana's eroding coast, as the continued erosion increases the vulnerability of our coastal populations.
Despite this legacy of federal neglect, The Post criticizes proposals to give Louisiana greater control of the rebuilding effort. Let us be clear: Louisiana will be rebuilt by Louisianians. New Orleans will be rebuilt by New Orleanians. And the rest of southern Louisiana will be rebuilt under the leadership of the people who call it home. Certainly The Post, long a champion of home rule, should appreciate this enduring spirit.
The writer is a Democratic senator from Louisiana.
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The Post editorial "Louisiana's Looters" displayed a profound ignorance of Katrina's impact. The question is not whether Americans can afford to raise up Louisiana's economy; it is whether America can afford not to.
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Louisiana's Looters
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2005100119
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THE NATION is at war. It is mired in debt. It has been hit by floods and hurricanes. In the face of this adversity, congressional leaders have rightly dropped proposals for yet more tax cuts, and some have suggested removing the pork from the recently passed transportation bill. But this spirit of forbearance has not touched the Louisiana congressional delegation. The state's representatives have come up with a request for $250 billion in federal reconstruction funds for Louisiana alone -- more than $50,000 per person in the state. This money would come on top of payouts from businesses, national charities and insurers. And it would come on top of the $62.3 billion that Congress has already appropriated for emergency relief.
Like looters who seize six televisions when their homes have room for only two, the Louisiana legislators are out to grab more federal cash than they could possibly spend usefully. For example, their bill demands $7 billion for rebuilding evacuation and energy supply routes, but it also demands a separate $5 billion for road building and makes no mention of the $3.1 billion already awarded to the state in the recent transportation legislation. The bill demands $50 billion in community development block grants, partly to get small businesses going, but it also demands $150 million for a small-business loan fund plus generous business tax breaks. The bill even asks for $35 million for seafood marketing and $25 million for a sugar-cane research laboratory. This is the equivalent of New York responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center by insisting upon a federally financed stadium in Brooklyn.
The Louisiana delegation has apparently devoted little thought to the root causes of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. New Orleans was flooded not because the Army Corps of Engineers had insufficient money to build flood protections, but because its money was allocated by a system of political patronage. The smart response would be to insist that, in the future, no Corps money be wasted on unworthy projects, but the Louisiana bill instead creates a mechanism by which cost-benefit analysis can be avoided. Equally, Katrina was devastating because ill-conceived projects have drained coastal wetlands and caused their erosion, destroying a natural buffer between hurricanes and human settlements. The smart response would be to insist that future infrastructure projects be subject to careful environmental review. But the Louisiana delegation's bill would suspend the environmental review process. Rather than grappling with the lessons of Katrina, Louisiana's representatives are demanding an astonishing $40 billion worth of Corps of Engineers projects in their state. That is 16 times more than the Corps says it would need to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane.
The Louisiana bill is so preposterous that its authors can't possibly expect it to pass; it's just the first round in a process of negotiation. But the risk is that the administration and congressional leaders will accept the $250 billion as a starting point, then declare a victory for fiscal sanity when they bring the number down to, say, $150 billion. Instead, Congress should ignore the Louisiana bill and force itself to think seriously about the sort of reconstruction that makes sense. Katrina has exposed mistakes of policy: water-infrastructure programs that made flooding more likely, and levees and insurance schemes that encouraged human settlement in dangerous places. Now that Congress is getting ready to spend tens of billions on reconstruction, it must seize the opportunity to correct those past errors.
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Louisiana wants $250 billion for Katrina reconstruction. Congress should instead end infrastructure programs that made flooding more likely and insurance schemes that encouraged building in dangerous places.
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Daily Humor and Observations from Joel Achenbach
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2005100119
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« Dry Rain Again | Main | Looking Back on the Gas Age »
"Off Topic" posted this last night:
I don't know a lot about "blogs" - but this is NOT a blog. This is a FORUM.
This one topic with comments thing is not working. "Your people" need THREADS! If someone wants to talk about crayons, it can have it's own thread - it shouldn't be in the DRY RAIN section. If someone has a question for you about G. Washington book, they could ask in a separate section entitled: "QUESTIONS FOR JOEL".
Or whatever. With some good forum software you could do so many interesting things. Just my two cents... "
Dear Off Topic: I know you are new to the blog and you may not have had a chance to grasp what we're doing here, exactly. It's true that it is unconventional as blogs go. For example, most bloggers publish new material several times a day, whereas I often go a week or two, or even a month, and occasionally a year, without posting anything. Often I will start to post something, then realize it is TGFTB (too good for the blog), and save it for a more credible form of publication. But more specifically, you seem to have failed to notice that this is a Led Zeppelin blog.
Today we mark the end of Zeptember, probably the most difficult day of the year. We all have to ask ourselves: Did we do everything we could make this a "Zeptember to Remember," to coin a phrase? Or did we let our attention wander at times? When we cranked the music, did we turn the knob all the way into the painful range? I know there are people who say I am a zealot when it comes to loud music, but at least my message over the years has been consistent: If you can still hear at all on Zept. 30, you're not a true fan.
I think we had a good month, and many of my colleagues, communicating through sign language, have told me it was the best Zeptember since the fabled Zeptember of '83 (when, in case you somehow forgot, the 2-hour bootleg version of "Dazed and Confused" surfaced, with the 45-minute Jimmy Page violin-bow guitar solo, the whole thing only later revealed to be an elaborate hoax). Some of the postings this month were predictably incoherent, which I guess goes with the territory. As always I felt we didn't spend enough time discussing the great John Bonham. I think we are collectively healing quite well from the trauma of Robert Plant's visit to the General Motors headquarters after GM exploited Zeppelin to sell Cadillacs.
So another Zeptember gone. Weep a little, mourn a little, crank some music, and then look ahead. You know what's coming.
September 30, 2005 | Permalink
This is just the material to stimulate our continued discussion of race!
Posted by: Corduroy | Sep 30, 2005 1:23:12 PM
I believe I detect Achenbro's influence...
Posted by: peanutgallerymember | Sep 30, 2005 1:31:35 PM
Man, I have been completely misled about the concept of this blog.
You should get washingtonpost.com to change the code on this website so the header accurately descibes the subject matter.
Posted by: jw | Sep 30, 2005 1:32:10 PM
Been a long time since Zeppelin rock and rolled but their tunes still ring in my head. Unfortunately, my hearing is still good, although my wife might disagree. Speaking as a drummer, Bonham, Pert, and Bruford are my favorites.
Posted by: RichieRich | Sep 30, 2005 1:37:18 PM
um... i'm not a zepplin fan... i can't stand classic rock... DON'T HATE ME JOEL AND ACHENBRO!!! i guess i'll slink my way back to the rain boodle...
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 1:39:46 PM
Now off topic, I posted in the last kit, my memory of Bennett's discussion which I heard while I was driving home. AND, I posted my concerns about the totality of what I heard. I would be interested in what you thought.
Posted by: Dolphin Michael | Sep 30, 2005 1:39:50 PM
I've seen the interview with Paul McCartney c 1964 where he says that the rock band thing is just a temporary gig--he says something like, imagine how ridiculous we would be at age 40, still writing rocknroll songs and singing. Unimaginable. And now, he's a sexy sexagenarian, touring and rocking the house. But there has to be a limit somewhere, doesn't there? Just how old do you picture yourself being, Achenbach, when you start saying, yeah, metal, I used to be into that.
Is this an insensitive question? I am older than you are, but I was always more into folk music and that goes over easy in the sunset years. Led Zeppelin just seems like a young person's thing. And by "young" I don't mean "under 50."
Posted by: Wondering | Sep 30, 2005 1:41:28 PM
The freakonomics argument talked about the crime wave of the late-eighties and early nineties, and the sudden drop in crime despite popular predictions that crime would only increase. Using a mathematical formula to eliminate theories like nyc's broken windows theory (b/c crime dropped all over the nation, not just nyc) the authors were lead to the conclusion that the legalization of abortion in the seventies had eliminated a population of people that otherwise may have been criminals - taking in mind that women who have abortions are usually making that choice for a reason - economic or otherwise. It may be distasteful or impolitic, but it does make sense in a certain way.
Posted by: LP | Sep 30, 2005 1:42:28 PM
New boodle but I really want to continue the discussion about race we were having in the other boodle. Joel - I see your point about the number of posts you got in your kit about NOLA, however, did you take a look at the names on the postings - very few regular boodlers posted. It was just like when you post on Rove you get all these infrequent boodlers posting. I was the one who made the comment about the boodlers being reluctant to discuss race and I was referring to the regulars, not just the SAO 15 but others who frequently comment as well. By the way - I'm an infrequent boodler as well but I read it all the time.
Posted by: omodudu | Sep 30, 2005 1:44:34 PM
Oh, and yeah LED ZEPPELIN!!!! WOOOOO!!!!!
My favorite Zep tune is gallows pole. And the nerd in me loves the Lord of the Rings stuff in....wait, wait o, crap. The song title not english.
Posted by: LP | Sep 30, 2005 1:48:06 PM
Hey guys, I posted a few more comments on the last post, we can continue there too.
Posted by: jw | Sep 30, 2005 1:51:23 PM
It's not really a blog.
Posted by: off topic | Sep 30, 2005 1:52:42 PM
Posted by: bc | Sep 30, 2005 2:01:41 PM
A new deity for Rocktober: Stevie Wonder, based on the old Ray Charles algorithym.
God is love, Love is blind, Stevie Wonder is blind, Stevie Wonder is god.
Posted by: PeterK | Sep 30, 2005 2:02:23 PM
omodudu - but also - that boodle was largely over the weekend... i glanced at it over the weekend but was taken aback by some of the hatred that i saw so i didn't boodle... i think most of the regs boodle during the weekday...
ot - it's an achenblog or, if you prefer, the kit and 'boodle - therefore it doesn't have to follow the accepted blog rules - it is it's own entity... it's own creature if you will...
re: abortions... i think i might hafta agree that in a roundabout way, abortions do have an effect on crime b/c (and i may be stretching here) those that abort (whatever race, class, age, etc) are aborting an UNWANTED pregnancy... they don't want that child and are probably unable to care for it in an acceptable way - whether financially or mentally. a child that is unwanted is painfully aware of that fact and the woman could habour additional negativity towards the child by being forced to have it/raise it. not saying there's no other out but that plays a big toll on children knowing that they are not wanted... this could lead to mental and moral misbehavior ("if i'm not wanted, or not loved than screw it, why should i care about anyone else?")... like i said, it's a stretch but...
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 2:02:25 PM
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 2:03:21 PM
Yes, that is the part that I had forgotten in the Bennett discussion ... I posted other parts of the discussion back one.
The problem that Bill Bennett was "I THINK" trying to address is that of implied cause and affect. How do you decide that one action causes another or if both are happening because of other issues.
He didn't want to accept that something as immoral and evil as an abortion may have positive affects such as possibly breaking the cycle of generational poverty.
Posted by: Dolphin Michael | Sep 30, 2005 2:03:27 PM
Cooltober--time to start cleaning up the jungle that flourished in the yard during the Florida summer. Hopefully without another hurricane to spray the yard with every leaf from every tree, plus branches and some strange muddy stuff.
Zeptember had Ophelia swell-enough to empty doctors' and lawyers' offices for a day or two.
Posted by: Dave | Sep 30, 2005 2:21:09 PM
Sorry mo, Achtober sounds better than Achentober to me.
Might as well call it Mocktober at this point...
Love the indirect reference to Zeptember's real theme, "When the Levee Breaks".
Posted by: bc | Sep 30, 2005 2:24:43 PM
Wondering- if you are stopped in traffic on the Wilson Bridge at 5:25pm next to a black Toyota with the windows down, geezer at the wheel singing along to either "Stairway to Heaven" or Meatloaf's "Bat Outta Hell", you have seen the KUROSAWAGUY! I'm 57. It's our music, dagnabbit. We gave up the brain cells and aural sensitivity to make it classic. "Young person's thing" indeed. Now, where'd I put my store teeth...
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 2:34:49 PM
Forgive me - I am new to this blog, boodle, whatever you want to call it. I love the digressions and the convergence back again into a single thought conversation!
These side trips give the posters character and depth, making their more "important" postings understandable.
Bennett has certainly stepped into a big pile of meadow muffins - as he had done previously. What I am reading and hearing about it I find difficult not to label as racist.
Yes, there are parts of the country that are still fighting the war, repeating history over and over with what I feel are unenlightened beliefs of race, religion, etc. etc. I say unenglighted because the chain of hatred has not been broken yet -- someday we all pray it will be.
It disturbs me that when people do try to bring race (or any other sensitive subject) into a conversation the tone immediately changes. Words must be chosen so carefully as not to offend - when perhaps no offense is meant. Everyone's hackles come up if the wording isn't just right to the point that the meaning is often obliterated. We need to try to listen and understand first before the "racist card" should be dealt (but deal it when appropriate after due deligence)
Any way - my 2 cents from a newbie!
Posted by: janet | Sep 30, 2005 2:45:47 PM
This did make me think about "Immigrant Song", "Fool in the Rain", and "Hot Dog" and a lot of other classic music.
And the late, great Bonzo, of course.
Posted by: bc | Sep 30, 2005 2:48:29 PM
It's not really a blog.
Some people call it a boodle.
Posted by: pj | Sep 30, 2005 2:49:29 PM
kurosawaguy, didn't you see the sign?
Posted by: bc | Sep 30, 2005 2:51:47 PM
"What I am reading and hearing about it I find difficult not to label as racist."
Do you mean here at the blog, or where? Would be helpful to know.
Posted by: polyglot | Sep 30, 2005 2:52:08 PM
Ooops -- that wasn't clear.
It was referencing Bill Bennett's comments.
Actually, the blog conversation has for the most part been cool in its discussion.
Posted by: janet | Sep 30, 2005 2:54:06 PM
pj - what do you call your hair cut?
Posted by: LP | Sep 30, 2005 2:57:07 PM
When we lived in Florida, I worked in the juvenile justice system for 15 years. Almost all black and hispanic juvenile "offenders", especially those whose parents couldn't afford an attorney, were arrested and prosecuted while most white juveniles were taken into custody, allowed to leave with their parents and referred for counseling or participation in intervention programs, resulting in no criminal record. mo, I don't think its a stretch to say that unwanted children are more prone to indulge in behavior that is self destructive or destructive towards others. Is it more humane to abort an unwanted child than to subject him/her to a lifeime of emotional or physical neglect? I don't know. My family has been fortunate in that we've never had to deal with an unwanted pregnancy.
Posted by: Nani | Sep 30, 2005 2:57:23 PM
"He didn't want to accept that something as immoral and evil as an abortion may have positive affects such as possibly breaking the cycle of generational poverty."
I didn't hear Bennett at length, I only read the excerpt in the Post, which covered the immediate precursors to the noxious remark, the noxious remark, and the immediately following portion. Given that Bennett is one of those conservatives who is famously opposed to the legality of access to abortion, I will accept that he may have had the reaction you describe. It must have tormented him, however, because it would be an excellent argument AGAINST legal abortion only if it were true. To claim that abortion has a noticeable, even powerful, effect on crime rates, would imply a dramatic drop in birth rates because of the hordes of poor women having abortions instead of babies. Anti-abortion advocates want us to believe that any abortion is wrong, that nothing good (or at least socially tolerable) could come of it. Yet, if the Freakonomics argument were correct, it would imply a horrifically high rate of abortion that no sane pro-choice activist could advocate. The economic benefit of choosing abortion (the kind of thing that pro-business individualist conservatives love) would provide the best argument against abortion (it's anti-poverty eugenics).
In order to make the argument that the very significant drop in crime rates is due to abortion, you would have to demonstrate a very significant drop in birth rates among poor women. Furthermore, that drop had to occur about 13-25 years or so before the drop in crime rates, providing plenty of time to gather and analyze all the relevant statistical data. According to the darned liberal media, quite the opposite effect has occurred in birth rates among the most impoverished sectors of society. Perhaps the media didn't get the memo.
In short -- unless you can prove that abortion is happening at genocidal rates; or if you can prove that every aborted baby was destined to be a criminal; then it is be awfully hard for me to believe that abortion has had any measurable effect on overall crime rates.
Posted by: Tim | Sep 30, 2005 2:59:44 PM
Bush won't help ya, Fema won't do ya no good
Bush won't help ya, Fema won't do ya no good
when the levee breaks NOLA is goin to pay.
Posted by: RichieRich | Sep 30, 2005 3:04:55 PM
When I first heard about Bennet's remark I kept hearing the voice of a friend in my head. "Any government that has the power to take away your right to decide whether or not you will have an abortion, has the right to FORCE you to have an abortion."
That comment was made when we were talking about how the "right to privacy" plays in Roe v. Wade and other decisions.
Posted by: TulsaFan | Sep 30, 2005 3:13:42 PM
Well, actually, bc, in that place and at that time (especially today being a Friday) "Bat Outta Hell" is much more likely to be on my lips. And while I'm rambling here- what ever happened to melvina, of "now I must brief the press" fame?
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 3:15:56 PM
LP wins the Double Jeopardy question this week. Johnny will tell you your prize.
Posted by: pj | Sep 30, 2005 3:19:38 PM
Here's to Zeptember and the Viking Kittens! Turn it up to 11!
Posted by: Pixel | Sep 30, 2005 3:24:29 PM
I did hear a clip of the Bennett comment on the radio the other day. Rolled my eyes, and mentally filed it next to Wolf Blitzer's "so poor, so black".
Remember it, oh yes I will.
Posted by: bc | Sep 30, 2005 3:24:54 PM
Kurosawaguy - Isn't it awful when you can't find your store bought teeth? Paradise By The Dashboard Light takes on new meaning without your teeth!
It is our music (45 years old) and I love to crank it up - classic rock, funk, country, folk!
Posted by: janet | Sep 30, 2005 3:26:13 PM
umm... how bout the violent femmes? or some depeche mode? or even the cure?? yeah!
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 3:32:56 PM
"I don't know a lot about "blogs" - but this is NOT a blog. This is a FORUM."
It is certainly a blog that offers a lot of smart people a forum. Maybe it's a BLORUM... or maybe it's a FOG, which could explain a lot.
Posted by: TBG | Sep 30, 2005 3:35:25 PM
"we were barely seventeen and we were barely dressed..." increasingly becomes "we could barely remember seventeen and we couldn't get dressed because we couldn't find our glasses."
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 3:39:39 PM
I withya mo. I'm well over 40, and I'm way over LedZep, Jethro Tull, et al. They're great, don't get me wrong. But there's so much new stuff that's out there. I've been on a Radiohead kick for a while; I even like the Deathcab for Cutie stuff my daughters have been playing.
I've found over the past few years that I've become more open minded about music. World music, Tito Puente, Techno, even some Hip-Hop (just some). When I was 23, I only wanted to hear Grateful Dead - it was an antidote to the Dreaded Disco Scourge.
Posted by: CowTown | Sep 30, 2005 3:39:46 PM
Of course there's a stairway to heaven, especially when presented by Aztec Two Step in circa 1973-74. Ah, those were the days, my fellow achenfollowers!
Posted by: aroc | Sep 30, 2005 3:41:02 PM
Steve Sailer disagrees with 'Freakonomics', reasons why at:
I found it entertaining reading, anyway. A lot of it has to do with when the crack epidimic rolled around. The charts were of interest. (Great googly moogly, the trend is to nearly 35% of all births illegitimate? Ouch.
(Turning Rev. Billy Witz's "Freeway to Stairbird" up to 11, and re-lurking....)
Posted by: Les | Sep 30, 2005 3:54:21 PM
Had some travel far, far away. I'm here occasionally, if not appreciated by some of the stuffed poobahs. Just mellowing.
Now, I must brief the press.
Posted by: melvin/a | Sep 30, 2005 3:56:42 PM
I know these songs, I know the FOG, and "we could barely remember seventeen and we couldn't get dressed because we couldn't find our glasses." certainly describes me. True actual fact: I stepped on mine this morning.
My desk is in the open, people, you have got to stop making me spit my coffee all over the place.
Posted by: dr | Sep 30, 2005 4:08:30 PM
Good to hear from you melvin/a. Sorry I reglected your backslash earlier.
Now, I must press my briefs.
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 4:11:02 PM
Truth be told, I'm posting today cuz I forgot my glasses and can't read anything on my desk.
Holy Large Print computer screens Batman!!! I can only read what's on the computer.
Posted by: janet | Sep 30, 2005 4:12:28 PM
kurosawaguy, I'm on the Wilson bridge about an hour after you are, unfortunately. Otherwise I'd be sure to look for you.
Just don't press your briefs while you are driving.
Posted by: pj | Sep 30, 2005 4:14:04 PM
I'm 47 but my 19 year daughter is the Zepplin fan in the family. She fell in with some weird retro crowd at school. She likes all kinds of classic rock except for my favorite Springsteen. We do agree on the Clash however.
Posted by: bquark | Sep 30, 2005 4:18:26 PM
FOG - That's it! Hah!
Posted by: CowTown | Sep 30, 2005 4:18:47 PM
Kurosowaguy, Pressing Alert. Don't put starch on your briefs when you press them. Personal experience speaking. My grandmother used to starch and press everything and you just do not want to go there.
This was a public service announcement.
Posted by: dr | Sep 30, 2005 4:19:32 PM
PJ, what's makes you think I'm not still on the bridge at 6:25? Although the temptation to jump is strong at times.
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 4:22:34 PM
I knew I raised my son right when he came home from college with a Credence Clearwater Revival cd!
dr - when suddenly experiencing the urge to spray coffee all over your desk, put your head back and open your mouth. Then it only dribbles down the front of your shirt and spares your very important papers (that I can't read without my glasses anyway)!
Posted by: janet | Sep 30, 2005 4:23:24 PM
Since it was on earlier this week, I'd like Joel's thoughts/impressions of the "No Direction Home"/Dylan show. (Other bloggers welcome, but it's JA whose opinion is most worthy of discussion). I'm not much of a fan of Dylan's singing voice (though I love the "Desire" album), but admire his genius as a songwriter, and also as a "force" in the history of R&R.
(Aside to kurasawaguy: I may have you beat, bro'. I'm 59, have burned through 3 cassettes of Bat Out of Hell, and am on my second CD. Greatest album of all time, and yes, must be played at 90 decibels or above (so I can sing along without actually hearing myself)with the windows up whilst cruising up/down Rt. 301. But rock on, man.)
My vote: Achtober; it scans correctly.
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Sep 30, 2005 4:23:43 PM
I'm a Stevie Ray Vaughn (the Texas Tornado), John Lee Hooker kinda gal myself, and yes oh yes, janet, Credence Clearwater Revival "Big wheel keep on toining, proud Mary keep on boining..."
Posted by: Nani | Sep 30, 2005 4:27:41 PM
I"d like to read Joel's comments on No Direction Home also. I loved every minute of the documentary , but my discussion wouldn't do it or Dylan justice. Quite poignant that Dylan said more than once that he has "no past".
Posted by: Nani | Sep 30, 2005 4:34:11 PM
Please, please, please- it's kurosawaguy, not kurasawguy or kurosowaguy. I understand haste and FFD (fat finger disease), I suffer from both. But I use this name because of my respect for Akira Kurosawa, the greatest filmmaker of Japanese cinema. Call me k-guy or OF if you must, but please don't mangle the name of the man who made "Rashomon" and "Seven Samurai."
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 4:34:55 PM
I'd always wondered where your handle came from. Very imaginative - very unlike "CowTown" (which I made up in a hurry). What I do is cut and paste your name from your posts. I avoid misspelling it that way - unless you're not posting on a given day, and then I'll just have to ask, "Where's kurowsaguy?
Posted by: CowTown | Sep 30, 2005 4:39:29 PM
Apologies, K-man; it's Friday afternoon and I wasn't paying attention. Won't happen again. (We may be twins separated at birth; I'm a Kurosawa/Rashomon fan, too. And all the 20-somethings and 30-somethings on the 'Boodle are asking, "Who's this Rashomon guy?")
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Sep 30, 2005 4:41:24 PM
All right, Cow Toon, bring it on. Seriously, are you in, or from Fort Worth? I went to high school there, class of '66.
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 4:42:03 PM
melvin/a! ah, i was afraid the press wasn't getting briefed! or in briefs... ooooo derek jeter w/out briefs! um... wait!!
i think we can ALL agree on the clash!! but not ccr... bleh! i do like me a little meatloaf (what is it he won't do for love?) esp. in the rocky horror picture show!
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 4:43:11 PM
Talking to one of my co-workers, my boss stopped and joined the conversation. Shortly thereafter, his cell phone ringtone blared, and he went out into the hall to take the call. my co-worker and i looked at each other astonished, and she quizzically wondered what the song was. I did my best rendition of "you need coolin.."...and she instantly replied "oh, led zeppelin."
Posted by: pete | Sep 30, 2005 4:43:26 PM
i like tina's proud mary MUCH better! ain't it funny my musical tastes? or lack-there-of!
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 4:43:56 PM
scc. Begging sincere pardon of kurosawaguy. Most honourable name will not be used incorrectly again. We must bow down to the masters.
Fat finger disease is only the beginning, its a lack of editing which kills me.
Posted by: dr | Sep 30, 2005 4:45:55 PM
Nope. I'm a SoCal transplant, now living in the Upper Midwest. I've visited San Antonio once, that's all the Texas I've seen, except for once my dad and I drove across the panhandle on the way to Kansas.
Why? Do I sound like someone you know?
Posted by: CowTown | Sep 30, 2005 4:46:04 PM
last night, at the safeway, a strange man patted my head as I shopped for penne. an employee asked if i wanted her to call the police. well, kinda - but what for? first degree head patting? frankly, i can't decide who is stranger - the head patter or the (very nice) employee...
Posted by: cap girl | Sep 30, 2005 4:47:02 PM
cap girl - that is ODD!! was he much taller than you? i think i'd hafta kick him in the shins with my steeltoed shoes if some guy did that to me! (i'm kinda short so...)
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 4:49:41 PM
Mo, you mentioned Tina Turner and it reminded me of how badly jobbed Angela Bassett and Lawrence Fishbourne were at the Oscars for "What's Love Got to Do With It". Fine film and two excellent performances.
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 4:50:13 PM
hi mo - he was tall but thin. I could have taken him but i was a) stunned and b) wearing cute heels that i didn't want to befoul with head patter cooties.
Posted by: cap girl | Sep 30, 2005 4:52:22 PM
For minutes of fun, check out the Scrapbook on the Boss' Zeptember post. I love bar photos.
Posted by: CowTown | Sep 30, 2005 4:53:48 PM
Cow Town is the nick name of Fort Worth because that's where the railroad ended. The ranchers would drive their cattle their to ship. FW is somewhat sneered at by Dallas, which was the traditional big money town- banks, corporate headquarters, etc.
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 4:55:21 PM
kurosawaguy - i love love love tina turner! the only think that weirded me out about the movie was angela's pecs! i mean she is CUT! i find it amazing that tina still looks rockin and has rockin legs! how old is she???
cap girl - yeah, i can understand not wanting head patter cooties all over your fine footwear - my steeltoed are my favs so i might hafta refrain as well...
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 4:57:39 PM
um... kurosawaguy - what does "jobbed" mean? is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 4:59:33 PM
You know, mo, I can't figure out what he won't do for love, either. It's partly a duet (I think with the same woman from Paradise by the Dashboard Lights) so maybe he's talking about cheating on her? I'm totally guessing here... But I love it, even if did end up on that list of the 100 worst songs ever. I also love Paradise... the world's best sing-along song, hands down. And K'guy (I'm now totally frightened I'll misspell it!), you really need to get a convertible, put the top down and THEN crank up Bat out of Hell -- now THAT'S how music should be listened to!
Posted by: Snarky Squirrel | Sep 30, 2005 5:00:20 PM
kurosawaguy: If you haven't seen it, check out the article from Sunday:
"Hidden Fortress" and others at AFI Silver next month. And some non-Kurosawa movies with Mifune.
Posted by: Les | Sep 30, 2005 5:01:09 PM
oooohhhh - oops... you meant robbed!! duh - it's friday and i'm bored still at work cuz there's NUTTIN to do! and i had an scc as well - think = thing..
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 5:03:46 PM
Remember, kurosawaguy, briefs are to be filed, not pressed, unless they're due in an hour and you're not anywhere near to having them ready. . .
Mmmm, gonna put Eva Cassidy in my computer and listen to the dulcet tones. And then maybe some Miles Davis. Rock has never appealed to me, somehow (and I'm among the 59 year olds posting today). Maybe a wee bit when I was in college ages ago. I'm more into jazz (of the bluesy sort) and classical. Nevertheless, I was pleased to have jumped on a very young 15 year-old many moons ago, who responded to my request to put some Beatles on the CD with the the hoot: "Hey! She likes our music!" "Not so fast," I replied. "I was dancing to this music long before you or your parents were even in utero. It's MY music, not yours, baby!" Whereupon, he got the deer in the headlights look and powered up the Beatles for us seniors.
Ah, but, we are all entitled to rock on whatever rock makes us happy.
Posted by: firsttimeblogger | Sep 30, 2005 5:12:44 PM
What, no more racially-charged discussion that teeters on the bare edge of civility?
Posted by: Tim | Sep 30, 2005 5:16:04 PM
All right, I'll bite, Tim. I think we all have to acknowledge that the criminals of Enron, Worldcom, Watergate, the outing of Valerie Plame, Tom DeLay and so many others exactly like them are really black. Well, it seems to me that it must be true, huh?
Posted by: firsttimeblogger | Sep 30, 2005 5:19:10 PM
This is an edgy, civil discussion that races towards the charge of teets.
Posted by: Fool | Sep 30, 2005 5:23:59 PM
Excellent point, firsttimeblogger. You have suggested a fine opportunity for satire, so long as one wants never to have a conversation with another human being ever again.
Maybe the Led Zeppelin thread is better, after all, although I'm more of a folkie fan, myself.
Posted by: Tim | Sep 30, 2005 5:24:20 PM
Speaking of black and white... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/30/AR2005093000877.html
Posted by: peanutgallerymember | Sep 30, 2005 5:24:43 PM
kurosawaguy - If I got your name wrong, I apologize. It's that lack of glasses thing going on today. Difficult reading the faded Posted by: print.
Cool name, particularly if is somebody important to you.
Posted by: janet | Sep 30, 2005 5:26:07 PM
unfair, pgallerymember. there's nothing more diverting than a cute panda picture.
Posted by: melvin/a | Sep 30, 2005 5:26:18 PM
Hey, I can't hear at all, and I detest Led Zeppelin. Deafness from rock n roll is no joking matter... for one thing, it just makes the musicians play louder.
However, signing colleagues sounds promising... Can I apply for a job at the Post? Preferably as a music critic?
Posted by: Wilbrod | Sep 30, 2005 5:29:15 PM
This question got asked before. When I first "joined" the Boodle, Irregardless thought I might be from Davis, CA - another "cow town." However, the Upper Midwest has many cow towns. Many.
Posted by: CowTown | Sep 30, 2005 5:29:26 PM
pgm - melvin/a is right you know... but that being said - ain't he just the CUTEST little thing EVER! (of course besides, all of the boodlers children - of which i have none) i swear i got a cavity reading that article!
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 5:32:12 PM
i mean, i don't have any children, not that i don't have any of the boodlers children... not that i know of!
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 5:33:30 PM
Posted by: pj | Sep 30, 2005 5:34:37 PM
I know all the songs being disscussed here, but I just cannot listen to regular radio anymore. The commercials make me nuts. Well I was nuts anyway, but that's another story. I generally listen to classical music, but CKUA, our public radio channel has a couple of shows of early blues . I may not know who the folks on the playlist are, but I absolutely love to listen. Anybody have any advice for a blues newbie who would like to purchase recordings that will advance my knowledge and free my soul?
Posted by: dr | Sep 30, 2005 5:37:02 PM
Can something that isn't working, make you gurgle and spill other noises out onto the rest of the office? Can something that isn't working, feed you delicius new ideas for your weekend life-saving smoothies? Is it that it's not working that you discover the secrets of others' handles (mine is for Systems Generation, or sys gen)? Is it not working when you can go home and test your husband of the six states of water? Or is it not working when music, literature, film, race, class, and poverty are discussed at length? I think that the poster should be FLOGged. I made a purchase recently, and was surprised to see that the item was made by, get this, "Kit 'n Boodle, Inc." It is a stuffed toy fox, filled with lavendar and buck for you neck.
Posted by: sisjen | Sep 30, 2005 5:44:27 PM
Yeah I know it’s unfair. I happened to come across the article and was likewise sucked in to the power of panda cuteness. All I can say is that the panda made me do it. I tried to hold back but it was like another force took over my ‘boodling abilities.
Posted by: peanutgallerymember | Sep 30, 2005 5:47:42 PM
SCC 'for you to neck'.
Posted by: sisjen | Sep 30, 2005 5:50:41 PM
uh, oh... i can't help myself... panda. is. making. me. post. it! the video of his examination! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2005/09/19/VI2005091900981.html
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 5:50:54 PM
Well, that panda is a lot more calm than my geriatric cat was on his last vet visit....
Posted by: Les | Sep 30, 2005 5:53:42 PM
Favorite Dylan song, Freedom Flashing, the lyric featured in the film, was one of the ones that the Byrds did not include in their cover of that song. We sing this at home, and it's relevance is uncanny.
Posted by: sisjen | Sep 30, 2005 5:55:14 PM
dr, for early blues you can't go wrong with John Lee Hooker and Stevie Ray Vaughn (guitar). For piano blues, Fats Waller and some Count Basic. Prairie Home Companion on Saturday nights, NPR, features blues artists frequently.
Posted by: Nani | Sep 30, 2005 5:55:18 PM
dr: The Smithsonian has a "Smithsonian Collection of Classic Blues". I don't have any experience with it, but I can vouch for wearing out the LP version of their jazz collection in my youth.
Posted by: Les | Sep 30, 2005 5:59:21 PM
That video is TOO CUTE! Even the little smacking noises he made were cute! Any takers on what the name will be?
Posted by: peanutgallerymember | Sep 30, 2005 5:59:38 PM
shoot - that panda is calmer than I was at my last physical! do you think he's like - oh, it's ok - you can poke and prod at me all you want NOW cuz before you know it i'm gonna be bigger than 3 of you combined and you'll never get that thermometer near my backside again!
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 6:01:18 PM
these are the names on the website to vote on: Hua Sheng (hwah-SHUNG), means China Washington, magnificent Sheng Hua (SHUNG-hwah), means Washington China, magnificent Tai Shan (tie-SHON), means peaceful mountain Long Shan (lohng-SHON), means dragon mountain Qiang Qiang (chee-ONG chee-ONG), means strong, powerful
i voted for Tai Shan considering how freakin unbelievably calm he was during the examination - also that name makes me feel all peaceful and warm fuzzy...
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 6:05:47 PM
I like Qiang Qiang -- not only is the real pronounciation fun to say, but imagine how fun it will be to hear the inevitable mispronounciations!
Posted by: Snarky Squirrel | Sep 30, 2005 6:16:42 PM
are you a DC local?
Posted by: Dolphin Michael | Sep 30, 2005 6:29:39 PM
Stevie Ray I am familiar with. no. 1 son made me know most of his music by osmosis. (no. 3 son did not add to my musical knowledge, but he did add to my knowledge of how guitars are built and repaired). Thank you both for your suggestions.
Posted by: dr | Sep 30, 2005 6:35:38 PM
This isn't a blog, much less a forum, it's the Dublin Zoo. Even James Joyce would get a headache from the disconnected meanderings as Pink Floyd hits The Wall.
Posted by: TFP | Sep 30, 2005 6:42:11 PM
This isn't a blog, much less a forum, it's the Dublin Zoo. Even James Joyce would get a headache from the disconnected meanderings as Pink Floyd hits The Wall.
Posted by: TFP | Sep 30, 2005 6:42:55 PM
I came of age during the Disco Era. ( I’m not proud of it, but the cruel laws of demographics insisted.) Soon afterwards I got swept away by the New Wave. As a result I only gradually discovered Led Zeppelin through movies like “Fast Time at Ridgemont High,” classic rock stations and, alas, car commercials. What impresses me is that the music stands up so well - even to those of us who don’t associate it with emerging hormones. (Face it – all music sounds better when originally heard from the back seat..) I can see why it deserves a month of its own. But late at night, when nobody else can hear, I still like to sneak into the basement and listen to Gloria Gaynor. (Look I said I wasn’t proud...)
Posted by: RD Padouk | Sep 30, 2005 6:45:17 PM
TFP: This is group stream of consciousness. We talk about anything and everything. Anyone can be follow the leader, but you can never tell who the group will follow. Right now, mo is the leader. Next 1/2 hour, who knows.
By the way, welcome. You too, sisgen.
Posted by: CowTown | Sep 30, 2005 6:46:42 PM
My teenagers admire Zepplin, the Beatles, early Elton John, the soundtrack from Hair, and the Stones. They act totally disgusted and annoyed if I ever play Depeche Mode, the Police, or the English Beat. Go figure.
Posted by: CowTown | Sep 30, 2005 6:50:56 PM
There is a guy named Wayne Kahn who has a website www.rightonrhythm.com at which you can read about local and regional blues (DC/Balto area) and also get info on local bands. Wayne is a big of music from Louisiana, as well. Nani, you mentioned one of my favorites, John Lee... one of the artists who now lives in DC and I think plays a standing mostly solo gig wednesdays at Chief Ikes in Adams Morgan is Robert Lighthouse. For anyone interested in the blues, check out the site.
Wayne spent hours recording the recently departed dean of the blues in DC, Nap Turner. Wayne has several CDs of his on the site. You may remember Nap's Saturday Blues show on WPFW.
DR, last but not least, Wayne has mixed CDs of some of the local blues and rock bands best live performances on the blues you would just hate to lose series.
Joel and everyone, please forgive my shill activity here! Kahn is a local treasure who is beloved by hundreds of musicians and thousands of music fans. If someone asks, we all like to point interested parties in his direction.
Posted by: Dolphin Michael | Sep 30, 2005 7:03:02 PM
One of the things I'll never understand is why "How Many More Times" on the first album never enjoyed the popularity of their other songs. I still have it pounding through my brain - DOOM DOOM DA DOOM DA DOOM DA DOOM DOOM ...
Posted by: markwa | Sep 30, 2005 7:04:12 PM
Please insert "fan" before of Louisiana Music... sorry doing two things at once. Work is impacting my ability to blog.
Posted by: Dolphin Michael | Sep 30, 2005 7:05:48 PM
hey RD - i LOVE disco - don't tell anyone, it's not very goth... and cowtown, i like your taste! english beat!!! yes!
i'm gonna bail on the boodle for now cuz it's the bottom of the first and the yankees and sox are tied... gotta give my yankees my full mojo!!!
Posted by: mo | Sep 30, 2005 7:37:55 PM
Mo, Angela and Larry were jobbed. They did not win. It is not a good thing. They lost to Tom Hanks in "Philadelphia" and Holly Hunter in "The Piano". They should have won. It is a dynamite flick. Angela was young and they figured she'd be back. Larry played a very unsympathetic character. Of course a few years later Denzel played an even less savory guy (in an inferior film, "Training Day") and won. Go figure.
Posted by: kurosawaguy | Sep 30, 2005 8:51:25 PM
...it is rocktober 1st here in the land of smiles so took a stroll down memory lane and came up with some "TURN UP THE VOLUME" favorites from the stylus,cartridge and turntable era....some perhaps well known... others likely not known even when new..... ...a long time ago...in a sound galaxy far away................ :-)
rick derringer...rock and roll hootchie koo
the scorpions...rock you like a hurricane
...there is no order of listing and as mentioned its not about only well known or the super groups.....but all are eligible for the "turn it up "category :-)
Posted by: an american in siam.... | Sep 30, 2005 9:22:57 PM
Holly Hunter was luminous in "The Piano." She is an amazing actress but chooses, or is chosen for, off-beat roles that usually don't get Oscar-level attention. Let's not begrudge her this award. I'm glad she got it. Tom Hanks is another subject altogether, although I liked him in Joe vs. the Volcano. (and Meg Ryan was also great in that.)
My biggest Oscar pet peeve: the year "L.A. Confidential" came out, the best picture award (and every other Oscar they could think of) went to "Titanic". Ah, Hollywood.
Posted by: late-night boodler | Sep 30, 2005 9:28:22 PM
This applies to prior boodle.
SCC = SAO-15 (or is it SSC?) Sorry.
I know that S0S-15 didn't look right, but I'm better at numbers than letters. SOS might apply since the regulars are always coming to the aid of the boodle - and jw is in the Coast Guard.
Thanks for posting the names for the baby panda, mo. I like Qiang Qiang since it is easier to remember when both names are the same. Tai Shan might also be good because of the peaceful part. Only a few more hours to vote. zzzzzzz
Posted by: boondocklurker | Sep 30, 2005 9:29:35 PM
Well, Joel, I hope you're happy! We've got panda bears and disco in the Zeplin blog! We've got Bennett and crayons in the Dry Rain blog. And tomorrow we'll probably have Britney Spears in the Congressional Record blog (or whatever you're working on....)
I guess I've been living in Switzerland for too long...I like things to be neat and tidy! This is total chaos!
And what I'd really like to talk about is Kurt Vonnegut! (But later...after I've read his new book).
Posted by: off topic | Sep 30, 2005 10:59:21 PM
Wow, It's night time again. Moi Moi can tell cause its dark outside and there is no nuclear fallout on the window sill. How long was Moi Moi out this time? Moi Moi doesn't think we had the expression: "Whatever..." in the 60s did we? Maybe we did and Moi Moi forgot. Whatever...
Posted by: Moi Moi | Oct 1, 2005 12:40:55 AM
I have to admit that When the Levee Breaks has been running through my head all month. I can't believe Zeppelin is "classic rock" - it was outrageous at some point. U2 is my obsession now - the loudest folk group in the world. And Dylan is amazing.
I voted for the panda name quite awhile ago - Tai Shan was my pick.
off topic, Kurt Vonnegut has come up in the boodle before (probably multiple times - where is Tom fan?). All you have to do is mention something, and off we'll veer - especially about books! I once got people discussing daylight savings time...
CowTown, I was wondering if you're in Wichita. I visited there in the spring, and they have a lot of cowtown references. Not sure if it's upper Midwest - I get kind of disoriented when I'm far from a coast.
kurosawaguy, I tried searching my library catalog for your favorite director's movies the other night, and it took me 3 tries to get the spelling right!
american in siam, late night boodler - nice to have some company.
Posted by: mostlylurking | Oct 1, 2005 12:58:34 AM
Wow, what a fun ride in the comments today/tonight! I didn't get to see them early enough for timely observations, maybe some threads will come up again soon.
Posted by: Bob S. | Oct 1, 2005 2:29:12 AM
Good morning. OK, now... what were we talking about?
Posted by: TBG | Oct 1, 2005 8:02:40 AM
TBG: What makes you think anybody is going to be online this time on Saturday morning? Are you crazy or what? (kidding, of course, I'm here...)
Posted by: Reader | Oct 1, 2005 8:32:43 AM
hey - guess what! i'm here! *sigh* i hafta work all day... on a saturday!
what are we talking about today? the yankees lost last nite but i don't wanna talk about it... i just wanna weep! :(
Posted by: mo | Oct 1, 2005 8:42:50 AM
The one bright spot about being a Yankee fan this morning is that you aren't a Cleveland fan.
Posted by: Dolphin Michael | Oct 1, 2005 8:56:25 AM
LOL... did they get creamed?
Posted by: mo | Oct 1, 2005 8:59:20 AM
9th inning rundown double play a split second before a third runner was able to cross the plate with the game tied. They went on to lose later.
Posted by: Dolphin Michael | Oct 1, 2005 9:03:26 AM
yeah... well giambi (who should KNOW better) botched a simple grounder in a painful 6th inning... i'm wearing my yankees hat and concentrating all my mojo for tonite - tho i suspect i, like gene, may have negative mojo... or *gasp* no mojo at all???? jw - you suck! you suck mojo! outta yankees fans!
Posted by: mo | Oct 1, 2005 9:09:19 AM
I guess you're glad jw refused the bet "on principle" now.
Posted by: Reader | Oct 1, 2005 9:10:18 AM
are you kidding??? i aint giving up THAT easy! my guys will turn this around! i have faith! i may not have any stinkin mojo but darn it, i have FAITH! (please don't lose! please don't lose! please don't lose!)
Posted by: mo | Oct 1, 2005 9:18:17 AM
Moi Moi likes to scan the headlines real fast to get the big picture.
• GAO Rules on Cabinet Payments • CIA May Lose Spy Oversight • Jakarta Hikes Gas Prices • More Evacuees Go to Hotels
Moi Moi is a Post Impressionist.
Posted by: Moi Moi | Oct 1, 2005 9:46:45 AM
mo- I wish I had your unfailing faith in baseball. I have yet to watch a game or root for any team since the second strike. I just can't bring myself to. I instead upped my football and soccer intake to compensate my sports quota. I think the problem is that I don't have a home team to root for however I always try to catch college and minor league baseball when I can.
re: music. I tend to listen to far too much classical to have an opinion on current trends but I have found that The Darkness is the best new band to come in the US radar in a while. They are kind of throwback though. I do try to imbibe on "classic" rock on a regular basis since it makes that drive home a little easier and have recently come to peaceful terms with southern rock.
Posted by: peanutgallerymember | Oct 1, 2005 10:04:24 AM
argh, mo, they done us wrong. :(
Posted by: LP | Oct 1, 2005 10:12:01 AM
Moi Moi longs for a national sport with flora mascots. Moi Moi would like to root for a team called the Roots, as in: Let's go root for the Roots! and: Go Roots! Kill those Weeds!
Posted by: Moi Moi | Oct 1, 2005 10:15:40 AM
Moi Moi, "Post impressionist" Hah! LOL.
I was thinking about that word "Post" just today--we post on the Post, posthaste, fencepost, post a letter, etc.[sometimes I want to enforce the rule that Joel "posts" and we "comment"--but after I type my comment, the button I click says "post"]--and the more times you type it the weirder the word looks. Why doesn't it rhyme with "cost?" [I know why, it's because it's a French word: "poste"--it's supposed to have an e at the end. It's not pronounced incorrectly; it's SPELLED incorrectly. English is a strange language. I'm glad it is my native tongue and I didn't have to learn it from scratch in school.]
Okay, time for real life now. Later, Achengators!
Posted by: Reader | Oct 1, 2005 10:23:01 AM
The Oakland Oaks got bogged down in the 9th and were swamped by the Miami Mangroves.
Posted by: Moi Moi | Oct 1, 2005 10:24:29 AM
Good news: After being in the media spotlight for 24 hours, the American Red Cross lifted its media blackout at three (of four major)shelters in San Antonio for hurricane evacuees.
Bad News: The left hand still doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Around 8 a.m. (after a call came in at 1 a.m.) on Thursday, 310 "special needs" evacuees were ordered onto buses from the San Antonio Levi Strauss shelter and told they were headed for a Veteran Affairs hospital in Waco. Instead, these individuals ended up in an abandoned Wal-Mart without sufficient indoor toilets (a row of portable restrooms had been set up outside), bedding--cots and linens, and other supplies. The area inside Wal-Mart for the evacuees had even been cordoned off with police tape.
Equally as egregious, according to our local paper, each patient's belongings had ben very carefully packed, including medications and medical records, but were thrown into a huge pile within Wal-Mart so that personal effects could be checked for contraband. In one instance, a young girl's heart medication was lost.
One health care worker who rode one of the buses to Waco said, "We threw them like garbage into an empty Wal-Mart, but they were like family to us."
Gov. Rick Perry said Friday morning that the evacuees were taken to 400 beds at Waco VA hospital. His spokesperson, Kathy Walt, later quickly revised the governor's remarks, saying that the Wal-Mart was only a triage location.
I wonder if these evacuees are getting a case of the concentration camp blues?
The Wednesday I arrived at Camp Caseys outside Bush's western White House, all the shuttle vans had been pressed into service to ferry numerous camp volunteers to a protest outside the Waco Veterans Administration hospital to protest the closing of its psychiatric hospital/services. Too bad. It would have been a nice place to send state and local officials (perhaps FEMA honchos, too) to get their heads examined.
Kudos: reporters Laura Jesse, Ron Wilson
Posted by: Linda Loomis | Oct 1, 2005 10:25:08 AM
Real life? This isn't real? Uht oh, that changes everything. Moi Moi would like to see the word Dump on the button; but Moi Moi is known to have eccentric, unmainstreamlike preferences.
Posted by: Moi Moi | Oct 1, 2005 10:28:42 AM
As Gov. Jeb Bush wrote in an op-ed Friday in the Washington Post, titled "Think Locally on Relief" (Yeah, Jeb, right...):
Just as all politics are local, so are all disasters. The most effective response is one that starts at the local level and grows with the support of surrounding communities, the state and then the federal government. The bottom-up approach yields the best and quickest results -- saving lives, protecting property and getting life back to normal as soon as possible. Furthermore, when local and state governments understand and follow emergency plans appropriately, less taxpayer money is needed from the federal government for relief.
As e-mailed to me by friends--I won't include the last paragraph, which includes talk of impeachment:
How SHOULD A President Respond
In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd -- a category 3 -- was bearing down on the Carolinas and Virginia. President Clinton was in Christchurch, New Zealand - meeting with President Jiang of China (you know, actually working). He made the proclamation that only Presidents can make and declared the areas affected by Floyd "Federal Disaster Areas" so the National Guard and Military can begin to mobilize. Then he cut short his meetings overseas and flew home to coordinate the rescue efforts. This all one day BEFORE a Cat-3 hit the coast. That is how you do it.
How about this man's own father during Hurricane Andrew? Once again, President Bush (41) -- August, 1992 -- was in the midst of a brutal campaign for re-election. Yet, he cut off his campaigning the day before and went to Washington where he martialed the largest military operation on US soil in history. He sent in 7,000 National Guard and 22,000 regular military personnel, and all the gear to begin the clean up within hours after Andrew passed through Florida.
"Cause, you know, those people and their stuff was actually where it belonged, rather than being used for insurgent target-practice halfway around the world in a vain effort to make Iraq safe for Iranian takeover.
In August of 1969 when Cat-5 Hurricane Camille hit roughly the same area as Katrina, President Nixon had already readied the National Guard and ordered all Gulf rescue vessels and equipment from Tampa and Houston to follow the Hurricane in. There were over 1,000 regular military with two dozen helicopters to assist the Coast Guard and National Guard within hours after the skies cleared.
Bush 43 - August 2005 - Cat-5 Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf. Both states are down nearly 8,000 National Guard troops because they are in Iraq -- with most of the rescue gear needed. Bush is on vacation. The day before Katrina makes landfall, Bush rides his bike for two hours. The day she hits, he goes to John McCain's birthday party; and lies to old people about the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company welfare boondoggle.
People are dying, the largest port of entry in the United States (and fifth largest in the World) is under attack. Troops and supplies are desperately needed. The levees are cracking and the emergency 1-1/2 ton sandbags are ready, but there aren't enough helicopters or pilots to set them before the levees fail. The mayor of New Orleans begs for Federal coordination, but there is none, and the sandbagging never gets done. So Bush -- naturally -- goes to San Diego, to play guitar with country singer and lie to the military about how Iraq is just exactly like WWII. The levees give way, filling New Orleans with water, sewage, oil and chemicals. Ten percent of all US exports, and 50% of all agricultural exports ordinarily go through this port. It is totally destroyed.
Bush decides he'll end his vacation a couple of days early -- TOMORROW --BECAUSE HE HAS TICKETS TO A PADRES GAME! He goes back to the Fake Farm in Crawford, with every intention of doing something on WEDNESDAY about this disaster that happened starting last Sunday night. He had time for a couple of rounds of golf, too.
Posted by: Linda Loomis | Oct 1, 2005 10:35:51 AM
Here's my (only) Kurosawa story.
As a student in the 70s I worshipped Kurosawa, and bussed all over the west coast to see his films at arthouses. (Before DVDs and videos, you had to go to an actual theater to see a movie...) Saw Rashomon maybe 30 times, in different theaters.
Then one day the UC Berkeley Film Archive announced the master himself was coming to California for a screening of his classic, Ikiru. A personal appearance! I planned my trip for weeks. Lied to my boss to get a day off work, hopped on a train, arrived at the venue around 6:00 in the morning. Waited all day, got a decent seat in the huge auditorium, and watched Ikiru (for the 3rd time) in a room full of hundreds of other Kurosawa acolytes.
After the film, the great AK himself strolled up the aisle and onto the stage, to a standing ovation, of course. He was old, a little fragile looking, walking on the arm of his translator, and wearing a spotless white suit and tinted glasses.
We were pretty much breathless. He started to talk. "Pleased to be here...first time...very grateful...glad that..."etc. Then he just looked out at us, a little puzzled maybe, and said he really had nothing else to say because he was a filmmaker, not a speechmaker. Everything I have to say, he said, I've said with my movies. It's all there, on film, everything, there's nothing else. He was neither apologetic nor arrogant about it--it was just a simple statement. Then he left.
And you know what? I wasn't one bit disappointed. He left behind something more enduring than analysis or hype: plain old integrity. Just simple, unvarnished honesty about himself and his art. He didn't do spin; he was telling the truth---the stuff on celluloid is important, and I'm not. I've never admired an artist more.
They broke the mold after him.
Posted by: taiwankeiki | Oct 1, 2005 10:38:50 AM
How about a national sport with teams named after psychiatric disorders?
Posted by: Moi Moi | Oct 1, 2005 10:44:36 AM
Posted by: peanutgallerymember | Oct 1, 2005 10:51:52 AM
Posted by: peanutgallerymember | Oct 1, 2005 10:52:35 AM
The Washington Post Traumatic Stress Disorders? Moi Moi loves granting pardons.
Posted by: Moi Moi | Oct 1, 2005 11:16:19 AM
If Moi Moi asked nicely, does anyone think John Roberts might come over and cut Moi Moi's grass? Yet, Moi Moi wonders, would trimming the bushes be too much to ask?
Posted by: Moi Moi | Oct 1, 2005 11:43:40 AM
oooo.... moi moi committed achenboodlecide! for shame!
Posted by: mo | Oct 1, 2005 1:41:50 PM
wooohooo! bottom of the 1st and the bombers are ahead by 3 points! can someone pls stop damon (aka monkey man) from stealing bases? sheesh!
Posted by: mo | Oct 1, 2005 1:47:38 PM
a beutiful day Here in the midwest today why is the computer on?
Posted by: Dave | Oct 1, 2005 4:42:54 PM
dave - could it be cuz you mispelled beautiful? i KID i KID! hey, LP - our guys DID IT!!!! 8-4!!! how happy am i! plenty darn happy i can tell you! GO YANKEES, GO YANKEES GO! GO YANKEES, GO YANKEES GO! now let's just concentrate on tomorrow! wooohoooooooooooooooo
Posted by: mo | Oct 1, 2005 6:01:25 PM
To help get us back 'on' at least one of Joel's main topics, I googled, "woman american president" and found this:
"The campaign to elect women to the U.S. presidency began over 130 years ago when Victoria Claflin Woodhull pronounced herself a candidate for U.S. president in the 1872 election, in The New York Herald on April 2, 1870.
A wealthy and prominent newspaper owner known nationally as the first woman to open a stock brokerage firm on Wall Street, Woodhull received widespread media coverage as the first woman to run for U.S. president. And she used the influence her candidacy brought to win the right for women to address Congress, becoming the first woman to address Congress on January 11, 1871—speaking on behalf of women’s right to vote."
Now how many of you already knew about Ms. Woodhull?
Posted by: off topic | Oct 2, 2005 8:03:36 AM
Hey Nani, after scanning this (been busy this past weekend), remind me to tell you about the time I sat elbow to elbow at a bar with the great JLH hisownself. Perhaps at the BPH next week?
We did not have bourbon, scotch, and beer.
Posted by: bc | Oct 3, 2005 9:02:40 AM
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Blog by Joel Achenbach. Visit www.washingtonpost.com/sports.
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U.S. Troops Launch Offensive in Iraq
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BAGHDAD, Oct. 1 -- About 1,000 U.S. troops stormed through the western Iraqi town of Sadah near the Syrian border early Saturday morning, battling foreign fighters loyal to al Qaeda, the military said in a statement.
A joint force of Marines, soldiers and sailors took part in the assault, which the military dubbed "Operation Kabda Bil Hadid, " or Iron Fist. The operation aimed to "root out al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists operating in the area and to disrupt terrorist support systems in and around the city," according to the military.
The U.S. strike, the latest of several sweeps in the border region since May, comes two weeks before a referendum on a new constitution for the country.
Meanwhile, two U.S. soldiers were killed by explosions while on patrols Saturday, the military said. One died in Baghdad and another in Beiji, 155 miles north of the capital, the military said.
The Al Qaeda in Iraq group is led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, the most feared insurgent in Iraq, whose network is responsible for the most violent and deadliest attacks of the insurgency that followed American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
For the past several months, insurgents within Sadah, in the Qaem region about seven miles from the Iraqi border with Syria, have escalated their "intimidation and murder campaign" against residents and local government officials, the U.S. military said. That enabled the insurgents to travel more freely within the region, which has served as a key entry-point and base for al Qaeda fighters entering Iraq from Syria.
Qaem has replaced the western Anbar city of Fallujah as the center for al Qaeda command and activities after American and Iraqi forces retook control of Fallujah in November 2004.
American forces have been hitting back at insurgents regrouping in Qaem, a critical point geographically because supplies and fighters crossing from Syria then head to other insurgent hotspots, including Ramadi, Mosul, Tal Afar and Karabila.
The military said it hoped to stem the flow of foreign fighters crossing the border. It also wants to secure the area for the upcoming Oct. 15 national referendum in which Iraqis will vote on a new constitution.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military released some 500 Iraqi detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad Saturday, completing its plan to free a total of more than 1,000 this week in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to the Associated Press.
And Iraqi police announced that a Danish soldier was killed and two others wounded in a roadside bomb attack outside Basra Saturday in southern Iraq, according to the Reuters news agency. Denmark has some 500 soldiers serving in and around Basra, where British forces have overall command. The death is the second among Danish troops serving in Iraq. The first Danish soldier to die in Iraq was killed by friendly fire in August 2003.
As Iraqi and American officials predicted, insurgent attacks have increased in the weeks leading up to the referendum vote. In two deadly attacks this week, more than 100 people died in sectarian violence appeared aimed at Iraq's majority Shiite populace.
This week car bombs in predominantly Shiite cities in Iraq killed more than 100 people, most of them civilians.
On Thursday night, 85 people died in the northern city of Balad when three bombs detonated in public places crowded with people buying groceries and preparing for the beginning of the two-day weekend. The next morning, a car bomb exploded in a crowded vegetable market in Hilla, killing 14 people, including women and children. A booby-trapped bicycle killed five civilians at the beginning of the week, on Monday.
In a rare condemnation of the sectarian attacks, the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party on Saturday called the bombings "sinful doings." The group pleaded for a stop to the fighting in advance of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, which begins Monday or Tuesday, depending on the lunar calendar.
"We call for all Iraqis . . . to respect God and stop fighting and appeal to forgiveness and solve their problems by word, not by weapons. Otherwise, chances are lessening and whoever plans, provokes, or perpetrates the bloodshed is responsible. "
In a telephone interview, Naseer Ani, who heads the political office of the party, said revenge killings are being committed under the banner of sectarian violence. "We had to repeat our position of these acts one more time," he said. "We reject all the violent operations, in all its kinds."
A statement from the National Council for Unity and Building of Iraq, headed by Ayham Samarraie, a former minister of electricity under Ayad Allawi's interim government, said the bomb attacks in Hilla and Balad "victimized dozens of innocent sons of our country." He added, "These acts will do nothing but increase our unity and will add another spot of shame on the forehead of the terrorists."
Special correspondent Omar Fekeiki contributed to this report. Staff writer Daniela Deane reported from Washington.
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BAGHDAD, Oct. 1 -- About 1,000 U.S. troops stormed through the western Iraqi town of Sadah near the Syrian border early Saturday morning, battling foreign fighters loyal to al Qaeda, the military said in a statement.
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Ladner Aide Contradicts Explanations Of Expenses
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The longtime executive assistant to suspended American University President Benjamin Ladner said he made no effort to separate his personal and business expenses and insisted on "the best room with the best view" in exclusive hotels, even giving her a guide to fine lodging worldwide.
Margaret H. Clemmer, who worked for Ladner from December 1996 until his suspension in August, also said in a confidential statement that Ladner asked her to add past appointments on his calendar after the board of trustees began an inquiry into his personal and travel expenses last spring. She said she did not know whether the appointments had, in fact, occurred and been inadvertently left off.
Clemmer's 11-page statement to the audit committee contradicts some of Ladner's explanations of his expenses and raises further questions about his conduct as president of the 11,000-student university in Northwest Washington.
The statement was obtained by The Washington Post from someone other than Clemmer, who still works in the president's office. She did not return calls.
An attorney for Ladner said yesterday that he could not comment on the statement. "I haven't seen it. Someone on the board has obviously leaked it to the press but withheld it from Dr. Ladner, so he cannot respond," David Ogden said. "It is very disappointing that members of the board would harm the university by continuing a constant series of leaks that distort the truth."
Ladner and his attorneys say his contract guarantees him "first-class travel," and he has said that he often stayed in moderately priced hotels.
Clemmer said Ladner told her not to book overseas rooms that cost more than $600 a night or U.S. rooms above $400. Ladner also asked her to make reservations at such chic restaurants as Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee in Paris and Daniel in Manhattan. He told her, she said, to use the name of the ruler of Sharjah, located in the United Arab Emirates, to get a table at the Michelin three-star restaurant Le Gavroche in London.
And, according to Clemmer's statement, Ladner and his wife, Nancy, expected their university-provided chauffeur to run personal errands, and Nancy Ladner once wanted the chauffeur to take her adult children barhopping in Georgetown.
The U.S. attorney's office and the FBI have subpoenaed documents in the case. The board of trustees began looking into the Ladners' expenses last spring after receiving an anonymous letter.
And although some board members have been strongly supportive of Ladner, a majority of the 24 voting trustees now say that he should not stay on as president, according to sources close to the board. The board is scheduled to meet Oct. 10.
Yesterday, Leslie E. Bains, the board's chairman, issued an open letter to the university, saying that she would pursue a 14-point reform program, including reinforcing spending controls and guidelines and instituting annual audits of senior officers; adjusting the board of trustees to include students and faculty members but not the president; increasing involvement and oversight by the board; instituting a more rigorous annual performance review of the president and salary evaluations in line with comparable schools; and allowing "zero tolerance at all levels of the university for financial and ethical lapses."
Clemmer's statement goes on to say that early in her tenure as Ladner's executive assistant, he told her that he separated personal and business expenses at the end of each year. Later, she said, "I realized his personal and business expenses were not being separated annually as he had told me. Additionally the 'settling up' at the end of each year was not a bill payable to the university by Dr. Ladner for their personal expenses, but an amount being assessed to his taxes as 'imputed income.' "
She said, "I also understand the difference between paying taxes on the value of something that benefits the person and not the university, vs. reimbursing the university for the actual cost of that item."
As tax-exempt organizations, universities must follow certain rules. When an employee uses a university's money to buy something personal, the money should be repaid or declared as income on that person's tax form, according to experts on tax law. And when a university has a state or local sales tax exemption -- as American does in the District -- it is improper for an employee to claim that exemption on personal purchases, they said.
If the university approves the money being spent, it becomes, in effect, an extra benefit -- considered imputed income by the Internal Revenue Service.
Any extra benefits employees receive must be reported as income on their taxes. Celia Roady, a lawyer who specializes in tax-exempt organizations, said it is not always clear what constitutes such a benefit. She has no direct knowledge of the situation at American and spoke in general terms explaining the tax law.
Ladner and his wife have been paying taxes on a certain percentage of the spending at the house and for their cars, counting it as personal income on his tax forms. His attorney said Ladner was not familiar with the details of those tax laws and was never told during his 11 years as university president that the driver's services -- or any other salaries of university employees -- should be regarded as imputed income.
Investigators hired by the executive committee have questioned the amounts he recorded -- between $5,800 and $8,400 a year for each of the three years examined -- and whether those accurately reflected the personal benefits he and his wife received from the university-provided chef and social secretary, among other university services. The Ladners also estimated that 10 percent of the use of the university-owned black Infiniti Q45 was personal, for an annual addition to his taxable income of between $400 and $1,200 for the years investigated. And the Ladners told investigators that they "absorb" $500 a month for Nancy Ladner's car; they lease it from her brother, who is a car dealer, and he covers $500 a month while American pays $440.
Investigators say the Ladners owe the university about $100,000 and should pay imputed tax on more than $400,000 for the three years that were investigated, sources close to the investigation said.
One of Ladner's attorneys, Randolph M. Goodman, wrote in response to the audit committee that Ladner is willing to add about $32,000 to his imputed income for the three years. Ladner has said he would pay about $21,000 to the university for such things as birthday parties, limousine service and meals the chef prepared for their Gibson Island home.
His attorneys have said that most of his spending is covered by his contract; that some of his travel has been paid by supporters at overseas campuses; that Nancy Ladner's activities, including shopping, were often done for the university; and that the report underestimates the amount of university business conducted while traveling and at home.
Statements from the chef and social secretary said auditors overstated their non-university work.
Ladner's attorney said he needed a chef not only for formal university events, but also because people often drop by to discuss business over meals.
Clemmer told investigators, "It is not Dr. Ladner's habit to hold unscheduled or impromptu university related meetings . . . at lunch or dinner."
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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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Freed Writer Testifies in CIA Leak Probe
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New York Times reporter Judith Miller told a grand jury yesterday about her conversations with Vice President Cheney's top aide in the summer of 2003, moving the two-year investigation into whether senior Bush administration officials illegally leaked covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity a step closer to its end.
Sources familiar with Miller's testimony say her account of two discussions with Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, that July are similar to the account Libby reportedly gave the grand jury last year. Both said they spoke about Plame's husband, administration critic and former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, on July 8 and again on July 12 or 13. On at least one of those occasions, Libby told Miller that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, the sources said.
Miller also turned over redacted copies of handwritten notes she made after one of the conversations with Libby, a condition set by special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
"I served 85 days in jail because of my belief in the importance of upholding the confidential relationship journalists have with their sources," Miller said after emerging from the courthouse after three hours of testimony. "Believe me, I did not want to be in jail."
Miller was the last person Fitzgerald sought to question in his investigation. The grand jury hearing the case is to conclude its work by Oct. 28. Barring some new development, legal experts predicted, Fitzgerald will soon wrap up his investigation.
Fitzgerald's probe has focused on contacts between administration officials and reporters in the days after July 6, 2003, when Wilson published an opinion piece undercutting the administration's justification for going to war with Iraq. Wilson alleged the government had "twisted intelligence" that he said he knew firsthand was dubious.
On July 14, Plame's name appeared in a column by Robert D. Novak, who reported that two confidential government sources had told him Wilson's wife helped arrange the trip he took to investigate claims that Iraq was trying to purchase uranium in the African nation of Niger for use in its nuclear weapons program.
Miller's testimony, which came after she served 85 days in jail trying to avoid such questions, focused the spotlight again on Libby. He is one of the administration's key policymakers, particularly in the area of foreign policy, and influenced internal administration debates over the decision to invade Iraq, the course of the Middle East peace process and negotiations over nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.
Libby's conversations with reporters that July have consumed much of Fitzgerald's time. The top Cheney aide spoke with at least five reporters in the days after Wilson's public criticism, and several of them, including two at The Washington Post, have answered Fitzgerald's questions after working out agreements with their sources that allowed them to testify.
A sourceclose to Miller said yesterday that her testimony does not implicate Libby as intentionally and knowingly identifying Plame.
According to a source familiar with Libby's account of his July 2003 conversations with Miller, the two first met for breakfast on July 8, when Miller interviewed Libby about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. At that time, she asked him why Wilson had been chosen to investigate questions that Cheney had posed about whether Iraq tried to buy uranium in Niger. Libby, the source familiar with his account said, told her that the White House was working with the CIA to learn more about Wilson's trip and how he was selected.
Libby had a second conversation with Miller, a telephone call on July 12 or July 13, the source said. In it, Libby said he had learned that Wilson's wife had a role in sending him on the trip and that she worked for the CIA. Libby never knew Plame's name or that she was a covert operative, the source said.
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New York Times reporter Judith Miller told a grand jury yesterday about her conversations with Vice President Cheney's top aide in the summer of 2003, moving the two-year investigation into whether senior Bush administration officials illegally leaked covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity a...
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Miller and Her Stand Draw Strong Reactions
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In the end, what did Judith Miller accomplish by spending 85 days in an Alexandria jail?
Not much, say her detractors, noting that the deal the New York Times reporter ultimately made to testify about her confidential source in the Valerie Plame leak investigation was similar to agreements reached by Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and other journalists in the murky case.
Some of Miller's colleagues at the Times, who declined to be identified because they are challenging their bosses' stance, say much of the staff is frustrated and confused.
"People are angry," one staffer said. "Was this a charade on her part for martyrdom, or a real principle? She wanted to resurrect herself from the WMD thing," the staffer said, a reference to Miller stories about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be wrong.
"I am truly depressed," another staffer said. "It absolutely makes no sense. Basically she did the same thing Matt Cooper did, with the intervening weeks in jail. But I just don't buy that she's doing it for her own image enhancement."
Other journalists and media advocates say Miller and her newspaper took a courageous stand in demonstrating that news organizations must not betray their sources.
"I'd be very loath to be critical of what Judith did," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, who visited Miller in jail. She said the public should have "a renewed confidence that when a reporter makes an agreement with a source, the reporter will do whatever possible to keep that confidence unless there was an agreement with the source" to release the journalist.
Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said yesterday: "We have a tradition here that when our reporters stand up for principle, we stand behind them. I'm proud that the tradition is intact."
But Lucie Morillon, Washington representative for Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, said she is disappointed by the agreement Miller struck with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, to testify about their 2003 conversations on Plame.
"We understand Judith Miller didn't want to stay in jail, but the problem is the prosecutor put so much pressure on her that she was forced to reveal her source," Morillon said. She said she does not regard Libby's waiver as voluntary and that the deal is a "setback" for journalism. "The federal courts are getting bolder and bolder in forcing reporters to testify. With this case, it's going to get worse."
Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzerald's investigation of whether administration officials knowingly revealed Plame's undercover role in the CIA prompted testimony under waivers of confidentiality by journalists for NBC and The Washington Post, as well as Cooper. But it has not generated widespread public support for the media. One of the most criticized journalists has been columnist Robert D. Novak, who was the first to publish Plame's name and has refused to say whether he has testified.
Even some Miller supporters concede that the journalists involved are seen as protecting presidential aides who may have been retaliating against Plame's husband, a White House critic on the weapons controversy, rather than shielding whistle-blowers who were exposing corruption.
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In the end, what did Judith Miller accomplish by spending 85 days in an Alexandria jail?
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The Time Travels Of E.L. Doctorow
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NEW YORK -- E.L. Doctorow began his writing career with a spectacular failure. At the time, he was a student at the Bronx High School of Science, where a teacher told Edgar, as he was known back then, to profile a colorful person. Doctorow soon delivered a brief biography of Carl, a doorman at Carnegie Hall who had escaped the Holocaust and came to work every day with a thermos full of tea, which he drank Old-Europe style, through a cube of sugar held between the teeth. The great classical musicians of the day, like Vladimir Horowitz, adored the guy.
Edgar's teacher was so enamored of the piece that she told him she wanted to photograph Carl and run the picture, along with the story, in the school newspaper.
"You can't do that to Carl," Doctorow replied.
"Why not?" asked the teacher.
"Well, he's very shy," he said.
"What do you mean, he's shy? He talked to you, didn't he?"
"Not really," Doctorow confessed. "There is no Carl. I made him up."
She slashed an F across the story.
"It seemed to me so much more sensible to make something up than go through the tedious business of interviewing someone," Doctorow says, now 74 and smiling a little slyly at a table at the Metropolitan Cafe on the Upper East Side. "I was just a kid and so maybe I was scared that no one would want to talk to me. And I figured that if there wasn't a Carl the doorman, there should have been."
Nobody realized it at the time, but the outlines of Doctorow's future as a novelist were scrawled like body chalk around this failure as a reporter. The impish disregard for the wall between fact and fiction, the cross-thatching of real celebrities and invented characters, a slight sentimental streak -- all of it would turn up in "The Book of Daniel," "Billy Bathgate," "Ragtime" and the other historically based novels that made Doctorow famous.
There have been some commercial and critical flops along the way, like "Big as Life," a sci-fi novel about the sudden arrival of two naked and motionless giants in the middle of New York Harbor. But that was many bestsellers ago. He's also written for the theater and for movies, published collections of essays and collected a whole trophy room of prestigious literary awards. Doctorow now occupies one of the narrowest subsets in American letters -- the million-selling author who is taken seriously.
"He is the world's literary historian," says Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at the New Yorker. "He's made millions of readers understand the life of the past and he has this incredible gift for imagining himself in other times, but in a way that never seems pedantic or overly determined."
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NEW YORK -- E.L. Doctorow began his writing career with a spectacular failure. At the time, he was a student at the Bronx High School of Science, where a teacher told Edgar, as he was known back then, to profile a colorful person. Doctorow soon delivered a brief biography of Carl, a doorman...
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After a Disaster, Houses That Feel More Like Home
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One of the first architect-designed emergency shelters of the post-Katrina era, if not the only one, was built not on the Gulf Coast but in Bethesda.
The HELP house -- the acronym stands for Housing Every Last Person -- is more than a tent but less than a home. The basic structure, which measures 8 by 12 feet, includes a kitchenette, bathroom and sleeping space for three. Solar power, a gravity-fed water supply and a composting toilet would make it self-sufficient. Units can be combined, moved and reused.
Architect Carib Daniel Martin and builder Rob Bragan conceived and erected the full-size model over Labor Day weekend with an outlay of $8,000 and labor provided by neighborhood kids. With so many people left homeless, Martin says, designing a low-cost, environmentally sensitive refuge seemed like a constructive thing to do. But without a manufacturer, his driveway on Wilson Lane is as far as the HELP project will go.
Dan Ferrara, a product designer in Morris, Conn., watched the post-hurricane disaster unfold with extreme frustration. Over the past four years, he and his daughter Mia have worked with the Weyerhaeuser Co. to develop a temporary dwelling for just such a disaster. Their Global Village Shelter is made of recycled cardboard treated with fire retardant and laminated for water resistance. Essentially a cube with a peaked roof, it measures slightly more than eight feet on a side. Two people can set one up in 15 minutes without tools, Ferrara says. The cost is $500.
A preproduction run of several hundred shelters was donated and shipped just weeks ago to Grenada, which suffered damage from an earlier hurricane. Ferrara, who normally designs sophisticated products such as air traffic control hardware and power tools, says he was hoping to give back by helping people in the Third World.
But it galls him that he's been unable to help after a hurricane devastated parts of his own country. It wouldn't be hard to crank out 5,000 Global Village Shelters in two days, he says, but calls to the Federal Emergency Management Agency have led nowhere.
"There is no process," Ferrara says. "You just can't talk to anybody. It's like a closed club."
FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney responds that "there are a thousand people with a thousand ideas to make things better," but the middle of a disaster is the wrong time to pitch a new product. In any case, would-be suppliers are selected from a National Emergency Resource Registry.
The HELP house and Global Village Shelter are the latest in a distinguished line of ideas from designers. They stand as eloquent protests against the global status quo, but they have rarely reached the displaced people who might benefit.
Relief is complex, costly and unpredictable, but designers are right to focus attention on transitional dwellings. In the immediacy of disaster, the United Nations favors canvas tents and plastic sheeting, which are easy to stockpile and cheap to airlift virtually anywhere.
Rich countries don't do tent cities. FEMA relies on manufactured housing, perhaps to a fault. The agency has bought or ordered more than 115,000 mobile homes, RVs and trailers costing $10,000 to $20,000 each.
FEMA appears undeterred by criticism over the vast encampments of single-wides inflicted on Florida after Hurricane Andrew passed through in 1992. Kinerney said the agency had recently placed an order for 50,000 Airstreams, the "silver palace" of travel trailers, and 1,000 so-called park homes, which he said reminded him of the Works Progress Administration houses in the movie version of "The Grapes of Wrath."
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One of the first architect-designed emergency shelters of the post-Katrina era, if not the only one, was built not on the Gulf Coast but in Bethesda.
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IRS Denies Nonprofit Exemptions for Credit Counselors
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The Internal Revenue Service has denied tax-exempt status to several credit counseling agencies, partly because they relied too heavily on banks and credit card companies for their funding.
Credit counseling industry officials say the IRS denials are part of a crackdown that could ultimately force scores of agencies to shut down, at the very time that a new bankruptcy law will require more than 1.5 million Americans to seek credit counseling before they file for financial protection from their creditors. The law takes effect Oct. 17.
Industry officials say they are concerned that the IRS is taking an increasingly hard line on how credit counseling agencies are funded and that the effort could make it impossible for many to retain their tax-exempt status. Specifically, they point to four letters the IRS recently sent rejecting requests for tax-exempt status. In one letter, the IRS said the agency's funding ties to creditors made it a "collection agency" for credit card firms, which stand to "realize substantial financial benefits through their business relationship with you."
Most agencies rely on at least some creditor funding, industry officials say, noting that it typically accounts for 35 to 50 percent of an agency's revenue.
"If the logic in this letter is taken to its conclusion, this could be the grounds for denying new market entrants and revoking tax-exempt status of existing firms -- and could be the death of nonprofit credit counseling as a whole," said Mark Guimond, executive director of the American Association of Debt Management Organizations, the trade association of credit counseling agencies. The association obtained one of the rejection letters Tuesday through a Freedom of Information Act request. The name of the agency was redacted in the letter because the IRS does not disclose names. Yesterday, Guimond said he had since learned of three other nearly identical letters, but he declined to name the affected agencies.
Steven Miller, the IRS commissioner of the tax-exempt and government entities division, said creditor funding is only one factor in determining tax-exempt status. "The primary issue is, 'Are these organizations educational?' " Miller said in an interview yesterday. "Are they counseling, teaching about budgets, giving people assistance to cope with credit pressures?" Or are they only steering financially strapped consumers into debt-management plans that help them repay their bills, Miller asked. If so, he added, "they would have a hard time showing they are an educational organization."
The latest rejections are part of a two-year-old federal and state crackdown on nonprofit credit counseling agencies, prompted by thousands of consumer complaints about deceptive and fraudulent marketing practices, including high fees, high-pressure tactics and inadequate educational services.
The IRS has targeted 60 credit counseling firms for audits, concerned that many may be misusing their tax-exempt status by pressuring consumers to enroll in debt-management plans with high fees that end up at for-profit companies controlled by the firms' executives. So far, the IRS has revoked tax-exempt status of about six credit counseling agencies and is challenging several others. No credit counseling agency under audit has been cleared to keep its tax-exempt status, industry officials said.
Credit counseling agencies were started by lenders such as banks and credit card firms about 50 years ago, with the hope that these agencies would help consumers repay debts -- a better alternative for the lender than Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which completely erases debts. The creditors funded these agencies through a form of rebates, called fair share, giving counselors a percentage of money recovered from borrowers through the repayment plans. In the past five years, creditors have been paying between 6 and 10 cents on the dollar. Credit counselors have recouped the rest of the money by charging their clients.
In its rejection letter, the IRS said the fair share provided "substantial private financial benefit" to credit card companies because it provided "significant savings over the possible costs of not recovering any of the unpaid debt owed them."
"If you remove the fair share, many agencies won't be able to financially survive," said Jeffrey Tenenbaum, a Washington lawyer who represents credit counseling agencies. "The IRS's increasingly hard line appears to be setting a collision course with the new bankruptcy counseling mandate ordered by Congress."
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Pursuing a Fast Track To Party Leadership
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In the fall of 1996, when Roy Blunt of Missouri first ran for Congress, he made an auspicious visit to Capitol Hill.
First he stopped in to see Rep. Mel Hancock, the man he hoped to replace. Hancock urged Blunt to seek the freshman seat on the leadership-heavy Republican Steering Committee. "That puts you in the room with everybody here," Blunt recalls Hancock told him.
Then Blunt paid a courtesy call to Rep. Tom DeLay, a Texan who had ascended to the number-three-ranking whip job in 10 short years. "I left that meeting thinking, this is a great guy to work with," Blunt said in an interview yesterday. He consulted with DeLay over the course of his campaign and arrived in Washington as the protege of one of the most powerful men in town.
Blunt would outpace his onetime mentor by rising from lowly Missouri freshman to interim majority leader in just nine years. When DeLay was forced to step down as majority leader on Wednesday, after he was indicted by an Austin grand jury, Blunt went to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and argued persuasively that he should get the job.
His challenge now -- many lawmakers and aides agree -- is to prove his mettle in a higher-profile post while not appearing too ambitious, lest he become a threat to DeLay, who has vowed to return to his job when his legal problems are resolved.
Although the two have very different personalities, Blunt has modeled his political career on DeLay's, becoming in many respects a replica of the former majority leader. Like DeLay, Blunt quickly set up multiple political committees to establish a power base in the House.
Blunt has strengthened and enlarged DeLay's "K Street" alliance with Washington lobbyists. The two have a similar network of major corporate donors. Both have extensive financial ties to the Washington lobbying firm Alexander Strategy Group. Some of Blunt's actions have raised ethical issues.
With a smoother and less intimidating demeanor than DeLay's, Blunt is regarded by some of his colleagues as a somewhat less effective whip. But he does score points for creativity, by developing alliances with lobbying groups, including some with Democratic leanings, to help lobby reluctant members.
Blunt delivered more than 50 consecutive victories for the GOP leadership on tough fights over issues including tax and trade bills, Alaska drilling, District of Columbia school choice and tort reform.
"I'm not at all shy about reaching out to people on the outside," Blunt said about his way of passing tough bills through a narrowly divided chamber. "You don't do that only by looking at what resources are available to you in the building."
Blunt refers to the chaos of the past three days as "unfortunate events," made all the more trying because of conflicting reports and rumors about the events, some suggesting that he had sought to benefit from DeLay's problems.
According to Blunt, he met with Hastert on Wednesday morning to discuss how to proceed without DeLay. Rumors were flying at the time that the leadership would choose Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) to temporarily assume the majority leader's duties. But by the end of the meeting, Hastert had decided to put Blunt in the post, with Dreier taking a supporting role. The GOP conference then affirmed the arrangement.
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Latest politics news headlines from Washington DC. Follow 2004 elections, campaigns, Democrats, Republicans, political cartoons, opinions from The Washington Post. Features government policy, government tech, political analysis and reports.
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GOP Senators Look to Shift Spy Management From CIA
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Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence want to strip from the CIA its primary role as manager of overseas collection of human intelligence, suggesting that Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte take over that responsibility.
The CIA's Directorate of Operations, the agency's clandestine arm, which now coordinates spying overseas by all U.S. intelligence agencies, in the past "did not effectively exercise the authorities of the national HUMINT [human intelligence] manager often focusing instead on its own structure and operations," the committee majority said in its report on the fiscal 2006 intelligence authorization bill released late Thursday.
Citing past failures in averting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and in overstating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the Republican majority said U.S. spying operations "have lacked strong leadership and effective mechanism to resolve conflicts."
The Republicans, led by Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.), the panel chairman, urged Negroponte "to directly manage and oversee the conduct of HUMINT operations across the intelligence community," saying the need is "imperative" because the Pentagon and the FBI are placing "greater emphasis" on spying.
Democrats on the committee opposed the suggestion, calling it in their section of the report a "misguided solution" and noting that the CIA has recently reached agreements with the FBI and Pentagon to "avoid confusion and ensure smooth coordination" of spying operations at home and abroad. They also noted that the DNI -- a position created by Congress last year to oversee and coordinate the government's intelligence community -- "was not established as a new bureaucracy to assume the responsibility for day-to-day intelligence operations."
The Republican call for change comes as a plan by CIA Director Porter J. Goss to create a CIA coordinator for all human intelligence carried out abroad by U.S. agencies, including the Pentagon and FBI, sits in Negroponte's office awaiting his approval. Though the proposal originated with the President's Commission on Intelligence, there is no timetable for Negroponte to make that decision, an official in Negroponte's office said yesterday.
The majority report accompanies the Senate version of the intelligence authorization bill, which carries about $44 billion for the 15 agencies and Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It will now go to the Senate Armed Services Committee and later to the Senate floor for a vote. The report explains various sections of the bill and includes a broad committee review of the intelligence community, its weaknesses and strengths. The House has already passed its version of the measure. The Democrats' remarks were carried as "additional views" in the report.
The report includes two additional indications of the Pentagon's sharply increasing activities in the intelligence field at home and abroad.
While the CIA is waiting for DNI approval of its plan for coordinating intelligence activities overseas, the Pentagon has created a Defense Humint Management Office to coordinate increased spying activities by the Defense Intelligence Agency's human intelligence section, as well as clandestine operations by the separate services, area commanders and counterintelligence arms. One role for this office, which will be run under the supervision of Undersecretary for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone, will be to "deconflict" intelligence operations, meaning to ensure that activities by various Pentagon groups do not overlap or interfere with each other, a Pentagon official said.
The committee report recommends that the new office have authority to direct and control all Defense Department collection of information from human sources -- as opposed to technical sources such as electronic intercepts -- in the United States and overseas.
Another proposal reflected increased Pentagon interest in intelligence operations in the United States involving American citizens. The proposal included in the bill would give a "limited" exemption to defense intelligence personnel, allowing them to recruit sources and collect personal information on U.S. citizens clandestinely, without disclosing they worked for the government, when "significant" foreign intelligence is being sought. They would have to coordinate such collection with the FBI.
A similar exemption was sought last year and dropped from the bill because of opposition in the Senate Armed Services Committee, said a senior congressional staff member. This year the committee said, "Current counterterrorism and other foreign intelligence operations highlight the need for greater latitude to assess potential intelligence sources, both overseas and within the United States." The panel noted the limited exemption is similar to that enjoyed by the CIA "when assessing and recruiting sources."
The committee said it "will closely monitor the DoD's [Defense Department's] use of the authorities provided."
In other areas, the panel approved establishment of a DNI inspector general with authority to investigate matters in any of the 15 agencies that make up the intelligence community. That person would be nominated by the president and subject to Senate confirmation.
Another proposal would require that the deputy director of central intelligence be a civilian and not an active-duty military officer, as is now the case. The committee said Vice Adm. Albert M. Calland III could continue to serve until President Bush nominates a successor or he retires.
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Latest politics news headlines from Washington DC. Follow 2004 elections, campaigns, Democrats, Republicans, political cartoons, opinions from The Washington Post. Features government policy, government tech, political analysis and reports.
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Attempt to Pick Successor Is Foiled
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As the legal troubles mounted for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in recent weeks, he and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert talked repeatedly to craft a detailed strategy for the Republican leadership for the day when a long-feared indictment arrived.
DeLay, according to several GOP sources, knew that House rules would give him no choice but to step down immediately. But he made clear to Hastert, his longtime friend and protege, that he was determined to fight the charges and return to power as soon as possible.
What he and Hastert wanted was a timeserver, someone to hold the job but with no ambitions to stay in it. And they had someone in mind. This week, an aide to the speaker approached Rep. David Dreier about his role in a post-DeLay caucus. Dreier, a congenial Californian who has loyally served the GOP leadership as Rules Committee chairman, expressed interest in helping Hastert.
There was one big problem: When DeLay's indictment was unsealed yesterday, conservatives in the GOP caucus immediately erupted in anger over rumors that the selection of Dreier, whom they regard as too moderate, was being presented as a fait accompli .
As the conservatives met to vent frustrations and plot options, Hastert was changing course in a separate meeting on the second floor of the Capitol. Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.), the majority whip, was making a personal appeal for the promotion. Hastert agreed, forestalling a possible revolt by conservatives, who regard Blunt as one of their own.
The wild day of maneuvering made clear that beneath the image of lockstep discipline in the House -- which DeLay himself enforced for years -- the GOP caucus is rife with ambitious personalities in not-so-subtle competition. With DeLay sidelined, it will fall largely to Hastert to move President Bush's agenda and to maintain order among an increasingly restless crowd as the 2006 elections approach.
Hastert's challenge was vividly highlighted yesterday by the mood at a private late-afternoon meeting of the House Republican Conference, with nearly all members in attendance.
Some lawmakers, such as Zach Wamp (Tenn.) challenged Republican leaders to set a date for formal leadership elections instead of allowing party bosses to impose their choices. At the same time, conservatives such as Steve Buyer (Ind.) rose to say Republicans should have allowed DeLay to remain majority leader even with an indictment. Earlier this year, under pressure from Democrats and a few in his own party, Hastert reversed a rule designed expressly for DeLay that would have allowed indicted leaders to retain their positions.
Rep. Tom Feeney (Fla.) said afterward that the rules change "was like waving a red flag to Ronnie Earle," the Texas prosecutor who pushed for DeLay's indictment. Feeney said some conservatives may push for still another reversal, allowing DeLay to return even before his legal problems are resolved.
Despite the brave face, however, many Republicans said privately it is unlikely DeLay will return to his leadership position anytime soon, if ever. This would open the door for members such as Rep. John A. Boehner (Ohio), chairman of the House education committee, to run for a leadership position. Blunt, a teacher turned politician who first was elected to the House in 1996, is at least temporarily now the number two Republican in the House.
Many Republicans said they are more comfortable with Blunt, who as whip had been in the number three job. His conservative positions on issues are similar to DeLay's. He also is considered an effective legislative operator, with strong ties to the Washington lobbying community. "He had an edge from the get-go," said Rep. David Joseph Weldon (Fla.).
DeLay and Hastert handpicked Blunt in 1999 to become chief deputy whip, just a few years after he won his House seat. Blunt rose to the whip job in 2003, after DeLay became majority leader.
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Latest politics news headlines from Washington DC. Follow 2004 elections, campaigns, Democrats, Republicans, political cartoons, opinions from The Washington Post. Features government policy, government tech, political analysis and reports.
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Homeowners Wait for Claims To Be Adjusted
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WIGGINS, Miss. -- Brenda Manning, whose home in Escatawpa, Miss., was nearly submerged by Hurricane Katrina, is resigned to the idea that her insurance policy probably won't cover much of the damage. Her homeowner's policy, like many, excluded flood coverage.
But the 34-year-old mother of two needs to know for sure before she can move on with her life. Before she can apply for help through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, she must demonstrate that her insurance company has investigated and denied the claim.
"I'm still waiting to hear from them," she said yesterday.
The one-two hurricane punch of Katrina and Rita has strained the insurance industry's ability to answer phones, investigate claims and get money into the hands of shattered survivors of the storms.
Some 10,000 insurance adjusters are deploying in the Gulf Coast region to handle more than 1 million claims expected to result from Katrina and Rita. But their progress has been slowed by their inability to inspect houses in inaccessible sections of the disaster areas and by the sheer bulk of the claims.
Katrina-related claims are expected to total between $35 billion and $60 billion -- an industry record even on the low end -- and Rita claims could reach $7 billion.
Many policyholders will pick up a major share of costs for their uninsured losses, and down the road, insurance premiums are likely to be higher -- for less coverage -- particularly in the regions where the hurricanes hit.
An insurance industry spokesman said it was too soon to know the extent of rate increases. J. Robert Hunter, a former Texas insurance commissioner who heads the insurance section of the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America, said premiums in some parts of Florida rose between 10 percent and 25 percent after last year's four hurricanes.
But for now, claims-handling is the most pressing issue for policyholders. While some homeowners report prompt service under difficult circumstances, others complain of busy signals, unreturned calls and dangling claims waiting for an insurance adjuster's visit.
Irate homeowners have flooded insurance departments with complaints about claims denied on the basis of the flood exclusion. "I'm just getting killed about it," George Dale, Mississippi's insurance commissioner, said three weeks after Katrina hit. "I'm the messenger, and I'm the one they shoot."
And Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has sued insurers, asking a state court judge to stop, among other things, what he described in a statement as "unscrupulous" adjusters from requiring policyholders to waive flood-related claims to receive immediate living expenses.
Robert Hartwig, an economist for the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based trade group, said insurers had already fielded hundreds of thousands of claims and adjusted "large numbers" of them under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
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WIGGINS, Miss. -- Brenda Manning, whose home in Escatawpa, Miss., was nearly submerged by Hurricane Katrina, is resigned to the idea that her insurance policy probably won't cover much of the damage. Her homeowner's policy, like many, excluded flood coverage.
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Like Video Games? Now You Can Major in Them
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Sounds like a joke, right? Sort of like "School of Rock"?
But check out the back pages of a gamer magazine, any gamer magazine, and you'll find -- among the ads from Electronics Boutique and the mini-reviews of the latest PlayStation Portable games -- opportunities to pursue a college degree in video games.
"Be lame or get game," boasts one advertisement that promises to train students in the arts of animation and visual effects. "Without guys like me, you'd still be playing Pong," is the quote from an alum of another college, an industry veteran who graduated all of one year ago.
Suddenly, the idea of a degree in video games is one that might even persuade the parents who grumble about the high cost of video games to write a tuition check.
These days, there are companies that pay big bucks to computer science geniuses who can develop the next big thing -- a Grand Theft Auto sort of game that will generate a big following and big sales.
Carnegie Mellon University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, for example, now offer master's degrees in game development. The University of Southern California offers a graduate degree in interactive media and an undergraduate program in game design. Locally, the University of Baltimore is putting together an undergraduate degree in video game development.
The Entertainment Software Association, an industry trade group, puts the number of colleges and schools offering some sort of gaming-related coursework at over 50.
"Just like students went to school in the '60s and '70s wanting to study the works of Hitchcock, students now want to go to school to study the work of [Sims designer] Will Wright," said Dan Hewitt, a spokesman for the ESA.
Maybe the thought of creating the next Sims or Halo or Grand Theft Auto is what lured a guy named Ahmed, a twentysomething University of Maryland grad, to come back to his alma mater yesterday, taking a day off from his current job to approach possible video game employers at an on-campus job fair.
He waited anxiously around the Microsoft booth, where recruiters were talking to students about jobs throughout the company, including its Xbox division.
"You guys can have anybody you want," Ahmed told the Microsoft recruiter, a guy who just wrapped up work on the software guts for the forthcoming Xbox 360 game console.
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Video game school. Sounds like a joke, right? Sort of like "School of Rock"?
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Milan Malaise
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Frida Giannini, who showed her first full runway collection for Gucci on Wednesday evening, pronounced the house's iconic hypersexual, predatory woman dead. That image was replaced with one that is less intimidating, more accessible, but as of yet not nearly as distinctive. At other design houses, the penchant for the "molto sexy" frock has simply turned into a cliche.
Giannini was promoted this year from creative director of accessories to the top job of women's ready-to-wear designer. The night before her presentation, she noted that her spring 2006 collection would be more joyful and without such a heavy emphasis on sexual bravado. Giannini's most visible success at Gucci before all this had been her reinterpretation of the "Flora" scarf patterns on a collection of handbags and shoes. That success was particularly significant because the Gucci brand is built on its leather goods.
Still, designing a handbag is a far different endeavor from creating an entire line of clothes. The accessories on the runway, from the bamboo-handled bags with their beaded archival prints to the patent leather Beatle boots with gleaming horse bits, were beautifully conceived, confident, even a bit brazen. The ready-to-wear often lacked the same kinds of distinctive flourishes.
Giannini, 32, said that part of her inspiration came from her grandmother and the way in which she and her friends dressed in the 1940s. She had recently seen pictures from that period and was intrigued by the pleasure that the women seemed to take from their clothes during a time of war. The collection, she cautioned, wasn't nostalgic but it did incorporate the strong shoulders of that period and the eveningwear reflected the more covered-up reserve of the era. Her most distinctive pieces played with the notions of strength and demureness, from a full-length fuchsia gown that rejected any display of cleavage to her rock-and-roll suits with their cigarette pants and pagoda-shoulder jackets.
It was reassuring to see Giannini take on the Gucci brand with a clear, personal vision. And it was either gutsy or foolhardy to promote an image of a tomboy in a motorcycle jacket at a time when fashion has turned resolutely feminine and charming. (The answer will, of course, unfold at the cash register.)
But her short floral dresses with their beaded flowers lacked distinction and seemed more like runway filler. Giannini showed that she's willing to take a risk. But this rather thin collection also made one wonder if she has enough bold ideas -- at least in ready-to-wear -- to keep the monster constantly fed.
The spring 2006 fashion shows began over the weekend and overwhelmingly have left their devoted observers slack-jawed with boredom. With only a few exceptions, Milan no longer surprises the eye, and desperately needs a savior. Miuccia Prada, despite her flights of fancy and her delight in the intellectual surprise, simply is not enough.
Designers have become trapped within their own aesthetic visions, failing to challenge themselves or inspire their audiences.
The question, for example, was not what Roberto Cavalli would do in his Just Cavalli collection. The audience could rest easy and wait for free-flowing expressions of indulgence, luxury and sexuality. One only needed to ask: How heavily will his denim be embellished? How dizzying will his prints be? There are a lot of ways in which to express a sense of Bacchanalian glee; there are many ways to evoke sexual desire. Cavalli, however, does not stray from his well-trod path of glitz and cleavage.
His show Monday afternoon started off in a promising manner with a stage set with 12-foot-tall replicas of tropical drinks. In one corner loomed what looked like a colossal mai tai; in another, a gargantuan piña colada. He sent out a collection of Polynesian-patterned frocks and baby-doll tunics that looked like they'd be fun to wear during the right island vacation; but then he seemed to lose his focus and the next thing one knew the runway was populated by models in mod blazers, as if Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III had suddenly landed in Tahiti. None of it made much sense -- not that a fashion show has to be either logical or linear -- but it wasn't compelling enough to support all the chaos. (And it's hard to imagine that any lissome young woman with a platinum-card-carrying boyfriend would be willing to spend even his money on bloomers masquerading as shorts.)
For several seasons, Milan fashion has relied on Prada to be its single most unsettling force, someone whose creative energy would challenge audiences, leaving them stimulated and, at times, confounded. Prada continues to do that, but hers is a daunting responsibility and she sometimes can't be as creatively eloquent as she might like.
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MILAN, Sept. 28 Frida Giannini, who showed her first full runway collection for Gucci on Wednesday evening, pronounced the house's iconic hypersexual, predatory woman dead. That image was replaced with one that is less intimidating, more accessible, but as of yet not nearly as distinctive. At.........
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'The Outsiders': Revised, but Still Staying Gold
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"The Outsiders," Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel, may not have been a blockbuster hit at the box office. But when it was released in 1983, this look at misunderstood greasers growing up in 1950s-era Oklahoma certainly made an impression.
"The Outsiders" emerged as the most popular in a series of film versions of Hinton's teen tales -- including "Rumblefish" and "That Was Then, This Is Now" -- and catapulted the careers of several young actors, including Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise. It also gave adolescent girls a brand new cast of Teen Beat pin-ups to adore.
Now, more than 20 years later, "The Outsiders: The Complete Novel" has arrived on DVD with 22 minutes reinserted into the film and a mostly transformed musical score. As Coppola explains in one of the featurettes on this excellent two-disc set, he always regretted cutting several scenes that matched moments from the book, and also felt the original score -- composed by his father, Carmine Coppola -- was too treacly and over-the-top. This director's cut attempts to right those perceived wrongs.
The book's legions of fans will likely be pleased by the new version, as will those who felt the original film lacked in the Rob Lowe department. The former "West Wing" star has much more screen time in this "Outsiders," as the added scenes focus largely on the three Curtis brothers played by Lowe, Swayze and C. Thomas Howell.
The updated music, which includes period rock tunes from such artists as Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley, is generally a welcome improvement, though certain scenes -- like Ralph Macchio's climactic run-in with a "soc" and the burning of the church -- might have benefited from Carmine Coppola's more dramatic approach. It's unfortunate that both versions of "The Outsiders" don't appear here. Comparing the two side-by-side could have been both instructive and valuable to completists still curious to see the original.
That misstep is mostly compensated for by the second disc's numerous engaging bonus features, including "Staying Gold: A Look Back at 'The Outsiders'"; a featurette hosted by Hinton; a giggle-inducing glimpse at the audition process for the film; a segment on the movie from the "Today" show; and a few additional scenes. The first disc also comes with two commentary tracks: one by Coppola and another featuring Swayze, Lane, Howell, Macchio, Lowe and Dillon. Of all the extras, the "Staying Gold" documentary -- which includes behind-the-scenes footage from rehearsals as well as the set -- and the casting segment are the most worthwhile.
Because of the teen idol status conferred on virtually everyone in "The Outsiders," it's easy to forget how visually compelling and well acted -- particularly by the touchingly vulnerable Macchio -- the movie was. This DVD -- even with its additions and modifications -- should serve as a permanent reminder.
Most Amusing Bonus Point: The "Casting of 'The Outsiders'" is by far the best part of this DVD set. "Every actor under the age of 35 -- and I mean everyone -- was lined up against the wall," Lowe recalls during this featurette. Viewers are treated to segments from a few of those auditions, including readings by Cruise, Lowe, Swayze and others who ultimately were cast. Even better is the glimpse at those who tried out and didn't make the cut, including Helen Slater, Vincent Spano and Anthony Michael Hall, who read for the part of Pony Boy. But Kate Capshaw, who, at close to age 30, was a little old to be playing a teen, scores the biggest laugh. When asked what age range she can play, she hesitates and says, "I'd say 21 to 30 ... What do you think?"
Most Candid Bonus Point: The actors occasionally share some interesting tidbits during their audio commentary ... that is, when the men aren't gushing over Diane Lane's beauty. The most honest comment is Lane's remark about a scene in which Leif Garrett's character is drunk: "I think Leif had made the Method choice for his inebriation that night."
Missing in Action: Almost all of the stars of the film appear in the bonus material. Two notable exceptions: Estevez and Cruise. Cruise may have been busy, but couldn't someone have talked Estevez into saying something?
Also New on DVD This Week: "Lords of Dogtown" and "Robots."
Coming in Next Week's Bonus Points: A review of Walt Disney's Platinum Edition of "Cinderella."
If you have feedback about "Bonus Points" or want to suggest a DVD for review, e-mail Jen Chaney.
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Search Washington, DC area movie listings, reviews and locations from the Washington Post. Features DC, Virginia and Maryland entertainment listings for movies and movie guide. Visit http://eg.washingtonpost.com/section/movies today.
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MedImmune, NIH Team Up on Bird Flu Vaccines
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MedImmune Inc., the maker of the nasal flu vaccine FluMist, said yesterday that it will collaborate with National Institutes of Health researchers to develop a library of vaccines for more than a dozen strains of avian flu.
Public health officials have been racing to contain a lethal strain of bird flu circulating in Southeast Asia that is jumping from birds to humans and raising concern that it could become a pandemic, as many researchers think it could.
The government recently awarded a $100 million contract to Sanofi-Aventis SA for an undisclosed number of vaccines that target the current strain circulating, called H5N1. But there are about 16 strains of bird flu, and the government wants Gaithersburg-based MedImmune to create vaccines for each.
"We are trying to prepare for the other potential strains that might take over our attention," said Kathleen Coelingh, MedImmune's senior director of scientific affairs. "We want to have a library against the various forms, so we can pull them off the shelf in the future."
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, said in an interview that FluMist may have more advantages than traditional flu vaccines because it uses a live but weakened version of the virus to induce immunity.
Researchers think live vaccines induce a broad range of coverage that can protect people even if the molecular structure of the virus changes to become a new strain.
"You get more cross-protection," Coelingh said. "It doesn't have to be a perfect match."
MedImmune and the NIH will make the new vaccines using reverse genetics. Researchers will obtain samples of the 16 strains, then reproduce the key protein that attaches to nasal passages, causing infections. The engineered protein is essentially then attached to the FluMist vaccine, like changing wheels on a car.
Coelingh said it could take several years to complete the library. MedImmune will focus initially on the current strain and a couple of others that are circulating.
The financial implications for the partnership are unclear. Yesterday's deal was for the research collaboration, not for the commercial aspects of selling whatever vaccines might be produced. Still, MedImmune shares closed yesterday up $1.65, at $33.23.
MedImmune stock has risen 24 percent in the past month, following a stream of news including new partnerships, an acquisition, and potential new products.
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MedImmune Inc., the maker of the nasal flu vaccine FluMist, said yesterday that it will collaborate with National Institutes of Health researchers to develop a library of vaccines for more than a dozen strains of avian flu.
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Army Investigating Web Postings of Grisly War Photos
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U.S. Army officials are looking into allegations that soldiers have been trading gruesome digital pictures of war victims in Iraq and Afghanistan for access to an amateur pornography Web site, but officials said yesterday that there is insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.
The allegations surfaced last week, when the East Bay Express, a weekly newspaper in the San Francisco Bay area, published a story about graphic photographs that appeared on one section of the Web site. The photographs, which show the bodies of several people killed in shootings, explosions, or fires, include crude captions, some of which mock the dead.
Pentagon and Army officials yesterday issued strong statements condemning the taking and posting of such photographs, but said there is little evidence to authenticate them and few ways to pursue a criminal investigation. While some of the photos appear to show U.S. soldiers in uniform near mutilated bodies, it is unclear where or when the pictures were taken.
The Web site's creator said yesterday that about 30,000 members of the military are registered on his site, several thousand of whom have sent him photographs or comments from their official military Web addresses. Many of the photographs depict life in Iraq, while only a few are extremely graphic, he said.
"It's an uncensored view of the war, from their perspective," said Chris Wilson, 27, of Florida, who began accepting the photographs from soldiers overseas as payment for access to pornography on his Web site. "It's a place where the soldiers can express themselves without being filtered by the Bush administration," he added.
Those who submit photos of war casualties could be breaking military rules against "unbecoming" conduct and also could be in violation of government regulations regarding use of the Internet. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have access to the Internet, largely at Internet cafes, and many have digital cameras.
Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman, said investigators have been examining the photos for clues to their origin, adding that commanders in the field are emphasizing that taking and posting such photos is unacceptable.
"If accurate, these are gruesome depictions of deceased people in Iraq, and that violates the standards of our values, training and procedures that we ask military personnel to observe and obey," Boyce said. "It is very difficult to establish they are in fact being submitted by soldiers, where they were taken, who they were taken by, and the circumstances surrounding them."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has decried the photographs and called for a Pentagon investigation. An official said the images could inflame insurgents and give other nations the mistaken impression that many Americans are gloating over casualties of the Iraq war.
"What we're most concerned about is the safety of our own soldiers," said Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR's legal director. "It only tarnishes our image even further and serves as fodder for the insurgents and terrorists."
Wilson, who said he supports the soldiers and the war, said users must search out the corpse photos, which are not displayed prominently on the site.
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U.S. Army officials are looking into allegations that soldiers have been trading gruesome digital pictures of war victims in Iraq and Afghanistan for access to an amateur pornography Web site, but officials said yesterday that there is insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.
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Expansion of Medicaid For Evacuees Backed
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Pressed hard by Gulf state governors, senators from both political parties warned the White House yesterday to drop its opposition to a proposed expansion of Medicaid for Hurricane Katrina evacuees and devastated states -- or face a potentially embarrassing political rout.
President Bush has found himself at odds with members of his own party over how best to deliver health care to impoverished hurricane victims. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.), the panel's ranking Democrat, have proposed a five-month expansion of Medicaid to cover not only those evacuees previously entitled to federal health insurance -- mainly women and children -- but also poor, childless men.
The legislation -- totaling nearly $9 billion -- would also establish an $800 million fund for health care providers treating poor evacuees, and it would allow the federal government to pick up costs that otherwise would be assumed by the affected states.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has found that a fifth of evacuees applying for Medicaid have been ruled ineligible even before they could finish their paperwork. Of those who do apply, a third are being turned away, almost always because they do not fit fixed Medicaid eligibility categories.
The administration has balked at expanding the program, asserting that health care can be provided more efficiently and less expensively by granting waivers of Medicaid rules to states that have accepted evacuees. In a letter to Senate leaders, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt called the legislation "a new Medicaid entitlement for Katrina survivors" and "a massive new federal program."
But with the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama all demanding legislative action before the Senate Finance Committee, panel members said they were ready to move forward, with or without the president.
"I'm prepared to be hard-nosed, too, at some point. At some point, you have to tell them: 'Okay, ante up and kick in or get out of the game,' " Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) warned the White House. "But I'm not looking for a fight. I'm looking for help, for people that are desperate."
Grassley said other, far more costly solutions are also being proposed that the Senate could pass easily. And, he said, the $35 billion in entitlement spending cuts over the next five years that Bush wants badly will have no chance of passage if Medicaid relief cannot be approved now.
The fight over the bill exemplifies the Republican dilemma in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Members of both parties have been quick to open the Treasury to help hurricane victims and show a new sensitivity to the plight of the poor.
But conservatives in the House and the Senate are complaining loudly about the surge in spending amid lingering budget deficits.
The Senate had expected to pass the Medicaid legislation Monday night by a procedural voice vote, which would have required unanimous support. But pushed by the White House, a handful of Republicans objected.
Yesterday, supporters of the bill had the megaphone. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) questioned the expansion of Medicaid eligibility rules but said that the legislation's provision allowing the federal government to assume 100 percent of the expanded health care costs is "just crucial." Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) pleaded for immediate legislative action.
"Does this mean it's going to be permanent? Does this mean it's going to be long-term? Absolutely not," said Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R). "But during this critical time right now . . . we have to take care of some of the people suffering. And the only way we're going to be able to do it is with some piece of legislation."
Under the waiver process, Medicaid bills incurred by evacuees in other states would be sent to their home states in the Gulf, according to a letter from Grassley and Baucus to Leavitt. But without new legislation, the administration will have no choice but to expect hard-hit Louisiana and Mississippi to pay their share.
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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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Turks Challenge Hughes On Iraq
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ISTANBUL, Sept. 28 -- A group of Turkish women's rights activists confronted Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes on Wednesday with emotional and heated complaints about the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, turning a session designed to highlight the empowering of women into a raw display of the anger at U.S. policy in the region.
"This war is really, really bringing your positive efforts to the level of zero," said Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal, an activist with the Capital City Women's Forum. She said it was difficult to talk about cooperation between women in the United States and Turkey as long as Iraq was under occupation.
Hughes, a longtime confidante of President Bush tasked with burnishing the U.S. image overseas, has generally met with polite audiences -- many of which consisted of former exchange students or people who have received U.S. funding -- during a tour of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey this week.
In this case, the U.S. Embassy asked an umbrella group known as Ka-Der, which supports women running for office, to assemble the guest list. None of the activists currently receives U.S. funds or had any apparent desire to mince words. Six of the eight women who spoke at the session, held in Ankara, Turkey's capital, focused on the Iraq war.
"War makes the rights of women completely erased, and poverty comes after war -- and women pay the price," said Fatma Nevin Vargun, a Kurdish women's rights activist. Vargun denounced the arrest of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, in front of the White House this week.
Hughes, who became increasingly subdued during the session, defended the decision to invade Iraq as a difficult and wrenching moment for Bush, but necessary to protect the United States.
"You're concerned about war, and no one likes war," Hughes said. But "to preserve the peace, sometimes my country believes war is necessary," she said. She also asserted that women are faring much better in Iraq than they had under the rule of deposed president Saddam Hussein.
"War is not necessary for peace," shot back Feray Salman, a human rights activist. She said countries should not try to impose democracy through war, adding that "we can never, ever export democracy and freedom from one country to another."
Tuksal said she was "feeling myself wounded, feeling myself insulted here" by Hughes's response. "In every photograph that comes from Iraq, there is that look of fear in the eyes of women and children. . . . This needs to be resolved as soon as possible."
Turkey, a member of NATO, has long been a close U.S. ally, but relations have soured during the Bush administration, especially after Turkey's parliament blocked a request to allow U.S. troops to use its territory to invade Iraq from the north. National security adviser Stephen J. Hadley visited Ankara last week as part of a new effort by the White House to mend ties.
The Turkish public has also been rattled by an increase in attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, an armed separatist group of Turkish Kurds operating out of northern Iraq. The United States has faced accusations that it has not done enough to rein in the group.
Nurdan Bernard, a journalist participating in the panel session, raised concerns about the PKK, prompting Hughes to say it was "somewhat an irony." She added: "Sometimes you have to engage in combat in order to confront terrorists who want to kill you."
Hughes later flew to Istanbul for meetings with religious leaders -- part of an effort to promote interfaith dialogue -- and with Turks who have participated in U.S. exchange programs. She returns to Washington on Thursday.
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A group of Turkish female activists confronted Undersecretary of State with heated complaints about the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, turning a session designed to highlight the empowering of women into a raw display of the anger at U.S. policy.
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Free Speech Issues Still Problematic For Vietnam
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JAKARTA, Indonesia A business manager in Hanoi, Pham Hong Son, has spent 42 months in a Vietnamese prison. His crime: downloading an essay titled "What is Democracy?" from a U.S. State Department Web site, translating it and sending it to friends and senior Communist Party officials.
Son, 36, who worked for a pharmaceutical company, was convicted of espionage in Vietnam after a closed, one-day trial in June 2003. He was sentenced to 13 years, later reduced to five.
"What he did was legal," insisted his wife, Vu Thuy Ha, 34, in a June interview in Hanoi. She said that her husband was exercising free speech and did not commit a seditious act. "What can anyone do with the translation? What can they do to overthrow the government?"
Last week, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, Michael Marine, called on Vietnam to release Son and four others described as prisoners of conscience. Vietnam has made progress in "collective" human rights such as improving education and reducing poverty, Marine noted. But it is still intolerant of political dissent, he said.
"History has shown that political and religious freedoms go hand in hand with economic prosperity," Marine said in a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi. "The pace and scope of Vietnam's future success depends on a strong commitment to reform in both of these areas."
Political analysts and international human rights groups do not know precisely how many prisoners of conscience Vietnam has detained, but U.S. officials said the number of cases they have been able to verify had dwindled in recent years to 10 or fewer.
During the past year, Vietnam has released more than 26,000 prisoners, of whom perhaps 15 were political or religious prisoners, U.S. officials said. The younger ones in particular, such as Son and Nguyen Vu Binh, who was accused of posting "reactionary" articles on the Internet and of trying to set up a liberal democratic party, remain incarcerated.
The government insists it is not repressing religious or political rights. "Some people may argue that Vietnam does not have freedom and democracy and only has a one-party system. But you know, our ultimate goal is to maintain political stability and serve the interests of the people," Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said in a June interview. "We do not agree with arguments from the outside that there are prisoners of conscience in Vietnam. We do not have any prisoners of conscience in Vietnam."
Vietnam last month issued a human rights report in which it promised to respect freedom of expression and promote free use of the Internet. A revised press law in 1999 stated that citizens have the right to be informed, express opinions and provide information without being censored by any organization or individual, it noted.
Nonetheless, the United States last year placed Vietnam on a list of "countries of particular concern" with regard to religious freedom. Officials expect Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to decide soon whether Vietnam should remain on the list. Marine said that although Vietnam has taken steps to expand religious and political space, "there is more, much more, that the authorities can and should do."
Pham Hong Son was part of a loose group of young men, including his friend Nguyen Vu Binh, who believed in expanded individual political freedoms. Their circle was not large enough to constitute a movement, according to interviews with several older dissidents. They rarely met in groups because to do so would invite government scrutiny.
The older dissidents said they warned the younger men to keep a low profile. Son, for instance, once thought of setting up a democracy fund, said Hoang Minh Chinh, 86, who over the decades has been imprisoned three times by the government for a total of 20 years.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia A business manager in Hanoi, Pham Hong Son, has spent 42 months in a Vietnamese prison. His crime: downloading an essay titled "What is Democracy?" from a U.S. State Department Web site, translating it and sending it to friends and senior Communist Party officials.
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'The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation'
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Daniel Ellsberg was online Thursday, Sept. 29, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss his life during the 1960s and early 1970s, as well as the PBS film "The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation," which highlights the tumultuous and exhilarating moments of that decade. It airs on PBS on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 9 p.m. ET. (Check local listings.)
Ellsberg joined the Defense Department in 1964 as special assistant to assistant secretary of defense (International Security Affairs) John McNaughton, working on Vietnam. He transferred to the State Department in 1965 to serve two years at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, evaluating pacification on the front lines.
On return to the RAND Corporation in 1967, he worked on the Top Secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68, which later came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969, he photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; in 1971 he gave it to the New York Times, The Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. His trial, on twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon. Since the end of the Vietnam War he has been a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era and unlawful interventions.
"The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation" features Ellsberg, as well as interviews with other prominent figures of the era, including Barbara Ehrenreich, Jesse Jackson, Tom Hayden, Arlo Guthrie, Henry Kissinger, Norman Mailer, Robert McNamara, Ed Meese III and Bobby Seale. The musical soundtrack for the film features the music of Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Elvis Costello, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Chambers Brothers, the Doors and the Rolling Stones.
Daniel Ellsberg: Hello to the readers of Washington Post.com. I look forward to answering your questions....fire away!
Atlanta, Ga.: Obviously, you're not inside the establishment anymore, but do you see any similarities between what's being done/said about the Iraq war and what occurred during the Vietnam war/era? Thanks for your service.
Daniel Ellsberg: For me it's virtually reliving my own experience of the Vietnam war. The lies that got us into this war are as blatant and consequential as the lies that got us into the Vietnam war. They had different content, but it was just as manipulative. The Blitzkrieg phase of the war had no counterpart in the Vietnam war but the guerrilla war that has followed ever since the president foolishly announced the end of combat has more similarity to Vietnam than difference.
This current war is just as hopeless in terms of winning or achieving any significant U.S. objectives as was Vietnam, and of course the administration has just as strong as incentive as then to conceal this fact from the public and indeed, from itself. The result, then, are recurrent statements of progress or of the opposition being on its legs or taking desperate measures as we heard in Vietnam, and these statements are just as baseless as then.
It's hard to say whether a given individual, like a Walt Rostow, or LBJ himself, or in this case, President Bush, actually has deceived himself when he makes such claims, or is consciously deceiving the public; but in both cases there can be doubt that there are individuals who understand the reality but are simply lying to the public. That was true for Robert McNamara. I think it might be true for Donald Rumsfeld today. Whether Cheney actually believes the nonsense that he says about the war, I really can't judge. But I am sure that it is not what he is being told by intelligence experts within his administration or by most of the military. That would also be true for Bush.
Arlington, Va.: How do you feel your life experiences during the 1960s contributed to defining that era? Do you feel that way? Thank you.
Daniel Ellsberg: My life experiences in most of the sixties were very different from those of the young people shown in the movie tonight, which by the way, I think is a very good movie. But for one thing, I was of course older than the young people shown there. The slogan at that time was, Don't trust anyone over 30. And looking back, that was a pretty reliable slogan.
I was 30 in 1961. Which was when I first went to Vietnam for the Defense Dept. And which was where I saw already on that trip that it was an un-winnable war. But that didn't keep me from working inside the administration, and even going to Vietnam myself in 1965, knowing that we were very unlikely to have any success. So obviously my experience in the Pentagon and Vietnam was entirely different from that of the college students and anti-war protestors (most of whom were college students) back home.
One point worth making is that most of the people who went to Vietnam, military or civilian, and there were three million of them, did come to realize if they were there long enough that our policy there was not succeeding and was extremely unlikely to succeed, and in that respect, they were not that different in mood from that of the anti-war protestors, as it was assumed.
Most of them did probably go in the assumption that the war was justified, and for my part, I was a cold warrior who did assume we had a right to be fighting communists in Vietnam and that it was ultimately for the good of the Vietnamese people. I should say that was what I believed when I went to Vietnam. In two years there it became clear to me that what we were doing there was against the interests of the people, that it was making a hell of the countryside. And I came back in '67 determined to help end the war. It wasn't until I read the Pentagon Papers myself in 1969 that I recognized that the anti-war protestors had been right all along in recognizing that we never had any right to be there and that it was an unjust war from the beginning. And therefore I concluded from that for us to continue killing Vietnamese in that war was murder, mass murder, and must be stopped immediately, and not when it might become convenient for us to get out.
So at that point my experience and my reading of the Pentagon Papers, the history therein, had brought me to the same state of mind as the most militant of the non-violent activists against the war. And it was from the most committed of those who were on their way to prison for non-violent resistance, mostly non-cooperation with the draft, that I drew the inspiration to accept prison myself by revealing the Pentagon Papers.
Incidentally, I was glad to see that the film, which I saw in advance, does extend the period of the sixties into the early 70s, since both the war and the anti-war movement were highly active into the middle of the next decade. The Pentagon Papers were actually revealed of course not in the sixties, but in '71. And the war continued years after that.
Baltimore, Md.: Why did you feel Neil Sheehan was the right person to give the Pentagon Papers to? Why didn't you go to Congress with the information?
Daniel Ellsberg: I went first to Congress to Senator Fulbright, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and gave the full 7,000 pages to him starting in November 1969 and throughout 1970. When he chose not to hold hearings on the papers, which he had earlier promised me to do, I then turned to Senator McGovern, Senator Mathias, a Republican from Maryland, Pete McCloskey from California ...
It was only after McGovern, like Fulbright, changed his mind against revealing the papers in Congress, that I turned to Neil Sheehan who I had known briefly in Vietnam, but more importantly had been the vehicle of my first leaks on the war in March, 1968 (I tell all these stories in my book, "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers"). And also, Sheehan had been the Pentagon correspondent for the New York Times in 1968. And he had written a very good long article on war crimes for the New York Times Book Review section, which assured me that he had sound attitudes on the war, and was sufficiently concerned to take the risks of publishing it.
In retrospect, I should have gone to the Times immediately in '69 along with Congress. And that's what I would advise someone to do today, to go with documents to the press as well as Congress. Because I now understand that Congress is unlikely to take any initiative or risk unless they are pressed to do so by a public that has been informed by the media.
Nashville, Tenn.: You showed unusual courage back in the 70's risking 15 years in jail to get information out to the public on the "true" course of the war. And as you say, in a way you saved thousands of lives. However, the ending of the war was controversial, with some claiming that you and the media lost it for us. As the Iraq adventure shows, the lessons did not get incorporated into the DNA of the public consciousness. If you had it to do over, would you allow it to play out to a clear conclusion?
Daniel Ellsberg: The Vietnam War did conclude the only way that it ever could have concluded and that was with the full departure of American combat operations. The only question was when that would occur. Without the antiwar movement, and a lot of luck in terms of what brought about Watergate, I believe the war would have gone on for several more years at least, in the air, in terms of bombing. Not only by Nixon, had he stayed in office, but likely also by a successor whether Democrat or Republiclican.
The end would have been the same whenever there was an end. American combat operations were never going to cause the other side to quit or to be eliminated. I think exactly the same is true in Iraq. I don't think anything we do or could do in Iraq will prevent some Iraqis to persist in killing American occupiers or the Iraqis they perceive as American collaborators, even at the cost of their own lives. So I think there will never be a clear end to the Iraq war so long as we maintain American bases there.
I believe that it's the intention of this administration to build and maintain American bases in Iraq indefinitely, by which I mean for as long as we have maintained bases in South Korea or Germany or Japan. And that has been over fifty years. But in Iraq the difference is that means that Americans will be dying and killing just as long as we maintain those bases and as long as we keep some American troops in Iraq.
In answer to the first part of the question then, I think that is a terrible prospect and justifies the highest degrees of individual sacrifice and non-violent activism to shorten that period and terminate our war on Iraq.
Arlington, Va.: Hi, what did you think about the Downing Street Minutes and the mainstream media's ignoring of them?
Daniel Ellsberg: LOL! In substance, the Downing Street memo represents exactly what I have spent three years now trying to encourage Americans to leak about our own governmental decision making. I see this problem with them. I suspect that the people who released them this year probably had access to them about the time they were written, which was exactly three years ago, and they could have released them then. If they had done so, I believe that Britain would not have sent troops to Iraq. Bush probably would have gone ahead even without British support, but the British would have been spared both their combat casualties in Iraq and probably also the London bombings.
Likewise, remember that those minutes deal with an account of meetings held in Washington. And there are almost certainly corresponding American written accounts of those same meetings. If the American participants and those who had access to the American minutes of those meetings had released them at the time -- the earliest discussions start in January of 2002, and then go to July, which is still six months before the war had started.
If someone had released those to Congress AND I emphasize, to the public through the press at the same time, it would have been very, much harder, if not impossible, for Bush to have launched the war in March of 2003. He certainly would not have gotten the majority in favor of the war in Congress in October or November, 2002, and he would have not have been able to lie as he did that he had not yet made a decision to go to war as of September and October of 2002. There would have been much more world pressure, and even in America to wait until the inspectors had completed their work. And of course, we now know that their early findings of an absence of WMD's would only have been confirmed with each further week and month they spent in Iraq.
So, any individual who had released these corresponding minutes would have had a good chance of preventing the deaths of 2,000 Americans and perhaps over 100,000 Iraqis. Even a chance of doing that I would say would justify an individual's giving up her or his clearance and career in the government, and even, if necessary, going to prison.
Katy, Tex.: Do you think the 60's generation was influenced by its parent's generation if only in rebellion, and thus the children of the 60's gen'ers are influencing their offspring?
Daniel Ellsberg: As I say in '61 I was 30. So I can't speak very well for the relation of the young people of that era to their parents. My own children were very young at that point. I do know that, to the contrary, a number of the leaders of the antiwar movement had quite radical parents, in fact, I think that was the norm. So I believe that they were actually in harmony with their parents' values. I doubt if that was true of most of the people in the movement, but it was true of the leadership.
Remember this was happening all over the world as this movie makes clear in an unusual way. In France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, which I think is not mentioned. So it can't be explained pro or con as a relationship between particularly American generations.
I do think there was some reaction in the 80s, late 70s and 80s, of young people regrettably, away from activism because the young brothers and sisters of the older activists felt that their older brothers and sisters had given up a lot and had not achieved very much. But I think that effect has worn off over the years.
Certainly neither the anti-nuclear movement of the 80s, nor the current anti-war movement, seem to be on the campuses. It's much less of a youth movement. And I'm told that there does seem to be a very different mood on the campuses from what existed 40 years old. I don't know why that would be, I don't know enough about it. I'm sorry to see it. I would be happy if this film encouraged people to go back to that mood because I think it was an essential part to ending the war. And probably youth activism is essential to avoid coming catastrophes.
Southern Maryland: Many social conservatives, especially the religious ones, describe the '60s as America's "Great Wrong Turn." Why do you think drives that view? Why do you think these conservatives seem to have a romanticized view of the '50s and earlier decades?
Daniel Ellsberg: The perception that there are two Americas culturally I think is not just a stereotype. Of course, in earlier years, that is to say in the sixties and 70s, the conservative Christians were not political and to the extent that they were political at all, they were voting democratic in the south. So politically that was a different element. Presumably their views were much the same then. But we who did not share their political and social views were not conscious of their existence at all. We also were not aware how many of such people there were.
I have to conclude that there were probably just as many then who were horrified by what was happening as there are now. But we weren't conscious of it. I say "we," but as I said earlier, I myself was part of the government establishment and not so much a part of the cultural changes. But I did come to identify with the counterculture later in life, that is to say in my late 30s and 40s.
The notion of morality of this large part of our society, perhaps 40 percent if not larger, does seem to focus very strongly on sexual behavior and gender relations in which they favor patriarchy. And homophobia. And in political terms, obedience to authority. But at the same time to be very insensitive to moral issues raised by American aggression, and by indiscriminate American firepower. And official abuse of secrecy and abrogation of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
So, I take it such people see the sexual freedom and the women's rights and gay rights -- and of course pro-choice -- movement as simply immoral and to be oblivious to the moral concerns that the anti-war movement and the environmental movement are committed to. I'm saying here that the movements of which I've been part are seen by their participants as extremely moral issues and, although many of them are religious, they do not see morality as based exclusively on religious teachings.
My own view then, unequivocally, is that the movements seen by the right wing as a Wrong Turn, in favor of racial and gender equality, were very much a turn to the health of our society and were in their way marvelous and inspirational to the rest of the world, and I would be glad if they inspired people today. But this is a genuine difference in values between a very large minority of Americans on the right, and a very large minority of Americans that don't agree with them.
Daniel Ellsberg: Charles Kaiser mentions what a marvelous time it was to be alive. I'm sure that was true for many of the young people who were involved, and looking back, I have to say that for me, both in Vietnam and then when I was working against the war, it was not on the whole a happy time. Perhaps because I was less hopeful at any given moment that the war was about to end, than many of the younger people imagined. And it was 1968, for example, just a horrible year, with the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and a horrible election campaign ending with Nixon's election. So here a year of ferment around the world, which may have been very exciting and hopeful for many of the younger participants was an almost unbearable year for me and many others to experience. Quite apart then from whether it was fun, the people in these uprisings were in fact trying to take the country in the right direction. As Abbie Hoffman put it once, "We were young, we were foolish, we were arrogant, but we were right."
Washington, D.C.: I can only guess how detrimental your release of the Pentagon Papers was to your life, professional and otherwise. What exactly did you do in the years afterwards to make a living?
Daniel Ellsberg: I expected to go to prison for the rest of my life and, of course, I didn't experience that. So, the notion that some people say that I was a martyr was not the case. I didn't experience the martyrdom that Nixon had in mind for me.
And because of the fact that Nixon was discovered to have committed crimes against me, that actually helped bring him to the point of impeachment, his own actions gave me a notoriety that permitted me to make a living as a lecturer even though my earlier career was now beyond reach. In other words, I couldn't work for the government, which I had done up to that point, and indeed, to my surprise, I found that I was effectively barred from good academic appointments. So if I hadn't been able to lecture I would have probably found it hard to make a living. But as it was, I was able to support myself lecturing. And that gave me the freedom for a life of political activism at the same time.
Daniel Ellsberg: I notice that I didn't answer of what I thought of the mainstream media ignoring the Downing Street minutes ... I think it's deplorable, and in line with their ignoring earlier major leaks in England, which on the whole have been more significant than we've had from any American officials. I'll just mention the revelation by Katharine Gun of the bugging of the U.N. Security Council by the U.S., and later the leaking of the opinions by Attorney General Goldsmith in Britain of the reasons for considering the war illegal.
All of these got very strong play in the U.K., like the Downing Street minutes, and virtually no play in the U.S. press. And I can't entirely explain how there could be this enormous blackout by the U.S. press of the questions of the origins of the war. Except that it seems part of a general pattern of subservience to the administration line that goes back to 9/11 in 2001 and ever since. The media seems cowardly and passive and subservient in a way that I can't fully explain. And the same is true of the Democrats in Congress. But it is certainly a deplorable situation.
Daniel Ellsberg: Specifically, the line taken on the Downing Street minutes when complaints from readers finally forced the mainstream papers to take some account of them, the line was that they hadn't done it earlier because it wasn't real news. That's absolutely absurd. The point was that these were official inside confirmation in documentary form of lying by an administration, in this case a British administration, that had only been hinted at before by undocumented, anonymous leaks.
What I've learned is that it makes an enormous difference in both the attention to a leak and the political effect of it, if it is in the form of documents and unequivocal evidence. The British press and public have reacted very appropriately to such documents, but the Americans have essentially ignored them, at least when it comes to British documents.
What I've been saying for three years now, is that I believe there is very strong opportunity for individuals in the government who know that the public is being lied into supporting hopeless interventions and dangerous escalations, to avert that by telling the truth in the form of documents given to the press and to Congress at the risk of their own clearances, careers and perhaps their own freedom. I'm saying that these personal costs can be well worthwhile in order to save many lives.
I think that applies right now to plans that have been leaked to some extent to attack Iran by air attack in the event of another 9/11. And possibly to use nuclear weapons in that attack against underground nuclear storage sites, and also to plan in the event of another 9/11 to issue a much more repressive new Patriot Act, possibly detain large numbers of people in this country, mainly Middle Easterns, and I suspect start a draft at that point, which would permit Bush to send hundreds of thousands more men eventually to Iraq and perhaps into Iran.
I believe that the revelation of these dangerous plans would offer the hope of averting them, and would at least allow a significant public debate on the issues. I am urging of the unknown people in the government who have the opportunity to tell the truth in a timely way: Don't do what I did. Don't wait until the bombs are falling, don't wait until years into the war and until thousands of more have died before you tell the truth to the public and to Congress with documents. You may pay a high personal price but you may save many, many thousands of lives and in this case preserve American democracy.
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.
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Daniel Ellsberg discussed his life during the 1960s and early 1970s, as well as the PBS film that highlights the tumultuous and exhilarating moments of that decade.
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Questionable Reception
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ST. LOUIS -- The tower at night is a magical thing, a husk of girders that climbs into the midnight gloom before reemerging as a pulsing blue light 476 feet above the Illinois flood plain. And when the light flashes, it fills the fog with a gauzy azure glow. Then, as fast as it clicks on, it blinks off and everything is still again.
There is something potent in this glow, with 50,000 watts of one of America's most powerful radio signals booming across the heartland at the peak of its force. In the distance, just across the Mississippi River, the lights of downtown St. Louis twinkle, but the nocturnal sounds of KMOX also fill radios set to 1120-AM in places as far away as the Mediterranean and New Zealand. For the past 52 years -- and parts of the decades before -- the signal has brought the St. Louis Cardinals with their nine World Series championships to Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Iowa and beyond. It created so many Cardinals fans, winning them away from closer teams across the Midwest, the South and even upstate New York, that the club's venerable announcer Jack Buck used to love walking through the parking garages next to Busch Stadium before the game simply to count the out-of-state license plates.
"It's death, taxes and KMOX," said Tim Sullivan, a 54-year-old retail store manager in St. Louis.
In a city that clings hard to its civic institutions, there was always a comfort that two of its biggest -- KMOX and the Cardinals -- would be married forever.
But there has been a divorce in the family. And last month, when the Cardinals announced that, starting next season, they would be moving from KMOX to a smaller radio station, KTRS, the gasp could be heard from Edwardsville to Kingdom City. It was such big news that two local television stations broke into their programs to carry the news conference live.
The consternation lasted for days. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran front-page stories. Television stations carried post-mortems. Bernie Miklasz, a Post-Dispatch sports columnist and a talk show host on KMOX, simply opened the phone lines and for hours the calls poured in. "I understand that attachment, it's like a family bond," Miklasz said.
In any other city the local baseball team changing its radio station would not be a big story, it probably wouldn't make the front page even once, let alone for weeks. But this isn't any other radio station.
"KMOX is the hub, if you will, of middle America," said Curt Smith, who has written two of the most definitive books on baseball broadcasting.
And this isn't just any other city.
As far as big cities go, St. Louis is a small town. Not in a Mayberry sense but in the way that everybody seems to be your neighbor. There is always a connection: a friend, a cousin, a fifth-grade teacher.
"You know the six degrees of Kevin Bacon?" said Tim Dorsey, the president and general manager of KTRS, speaking of the trivia game that links otherwise unrelated celebrities by their mutual screen appearances with Bacon. "We're two degrees in St. Louis."
But the closeness also breeds an insecurity to prove to the rest of the world that St. Louis can be as big and as important as all those cities on the distant coasts. So it lines up behind its baseball team, which has won more World Series than anyone but the Yankees, and the Anheuser-Busch brewery down by Interstate 55 and the radio station that can boom its signal halfway around the world. Lest you forget, there is always someone from St. Louis to remind you just how big, how perfect, how special it is.
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The powerful signal broadcasting Cardinals games from famed KMOX in St. Louis will go silent as the team moves to a smaller station.
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Nats' Offense Comes To Life
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MIAMI, Sept. 27 -- There were times, even before they were officially eliminated from the playoff chase, when the Washington Nationals seemed to be merely wafting through the season, allowing things to happen to them rather than taking charge and seizing the moment. But even as they wind up their final week, the playoffs now a dream gone by, they can take some solace in the fact that, as bad as things got, they didn't simply stop playing. "The effort," Manager Frank Robinson said, "has been there."
Which is all a means of addressing the Nationals' opponent, the Florida Marlins, on a sleepy Tuesday night at the intersection of the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 95. In spring training, the Marlins looked to be the most talented team in the National League East. Earlier this month, they seized the lead in the race for the NL's wild-card playoff berth. Now, they are merely embarrassing themselves.
On a night when left-hander Dontrelle Willis was making his last audition for the Cy Young Award, the Nationals pounced on the flailing Marlins, slogging their way to an 11-1 romp that was so difficult to watch, only a few hundred of the 11,507 who paid to see it remained at Dolphins Stadium by the completion of Florida's 11th loss in its last 13 games, its season-high fifth straight.
The Nationals, baseball's lowest-scoring team, hadn't scored in double digits since May 11 against San Francisco, and they chose a night on which they faced Willis to do it again. Rather than a coronation for Willis, the evening -- which was marked by mist, then showers, then downpours -- provided another sign that the Nationals might recover from their recent skid and finish the year with a winning record. They go for a sweep in Florida Wednesday, and the Marlins -- Team Turmoil this week -- could be the team to finish with a losing record.
"I know they've been going through a tough time," Nationals second baseman Jamey Carroll said. "When you score some runs like that against probably the best pitcher in the league this year, it may have taken the wind out of their sails."
As if there was any wind left. Nationals outfielder Marlon Byrd matched his career high with four hits, including two doubles and a solo homer, and he scored four runs. Carroll set a career high with three RBI. Every Nationals starting position player reached base twice via a walk or a hit, and they won on a night when right-hander Jon Rauch -- who had surgery on his right shoulder in May -- started for the first time this season and pitched three shutout innings, the first of four Washington pitchers.
And because of it all, the Nationals (80-78) need only to win one of their final four games to ensure a .500 season, and a split will give them a winning record. Moreover, the win pulled the Nationals even with the Marlins in the standings. Not only do they now have company in last place, but they remain just a half game back of the New York Mets, who somehow reside in third. It is conceivable, even after their horrendous second half, that a strong finish could put the Nationals alone in third.
The Nationals had done virtually nothing against the herky-jerky lefty in his three starts against them this year, just four runs in 21 innings, and Willis had won all three games by a combined score of 30-5. So bounce around the Nationals' clubhouse, ask who should win the NL Cy Young, and the response would be almost universal: Willis over St. Louis's Chris Carpenter.
"My pick would be Willis, because this team is not always running on all gears," Robinson said. "St. Louis was like a machine this year. You don't penalize Carpenter for that. But to me, it's Willis. If nothing else, we couldn't beat him."
That is, until Tuesday night. And when they finally did, they may have derailed Willis's chances for the honor. In his previous 12 starts, Willis hadn't given up more than two earned runs. But he gave up five in his four-plus innings, dropped to 22-10, and his ERA rose from 2.44 to 2.59. Carpenter is 21-5 with a 2.71 ERA.
"I think we had a little bit of help tonight," Robinson said.
Indeed, in his final start of the year, Willis was foiled by his own fielders, who committed two errors in the second, another in the third, all of which led to runs. So the whole thing seemed like a battle between one team that has already played through its worst times and another that is in the middle of its. Florida appears to be in complete disarray, having jettisoned right-hander A.J. Burnett on Monday because of comments Burnett made about Manager Jack McKeon and the coaching staff. McKeon's future, too, is a matter of much speculation, and the murmurs from the Florida clubhouse are that the 74-year-old manager has alienated his team.
The Marlins presented little evidence to the contrary. They could do nothing against Rauch. He didn't find out he would start until 4:10 p.m. -- Robinson knew he would have to use his entire bullpen, and didn't want to make anyone nervous -- but he pitched effectively for three innings, showing that the shoulder problems that shut him down in May might be over.
"I'm still not the same old me," he said, but the three-inning, two-hit outing was nonetheless encouraging for next season.
"It's important for him mentally," Robinson said, "and I think it's good for us to see where he is when the season ends."
It will, too, be important for the Nationals to see where they are when the season ends. A winning club? A losing club?
"It means a lot to everybody from the top all the way down," Byrd said.
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This is your source for info on Washington Nationals baseball. Learn about DC baseball at the RFK stadium. Get the latest schedule and stats for the Washington Nationals. Stay updated on the latest Washington Nationals news!
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Don't Let Industry Win With Disaster Bailouts
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Hold on to your wallets, Mr. and Mrs. America. Congress is in session, Katrina relief is on the agenda and special interests are drumming up schemes to help themselves under the guise of helping others.
Let's start with an ingenious proposal to extend, retroactively, federal flood insurance to all those owners of damaged homes along the Gulf Coast who didn't have it.
At first blush, it sounds reasonable. After all, if we want people who have lost everything to return home and rebuild, they'll need a little capital to get started.
But the hidden winner in this arrangement would be the mortgage industry, which otherwise would have to write off billions of dollars in loans when owners stop making monthly payments for homes that are beyond repair. That explains why the idea is being championed by the Consumer Mortgage Coalition, representing large companies that originate, service and guarantee home mortgages.
That is the same Consumer Mortgage Coalition that for years has been trying to shut down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Its complaint has been that the government's implied guarantee to bail out Fannie and Freddie if something goes really wrong encourages them to boost profit by taking on too much financial risk -- an example of what economists call "moral hazard."
But you'd be hard-pressed to name a clearer example of moral hazard than allowing people to purchase flood insurance after the flood. It's bad enough that premiums are so low that the federal flood insurance program will have to borrow about $15 billion to cover payments to those unlucky homeowners who had the foresight to buy insurance. But if you were to set the precedent of providing retroactive insurance, you would guarantee that in the future, only fools would ever buy insurance in advance, thereby destroying the market completely.
Nor is there any rationale in using taxpayer funds to bail out a mortgage industry that is coming off five years of spectacular growth in sales and profit. Sophisticated companies like Wells Fargo and Citigroup should have known the risks of loans to homeowners in flood-prone areas. All they had to do was read about it in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
If the government wants to help out, better that a new, federally chartered Gulf Coast Reconstruction Authority buy foreclosed properties at auction -- presumably at a steep discount -- and give the land back to the original homeowners, with new low-interest mortgage loans to rebuild. And this time, let's not forget the mandatory flood insurance.
Also worried about getting repaid are the holders of bonds issued by municipalities in the disaster zone. With residents displaced and unemployed, businesses closed, and property values plummeting, the flow of tax revenue used to service their debt has slowed to a trickle. The prospect of default hangs in the air.
But have no fear. Not 10 days after Katrina hit, the National Association of Bond Lawyers had forwarded to the Treasury an 18-page legislative proposal for a gold-plated federal bailout. As you'd expect, the cover letter drips with empathy for the people in the Gulf Coast while holding out the prospect that taxpayers across America would be forced to pay more for municipal borrowings if even one hurricane-ravaged parish defaults on its bonds. Avoiding default, they argued, would also guarantee that these cash-strapped municipalities would be able to float new bonds to repair infrastructure -- bonds that, by the way, would generate a new round of fees for underwriters and lawyers.
The first part of the bond attorneys' plan would allow municipalities to borrow money from the Treasury to keep up on their payments to bondholders if no other source of funds is available. In theory, there is nothing wrong with this. But as a condition for such assistance, shouldn't bondholders be forced to accept a 12-month delay in getting their money, as a price for their miscalculation in making these loans?
After all, the underwriters for these bonds were sophisticated financiers who knew or should have known of the flood risks and built them in to their pricing structure. More to the point, what sort of precedent would it set if the federal government rescued bond issuers and holders who failed to buy default insurance? It's that moral hazard thing again.
Even worse is a second proposal to allow states and municipalities to finance reconstruction with $40 billion to $80 billion in new tax-exempt bonds that carry a federal guarantee -- and then exempt interest on these bonds from the federal alternative minimum tax. These bells and whistles would lower the cost of borrowing for these cash-strapped communities -- but also raise the cost of borrowing for every other government bond issuer while adding further complexity and unfairness to the tax code.
Don't get me wrong: There is good reason for the federal government to step in as a subsidized lender of last resort for individuals, businesses and local governments walloped by natural disaster. But none of that money should cover the losses of sophisticated lenders who took their chances, placed their bets and made tons of money before the dice finally came up snake eyes.
Steven Pearlstein will host a Web discussion at 11 a.m. today onhttp://washingtonpost.com. He can be reached atpearlsteins@washpost.com.
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Hold on to your wallets, Mr. and Mrs. America. The mortgage and municipal bond industries are looking to cash in on Katrina relief.
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Outsourcing Our Safety
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Amid the horrific images that flashed across our TV screens during the past month, there was one last week that stood out because it was so unexpectedly reassuring: that of a supremely competent pilot steering a JetBlue airliner with jammed front wheels to a safe landing at Los Angeles International Airport.
Since last week's landing, though, we've learned a couple of other things that aren't quite so comforting -- for instance, that this was at least the seventh time that the front wheels on an Airbus A-320 have gotten locked in the wrong position.
More surprising still was the news about JetBlue's long-term maintenance of its aircraft. When the planes are inspected for damage and then reassembled, the work takes place either in Canada or El Salvador.
When JetBlue first took to the air in 2000, rather than hire its own long-term maintenance department, the company subcontracted that work to Air Canada and the Central America-based TACA. It's certainly cheaper: According to a Wall Street Journal story last January, the Salvadoran mechanics make $300 to $1,000 a month -- far less than their U.S.-based counterparts. Roughly one-third of the Salvadoran mechanics have passed the exam that qualifies them for the Federal Aviation Administration's license, while in the United States, such licenses are required for all mechanics employed directly by the airlines.
But such licensed, in-house mechanics are increasingly the exception at U.S. airlines. About half of the long-term maintenance on the planes of U.S. carriers is outsourced, and much of that work takes place overseas, where FAA inspections are a sometime thing. Indeed, the point of this story isn't that JetBlue's decisions are in any way exceptional. To the contrary, by going abroad for work that would previously have been performed at home (and except for maintenance, JetBlue doesn't fly outside the United States), and by prioritizing costs over more closely inspected maintenance, the airline is an exemplar of 21st-century capitalism.
No, the point of this story is that 21st-century capitalism has plunged us into a world of great and avoidable risk. For anyone who wants a clear understanding of this brave new world economy, check out "End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation," a new book by Barry C. Lynn, a fellow at the New America Foundation and the former editor of Global Business magazine. Lynn's work provides a painstakingly reported, utterly unpuffy look at the modern, outsourcing global corporation and the world it is creating in its own image. Think of it as Tom Friedman for grown-ups.
As Lynn sees it, our age is defined by two epochal decompositions -- that of the nation that sought to steer its own economic policy, and that of the vertically integrated corporation in which shareholders, managers, workers and the community all had a stake and from which they all benefited. "Even as we were busting open the borders of the nation, we were also busting open the borders of the traditional firm," Lynn writes. "The two great economic planning entities of the twentieth century were chased from the stage at almost the exact same moment. So far no one has taken their place."
Lynn pays particularly close attention to such economic wonders as Dell, Cisco, Wal-Mart and General Electric. What he finds are corporations that have outsourced their manufacturing, their back-office work, their research and development, even much of their logistical coordination. Profits accrue less from innovation than from squeezing costs; the number of employees who benefit from the core corporation's increased revenue is greatly reduced; and the vulnerability of these corporations' supply chains to upheavals in distant lands is greatly increased.
There are multiple culprits in this tale, but the primary one is the rise of unchecked shareholder power over the new-model corporation. Today's corporate leader is expected to dismantle and disaggregate his corporation whenever there's a buck in it for his shareholders. The chief executive, writes Lynn, is no longer "the company's man in the boardroom [but has become] the investors' man in the company."
This shift in corporate control goes a long way toward explaining the anomalies of the current recovery -- the first in post-World War II America in which profits have soared but wages have flat-lined, median family incomes have actually declined and few new jobs have been created. What CEO, answerable to his shareholders and fearful of competitors answerable to theirs, would dare give his employees a raise? What would have happened to JetBlue's stock if its executives had decided to employ their mechanics in-house and in the United States?
Lynn posits a range of solutions, including compensating top executives with salary instead of stock and removing the obstacles American workers encounter when they seek to form unions. Absent these sorts of changes, incomes will probably continue to fall. Let's hope no planes do.
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U.S. airlines outsource much of their maintenance overseas. Let's hope they're not compromising on safety to cut costs.
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A Jimmy Carter Moment
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THE NATION'S careless guzzling of fuel harms the environment and creates an unhealthy reliance on autocratic oil exporters. This never caused President Bush to advocate conservation. But now that high energy prices appear to be hurting Mr. Bush's poll ratings as well, the president has changed his tune. "We can all pitch in . . . by being better conservers of energy," Mr. Bush pleaded on Monday. If Americans "are able to maybe not drive . . . on a trip that's not essential, that would be helpful."
Although Jimmy Carter was ridiculed for his cardigan campaign, Mr. Bush's rhetorical U-turn is welcome. It recognizes that any serious energy strategy has to include conservation. But there is a difference between supplication and policy. If Mr. Bush really wants to promote more careful energy consumption, he ought to tax it.
Contrary to what you might suppose, there is something to be said for imposing an energy tax when prices are already high, as they are at the moment. Precisely because consumers are already outraged by fuel prices, a further, tax-induced price increase would force demand down more sharply than it would in normal market circumstances. This would be painful: Consumers don't like cutting back. But the sharp reduction in demand would cause the pretax fuel price to fall sharply, too, offsetting the after-tax increase.
This is a smart way to make oil producers subsidize U.S. taxpayers. Because of the energy tax, producers would face lower demand and lower market prices; they would, in effect, pay perhaps a quarter of the energy tax, with consumers picking up the balance. Fuel-tax revenue would ease the pressure to raise taxes to plug the budget deficit, so Americans would come out ahead; they would be getting Saudi Arabia's help in rebuilding the nation's finances. Air quality, climatic stability and U.S. foreign policy would all gain, too. And really, as the new Mr. Bush might say, how painful would it be to consume a bit less energy once the initial lifestyle adjustments are made? Is it really so terrible to walk to the bus stop? Or to wear cardigans in the office?
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A gas tax would help with the deficit and make us less reliant on autocratic oil exporters. If the president is serious about conservation, he should support it.
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$236 Million Cruise Ship Deal Criticized
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On Sept. 1, as tens of thousands of desperate Louisianans packed the New Orleans Superdome and convention center, the Federal Emergency Management Agency pleaded with the U.S. Military Sealift Command: The government needed 10,000 berths on full-service cruise ships, FEMA said, and it needed the deal done by noon the next day.
The hasty appeal yielded one of the most controversial contracts of the Hurricane Katrina relief operation, a $236 million agreement with Carnival Cruise Lines for three ships that now bob more than half empty in the Mississippi River and Mobile Bay. The six-month contract -- staunchly defended by Carnival but castigated by politicians from both parties -- has come to exemplify the cost of haste that followed Katrina's strike and FEMA's lack of preparation.
To critics, the price is exorbitant. If the ships were at capacity, with 7,116 evacuees, for six months, the price per evacuee would total $1,275 a week, according to calculations by aides to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). A seven-day western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston can be had for $599 a person -- and that would include entertainment and the cost of actually making the ship move.
"When the federal government would actually save millions of dollars by forgoing the status quo and actually sending evacuees on a luxurious six-month cruise it is time to rethink how we are conducting oversight. A short-term temporary solution has turned into a long-term, grossly overpriced sweetheart deal for a cruise line," said Coburn and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in a joint statement yesterday calling for a chief financial officer to oversee Katrina spending.
Carnival's bid totaled $192 million over six months, plus $44 million in reimbursable expenses, such as port charges, fuel, food and docking costs. To Carnival executives, the contract will ensure only that the company breaks even when it pulls three ships from holiday operations. About 100,000 passengers had their vacations canceled to accommodate the government's needs, said J. Michael Crye, president of the International Council of Cruise Lines, who has been answering questions about the deal for Carnival.
"In the end, we will make no additional money on this deal versus what we would have made by keeping these ships in service," said Jennifer de la Cruz, a Carnival spokeswoman. "That has been our position from the outset, and it has not changed."
Government contracting officials defended the deal. "They were the market," Capt. Joe Manna, director of contracts at the Sealift Command, said of Carnival. "Under the circumstances, I'd say we're getting a pretty good value."
Coburn and Obama disagreed. "Finding out after the fact that we're spending taxpayer money on no-bid contracts and sweetheart deals for cruise lines is no way to run a recovery effort," they said in the statement.
The Carnival deal is only one of several instances in which a lack of FEMA preparation may have left federal taxpayers with an outsized bill. Despite its experiences with last year's busy hurricane season, FEMA found itself without standing contracts for standard relief items such as blue tarps to cover damaged roofs, according to Thomas A. Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste.
"It is ridiculous that they can't have the supply on hand for these basics that you know you'll need in every instance," Schatz said.
But the Carnival deal has come under particular scrutiny. Not only are questions being raised over the contract's cost, but congressional investigators are examining the company's tax status. Carnival, which is headquartered in Miami but incorporated for tax purposes in Panama, paid just $3 million in income tax benefits on $1.9 billion in pretax income last year, according to company documents. "That's not even a tip," said Robert S. McIntyre of Citizens for Tax Justice. U.S. companies in general pay an effective income tax rate of about 25 percent, analysts say. That would have left Carnival with a $475 million tax bill.
Carnival's public records boast "that substantially all of our income in fiscal 2004, 2003 and 2002 . . . is exempt from U.S. federal income taxes," largely because it maintains that its operations are not in the United States but on the high seas.
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On Sept. 1, as tens of thousands of desperate Louisianans packed the New Orleans Superdome and convention center, the Federal Emergency Management Agency pleaded with the U.S. Military Sealift Command: The government needed 10,000 berths on full-service cruise ships, FEMA said, and it needed the...
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Downgrades for Brown's Topical Storm
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The House Select Committee on Hurricane Katrina did a heck of a job on Brownie yesterday.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) ordered a Democratic boycott of the hearing, calling it a "sham" and a "photo opportunity." But, as defrocked FEMA director Michael D. Brown can attest, Pelosi's concerns about a whitewash proved unjustified.
Rep. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican, called Brown's account of events "feeble," "clueless," "shocking" and "beyond belief." Said Shays: "I'm happy you left, because that kind of . . . look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job."
Rep. Kay Granger, a Texas Republican, told Brown: "I don't know how you can sleep at night. You lost the battle."
Rep. Gene Taylor, one of two Democrats who ignored the boycott, said Brown was in way over his head. "You folks fell on your face. You get an F-minus in my book," he attested. The Mississippian added: "Maybe the president made a very good move when he asked you to leave your job."
Chairman Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) offered Brown no help, giving members unlimited time to abuse the witness and adding his own barbs. When Brown argued that the White House "was fully engaged . . . behind the scenes," Davis interjected: "They had to be behind the scenes, because I think we didn't see anything out front."
Brown displayed the command of facts that made him famous over the past month. He did not know how much FEMA had spent on communications, guessing, "a boatload of money." He had to ask members of his entourage how many MREs were in a trailer load. "I don't have a clue how many [people] were truly in the Superdome," he volunteered at one point. Asked whether he is still a federal employee, Brown said: "You know, I don't know." (He is.)
With 12 Republicans and no Democrats on the dais when the hearing opened, Brown started by blaming the media and Louisiana's Democratic officials. "I do believe there are a couple of specific mistakes that I made," he said. "I failed initially to set up a series of regular briefings to the media," he lamented. And his "biggest mistake," he said, "was not recognizing . . . that Louisiana was dysfunctional."
"I do not want to make this partisan," he said, proceeding to do just that, "so I can't help it that Alabama and Mississippi are governed by Republican governors and Louisiana is governed by a Democratic governor."
Pointing his finger, pounding the table, Brown veered from his prepared testimony to insist: "I get it" and "I know what it's all about," and "I know what I am doing" and "I do a pretty darn good job." This display produced gasps and chuckles in the gallery.
Brown did nothing to win over his questioners. Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) had to repeat a question because Brown was reading his BlackBerry. Shays had to repeat one because Brown was engrossed in his notes. When Shays pressed him about his performance, a petulant Brown complained: "So I guess you want me to be this superhero."
One hour and 36 minutes passed before Brown acknowledged that "FEMA has a logistics problem." Gradually, Brown's admissions grew more damaging.
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The House Select Committee on Hurricane Katrina did a heck of a job on Michael D. Brown.
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Filibuster Showdown Looms In Senate
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The upcoming battle over a successor to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor threatens to plunge the Senate into another bitter confrontation over filibusters and the "nuclear option," with Democrats already threatening to use any means possible to thwart President Bush if he nominates someone they regard as too conservative.
The roster of those threatening a filibuster includes liberal and moderate Democrats, supporters and opponents of John G. Roberts Jr., Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and at least one of the seven Democratic senators who were part of the bipartisan "Gang of 14."
Democrats have splintered almost evenly over Roberts's nomination as chief justice, leading to frustration among party activists who think their elected leaders did not put up a serious fight against him. Pollsters have told party leaders that a show of opposition against Bush's next nominee could be crucial to restoring enthusiasm among the rank and file on the left.
In an interview, Dean said Democratic unity is essential in the upcoming battle and that the party "absolutely" should be prepared to filibuster -- holding unlimited debate and preventing an up-or-down vote -- Bush's next high court nominee, if he taps someone they find unacceptably ideological. He cited appellate court judges Priscilla R. Owen and Janice Rogers Brown as two who would be likely to trigger such opposition.
"Those people are clearly not qualified to sit on the Supreme Court, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure they don't," he said. "If we lose, better to go down fighting and standing for what we believe in, because we will not win an election if the public doesn't think we'll stand up for what we believe in."
The possibility of a filibuster comes only a few months after an agreement that supposedly eliminated such threats. The Gang of 14 agreement barred filibusters against judicial nominees except under "extraordinary circumstances." The compromise also blocked Republican threats to change Senate rules to bar the use of filibusters to block judicial nominations, a step considered so drastic it became known as the "nuclear option."
Owen and Brown were cleared for confirmation to the appellate courts as part of that agreement, and Republicans said then that Democratic acquiescence in their confirmation meant the opposition party could not use ideology to bar future Bush nominees. But Democrats rejected that interpretation and said this week that Owen, Brown and several others believed to be under consideration by the president face a likely filibuster if nominated to the high court.
A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) declined to issue a blanket filibuster threat but joined Dean in saying that a nominee judged more conservative than Roberts will face vigorous opposition because the successor to O'Connor -- the key swing vote on many issues -- could shift the ideological balance of the court.
"A nominee more extreme than Judge Roberts would be unacceptable to the Democratic caucus," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley, who added later: "You could expect a major fight on the Senate floor."
Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), a member of the Gang of 14 who plans to vote for Roberts, said a filibuster will be warranted if "the president appoints someone who brings a right-wing ideology and is going to use the court to advance their views."
In an interview yesterday, Salazar said: "From my personal point of view, anyone who is going to be an ideologue, who is going to have right-wing views, falls within that category of extraordinary circumstances." He said that although he would attempt to defeat such a nominee by enlisting opposition among moderate Republicans, "a filibuster has to remain a procedural possibility."
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), also a member of the Gang of 14, said he hopes White House consultation with senators would persuade the president to select a consensus nominee. "If he sends over someone who looks like a conservative ideologue, who's going to be an activist on the court, that could be very problematic," he said.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who was instrumental in forging the May agreement, said: "I'm not anxious to speculate what might trigger an extraordinary circumstance. If there is one, I'll know it when I see it. It's just very difficult to try to do that without a particular nominee in place."
The Senate is scheduled to vote on Thursday on Roberts's nomination to become the 17th chief justice of the United States, and White House officials have said Bush will move quickly after the vote to announce his nominee to succeed O'Connor. That could mean an announcement by Friday or possibly early next week.
If Democrats threaten a filibuster, Republicans are likely to respond by bringing back the nuclear option. Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Mike DeWine (Ohio) have said that if any Democrats in the Gang of 14 join a filibuster, they will support invoking the nuclear option, providing enough votes to assure passage.
Democrats think Bush is too weak politically to take on a difficult fight over the court. Some also argue that Republicans would lose politically if they change the rules to force through a nominee.
The speculation about a filibuster comes even before the coalition of liberal groups leading the opposition to Bush's court picks has settled on a strategy to press on Democratic senators in the next nomination fight. "No one is talking about filibuster at this point," said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice. "It's much too early."
Dean said a straight party-line vote would show Democratic unity but would not be sufficient to block a nominee. "That's not a fight to the death," he said. "A fight to the death is a filibuster, which is the only way we can reject an unqualified nominee -- because the Republicans don't seem to have any qualms about putting unqualified people in all manner of positions all over the government."
Staff writers Michael A. Fletcher and Jim VandeHei contributed to this report.
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The upcoming battle over a successor to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor threatens to plunge the Senate into another bitter confrontation over filibusters and the "nuclear option."
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Zarqawi 'Hijacked' Insurgency
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BAGHDAD -- The top U.S. military intelligence officer in Iraq said Abu Musab Zarqawi and his foreign and Iraqi associates have essentially commandeered the insurgency, becoming the dominant opposition force and the greatest immediate threat to U.S. objectives in the country.
"I think what you really have here is an insurgency that's been hijacked by a terrorist campaign," Army Maj. Gen. Richard Zahner said in an interview. "In part, by Zarqawi becoming the face of this thing, he has certainly gotten the funding, the media and, frankly, has allowed other folks to work along in his draft."
The remarks underscored a shift in view among senior members of the U.S. military command here since the spring, as violence, especially against civilians, has spiked and as Zarqawi, a radical Sunni Muslim from Jordan, has aggressively promoted himself and his anti-U.S., anti-Shiite campaign. U.S. military leaders say they now see Zarqawi's group of foreign fighters and Iraqi supporters, known as al Qaeda in Iraq, as having supplanted Iraqis loyal to ousted president Saddam Hussein as the insurgency's driving element.
[The U.S. military announced Tuesday that a man it identified as Zarqawi's second-in-command and the leader of al Qaeda's operations in Baghdad, Abdallah Najim Abdallah Muhammad Juwari, known as Abu Azzam, had been shot dead in the Iraqi capital during a U.S. raid Sunday. A statement from Zarqawi's group, however, said Abu Azzam's death "was not confirmed" and denied that he is the group's number two figure.]
Even with Zarqawi's growing significance, Zahner and other officers stressed that Iraq's insurgency remains a complex mix of elements. It includes a variety of factions, often with differing political, religious or tribal aims and sometimes with simply criminal intentions.
"While Zarqawi is the overarching bad guy -- the one everyone loves to hate -- there are a lot of other bad guys operating as well," said Brig. Gen. Karl R. Horst, deputy commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, which has responsibility for the Baghdad area.
But the Hussein loyalists -- including former Baath Party members, onetime military and intelligence officers and other Sunni Arab associates of the ousted Iraqi leader -- have clearly receded in the U.S. command's view. Labeled "Saddamists" in U.S. military reports, they are now considered less an immediate military danger than a longer-term political concern, given their desire to return to power and their potential to infiltrate and subvert efforts to establish democracy. Once the primary names on the list of most-wanted insurgents in Iraq, they now rank behind those identified with al Qaeda in Iraq.
"You'll see some of the old regime elements on there, mainly just to maintain pressure and, frankly, accountability," Zahner said. "But when you look at those individuals central to the inflicting of huge amounts of violence, it really is not those folks. The Saddamists, the former regime guys, they're riding this."
By contrast, Zarqawi's network, although numerically still a small fraction of the insurgency, is said to be behind a disproportionately large share of the violence. Its suicide bombings in particular have produced the highest casualties and, senior U.S. officers say, done the most to heighten insecurity and sectarian tensions and undermine public support in the United States for the U.S. military effort here.
The heightened prominence of Zarqawi's group has affected the focus of U.S. military operations. Since spring, U.S. commanders have moved beyond targeting the group's leaders and urban cells to try to shut off the flow of foreign Islamic extremists infiltrating from Syria. These foreigners, who come from a number of countries, are said to be employed by Zarqawi as the primary suicide attackers in Iraq.
There has been a steady buildup of U.S. and Iraqi forces along the insurgents' two main transit corridors -- one in northwestern Iraq between the border and Mosul, the other in the far western reaches of the Euphrates River valley. U.S. figures show some success in curbing infiltration. Zahner said the number of foreign fighters entering Iraq, which had started to approach 200 a month in June, appeared to drop to 100 a month or fewer by the end of August. More than 315 foreign fighters have been killed since March and nearly 330 detained. Suicide attacks fell about 50 percent from May to August.
In Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, the 1st Brigade of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division reported capturing or killing a succession of top al Qaeda figures since the spring. Even with these apparent losses, however, Zarqawi and his associates still appear able to escalate attacks when they want, as they demonstrated in Baghdad on Sept. 14 with at least a dozen bombings that killed or wounded hundreds. The average level of daily attacks across Iraq, including small-arms fire, drive-by shootings, mortar and rocket assaults and roadside bombings, has continued to creep up since spring and stands now at about 90.
U.S. officers here say military operations have disrupted the planning and movement of Zarqawi's group and weakened its leadership in some areas of the country. But Zarqawi and his supporters have shown an ability to shift to regions where U.S. and Iraqi troops have minimal presence.
Another problematic aspect of Zarqawi's operation is its absence of an associated political organization. Hoping to incite sectarian conflict and derail the political process, Zarqawi has declared war on Iraqi Shiites and is urging Sunnis not to participate in next month's vote on a draft constitution or December's parliamentary elections.
"I think right now he's taking an extremely high-risk but, in his view, potentially high-payoff strategy, which is to try to force a civil war with the Shia and portray himself as the defender of the Sunni populace," Zahner said.
U.S. commanders see an opportunity to exploit what they regard as a split between Zarqawi's approach and the main current of Sunni opinion, which appears to favor participation in the voting. In a meeting with leading representatives in Fallujah last week, Army Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. officer in Iraq, described Zarqawi's group and its supporters as "the greatest threat to Iraq" and urged all Iraqis "to band together against that group so the country can go forward."
A main worry among senior U.S. officers here is that Zarqawi's attacks will trigger a deadly cycle of retribution. This increases the pressure on U.S. forces to crush Zarqawi's group, and not just hope that it weakens and eventually dissolves as Iraq's political process matures.
"If you don't take off the terrorist element," Zahner said, "the political process can't mature."
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BAGHDAD -- The top U.S. military intelligence officer in Iraq said Abu Musab Zarqawi and his foreign and Iraqi associates have essentially commandeered the insurgency, becoming the dominant opposition force and the greatest immediate threat to U.S. objectives in the country.
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Smaller Cars Enjoy New Chic
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John Mathews of Universal Toyota in San Antonio has witnessed the day that auto industry executives in Detroit said would never come.
"We are seeing people who are driving $40,000 Suburbans trading them in on $15,000 Corollas," said Mathews, who manages a dealership in a state where big trucks and sport-utility vehicles rule the roads. "The last 30 days have been unlike anything I've ever seen in the automotive industry."
Even in hurricane-addled Alabama, people pouring in from Louisiana and Mississippi are popping into Treadwell Honda looking for replacements for destroyed cars. Harold Wesley, a salesman, in the midst of fielding calls last week, said he can't keep Civics on the lot -- new or used. "As soon as the new ones get here, they are sold." Wesley said the manufacturer is allocating dealers a few at a time to be fair. Treadwell's last shipment of 12 sold in three days, he said.
Nationally, Toyota Motor Corp. officials say the Corolla, one of the Japanese company's smallest and most fuel-efficient passenger cars, had 8.7 days' supply of inventory at the end of last week. In the industry, inventory of 50 to 60 days' supply is seen as adequate. Honda Motor Co. officials are struggling to keep up with demand for the Civic, of which there is nine days' supply. "Inventories are as low or lower than they've ever been for the Civic," said Sage Marie, a Honda spokesman. "They're basically being bought right off the truck."
Toyota dealers in the D.C. area say they also are seeing an uptick in demand for the smaller vehicles. But the trend isn't as pronounced as in truck-dominated Texas where people who have been buying trucks for years are rushing to get out of them. "Most of the time you come in here and you might have 80 Corollas to choose from," said Dave Reynolds, general sales manager of Jack Taylor's Alexandria Toyota. "Now you come in and you have 20 to choose from."
While small car sales are helping to lift the Japanese automakers, Detroit's General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are sinking under the weight of large sport-utility vehicles, once the industry's cash cows. The two automakers have reported substantial slides in profits in their North American operations this year, and their bonds have junk status on Wall Street. The interest in small cars has caught the two automakers unprepared, said Dave Healy, an auto industry analyst at Burnham Securities Inc. in New York.
For the Big Three, Healy said, investment followed profit margins. "As long as the SUV segment was doing well, they poured money into that and neglected small cars," Healy said. "At that time you could have made a very good case that it was giving the public what it wants."
Healy and other analysts are predicting bleak results for Detroit automakers when they report sales results for September on Monday. Healy said large sport-utility vehicles will be especially hard-hit after climbing in the summer due to "employee pricing for everyone" discount pricing sales. "We're looking at 20, 30, 40 percent yearly declines," Healy said. The spike in gasoline prices and the summer incentives have crushed SUV sales now.
Brad Boeckmann, vice president of Galpin Motors Inc., based in North Hills, Calif., the biggest Ford retail dealer in the nation, said Ford's "family price" employee discounts has "propped up" sales of large SUVs at the dealership. "When the family pricing goes away, obviously Ford and the dealers are going to need to do something to get people's attention again."
Dealers say inventory of used SUVs is building up. Raj Sundaram, president of Automotive Lease Guide, which tracks vehicle resale values, said SUVs remain under pressure. "Can anybody answer the million-dollar question -- when is this going to turn around and end?" he said. "Nobody seems to know."
GM and Ford are getting some benefit from greater interest in small cars. George Pipas, Ford's U.S. sales analysis manger, said inventories are tight for the Focus passenger car. He said sales of the Focus have grown 10 percent in the past 90 days, compared with a year ago. Pipas said the small car segment is one of the hottest in the industry. To meet demand, he said, the Focus car plant in Wayne, Mich., has had fewer production shutdowns than in past years. "As far as we can see, Wayne is going to be running," Pipas said. "But the sales pace may outstrip our production for the foreseeable future."
Over the years, Detroit's investment in new cars has taken a back seat to developing more and more truck and SUV models. Last year, GM introduced the small Chevrolet Cobalt, but consumers were cool to the car early on. Ford hasn't significantly updated the Focus in the past six years. Both companies have new or redesigned models headed for showrooms in coming months. DaimlerChrysler AG is also concentrating on bringing out smaller SUVs that get better fuel economy, an area of sales growth in the industry.
Paul Ballew, GM's chief market analyst, said the level of consumer interest in small cars is being overplayed. He said Japanese automakers are benefiting most because of their experience in the segment, particularly in their home market. Meanwhile, Ballew said GM was having a "solid" small-car month, and he said GM will continue running its Lordstown, Ohio, plant where the Cobalt is assembled at a "very aggressive clip."
Ballew said GM will continue to watch the car market before making additional plans to bring out more small cars for American buyers. Honda and Toyota are moving forward. This month Honda launched the latest Civic that includes a remodeled hybrid and high-performance models. In recent years, Toyota launched the Scion brand -- a line of small cars that Toyota is marketing to younger buyers. Scion has a tight 7.2 days' supply.
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John Mathews of Universal Toyota in San Antonio has witnessed the day that auto industry executives in Detroit said would never come.
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Intimidation Alleged On 'Intelligent Design'
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HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 27 -- Parents in federal court Tuesday described an atmosphere of intimidation and anger when school board members in Dover, Pa., last year decided to require high school biology teachers to read a statement that casts doubt on the theory of evolution.
Bryan Rehm, a parent who also taught physics at Dover High School, testified of continual pressure from board members not to "teach monkeys-to-man evolution." He said that the board required teachers to watch a film critical of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and that board members talked openly of teaching creationism alongside evolution.
The atmosphere became so heated that neighbors began to call him an "atheist with . . . a lot of words added on to it," Rehm said. He said that "it was turning into a real zoo" and that students were quarreling about evolution.
Rehm is one of 11 people from Dover, a small town south of Harrisburg, who want to block their school board from requiring the reading of that four-paragraph statement that criticizes evolutionary theory. The statement notes that "intelligent design" offers an alternative theory for the origin and evolution of life -- namely, that life in all of its complexity could not have arisen without the help of an intelligent hand.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are representing the parents, along with lawyers from Pepper Hamilton LLP.
Advocates of intelligent design, who include a small band of scientists and philosophers, are silent on whether that intelligent hand belongs to God or perhaps some other being. "It will be clear that this isn't about religion," said Allan Bonsell, 45, a school board member who has attended the opening two days of the trial. "We're not teaching intelligent design. We're making the kids aware of it."
Sworn testimony as well as two newspaper accounts note that Bonsell and other board members dismissed the separation of church and state as a myth, and initially favored equally teaching creationism and evolution. Bonsell and the board members have denied making these statements or have said they were misquoted. The board meetings were taped, but the tapes apparently were destroyed.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones directed reporters with two local newspapers, the York Dispatch and the York Daily Record, to testify about what was said in open meetings. The two reporters have declined, citing reportorial privilege, and could face penalties including jail time on Wednesday.
The board's lawyers have framed the case as one of free inquiry. They note that college classes -- including those taught by a key witness for the plaintiffs -- often make students aware of intelligent design, if only to dismiss it. Why, they ask, shouldn't the same hold for high school?
"Compromises have been made -- this is not being taught in class," said Richard Thompson, whose Thomas More Law Center represents the board. "We don't advocate teaching intelligent design at this point."
Rehm had a different bottom line. Intelligent design, he said, is inherently religious -- a view shared by many scientists. And, he added: "Nine board members without degrees in science should not be dictating science curriculum."
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HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 27 -- Parents in federal court Tuesday described an atmosphere of intimidation and anger when school board members in Dover, Pa., last year decided to require high school biology teachers to read a statement that casts doubt on the theory of evolution.
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The Mouth Of Mencia
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On his new television show, "Mind of Mencia," funnyman Carlos Mencia is just loving the B-word. He calls himself Comedy Central's "resident beaner." He does bits along the line of "You know you're a beaner when . . ." He has a routine called "Out the Beaner."
He did his act a few weeks ago for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington. Some people laughed, some people winced. At a recent taping of his cable show at a Hollywood studio, the pie-faced cutup from the barrio of East L.A. stood before a whooping audience and talked about Hurricane Katrina. "You want to know how bad it got? Mexico sent us help! They said it was 39 trucks filled with 180 soldiers." He rolls his eyes: "I'm telling you white people . . . there's at least a thousand beaners there right now."
He's talking, of course, about Mexicans or Mexican Americans or, more broadly, Latinos.
Oh, the crowd was digging it, and Comedy Central is about to announce that it's buying a second season of the popular "Mind of Mencia," which took the coveted Dave Chappelle time slot -- 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesdays -- after Dave went AWOL. But here is the thing: The word remains an offensive ethnic slur to a lot of people, who might be surprised to hear it coming out of their TV sets during prime time. "It's a derogatory word. No, let me amend that. It's a racist word," says Armando Navarro, an ethnic studies professor at the University of California, Riverside. Indeed, when Mencia used a slur for Chinese people at the taping of his show, Comedy Central bleeped it out for broadcast. But not so the B-word -- so what gives?
Whether a word might be considered a slur depends, of course, on who's using it and where and when and why. It now appears that "beaner" is a word in play, a term in transition, and that a jester like Mencia is performing an act of what linguists call "melioration," the reclamation of the pejorative, taking a word meant to sting and bending it backward and removing its barb.
"It's really quite an interesting process," says Grant Barrett, project editor for the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, who reminds us that language is alive with changing meanings. Consider as a recent classic example of melioration, Barrett says, the word "queer."
As recently as the 1970s, "queer," in the sense of meaning homosexual, was used almost exclusively as a slur. Then members of the gay community began to claim the word for themselves, as a badge of pride, and so the word makes a journey through the culture, from the street with the radical AIDS activists of Queer Nation to the academy (you can major in queer studies at a dozen colleges), until finally finding broad use and bland acceptance, as in "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." And, ho-hum, nobody raises an eyebrow anymore.
Of course the most controversial slang term among blacks (and everybody else) that's in the process of being claimed is the word that Chris Rock would use in nightclubs (a lot) but Bill Cosby would not. That word, and we all know what it is, remains in the twilight zone of reclamation -- common acceptable slang in one setting, and absolutely radioactive in another.
The first printed use of "beaner" that the editors of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang could find was in 1965, which would make it relatively recent, as slurs go (its predecessors being "bean-eater" from 1919 and "bean bandit" from 1959). The slang dictionary lists the word as "usually considered offensive." Vernacular language often takes years to find its way from the spoken to the written word.
Those who grew up in the 1970s might remember hearing the term in a stoned-out Cheech and Chong song. Many Latinos in California and the Southwest can recall hearing the word on the streets and schoolyards back in the 1940s, and its use is probably even older. "They called you a beaner back then -- boy, that meant fighting words," says Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, an advocacy group working to increase the presence of Latinos on TV. Nogales, now 63, grew up in the farm fields of California, and says, "that word was meant to hurt."
But now, Nogales says, "I like the fact that Carlos Mencia is using it. He's cutting-edge and I like it. He is doing a service by neutralizing a word that meant so much in another time." But he adds, "I understand how older people, people in their fifties or sixties, they might think differently." Nogales says that was his impression during Mencia's act at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "The older you were, the more likely to be sitting there wincing. The younger people were laughing along."
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Post Magazine: Fall Home and Design
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Yesterday, the Fall Home and Design Issue of The Washington Post Magazine featured articles about an interior designer and her artist husband who've learned the art of compromise in Chevy Chase; a furniture expert who has created a mid-century modern showcase in Alexandria; two environmental architects in Charlottesville who have invited Mother Nature into their house; and a Republican political strategist whose house is a museum of memorabilia.
Today, Jill Hudson Neal will be online to field questions and comments about yesterday's issue and the latest in Home and Design trends.
Jill Hudson Neal is The Washington Post Magazine's design editor.
Jill Hudson Neal: Hey everybody! I've just finished downing a PowerBar for lunch, so I'm ready to go! Hope you had a chance to read yesterday's Home and Design issue. We had a lot of fun putting it together, so I hope it was a fun read. Ok, let's get started...
Washington, D.C.: I would like to know more about the sustainable community in the Woolen Mills neighborhood that Hays + Ewing Design Studio is working on. Where can I go for more information on status of this project, availability, prices, etc.? Thanks!
Jill Hudson Neal: You can start by contacting Chris Hays at his Charlottesville design studio. The phone number is 434-979-3222.
Silver Spring, Md.: I am going to be moving into a two bedroom, two bath condo that is currently being built. How do I find an interior decorator? I have no clue about decorating at all and realize I need help. I am so clueless about this sort of thing, I don't even know how to go about picking an interior decorator. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Jill Hudson Neal: Hey there Silver Spring.
If you're on the look-out for an interior designer, the Washington Design Center is a terrific place to start. The center is a wonderful resource for design ideas, trends and sources, and is open to the general public (with some guidance from the friendly staff). You'll be able to see the work of a number of area interior designers and will see someone whose taste most resembles your own. Call for an appointment at 202-554-5053.
Montgomery Village, Md: My wife and I were very taken with the stair railing from the S.S. United States used in the deco home. It's just the look we've been searching for. Short of trecking up to Philadelphia (where the United States is docked!) - not to mention the obvious problems with gaining access to the ship and its components - is there someplace we can go for reproductions or (hopefully inexpensive) knock-offs of this look?
Jill Hudson Neal: Hey there. You're right to be taken with that stair railing from the Donnelly's home. It's fantastic and looks amazing in the house. Unfortunately, Dan found the railing about 20 years ago, and it (or something like it) has since become pretty difficult to find. The folks at Daniel Donnelly Furniture in Old Towne Alexandria (703-549-4672) suggest auctions or sales specialize in architectural salvage. With that in mind, eBay isn't a bad place to start.
Arlington, Va.: So where do us working/middle class folk go to find AFFORDABLE housing like this? Seems like this technology is out of financial reach for most, at least until many years later when we can buy hand-me-down eco-houses.
Jill Hudson Neal: This is an interesting question, Arlington. I talked to Chris Hays to get his thoughts on affordable sustainable housing and he agreed that homes like his are often out of reach financially for most working and middle class people. His design firm is working on a couple of eco-friendly homes in Charlottesville for Habitat for Humanity. There are a few small things that you can do in your existing home to make it more eco-friendly - using low VOC (volatile organic compound) paints, for example - but it's a tricky thing to figure out how to back into a project like that. Hope that helps somewhat.
Alexandria, Va.: Picking an interior designer: when I've looked at the boards at the Wash. Design Center, it looks like all the interior designers are WAY out of my price range (or interest). When I bought our house years ago, I needed help and found a great interior designer through the Wash. Home Show. She gave a talk on how to use color and I really liked her approach. She ended up doing our whole house, and I still like everthing we bought at the time. She has since retired, unfortunately for me.
Anyway, just a thought for those looking for someone, go to the home shows and to the talks and see if you click with someone.
Jill Hudson Neal: Thanks Alexandria for this answer. It's a terrific idea.
Jill Hudson Neal: Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wrap things up. Thanks for your questions for this issue. Look forward to chatting with you soon.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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'No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'
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Featuring the life and career of Bob Dylan, the world broadcast premiere of the American Masters documentary "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" aired on PBS on Monday, Sept. 26, and Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 9 p.m. ET. (Check local listings.)
American Masters series creator and executive producer Susan Lacy and film editor David Tedeschi were online Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 1:30 p.m. ET to discuss Bob Dylan's life and work and the American Masters film that features the artist.
Dylan agreed to make an appearance in his own story. Directed by Martin Scorsese, this film includes an archive of never-before-seen footage from childhood, from the road, from backstage, as well as unreleased interviews conducted over the past 15 years with other seminal figures from those times. Dylan brings the rights to his legendary music with him -- "Blowin' in the Wind," "Like a Rolling Stone," "Don't Think Twice," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "It Ain't Me Babe," "Just Like a Woman," "Positively 4th Street," "The Times They Are A-Changin'" -- and so on.
Lacy has been an award-winning producer of prime-time public television programs for almost two decades. She has been responsible for the production and national broadcast of 130 documentary biographies on artists who have made a significant impact on American culture. Lacy was the recipient of the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004.
In addition to "No Direction Home," Tedeschi's documentary work includes "The Blues: Feel Like Going Home" -- also a Scorsese film -- "My Friend Paul," "America's Challenge" and "8A." His television work includes "The Shield" (2003), "The Osbournes" (2002-2003), "American High" (2000-2001), "The Awful Truth" (1999-2000) and "TV Nation" (1995-1996). Tedeschi's feature work includes "Pinero," "Free of Eden," Azucar Amarga" and "El Silencio De Neto."
David Tedeschi: Hi everybody. Welcome to the chat!
Ashland, Ore.: For David Tedeschi: Your juxtaposition of different pieces of footage is masterful. What principles or ideas did you use in deciding which shot to choose at each point, when to cut, how to put the pieces together?
David Tedeschi: The editing is all intuitive. The editing is emotional. That is, I think, draws Marty to the material, on all his films. Not so much rational, but going for the emotional heart of a story, even in the cutting, cut by cut.
Susan Lacy: This is Susan Lacy, the series creator and executive producer of American Masters, and one of the producers of the Bob Dylan program. I'm delighted to be here!
Hats off to you both and to Mr. Scorsese for an excellent, in-depth look at an amazing "song and dance man" and the era from which he sprung (and which he helped define, a claim few artists can make).
No question -- just a lot of thanks! It must have been fun!
Susan Lacy: Oh! It was fun! It was exhilarating, intense, complex, nail-biting, all those things. And we appreciate that you liked it so much!
Alexandria, VA: First off the documentary was outstanding! I easily put it up there with Ken Burn's various series as being one of the best documentaries that PBS has ever shown. Programs like these are one of the reasons why I'm always so willing to donate in the annual pledge drives.
Are there plans to do a follow-up documentary on Dylan that will focus on the later years in his life?
Susan Lacy: We are having preliminary discussions about that.
Washington, DC: Why do you think Dylan has re-emerged for another generation of listeners? Even though he really never went away, he still wasn't omnipresent, as he is now, for most of the last 30 years. What happened?
Susan Lacy: I can't really speak for Bob Dylan. He did a book, Chronicles Volume 1 which was on the best seller list, he did that 60 Minutes interview. He's been out there more than he had been. He's a very private man. But I think that Dylan will always find a new generation. Because his music is timeless. That's one of the whole points of the American Masters series, to bring to new generations the work of these timeless masters. Because in an age of 800 cable channels and people walking around with their Ipods and this that and the other, the work of the great masters can get lost. And that's what I see our job at American Masters as, to make sure we're keeping the work out there for each new generation.
Hillsborough, N.C.: I thoroughly enjoyed the show. So much, in fact, that I'll be adding a copy to my collection. Thank you. Question: There was a short clip of John Henry Nile during the first evenings airing. I was quite taken by this performer and would like to hear more. I have attempted search with no success. Can you assist?
David Tedeschi: John Jacob Niles was a real revelation for me too. There is so much amazing music by artists like John Jacob Niles and Richard Dyer Bennet which is very hard to get today, because it is out of print.
This is one of the reasons that Marty wanted to do a documentary like this - to get out material which is otherwise inaccessible, even today with the Internet, etc.
Chicago, Ill.: When Dylan was talking about Baez on the "Don't Look Back" tour, he said, "Looking back on it, it was pretty stupid." Then, he said something like, "When you're in love, you're not wise. I hope she realizes that by now." Was he talking about Baez or himself?
David Tedeschi: When Dylan said that, I always believed that he was talking about himself. It wasn't until we were completely done that someone pointed out to me that he could have been talking about Joan Baez. It think it is part of his genius - that his words, like his writing, can have more than one meaning.
Rome, Italy: Three questions: First, how were the overnight ratings? How do they compare to other American Masters programs? Was there a significant audience for this program? Second, the Wall Street Journal reviewer and some others have succeeded in creating the impression that Martin Scorsese, PBS and the BBC were all taken advantage of by Bob Dylan and his management, who assembled the pieces, including filming the interviews, and then presented them as a fait accompli to be used to burnish the Dylan legacy. Can you discuss the editorial independence of Scorsese in this project, the role of PBS and the BBC, and the role of Dylan and Dylan's management? Third, any idea what Dylan has been up to the past couple of nights?
Susan Lacy: It's complete and utter nonsense that we, any of us in any way, were manipulated by Dylan or his management. Martin Scorsese had total editorial independence. One has to look at this project as an archival project, and the interviews that have been beautifully and intelligently done over the last 15 years were a part of that archive. We can only be grateful that they were intelligent enough to create this archive for us. There is no difference between this program and any other program that AM or I'm sure the BBC does, where we go to great pains to acquire and get our hands on the archive that makes it possible for us to make these films. Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi sifted through thousands of hours and Marty came up with his take on the story with total independence. And the ratings were fabulous.
Brooklyn, NY: What state was the documentary in when you approached Martin Scorsese. Was there a rough cut?
Susan Lacy: There was no documentary before we approached Martin Scorsese. There was simply a massive archive which needed to be organized and screened.
David Tedeschi: I wanted to add to Susan's response, that Marty felt complete freedom to do the kind of the film he wanted to do, without pressure from PBS or from Bob Dylan's management. It is why Marty likes working with a non commercial entity, like PBS.
Susan Lacy: In addition to the archive, Marty and David directed a significant amount of original and additional research for this film. This film is not just from Dylan's management's archive. A significant amount of additional research was done under the guidance of David and Marty.
Takoma Park, Md.: Thanks for a great film.
Did you meet Dylan? After all these years, are you convinced that he really would have preferred to avoid all the public attention and adulation?
Susan Lacy: No, none of us ever met him, except for Marty, who has known him for a long time. Because of the work they did together on the Last Waltz.
Susan Lacy: But Marty, and he has made a point of us, did not discuss this film with Bob Dylan. At all.
Cleveland, Tenn.: Really enjoyed the show. It seems to me that Bob Dylan was not just showing up and singing as he said. Me thinks he doth protest too much.
As much as I love his music, I think that he was very much aware of what was going on and not only tolerated but embraced the commercial side of the business.
Don't you think he knew which songs would sell and how to sell them?
David Tedeschi: I'm not sure that Bob embraced the commercial side of the music. I can only state my opinion about this, and I think you can draw your own conclusions from the documentary . I think Bob wanted his music to be on the radio and to reach a wide audience. That's just my opinion, though.
Oceanside, NY: Is there enough material that spans the years from 1966 to the present to consider creating a follow-up film to "No Direction Home", and would you want to be involved in doing something like that again?
Susan Lacy: We are researching that right now. There's not as much material and it's not as dense as the material we had from the sixties. There are big gaps in it.
Atlanta, Ga.: What is the name of the song that Dylan is playing/singing at the end of the film when the credits are rolling? Where can I legally obtain a copy of the song?
David Tedeschi: Lay Down Your Weary Tune on "Biograph"
Worms, Germany: Bob Dylan has remained very reclusive not only (and rightly so) about his private life, but also about his past contributions to music and popular culture. People have suggested that he did not want to be seen as an icon of the past but an artist still relevant to the current times. However in recent years, he seems to have opened up considerably, not only writing his autobiography, but also allowing his most important albums to be re-mastered and so on. Now he is appearing in film about his past, something that was inconceivable ten years ago. What do you think changed his mind? Or am I wrong and he has not changed his mind at all, he just got the opportunity?
Susan Lacy: These kinds of questions are like trying to read Bob Dylan's mind, and I'm not in the position to do that.
Susan Lacy: I'd like to think that he does recognize that he is a really important part of American cultural history.
Rochester, N.Y.: Why was Dylan's most important song, "The Times They Are A Changin'," not played or even discussed?
David Tedeschi: We cut in this song a few times, and were never able to make it work, oddly enough, because it is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs. But it never felt right, based on where it fell in the chronology - September 1963. It just didn't move the story forward.
Beltway, Washington, D.C.: Can you share what other big documentaries we can expect on PBS in the next year or two?
Susan Lacy: Well, hmm. Let's see we've got shows coming up on the Grateful Dead, the John Ford/John Wayne story, Woody Guthrie, Andy Warhol, Frank Gehry, Audubon, Marilyn Monroe for her 80th birthday, Annie Leibowitz, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye ...
New York, N.Y.: This is for David. First of all thanks for a great documentary. Were you a fan of Dylan's music before you started working on this project? If yes, how did that influence the editing process?
David Tedeschi: I was a big Bob Dylan fan and I was also a big fan of Ginsberg and Kerouac. I'm not sure it affected the editing process except that I know we all felt like it was important to do a good job on the film because of how great an artist Bob Dylan is.
Harlingen, Tex.: I watched Part II with my 14-year-old daughter and I mentioned to her that without Dylan there would be no Coldplay. That before Dylan there were only love songs like Peggy Sue, I love you whoop dee doo ... That Dylan was the first to put poetry to music in the form she knows it today. Thanks for helping me educate!!
David Tedeschi: That's great to hear. I also think that artists like Robert Johnson and Hank Williams wrote great poetry in song.
Washington, D.C.: Loved the two shows. There was little really spent discussing his upbringing -- and really nothing about his family other than passing reference. I wonder to what extent his growing up a Jew in a small Minnesota town - where he presumably was in the minority - might have shaped his identity as an outsider -- which, perhaps, in his case, led to the role as a kind of commentator on society. Your thoughts?
Susan Lacy: I think that Bob says in the film that he always felt that he was a bit of an outsider, and that he never really belonged where he was born. I think he says that sometimes he felt like he was in the wrong shoes, and someone else in the film alludes to the fact that he may have changed his name because in Minnesota there was a fair amount of anti-Semitism. But I can't say for sure that was a big element, cause I don't know! But Marty and Bob focused on just as much as we needed to know about his childhood for us to understand where Bob was coming from.
Atlanta, Ga.: During the film there were many instances of Dylan becoming fed up with interviewers and the constant questioning that he received. Did any of this sort of irritation come out of him during the process of making the film, and if so how did you deal with it?
Susan Lacy: He had nothing to do with the making of the film, so we didn't have to deal with it.
New York, N.Y.: I felt that much of the power of your documentary came from the manner in which you provided a profound insight -- not only into Dylan -- but also into the nature of genius. I was especially moved by the pain which comes with the richness of such a gift. Was this a deliberate goal, or a marvelous byproduct?
Susan Lacy: I would say that I think that the arc of the film that Marty found is the journey of an artist. And as someone who is involved with a lot of these films because of American Masters, I can tell you that almost universally pain goes with the territory.
Moorestown, NJ: David, how did you get involved in this project? What kind of discussions did you and Marty have about narrative sequence? What do you bring away from this experience that will inform your future work as an editor?
David Tedeschi: I worked with Marty on the PBS series "The Blues". Of course there are a million things I learned working with such a great director on both documentaries. More than anything else though, it is how important it is to have a truly emotional story and how to cut for emotion.
Susan Lacy: I think it's one of the best portraits I've ever seen of an artist in the state of becoming. And the pressures that come with that kind of success and recognition. But more importantly, most true artists, while they want recognition, don't want to be shaped by it or pressured by it. Or feel boxed in by it in terms of their work.
Washington, D.C.: Whoa! The program was righteous.
Did the subjects of the modern interviews (Liam Clancy, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, etc...) know the nature of the film when they did the interviews?
Susan Lacy: These interviews were conducted of a long period of time for archival purposes. And certainly no one knew how they were going to be used or in whose hands they would be. Certainly no one knew that Scorsese would ultimately be the film maker.
Arlington, Va.: I grew up in Newport, R.I., but alas was only 9 years old when Dylan went electric at the Folk Festival. I had always been steeped in the legend of that magical night, but never knew there was footage of it. How and where did you find the footage? That was the high point for me in the entire film.
David Tedeschi: This footage was shot by a filmmaker named Murray Lerner and was part of the materials that were given to Marty at the beginning of this process. Some of it is in "Festival" - movie Murray made about the Newport Folk Festival. Of course, to see that legendary performance on film was amazing.
Houston, Tex.: It was a great documentary, I loved it. I did read somewhere, and I noticed it myself, that there were some conspicuous areas that were glossed over, whether inadvertent or otherwise. Specifically, near the end I got a distinct impression that Bob was taking cocaine. I could be wrong about that, but it sure had all the markings. I guess Scorsese's approach was to show it and let the viewer draw his/her own conclusions? Also, not much going into his love life, other than the telltale shot where Joan Baez grabs his hand, or when she talks about being snubbed/crushed by Bob. A case can be made that this is not central to the music and much commented on elsewhere such as in a lot of the biographies ...
Susan Lacy: Bravo! It is known that American Masters, while a biography series, is one that focuses primarily on the work.
St. Louis, Mo.: What are each of your favorite, let's say, three Dylan songs?
Susan Lacy: That's really hard, I love so many of them! One of my favorites, written later so it's not in the film, is All Along The Watchtower. The hour that The Ship Comes In. Don't Think Twice, It's Alright. Masters of War.
N.Y., N.Y.: Did either of you listen to Bob in the 60's or currently?
David Tedeschi: I was a little kid in the 60's. My older sister was obsessed with Blonde on Blonde - and I would hear it 24 hours a day.
Susan Lacy: I'm sorry folks, but I am afraid I have to sign off. I wish I could continue, because there are so many great questions. I am thrilled at the response to the film, and proud that we've put something out onto this planet that needed to be there. Adios!!
Arlington, Va.: Absolutely masterful. From the amount and use of archival footage and photos, to the exhaustive interviews and careful selection of bites to tell the story. Congratulations.
One question - the story is not strictly chronological, as the 1966 "judas" concert is cut to from the early '60s, then we keep going back to it. What went into the decision to not go strictly chronologically?
David Tedeschi: I'm not sure we ever made the decision not to make a chronological film. The performances from 1966 and the story of that tour were so compelling, that I think Marty was just naturally drawn to them as central to the story he wanted to tell.
Annandale, Va.: What a great film! One of the things I enjoyed most was the commentary by Dylan's contemporaries. How great to see Dave Van Ronk. Is there any chance of a film about the whole folk movement -- while some of those people are still around?
Also, I don't recall any mention of Richard Farina -- and only a passing reference to Phil Ochs. Were they not as significant to Dylan's career as he was to theirs?
David Tedeschi: There isn't a film about the whole folk movement. Wouldn't that be a great film to make.
I think that both Farina and Phil Ochs were a part of Bob Dylan's life during our period, and of course fantastic artists in their own right, but whenever we tried to weave them into the story it didn't feel central to the story we were telling.
For instance, in the case of Phil Ochs, it felt like the POV of the topical song movement or political motivated folk songs were better represented by Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, who were so articulate about their music and their politics. Because we were able to interview them they were central to the story.
David Tedeschi: Thanks everybody for joining us for this question and answer session. I have to sign out now, but we really appreciate everyone's interest in the film.
washingtonpost.com: PBS says for more information on how to buy the DVD of the film, visit: Shop PBS, Shop Thirteen
For more information on rebroadcast information, check your local listings.
washingtonpost.com: Stay tuned for the return of the American Masters series in May, 2006.
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.
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Co-producers Susan Lacy and film editor David Tedeschi, discussed Bob Dylan's life and work and the American Masters film that features the artist.
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Supreme Court to Weigh In on Anna Nicole Smith's Inheritance Case
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Playboy Playmate of the Year. Reality TV Star. National Enquirer columnist. And now, to these titles, Anna Nicole Smith can add another: Supreme Court litigant.
The erstwhile Texas stripper's long legal battle for a share of her late billionaire husband's estate will apparently reach a climax before the justices, who announced yesterday that they have accepted her request to review a federal appeals court ruling last year that gave all the money to the man's son.
At issue is the scope of the probate exception to federal jurisdiction. In other words, was a federal appeals court correct when it ruled last year that only state courts have authority over disputed estates?
But while undoubtedly important, this knotty legal issue may be overshadowed by certain other aspects of the complex case.
Start with the fact that Smith was just 26 -- and a former day-shift dancer at a strip club -- when she married 89-year-old billionaire industrialist J. Howard Marshall in 1994.
Marshall died the next year. Smith, whose real name is Vickie Lynn Marshall, claims that he promised her half of his $1.6 billion fortune before that. But, she says, Marshall's son E. Pierce Marshall illegally thwarted his father's wishes.
Pierce Marshall denies that, and a Texas state jury and judge have sided with him, cutting Smith out of the estate entirely.
But federal judges in California, brought into the case in 1996 when Smith filed for bankruptcy under federal law in that state, took a kinder view of Smith's claim.
A bankruptcy court determined that she was entitled to $475 million, an award later reduced by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter to $88.5 million in damages from Pierce Marshall.
Carter, detailing the lavish gifts of cash, real estate and jewelry that Marshall had given Smith, found that the billionaire always intended to give Smith a huge amount of money from his estate, even though only Smith recalled ever hearing him say so.
"Their lives were intertwined in need, driven by greed and lust," Carter wrote. "Nevertheless, the Court is convinced of his love for her. J. Howard referred to Vickie as the 'light of my life,' and the lady that saved his life. His relationship with her provided the happiest moments of his last few years. . . . There is no question that he showered her with gifts, that he sought to protect her and provide for her."
Last year, however, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, threw out Carter's ruling, declaring that only Texas's courts have jurisdiction.
The case is Marshall v. Marshall, No. 04-1544. Oral arguments are expected in January, and a decision is likely by July.
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Playboy Playmate of the Year. Reality TV Star. National Enquirer columnist. And now, to these titles, Anna Nicole Smith can add another: Supreme Court litigant.
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Gamers' Intersection
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One from McLean, one from South Central, both street thugs.
For a few hours, Robert "Tito" Ortiz masquerades as a car-stealin', drug-dealin', gun-totin', bad-as-I-wanna-be street gangsta on the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." The same goes for Brendan Golden. For a couple of hours, Brendan, too, takes on that role.
Brendan is a junior at Langley High in Fairfax County, a school of about 2,000 students, 75 percent white and 18 percent Asian, almost all headed straight to four-year colleges. The cars parked at Langley's football-field-size lot -- BMWs, Infinitis and Benzes among them -- are the makes you'd be stealing if you were playing "San Andreas."
Tito is a senior at Jefferson High in South Central Los Angeles, a school of about 3,800 students, 92 percent Latino and 8 percent black, where only a third of the incoming freshman class makes it to graduation. Last spring, brawls erupted there three times ("Brown on black! Brown on black!" one student yelled out), two of them ending in campus lockdowns.
The fictional "South Central Los Santos" -- the ghetto at the heart of the "San Andreas" game -- is modeled after Tito's world.
They're playing the same game, and in that way they're tied together. But what they get out of it -- the "game experience," it's called -- varies with who's sweating on the controller.
Where Brendan sees a game carved out of fantasy, Tito sees a game that's reflective of his reality. And where fantasy and reality meet, two game players who have never met, and probably never will, cross paths.
Now a lot of us think we know the ghetto. Not know it, know it, especially those of us who've never stepped foot in one. But we think we know it because we listen to hip-hop albums, watch music videos, go to movies and now -- most intensely -- play video games.
In the next few months, at least half a dozen games set in the virtually gritty, rough-and-tumble streets of the inner city will hit the market. "50 Cent: Bulletproof," due out in November, stars the hip-hop superstar 50 Cent in a "ghetto to glory" shooting spree by Terry Winters, a writer for HBO's Emmy-winning series "The Sopranos." "Fear & Respect," the much-ballyhooed collaboration between Hollywood director John Singleton ("Boyz N the Hood," "Four Brothers") and rapper-actor Snoop Dogg, comes out two months later.
"A lot of game makers are capitalizing on what the current MTV generation can't seem to get enough of: hip-hop and urban culture," says Dan Hsu, editor of Electronic Gaming Monthly. These competitors make no secret of their desire to pop a cap in "Grand Theft's" auto.
The "GTA" franchise, worth about $1 billion in U.S. sales alone, has cashed in on the sex-drugs-and-violence fantasy of livin' in the 'hood and earning street cred. To millions of young and not-so-young men, it's a singular entertainment experience, far beyond chanting along to Public Enemy's "Rebel Without a Pause." ("Where you never been, I'm in.") It's completely different to be a gangsta wreaking havoc in "San Andreas," listening to that same Public Enemy song on the radio of the car you just stole.
The third game in the series, "Grand Theft Auto III," explored the East Coast mobster setting. "Vice City," which followed, headed south for a 1980s "Miami Vice" vibe. "San Andreas," the fifth in the series, the crown jewel of the franchise, moved the action out west -- with a flavor of the West Coast hip-hop scene circa 1992.
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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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Report Details Growth in Illegal Migration
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More immigrants came to the United States illegally from 2000 through 2004 than the number who were granted legal status in those years, according to a study released yesterday that attributed much of the historic shift to visa slowdowns since 2001 and to the nation's strong job market before that.
The study by the Pew Hispanic Center said that immigration to the United States -- legal and illegal, from all regions of the world -- totaled about 1.1 million each year during the 1990s, peaked in 2000 at 1.5 million and declined substantially since 2001 to earlier levels. The number of new arrivals increased in 2004, the study said, though it is too early to say that the rise will last.
But the study, based mainly on Census Bureau surveys, said legal immigration rose more slowly during the 1990s and declined more rapidly since 2000 than did illegal immigration. One result, it said, is that the 562,000 estimated new illegal immigrants who arrived last year was about the same as a decade earlier, while the number of new legal immigrants, an estimated 455,000, was lower.
Pew demographer Jeffrey S. Passel said he believes this was the first time in the nation's history that new illegal arrivals outnumbered new legal immigrants. "The presence of the undocumented makes a big difference," he said. "This is what differentiates this from 100 years ago. There really wasn't anything like what we call illegal immigration today."
The study made the point that although the foreign-born population rises each year, now numbering at least 34 million, the pace of new arrivals fluctuates for a variety of reasons. "The flow of migration is not this inexorable, constant increase," said Roberto Suro, the center's director.
The nation's buoyant job market in the late 1990s fueled the influx of new illegal immigrants and new temporary migrants such as high-tech workers, according to Passel, and both groups declined in number when the economy slowed. The study's total of illegal immigrants includes a small number of people with temporary papers who are seeking permanent visas.
Meanwhile, he said, the government reduced the number of refugee visas and slowed the processing of other visas after the 2001 terrorist attacks, which contributed to the decline in legal immigration. This affected people in the United States with temporary papers who apply for green cards, as well as those who hope to come to the United States.
A spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the government agency that oversees the granting of green cards, said he could not comment on the study in detail because officials had not examined it closely. But Bill Strassberger questioned its conclusion that new illegal immigrants outnumber legal ones.
"I don't know that there are any indications that the undocumented population is growing faster than the legal population," the spokesman said.
Some demographers say that family and village networks are so entrenched that immigration will rise despite the economy. Steven A. Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, said there may have been "some falloff" in immigration since 2001, but there are not enough data to say there has been a substantial drop linked to the economy. Camarota, who supports limits on immigration, agrees with the Pew study that the number of illegal immigrants is growing rapidly.
The report did not break out totals for the Washington area, one of the most popular destinations for new immigrants, but Passel said the region's strong economy probably dampened any immigration decline since 2001.
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Get Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland and national news. Get the latest/breaking news, featuring national security, science and courts. Read news headlines from the nation and from The Washington Post. Visit www.washingtonpost.com/nation today.
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High Court to Decide Campaign Finance Cases
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Campaign finance reform emerged as a major theme of the coming Supreme Court term yesterday, as the justices announced that they will rule on federal and state efforts to regulate campaign-season advertising by advocacy groups and to limit spending by candidates.
The cases present the court with its first opportunity to revisit key constitutional issues in campaign law since it issued a 5 to 4 decision in 2003 upholding the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, known as the McCain-Feingold law or BCRA.
Yesterday's decisions were produced by an eight-member court, because John G. Roberts Jr. has not yet been confirmed by the Senate to succeed the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. They came out of the annual "long conference," at which the court considers thousands of appeal petitions that have accumulated during its summer recess.
Justice John Paul Stevens, the senior associate justice, presides over the court in the absence of a chief justice.
The first case is a challenge to provisions of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign law that prevent corporations or labor unions from buying ads with unregulated money about a specified candidate in the weeks just before an election.
Wisconsin antiabortion activists say their particular proposed ads are genuine efforts to express their views on an issue, not attacks on candidates disguised as issue ads -- or "sham" issue ads the law was meant to regulate.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court in Washington ruled last year that the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling upholding McCain-Feingold precluded such a case-by-case effort to avoid the law's provisions. The Bush administration urged the Supreme Court to uphold that decision without a hearing, which the high court could have done if five justices had agreed.
McCain-Feingold was upheld 5 to 4 in 2003. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was a member of that majority but will leave the court as soon as a successor is confirmed by the Senate.
"O'Connor was the swing vote" in that case, said Rick Hasen, a specialist in election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "This could provide the vehicle for a more conservative court . . . to reverse that aspect" of the 2003 decision.
The case is Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. Federal Election Commission , No. 04-1581.
The second case accepted yesterday involves three consolidated challenges to a 1997 Vermont law that puts a ceiling on how much a candidate for state office can spend. Under the law, candidates for governor may spend no more than $300,000 per two-year election cycle. Candidates for lieutenant governor may spend no more than $100,000, and smaller limits apply to other offices.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, based in New York, upheld the Vermont law last year, ruling that the law was carefully designed to meet compelling needs to avoid political corruption, or the appearance of corruption, and to prevent fundraising from taking too much of politicians' time and attention.
But Vermont's Republican Party and other political activists say the law violates their constitutional right to free speech. They note that the Supreme Court struck down expenditure limits on First Amendment grounds in its landmark 1976 decision Buckley v. Valeo , and they argue that the 2nd Circuit was wrong to find that Buckley left some room for laws like Vermont's.
Supporters of campaign spending limits, including 13 states, a bipartisan group of eight U.S. senators, the NAACP and 17 current and former state judges, urged the court to hear the case.
But Hasen said this strategy may backfire, because it is likely the court took the case to reverse the 2nd Circuit's ruling.
Two other appeals courts had previously struck down expenditure limits, he noted, but the Supreme Court did not decide to review those rulings.
The consolidated cases are Randall v. Sorrell , No. 04-1528; Vt. Republican State Committee v. Sorrell , No. 04-1530; and Sorrell v. Randall , No. 04-1697.
Oral arguments are expected in January and decisions by July.
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Campaign finance reform emerged as a major theme of the coming Supreme Court term yesterday, as the justices announced that they will rule on federal and state efforts to regulate campaign-season advertising by advocacy groups and to limit spending by candidates.
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