THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The bathroom lines at the already crowded space shuttle and space station complex got a lot longer Sunday because of a flooded toilet.

One of two commodes aboard the international space station broke down, right in the middle of complicated robotic work being conducted by the two crews. The pump separator apparently flooded.

Mission Control advised the astronauts to hang an "out of service" sign on the toilet until it could be fixed. In the meantime, the six space station residents had to get in line to use their one good toilet. And Endeavour's seven astronauts were restricted to the shuttle bathroom.

There have never been so many people – 13 – together in space.

The toilet repair work fell to Belgian Frank De Winne and American Michael Barratt, who had to don goggles, gloves and masks. They ripped apart the compartment, working well into the evening. Mission Control finally instructed them to call it a day and resume the effort Monday morning.

Flight director Brian Smith declined to speculate whether overuse caused the toilet trouble.

# posted by montag : 7:17 AM  0 comments

A sweeping United States military review calls for overhauling the troubled American-run prison here as well as the entire Afghan jail and judicial systems, a reaction to worries that abuses and militant recruiting within the prisons are helping to strengthen the Taliban...

...Under the new approach, the United States would help build and finance a new Afghan-run prison for the hard-core extremists who are now using the poorly run Afghan corrections system as a camp to train petty thieves and other common criminals to be deadly militants, the American officials said.

The remaining inmates would be taught vocational skills and offered other classes, and they would be taught about moderate Islam with the aim of reintegrating them into society, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the review’s findings had not been publicly disclosed. The review also presses for training new Afghan prison guards, prosecutors and judges.

# posted by montag : 6:46 AM  0 comments

So, too, with the death of Walter Cronkite. Tellingly, his most celebrated and significant moment -- Greg Mitchell says "this broadcast would help save many thousands of lives, U.S. and Vietnamese, perhaps even a million" -- was when he stood up and announced that Americans shouldn't trust the statements being made about the war by the U.S. Government and military, and that the specific claims they were making were almost certainly false. In other words, Cronkite's best moment was when he did exactly that which the modern journalist today insists they must not ever do -- directly contradict claims from government and military officials and suggest that such claims should not be believed. These days, our leading media outlets won't even use words that are disapproved of by the Government.

Despite that, media stars will spend ample time flamboyantly commemorating Cronkite's death as though he reflects well on what they do (though probably not nearly as much time as they spent dwelling on the death of Tim Russert, whose sycophantic servitude to Beltway power and "accommodating head waiter"-like, mindless stenography did indeed represent quite accurately what today's media stars actually do). In fact, within Cronkite's most important moments one finds the essence of journalism that today's modern media stars not only fail to exhibit, but explicitly disclaim as their responsibility.

In other words, Cronkite's best moment was when he did exactly that which the modern journalist today insists they must not ever do -- directly contradict claims from government and military officials and suggest that such claims should not be believed. These days, our leading media outlets won't even use words that are disapproved of by the Government.

Despite that, media stars will spend ample time flamboyantly commemorating Cronkite's death as though he reflects well on what they do (though probably not nearly as much time as they spent dwelling on the death of Tim Russert, whose sycophantic servitude to Beltway power and "accommodating head waiter"-like, mindless stenography did indeed represent quite accurately what today's media stars actually do). In fact, within Cronkite's most important moments one finds the essence of journalism that today's modern media stars not only fail to exhibit, but explicitly disclaim as their responsibility...

...That's why they so intensely celebrated Tim Russert: because he was the epitome of what they do, and it's why they'll celebrate Walter Cronkite (like they did with David Halberstam) only by ignoring the fact that his most consequential moments were ones where he did exactly that which they will never do.

# posted by montag : 1:19 PM  0 comments

"It's in the spirit of making good from bad that I am committing to you and the larger family of South Carolinians to use this experience to both trust God in his larger work of changing me, and from my end, to work to becoming a better and more effective leader,"

# posted by montag : 12:58 PM  0 comments

The antediluvian political culture of Coburn and his peers, for all its roots in the race-baiting “Southern strategy” of the Nixon era, is actually of a more recent vintage. It dates back just 15 years, to what my Times colleague Sam Tanenhaus calls conservatism’s “most decadent phase” in his coming book “The Death of Conservatism.” This was the Newt Gingrich revolution, swept into Congress by the midterms of 1994. Its troops came armed with a reform agenda titled the “Contract With America” and a mother lode of piety. Their promises included an end to federal deficits, the restoration of national security, transparent (and fewer) House committees, and “a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.”

That the class of ’94 failed on almost every count is a matter of history, no matter how hard it has retroactively tried to blame its disastrous record on George W. Bush. Its incompetence may even have been greater than its world-class hypocrisy. Its only memorable achievements were to shut down the government in a fit of pique and to impeach Bill Clinton in a tsunami of moral outrage.

The religious boardinghouse in Washington where Sanford sought succor from fellow conservatives, where he agonized to pals about his tango with the enticing María, is also back in the news. Affiliated with a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the Fellowship — which also sponsored Bible study and prayer circles attended by Hillary Clinton when she was a senator — the pious dwelling is becoming a tourist attraction, a monument to Republican hypocrisy.

The C Street house, as the flag-flying brick rowhouse near the Capitol is known, serves as a residence and Bible study retreat for many Christian conservative lawmakers. But it looks as if what these guys were praying for was a chance to get lucky.

# posted by montag : 12:33 PM  0 comments

Customers who arrive on bicycle or who can prove they took public transportation get a 5-euro ($7) discount from the usual 70-euro ($100) fee for 45 minute sessions, Goetz told Reuters. He said the environmentally friendly offer was working.

"We have around 3-5 new customers coming in daily to take advantage of the discount," he said, adding the green rebate has helped alleviate traffic and parking congestion in the neighborhood.

# posted by montag : 1:17 PM  0 comments

What follows are total campaign donations from health care interests to New Mexico’s congressional delegation members over the span of their careers, as calculated by the Center for Responsive Politics at opensecrets.org.

Only Bingaman had significant insurance industry contributions, so SFR didn’t list insurance contributions to the other lawmakers. For comparison’s sake, the average US representative has taken $34,676 in donations from “health professionals;” the average US senator has taken $84,983.

SEN. JEFF BINGAMAN, D-NM
Rank of “health professionals” among industry contributors: 2
Total from health pros: $547,616
Rank of the insurance industry: 11
Total from insurance: $160,875
Number of New Mexico children who could’ve been insured for a year with the sum of those contributions: 968*
Boilerplate health care statement from website: “I strongly support a public option. The most critical elements of such a plan are that it would be established and overseen by the federal government, and made available to all Americans.”

SEN. TOM UDALL, D-NM
Rank of health pros among industry contributors: 9
Total from health pros: $276,170
Children that money could’ve insured: 377
Interview talking points: “I’m in support of a public option. I think we need it to keep the insurance companies honest. I think we need the competition that a public option would bring,” Udall tells SFR.

REP. BEN RAY LUJÁN, D-NM
Rank of health pros among industry
contributors: 9
Total from health pros: $41,050
Children that money could’ve insured: 56
Boilerplate: “It’s time to fix this broken system that is making it difficult for families to make ends meet. Ben supports comprehensive health care reform that makes health care affordable and accessible for American families.”

REP. MARTIN HEINRICH, D-NM
Rank of health pros among industry
contributors: 10
Total from health pros: $56,550
Children that money could’ve insured: 77
Boilerplate: “We should use our ingenuity to develop a fair, common sense plan to make sure that every American has access to high quality affordable health care.”

REP. HARRY TEAGUE, D-NM
Rank of health pros among industry
contributors: 14
Total from health pros: $40,900
Children that money could’ve insured: 56
Boilerplate: “Harry will work to make sure every American takes responsibility for his or her health by choosing an option that is affordable and works for them. Harry also believes that in order to decrease the cost of health insurance, we must bring a new focus on prevention.”

# posted by montag : 1:02 PM  0 comments

What’s especially galling is the hypocrisy of their claimed reason for delaying progress — concern about the fiscal burden. After all, in the past most of them have shown no concern at all for the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook.

Case in point: the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, which denied Medicare the right to bargain for lower drug prices, locked in overpayments to private insurance companies, and did nothing, nothing at all, to pay for its proposed outlays. How many of these six self-proclaimed defenders of solvency voted no on the crucial procedural vote? One. (Joe Lieberman, to my surprise.)

And let’s not forget that Ben Nelson, who appears to be the ringleader, has fought tooth and nail against competition from a public option — which would almost certainly save a significant amount of money, as well as providing much-needed competition.

# posted by montag : 12:27 PM  0 comments

First, it tells us that Goldman is very good at what it does. Unfortunately, what it does is bad for America.

Second, it shows that Wall Street’s bad habits — above all, the system of compensation that helped cause the financial crisis — have not gone away.

Third, it shows that by rescuing the financial system without reforming it, Washington has done nothing to protect us from a new crisis, and, in fact, has made another crisis more likely.

# posted by montag : 6:49 AM  0 comments

Progress in improving sexual health of teens and young adults waned in recent years as teen births rose and cases of syphilis increased in males and females, federal health officials said today.

Rates of AIDS cases among males 15 to 24 years grew from 1997 to 2006, according to a report issued today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Teen births rose in the 2006-2007 period after more than a decade of declining rates.

# posted by montag : 6:17 PM  0 comments

A United flight from Sao Paolo, Brazil to Chicago O’Hare made an unscheduled stop in Miami Tuesday "after one of its captains diverted (the aircraft) to deplane a senior flight attendant … he argued with," Flightglobal.com reports. The website says United is conducting an internal investigation into the incident. Citing a "source familiar with the incident," Flightglobal.com says the captain of the Boeing 767 "ordered the purser of the Boeing 767 to leave the aircraft because he was 'not respecting his authority.' "

# posted by montag : 6:09 PM  0 comments

Under FISA, to obtain a judicial wiretapping warrant the government is supposed to show probable cause that a specified target is a foreign agent. Unlike, say, Soviet spies working under diplomatic cover, terrorists are hard to identify. Yet they are vastly more dangerous. Monitoring their likely communications channels is the best way to track and stop them. Building evidence to prove past crimes, as in the civilian criminal system, is entirely beside the point. The best way to find an al Qaeda operative is to look at all email, text and phone traffic between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the U.S. This might involve the filtering of innocent traffic, just as roadblocks and airport screenings do.

# posted by montag : 7:16 AM  0 comments

Something big and strange is floating through the Chukchi Sea between Wainwright and Barrow.

Hunters from Wainwright first started noticing the stuff sometime probably early last week. It's thick and dark and "gooey" and is drifting for miles in the cold Arctic waters, according to Gordon Brower with the North Slope Borough's Planning and Community Services Department...

.. "If it was something we'd seen before, we'd be able to say something about it. But we haven't ...which prompted concerns from the local hunters and whaling captains."

The stuff is "gooey" and looks dark against the bright white ice floating in the Arctic Ocean, Brower said.

"It's pitch black when it hits ice and it kind of discolors the ice and hangs off of it," Brower said. He saw some jellyfish tangled up in the stuff, and someone turned in what was left of a dead goose -- just bones and feathers -- to the borough's wildlife department.

"It kind of has an odor; I can't describe it," he said.

# posted by montag : 6:45 AM  2 comments

J.R.R. Tolkien sold movie rights to his “Lord of the Rings” novels 40 years ago for 7.5 percent of future receipts. Three films and $6 billion later, his heirs say they haven’t seen a dime from Time Warner Inc.

The accounting methods used by New Line Cinema, the Time Warner unit that made the movies, will face a jury’s scrutiny in October, when the heirs’ lawsuit against the New York-based media company is set for trial in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The case, if not settled by then, may provide a window into accounting practices that let Time Warner deny proceeds of the Oscar-winning films to Tolkien’s heirs. The litigation also threatens to derail two “The Hobbit” films that, if their predecessors are a guide, could generate $4 billion in sales.

“Usually it’s not outright thievery by the studios, but death by contract,” said Pierce O’Donnell, the Los Angeles- based lawyer who represented the late columnist Art Buchwald in a successful case against Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures in 1988. “It’s an esoteric world where black doesn’t mean black, and white doesn’t necessarily mean white.”

...Tolkien, a writer and professor at Oxford University who died in 1973, received $250,000 from United Artists when he signed over the film rights in 1969, according to a copy of the original contract, which was filed as evidence in the case.

Under the contract, New Line was to pay a percentage of all gross receipts, after deducting 2.6 times the production costs, plus advertising expenses in excess of a certain amount, according to Eskenazi.

# posted by montag : 6:14 PM  0 comments

Cook’s belief that Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Cook further states he “would be acting in violation of international law by engaging in military actions outside the United States under this President’s command. ... simultaneously subjecting himself to possible prosecution as a war criminal by the faithful execution of these duties.”

# posted by montag : 6:09 PM  0 comments

What is up with the banks and the rest of the financial industry? The people running this system remind me of gangsters who manage to walk out of the courthouse with a suspended sentence and can’t wait to get back to their nefarious activities.

These malefactors of great wealth (thank you, Teddy) developed hideously destructive credit policies and took insane risks that hurt millions of American families and nearly wrecked the economy. Then they were bailed out with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, money that came from the very people victimized by the industry’s outlandish practices.

Now the industry is fighting against creation of an agency that would protect taxpayers and ordinary consumers from a similarly devastating onslaught in the future. And at the same time they are scrambling to raise credit card interest rates and all manner of exploitive fees to build a brand new superstructure of questionable profits on the backs of the taxpayers who came to their rescue.

We’re reaching a whole new level of chutzpah here.

# posted by montag : 7:23 AM  0 comments

A cash-strapped Olympic hopeful in New Zealand says he has been forced to open a brothel to fund his bid for taekwondo glory in 2012, but officials say his entry into the sex trade could mean his exit from international sport.

Logan Campbell, who represented his country in Beijing last year, says without the financial injection from his "gentlemen's club" he will be unable to continue his intensive training for the London Games.

"There is no point me going to the Olympics to make up the numbers if I go I want to be a medal contender," Campbell told the local TVNZ network.

The 23-year-old, who finished in the top 16 in Beijing after losing his first match, says he needs to raise $190,000 over the next two years.

But his brothel business has upset his sport's national governing body, which says it could hurt his chances of competing.

# posted by montag : 6:45 AM  0 comments