When Harry caucused with Nancy

The great thing about following politics is that, like in sports, you get to watch the same person react to different situations and grow or not grow over the years.

And, depending on the team around the politician/athlete, years of futility and losing can be washed away with mind-boggling joy in a heartbeat, or vice versa. Which can bring out hidden or just overlooked qualities in a person.

I went into this election season hoping, and believing that the Democrats would take both the House and Senate, despite my dislike for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Not a strong, active dislike--just a feeling that they weren't my kind of people, that they weren't Howard Dean and Bill Clinton Democrats--loud and proud and inventive and savvy.

Well, I could be wrong. A close friend tonight was telling me how she's warmed up to Pelosi (and how surprisingly jazzed she is about a woman in the speaker position--but that's another post).

I have to admit, watching Pelosi on tv the past few days I found myself thinking she seemed appealing, neither the frosty nor scatter-brained type I'd imagined her to be. I couldn't recall seeing much of Reid until today; and even then, he per usual made no real impression on me, which I see as a liability for the man who would be the anti-Bush.

But then I turned to the Times, that trusty profiler of people big and small; the newspaper of record has really done a good job of adding that 60 Minutes-style personal touch the last few years--as our society has become increasingly personality-driven--while avoiding the pitfall of schmaltz.

And I liked what I read about Pelosi and Reid... although I do wish the articles weren't written in such stereotypical pink/blue ways--sheesh!

I look forward to more from Nancy and Harry; it'll be interesting to see how they exercise power after being so long in the shadows.

Nancy Pelosi Is Ready to Be Voice of the Majority, Kate Zernike: As Representative Nancy Pelosi faced the cameras Wednesday morning, after the Democrats had taken a majority in the House and put her on the brink of becoming the first female speaker, she spoke so softly at first that some reporters insisted they could not hear her.

“I’m not in charge of the technical arrangements,” Ms. Pelosi said quietly, fiddling with the microphone.

Then suddenly, she was commanding: “But I could use my mother-of-five voice!”

It is a line Ms. Pelosi uses often, and a voice she may have to rely on frequently as she tries to ensure that the new Democratic majority lasts more than two years. ...

While she had long opposed the war, she also realized that a liberal congresswoman from California would have little impact in speaking out against it. And she pushed back against liberal members of her party who wanted to protest by denying financing for the war. Instead, she worked quietly with Representative John P. Murtha, a conservative Democrat from Pennsylvania and a veteran who had supported the war, to get him to express his growing doubts about it.

Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said: “The most credible person in the Democratic Party would be the face of the party on this issue. She knew that because he had supported it, he had the greatest credibility to critique it.”

Mr. Markey called Ms. Pelosi a liberal pragmatist: “San Francisco on the inside, Baltimore on the outside.”

Harry Reid, an Infighter With a Sharp Jab , Mark Leibovich: ... Mr. Reid is low-key, deferential and somewhat sheepish, qualities that make it easy to misread or underestimate him.

“People can say he is a nice guy, but that just totally misses it,” said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York. “He’s got a spine of steel, and he will go toe-to-toe with anyone.”

Harry Mason Reid is the product of the tiny desert town of Searchlight, Nev., whose father, a hard-rock miner, battled alcoholism and depression before killing himself at 58. The future senator hitchhiked 40 miles to attend high school in Henderson, where he became an amateur boxer.

He came to Washington to attend law school, working nights as a Capitol police officer. He was elected to the Nevada State Assembly at 28, served as lieutenant governor and later led the state’s Gaming Commission, a job that pitted him against organized crime figures. (Mr. Reid’s wife, Landra, once found a bomb under the hood of the family car.) He was elected to Congress in 1982, and moved to the Senate four years later. ...

But he has also enjoyed the loyalty and, for the most part, the unity of a potentially fractious Democratic caucus that includes several would-be presidential candidates.

That devotion was displayed and returned on election night, as Mr. Reid placed phone calls to successful Democratic Senate candidates from his suite at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

“Bob, you did it, my man,” Mr. Reid said to Senator Robert Menendez, who was re-elected in New Jersey.

“Hillary, you’re the best to work with,” Mr. Reid told Mrs. Clinton. “Love you,” he signed off. (Mrs. Clinton offers that she ended the call by saying, “Love you, too, Harry.”)

Mr. Reid also professed his love to Senator Kent Conrad, who was re-elected in North Dakota. (“Love you, man.”)

Later, when Claire C. McCaskill, another Democrat, was declared the winner in Missouri, Mr. Reid kissed the television.

He and Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New Yorker who leads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, kept whacking each other like kids. “Remember, Chuck, when they said Sherrod was too liberal?” Mr. Reid said of Sherrod Brown, the newly elected senator from Ohio.

Mr. Schumer said nothing, but gave Mr. Reid something between a pat on the head and a noogie.

AP photo of Harry Reid with Nancy Pelosi at an election-night rally by Gerald Herbert.

The whole world is watching

As an American, it's interesting how much attention the rest of the world pays to what happens in the U.S. We're so engrossed in our own affairs it's sometimes a bit startling to look up and realize other nations are closely watching--in surprising detail, and at times as anxious to know the outcome as we are.

Here's a quick round-up of what's leading the websites of leading newspapers around the world 'tonight'... in most cases supplemented with multiple related articles and things like 'infographie':

-Democrats 'to control US Senate', BBC: AP news agency calls the final US Senate seat for the Democrats, as defence chief Donald Rumsfeld steps down.

-Demokraten holen auch im Senat die Mehrheit, Der Spiegel: Die Schlappe für US-Präsident Bush und seine Republikaner bei den Kongresswahlen ist komplett: Nach dem Repräsentantenhaus haben die Demokraten Berichten zufolge auch im Senat die Mehrheit erobert. Im entscheidenden Bundesstaat Virginia setzte sich der demokratische Herausforderer Webb durch.

-Les démocrates ont pris le contrôle du Sénat, selon les médias américains, Le Monde: Selon les chaînes de télévision NBC et CBS, le démocrate Jim Webb l'a emporté face au républicain George Allen en Virginie. Les démocrates disposent ainsi de 51 sièges sur 100 au Sénat.

-Los demócratas logran también el control del Senado, según varios medios de EE UU , El Pais: Aunque no es oficial, la NBC y la agencia AP otorgan a Jim Webb la victoria en Virginia, lo que otorgaría a los demócratas el control de las dos Cámaras. El republicano George Allen no ha reconocido su derrota y algunos medios, como la CNN, no descartan que debido a la estrecha diferencia de votos, el Partido Republicano pida un nuevo recuento.

-Amid electoral debacle, Bush holds out hope for nuke deal, Times of India: On a politically turbulent day, President Bush said he was trying to get the US-India nuclear deal passed during the upcoming lame duck session.

-Yomiuri Online, top story about ASEAN meeting, Flash! news item (translated): Democrats have secured the majority of seats in the U.S. Senate, as well as in the lower house, in the midterm elections, according to the AP.

AP photo of sales person Tomoaki Soma adjusting TV screens as an interview of re-elected Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is aired at Tokyo's Kimuraya Select electric/electronics discount store by Itsuo Inouye.

Engraining culture

There's something afoot in the country; the purveyors of hate are feeling emboldened and are crawling out of their holes. Let's stop dressing it up as un-PC behavior or 'racially insensitive' incidents.

It manifests itself openly first with speech, with things that can be passed off as jokes--but at root, it's hate, and racism, and arrogance, plain and simple.

People who think otherwise, who say it's no big deal, just laugh it off, are themselves part of the problem.

In the end, the haters will lose; the goal, of course, is to isolate the damage they do on their way to seeing the light, or dying. Aside from the hard-core, a lot of the people going along and naively exhibiting racism openly in this day and age are young and can still be educated. If nothing else, by hanging out with and becoming friends with or dating their erstwhile targets.

Of course, this requires consciously deciding to send your kids to schools where everyone doesn't look like them (and you).

Pee Wee teams to quit over racial insults

AP via MSNBC: Teams in two Cleveland suburbs are quitting a youth football league because of racially insensitive actions by fans, coaches said.

Shaker Heights and Euclid planned to leave the North Coast Youth Football Conference after the championship game this weekend.

The president of the Hudson Hawks Youth Football Association, John Elffers, has apologized for fans who wore Afro wigs and painted their faces black at a playoff game Sunday. Shaker Heights coach Jeffrey Saffold said Hudson fans also used a racially offensive word during Sunday's game and at two other times.

Mac Stephens, the commissioner of Euclid's three teams, said they are pulling out of the league, partially because of the Hudson fans. But he said he's also unhappy with the league's board, of which he is a member, and its unresponsiveness to complaints about officiating. ...

Pregame Hitler speech stirs fury

Charlotte Observer: When Charlotte Catholic's boys' soccer team got to Forestview High School in Gastonia on Saturday night for an N.C. 3A playoff game, the Cougars heard something over the public address system they never would've expected:

A 90-second portion of a speech from Adolf Hitler.

"We were warming up," said Catholic coach Gary Hoilett, "and all of us stopped and looked up at the booth. We were just real shocked. It was obviously a Hitler speech. The voice was coming across clearly. Everybody knew."

Forestview's players took the field after the speech ended.

But before the game, Hoilett said, some Forestview players were chanting something in German that means "On to victory," according to one of his players who speaks German. Hoilett, who is black, said that during the game some Forestview players directed racial epithets at his two black players.

"It was one of the worst things I've seen," Hoilett said of the speech and the racial epithets.

It's not just the kids, and their parents, of course. They're in some cases taking their cue from the government, one that at times seems almost unwitting if deliberate in its racism.

Much ado about nothing: FBI determines Heinz Field break-in only a prank

AP, via CNNSI.com: Two college students charged with trying to break into Heinz Field over the weekend were pranksters, not terrorists, the FBI said.

"This appears to be two kids who did something stupid, and it came on the heels of the threat last month to blow up football stadiums," FBI Special Agent Jeff Killeen said Monday. "Any suspicions that were raised concerning terrorism were addressed and dismissed."

Sudeep Paul, 21, and Anand Durvasula, 20, both Carnegie Mellon University students, remained jailed Tuesday, unable to post $1 million bond each. Police said they were caught trying to climb into the stadium about 2 a.m. Sunday, 14 hours before the Pittsburgh Steelers played the Denver Broncos.

Authorities believe the men were trying to sneak into the stadium so Paul, a film student, could videotape Durvasula for a homemade music video.

A city magistrate imposed the high bail because the incident triggered a response by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes federal, state and city officials.

The men's bond could be reduced at their preliminary hearing on Thursday. It was not immediately clear if they had attorneys.

Paul, of Woodbury, N.Y., is charged by city police with conspiracy while Durvasula, of Morgan Hill, Calif., who allegedly climbed the fence before the men were caught, was charged with conspiracy and criminal trespass.

Thomas Farrell, a Pittsburgh defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, said it seemed like authorities reacted strongly because of the men's ethnic background. Both are of Indian descent but are American born; however, they were described as "Middle Eastern males" in a police affidavit.

"It's the kind of prank that college students do all over the country every week," Farrell told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It really does sound like people went overboard because of their ethnicity."

Million-dollar bail cases, Farrell said, "are for serious offenses, or if people have no ties to the country."

Killeen said the National Football League and federal authorities had been on heightened alert since a Wisconsin grocery clerk allegedly hatched a hoax last month threatening terrorist attacks on stadiums.

You know, like half the country could be described as looking 'Middle Eastern'--at some point, you'd think that would no longer be the trigger for a terrorism probe.

Whichever cop said they were 'Middle Eastern males' should be punished--I can see some rube confusing someone who's an American and of Indian descent with someone from the Middle East, but the proper response is to figure out if you're right or wrong, and if wrong apologize to them for an understandably overreaction once you've determined the truth--not to swear it out in an affidavit!

The racist element here is in assuming their appearance as determined by your ignorant mind dictated their actions, rather then seeing them for what they were--a couple of dumb college kids.

Kids who look middle-eastern should still get to do the normal dumb young things and learn without being brought up on terrorism charges. Ethnicity isn't destiny--and if it were, the cop should've assumed the kid was a peace-loving Hindu.

An inability to properly assess the situation and over-reacting is a known flaw among cops; but this seems to me a near-structural flaw that keeps happening again and again, and that law enforcement needs to correct.

Photo of victorious Jesse Owens at the 1939 Berlin Olympics from MedalofFreedom.com.

51*

With Claire McCaskill unseating Sen. Jim Talent in Missouri, the battle for control of the Senate is over. Democrats now have 49 seats; soon will have 50, since Jon Tester has a 4% margin over Sen. Conrad Burns in Montana, with about 2/3rds of the precincts having reported.

And seat 51? Ah, Virginia... where Jim Webb is now 12,000 votes up on Sen. George Allen, with just 4 precincts left to report. They're headed to a recount; absentee ballots may also prove important. But margins this large always stand up.

What a great night.... Spent much of it at work; found CNN best for tv, Drudge best for web (why don't media web sites just post raw numbers in key races at the top of the page, instead of repackaging old news?)

Am now relying on CBS.com, they seem to be slightly ahead of everyone else at this point on both vote totals and also predictions, specifically calling McCaskill first. Although ABC.com was first to report that Talent had conceded; CNN.com has a horrible design that buries much of their good stuff, and MSNBC seems to be slower with their awkward graphical interface.

Good morning, Speaker Reid.

*As of 3:22 a.m., 4 precincts remain uncounted in Virginia and are likely to remain so until people wake up Wednesday morning. One is in Fairfax City, one is in Isle of Wright, and two are in Loudon. All are in counties where the reporting precincts went for Webb, who currently leads by 7,380 votes.

*As of 4:00 a.m., Montana is a bit tighter--Tester is up, by about 3,000 votes (out of about 289,000 total votes, so it's stronger than in Virginia actually; but it's been shrinking steadily for the last couple of hours). MSNBC just talked to the local NBC reporter, who essentially said we won't know for sure until around 9 a.m. EST but it's looking like Tester will win (they should just turn the show over to the local guy, he's got the goods everyone's looking for). So then Chris Matthews, in a stunned voice, said well, it looks like the Democrats have their 6, and are going to win the Senate. Setting loose a funny free-for-all with his four panelists. The pundits seem to be going to bed; so am I....

America votes

Interesting items from media articles and blogs on Election Day 2006, when turnout is high and Republicans are apparently trying to pass as Democrats.

The Post: Maryland Democrats decried the use of campaign fliers at some Prince George's County precincts that suggest that Gov. Robert Ehrlich and Senate candidate Michael Steele -- both Republicans -- are part of the Democratic ticket.

"It's incredibly misleading," said Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martin O'Malley. "It's part of the misleading tactics the Republican Party has used throughout this campaign."

The ballots were handed out by people who said they arrived by buses this morning from Pennsylvania and Delaware. ...

Ehrlich campaigned in Prince George's County this morning, where copies of the controversial flier were being circulated outside some polling stations. The fliers, labeled "Ehrlich-Steele Democrats Official Voters Guide" included a "Democratic sample ballot" with the names of Ehrlich and Steele -- both Republicans -- checked off alongside several other Republicans and a host of Democrats for lesser office. Neither O'Malley nor Cardin are listed.

Fort Washington resident Barry Cyrus, 39, said he saw people passing out the ballots at his precinct, and met a first-time voter who was using the ballot to "vote for the Democratic party."

"She pulled out this sample ballot where Ehrlich and Steele were listed as Democrats. If I hadn't talked to her, she might have voted for them," said Cyrus, who said he stopped at five other polling places and saw the fliers being distributed at two of them. "People just need to be fair and not try to sway people with deception." ...

The Ehrlich and Steele campaigns yesterday acknowledged sending out an election-eve flier, sporting pictures of Johnson, his predecessor Wayne K. Curry and former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume. The mailer, declaring itself an "official voter guide" and criticized by Democrats, suggested the three Democrats backed Ehrlich and Steele. Curry has endorsed Steele; none has endorsed Ehrlich.

CNN: A poll worker was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault and interfering with an election for allegedly choking a voter and pushing the voter out the door, an official said.

Election officials called police, and the voter wanted to file charges, said Paula McCraney, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Clerk.

"That about tops off the day," McCraney said.

It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the altercation. The name of the poll worker was not released and a Louisville police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment. ...

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford probably wishes he checked his pockets before heading out the door this morning.

Sanford was turned away from his polling place as cameras were rolling because he forgot his voter registration card. Sanford went to vote at Sullivan Island Elementary School near his family home, but the photo-op went awry as the governor began looking though his wallet. "I don't have the blue card with me," he said.

Smiling sheepishly, Sanford called home to get the numbers, but officials told him he had to present the card itself. Sanford then went to a nearby voter registration office to be issued a new card, and finally was able to cast his ballot.

"This is want you want," Sanford said, praising the workers for doing their job. "I admire her; she's being conscientious."

ABC: ABC News' Jason Ryan Reports: The Virginia Board of Elections has confirmed to ABC News that the FBI is looking into claims of voter intimidation and polling place misdirection surrounding the bruising Senate race there.

ABC News has obtained an audio wave file of a phone message left for resident and registered Virginia voter Tim Daly in which the caller claims to be from the Virginia Bd of Elections and informs Daly that he is not registered in VA and that if he shows up at the polls to vote he would be criminally prosecuted.

The James Webb Senate campaign is claiming that voters are being misdirected to the wrong polling stations.

GOP state spokesman Shawn Smith told ABC News that the Virginia GOP and the Friends of George Allen committee "are only engaging in activities encouraging supporters to vote." He said was skeptical of the claims being made but said he would nonetheless condemn such activities if they are being conducted by outside organizations.

On a bright note, Board of Elections analyst Clay Landa reports to the AP that turnout could reach 65% and there have been no reported problems with touch screen voting.

MSNBC: Here in the Buckeye State, the focus is not so much on the individual races but on the voting process, which was beset by problems during the 2004 presidential election. Already today, issues have been reported around the state with electronic voting machines, optical scanners, long lines and voter identification.

Two Republican House members reportedly encountered difficulties at their respective polling stations. U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot was said to be turned away for not having proper identification, and Rep. Jean Schmidt could not get the scanner to accept her ballot.

Taking the plunge

So, what's going to happen in the midterm elections on Tuesday? It seems pretty certain the Democrats will take the House, and will wind up with a majority of governerships (which is a pretty key element in presidential elections).

But what about the Senate?

Both parties have some good news if you look at general trends. On the one hand, The Hotline points out that four major polls out this past weekend show generic ballots, where voters have a choice between voting Democratic or Republican, all show statistically significant swings toward the Democrats.

On the other, Hotline also details some early successes from the GOP's astonishing GOTV operations. As Hotline notes, "Never in recent electoral history have the structural assets claimed by one party -- the Republicans -- so loudly clashed with the prevailing winds, which favor the Democrats."

More specifically, Congressional Quarterly's Balance of Power Scorecard shows of the 33 Senate seats being contested this year, Democrats are safe in 10, favored in 4, and have 7 leaning towards them. Republicans, with fewer sitting Senators to defend, are safe in 7, favored in 1, and have none leaning towards them.

Of the remaining 4, labeled no clear favorite, only 1 is a current Democratic seat, that of scandal-tinged Bob Menendez in New Jersey, who's in a heck of a fight against Tom Kean Jr., son of the beloved former NJ governor and co-chair of the 9/11 Commission. Menendez has frittered away much of his double-digit lead, and in the last week polls have shown the race as everywhere from tied to Menendez up only slightly. I think Menendez will retain this seat--he's never really trailed in the race, and I think voters in the Democratic will ultimately hold their noses and vote for him.

In Tennessee, Rep. Harold Ford has come from waaaay behind to mount a serious challenge to Republican Bob Corker for an open seat the GOP thought they'd easily retain. Most polls, however, have the race going from a dead heat to a 5 to 10 point Corker lead in the last couple of weeks; so even though Ford has run what a lot of people are calling the best campaign this election season, I think he'll fall short.

Which means in order to get to 51 (50/50 lets Dick Cheney break the tie) the Democrats have to win both Missouri and Virginia.

Like two years ago, Missouri has been closely-fought all year; neither Sen. Jim Talen nor Claire McCaskill have been able to get much separation in a state that seems to be divided right down the middle. Democrats are banking their hopes in part on a ballot proposition on stem cell research that should get their voters out.

I'm thinking that, plus the fact the GOP's GOTV advantage won't matter as much in a state that's already been bombarded by both sides for months with tons of commercials and voter drives, and the historic note that Talent won the seat by just 1 point last time around after being up by around 5 points coming in, will give McCaskill the win.

So, assuming the venerable Sen. Lincoln Chafee indeed loses in Rhode Island despite a last-second charge, and the likeable Michael S. Steele loses in Maryland (those are two Republicans I'd support if their victories didn't also guarantee the GOP taking the Senate), in my scenario control of the Senate will come down to Virginia.

Unthinkable for Republicans just a few months ago, when Sen. George Allen was crusing to reelection over former Navy secretary James Webb. Then came maccaca and Jewish-gate, showing Allen's true colors in the opinion of many and utterly obliterating his previous presidential aspirations.

Webb has actually been slightly ahead in recents polls; fittingly for what's been a bizarre race, Virginia is a weird state, with the convervative south balanced by its liberal DC-suburbs and all sorts of odd national tensions played out as a result.

I think Webb will win this race, with liberals more energized to go to the polls than conservatives. Which means I'm predicting the Democrats take the Senate; conventional wisdom sees them picking up 4 or 5 seats, but not 6. But I think the last-minute undecideds will break Democrat... oddly enough, Saddam Hussein being back in the news may hurt the Republicans, who want the news to be about anything but Iraq.

As for the House, CQ has steadily projected more and more seats for the Democrats, and currently stands at 213 (you need 218 for a House majority), with the Republicans at 199. They have 23 seats as toss-ups.

Nearly as important, 20 seats lean GOP, while 14 lean toward the Democrats. Which means the GOP needs to win pretty much every seat they're slightly ahead in, and hope to get a substantial majority of the toss-ups.

I don't think that'll happen; the House is the most accurate barometer of the country's mood, since every seat is contested every 2 years and each Congressperson represents on average just 647,000 people.

I think Nancy Pelosi will not only be the new Speaker of the House (which makes me a bit quesy, although significantly less so than with Dennis Hastert), she'll have a significant majority. I'm guessing the Democrats will wind up with 240 seats.

In foreseeing a last-minute surge towards the Democrats on top of what they've already managed to do, I'm relying in part on the accuracy of what Bill Clinton has been telling audiences, as reported by the AP:

Clinton said that many Republicans, as well as independents, are fed up with the GOP and may be ready to switch if they are encouraged by Democratic activists.

"Don't even give up on Republicans who say they've never voted for a Democrat before," Clinton said.

"This is scary for some of these folks. It's like when you were a kid _ the first time you ever jumped off a diving board. You have to go grab them by the hand ... and jump off that diving board to victory," he said.

I think that's pretty accurate--it's not just these Republicans (who are really Reagan Democrats) are wary of voting for Kerry's party--it's also they're nervous about in some ways deserting a sitting president during wartime.

I think in the privacy of the voting booth, they'll quietly pull the lever for the Democrats. The national mood is that of enough is enough; a lot of these voters aren't gonna tell that to a pollster, but they feel it in their bones. Change is needed, messages need to be sent.

Of course, it's a whole 'nother question whether Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are who the Democrats want as their public face going into 2008. I personally dislike both of them; I'd much prefer Howard Dean, Al Gore and of course Barack Obama set the agenda for the non-Republicans.

So if the GOP somehow holds on to both chambers, I wouldn't necessarily be crushed. Although, in retrospect, I should've been when my 2004 prediction failed to come true; who knew how destructive Bush et al could be in just two years.

Photo of Pelosi and Reid by Brendan Smialowsky for The New York Times.

What we're looking for

It's always interesting to me how obsessed many non-journalists are with media outlets. Mix that passion in with an oft-uneven grasp of the facts and you get all sorts of entertaining screeds against 'the media'.

Every so often along with all the bluster comes a bit of substance (sometimes unwittingly). Check out this dissection of CNN.com, highlighting how little actual news the homepage provides.

It's no shock to anyone who uses the site on a daily basis--after all, CNN.com exists for many purposes, only one of which is to provide users with hard news (it's touching how upset people still get over what they perceive as journalistic sins). Still, it's a bit surprising how far CNN has strayed from Ted Turner's vision.

It's funny, though, that the blogger goes on to use China's Xinhua news service as an example of a site that features hard news. He's obviously got no idea what Xinhua is (just because the stories sound serious doesn't mean it's good journalism). Not to mention he's assuming if Xinhua had access to the technical bells and whistles and non-news content of CNN, they'd still 'opt' for their bare-bones look.

It's a common pitfall of many critics of America and American-run institutions. Other countries aren't purer, or somehow less crass. They often just don't have a choice.

And when they do have a choice, it turns out people are pretty much the same everywhere. Check out Google's list of what people in various countries are searching for.

A cursory scan of the search terms I can recognize shows people from Turkey to Argentina are into music, television and sports. Paris Hilton is on just about everyone's top ten, Malaysians have discovered Friendster, Israelis are into buying cameras (does B&H know?!), our neighbors to the north like YouTube, the French search for soccer, Greeks for Shakira, Japanese for Japanese stars, Norway for Jessica Alba,--and the top search in India is for English-German dictionary, in the UK for the Mayo Clinic?!

Vietnam seems to be the most serious country (top searches are for news sites and test scores), but that may just be because early adopters tend not to be frivolous. Likewise, Russian searches are dominated by things like real estate and legal services.

I wonder if any international consulting firms turn Google's monthly 'Zeitgeist' results into reports....

Zeitgeist work by William T. Ayton via his website.

Everything can be illuminated

As Voltage Self-Illuminating Hair Gel proves, we really are living in an age of miracles, where all our dreams can come true. I feel like I'm constantly stumbling across things on websites that make me go 'wow.'

Photo of product via HouseofRave.com

Heartbeat of the world

The feistiest blogger I know came across a neat flash map that shows in 90 seconds who's controlled what in the Middle East over recorded history. It gives you a good feel for just how much history there's been; this, too shall pass has gotta be the motto of the region.

There are only a few other maps on the site at the moment, but I totally look forward to more. Kids in the future are totally going to be learning from visual representations like this, along with immersive video games. It's so much more clear than reading reams of text.

At the moment, trapped in 2006, I'm reading Tom Holland's Persian Fire, a look at the Persian-Greek wars that in addition to shaping the foundations of the Mideast for generations to come also, in Holland's view, hold lessons for today's East vs. West standoff.

I'll write more when I finish, but one thing he's already got me thinking about is how Babylon was the first multicultural city, in contrast to the Greek city-states, who were proudly xenophobic and labeled all non-Greeks barbarian.

It's interesting how we venerate those ancient Greeks; Holland has some interesting things to say about Sparta, in particular, that are at odds with the popular view of those clear-eyed ancients. Hitler didn't admire those Spartans for nothing, you know.

And if you take a look at this map of active U.S. hate groups, you'll see there are quite a few Americans today who'd fit right into that police state (as long as they got to do the 'policing').

In case you're interested, among the states with no hate groups are Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine--perhaps because everyone in those states are white. The rest of the hate-group-less states are North Dakota and New Mexico, which may be a more meaningful standing since both have a significant minority Native American, and in NM's case Hispanic population. And Hawaii.

Which is probably too beautiful for people to wanna spend their time hating.

Always one way

At its best, journalism can change lives--but only if people see it.

Scales of Justice Can Swing Wildly

Brooks Egerton, in the Dallas Morning News: First came the poor man, barely 17 years old – too young to buy beer or vote, but an adult under the Texas penal code. He took part in a $2 stickup in which no one got hurt. He pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was put on 10 years of probation.

He broke the rules once, by smoking marijuana. A Dallas judge responded in the harshest possible way: He replaced the original sentence with a life term in prison.

There There Tyrone Brown sits today, 16 years later, tattooed and angry and pondering self-destruction. "I've tried suicide a few times," he writes. "What am I to make of a life filled with failure, including failing to end my life?"

Now the flip side of the coin, also from Judge Keith Dean's court: A well-connected man pleaded guilty to murder – for shooting an unarmed prostitute in the back – and also got 10 years of probation.

The killer proceeded to break the rules by, among other things, smoking crack cocaine. He repeatedly failed drug tests. He was arrested for cocaine possession in Waco while driving a congressman's car, but prosecutors there didn't press charges.

Judge Dean has let this man stay free and, last year, exempted him from most of the usual conditions of probation. John Alexander "Alex" Wood no longer must submit to drug tests or refrain from owning a gun or even meet with a probation officer. He's simply supposed to obey the law and mail the court a postcard once a year that gives his current address.

The judge's written court policies say that defendants who have broken the rules are not eligible for postcard probation. But no one can make him obey his own standards. Indeed, judges in Texas and most other states have few limits on possible punishments when defendants violate probation, which sets the stage for lawful but extreme disparities.

Dallas Morning News image by Tom Fox/DMN.

Separate peace

Iranian Moolah

Farouz Farzami in the WSJ: Killing time the other day on my way to meet my boyfriend, I walked through the long narrow passages of the House of Artists in the vicinity of the old U.S. Embassy, when I came upon a graceful exhibit of books published in America.

The books had been imported by a company called Vizhe Nasher ("special publication"), which is authorized, as it must be, by the government. Most concerned the visual and architectural arts, photography, sewing and cooking, and there was a wide variety offering weight-loss techniques, but I came across one I was startled to find: "The Daily Cocktail: 365 Intoxicating Drinks," by Dalyn A. Miller and Larry Bonovan.

I live in a country where alcohol is officially banned, but where the art of homemade spirits has reached new heights. Sharing my astonishment about the cocktail book with some friends with better connections to the Islamist regime, they explained the government has a silent pact with the educated and affluent in Iran's big cities, who render politics unto Caesar, provided that Caesar keeps his nose out of their liquor cabinets.

In other words, the well-to-do Iranian drinks and reads and watches what he wishes. He does as he pleases behind the walls of his private mansions and villas. In return for his private comforts, the affluent Iranian is happy to sacrifice freedom of speech, most of his civil rights, and his freedom of association. The upper-middle class has been bought off by this pact, which makes a virtue of hypocrisy.

And you wonder why Iranians had an Islamic revoltion--the rich in that country have always been part of the problem, no matter what the regime.

The only difference is now they have to be underground; they wanna overthrow the current government not because of things like human rights abuses and an egregious foreign policy, but so they can go back to running the country and doing whatever they want whenever they want and to whomever they want.

They don't care about their own people--it's just like the rich Cuban exiles in Miami. They never talk about how when they ran the country it was under a dictatorship; they don't talk about how they hope to bring back free speech and democracy because they never had or wanted that.

It's all about the evils of the current regime, of which there are a lot--but you know, at a certain point you've got to come clean and admit it wasn't paradise that was lost, it was just your money, which was often ill-gotten at best, stolen at worst.

Caught in the middle, of course, are the poor who still suffer in the country, who hate the current regime but also remember that they hated even more the plutocracy. At least the current regimes in Iran and Cuba started out idealistic, with aspirations of change and a concept of social good.

The rich Iranians and Cubans merely want to feed.

Time/Life-Getty Images photo of the shah and his family by Dmitri Kessel and via PBS' Wideangle. More unbiased views on the Shah here.

Erasing the line

What would a bad day for Israel look like?

What if they laid siege to a mosque. And then fired on a bunch of women?

All on live television.

Israel Opens Fire During Mosque Standoff

Greg Myre in The Times: Israeli troops fired at a large crowd of unarmed Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip today as the women approached a mosque to help Palestinian militants holed up inside. Two women were killed and about 10 were injured, according to hospital workers.

The shooting provoked widespread outrage among Palestinians.

The Israeli military said its fire was directed at Palestinian gunmen who were hiding among the women as they marched toward the Um al-Nasir mosque in Beit Hanun, the town in the northeastern Gaza Strip where Israeli troops and militants have been battling for the past three days. The Israelis said eight militants were shot, and that they were not aware that women were hit, but were investigating.

Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, angrily called on the international community to “come here and witness the daily massacres that are being carried out against the Palestinian nation.”

Mr. Haniya also praised the women “who led the protest to break the siege of Beit Hanun.”

The shooting, which was captured by television cameras, was the most dramatic episode so far in the fighting in Beit Hanun.

By definition, no civilized army would allow its soldiers to fire on a bunch of women--what is happening to Israel?

Reuters photo of scene outside mosque by Suhaib Salem via the Times.

Draped crusader

From Deadspin's preview of your 2006-2007 New York Knicks:

Jerome James said that after being released by the Kings, he was given a garbage bag to clean out his locker. Following the Sonics' playoff series win against Sacramento in the 2004-05 season, he paraded around the court with a trash bag tied to his neck. Once, when asked if he was concerned about his former coach Nate McMillan commenting that he has a selfish attitude, replied, "I don't even know what he's talking about, I just worry about Jerome."

Uncredited photo of James found online.

History doesn't repeat

The Tigers lost the World Series to the underdog Cardinals tonight; as their great manager, Jim 'Classy' Leyland said afterwards after first congratulating the Cardinals, the young Tigers made too many mistakes to win a series, let alone the World Series.

Congrats St. Louis, well-known for having the best fans in baseball (they cheer even cheer good plays by the visiting team). Detroit will be back!

In the meantime, courtesy of Sports Illustrated, selected excerpts from their republished look at the last time the Cardinals and Tigers met in the World Series, in 1968.

It's amazing how different the game and sports writing, not to mention the country, was back then....

The Tigers See Too Much Red

Game 1

[Bob] Gibson's performance was magnificent, considering the muggy day in St. Louis and the fact that he had to use 144 pitches. Remarkably, he was strong at the end. He took care of Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Jim Northrup, Horton and Freehan 12 times, and when he got Horton to end the game the crowd stood and roared its approval, almost as much at the excellence he had somehow sustained through the season as at the new record. There must be something about Gibson's habits that differs from those of mere mortal pitchers.

Q. What did you eat for breakfast?

A. I didn't want to eat. I drove to the park and had coffee and doughnuts. During the game I ate a few candy bars.

Q. Did you get extra sleep?

A. No. I woke up seven or eight times during the night.

Q. What time did you go to bed?

A. About midnight. My 11-year-old daughter came in from Omaha to see the game and we talked.

Q. Was she excited about the game, interested in it?

A. She seemed mostly interested in her dress.


Game 2

As Albert William Kaline, for 16 years a great and injury-prone player for the Detroit Tigers, reached the dugout before taking batting practice for the first game of the Series, he looked out at the red, white and blue bunting and the schools of newsmen darting around the batting cage. Long ago Kaline, now 33, had promised himself that he would never go to a World Series game until he played in one. He sat on the dugout bench and again and again adjusted the stirrups on his socks and the flaps on his spiked shoes that identify him in black ink not by name but simply by the number "Six."

Whenever some Tiger players talked of him they would say, "Six had a real good night," or, "You should have seen the play Six made in Fenway." (In the opening game of the Series, Kaline doubled in four tries against Gibson but freely admitted that on his first time at bat he was extremely nervous. Even during batting practice before that game the Tigers were overswinging. They knocked very few balls into home run areas in Busch Stadium.) Kaline had been the reason why Tiger Manager Mayo Smith made the "great experiment" of moving Mickey Stanley, a fine centerfielder, to shortstop, though Stanley had played only six games at the position. By hitting hard and often late in the season after earlier injuries, Kaline had forced his way back into the lineup, and somehow a Tiger team in a World Series without Kaline would be no Tiger team at all. Realistically, though, the decision was based to a great extent on sentiment.

After the first game Kaline and his longtime friend Norm Cash concluded that the Tigers were swinging too hard and that the Detroit team had enough power to generate home runs merely by swinging naturally. Prior to the start of Game Two they moved among the players, telling them to swing as they had during the regular season and to forget trying to hit everything over St. Louis' Gateway Arch.

With Gibson's excellent performance behind them and some ragged play by the Tigers still in their minds, the Cardinals started off as though they intended to end the Series in four straight. But with two on and one out in the first inning, Cepeda hit a high foul toward the seats deep in right field. Everyone assumed that it would drop among the customers. Not Six, however. He was off when he saw the ball come away from Cepeda's bat and he kept racing on recklessly, heading right at a wire gate in foul territory. At the last instant he caught the ball, plunged through the gate, which for some reason had been left unlocked, then spun and threw to third. Javier, rightfully respecting Kaline's arm, stayed put at second.

Game 3

At the end of the third game one amazing statistic stood out: the first three hitters in the Cardinal lineup had been on base 21 times in 39 at bats.

Joe Hoerner came in for Washburn in the sixth inning and got the Cardinals out of a jam, giving up only a single and a walk to the next 13 batters he faced. Hoerner, a 31 year old relief man, had appeared in three Series games before this one and had been bad in each. Back in 1958 he had a heart attack. Because one of the muscles around his heart was weak, he was told he could never pitch overhand again. In consequence, Hoerner developed his curious style of throwing somewhere between sidearmed and underhanded. "It's about time," said Hoerner, "that I did something in a Series besides hit fungoes and give up a lot of runs."

Much of the joy seemed to go out of the city of Detroit after the third game, but the next day McLain would be meeting Gibson again.

Game 4

This one must have been invented for people who had never been to the Twilight Zone. All morning menacing clouds hung over Tiger Stadium, and more than an hour before gametime heavy rains started, keeping some people pent up in their automobiles in the $8 parking lots nearby while others hung papers over their heads, lifted umbrellas and marched into the 57-year-old ballpark to gather in restless clumps under the stands. Tiger fans realized that, with their team down two games to one, McLain would have to be at his very best because the man he was facing, Gibson, is the finest pressure pitcher in baseball today. But the second Gibson-McLain duel turned out to be another mismatch. ...

Then McLain himself failed to hold a throw at first base on a tough-hop bouncer by Mans, who went on to score on successive singles by McCarver and Shannon. Two runs for Gibson seem like six for almost anybody else. Through most of this year the Cardinals had not scored for him, a fact that bothered them almost as much as it did him. Although he won 22 games and lost only nine, during those nine losses his team scored a mere 12 runs. Once, needling the Cardinals, he said, "I might just as well go out there alone, because you guys make me feel that way anyway." ...

But now St. Louis got Gibson two more runs in the top of the third when Flood singled, McCarver hit a ball into the gap in left center and Horton, the Tiger leftfielder, played it off the wall like a bear handling a ginger snap. Shannon doubled, and everything was over except for the business of the rain. It was still driving straight down, and Tiger fans in the centerfield bleachers, hoping for a postponement, began to chant, "Rain, rain, rain." The umpires, confirmed by baseball Commissioner William Eckert, halted the game with the Cardinals still threatening. The tarp went down over the infield, and everybody settled down to wait. The Tigers, equipped with a weather forecast predicting that a heavy rainstorm was on its way, hoped the wait would be till Monday: The Cardinals, with Gibson in front 4-0, were looking for a legal (five inning) conclusion. After a holdup of one hour and 14 minutes, the teams came back on the field and prepared to resume play.

During the delay McLain asked not to pitch again because he could not raise his arm above his head.

Game 5

In the seventh, when it did come, it happened in the strangest way with a one out bloop hit by Lolich, who in this Series suddenly found a batting eye. Hoerner, who had stopped the Tigers so successfully in the third game, was summoned to relieve Briles. The Tigers tore Hoerner apart. McAuliffe singled sharply past first and Stanley, walked. The scene was set for Kaline. The big crowd stood when he entered the batter's box. "I was looking for a fastball," said Kaline, "because that's the way Hoerner pitched me before." Kaline got his fastball and hit it into short center field to bring home the tying and eventual winning runs. Cash's second hit brought home the fifth run.

The crowd stood again as Kaline took his place in right field at the end of the inning. He tipped his cap. "Somehow," said Kaline, "I enjoy hitting with men on base. I just, don't seem to get the same incentive when they're not there. When I saw all those people standing I got goose bumps. It's hard to describe the way you feel. You try to pay them back because they've been good fans and I wanted so much to have them see us win one game here after the way they had treated us all season."

No Game 6 recap

Game 7

"I heard Norm Cash and Dick McAuliffe both yelling to me at the same time," Lolich said. "I didn't know whether they were telling me to 'step off' or 'throw over,' but I decided I'd better throw over to first." When Lolich made his move Brock bolted for second base, a play he had worked successfully against Lolich in the second game. However, Cash relayed the ball to shortstop Mickey Stanley, covering second, and Brock was out just barely. Then, a few minutes later, Lolich picked Curt Flood off first base and the Cardinals began to die. "I can't remember picking off two men in one game, let alone one inning," Lolich said later.

In the seventh game came Brock's second -- and probably most costly -- stumble. There still was no score when Brock started the Cardinal sixth with a single to left field. In the second game of the Series he had stolen second twice on Lolich. Now he took an enormous lead -- at least 20 feet. "Before a game I always make an indention someplace -- in the dirt, in the grass -- that automatically tells me how far I can lead away and not worry about getting picked off," he had said earlier in the week. This time he exceeded his own safety limits.

AP photo of MVP David Eckstein leaping into the arms of Scott Spiezio after Game 5 by Charles Krupa via Yahoo News.

Uncredited 1968 photo of World Series MVP Mickey Lolich leaping into the arms of catcher Bill Freehan after Game 7 found online.

Scarlet murder

Want a definition of suburban arrogance?

That evangelical-infused egoism that leads people to believe the world revolves around them and their kids--that terrorists and molesters spend all their time plotting to get them in particular and that in response no distortion of public policy or values is too great?

The belief that all actions are justified if in their amateur judgment their family is at risk? The philosophy that allows for multiple-SUV garages and category-defying consumption of energy? A lifestyle that holds personal whims above others' evidence?

A world view that thinks the babblings of a two-year old girl justifies taking the life of a man?

Girl Was Not Molested by Neighbor Her Angry Father Killed, Police Say

The Times: The police in Fairfield said on Thursday that they had concluded that a 2-year-old girl had not been molested by a next-door neighbor who they say was stabbed to death by her father after he was told she had been abused.

The father, Jonathon Edington, 29, a Fairfield patent lawyer, broke into the home of his neighbor, Barry James, on Aug. 28 and repeatedly stabbed him, just minutes after his wife told him that Mr. James had molested their daughter, according to the police.

But on Thursday, police Capt. Gary MacNamara said: “We are confident in our investigation that Mr. Edington did in fact kill Mr. James. We’re confident that Mr. James did not molest the Edingtons’ daughter. We’ve concluded that no molestation occurred.” ...

Mr. Edington, 29, who is free on $1 million bond, has been charged with murder and burglary in the attack. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Mr. James, 59, worked part time at a funeral home and lived with his elderly parents. The family urged the police to examine Mr. James’s personal effects to rule out any suspicions, said Richard T. Meehan Jr., a lawyer representing Mr. James’s family.

AP photo of Jonathon Edington, left, arriving at Superior Court in Bridgeport, Conn., Sept. 12, 2006, with attorney Andrew Bowman by Bob Child.

Not so smart

From my third-favorite sports website (after ESPN.com and CNNSI.com), Deadspin:

The legend of the scrappy, hustling, get-yer-uniform-dirty utility player holds a special place in baseball lore, probably because no sport more values its ... well, no sport has more white people. It's a sacred role on a team: White guy who's not that skilled but is popular because he's "gritty." It's one of baseball's uglier underbellys; David Ecksteins will always be more popular than Ronnie Belliards. It's wrong, but it is.

But just because it exists doesn't mean you have to make an award for it. Sure enough, though, Holiday Inn -- the hotel chain that has decided you can inspire people to rent rooms with you by showing a bunch of idiots harassing Joe Buck -- is sponsoring the Look Again Player Of The Year Award, which goes to "the role players who sacrifice for their team in often unrecognized effort."

Each team has a nominee -- the Cardinals', obviously, is Eckstein -- and when you look at the nominees, it's kind of shocking how blatant they really are. Every single one of them is a white guy. (You could make an exception for Jose Valentin, but we think the mustache makes up for it.) Seriously: It is, without question, a poll to choose your favorite white guy. Scott Proctor is a role player? Woody Williams?

We can't believe they went through with this. We're hoping for another poll, later this week, where fans can vote on their favorite lethargic Latino player, their favorite math-problem-solving Asian player and their favorite disinterested black player.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/fan_forum/holiday_inn/lapy/index.jsp

Funny that none of the suits at Holiday Inn noticed. Or maybe it just didn't register.

One of the comments on Deadspin's story read "Cracker Barrel probably should have sponsored this award instead."

Or, Adams Mark.

Photo of baseball 'trophy' from an online retailer.

Blinded by the bling

A line in Times reporter Katharine Q. Seelye's piece about this year's magazine cover awards, New Yorker Wins Best Cover of the Year, caught my eye.

Referring to a cover that was the co-winner in the celebrity category:

The Vibe cover showed Busta Rhymes with a piece of duct tape over his mouth, a reference to his supposed withholding of information regarding the murder of his bodyguard. The panel lauded him for being willing to poke fun at himself.

There's a clear linkage between hip hop and violent crimes; and the NYPD has said time and again its efforts to investigate murders are hamstrung because many witnesses refuse to talk. There's nothing funny about what Rhymes, who's been in trouble with the law on multiple other occasions, is doing.

It's weird; whenever a celebrity is involved in something, the story always seems to center around the celebrity--they're who we identify with, after all, since by definition they're the ones always in the news. We blur the lines between their lives and their movies/music/etc.; it's almost like just exist as characters, no more real than Prospero and Caliban.

The name of Busta's bodyguard was Israel Ramirez. He was 29 when he died of a single shot to his chest, during the filming of a music video. Police believe Busta knows something that could help them solve the murder, but he's refusing to talk.

Someone should explain to Ramirez's young son what's so funny about that.

Getty photo of Trevor Smith aka Busta Rhymes and Schwartz photo of Israel Ramirez and his son, also named Israel, with mom, Alexa Medina, via the Daily News.

Turning the tide

It now seems likely that the Democrats will take control of the House come November, with control of the Senate a possibility.

If this Democratic tide turns into a surge, I nominate this as the key moment.

Pat Tillman's brother Kevin speaks out against war

AP: The brother of an NFL player who was killed in Afghanistan after quitting the team to join the U.S. Army Rangers has broken his silence.
The brothers, both Arizona State University graduates, joined the Army in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They served together as Rangers with the 2nd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment.

Pat Tillman, who played defensive back for the Arizona Cardinals, was killed by friendly fire near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in April 2004. The Defense Department is investigating allegations of a cover-up, including failure by the U.S. Army to tell Tillman's family for several weeks that he had been killed by gunfire from his fellow Army Rangers -- not by enemy fire, as they initially were told.

Kevin Tillman has not spoken publicly about the war or his brother's death since his discharge from the Army. But in Truthdig.com, Kevin wrote openly about the war and the American response to it.

"Somehow, the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country. Somehow, this is tolerated. Somehow, nobody is accountable for this."

Kevin Tillman, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with his older brother, Pat Tillman, has remained silent since his brother's death in 2004. But this week, he wrote a scathing indictment of the war in Iraq, the Bush administration and American apathy.

"Somehow, the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes," Kevin wrote on Truthdig.com, which purchased his work.

Photo of Pat and Kevin Tillman from a MySpace user's profile.

No European vacation

At some point, non-Muslims in France, like other Europeans, are going to have to come to grips with the fact that Muslims aren't an alien presence in their nation, but are an integral and at times defining part of the national fabric.

There are about as many Muslims in France as there are in the U.S., around 5 to 6 million. But Muslims make up a much larger percentage of the population in France, around 10-12%.

That's roughly equivalent to the percentage of African Americans in the U.S. Are there things about blacks that make white Americans uncomfortable? Sure--but in this country, we're as likely to see that as whitey's problem as anything else.

Wonder how long it'll take for the non-Muslim French to realize sometimes they're the ones with the problem. That their norms are not the gold standard; that the definition of France isn't frozen in the 19th century; that some Frenchmen and Frenchwomen may prefer tabouleh to escargot.

And that there's nothing wrong with visting family in Karachi, anymore than there is in visting family in Alsace-Lorraine.

Muslim staff in Paris airport row

BBC: Four Muslim baggage handlers are appealing against a decision to bar them from working at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
They say that the local government's decision to revoke their security passes is evidence of anti-Muslim discrimination.

A local government spokesman says the decision was based on an assessment of the terrorist risk.

He denied the move was linked to the men's religion.

Passes withdrawn

Lawyers acting for the four men say that dozens of other Muslims who work at the airport have also been stripped of their security passes, leaving them unable to work. ...

The head of a local government office, Jacques Lebrot, said the ban had nothing to do with religion.

"For us, someone who goes on holiday to Pakistan several times raises questions," he told Reuters News Agency.

AP photo of women wearing head scarves in the French flag's colors at a protest of a ban on religious attire in French schools by Laurent Rebours.

Velvet protest

Some anti-war songs that aren't so obvious if you just heard them on the radio, mostly drawn from the communal consciousness that is YouTube and Wikipedia. And also, I'm amazed at the depth of some of the discussions on SongMeanings. Pretty respectful and insightful, for the most part.

99 Luftballons, Nena

Ninety nine red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
And focusing it on the sky
The ninety nine red balloons go by

Catchy (West) German cold war protest song; according to '80s Music Lyrics it ends with the mistaken destruction of a German city.... The industrial-looking and towards the end almost-cheesy German music video version makes explicit the song's point; Nena Kerner's voice and the German language give it all a driving insistence. But it's the great melody that sticks in your head afterwards (especially if you don't speak German).

Goldfinger's (mostly) English-language version is far less powerful, and really is all about the band. It's a prime example of overkill--there's no anti-war message here, just punking out. Nena's soft-hard contrast that's at the heart of the song is ripped out.

There's a good comparison of the English vs. German lyrics of the song, at Inthe80s.com.

A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall, Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Like most of Bob Dylan's songs, there's just something about the words--they speak even if you don't think about or know the meaning, just the sounds, the rhythmns work. It really is like reading Shakespeare (or Sondheim). The clip's from George Harrison's seminal Concert For Bangladesh.

Pretty much any Dylan song had at its heart the issues of war and peace that dominate the 60s and 70s. A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall is an interesting one; the song's Wikipedia entry says, "The surrealistic lyrics of this song are usually construed as referring to the aftermath of a nuclear war." But, as the entry also notes, Dylan has said the song's not as literal as you might think; "It's not atomic rain, it's not fallout rain... I [just] mean some sort of end that's just got to happen."

That's the beauty of his songs--again, like Shakespeare, you can 'get' it and it makes sense in its cursory or first-level meaning; but over time or via knowledge, you find there's always more there.

Scarborough Fair, Simon and Garfunkel

Tell her to find me an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
Between the salt water and the sea strand
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

I've listened to this song a million times and had no idea of how Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel melded this most traditional of English songs with an anti-war version.

Apparently Simon wrote the counterpoint lyrics, and Garfunkel did the melody. You can hear the counterpoint on the song, but it kindof just blends in, and is less distinct than the traditional words.

So the 'full song' for the lyrics following the above was:

Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather
(War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
(Generals order their soldiers to kill)
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
(And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Maybe because it's such a soothing song.... If I spent any time wondering about the song, it centered on why parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme?

There's a good discussion on the anti-war meaning (and the herbs) on Songfacts, among other places. It really makes you wonder how much else you miss going through life.

The video's from their Central Park reunion and is ethereal, even if at this point you can see the strings (Paul more than Art for some reason). It doesn't include the Canticle counterpoint. You can hear it by going to Napster and typing in Scarborough Canticle (or picking up the CD that's probably on your shelf).

It's odd, after hearing the full version, the stripped-down version on YouTube sounds hollow.

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, mp3

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

Australian Eric Bogle (who was actually born and raised in Scotland) wrote this song, set during the WWI slaughter of the invading Australian troops by the Turks (Winston Churchill resigned as head of the British Navy after the disastrous failure of his plan--this was the battle where the British ships showed up on the beachfront with the ammunition stowed in the bottom).

The Wikipedia entry, in noting the song's popularity among anti-Vietnam War protestors, has this interesting line: "American Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor winner Senator Bob Kerrey sang the song to his supporters at the end of his Presidential campaign in 1988, and borrowed the first line for the title of his autobiography, When I Was A Young Man: A Memoir."