A Pitched Debate: Clinton Hears It From Her Rivals

Abstract: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York came under withering attack from the rest of the Democratic presidential field last night in a pitched two-hour debate that her opponents used to challenge her candor and electability and to portray her as enabling President Bush to prepare for an invasion of Iran. It was the seventh time the candidates had met and it was strikingly different in tone from any of the prior debates. At times, it seemed that Mrs. Clinton was parrying criticism from every corner of the stage, reflecting the vulnerabilities that come from being a high-visibility candidate who has built large leads in national polls with just two months to go until the first vote. Mrs. Clinton was attacked for not offering specific plans on what she might do with Social Security. She was challenged for voting to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization. She was assailed at one moment as being disingenuous, the next as a symbol of tired Washington establishment and the next for being unelectable. At one point, she appeared to say she supported an attempt by Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, a plan he abandoned in the face of fierce opposition. A moment later she backed off, leading her opponents to denounce her again for obfuscating. The tone of the debate, which was sponsored by NBC News, had been established before the candidates walked onto the stage at Drexel University in Philadelphia, when Senator Barack Obama of Illinois proclaimed in an interview over the weekend that “now is the time” to begin drawing tough distinctions with Mrs. Clinton. He did so almost immediately, accusing Mrs. Clinton of “changing positions whenever it’s politically convenient,” pointing to the North American Free Trade Agreement, torture and the war on Iraq. “Now, that may be politically savvy, but I don’t think that it offers the clear contrast that we need,” Mr. Obama said. “I think what we need right now is honestly with the American people about where we would take the country.” But for all the attention Mr. Obama drew to himself coming into the debate, he was frequently overshadowed by former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who — speaking more intensely — repeatedly challenged Mrs. Clinton’s credentials and credibility, and frequently seemed to make the case against Mrs. Clinton that Mr. Obama had promised to make. “Senator Clinton says that she believes she can be the candidate for change, but she defends a broken system that’s corrupt in Washington, D.C.,” Mr. Edwards said. He added, “I think the American people, given this historic moment in our country’s history, deserve a president of the United States that they know will tell them the truth, and won’t say one thing one time and something different at a different time.” The debate appeared to mark a turning point in the Democratic contest, as Mrs. Clinton’s rivals feel increasing pressure to begin trying to weaken her as the first voting approaches. Though there were a few light moments — Representative Dennis C. Kucinich of Ohio said he had once seen a U.F.O. — the tone of the night was tense and combative. Mrs. Clinton walked into the debate expecting to be the target of attacks but as the night went on, she appeared surprised by the intensity as she was challenged not only by her opponents but by the moderators, Brian Williams and Tim Russert of NBC. Mrs. Clinton smiled far less frequently than she had in earlier debates, often looking grim as she turned her head from Mr. Edwards to her right to Mr. Obama on her left. “I need to rebut that,” she said at one point. “I don’t know where to start.” Mrs. Clinton pointed to the fact that Republicans have been assailing her constantly as evidence that she was delivering a clear message. “The Republicans and their constant obsession with me demonstrates clearly that they obviously think that I am communicating effectively about what I will do as president,” she said. “And I am trying to do that because it matters greatly. We’ve got to turn the page on George Bush and Dick Cheney. In fact, we have to throw the whole book away. This has been a disastrous period in American history, and we hope it will be aberration.” The attacks on Mrs. Clinton grew so intense that one opponent, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who served in President Bill Clinton’s administration, scolded the others. “You know what I’m hearing here, I’m hearing this holier-than-thou attitude toward Senator Clinton,” he said. “It’s bothering me because it’s pretty close to personal attacks that we don’t need.” “But the important thing is that we need to stay positive,” Mr. Richardson said. “We need to have disagreements on the issues, not on whether you can trust. I trust Senator Clinton but I don’t agree with her on a majority of issues.” Mr. Edwards and Mr. Obama almost stumbled over each other in offering a different interpretation of the Republican attacks on Mrs. Clinton than the one she offered. “Part of the reason that Republicans, I think, are obsessed with you, Hillary, is because that’s a fight they’re very comfortable having,” Mr. Obama said. “It is the fight that we’ve been through since the ’90s. And part of the job of the next president is to break the gridlock and to get Democrats and independents and Republicans to start working together to solve these big problems.” Mr. Edwards offered a similar line of attack. “I mean, another perspective on why the Republicans keep talking about Senator Clinton is, Senator, she — they may actually want to run against you, and that’s the reason they keep bringing you up,” he said, adding, “I think that if people want the status quo — Senator Clinton’s your candidate. “ Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards came into the debate seeking to raise questions about Mrs. Clinton’s credibility — and, as a result, renew doubts about her electability. Mrs. Clinton may have helped them with her unsteady answer about whether she supported the initiative by Mr. Spitzer. “Do I think this is the best thing for any governor to do?” she said. “No. But do I understand the sense of real desperation, trying to get a handle on this? Remember, in New York we want to know who’s in New York. We want people to come out of the shadows. He’s making an honest effort to do it. We should have passed immigration reform.” She was challenged on what she said first by Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and then by Mr. Edwards. “Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes just a few minutes ago, and I think this is a real issue for the country,” Mr. Edwards said. If Mrs. Clinton has become a favorite target at the Republican debates, Rudolph W. Giuliani — another New Yorker and a strong candidate for his party’s nomination — took that role at the Democratic debate last night. “There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11,” said Senator Joseph I. Biden of Delaware, referring to Mr. Giuliani. “I mean, there’s nothing else. And I mean it sincerely. He is genuinely not qualified to be president.” It was a rare moment when Mrs. Clinton was not on the firing line, and it did not last long. In an exchange with Mr. Russert, arguably her third toughest opponent on the stage, Mrs. Clinton repeatedly declined to say whether she would push the National Archives to release correspondence from Mrs. Clinton to Mr. Clinton in the White House when he was president. Mr. Russert held up a copy of a letter from Mr. Clinton asking the Archives not to release any of those documents until 2012. “Well, that’s not my decision to make,” she said. “And I don’t believe that any president or first lady has. But certainly we’ll move as quickly as our circumstances and the processes of the National Archives permits.” Mr. Obama raised his hand, asking for a response. “We have just gone through one of the most secretive administrations in our history, and not releasing, I think, these records at the same time, Hillary, as you’re making the claim that this is the basis for your experience, I think, is a problem,” he said.

Debating
Presidential Election of 2008
Democratic Party
Clinton Hillary Rodham
Obama Barack
Edwards John
Richardson Bill
Dodd Christopher J


KOR-fx, In-Flight Entertainment Device, Seeks to Engage the Brain

Abstract: Atlanta I GOT waylaid by an insistent inventor as I was hurrying through the crowd on my way to a panel discussion at the National Business Aviation Association convention here last week. “You’ve got to try this; it’s amazing,” said Shahriar S. Afshar, the peppy chief executive of a company called Immerz, who had been hovering by a display table. Hey, I’m usually up for amazing, so I let Mr. Afshar slide a small plastic contraption around my neck. It had two flat paddles that rested on my chest. He handed me some headphones and held out an iPod so I could watch a movie clip. As if I needed reminding, the business aviation convention attracts people selling a lot more than just business jets. This year, there was a wide array of high-end products, like lightweight simulated granite for bathrooms and water purification systems so the highflying set can gargle better. This year, in-flight entertainment gear was hot, from big high-definition screens to inventions like Mr. Afshar’s, the KOR-fx total immersion audio-stimulation system. That movie clip on his iPod, by the way, consisted of superheroes hollering, shooting guns, driving fast, blowing things up and punching each other. But the sound! The sound turned my chest cavity into a subwoofer. Suddenly, I was intensely drawn into this dumb movie scene. “Whoa!” I said, removing the gear. “Right? Right?” said Mr. Afshar, a physicist turned entrepreneur whose KOR-fx invention generated some interest earlier this year at the big annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Now, the last thing I need is another electronic marvel to put in a drawer and forget about. But Mr. Afshar’s wearable chest-woofer stopped me literally in my tracks, if only because it was so weirdly different from the usual audio and video gear. And with a price tag of $189.99 (it won’t be available until February, but the company is taking orders), the KOR-fx also struck me as one of the few affordable products on exhibit at the convention. Of course, you had to consider the alternatives, as many of the approximately 25,000 industry people who attended were doing. Gulfstream, for example, showed off its eagerly anticipated G650 model, a long-range, high-speed business jet. It costs $64.5 million, and Gulfstream says it already has 200 firm orders. There was so much demand to see the new plane and its cabin that Gulfstream parked it in a location separate from the main display of about 100 other business aircraft at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport “simply to manage traffic flow,” said Jeff Miller, a Gulfstream spokesman. And at the sprawling main aircraft display, Bombardier threw a lavish, crowded party on the tarmac to introduce its two new ultralong-range business jets, the Global 7000 and 8000 models — each priced at around $65 million. Back at the convention center, Mr. Afshar and his company were working with Flight Display Systems, which makes in-flight entertainment equipment, to demonstrate the KOR-fx system for use by passengers on private jets and other planes. Eventually, Mr. Afshar said, Immerz planned to have a version available for commercial airlines. Essentially, the KOR-fx is based on technology that generates not just acoustic but also tactile stimulation of the brain. The company also is working on plans to introduce more sophisticated versions of the system for movie theaters and game publishers. “I personally have been using this, stealthily, on airplanes, flying all over,” Mr. Afshar said. “On a 15-hour flight to Asia, I basically immerse myself. And then all of a sudden, I have arrived, and I realize I just watched five movies.” He told me, “You were watching just a plain old movie, with plain old movie sound coming through.” The system’s nearly imperceptible chest vibrations, he said, work with neural pathways to produce emotional immersion in a video or a game. “The technological power is there, you can actually produce effects beyond what you experienced,” he added. “We can produce sensations of wind, sensations of G-forces, loss of balance. And since it activates the part of the brain that deals with emotion and sense of self, it can even produce emotions to match those of the characters in a game or movie. For example, it can stimulate you to cry.” Hold on a minute there. I think the airlines are way ahead of you on stimulating the urge to cry. They already produce that sensation in customers, and they haven’t even put a price on it. Yet.

KOR-fx
Movies
Airlines and Airplanes
Digital Audio Players
Bombardier Inc


Tent City at a Golf Club Dramatizes Haiti’s Limbo

Abstract: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — When Mimrose Marson fled her devastated neighborhood for the Pétionville Club, she never dreamed that her family would sink roots on its nine-hole golf course. The club had a history of land disputes with its neighbors, and the sign on its gate said “Members Only” in English. Yet more than two months after the earthquake, Ms. Marson, a former garment worker, was still there, hanging embroidered drapes at her tent’s entrance while her grandson decorated a sign that read “Our House” in Creole. “I do not play golf but I am a victim, so here I am,” she said. “Here we all are. Until the rains wash us away, I guess.” The Pétionville Club, soaked by heavy rains late last week, has transformed itself into a mucky makeshift city. Home to at least 44,000 displaced people living under tarpaulins on its steep slopes, the club has a quasi-mayor, a ragtag security force, a marketplace, two movie theaters, three nightly prayer services, rival barber shops and even a plastic-sheeted salon offering manicures and pedicures. The club offers a portrait of entrenched transience, its population dynamic enough to move forward but spinning its wheels like a car stuck in mud. That reflects where Haiti is now, too, as it awaits a March 31 international donors’ conference in New York with the hope of kick-starting the reconstruction effort. Although the country has taken a giant step beyond the shock and grief of the disaster, many here feel that inertia has taken hold, symbolized by the presidential palace, which looms like a smashed wedding cake over a capital still filled with rubble. “Where do we go from here?” asked Jean Noel François, an elected official from the Delmas municipality who has assumed the role of unofficial mayor in the Pétionville camp, ministering to his constituents from a tent under a tamarind tree. “That is what I asked President René Préval when I went to see him: What is the plan?” Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who set up a Haiti fund at President Obama’s request, are scheduled to visit Haiti together on Monday to discuss recovery plans in advance of the donors’ conference. According to a draft summary of the Haitian government’s damage and needs assessment released last week, Haiti will need $11.5 billion to build anew. Before long-term reconstruction begins, though, Haiti faces the challenge of managing a displaced population of about 1.2 million temporarily resettled in some 460 encampments in the Port-au-Prince area. About 40 percent still do not have tents or tarpaulins. The rainy season, which officially begins in April but offered a preview on Friday when rain swamped tent cities, has the potential to wreak havoc on the many spontaneous settlements in areas prone to flooding or mudslides. Some of the largest and most overcrowded camps, like the one at the Pétionville Club, have been identified by bureaucrats for “decongestion.” Yet for the moment, these same tent cities continue to mushroom as a result of the food, water, sanitation and medical services provided them by international groups. At the Pétionville Club, Catholic Relief Services has registered 7,352 families and provided almost all of them with shelter kits — tarps, nails and rope — and 30-day rations of food (fortified bulgur, green peas, a corn-soy blend and vegetable oil). Hundreds of American troops were stationed at the camp until they started pulling out earlier this month. Now an unarmed Haitian security force, composed of about 200 volunteers wearing neon yellow vests, patrols the golf course, trying to mediate disputes. “We get a lot of cases: men beating up women, women beating up other women, people biting off other peoples’ ears,” said Romulus Renald Black, one of the volunteers. “We bring them into our security tent, judge them, and, if it’s a big case, we call in the police.” Another patrolman said that there had been several rapes and assaults but only one killing. As to the number of ear bitings, Mr. Black said, “You’d be surprised.” “Given the conditions, it has been remarkably calm and brotherly here,” said Clerveau Rodrigue, who has emerged as one of the camp’s leaders. The camp vibrates with activity, including Israeli-run classrooms and International Medical Corps-staffed health clinics. Women cook and clean, sweeping the loose dirt from their tents in what seems like a Sisyphean task. Men dig drains around their shelters. Boys build toy cars from plastic bottles, with buttons for wheels. Girls fetch water, chop callaloo leaves, jump rope. Babies, naked on the ground, eat dirt. Everything is for sale, like hair extensions in baggies and padlocks for the wooden doors that many have installed in their tarp-covered shelters. Inside a United States Agency for International Development tent outfitted with freshly made benches and a flat-screen television, one entrepreneur charges about 12 cents for screenings of a “Terminator” movie and the Malaysian kung fu film “Kinta.” Another young businessman rents out his Playstation in one of the designated “child safe” areas, a green netting atop four poles. A woman runs a bar atop a crate. At one end of what has become the camp’s main street, Mr. François has installed himself in a makeshift City Hall, with a dozen green wheelbarrows parked outside, the camp’s garbage trucks. “Everyone here has a problem, and they need their representative,” he said. “It’s ‘I need water, delegate. I need food, delegate.’ I have 400 trash pickup jobs to give out every day, and 5,000 people who line up to get them.” Moving families from encampments like the Pétionville Club entails finding and preparing some 1,500 acres of land — one relocation site recently opened and another is being prepared — and then persuading people to move outside the metropolitan area, international groups say. It will be an undertaking. “We understand we’re on private property here, but any kind of relocation is going to have to be really well planned,” Mr. Rodrigue said. “It will be like moving a town at this point.”

Haiti
Earthquakes
Refugees and Displaced Persons


Unicef Clarifies Official’s Remarks That Appeared to Call for Talks With Militants

Abstract: Unicef’s Syria representative touched off a minor tempest on Friday by appearing to propose that governments try to talk to the Islamic State, one of the world’s most violent extremist groups, about allowing aid workers to reach children in areas under its control. Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, quickly clarified the remarks by the representative, Hanaa Singer, saying they were misconstrued. What she meant, it said, was that any governments with influence over militant groups in the Syrian conflict should be pressing them to permit aid workers into all areas where access has been denied. “Unicef would like to stress that all parties to the conflict in Syria have an obligation and a responsibility to allow humanitarian access to reach children wherever they are inside the country,” a spokeswoman, Juliette Touma, said in the statement. “This is something we have stated repeatedly since the beginning of the conflict.” The reaction to Ms. Singer’s remarks, at a United Nations news conference in Geneva on the Syria conflict illustrated the hypersensitivities over any dealings with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq. The group has beheaded and incinerated captives, kidnapped Westerners and others, including aid workers, plundered antiquities and attracted thousands of foreign fighters. Its brutality and deft use of social media have caused widespread revulsion. ISIS commanders are training child soldiers and subjecting children to videos of beheadings. The group recently circulated a propaganda video that purports to show a child recruit shooting a hostage in the head. Ms. Singer said Unicef and other aid organizations in Syria had often been stymied in their efforts to reach children living in militant-held territory. Sometimes aid can be delivered through intermediaries, she said. Asked at the news conference how Unicef and other aid groups should deal with the group, Ms. Singer said: “They refuse to talk to the U.N., for the time being, they don’t talk to us. But at the same time, it’s not the responsibility only of the humanitarian agencies. This is a political responsibility, and for the political parties to talk, to put pressure and start a dialogue with ISIS.” She said that by political parties she meant other states and “political parts of the U.N.,” and that the purpose should be to “protect the children.” Some news agencies seized on Ms. Singer’s response, and ISIS critics said the remarks seemed to signal a naïveté about a militant group regarded as implacably hostile and duplicitous. “Unicef urges talks with ISIS for aid access,” Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned satellite news service, said on its Twitter account . Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, who directs its program on counterterrorism and intelligence, said in a Twitter posting : “Unicef doesn’t get ISIS.” J. M. Berger, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in recruiting and social media use by Islamic militant extremist groups, called the idea of talking with ISIS for gaining humanitarian access within its domain “a noble thought, but a terrible, terrible idea.” Ms. Touma dismissed the suggestion that Unicef had wavered from long-held positions at the United Nations on humanitarian access in Syria. She noted that the Security Council had passed resolutions, starting in February 2014 , calling on “all parties” to permit aid to flow unfettered to civilians in the conflict. Ms. Touma said that for ISIS to allow humanitarian access, “there has to be pressure by those who have influence.” She called the reaction to Ms. Singer’s remarks a misinterpretation and “a bit of a storm in a teacup.”

UNICEF
Syria
Children
Humanitarian aid
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State


After Death, Questions About a Man and His Cause

Abstract: CHICAGO, Nov. 26 (AP) — Malachi Ritscher envisioned his death as one full of purpose. He carefully planned the details, mailed a copy of his apartment key to a friend, made to-do lists for his family. On his Web site, Mr. Ritscher, a 52-year-old experimental musician who had fought with depression, even wrote his obituary. At 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 3 Mr. Ritscher, a frequent antiwar protester, stood by an off-ramp in downtown Chicago near a statue of a giant flame, set up a video camera, doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. Aglow for the crush of morning commuters, his flaming body was supposed to be a call to the nation, a symbol of his rage and discontent with the war in Iraq . “Here is the statement I want to make: If I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country,” he wrote in his suicide note. “If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country.” There was only one problem: No one was listening. It took five days for the Cook County medical examiner to identify the charred corpse. Meanwhile, Mr. Ritscher’s suicide went largely unnoticed. It was not until a reporter for an alternative weekly, The Chicago Reader, pieced together the facts that word began to spread. Soon, tributes and questions poured in to the newspaper’s blogs. Was this a man consumed by mental illness? Or was Mr. Ritscher a martyr driven by rage over what he saw as an unjust war? Was he a convenient symbol for an antiwar movement or was there more to his message? “This man killed himself in such a painful way, specifically to get our attention on these things,” said Jennifer Diaz, a 28-year-old graduate student who never met him but has been researching his life. Now, she is organizing protests and vigils in his name. “I’m not going to sit by and I can’t sit by and let this go unheard.” Mental health experts say virtually no suicides occur without some kind of a diagnosable mental illness. But Mr. Ritscher’s family disagrees about whether he had severe mental problems. In a statement, his parents and siblings called him an intellectually gifted man who suffered from bouts of depression. They stopped short of saying he had ever received a clinical diagnosis of mental illness. “He believed in his actions, however extreme they were,” his younger brother, Paul Ritscher, wrote online. Born in Dickinson, N.D., with the name Mark David, Mr. Ritscher dropped out of high school, married at 17 and divorced 10 years later. Eventually, he changed his name. At the end, he worked in building maintenance and was a fixture in the experimental music scene in Chicago. He described himself as a renaissance man who had amassed a collection of more than 2,000 musical recordings from clubs in Chicago. He was a writer, philosopher and photographer. He was an alcoholic who collected fossils, glass eyes, light bulbs and snare drums. He paid $25 to become an ordained minister with the Missionaries of the New Truth and ran a handful of Web sites protesting the war in Iraq. Friends, who seemed surprised by his death, found themselves searching for answers. In the end, only he knew the motivations for his suicide. There was little doubt, though, that he was satisfied with his choice. “Without fear I go now to God,” Mr. Ritscher wrote in the last sentence of his suicide note. “Your future is what you will choose today.”

Iraq
Suicides and Suicide Attempts
Mental Health and Disorders
Chicago (Ill)


Anthropology Group Addresses Furor Over Deleting ‘Science’

Abstract: The battle of the anthropologists — those who hew closely to scientific tradition versus those who take a more humanistic approach — flared again Monday, as the organization that represents both sides tried to patch things up. The American Anthropological Association had caused a stir by dropping the word “science” from its long-range plan, angering the evidence-based anthropologists who worry about their field’s growing too soft. All three mentions of the word “science” were excised, and two were replaced by the phrase “the public understanding of humankind.” On Monday, the association issued a statement of clarification , saying it recognizes “the crucial place of the scientific method in much anthropological research.” Damon Dozier, the association’s director of public affairs, said: “We’ve heard loud and clear from our members that they have concerns about the long-range plan. We’ll look at the words again.” The association is an umbrella group that includes several disciplines ranging from physical anthropology — like the study of fossilized human skulls — to more interpretive subjects, like research on race and sex. There has been a longstanding cultural gap within the association between the evidence-based researchers, who include some social anthropologists, and those more interested in advocating for the rights of women or native peoples. The new long-range plan, approved last month, inflamed these differences. In Monday’s statement, the association defined anthropology as “a holistic and expansive discipline that covers the full breadth of human history and culture.” Anthropology draws on the methods of both the humanities and the sciences, it added. Mr. Dozier said, “We mean holistic in terms of the diversity of the discipline.” Peter N. Peregrine, president of the Society for Anthropological Sciences, an affiliate of the association, said Monday that he had heard “outrage and tremendous concern” from his members about dropping references to science, some of them asking how they could justify their department’s existence if their national organization did not regard anthropology as a science. But Mr. Peregrine expressed hope regarding Monday’s statement, interpreting “holistic” to mean that science is included in the anthropological understanding of human beings. The differences between the humanistic and scientific approaches may, however, be too large to be bridged. “I really don’t see how or why anthropology should entail humanities,” said Frank Marlowe, president-elect of the Evolutionary Anthropology Society, another association affiliate, given that the social sciences are empirical, while the humanities are analytic, critical or speculative. “We evolutionary anthropologists are outnumbered by the new cultural or social anthropologists, many but not all of whom are postmodern, which seems to translate into antiscience,” Dr. Marlowe said.

Humanities
American Anthropological Assn
Archaeology and Anthropology
Science and Technology


Jon Stewart and Rally Shun Politics, but Attendees Embrace It

Abstract: Jon Stewart insists that his “Rally to Restore Sanity” planned for the National Mall on Saturday is not political. But just about everything surrounding the event is. Interviews with some of the tens of thousands of people expected to attend suggest that they want a message, not a simple comedy show. Liberal groups like Media Matters and Naral Pro-Choice America will be out in force to attract new members and even Organizing for America, President Obama’s political organization, wants to draw attendees to phone banks set up near the Mall. Tracie Lewis Kinard, 36, from Mobile, Ala., said that when she heard about the rally, “I felt like my way of thinking was finally being represented.” She is spending about $750 on a flight and two nights at a hotel. It is worth it, she said. “For one moment, the moderates will be the news.” Mr. Stewart has always dismissed suggestions that his satiric commentary on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” has any influence over the political process. But coming on the heels of the large Glenn Beck rally on the Mall in August, his event is a new high-wire act for him and his late-night comedy partner, Stephen Colbert : the huge crowd — observed by a horde of news media representatives — anticipated at noon on Saturday is expecting not only to be entertained, but also to be stirred. While the event is pitched to moderates of all political persuasions, Mr. Stewart is known for having a progressive audience. In interviews, some people who plan to attend said it might bolster the spirits of Democrats on the eve of a midterm election that is expected to carry a surge of Republicans to Washington. “To the extent that people are showing up because of their enthusiasm for the message behind the rally — that is, discontent with extremist rhetoric and divisive politics — that is a political statement, and that makes their participation political,” said Lauren Feldman, an assistant professor of communication at American University, who specializes in examining the nexus of entertainment and politics. Mr. Stewart declined interview requests and has offered little description of what is planned. He also has apparently lowered a cone of silence over members of his staff and executives at Comedy Central, which will broadcast the rally live. Even Judy McGrath, the chief executive at MTV Networks , the parent company of Comedy Central, also has not divulged many details. “Whatever you think it’s going to be, it’s probably not going to be that,” she said last week. And Doug Herzog, president of MTV Networks Entertainment Group and chief executive of Comedy Central, left it to the network spokesman, Tony Fox, to answer basic logistical questions. Among the morsels: the idea for the rally was broached with the network in mid-September; there will be no commercials during the broadcast; Comedy Central will use a tape delay to block out any vulgarities; the channel will also carry the press conference with Mr. Stewart scheduled after the event; Comedy Central will own the rights to the broadcast but has no plans to replay it. More than 1,000 individuals applied for press credentials, but the list was whittled down to 400. “We tried to be as accommodating as possible, and when we could not grant credentials, we encouraged people who didn’t get credentials to just come, because it is a free public event,” said Craig Minassian, a former Clinton administration press aide who is a consultant to Comedy Central and is helping produce the rally. An early rundown of the event, shared by the National Parks Service, which issued the permit for the event, listed a first hour dominated by musical acts (including The Roots), with Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert performing largely in the second hour, and more musicians (including Sheryl Crow) and a taped, fake-awards conclusion in the third hour. Other guest stars are likely to appear. One on the list is Don Novello, who played Father Guido Sarducci years ago on “ Saturday Night Live .” He is expected to offer an opening comic benediction, almost surely intended as a parody of the religious-themed rally headed by Mr. Beck. Mr. Beck’s “Restore Honor” rally, held on Aug. 28, the anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, was the inspiration for Mr. Stewart’s event. “To me, Stewart is almost saying, it’s so ludicrous that Glenn Beck has done this on the same spot as Martin Luther King that I can show how ludicrous it is by getting people to come from all over the country to watch me tell some jokes,” said Joe Cutbirth, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of British Columbia (who, like Ms. Feldman, is traveling to Washington for the rally). Amber Day, from Bryant University in Rhode Island, who will also be attending the rally, said the political basis for the event was inescapable. “I think Jon is being cagey,” said Ms. Day whose book, “Satire and Dissent,” will be published in February. “What he wants to say is, it’s not partisan. He wants to preserve his persona of just being the guy at the back of the class throwing spitballs.” Success in rallies is usually defined by crowd count and coverage. Ms. Day said one measure of the event’s success would be how much time it earned on CNN and Fox News. The reaction of other cable channels is likely to be of less concern to Mr. Stewart than meeting the expectations of fans who are crowding the city’s hotels for the weekend or those across the country watching on TV and staging satellite rallies in several cities. “I like the fact that I am going to something and I have no idea what will happen there,” wrote Charlie Caldwell, 18, a student at Louisiana State University, in a Facebook post Wednesday. “But I know I will have a good time.”

Rally to Restore Sanity
Comedy Central
MTV Networks
Colbert Stephen
Stewart Jon
United States Politics and Government


Judge Rules Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against Cowboys’ Owner Was Filed Too Late

Abstract: A judge dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit filed against the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Thursday, saying the claims were barred by a Texas law limiting the time in which a case can be filed. Jana Weckerly had accused Jones of grabbing her genitals and forcibly kissing her in 2009. Weckerly also said that a lawyer for Jones took a memory card with photos and destroyed it, and that she was paid money for several years after the episode as a bribe to remain quiet. Jones denied the allegations. Judge Dale Tillery of State District Court ruled that the allegations, even if true, fell outside the five-year statute of limitations for civil sexual assault cases. Tillery’s order also redacted certain allegations made by Weckerly in court filings, and it barred lawyers on both sides from discussing the case with the news media even after its dismissal. Weckerly’s lawyer, Thomas Bowers, said his client did not receive any money from Jones or the Cowboys as part of the case ending. He declined to comment further. A lawyer for Jones, Levi McCathern, said in an email that Weckerly’s allegations were false and that he was pleased with Tillery’s order. McCathern was also sued by Weckerly. Bowers argued in court last month that Weckerly’s case was not past the deadline because she was receiving payments and feeling pressured not to report the episode. But McCathern denied that any payments were made to Weckerly and said that even if they were at first, Weckerly could not have felt pressure for several years afterward. PANTHERS RECEIVER IS IDLE The Carolina rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin on Thursday missed his second straight day of practice with a concussion, raising concern about his availability for Sunday’s game at Green Bay. Coach Ron Rivera said Benjamin was in the concussion protocol and would meet with independent doctors on Friday to determine if he was ready to play against the Packers. Image A sexual assault lawsuit filed against Jerry Jones that stemmed from a 2009 incident was dismissed by a judge in Texas. Credit Scott Eklund/Associated Press Rivera said that if Benjamin cannot play it would be a “considerable” loss for the Panthers “in light of who he is for us.” Benjamin, a first-round draft pick from Florida State, has emerged as Carolina’s best wide receiver. He leads all rookies with 416 receiving yards on 31 catches, including four touchdowns. This week Rivera described Benjamin’s concussion as “mild” after a shot to the helmet from Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict last Sunday. 2 PATRIOTS ON I.R. New England placed its leading tackler Jerod Mayo and its top rusher Stevan Ridley on injured reserve, officially ending their seasons. The moves were expected after both players damaged their right knees in last Sunday’s 37-22 victory at Buffalo. New England signed running back Jonas Gray and offensive lineman Chris Barker from the practice squad. BENGALS THIN ON DEFENSE Rey Maualuga and Emmanuel Lamur missed practice again on Thursday, leaving the Bengals’ struggling defense without two of its mainstays heading into one of its biggest challenges. Cincinnati (3-1-1) is coming off a bad two-game stretch on defense. The Bengals have given up 936 yards and 77 points during a loss at New England and a tie with Carolina. It is uncharacteristic for a unit that finished third in the N.F.L. last season and returned virtually all of its starters. The Bengals rank 28th on defense. Cincinnati plays Sunday at Indianapolis (4-2), which has the league’s top-ranked offense. BUCS FIRE EXECUTIVE Tampa Bay fired its director of player development, Isaiah Harris, after he was arrested while driving under the influence Thursday morning. Harris, 35, was in his first year with the team. He was arrested on a misdemeanor D.U.I. charge and released on $500 bond. He worked in the Bears’ front office when the current Bucs coach, Lovie Smith, coached in Chicago.

Dallas Cowboys
Jerry Jones
Kelvin Benjamin
Football
Rape
Carolina Panthers


German Chief Forges Accord on Financing Health Care

Abstract: FRANKFURT, Oct. 5 — Chancellor Angela Merkel has survived the most serious threat to her fragile, 10-month-old government, emerging from a marathon, late-night negotiating session on Thursday with an agreement for new financing of Germany ’s straitened health care system. But the plan, which Mrs. Merkel once promoted as the centerpiece of her agenda, falls short of a basic overhaul of the huge system and puts off the most important changes until January 2009 — by which time, some critics say, her “grand coalition” may no longer exist. The noisy debate over health care has become a sort of crucible for the chancellor, testing her ability to reconcile differences between her Christian Democratic Party and its partner, the Social Democratic Party. This compromise, analysts say, shows how hobbled Mrs. Merkel is in taking radical steps. “The chancellor promised to deliver a grand solution, which was improbable from the start,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, co-chairman of the opposition Green Party. “What really failed was this ill-conceived idea that a grand coalition produces grand solutions. It does not.” The watered-down deal deprives Mrs. Merkel of the only bold measure left in her portfolio. Other proposed changes, like loosening Germany’s hidebound labor market, were shelved even before the government took power because of ideological differences between the parties. Far from being a German Margaret Thatcher, as her most ardent supporters once hoped, Mrs. Merkel, 52, has had to devote most of her energy to tamping down internal disputes before they split the coalition. The dispute over health care is a case in point. After a broad agreement was reached in July, internal bickering forced Mrs. Merkel to delay carrying out the plan by three months, until April 2007. The stalemate hurt her political standing, reducing approval ratings for the Christian Democrats to their lowest level since the reunification of Germany in 1990. Another political cloud is Mrs. Merkel’s insistence on substantially increasing the value-added-tax next year. With the party’s regional bosses taking shots at her, political analysts had speculated that the coalition would splinter. Having set a do-or-die session for Wednesday evening, Mrs. Merkel was plainly relieved to have cut any deal. “We succeeded, and anyone who knows how complicated things are in health policy also knows that the coalition has succeeded in a very important step,” she said in an interview with a German television news channel, before heading to Turkey and a respite from domestic politics. Few dispute that the health care system needs to be overhauled, and that none of the remedies are simple. Germany spends more on health care, as a percentage of its economic output, than all countries except Switzerland and the United States. With the rising cost of care, an aging population and chronic high unemployment, a shortfall of nearly $9 billion is projected this year. At the heart of the system are 252 public health insurance companies, which are financed through a premium paid by employers and employees that amounts to roughly 14 percent of workers’ annual salaries. Conservatives in Mrs. Merkel’s party originally pushed for a flat-rate premium, which would cut the link between income level and health care payments. This, they said, would lower Germany’s labor costs and encourage companies to hire again. But the Social Democrats balked. In the end, the parties agreed to raise the premium to 14.7 percent of salaries in 2007, to allow the insurers to close their deficit. They also agreed to pool the contributions in a state-run central fund, which would disburse a uniform amount to each insurance provider to cover their policyholders. The rationale is to force inefficient health insurers to cut costs. But this proposal got stuck, among other things, on a disagreement over a separate provision that would add an extra premium to cover future shortfalls in insurance coverage. The government decided to delay the central fund by six months, until January 2009, to resolve these differences. “They are inventing new ways to raise revenue,” said Thomas Mayer, the chief European economist at Deutsche Bank. “What I don’t see are ways to reduce spending. It’s the same old system.” Mr. Bütikofer said the government would have done better to focus on smaller steps, like encouraging more competition among pharmacies, or between public and private health insurance providers. Some analysts argue that the fine points of Germany’s health care system are almost beside the point, in what is basically a power struggle between Mrs. Merkel and rival conservative leaders. Bavaria’s prime minister, Edmund Stoiber, who leads the Christian Social Union, a sister party of the Christian Democrats, said he would withhold judgment until he read the draft legislation. Mr. Stoiber, a former candidate for chancellor, has never masked his skepticism about the coalition. “These regional princes are trying to weaken her,” said John C. Kornblum, a banker in Berlin and former American ambassador to Germany. “This has sapped a good deal of her energy and credibility.”

Germany
Merkel Angela
Health Insurance and Managed Care
Politics and Government


As Syria Prepares for Election, U.N. Envoy Plans Trip to Its Ally Iran

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS — Syria plans to hold national elections in June or July, its ambassador to the United Nations said Friday, as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that he would send his seasoned Syria mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, to Iran, the Syrian government’s most vital backer in the Middle East. Iran can play a role in “impressing upon the Syrian regime to come to the Geneva conference in a more constructive way,” Mr. Ban told reporters after briefing the General Assembly, referring to a series of peace talks with rebels seeking the government’s ouster, which have so far yielded little progress. “That is why it’s important that Lakhdar Brahimi visits Iran.” Mr. Brahimi is scheduled to arrive in Tehran on Sunday, the secretary general’s office said. Asked whether he would urge that elections be postponed in Syria, Mr. Ban said it was a sovereign country’s prerogative to schedule a vote, but he acknowledged that an election would make it difficult to hold talks whose main purpose was to discuss the establishment of a transitional government. Equally important, he said, is whether President Bashar al-Assad runs. “If and when President Assad becomes a candidate, then it’s very difficult in moving ahead in the Geneva peace process,” he said. The secretary general has long wanted Iran to participate in the talks. His efforts at inviting Iran to the Geneva negotiations in January ended disastrously, after he announced that it would participate, only to reverse course 24 hours later. Iran could not attend the talks, he said, because it had not affirmed the ground rules. In another development, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund, after a two-day visit to Syria this week, urged world powers to find ways to end the conflict, which he said had affected 5.5 million children in that country, twice as many as a year ago. Anthony Lake, the executive director of Unicef, said he went to the besieged city of Homs on Thursday and spoke to a woman who had been evacuated by aid workers just weeks ago with her 12-year-old son. The boy told Mr. Lake that he had been running through dry sewers because it was not safe to walk through the city anymore. He was sent by his mother to forage for food in abandoned homes. He brought back jars of old olives and hunks of bread, even rotten bread, so it could be warmed with oil and eaten. In a telephone interview from Lebanon, Mr. Lake said: “The little boy who was doing these things was drawing in a book and writing sentences. His mother said, ‘That’s what he should be doing, not what he was doing.’ ” Mr. Lake’s trip was part of an effort to draw attention to the state of Syria’s children as the war enters its fourth year. He said the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, as well as the governor of the rebel-held Homs, had told him that the government would make sure that food, medicine and vaccinations against polio and measles reached children in that city, which is under a government blockade. Even if access improves, Mr. Lake said, it will not be enough. Unicef estimates that three million Syrian children are unable to attend school regularly. “If these children grow up without skills because they’ve lost years of education,” Mr. Lake said, and have “hatred in their hearts because of what they’ve seen, the coming years and the next generation is going to replicate the same hatred we are seeing now.” “That will be a great danger for Syria, the region and the whole world,” he said. Among refugees in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, he said, he spoke to children who at first blush seemed resilient. “They’ll laugh, they’ll smile, they’ll play games,” he said. “Then you point to a picture they drew. You can see their faces crumple. They point to a house they drew — and it’s almost invariably a house — they’ll say, ‘That was my house.’ And this look of incredible sadness.” At the United Nations, Mr. Brahimi, the mediator, was unequivocal while discussing the planned Syrian elections before the General Assembly. Echoing what he told the Security Council the day before, he said, “I very much doubt that a presidential election and another seven-year term for President Bashar al-Assad will put an end to the unbearable suffering of the Syrian people, stop the destruction of the country and re-establish harmony and mutual confidence in the region.” That was met with a scolding from the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, who said he had told the envoy to “behave.” The ambassador said scheduling elections was an internal matter. “Sometimes special representatives go beyond their mandates,” he told reporters. “You have to remind them: ‘You have limits. Don’t go beyond your limits.’ ” Mr. Brahimi is 80, and, according to colleagues, thick-skinned. The Syrian Parliament has set residency rules for presidential candidates, which could prevent many of Mr. Assad’s opponents who live in exile from running. Under Syrian law, elections must be held 60 to 90 days before Mr. Assad’s term ends on July 17, news agencies reported. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the main opposition group, said any call for an election would be a “breaking point,” but stopped short of saying it would pull out of talks. “Free and fair elections cannot be held in Syria in the present violent circumstances,” the coalition said in a statement. At a news briefing at the United Nations, Hadi al-Bahra, the opposition’s chief negotiator, said he was not optimistic about Mr. Brahimi’s trip to Iran. “I don’t think Iran is serious about addressing the political transition in Syria,” he said.

Syria
Election
Iran
Lakhdar Brahimi
UN
Ban Ki moon
Arab Spring
International relations
Diplomats Embassies and Consulates


A Symbol of Activism Is at Center of Court Dispute

Abstract: John L. Phillips Jr. took a seat in the last row of the theater and surveyed its crumbling ceiling, the debris strewn in the aisles and the faded art that he had hung a generation ago. “Hardy!” Mr. Phillips, 83, called out to Clarence Hardy, his assistant and friend, who was down the aisle a bit. “Quite a place, isn’t it? We ought to think about opening up again.” “Yes sir,” Mr. Hardy responded. But Mr. Hardy knew better. Nostalgia and a touch of Alzheimer’s shielded Mr. Phillips, a retired Civil Court judge, from the truth, but not his old pal. Nothing short of a miracle could avert the theater’s sale. Mr. Phillips had once been a millionaire property owner, with the Slave Theater and its sister, the Black Lady Theater, both in Brooklyn, his prize possessions. When racially charged killings in the 1980s unstitched already flimsy race relations in the city, the Slave Theater grew to be more than just a movie house, it became a symbol and center of black activism. Bedford-Stuyvesant and the theater became platforms for a new crop of black activists the way Harlem had been a lifetime earlier. But in 2001 Mr. Phillips was declared mentally incompetent — a result of an investigation that some believe was politically motivated — and a series of court-appointed guardians took over his affairs. For years, according to accusations in court by the current guardian, they siphoned off his fortune and failed to pay his taxes. Now, the old man is basically broke, living in an assisted-living facility in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a world away from his old neighborhood. Selling the theater and what is left of his other real estate holdings seems the only option. Some people are reluctant to see that happen. “The Slave Theater is definitely a community treasure,” said Brenda Fryson, chairwoman of Community Board 3 in Brooklyn, which is trying to get landmark status for the theater. “It goes back some years, and people remember going to that theater as little kids. It really is a great part of our history in this neighborhood.” Mr. Phillips amassed a fortune of roughly $10 million by buying property in Bedford-Stuyvesant when others were scared to walk its streets. A maverick lawyer and World War II veteran, he was twice elected Civil Court judge without the support of Brooklyn’s powerful Democratic machine. A 10th-degree black belt, he called himself “the kung fu judge.” James P. McCall, a Republican lawyer who ran unsuccessfully for Civil Court judge in Brooklyn this year, said he tried his first jury trial before Judge Phillips in 1985. “Whenever you were in his presence you knew he was there; he was not a wallflower, he was very big,” Mr. McCall said. Mr. Phillips, who first served in the Civil Court in Brooklyn in 1977 and retired in 1994, got into the movie theater business in the early 1980s. A few years earlier he had written, produced and directed a movie after failing to get a major studio interested in the project. The film was “Hands Across Two Continents,” a tale of taboo interracial love set in 1970s Brooklyn. When no one wanted to produce the film, he paid for it himself. When no one wanted to distribute the film, he bought two movie theaters in his neighborhood, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and showed it himself. The first theater was the century-old Regent Theater at 1215 Fulton Street. He renamed it the Slave No. 1 Theater “so that no one would ever forget our struggles,” he said recently, “or what we, as black people, have gone through.” The second, at 750 Nostrand Avenue, he called the Black Lady, or the Slave No. 2. Mr. Phillips turned the inside of the Regent into an homage to African-American history. The walls are lined with portraits of Malcolm X, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of Ghana. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who grew up in Brownsville and Bedford-Stuyvesant and attended church not far from the Regent, said that as a youngster he and his friends often “played hooky from choir rehearsal” to catch whatever films were playing there. Years later, in the late 1980s, Mr. Sharpton returned to the theater. By then its name had been changed, and New York City itself had become the stage for heated racial drama. In the days after the racially charged killings of Michael Griffith in Howard Beach, Queens, in 1986 and then, three years later, of Yusuf K. Hawkins in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the Slave Theater played host to rallies and press conferences. The theater became a grand soapbox where the social and political careers of many black activists began, including Mr. Sharpton’s. “It became the centerpiece of the movement,” Mr. Sharpton said recently. “What became so interesting about it was the mix of church people and business people and hard-core black nationalists and militants.” Mr. Phillips drew the ire of many local black politicians in 1989 when he backed Rudolph W. Giuliani in the mayoral race against David N. Dinkins, the Democratic candidate. He told The New York Times that black voters should support Mr. Giuliani because of his experience fighting crime. “I’m 6 feet 1,” Mr. Phillips was quoted as saying then. “I can kill you with my hands faster than you can believe, and I carry a gun. But I’m scared to walk the streets at night. How do you think black women feel?” In 1997, Mr. Phillips, who had left the bench in 1994 after having reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, was back in court, arrested for gun possession and resisting arrest after a pair of plainclothes police officers saw him with a holstered gun. The charges were later dropped. In the years since then, his health and might have faded. He has high blood pressure, and Alzheimer’s has crept in more recently, friends and relatives said. Back at the theater, which closed in 1998, Mr. Phillips stepped into the aisle and took in the humbled place as if it were as perfect as the day he opened it. “A lot of people were shocked by the name, Slave Theater, but I had a reason,” he said. “I named it after me. I got a slave name, my ancestors were slaves, a whole race of people were slaves. Women were raped and men were lynched, all kinds of murders and no one was ever prosecuted. I say it’s the worst crime known to mankind. This is a reminder of that.” In some ways, the judge’s life began to unravel in 2001, after he announced that he planned to run for Brooklyn district attorney against the four-time incumbent, Charles J. Hynes. About that time, Mr. Hynes’s office began investigating allegations that Mr. Phillips had been swindled out of real estate holdings. Prosecutors said the investigation was aimed at protecting Mr. Phillips, but he and his supporters believe it was a way of removing him from the race. No one was arrested, but in the course of the inquiry, a judge determined that Mr. Phillips was mentally incompetent, knocking him off the ballot and removing his control of his own affairs. Mr. Phillips, who had never married or had children, became a ward of Kings County’s guardianship system. It placed him and his estimated $10 million in assets, including 10 mostly residential properties and the two movie theaters, in the hands of court-appointed guardians. His current guardian, James Cahill Jr., asserts in papers in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn that a string of guardians sold off or mismanaged Mr. Phillips’s property in the years that followed. Thousands of dollars placed in escrow simply disappeared, according to the papers. Mr. Cahill said the previous guardians took hundreds of thousands of dollars for themselves without going through the courts, while others made big cash payments to mystery contractors. Most never filed proper or timely accountings of what was spent out of Mr. Phillips’s account, the papers say. And for six years none of the guardians, all of whom are lawyers, paid taxes on behalf of Mr. Phillips’s estate, according to the reports Mr. Cahill filed with the court. Now, according those reports, Mr. Phillips owes upward of $2 million in taxes, interest and penalties to the I.R.S. In September, John Kennedy O’Hara, a disbarred lawyer and longtime friend of Mr. Phillips’s, filed a complaint with the I.R.S. accusing four former court-appointed guardians — Harvey L. Greenberg, Frank J. Livoti, Ray Jones and Emani P. Taylor — and State Supreme Court Justice Michael L. Pesce of violating tax law while overseeing Mr. Phillips’s guardianship case. Mr. Greenberg said he served as guardian only for a few months, “long enough for a cup of coffee,” and that when he saw that Mr. Phillips’s friends and associates — his “own people, excuse the racist expression” — had “robbed him dumb, deaf and blind,” he did not want any part. He said he stepped down without accepting any fees. Mr. Livoti and Mr. Jones, the next guardians, declined to comment for this article. Justice Pesce did not respond last week to a request for comment. Ms. Taylor, the most immediate prior guardian, has acknowledged paying herself hundreds of thousands of dollars from Mr. Phillips’s accounts, and also paying family and friends. She said that the previous guardians left the estate a complete mess, and that she was simply repaying herself for expenses and services rendered. Guardians would typically submit orders to the court detailing their expenses and fees and seeking approval for payments. Ms. Taylor said she believed she did nothing wrong by taking payments without court approval. The district attorney’s office declined to press charges against Ms. Taylor but referred the matter to a lawyers’ disciplinary committee for a review. Separately, a court is to decide whether Ms. Taylor took money improperly. The district attorney did prosecute one person, Maria Leyna Albertina, in 2005 on charges that she defrauded a number of people out of property, including Mr. Phillips, who owned a parking lot that she sold for $175,000. Ms. Albertina pleaded guilty to two counts of grand larceny, according to the district attorney’s office; the length of her prison term will depend on her ability to pay $2 million in restitution. Meanwhile, a couple weeks ago, Mr. Cahill filed an application in State Supreme Court to sell the Slave Theater, the lot behind it and the Black Lady Theater. For some, it seems an injustice Mr. Phillips, at 83, should not have to bear. “He has been through a lot,” said Dee Woodburne, a former paralegal and head of the Committee to Free Judge Phillips and Restore His Estate. “My concern is whose hands are those theaters going to go into. What has to happen is for this man to get a real investigation. People need to be held accountable, regardless of who they are.” Mr. Cahill said the sale of the theaters was a last resort to satisfy Mr. Phillips’s tax obligations. Back in the theater, Mr. Hardy tried to explain all this, as he saw it, to Mr. Phillips. “They’re trying to do the best they can to take it from you, sir.” “They want to do what, Hardy?” Mr. Phillips asked, as he stood in a dusty and dim aisle in the theater. “No, no. We can’t lose this here. We need to think about opening up again. Hardy, what do you say? I imagine once we open up you won’t be able to get in here, all the people that will be coming in. Won’t be any room.” Mr. Hardy nodded respectfully. “Sir, I’m with you 100 percent,” Mr. Hardy said.

Blacks
Brooklyn (NYC)
Phillips John L Jr


‘Merry-Go-Round’ of Quarterbacks Leaves Washington Redskins in a Downward Spiral

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jay Gruden, in his first year as the Washington Redskins’ coach, describes his team’s uncertainty at quarterback as a “merry-go-round.” Joe Theismann, a former Redskins star, calls it a “mess.” Whatever the description, it was hardly surprising Wednesday when Gruden said he had not determined whether Colt McCoy, Robert Griffin III or Kirk Cousins would start on Sunday, when Washington brings a woeful 3-10 record into MetLife Stadium against the Giants, who are 4-9. Gruden said his decision would depend on the extent to which McCoy has recovered from a neck injury he sustained last Sunday in a 24-0 loss at home against the St. Louis Rams, prompting Griffin to relieve him in the final minutes. That Griffin should take such a back seat to McCoy, who appeared to be a journeyman through much of his five-year career and began the season third on the depth chart, said everything about how far Griffin had fallen since his electric performance as the 2012 offensive rookie of the year. That season, Griffin completed 65.6 percent of his passes in throwing for 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns with just five interceptions, and he relied on superior speed to run for 815 yards to lead Washington to its first N.F.C. East title in 13 seasons. But he sustained a major knee injury late in the season. (He also tore an anterior cruciate ligament as a sophomore at Baylor.) This season, Griffin dislocated his left ankle in the second game. Gruden indicated that he did not view Griffin as the same dynamic player who won the Heisman Trophy at Baylor in 2011 and whose talents prompted Washington to send to St. Louis its first-round draft choices each of the last two years and a second-round selection in 2012 to swap first-round picks and draft Griffin second over all behind Andrew Luck. “When you take out a lot of that element as a runner, you ask him to do things he hasn’t had to do,” Gruden said in a conference call. Theismann has a similar view of Griffin, who went 3-10 as a starter last season as Washington finished 3-13. “If you’ve been a guy relying on your legs for so long and you know the old saying, ‘Feet, don’t fail me now,’ this is his situation Robert finds himself in,” Theismann said. “His legs can’t bail him out of situations like they did. Maybe someday he will be able to do that again, but right now, with two knee surgeries and a dislocated ankle, his effectiveness as a runner is greatly diminished.” Griffin has completed 86 of 123 passes for 902 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. But Gruden believes Griffin, attempting to operate out of the pocket behind a beleaguered offensive line and a running game that fell off drastically, wasted too many opportunities to make plays. “Sometimes it is mechanics-related, sometimes it is just anticipating throws and having a good feel for where people are going to be against what coverages and just letting the thing fly,” he said. DeSean Jackson, one of the few weapons in an offense ranked tied for 26th with 18.8 points per game, still has faith in Griffin. “He definitely has the intangibles of being that guy,” he said. “I am confident in him being that guy. He has to make it easy on himself and people around him have to make it easy on him by helping him out.” When Griffin dislocated his left ankle in the second game, Cousins, a former fourth-round draft choice in his third season, was given an opportunity to secure the position. In his five starts, he had almost as many interceptions (nine) as he did touchdowns (10), and was replaced by McCoy. Although McCoy appeared to be a journeyman during his first three years with the Cleveland Browns and last season with the San Francisco 49ers, he offered hope when he started and led Washington to a 20-17 overtime road victory against the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 27. He was unable to follow that with a series of strong efforts, though, and now his health is in question. “You want to have stability at the position,” Gruden said, “you really do. But you also want one of the quarterbacks to step in and, really, when it is their turn, to take control.” The Redskins have started 16 quarterbacks since Daniel Snyder purchased the team in 1999. When Gruden was asked if next season’s quarterback was in the locker room, he replied, “That is still to be determined, there is no question.” With only three games left in another lost season, he almost surely has his answer.

Redskins
Jay Gruden
Colt McCoy
Robert Griffin III
Kirk Cousins
Giants
Football


How Donald Trump and President Obama Put Republicans in a Bind

Abstract: WASHINGTON — When Donald J. Trump goes low, congressional Republicans go quiet. Their tolerance of Mr. Trump, even at the risk of humiliation, stems from a complex brew of political, policy and personal calculations that differ somewhat between party leaders and officials up for re-election. But on one point, all sides agree: They have never seen a comparable situation, with a presidential nominee in open warfare with party leaders after a nominating convention. And Mr. Trump’s provocations are making the Republicans’ control of the Senate, perhaps even the House, more tenuous. Many Republicans, even those whose contempt for Mr. Trump matches their ill will for President Obama, still view the choice between Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton as a binary one, with long-term implications for every policy area they care about, from judicial appointments to the economy to immigration. They believe that Mr. Trump, guided by a Republican-controlled Congress, will break their way more than Mrs. Clinton ever would. For others, the vacancy on the Supreme Court — and its potential to reshape the high court’s rulings for years — overshadow almost everything else, even their nominee’s increasingly erratic statements and grasp of basic facts. Video President Obama said on Tuesday that Donald J. Trump was “woefully unprepared” to serve as president, and asked why Republicans kept distancing themselves from the candidate while still supporting him. Credit Credit Al Drago/The New York Times “The Supreme Court is probably the choice that will have the single most long-term effect on the nation,” said Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, where Mr. Trump is struggling to win over an overwhelmingly Republican state. Congressional Republicans who are up for re-election — especially the handful like Senators John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire who still face primaries — have made a basic calculation. They have criticized Mr. Trump, but not withdrawn their endorsements. And party leaders have decided the more distance they put between themselves and Mr. Trump, the more likely they are to lose their congressional majorities. Alienating Mr. Trump’s supporters would cost them just enough votes to lose their seats. Their fears at this point appear justified. A poll conducted the last week of July by CBS News found that support for Mr. Trump among Republican voters rose to 81 percent from 79 percent. So the leaders largely responded to Mr. Trump’s attacks with feigned indifference. “Republican elected officials are in a tough spot,” said Nathan L. Gonzales, the editor of The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter. “They are criticized for not listening to the grass roots and criticized for not denouncing the nominee chosen by the grass roots. Some Republicans are reluctant to attack Donald Trump because they’d risk alienating 35 to 40 percent of the party who supported him in the primaries.” Mr. Trump pointedly declined on Tuesday to endorse Speaker Paul D. Ryan , the nation’s highest-ranking elected Republican, and verged on outright opposition to Mr. McCain and Ms. Ayotte, just hours after Mr. Obama challenged Republicans to denounce their nominee . Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump have put Republicans into an untenable position: Criticizing their nominee could be seen as taking the advice of a president whom their core voters strongly dislike, potentially alienating the very people they need for re-election — but sitting idly as Mr. Trump attacks them and makes inflammatory comments might alienate more moderate voters. “If you are repeatedly having to say, in very strong terms, that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?” Mr. Obama asked during a news conference on Tuesday. Mr. Ryan’s spokesman tersely responded that the speaker had never sought Mr. Trump’s endorsement, and Ms. Ayotte more or less brushed off the matter, saying, “I call it like I see it,” in reference to her defense of a fallen Army captain whose family Mr. Trump had derided. While many Republicans are hoping for ticket splitters — those who might vote Democrat for president but Republican on the rest of the ticket — the parsing is all the more difficult. Only 9% of America Chose Trump and Clinton as the Nominees While Donald J. Trump or Hillary Clinton will represent the entire country, the Americans who selected them are a small part of it. Many experts are skeptical that the approach can work. “In 2008 and 2010, voters did not draw distinctions,” said Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. “It was not like Passover, where the door was marked, ‘This one should be spared.’ No, the Angel of Death came in and said no ‘Let’s kill them all.’ ” It is not just a question of individual desires to win re-election — although that certainly drives many of the statements about Mr. Trump that come short of rescinding an endorsement. Republicans believe they need to maintain the House and the Senate, through a hoped-for blend of votes from their base and anti-Trump split tickets, to pursue a policy agenda. “The speaker’s goal, one that you set collectively with members of your conference, is to promote ideas and enact policies that make a difference,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican operative who once worked for former Speaker John A. Boehner. “The political reality, though, is that this goal can only be reached if members are not put at risk because the top of the national ticket underperforms.” Republican leaders also know that in an anti-Washington election cycle, the core of the party would most likely be disposed to reject candidates who embody the Washington establishment. This was the lesson Senator Ted Cruz of Texas learned when he was booed from the stage at the Republican convention last month for declining to get behind Mr. Trump, and accounts for some of the heat that Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a founder of the Never Trump movement, has taken from his party back home this year. Then, there is the vehement opposition to Mrs. Clinton, especially how they view her role in the Benghazi attacks, that has dominated the airwaves for years among Republicans. “I happen to think that lying to the American people is a step way above and beyond some of the disappointing rhetoric of Donald Trump,” said Mr. Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee. He added: “Nothing united Republicans more than Hillary Clinton.” Some still may pull away. On Tuesday, Representative Richard Hanna, Republican of New York, said he would endorse Mrs. Clinton for president, calling Mr. Trump “unfit to serve.” But Mr. Hanna is not representative of the broader Republican conference. “He came to Congress as an outsider and never fit neatly into the typical boxes,” Mr. Gonzales said. “He would have had another serious primary challenge this year, if he had decided to seek re-election. But since he’s retiring, he apparently feels even more freedom to say what’s on his mind.” But if Mr. Trump falls in the polls and Republicans running for re-election start to realize they would do better separating from him and digging deeper for ticket-splitting voters, Mr. Hanna might not be alone.

Donald Trump
Republicans
Political endorsement
2016 Presidential Election
House races
Congressional elections
Senate races
US


Blagojevich Sings as Elvis in Chicago

Abstract: CHICAGO — There are disgraced politicians who refuse to fade quietly, and then there is Rod R. Blagojevich . Mr. Blagojevich, the indicted former governor of Illinois who is writing a book, is host of a weekly radio show and has appeared in a spoof of his own imploded career (“Rod Blagojevich Superstar!”), apparently sings now, too. At a block party here on Friday, captured on YouTube , the former governor performed “Treat Me Nice,” a song Elvis Presley , a favorite of Mr. Blagojevich, was better known for. You do what you have to do, it seems. “After I was wrongfully hijacked from office, and the job I had was taken away from me, you got to find work,” Mr. Blagojevich told the crowd — which appeared by turns puzzled, taunting, amused — before he plunged into his song (which included Elvis-like arm swirling and hip motion and, naturally, the hair). His publicist, Glenn Selig, would not say how much Mr. Blagojevich, who was delivered to the show in a stretch limousine, was paid, though he said some of the money went to charity. Tom Duff, the president of Optimus, a video production company that hired Mr. Blagojevich for its annual block party, said company leaders had picked him “because we always try to do something offbeat” (they once hired a Kiss tribute band of dwarfs, he said) and because they thought that “he might actually do it.” Mr. Duff said he had initially proposed that the former governor sing “Jailhouse Rock.” Mr. Blagojevich, who is charged in federal court with corruption, including an accusation that he tried to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama, declined. For now, no further concerts are scheduled, Mr. Selig said, but Mr. Blagojevich shows no sign of quieting down. On Sunday he started a Web site, governorrod.com , promoting him as a “champion for ordinary people,” and Mr. Selig promised, “There are other things in the works.”

Illinois
Blagojevich Rod R
Presley Elvis
United States Politics and Government
YouTube.com


After Subpoena, Lawmaker Hands Over Some Duties

Abstract: Representative Peter J. Visclosky announced on Tuesday that he would temporarily relinquish his primary duties as chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee for energy and water, after receiving a grand jury subpoena last week related to the federal investigation of the lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti ’s PMA Group. Mr. Visclosky, Democrat of Indiana, said in a statement that he was delegating responsibility for handling the spending bill for energy and water issues for the 2010 fiscal year to another member of the committee, Representative Ed Pastor, Democrat of Arizona. Mr. Visclosky will remain the subcommittee’s chairman. “Throughout my career in Congress, I have conducted myself with integrity out of respect for the people who I represent, the House of Representatives and myself,” Mr. Visclosky said. “I have represented the people of Northwest Indiana to the best of my ability, and I have always abided by the law and adhered to the rules and code of ethics of the House.” Last week, Mr. Visclosky announced that law enforcement officials who raided the PMA Group’s offices last year had obtained a subpoena for documents in his Congressional and campaign offices. As subcommittee chairman, Mr. Visclosky had close ties to the PMA Group — where his former chief of staff, Richard Kaelin, was a lobbyist — before its collapse. He was a leading recipient of campaign contributions by the lobbying firm and earmarked millions of dollars to its clients. In addition, Mr. Visclosky’s chief of staff, Chuck Brimmer, has suddenly retired, a spokesman for Mr. Visclosky, Jacob Ritvo, said on Tuesday. Mr. Ritvo declined to say whether Mr. Brimmer’s departure was connected to the inquiry. Mr. Visclosky also sits on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, which is led by Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania. Mr. Visclosky and Mr. Magliocchetti have been close allies with Mr. Murtha, the best known of the lawmakers who earmarked money for PMA’s clients while receiving its campaign contributions. Mr. Murtha has said he has no involvement in the inquiry.

PMA Group
Ethics
Visclosky Peter J
Magliocchetti Paul
United States Politics and Government


Oil Prices Continue Decline, Pressured by Saudi Action to Defend Market Share

Abstract: Crude oil prices continued their decline on Thursday, with the American benchmark dropping below $90 a barrel during the day and its main international equivalent falling as well. Now at their lowest levels since 2012, crude prices have been under pressure in recent months. The increase in global demand for oil this year is turning out to be slower because of weaker-than-anticipated growth in China and Europe, while oil supplies remain strong, leading to growing inventories. But the sudden drop on Thursday was seen as a response to Saudi Arabia’s signaling on Wednesday to the markets that it was more interested in maintaining market share than in defending prices. Saudi Aramco, the national oil company, stunned markets by announcing that it was cutting prices by about $1 a barrel to Asia, the crucial growth market for the Persian Gulf producers, as well as by 40 cents a barrel to the United States. With oil prices already under pressure, “there has been a widespread perception or hope that the Saudis would pull back on production,” said Richard Mallinson, an analyst at Energy Aspects, a research firm based in London. Instead, he said, the Saudis are “pricing aggressively to retain buyers,” potentially at the expense of their rivals in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, like Iran and Iraq. Brent crude, the main international benchmark, closed at $93.42, down 74 cents, on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate, its American counterpart, was around $88.60 a barrel in early trading, dropping below $90 for the first time since April 2013, before recovering to close at $91.01, up 28 cents. Some analysts expect downward pressure on prices to continue. Citigroup last week cut its forecast for 2015 prices for West Texas Intermediate by $10 a barrel, to $89.50 per barrel. Falling crude prices are bringing down gasoline prices for motorists. Prices fell to a national average of $3.33 a gallon for regular unleaded — the lowest since February — in the United States on Thursday, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. “Barring any major disruptions in demand, drivers are expected to see some of the lowest prices since 2010,” the group said in a commentary. Image An oil tanker truck leaves a shipping depot in New Town, N.D. As a result of the shale oil boom, the United States now rivals Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil output. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times The main source of supply growth continues to be the United States, which, as a result of the shale oil boom, now rivals Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil output. The International Energy Agency, the energy consumers organization based in Paris, says the United States produced about 8.5 million barrels a day of crude oil in August, as well as roughly three million barrels a day in liquids from natural gas. By comparison, the agency says, Russia produced about 10.9 million barrels per day in liquids. Saudi Arabia is producing an estimated 9.8 million barrels a day of crude. Exports of crude from the United States have risen to about 400,000 barrels a day, and analysts say that ConocoPhillips’s recent sale of a cargo of Alaskan crude to South Korea, a crucial market for gulf producers, could be a breakthrough. “What we are seeing is pressure starting to mount on the Saudis as it hasn’t before,” said Seth Kleinman, an analyst at Citigroup in London. While the United States remains a modest oil exporter, its surging output pushes other oil, particularly from West Africa, out of the American market, helping to lower prices. Net oil imports to the United States have fallen since 2007 by 8.7 million barrels a day, “roughly equivalent to total Saudi and Nigerian exports,” according to a recent Citigroup report. The production surge in the United States has enabled the oil markets to shrug off potential disruptions in supply. The confrontation with Russia over Ukraine, political instability in countries like Syria and Iraq and even the Ebola outbreak in West Africa all have the potential to disrupt supply, but instead, oil prices have softened. Another source of unexpected crude has been Libya, where production has bounced back sharply to around 800,000 barrels a day from around 240,000 barrels a day in June. At times of falling prices, other producers look to the Saudis to throttle supply. But this time, OPEC leaders appear reluctant to do so. What they may be doing is jockeying ahead of a scheduled meeting in November to force countries like Iraq and Iran to share in the pain of any production cutbacks. “The Saudis are frustrated by the expectations of Iraq and Iran that it is all on the Saudis to balance the market,” Mr. Mallinson of Energy Aspects said.


Judge in Landmark Case Disavows Support for Voter ID

Abstract: It is the kind of thought that rarely passes the lips of a member of the federal judiciary: I was wrong. But there was Richard A. Posner, one of the most distinguished judges in the land and a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, saying he was mistaken in one of the most contentious issues in American politics and jurisprudence: laws that require people to show identification before they can vote. Proponents of voter identification laws, who tend to be Republican, say the measures are necessary to prevent fraud at the polls. Opponents, who tend to be Democrats, assert that the amount of fraud at polling places is tiny, and that the burdens of the laws are enough to suppress voting, especially among poor and minority Americans. One of the landmark cases in which such requirements were affirmed, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, was decided at the Seventh Circuit in an opinion written by Judge Posner in 2007 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008. In a new book, “Reflections on Judging,” Judge Posner, a prolific author who also teaches at the University of Chicago Law School, said, “I plead guilty to having written the majority opinion” in the case. He noted that the Indiana law in the Crawford case is “a type of law now widely regarded as a means of voter suppression rather than of fraud prevention.” Judge Posner, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, extended his remarks in a video interview with The Huffington Post on Friday. Image Judge Richard A. Posner of the Seventh Circuit said effects were not clear in 2007. Credit Nathan Weber for The New York Times Asked whether the court had gotten its ruling wrong, Judge Posner responded: “Yes. Absolutely.” Back in 2007, he said, “there hadn’t been that much activity in the way of voter identification,” and “we weren’t really given strong indications that requiring additional voter identification would actually disenfranchise people entitled to vote.” The member of the three-judge panel who dissented from the majority decision, Terence T. Evans, “was right,” Judge Posner said. The dissent by Judge Evans, who died in 2011, began, “Let’s not beat around the bush: The Indiana voter photo ID law is a not-too-thinly-veiled attempt to discourage election-day turnout by certain folks believed to skew Democratic.” In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Judge Posner noted that the primary opinion in the 2008 Supreme Court decision upholding the law had been written by Justice John Paul Stevens, “who is, of course, very liberal.” The outcome of the case goes to show, he said, that oftentimes, “judges aren’t given the facts that they need to make a sound decision.” “We weren’t given the information that would enable that balance to be struck” between preventing fraud and protecting voters’ rights, he added. Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and an expert on election law, said an admission of error by a judge is unusual, and “gives to Democrats an ‘I-told-you-so’ ” argument on voter identification issues. More significant, he said, it reflects what he called a recent shift. Previously, cases were decided largely along party lines, but then “you started seeing both Democratic- and Republican-leaning judges” reining in voter identification requirements. Judge Posner seemed surprised that his comments had caused a stir, and said much had changed since Crawford. “There’s always been strong competition between the parties, but it hadn’t reached the peak of ferocity that it’s since achieved,” he said in the interview. “One wasn’t alert to this kind of trickery, even though it’s age old in the democratic process.”

ID
Indiana
Richard A Posner
Voter registration
Decisions and Verdicts
Terence T Evans
US


It's Jones's Bet, but Parcells Holds Cards

Abstract: NOT long after Terrell Owens's suspension and deactivation by the Eagles was upheld by an arbitrator late last season, the Cowboys' owner, Jerry Jones, let the pro football world know that Owens, for all his past sins in Philadelphia and San Francisco, would be welcome on the Dallas ranch. "In general, I am a risk-taker," Jones told the Dallas radio station KTCK. "I probably have a propensity to try and make things work." And over the weekend, Jones took that risk, hoping to co-exist with Owens's propensity to try to make things worse. At liberty after his Eagles good-riddance release, Owens signed a three-year contract with the Cowboys reportedly worth $25 million -- $10 million in bonuses and salary this year, $8 million next year, $7 million in 2008. He also promised to be on his best behavior. "I'll be a better teammate, a better person, a better man in life," he said at a news conference Saturday. Turning to Jones later, he said: "Jerry, I know what's expected of me. I won't let you down." But more than promising to be a better everything for Jones, the wide receiver known as T.O. must also be a better everything for Coach Bill Parcells, the man in the middle of what could be a tempestuous triangle. Parcells, not Jones, will be working with T.O. on virtually a daily basis. T.O. has to know what Parcells expects of him. He can't let Parcells down. Parcells, on vacation in Florida, was not at Saturday's news conference at the Cowboys' complex in Irving, Tex. "This was not me selling Bill, this was not Bill selling me," Jones said. "This was us taking advantage of getting an outstanding player. Bill has coached a lot of players that, quote-unquote, have the perception that they might not fit in with team chemistry." One of those quote-unquote players was Bryan Cox, an inflammable linebacker who over seven seasons with the Dolphins and the Bears was fined more than $120,000 by the National Football League for obscene gestures, helmet-throwing, spitting and other ungentlemanly misdeeds. He had been released by the Bears when Parcells, then the Jets' coach, signed him during the 1998 training camp. "The Jets," Parcells said at the time, "need somebody with a little fire." Except for his late-season $10,000 fine for unnecessary roughness, Cox' fire was an exemplary addition to a Jets team that went to the American Football Conference championship game that season. He emerged as a locker-room leader who scolded some teammates on the sideline. He's now a rookie assistant with the Jets. But to liken Parcells's relationship with Cox to his relationship with Owens isn't correct. Parcells knew Cox as a good guy; he had met him at Gulfstream Park, where Cox owned racehorses. Parcells doesn't know Owens. All he knows is what everybody else knows: Owens has been a showboat and a locker-room poison. Never mind that T.O. desecrated the Cowboys' star at midfield in Texas Stadium during a 2000 game by preening on it after two touchdown catches for the 49ers; after the second, he was leveled by Cowboys safety George Teague. That will soon be forgotten if Owens returns to his Pro Bowl form in catching Drew Bledsoe's passes. Now 32, T.O., if he's at his best, can still play -- really play. But last season, he was troubled by a groin problem that Andy Reid, the Eagles' coach, described as chronic. T.O. also has a chronic arrogance problem, and that can change perceptions quickly (from one of pro football's best pass-catchers to one of its least appealing performers). He left the 49ers under clouds of controversy -- autographing a football he had just caught for a touchdown, snarling at coaches on the sideline, demanding a trade. With the Eagles in 2004, he was soon a Philadelphia favorite. Although he was not recovered from a late-season broken fibula and torn ligaments in his right ankle, he caught 9 passes for 122 yards in the Eagles' 24-21 loss to New England in Super Bowl XXXIX. He owned the town, but then he burned it. He not only demanded to renegotiate his contract, he growled that he was "not the guy who got tired in the Super Bowl," deriding the Eagles' hallowed quarterback, Donovan McNabb. McNabb contended that he was merely winded. The Cowboys' party line is that money has been the root of T.O.'s complaints in the past, notably his meager $3.5 million salary last season (he wanted to renegotiate his contract). The Cowboys suggest that the payout structure in his new contract will solve that problem. But some believed that T.O. was the problem, not his Eagles' contract. When Reid suspended T.O. during training camp and again later, he quietly explained that he would handle it "in-house." That is Reid's style, but if Terrell Owens annoys Bill Parcells, don't expect Parcells to keep anything in-house. If Terrell Owens whines about his contract, if he degrades Drew Bledsoe, if he disrupts the Cowboys' locker room, if he's not a better everything, he will hear about it -- loud and clear.

FOOTBALL
DALLAS COWBOYS
JONES JERRY
OWENS TERRELL
SPORTS OF THE TIMES (TIMES COLUMN)


U.S. Diving Team Finally Tastes Olympic Success

Abstract: LONDON — Who knew the best way to end a medal drought was to focus on winning them two at a time? For decades, Olympic diving medals were a matter of course for the United States, a few more pieces of gold on the pile. But the American team that arrived in London this year represented a program that had not won a medal since 2000, even though the total available had doubled that year — to eight — with the addition of four synchronized competitions. That changed last week. United States teams won medals in three of the four synchronized events: silver medals for Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston in the 3-meter springboard, and bronze medals for David Boudia and Nick McCrory in the 10-meter platform and for Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen in the springboard. As the individual events begin this week, success has spread a newfound confidence through the team. “They’re just buzzing; they’re different people,” said Steve Foley, USA Diving’s high-performance director. “I could see the disappointment on their faces in Beijing after the synchro and see the pressure building: ‘Got to get a medal, got to get a medal.’ Now that’s gone.” For Dumais, 32, the change in mentality took some adjustment. After several near wins in past Olympics, he said, he realized he had been training too much, and too often. Often entered in both the synchronized and the individual events, Dumais would practice until it hurt, running through his dives over and over, jamming as many as he could into every practice. But that merely led to injuries, unreasonable expectations and, ultimately, disappointment. Now he does his dives once or twice in each workout, then steps away. On Saturday, two days before the start of the springboard competition, he took the day off. He said Foley “brings a fun element to the pool deck, and it’s easy to dive in those circumstances.” Foley is as responsible for the changes as anyone. A three-time Olympian who later coached teams from Australia and Britain in the Games, he realized that the synchronized events would be the quickest way to get Americans on the podium. So he set about building a team. Or, rather, several of them. He paired divers with friends and with strangers. He tested them under pressure in practice and in competitions. If he saw a better connection, he did not hesitate to suggest a change. Foley said he did not want his divers standing above the water afraid that a bad dive would disappoint their parents, or endanger their national team financing. He wanted them to be afraid of disappointing the person beside them. “When you’re in a partnership you think, ‘I don’t want to let my partner down,’ ” Foley said. “It’s a different mind-set.” So Dumais, a four-time Olympian who once competed with his brother, ended up with the 19-year-old Ipsen. Bryant, who finished fourth in the 2008 Beijing Games, was paired with Johnston, a former college rival. And Boudia, another 2008 Olympian, joined forces with McCrory. The sum has been greater than the parts, and the seasoning has proved crucial. When Dumais and Ipsen were trying to solidify their hold on the bronze medal last Wednesday, Dumais pulled the younger Ipsen aside after noticing that he was focusing on their place in the standings. “Do me a favor,” he told Ipsen. “Don’t look at the scoreboard. We’re in control. Let’s just do our dives.” Their last three dives received their highest scores. Bryant, aware that scoreboard-watching had probably cost her a medal in Beijing, said she and Johnston used the same strategy: focus on the person next to you, not the judges. Boudia and McCrory did the same. “We had no idea where we were in the standings,” Boudia said, “but we knew it was going to be close.” Despite the Americans’ progress, there remains a gap between winning bronze and silver and contending for a gold medal. China won seven of the eight diving events in Beijing, and it swept the four synchronized gold medals here. It would not be a surprise if China did the same in the individual events. But China has a national training center and 27 provincial ones for its divers, Foley said, and each team often has a personal coach. Foley has to campaign for financing to hold camps and to allow his divers to travel regularly for training with their partners. Still, he and Dumais said they hoped the confidence inspired by the synchronized teams’ success would carry over. On Friday, Christina Loukas and Cassidy Krug advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 3-meter springboard. Dumais is entered in the men’s event, which begins Monday. “As a team, they got that monkey off their back,” Foley said. “Just getting that breakthrough — now they can just go out and enjoy themselves. Sometimes when that happens, you can find yourself with a medal.”

United States
Diving (Sports Event)
Olympic Games (2012)