Sally Jenkins, Washington Post columnist

Tiger Woods’ statement about last weekend’s auto accident yields more questions than answers.  The ever-reclusive Woods, though, refuses to speak with state police investigators.

Fortunately, Sally Jenkins, the Washington Post’s talented sports columnist, offers Tiger’s ’side’ of a story that is growing more bizarre by the minute. (Somebody who knows public relations, please, please speak to Tiger before he completely destroys his public image.)

In the column, ostensibly written by Tiger, Jenkins is able to mock Woods, sports fans, and society all at the same time.

Nevertheless, I understand the relentless curiosity about me, given my sacrosanct greatness and all I do for the good of humanity, and so I have decided to release a statement, on the advice of my agent, media consultant, personal blogger, sponsor liaison and attorneys. But rather than give this statement to the authorities, who somehow think they have real authority over me, I have decided to post it on my Web site, where the little men with badges can also find news, biographical info, statistics, audio and video clips, photos, and signature merchandise such as $75 drop needle polo shirts and washable wool sweater vests, as well as framed art, naturally of me.

Posting this statement is a grand concession, given my unique status, which let’s face it amounts to almost a kind of separate state power. That’s how different I am from the common people. I am really more like Cuba. Or the Vatican.

Like any journalist, Jenkins also seeks the truth – but she does so by allowing Tiger to ‘talk.’

Among the questions I will not be addressing, when I next appear in public, after my face heals:

Make sure what never happens again?

Why would someone need to smash the two back windows of an SUV with a golf club to get me out of the front seat?

Jenkins elevates several serious issues related to sports, media, celebrity and society (like how someone is allowed to circumvent the law just because they can hit a golf ball fairly well) in a very, very funny piece. Check it out.

-30-

by Tim Craig and Hamil R. Harris | Washington Post

It wasn’t that long ago that “there was no such thing as putting a pastor on hold” when the leader of a D.C. church called city hall, said the Rev. Patrick J. Walker of the New Macedonia Baptist Church in Southeast.

But when Walker, whose church has 2,000 members, asked to sit down with D.C. Council members this summer to discuss same-sex marriage, some of them wouldn’t meet with him, he said.

“This city certainly is no longer church-friendly,” Walker said.

read more

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The President will announce his decision Tuesday, December 1, 2009. Will It be a Christmas present to those who oppose the war, the troops, are “the Bush Legacy”?

America will know tomorrow…..so we wait on what is being called a “thoughtful process” by President Obama.

Here at SCFOM, we’ve spent countless hours and countless (because I’m lazy) posts on Sarah Palin, her fans and why they’re all retarded.

Today in three short paragraphs, the Washington Post tells us all we’ll ever need to know about the Alaskan ice princess/prolific quitter and why she should never under any circumstances be president.

Check it out:

Sarah Palin may or may not run for president in 2012, but she is already the overwhelming favorite in the Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck primaries.

In a new Washington Post poll, Palin beats other GOP leaders on two questions: who best represents the party’s core values, and who Republicans would vote for if the presidential nomination battle were held today. But she has particular appeal to the loyal followers of Limbaugh and Beck, two of the most popular conservative talk show hosts in the country.

Overall, 18 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents cited her as the person most representative of the party’s core values, the highest percentage among prominent Republican figures. Among those who regularly listen to Limbaugh, however, Palin was cited by 48 percent, and among Beck’s viewers, it was 35 percent, far surpassing others.

An editorial in Saturday’s Washington Post, called “Solitary Disgrace,” calls for an end to the widespread use of long-term lockdown in America’s prisons and jails. The Post’s editors write:

At one time shunned in the United States, solitary confinement is becoming a tool increasingly used by corrections officials trying desperately to keep order in grossly overcrowded and sometimes chaotic prisons. These decisions are made even though solitary confinement costs roughly twice as much as keeping an inmate in the general prison population. At any given time, experts estimate that 25,000 to 100,000 prisoners are kept in some sort of “special housing unit” where they are isolated and kept apart from the general prison population. The number changes frequently as new prisoners are sent in and others sent out of solitary….

A short stint in solitary for most does not result in serious or permanent harm. But more prolonged stays of months or years — a practice not uncommon in many states — can result in devastating psychological damage, including psychosis and debilitating depression. Studies have also shown that inmates kept in solitary confinement for prolonged periods display higher levels of hostility than those in the general prison population; they tend to carry this hostility with them after they are returned to the general prison population or released back into the community.

I’ve been writing for some time about the case of the Angola 3, the Louisiana prisoners who have been held in solitary for as long as 37 years. Lawyers for Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace, and Robert King have for years been working on a case that challenges this kind of long-term solitary confinement on the grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution. That case is expected to at last come to trial early next year, and should shed additional light on the true toll of life in lockdown.

Ironically, the issue of solitary confinement only becomes more pressing as some states gradually lose their taste for the death penalty, and offenders languish indefinitely in complete isolation, either on death row or in other lockdown units. Yet even among progressives, the practice has never received the same kind of attention or protest as the treatment of terrorism suspects abroad. The fact that this subject even made it onto the editorial pages of one of our so-called newspapers of record suggests some growing recognition that solitary confinement is a form of torture, and that we have our own Guantanamos and Abu Ghraibs to deal with here at home.

When in trouble, whether it’s over a sinking economy, a highly unpopular health care plan, terrorist attacks on our own soil, climategate, spending us into oblivion, and countless other instances of fraud, deceit, and failure…

CREATE A DIVERSION! Enter: Tareq and Michaele Salahi… AKA “The Party Crashers”.

“Party Crashers” had five-year relationship with Obama before state dinner
Article: Canada Free Press

While the big gun media and American Secret Service are out there investigating “party crashers” Tareq and Michaele Salahi, no one’s telling the truth: Obama knew the Salahis when he was still an Illinois senator.

Polo Contacts Worldwide could make it easy for the investigating Secret Service by brown-enveloping them this picture:

Oh my God. He’s holding a Gobson Les Paul. It says “ROCK THE VOTE”. This disgusts me.

Hey Secret Agent Man, here’s Obama, the senator flashing his pearly whites with Randy Jackson, better known as a judge on American Idol. “Others pictured are Black Eyed Peas Rock Band; Tareq Salahi the President of the America’s Polo Cup; President Elect Obama, Fergie from Black eyed Peas and Michaele Salahi, posing this time as a former Miss USA and SuperModel.”

Interesting little detail for White House gumshoes: As the above photo was published in June 2005, Barack Obama was still Senator Obama and not the President Elect.

And with Michaele Salahi yesterday having been caught out—Facebook pompoms notwithstanding—as a bogus cheerleader for the Washington Red Skins and not a model for Victoria’s Secret as claimed, Canada Free Press (CFP) leaves it to FoxNews.com to find out if she ever was a “former Miss USA”.

We do know for a fact that among the slew of memberships on charitable boards, Tareq Salahi is a former member of The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP). The only way to know for a fact is because even though ATFP scrubbed all references to Salahi as a board member, he can still be found on Google cache. (Canada Free Press)

Sad that White House Secret Service are looking like Keystone Kops in the aftermath of Obama’s very first state house dinner in the tent.

Google has a thing for scrubbing anything that might shine a negative light on BHussein. They even removed the term “climategate” from their drop down search menu. It was there several days ago.

While the media is fixated on the hitch in Michaele Salahi’s git-along, there can be no doubt that these recently minted “party crashers” really get around.

We take you back to June 9, 2005 when Tom Nelson, operating officer of AARP, was summing up the Rock the Vote Awards night. According to the Washington Post “everyone from Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama to “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson and R&B singer Mya gathered in the National Building Museum’s Great Hall:

“You were probably wondering, as you sat down at your table, ‘What the heck is the AARP doing in a Rock the Vote Event?’” Nelson noted.

Time would soon tell that the AARP would show up in other fishy places.

And if there is anyone who must know that this weekend’s party crasher story is a crock it’s John McCain who was at the Vote Awards Night, and who along with Barack Obama, was honored with the Rock the Nation Award, Obama “for forming a multiracial coalition in winning his seat”.

McCain was handed his award for “his work on campaign finance reform”. “Just call me Funk Master McCain,” he told the audience of 1,000 in accepting his award.: (washingtonpost.com, June 9, 2005.

Hey, McCain. How about you stop cheezin’ it up over an award and tell BHussein how to work on a GODDAMN BUDGET. Yeah, I get it. Fat chance.

Meanwhile, don’t know why Obama’s long time associates possibly could be mistaken for party crashers when they came into the tent with a Bravo Reality TV Show “Real Housewives of DC” professional camera crew and makeup artist in tow unless he was hoping for a Reality gig for wife Michelle, CBS celebrity Katie Couric or Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Well, at least they didn’t use their child as a tool in order to get a spot on a Reality TV show. We ALL remember BALLOON boy. Fucking idiots.

Obama could end the “party crasher” goose chase for White House Secret Service in a proverbial New York Minute by coming clean on his almost 5-year-old social/political relationship with Tareq and Michaele Salahi.

It could save money in these recessionary times and put an end to the drama of Washington’s “unprecedented” first state dinner in a tent.

Wait; did THIS CanadaFreePress journalist just use “Obama” and “save money” in the same article? COME ON, NOW.

Even on Sunday, the Washington Post has become a rather quick read. The fairly thin content clearly reflects the waves of staff reductions and other cost-cutting moves of recent years.

But one decidedly interesting element of the Sunday edition is a periodic feature in the “Outlook” section devoted to debunking “five myths” on a given topic. In past weeks, the topics have ranged from health care to Iran’s nuclear program to democratic elections.

The “five myths” addressed in today’s issue were, fittingly, about holiday shopping sprees. The article noted that only a fraction of retail sales takes place during the last two months of the year.

The author, Karen Dynan of the Brookings Institution in Washington, says:

“With so much attention focused on shopping and sales during the holidays, people often assume that the vast majority of our spending takes place around this time of year. But over the past decade, only about 19 percent of each year’s retail sales were in November and December.”

Dynan also says that online sales during the holiday season “made up less than 4 percent of fourth-quarter retail sales last year. Although this represents a big increase since earlier this decade, online shopping remains a modest part of overall spending.”

Interesting stuff. And an interesting feature.

WJC

Η αμερικανική εφημερίδα «Τhe Washington Ρost» ανακοίνωσε ότι πρόκειται στις 31 Δεκεμβρίου να κλείσει τα γραφεία της στο Σικάγο, στο Λος Αντζελες και στη Νέα Υόρκη προκειμένου να αντιμετωπίσει τις οικονομικές απώλειες από τη μείωση των διαφημιστικών εσόδων της. Τα νέα αυτά δεν βοήθησαν καθόλου στη βελτίωση του κλίματος στην αγορά των αμερικανικών εφημερίδων, δεδομένου ότι η «WΡ» είναι η πλέον εύρωστη οικονομικά εφημερίδα, αν και η κυκλοφορία της έχει μειωθεί κατά 6,4% τους τελευταίους μήνες. «Είναι απαραίτητο να επικεντρώσουμε τις δημοσιογραφικές μας έρευνες στην κάλυψη των ειδήσεων που αφορούν την Ουάσιγκτον» αναφέρει ο διευθυντής Σύνταξης της εφημερίδας κ. Μάρκους Μπρόκλι.

Baloney. What’s being retrofitted here is old-time anti-Catholic bigotry, tarted up in the guise of tolerance and extended to those who think there are moral truths built into the world and into us—truths that we can grasp by reason.

Ken Cuccinelli is a serious, practicing Catholic. He’s also a sophisticated politician who knows that you don’t argue public policy in the public square on the basis of uniquely Catholic theological premises. Rather, you make your arguments in a public vocabulary, accessible to all. That’s the grammar and vocabulary of the natural moral law: the basis on which Thomas Jefferson argued the case for American national independence, Martin Luther King, Jr., promoted the civil rights of African Americans, and John Paul II passionately and effectively defended the religious and political rights of all.

Was Jefferson a bigot when he staked America’s claim to independent nationhood on “self-evident” moral truths derived from “the laws of nature?” Was King a bigot when, in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he argued that “an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law”? Was John Paul II a bigot when, at the United Nations in 1995, he suggested that the truths of the natural moral law—“the moral logic which is built into human life”—could serve as a universal “grammar” enabling genuinely cross-cultural dialogue? Please.

Read the article

Quote Freely From The Article – Leave The Pseudonym Alone

Charles Krauthammer writing in the Washington Post is not the only voice of reason when it comes to asking the United States Congress to slow down and legislate changes in health care that make sense and will not mire us completely under the muck of a severe depression like the Reid and Pelosi bill is liable to do.  But, he may be the most succinct of all critics of Obamacare.  Mr. Krauthammer, is nothing, if not discerning and astute when it comes to matters of  the economy and just plain common sense. In his article, Kill the bills. Do health reform right, he fills a column or so enumerating the follies of the House bill and the Senate bill.

Mr. Krauthammer begins his article by stating in part:

The fundamental problem with the 2,074-page Senate health-care bill (as with its 2,014-page House counterpart) is that it wildly compounds the complexity by adding hundreds of new provisions, regulations, mandates, committees and other arbitrary bureaucratic inventions.

He continues that there is nothing to bring the components of the bills together and that both depend on political expediency for the string to bind them up. Mentioned in his article are the 118 commissions, boards and other “political” string that must also be bound up to make the pork roast. Mr. Krauthammer slams mandates with financial penalties, which he maintains are,  ”picked out of a hat. He complains of  insurance companies being told what weights to give risk factors (something at which they are quite expert).  And, he speaks to sliding scales, also “picked out of a hat,” that will raise income taxes for the middle class along with other unintended consequences.

Mr. Krauthammer suggest three components for a health care overhaul that aren’t at all mentioned in either the House or Senate bills. Of course there are reasons why they are not mentioned and he does not leave them hanging.  After he trashes both bills by naming them irredeemable, he goes forth to explain why, suggesting the sacrifice of a couple of sacred cows and pigs in the process:

First, tort reform. This is money — the low-end estimate is about half a trillion per decade — wasted in two ways. Part is simply hemorrhaged into the legal system to benefit a few jackpot lawsuit winners and an army of extravagantly rich malpractice lawyers such as John Edwards. [he has much more to say on tort reform and the reader would do well to read his words]

Second, even more simple and simplifying, abolish the prohibition against buying health insurance across state lines. Some states have very few health insurers. Rates are high. So why not allow interstate competition? After all, you can buy oranges across state lines. If you couldn’t, oranges would be extremely expensive in Wisconsin, especially in winter.

But neither bill lifts the prohibition on interstate competition for health insurance. Because this would obviate the need — the excuse — for the public option, which the left wing of the Democratic Party sees (correctly) as the royal road to fully socialized medicine.

His third  component may be the least popular, but it is sure less dangerous and more practical than the silliness that our senators and representatives tell us about actual cost measures in their bills:

Third, tax employer-provided health insurance. This is an accrued inefficiency of 65 years, an accident of World War II wage controls. It creates a $250 billion annual loss of federal revenue — the largest tax break for individuals in the entire federal budget.

This reform is the most difficult to enact, for two reasons. The unions oppose it. And Barack Obama savaged the idea when John McCain proposed it during last year’s campaign.

Mr. Krauthammer ends his piece with a plea to take the issues one by one which amounts to the same thing as saying, “slow down you’re going to fast.” Something said,  over and over. Take the complete article and it makes sense and puts the Senate and House bills where they belong … in the trash bin. Grab the article. And, you don’t have to read th bill … these folks hearthebill.org will read it for you.

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• The Party Of Maybe (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)

…and what a shady upswing it is (thus my previous post) — due mostly to a lax FDA, slick marketing and drug companies’ stripping powerful psychotropics of their “mental illness” (read: psycho killer) trappings to soften their image, making them easier to sell as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, now an irritability drug and who knows what’s next? It’s not a new viewpoint to anyone who’s paying attention but it’s not often covered by mainstream media either. I was pointed to the article by poking my head in at Beyond Meds, one of a handful of truly informative blogs. It is well worth your time.

The Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was recently released from Evin Prison, has an excellent op-ed in today’s Washington Post. In it, Bahari argues two main points: 1) The U.S. must still pursue diplomacy with Iran and 2) Smart sanctions (targeted ones that don’t affect the Iranian people) are the appropriate sanctions to impose.

Our regular readers already know this, but it is worth repeating that this is exactly the position we take here at NIAC. NIAC supports diplomacy with Iran, but NIAC has also been investigating how smart sanctions, which target Iran’s leaders rather than the general population, can be used effectively. (See our membership survey.) Stay tuned for more on this…

In the meantime, everyone should read Bahari’s op-ed in the Washington Post. Also, if you haven’t already seen it, the incredible story of his imprisonment in Newsweek is a must read

1. Americans are the stupidest most ill-informed people on the face of the planet and one of the reasons this is the case is the Jerusalem Washington New York Times Post [JEWNYTP] whose demise we pray for every day here at Mantiq al-Tayr.

Let’s take a look at the Iraq war for second – doing so on the eve of Barack Hussein Obama’s decision about whether or not to send tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan.

A little background. The US government trumps up lie after lie about former CIA asset Saddam Hussein being a threat to vital Western interests what with his Nukes and other weapons of mass destruction and how Saddam can launch a missile and in an hour kill your grandmother while he and another former CIA asset, Usamah Bin Laden, sit around laughing like crazed drunken hunters on George Bush’s rented ranch in Texas. After fabricating ALL the evidence against Iraq, after more than a decade of horribly vicious, inhumane, ghastly sanctions that led to deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, after all that shit, the US, at the instigation of the Nazis, oh wait, it wasn’t the Nazis was it? Anyway, at the instigation of the Vatican, the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, the Quakers, the Mennonites, Blacks, Hispanics, the Tooth Fairy, women, gays, and almost all other groups of significance except the Jews, the US invaded Iraq FOR the SECOND TIME and laid waste to vast parts of the country, destroyed its government, created the conditions for a brutal civil war between Sunnis and Shi’ites, filled the place with depleted uranium, lost thousands of soldiers in the process and caused directly and indirectly the deaths of well over one million Iraqis and turned millions more into refugees.  So what does JEWNYTP then ask? They ask the obvious question – I mean wouldn’t you? They ask “Was the Iraq War Worth It?” Guess what the conclusion was – surprise surprise – yes it was. Killing Arabs is always worth it, why would you even have to ask?

The article is absolutely disgusting but at least it is illustrative of the incredibly low level of US discourse on the subject and why Americans as a result are a bunch of big fat self-righteous ignorant dumb asses, and thus has potential as a teaching tool.

Want some examples? Sure you do.

The author of the piece, Ernesto Londono, writes: [red highlights are mine]

Was it worth it?

I posed that question to several of [Lt. Col.] Whitehurst’s men in August during a visit to their outpost near Samarra, which is now closed. Many said it was. Children no longer throw rocks at Americans. Attacks against U.S. troops are as low as they’ve ever been. They were leaving behind schools and clinics and small businesses that the soldiers hope years from now will be the cornerstone of the American legacy in Iraq.

There were skeptics in the crowd, too.

Millions of casualties were worth it because kids aren’t throwing stones at Americans and because attacks on US troops are down? We invaded Iraq so that Iraqi kids wouldn’t throw stones at Americans? As you might expect, it only gets worse.

Following the well-worn tactic of allowing a “skeptic” to speak, Londono quotes Spec. Lorenzo Sanchez, who after three tours in Iraq is starting to get it. Nonetheless his comments are even more revealing than he may realize. First we are told:

“We’re sitting here in the middle of a little revolution between Iraqis, and we’re sitting here being security guards,” said Spec. Lorenzo Sanchez, 34, of West Covina, Calif. “We should let them do their thing and get out of their way.”

So far, so good. Sanchez has come to the same conclusion in 2009 that many readers of Mantiq al-Tayr came to before the invasion of this country that had not attacked us.

Sanchez continues:

“How do you tell someone’s parents that their kids died in Iraq?” he asked. “For what purpose? I mean, at the beginning, when we first invaded Iraq, it was for our freedoms, for our rights. . . . Well, here we are a few years later, and is it really for our freedoms and our rights?”

So even Sanchez, who has figured out the whole affair is a mess and believes, correctly, that we need to get out, even this man has his mind filled with bullshit. We invaded a country that had not attacked us to defend our freedoms? You have to be mentally retarded or an American to think this way. And don’t worry, Londono will do everything he can to make sure that you do.  But before I get back to all that, I do want to digress for a second.

I hope that Sanchez makes it back to the United States, gets an honorable discharge from the military and is able to get on with his life with his family. He has served three tours in Iraq – but that’s not enough for the military. Londono does give us the following interesting info:

I ran into Sanchez one night as he was emptying sandbags. He was being punished, he explained, because he tacked additional days to his two-week home leave to spend time with his 2-year-old daughter. Having been deployed three times to Iraq, he said, he was leaving “a lost man,” with no hope for the country.

Please keep Sanchez and all of those troops who have had to sacrifice so much in a war for Israel – please keep them in your prayers this holiday season. Don’t let Obama send him and thousands more others to Afghanistan. Make Obama put an end to all of this now.

After this brief interlude with sanity, Londono takes us back into the Israeli asylum.

Londono features Lt. Col. Samuel Whitehurst in the article. He is a battalion commander – not sure if he is the one who is punishing Sanchez for spending a couple of extra days with his daughter or if its just the military itself, but I digress.  Whitehurst  has no doubts. A father of a fallen soldier asks Whitehurst the following:

“I just want to know one thing,” the father asked. “Was it worth it?”

There were fewer reasons to be optimistic then, but the colonel knew his answer. It was worth it, he responded, looking the man squarely in the eyes. He will say so again today, when some of the parents of the four soldiers who didn’t make it back from this latest deployment attend a welcome-home ball.

And then the article closes with this quote from Whitehurst.

“We have lost a lot of great guys; we have lost so much potential,” Whitehurst said. “But this country now has that potential. And there are people in this country that are alive today because of the sacrifices made by those soldiers. I do think it was worth it. I can look back, and I think all of us can hold our heads very high.”

I am sure that Lt. Col. Whitehurst is a brave and sincere man.

But I am so utterly disgusted with this kind of thinking, with this kind of Zionist bullshit. . .

At first I was going to end this piece with a pretty funny cat video, but I just can’t get into the mood. Instead, I leave you with this.

Click on the picture to visit the site

And this:

Click on the picture to go to the link

And this:

US troops have suffered 320,000 brain injuries

And this:

Looks like there’s going to lots more old men walking through parks.

2. Oh alright, you’ve read this far.  Here’s the cat video.

Warning: Only really bad people laugh at stuff like this. So kids, if you see your parents laughing, turn them in to this person:

dumm.ary  -(pl. -ries) n. A dumbed down summary of something: The express is a dumbarized version of the Washington Post.

Twee jaar geleden deed de Washington Post een experiment. De wereldberoemde violist Joshua Bell speelde tijdens de ochtendspits in de hal van een metrostation in Washington. Als straatmuzikant met honkbalpet – en een Stradivarius uit 1713.

In de drie kwartier dat Joshua Bell de ene na de andere virtuoze compositie ten gehore bracht, kwamen er zo’n 1100 mensen langs. De redactie had met allerlei scenario’s rekening gehouden, behalve met wat er die vrijdagochtend in werkelijkheid gebeurde. Er gebeurde namelijk zo goed als niets.

Welgeteld zeven mensen stopten een minuut of langer om te luisteren. Zevenentwintig mensen gaven (meestal haastig) wat geld – 32 dollar in totaal. De rest liep zonder op- of omkijken langs, vaak op minder dan een meter afstand.

Pas in de laatste minuten werd hij herkend door een vrouw die een paar weken eerder een van zijn concerten had bijgewoond. “Dit was het meest verbijsterende dat ik ooit heb meegemaakt in Washington,” vertelt ze. “Joshua Bell staat in het spitsuur te spelen in de metro en niemand heeft iets in de gaten. Ik dacht, hemeltjelief, in wat voor stad leef ik, dat dit kan gebeuren?”

Maar hoe zou het ons vergaan? Hoe vast zitten wij in onze routines en referentiekaders? Zouden wij hebben opgemerkt dat hier geen doorsnee-straatmuzikant aan het werk was? Zouden wij virtuositeit herkennen buiten de context van de concertzaal? Hebben wij de rust en de ruimte om ons schema even om te gooien, al is het maar voor 5 minuten? Kunnen wij contact maken met wat zich onverwacht aan ons voordoet – of het nu een violist in de metro is, of het eerste sneeuwklokje, een regenboog of een bekende die we tegenkomen? Hoe open staan we voor wat zich op elk moment laat zien?

De Washington Post gaat in het artikel Pearls before breakfast dieper in op het gebeurde.

.

Based on recent meetings with leaders of China and India, the White House announced that President Obama will be attending the upcoming Copenhagen meetings on climate change.

“The President believes it is possible to reach a meaningful agreement in Copenhagen,” the statement said.

The White House also announced that, in the context of an overall deal in Copenhagen that includes robust mitigation contributions from China and the other emerging economies, the President is prepared to put on the table a U.S. emissions reduction target in the range of 17% below 2005 levels in 2020 and ultimately in line with final U.S. energy and climate legislation.  In light of the President’s goal to reduce emissions 83% by 2050, the expected pathway set forth in this pending legislation would entail a 30% reduction below 2005 levels in 2025 and a 42% reduction below 2005 in 2030.  This provisional target is in line with current legislation in both chambers of Congress and demonstrates a significant contribution to a problem that the U.S. has neglected for too long. 

CNN covers “ClimateGate” release of troubling emails from climate change researchers

It took about a week, but CNN covered the release of hacked emails from climate change researchers that indicate they’re frustrated they are unable to explain lower temperatures over the past decade.  The emails also indicate a desire on the part of pro-global warming reseachers to keep skeptics from publishing papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.   

As you might imagine, FOX has had a field day with ClimateGate.    In this segment they ask the question: “Will ClimateGate kill Cap and Trade?”  

WaPo columnist tries his hand at climate change email damage control

Perhaps sensing the amount of attention ClimateGate is getting in the online world,  and concerned about how it’ll play in Copenhagen and in Congress, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson took a crack at damage control in his most recent column.   I enjoyed reading the comments.

Environmentalists say they could live with nuclear energy….hmm.

Interesting that the Washington Post featured another story with leaders of several environmental groups going on record in support of increased reliance on nuclear energy.

Steve Cochran, director of the National Climate Campaign at the Environmental Defense Fund — a group that opposed new nuclear plants in the United States as recently as 2005 — also described a new and evolving “pragmatic” approach coming from environmental camps. “I guess you could call it ‘grudging acceptance,’ ” he said.

Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post has trashed the movie version of The Road. And the fault lies with – the book’s author?? Yes, read below:

Even with the momentary visual relief of flashbacks to an earlier happier life (featuring a lambent Charlize Theron), “The Road” finally resembles little more than a highfalutin’ zombie movie with literary pretensions. Director John Hillcoat (“The Proposition”) deserves no blame for this; he has delivered a handsome, respectful production that will surely please fans of the book. The problem is McCarthy and his gothic, self-serious sense of melodrama. At its best, “The Road” offers a profound portrait of parental devotion and a child’s instinctive love of mercy and justice and gratitude, but McCarthy’s fatal sense of cruelty and hyperbole make the trip a bummer.

Wow. She also praises the actors-the whole review HERE. Let me get this straight-it’s okay that this film crew, lead by director John Hillcoat, made a movie, they gave it valiant try, but they were hoodwinked by the material. They didn’t know it was such a cruel book. (By the way, did anyone tell Ann Hornaday this film was set after a nuclear holocaust? It’s a shame the set designers failed in their attemtps to make the United States look that way.) ‘McCarthy’s fatal sense of cruelty?’ she says. Don’t many senses of cruelty end in death?

I think we’ve gone to a whole new level of people looking at art. Now some reviewers assign fault when a film shows them something they don’t want to see. Should we exhume Shakespeare and burn his bones but his plays are too ‘depressing?’

I’m not apologizing for the film. I haven’t seen it. But I’ve read the novel and for a film reviewer to attack the author of the material (material that won a Pulitzer Prize) seems somewhat ridiculous.

Lee Seigel, in an essay on the critical reaction to Eyes Wide Shut, goes deeper into the modern critic’s consciousness.

What do you think? Why is this happening? What does this say about the culture?

Survivre à la crise de la presse américaine se fera en recentrant la ligne éditoriale sur l’information locale, pour le quotidien de la capitale qui supprime toutes ses antennes nationales à compter du 1^er janvier 2010.

Le quotidien Washington Post a annoncé mardi la fermeture de ses bureaux de New York, Los Angeles et Chicago d’ici à la fin de l’année pour réaliser des économies.

Le journal américain, fondé en 1877, se concentrera désormais sur l’information dans la capitale. Le directeur de la publication, Katharine Weymouth a souligné dans le New York Times que « le futur du journal sera de couvrir l’actualité de Washington dans la vie quotidienne mais aussi comme un lieu qui a un impact sur la nation et le monde » (1).

Nous ne sommes pas une agence de presse

En expliquant la stratégie du groupe, le rédacteur en chef Marcus Brauchli a déclaré “Nous ne sommes pas un organe de presse national et généraliste. Nous ne sommes pas non plus une agence de presse, ni une chaîne câblée”,

Il a ajouté que si le « Post » allait concentrer sa « puissance de feu journalistique » sur Washington et l’actualité politique », le quotidien continuera de couvrir l’ensemble du pays. « Nous continuerons, comme nous l’avons fait durant des décennies, à couvrir l’actualité de tout le pays en envoyant des reporters sur le terrain ».

Selon le Wall Street Journal, le « Post » a annoncé la création d’un service d’information économique en partenariat avec Bloomberg.

200 postes supprimés depuis 2003

Neuf journalistes sont concernés par la restructuration. Six se sont vu offrir un travail à Washington et trois assistants seront au chômage au 31 décembre.
Au cours des dix dernières années, le journal a fermé ses bureaux de Miami, Denver et Austin. 200 postes ont été supprimés au sein du groupe depuis 2003 qui compte maintenant 700 salariés et une douzaine de bureaux à l’international.

Le groupe Washington Post a enregistré une hausse des profits de 69% au troisième trimestre 2009, en partie grâce ces mesures d’économies.

Une crise généralisée

De nombreux quotidiens américains, comme le Boston Globe ou le Baltimore Sun, ont dû eux aussi se résoudre à fermer des rédactions aux Etats-Unis et dans le monde. Les spécialistes du secteur estiment qu’ils ont de meilleures chances de survie en se concentrant sur un journalisme plus local.

Au total, les rédactions américaines en sont à un rythme de plus de 2.000 emplois de journalistes supprimés par mois, selon les chiffres de l’association professionnelle Unity rapportés dans Libération au début du mois. 24.511 emplois de journalistes ont été supprimés dans la presse écrite ces douze derniers mois, et 35.885 dans toute l’industrie des médias, décompte Unity.

(1) – En 2006, le Washington Post publie un article critique sur la presse “hyper localisée” (en anglais)

I already had a post last week where the Diamondback covered our presentation to the College Park City Council, and on Thanksgiving day our proposal for tax credits for green businesses has made it into the Washington Post and the Gazette.

U-Md. students urge College Park to create tax credit for ‘green’ firms

By David Hill

Representatives from UMD for Clean Energy presented their plan to the College Park City Council at its Nov. 17 work session. Their proposal would give property tax breaks to businesses that provide energy-efficient products and services, as well as those that reduce their own carbon footprint.

It could take several years to implement, and city officials appear willing to listen. But the plan faces several obstacles, one of which is that it is not currently legal.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Councilman Patrick Wojahn (Dist. 1). “We’d like to utilize some version of it and we’re working on a fix right now with the state.”

Municipalities in Maryland are not allowed to offer tax breaks to businesses based on whether they are environmentally friendly, or “green.” Federal and state governments have done it for years — mostly to reduce energy use and reliance on nonrenewable sources — and counties in Maryland have had the right since May.

Nonetheless, the students said that with time and legislation, the proposed city-level tax break would make College Park a popular destination for a growing number of energy-efficient organizations.

“The renewable energy industry is expanding,” said Matt Dernoga, who met with the council alongside fellow student Hilary Staver. “We’re going to have to invest and shift away from conventional energy sources.”

Their proposal would call for a two-tier system. Tier 1 businesses — those that specialize in energy-efficient products and services — would receive a tax credit. A smaller credit would go to Tier 2 businesses in non-”green” sectors that adopt eco-friendly practices such as recycling and improving storm-water management.

Edmonston-based Community Forklift, which collects and sells used building materials, and Beltsville-based solar energy provider SunEdison are examples of businesses that would qualify for Tier 1. Staver said the city has few, if any, Tier 1 qualifiers of its own and that adding new ones would have a positive impact.

The students did not suggest a specific amount for the credit.

“[If residents] see that these companies are taking steps to reduce environmental impact … then it makes people think more about it in their lives,” Staver said. “It helps set an example for the public.”

While new Tier 1 businesses also would boost the city’s revenue, Mayor Stephen Brayman expressed concern over the tax breaks existing city businesses could receive. He said that in difficult economic times, lower taxes for Tier 2 operations could leave residents to foot the bill.

“If residents are paying more taxes to give businesses tax breaks, that might not be popular,” Brayman said, adding that the city’s budget likely will shrink in 2011 and 2012 due to the current economic decline. “The city doesn’t really have any money to give up.”

The council and student group said they would be willing to work toward a compromise. City officials currently lobbying the state for permission to offer a revitalization tax credit to attract new businesses, and Wojahn said they could incorporate language that appeals specifically to green businesses.

“We could probably adopt some parts of [the students'] proposal,” he said. “It’s becoming more and more important to attract these types of businesses.”

That White House state dinner for the Indian prime minister. With the guest list of Katie Couric, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, and Tareq and Michaele Salahi. Why? Speaking of caste systems, why were tax dollars feeding more than the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh? Why were 338 people in addition to Tareq and Michaele Salahi being fed? If charges are brought for theft of services against the uninvited guests, maybe an explanation can be given why taxpayers were paying to feed Katie Couric and Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty? With Washington insiders, Hollywood A-listers, campaign donors, prominent figures from the community of the guest prime minister who live in the US, and Obama friends, why were these state dinners continuing in a country without royalty? Wasn’t the last election a statement about change?

Feeding the system. The American caste system on display at White House state dinners.

även i USA. Nu är lokalt fokus med kvalitet det nya svarta.

//Mo

Usually one might not think too much about the Washington Post closing its New York bureau.

But:

On Saturday, April 2, 2005, Pope John Paul II was taking his last breaths in this world.

I was watching the t.v. coverage with my brother in his office–at the New York bureau of the Washington Post.

It was Easter vacation time.

I got tired of watching t.v. I walked over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to pray and console people. Very soon the Pope died.

It was an afternoon I will never forget. May our beloved late Holy Father rest in peace.

…Here’s a question. Why aren’t the Georgetown Hoyas playing in the Old Spice Classic this year? (Feel free to comment, whether you know the answer or not.)

…Happy Thanksgiving!