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(10/12/06 3:10am)
AT&T's $78.5 billion buyout of BellSouth Corp. won Justice Department approval Wednesday, a decision that sets the stage for further reuniting modernized parts of the old Ma Bell phone monopoly broken up by the government in 1984. The Justice Department approved the deal without conditions, which leaves the Federal Communications Commission as the final hurdle to the merger creating the nation's biggest provider of phone, wireless and broadband Internet services.
(10/12/06 3:08am)
The U.S. Army has plans to keep the current level of soldiers in Iraq through 2010, the top Army officer said Wednesday, a later date than Bush administration or Pentagon officials have mentioned thus far.\nThe Army chief of staff, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, cautioned against reading too much into the planning, saying troop levels could be adjusted to actual conditions in Iraq. He said it is easier to hold back forces scheduled to go there than to prepare and deploy units at the last minute.\n"This is not a prediction that things are going poorly or better," Schoomaker told reporters. "It's just that I have to have enough ammo in the magazine that I can continue to shoot as long as they want us to shoot."\nHis comments were the latest acknowledgment by Pentagon officials that a significant withdrawal of troops from Iraq is not likely in the immediate future.\nCurrently there are 141,000 troops in Iraq, including 120,000 Army soldiers. Those soldiers are divided among 15 Army combat brigades plus other support units.\nSchoomaker's comments come less than four weeks before congressional elections, in which the unpopular war in Iraq and the Bush administration's policies there are a major campaign issue.\nLast month, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, said the military would likely maintain or possibly even increase the current force levels through next spring.\nIn recent months the Army has shown signs of strain, as Pentagon officials have had to extend the Iraq deployments of two brigades in order to bolster security in Baghdad and allow units heading into the country to have at least one year at home before redeploying.\nSchoomaker said he has received no new guidance from commanders in Iraq as to when the U.S. will be able to begin reducing the number of troops there. Last year officials had hoped to be down to about 100,000 by the end of this year, but escalating violence and sectarian tensions have prompted military leaders to increase forces.\nHe also said the Army will have to rely on the National Guard and Reserves to maintain the current level of deployments. When asked about concerns that reserve units are struggling to get the training and equipment they need before going back to Iraq, Schoomaker said that no troops would be sent into war without needed resources.\nIn separate remarks to reporters, Gen. Richard Cody, the Army vice chief of staff, said soldiers need more than 12 months between deployments to Iraq so they can do a full range of combat training and complete the kinds of educational programs that enable the Army to grow a fully mature officer corps.
(10/12/06 3:06am)
A small plane with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle aboard crashed into a 50-story condominium tower Wednesday on Manhattan's Upper East Side, killing at least four people and raining flaming debris on sidewalks, authorities said. There was no immediate confirmation that Lidle was among the dead.\nA law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lidle was on the plane. Federal Aviation Administration records showed the single-engine plane was registered to the athlete, who was a new pilot and had repeatedly assured reporters in recent days that flying was safe.\nThe official said he did not know whether Lidle was at the controls; two people were aboard, and Lidle's passport was found at the crash scene, the official said. The plane had issued a distress call before the crash, according to the official.
(10/12/06 2:59am)
Much like the USSR and the evils of communism were deemed the permanent enemy of America in the 20th century, today's eternal threat seems to be "Islamofascism" via terrorism.\nThough I do not agree with the idea, I can understand how those in power and many others believe that to make the world a safer place, they need to somehow change the way people practice Islam and modernize Muslim society.\nThis led politicians, pundits and policymakers alike to figure out how to go about this daunting task in some other way besides invading countries that have no ties with the al-Qaida terrorist network. \nIn an unparalleled display of stupidity, chief policymakers in various nations decided that there is, in fact, a way to fight Islamic extremism, to deter suicide bombers, to help pacify and integrate immigrants in Western countries, to make al-Qaida operatives wave American flags while rocking out to Lynyrd Skynyrd, to motivate Hamas to send get-well cards and flowers to Ariel Sharon, to turn sectarian violence in Iraq into sectarian potluck dinners, to inspire the Taliban to devote their lives to producing children's television shows instead of opium. \nWhat action, you ask, will result in this phenomenal new world order? \nBanning head scarves and veils! \nSheer brilliance. \nApparently the move is aimed at helping immigrants modernize and assimilate into Western society. Some predominately Muslim countries, such as Turkey, are considering a ban on or discouragement of the Islamic head scarf and the less common face veil in order to curb extremism. \nA terrorist or "extremist" bent on causing death and destruction is not going to wake up one morning and decide he doesn't want to anymore because his wife decided not to wear a head scarf or veil outside the home. \nGovernments have also defended such policies by arguing that women who wear veils are oppressed. This might or might not be true, but the fact that many women, like German schoolteacher Fereshta Ludin, are fighting for their rights to wear the veil points to the opposite. \nMuslim women, and Muslims in general, contrary to popular idiotic thought, are not just a big a mass of people waiting for some great mandate that will instantly change their lives. \nNo women ran around the streets of France ripping scarves from their heads and purchasing halter tops when the French instituted their ban on conspicuous religious dress at state schools. \nSuch bans on people's choice of religious dress will do nothing to curb extremism or integrate immigrants. What should be addressed are the root causes of these problems: poverty, lack of proper education -- both religious and secular -- and political injustice.
(10/12/06 2:52am)
No Sweat! against Coke contract, not all big business contracts
(10/12/06 2:46am)
When Al Gore invented the Internet, lives of countless Americans were changed. \nLegless people with excessive nose hair growth, for instance, could now buy trimmers online, greatly increasing their ability to detect subtle farts. Obese people could now detail their personal weight struggles in their online blogs, allowing for normal-sized people to not care on six different continents. \nThe Internet also opened up a new world of pornography. Softcore addicts, like myself, can now frolic in a glorious meadow of semi-nude Mark Wahlberg thumbnail pics. As a result, my hard drive is so frequently constipated I've begun downloading monthly enemas.\nAt IU, one of the Internet's most useful tools is the search engine. Rather than following the convoluted "yellow brick road" of library research, students can now give their "ruby-red" mice three simple clicks, which immediately transports them to an online destination.\nAfter all, there's no place like Google. \nThe only reason students go to the library anymore is to get laid. \nIndeed, the main library has transformed into quite the brothel. According to the Facebook group, "I Would Totally Have Sex in the Library," a number of scandalous students have been "getting jiggy" in the stacks -- putting the "do" back in "Dooey Decimal System," if you will.\nThus, in order to confirm this myth, I decided to be a truly investigative journalist and search for library fornicators. \nI was Katie Couric. \n8 p.m. -- Friday -- Main library:\nAfter walking through a thick cloud of cigarette smoke, I arrived at the library's lobby -- and finally inhaled. The air inside was ripe with sadomasochistic smells -- a sultry mix of leather-bound books and escalator lubricant. \nI quickly ventured to the elevator and looked at the buttons, wondering on which floors I would be most likely to witness sexual intercourse. \nI pressed buttons "6" and "9." \nI was on my way up, looking for people goin' down. However, when the doors finally parted, I was greeted with an icy silence. The ninth floor was cold and completely barren -- like Nicole Richie's refrigerator. Shivering in my tiny Gap tee, I felt like an "Eski-homo" -- freezing ... and miles away from my fashionably decorated igloo. \nFinally, I found another life form -- a library cadet who was patrolling the stacks. Immediately, I asked about his familiarity with this library legend. \n"At (cadet) orientation, I heard first-hand stories of people doing the nasty (in the stacks)," he said. \n"Do you know on what floor?" I asked. \nHe paused, stroking his chin in recollection. \n"I can't remember," he said. "Whatever floor the Slavic languages are on."\nNaturally. Because nothing raises libidos quite like the erotic language of Slavs. \nHence, I voyaged with speedy legs to the fifth floor. However, much to my dismay, this area was merely an extension of library Alaska -- cold and desolate. \nPerhaps the temperature had urged couples to romp elsewhere, simply for fear of genital frostbite. Or maybe people finally figured out a way to avoid the library all together. \nAfter all, sex and research are much easier to get online.
(10/12/06 2:45am)
Some stereotypes are true: Lots of people in England have dental problems. The semi-socialist government covers most medical costs but charges fees for dental care. So, many people in England don't go to the dentist frequently, exchanging the prospect of straight teeth for low medical bills. Duly, then, at the American students' study abroad orientation session, the British director of the program told us that we had one infallible leg up in our attempt to get our own way in the town and university where we would be living. You guessed it: our big white American smiles. \nNot that everyone in America has the smile of a supermodel. In the United States, however, there is an expectation to seek out regular dental and orthodontic care from a very young age. The field of cosmetic dentistry in America is booming. American magazines like CIO and the Web site groovejob.com have published articles on the importance of smiling to enhance leadership skills and further career goals. In our culture, teeth are currency.\nAndrew Williams, director of Butler's Institute for Study Abroad office in London, told his American audience to smile in tough situations. If you're dealing with a rude official, he said, we are to swallow our American indignation and the temptation to throttle the other person and ... beam. Trust me, he said. It sounded easy enough. \nI had an opportunity to test the effectiveness of Williams' advice last week. After a long, exhausting day, I stopped for groceries. Hauling my food to the front of the store, I handed over my credit card. I didn't have any cash. The cashier scrutinized my sullen face and the back of my credit card. "I can't read the signature," she announced, calling over her manager. They both looked at me. I scowled at them. Adjusting their glasses, they peered down at the card. "We can't take this," the manager said. I stormed out of the store. \nAfter a relaxing afternoon and a dinner of hot soup, I had once again convinced myself that the outside world was not plotting my demise. Still without any cash in hand, I went for a walk with an equally destitute friend. We ran across an ice cream shop. I said I would pay with credit. I edged my credit card between the two massive chocolate ice cream cones towards the cashier. "We don't take credit cards." Oh, no. I turned to my friend; He shook his head. I closed my eyes, took a breath and smiled. He gave us the ice cream. \nI came back the next day and paid for the sweet treats we had enjoyed the night before, still marveling at the largesse inspired by a simple smile. I know that the ice cream shop worker had been a generous man before I smiled at him. Also, it's not necessary for a smile to be particularly straight or white to work its magic. A grin is a universal, irresistible gesture toward complicity. But some stereotypes are true. A straight smile certainly didn't hurt.
(10/12/06 2:44am)
A recent study conducted at IU found that the popular spoof news program "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" contains as much substantive news content as programs that appear on major news networks. How is this possible? The show itself states that it is the best fake news out there. Its Web page on comedycentral.com wryly proclaims that the show is "a nightly half-hour series unburdened by objectivity, journalistic integrity or even accuracy."\nBut if the results of this study are true, then a show that primarily functions as a parody of network news actually has as much news content as genuine news shows, and it is attempting to inform viewers. Before jumping to conclusions, we must examine the merit of the study. \nUnderstanding what the study says is an important part of looking at its reliability. We do not believe the results imply that "The Daily Show" offers an immense amount of actual news, but rather that network programs are also increasingly emphasizing entertainment over news value. The humor and outright untruths of "The Daily Show" are equal to much of the fluffy, feel-good stories and political hype that fill the evening news. In this regard, the study shows that both the Comedy Central program and network news are more concerned about ratings or getting across a certain political agenda than high journalistic standards.\nIn fact, network news might be even more clouded by bias and sensationalism than "The Daily Show." The University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey quizzed television viewers about the facts of the 2004 presidential election and found that 18- to 29-year-olds who viewed some form of late-night comedy show scored consistently higher on a political knowledge test than those who did not view such a program. Specifically, those who watched "The Daily Show" had the highest scores, edging out four-day-a-week newspaper readers by 2 percent and beating those who watched network news at least four nights a week by an 8 percent margin. "Daily Show" viewers were also more likely to follow politics closely than all but one group (consistent viewers of David Letterman) and the most likely to vote. Participants who regularly watched network news or who watched no late-night comedy consistently had lower scores than those watching Jon Stewart's program. Together, the two studies provide credible data that show the news value of "The Daily Show."\nWe see these results not as an acclamation of "The Daily Show" but as a condemnation of network news. These studies should be a wake up call to network programs to change their reporting methods. Network news today needs to step up its coverage and begin to adequately inform viewers. The networks are so caught up in political correctness and pleasing target audiences that they distort the truth.\n"The Daily Show" isn't real news, and it's not supposed to be. Don't blame Jon Stewart for making us laugh: it's his job. And guess what, big news networks? He's going to keep us laughing at you until you start doing your job and asking tough questions.
(10/12/06 2:37am)
Joan "Josie" Orr, who spent eight years as Indiana's first lady while her husband, Robert Orr, was governor, has died. She was 85.\nOrr died Tuesday, Alpha Funeral Services in Indianapolis said.\nHer husband, a Republican, was governor from 1981 until 1989, following eight years as lieutenant governor.\nShe married him in 1944, after spending part of World War II as a pilot ferrying airplanes across the country on their way to Europe. They lived in Evansville when Robert Orr entered the family business, Orr Iron Co., and became active in politics.\nThe Orrs had three children and divorced in 2000. Gov. Orr died in 2004 at the age of 86.\nGov. Mitch Daniels said Josie Orr "lived a one-of-a-kind life."\nFuneral arrangements were not immediately announced. Daniels directed that flags at state offices be lowered to half-staff through the day of Orr's funeral.
(10/12/06 2:37am)
The Lake County Sheriff's Department has spent $40,000 in overtime looking for a suspect who has shattered windshields in 16 or more vehicles since July.\nThe Lake County Council on Tuesday authorized Sheriff Rogelio Dominguez to shuffle his 2006 budget to pay the 14 officers who have patrolled the four-lane highway on overtime. No arrests have been made.\n"We may have saved a life because the persons didn't shoot because there were officers nearby. Deterrence is important, but we are trying to do it in a financially responsible way," Dominguez said.\nRepublican Dan Bursac, a county police officer running against Dominguez in the Nov. 7 election, said he believes the investigation has been mishandled. He said the sheriff could have asked a local law enforcement task force to investigate "what appears to be someone with a BB gun, but instead he blows it up and goes straight to the FBI"
(10/12/06 2:36am)
Cummins Inc. plans to add 600 to 800 jobs as it begins production of a new diesel-powered engine at a plant near its central Indiana headquarters, the company announced Wednesday.\nThe new light-duty engine will be offered in standard pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles that are expected to hit the market by the end of 2010, company officials said. The diesel engine is expected to average a 30 percent fuel savings over gasoline-powered engines for comparable vehicles.\nCummins' decision is the third major hiring announcement by an Indiana auto plant in the past six months.\nToyota Motor Corp. said in March that it would hire 1,000 workers to build Camrys at the Subaru plant in Lafayette, and Honda Motor Co. announced in June it would build a $550 million assembly plant in Greensburg that will employ about 2,000 people.\nColumbus-based Cummins said work on the new diesel engine resulted from a 1997 partnership between it and the U.S. Department of Energy.\nCummins shares declined by $1.38, or 1 percent, to $132.06 in morning trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's shares have traded between 77.80 and 137.88 over the past year.\nThe decision to build the new engine in Columbus follows the company in July extending its lease until 2019 to keep its corporate headquarters in the city, about 40 miles east of Bloomington.\nAbout 750 people work at the Cummins headquarters. The company has 33,500 employees worldwide, including about 5,400 in Indiana, most in Columbus and nearby Seymour.
(10/11/06 5:09am)
As I write this column, the early news reports are indicating that the exclusive nuclear club has, amidst global protest, gained its newest member: North Korea.\nMost of us aren't old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, or even much of the Cold War. "What's the big deal?" we ask. "Lots of countries have nuclear weapons."\nAn hour northwest of Las Vegas is a relic of the Cold War called the Nevada Test Site. There, in a 1962 test named "Storax Sedan," a nuclear device was detonated a few hundred feet beneath the surface of Yucca Flats. In a matter of seconds the blast moved 12 million tons of soil, creating a crater 320 feet deep and 1,280 feet across -- quite easily the most efficient feat of excavation ever achieved. It also shot a plume of radioactive dust and gas 12,000 feet into the atmosphere, which drifted east across the country creating low-level fallout. Immediately following the blast, radiation levels at the edge of the crater would have killed a man in under an hour.\nStorax Sedan was the first of many tests under a larger program called Project Plowshare. The purpose of the project was to develop peacetime uses for nuclear bombs. (You can just imagine some guy at the Atomic Energy Commission saying, "I wonder if we can dig really freakin' big holes with it.") The name Plowshare was drawn from 2 Isaiah, where the prophet, speaking of the Messiah, said, "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."\nThe Sedan project's goal was to test the utility of nuclear explosions in excavation. Dependent on Sedan's success, applications could have included widening the Panama Canal, cutting a waterway across Nicaragua and excavating an artificial harbor on the coast of Alaska. Eleven years and about $770 million later, Plowshare was abandoned for being impractical.\nIn January 2005, under the blessing of the Department of Homeland Security, I rode a bus across the frigid, windswept expanses of the Nevada Test Site to Yucca Flats. Wearing a personal radiation dosimeter and my Department of Energy ID badge, I stood on the lip of Sedan Crater and smiled for the camera. The return trip to Hoosierland offered ample time to ponder the history and sights of Yucca Flats.\nThe failure of Project Plowshare definitively demonstrated that there is no peaceful use for nuclear weapons. Contrary to Iranian propaganda, the only plausible use for nuclear weapons is to kill lots of people in a hurry.\nOn Aug. 22, North Korea declared the armistice between itself and South Korea to be "null and void." Recently, Kim Jong Il made clear his capacity to kill lots of people in a hurry with a nuclear test. It stands to reason that this man is a very real threat that must be dealt with. We can't pussyfoot around anymore. If he will not negotiate, it is time for action.
(10/11/06 5:03am)
No Sweat! against big business, not abuses\nBy Tyler Perry, Kirk Nathanson and Edward Delp\nNo Sweat! is at it again!\nIn its continuing effort to prevent IU from having relationships with anything resembling a big business, the group has gone after the University's contract with Coca-Cola.\nThere are a few problems with this.\nFirst of all, after years of allegations of human rights abuses and rulings by numerous courts, the accusations being thrown around by activist groups such as No Sweat! and Killercoke.com have proven to be mostly hearsay. An internal investigation by Coca-Cola, an investigation by the Colombian government and an American lawsuit have all shown a disturbing lack of evidence for the claims being made.\nWe are not asking for a bullet-ridden body, but we are asking for proof.\nSecond, there is a serious amount of money involved.\nAccording to Indiana Daily Student reports, the University makes approximately $1.7 million a year from its contract with Coke. Additionally, canceling the contract early \n-- as No Sweat! seems to want -- might cost the University even more money in early termination fees. In an age of increasing tuition and decreasing support from the state, this is money we cannot afford to lose.\nThird, canceling our contract with Coke would send us down a very slippery slope.\nIt is important to remember that Coke is not the only big business this school has contracts with. Nike, Adidas, Wal-Mart and others all provide support to IU's students in one way or another. \nIf No Sweat! has its way, our basketball team might not have sneakers, our soccer team might not have jerseys, and we might not get our textbooks from reputable publishers. We could be forced to rely on small mom-and-pop suppliers who often have higher prices without a guarantee of higher quality.\nAdditionally, what company would take Coke's place? Pepsi? If No Sweat! takes out Wal-Mart (after protests of Midnight Madness) and Coke, what incentive would Pepsi have to step into this hornet's nest of big-business haters?\nIf the University bends to these labor activists now, it will set a precedent that makes all of its corporate partners a target.\nThe result will cost the University millions, and students will bear the brunt of this lost revenue.\nCost of Coke much more than a dollar\nBy Grace Low and Jonathan P. Rossing\nAllegations of human rights abuse against Coca-Cola are mounting. The company has been accused of ignoring the assassination, kidnapping and torture of union leaders in Columbia, polluting water supplies and destroying eco-systems in India and turning a blind eye to poor working conditions in their non-American factories. The Bloomington chapter of No Sweat! is leading a protest to encourage IU to abandon its contract with Coke. Twelve universities have recently canceled or refused to renew Coke contracts because of these allegations. IU needs to follow suit and take the ethical stance: Human life and dignity are worth infinitely more than money.\nSome argue that we can't be sure these allegations are true. But to ignore firsthand witnesses because their testimonies offer an "inconvenient truth," reeks of cultural racism. Too often do we fall into the trap of dismissing allegations until a corporate white man corroborates the story. If IU chooses to ignore the possibility of human rights abuse, the administration gives the impression that it values money over human life. How sad that our institution so easily devalues the lives of the voiceless destitute around the world for the sake of a financial deposit.\nOthers might claim that other companies -- such as Pepsi -- have the same problems or that those people wouldn't even have a jobs without Coke. These arguments aren't a reason to ignore poor working conditions or children's rights. Rather, they provide stronger motivation to take a stand against a corporate ideology that accepts dehumanization as a necessary side effect of profit. Providing jobs in impoverished countries is great, but we cannot justify employing workers -- especially kids -- under conditions that would be unacceptable in the United States. As long as IU accepts the contributions of such a shady corporation, each of us is complicit with the abuse.\nWe applaud No Sweat! for its effort to pressure the University to abandon the Coca-Cola contract, especially since so many students refuse to get off the couch and stand up for what is right. If more of us agreed to take a moral stand -- no longer condoning abuse through apathy -- the administration would have to listen.
(10/11/06 4:26am)
The Martha Graham Dance Company didn't have to sell out the IU Auditorium to make its audience applause ring like it had done that very thing.\nThe New York-based dance company captivated about 1,500 attendees Tuesday night, showcasing a modern dance history that company dancer Blakeley White-McGuire said represents a part of American legacy.\nMartha Graham's choreography is well-known for its storytelling ability, along with the emotional expression of the dancers who play characters throughout their performances, said Anne Posluszny, company manager.\nAs the curtain rose on the opening piece, a male and female duet came to life -- "Errand into the Maze." Based on a Greek myth, Graham reversed the story to reflect the female's perspective, showing that women have power and control, IU Contemporary Dance Coordinator Liz Shea said.\nLight, innocent flutes and string music rapidly shifted to dark, deep music as the dancers transformed into characters remnant of a silent film.\nGraham's choreography allowed the performers to hold long, powerful positions in which one performer rested on the other with arms and legs extended into the air, all while maintaining perfect balance and stillness. A split second later, the couples' bodies would face off in a battle, but minutes later the woman was again back to her peaceful, smooth movements, sweeping her arms and legs about her. \n"Diversion of Angels," which company dancer David Zurak described at the start of the show as "love in a world without gravity," added several more dancers to the scene, including men in nude-colored tights unable to hide the strength in the muscles throughout their legs and back.\nThe piece swung from passionate love in which a pair sat close in an embrace with the woman's arms wrapped around the man to a flirtatious scene with couples leaping across the stage in synchronized, light movements. \nThree different couples represented a different type of love based on the color of their costumes. According to the program, the couple in white represented mature love, while red signified erotic love and yellow symbolized young love.\nThe audience remained nearly motionless, even as the second piece rounded out in time for an intermission. \n"You can just feel the excitement in the audience and feel the appreciation and the love coming from the audience," Shea said. "It's just amazing."\nGraham's technique is something a general dance background wouldn't prepare a student for, she said. \nAs Graham's work continues to be performed even after her 1991 death, dance history is at an exciting moment when it can relish Graham's work and find new meaning in it, said Selene Carter, an IU dance instructor. \n"The work does change through time," she said. "We have to reinvent it."\nGraham's dances are told in the woman's point of view -- something groundbreaking in Graham's time, White-McGuire said.\n"She took from life, so it grew with her," White-McGuire said. "And as she became a bigger presence, her company became a bigger presence."\nThe company performs nationally and internationally, with its most recent stop in Greece, Posluszny said.\nMost remarkable about the group is that it changes roles with each performance.\nDance major and sophomore Esther Widlanski said the dance company's use of modern dance allowed the performers to freely express themselves.\n"You can do anything you want with it," she said. "If (students) weren't here, they missed out."\nGraham's choreography has an ability to do more than just show movement but tell a story, White-McGuire said.\n"I think the beauty is that she's not telling you a specific story, but she's opening up the possibility to find a story -- your story," she said. "(She's) opening up the doorway for you to feel and experience it. That's great art"
(10/11/06 4:25am)
Ninety years and thousands of pairs shoes ago, a 16-year-old Italian cobbler named Salvatore Ferragamo came to Los Angeles hoping to find a little glamour.\nHe found a little and then created a lot more. So it seems fitting that the twin worlds of fame and fortune are honoring him this month on the Rodeo Walk of Style, one of the ritziest and most high-profile shopping streets in the world.\nFerragamo's plaque takes its place with those belonging to Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani, Edith Head, Mario Testino and a handful of others nearby a 14-foot sculpture called Torso by Robert Graham at the corner of one Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way, which award organizers describe as the intersection of fashion and film.\nFrom the early going of his career at the Hollywood Boot Shop, which he opened in 1923 just as studios began to turn out lavishly costumed films, Salvatore knew that the link between Ferragamo -- the man and the brand -- and celebrities would be one of the keys to success.\nHe courted and won over stars such as Lillian Gish, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo, and later Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Sofia Loren, with his creative styles and innovative wedge heel. The big names even followed him to his palazzo in Italy for shoe fittings once Salvatore returned in 1927 to be with his family and the fine craftsmen in his homeland.\n"When he went to America, he was very young," recalls his wife Wanda, still an officer at the company. "He started to design very fantastic shoes. The movie actresses and artists started to be enthusiastic about them. Because of that, we have a great legacy with the cinema."\nSalvatore's youngest son Massimo adds: "They loved his charm and his shoes, and he knew how to make shoes comfortable."\nFerragamo shoes first appeared on screen on Gish in "Way Down East" and on the feet of the entire cast of Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments," and most recently were featured in "The Departed," "Miami Vice" and "The Devil Wears Prada." In between, Monroe wore them in "The Seven Year Itch" and Drew Barrymore's princess slippers in "Ever After" were made by Ferragamo.\nSalvatore's grandson James, who is now charged with the brand's handbag and leather goods division, says it's personal relationships with consumers that set the brand apart from others that might find themselves with an "it" item one minute only to be obsolete the next.\n"Our customer has an understanding of fashion, is sophisticated. It's not a customer who's driven by a bag that could become a fad. We want you to be able to carry it tomorrow."\nCould that be a jab at the trendy accessories that command huge prices yet are fashion relics even before they show up on the pages of US Weekly? Maybe, but James is too much of a Ferragamo to say.\nIn interviews, Wanda, James and Massimo, chairman of Ferragamo USA, come across as warm, likable and surprisingly unstuffy. Even in conversations about Ferragamo's celebrity ties, it doesn't feel like they're name-dropping. They speak fondly of longtime friends and leave the rest up to a written filmography and history to be considered later by a reporter.\nThey don't criticize competitors or pop culture.\nThe Ferragamos prefer to focus on the legacy left by Salvatore and the importance of construction and quality materials in their goods.\n"The spirit of my grandfather is part of any product we make today. He was always trying to do something unique, not trying to max out on a specific style or logo," James says. "In the archives, there are 10,000 shoes. You can see history: the use of other materials during World War II when they couldn't find any leather, the use of color, the innovation in construction. It was innovation that stemmed from the desire to create a product that's timely and timeless"
(10/11/06 4:22am)
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Convicted Washington-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is seeking a broad plea agreement in which he would plead guilty to other 2002 shootings that authorities have linked him to, defense attorneys and Maryland prosecutors said Tuesday.\nThe deal, announced as Malvo formally pleaded guilty to six Maryland murders, could be reached before his Nov. 9 sentencing for those killings. He is expected to receive six life sentences, without chance of parole, at that hearing.\nMalvo lawyer William Brennan told Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Ryan that he hoped to use the time before sentencing to "reach a global resolution to Mr. Malvo's legal problems." Asked later by reporters for specifics, Brennan would only say that he would have "candid, frank discussions with some local prosecutors."\nMontgomery County State's Attorney Douglas Gansler said such a plea deal could mean Malvo might not serve his sentence in Virginia, where he was sentenced to life for his 2003 conviction in the death of FBI analyst Linda Franklin. He also pleaded guilty to another Virginia sniper shooting.\nMalvo, 21, could plead guilty to the Oct. 3, 2002, shooting of Pascal Charlot in Washington and serve his life term in the federal system, Gansler said. Federal prosecutors handle murder cases in the District of Columbia.\nGansler said the decision rests with Virginia authorities, who agreed to let Malvo and his one-time mentor, John Allen Muhammad, come to Maryland for new trials. Under an interstate agreement, Maryland must return Malvo after his sentencing.\nKevin Hall, a spokesman for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, said Kaine's staff has not had any recent discussions with Maryland prosecutors on a plea deal for Malvo. Virginia prosecutors had expressed sharp disapproval when the idea was proposed before Muhammad and Malvo's first trials in 2003.
(10/11/06 3:35am)
NEW YORK -- Columbia University professor of political economy Edmund Phelps was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Monday.\nPhelps will receive the honor and a $1.37 million prize for his work in understanding the trade-off between inflation and unemployment. According to the Nobel Foundation's Web site, Phelps is the first solo economics award winner since 1999, when it went to Robert Mundell, also a Columbia professor, for his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy in relation to exchange rates.\n"When someone in your community wins a Nobel prize, everyone feels a lot better," Columbia President Lee Bollinger said at a press conference in Low Memorial Library. "The truth is we all feel a little bit smarter. It gives us enormous satisfaction and pride."\nBollinger was joined by Phelps, who is also director of the Center for Capitalism and Society; Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute; and Janet Currie, chair of the economics department.\n"This is a fantastic day for economics at Columbia," Currie said. \nShe praised Phelps for "putting the worker back in the macroeconomy" and for the broad range of subjects his work has benefited.\n"Ned is really the economist's economist," Sachs said. "Everybody loves him."\nThe guest of honor spoke about growing up in Evanston, Ill., thanked the many colleagues he's worked with during his career and went on to describe how he became interested in his current field.\n"My father asked me to take one economics class," he said. "I had been intending to major in philosophy, which I continued to work on surreptitiously."\nFrom that first class to his post-graduate research, Phelps was troubled by what he saw as a large gap in his mastery of the subject.\n"Here I am ... and I still don't know how to reconcile macroeconomics and microeconomics," he said. "I have to do it myself, then, if it's going to be done."\nIn the 1960s, Phelps conceptualized the natural rate of unemployment, which followed from the Phillips model of inflation-unemployment trade-offs. The theory led to the rethinking of monetary policy within central banks. More recently, he has worked to push for a federal system to subsidize low-wage workers but said such work has "struck out" in the United States.\nDespite his newfound fame and wealth, Phelps will continue with his teaching. \n"I'm a workaholic," he said.
(10/11/06 3:32am)
I know many will say it's not such a good idea to give the Bush administration suggestions on where to spread democracy next, but I'm not too worried. If the man doesn't read national newspapers, chances are he's not going to read the Indiana Daily Student. Nevertheless, I would like to suggest that Bush encourage Russia to swallow a heavy dose of liberty. I recognize that democracy there only dates back to 1991, so they're fairly new at this, but in light of recent events, I find it very hard to believe that Russia's system is healthy.\nJournalist Anna Politkovskaya was found slain in the elevator of her Moscow apartment Saturday. Apparently, she was in the middle of uncovering a torture and kidnapping story involving the Moscow-backed authorities in charge of war-torn province Chechnya. A fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Politkovskaya had worked tirelessly since 1999 to uncover human rights violations in the Chechen conflict and apparently had her life threatened for years because of her reporting. In Russia under Putin, this brings the count of journalists slain in contract-style killings to at least 13 -- 42 since 1992 -- making it the third-deadliest country in the world for members of the press after Iraq and Algeria. \nIn my opinion, President Putin truly understands the importance of a free press to a democratic society and seems to be on course to stamp it out. A true democracy cannot function without journalists. For all the checks and balances set up by the Founding Fathers to make sure tyranny and oppression don't corrupt our government, the best thing they did to guarantee this was granting Americans the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Only with journalists and other citizens willing to question the decisions of their governments, and raise hell if necessary, can a government truly be held accountable to its people. The minute you eliminate this outlet, any democratic government easily has the potential to become a dictatorship. This, I am afraid, is what is beginning to happen in Russia.\nIf Bush is truly concerned about spreading democracy, he should visit Russia, a place that, if allowed to sink back into its former ways, could be a threat to other democratic countries in Europe and a place where freedom is not yet extinct, but certainly endangered. \nNow I know Russia is no pushover like Iraq. I know we can't invade Russia and declare victory in a few months -- after all, they have something like 12,000-19,000 nuclear weapons -- but we can invade it with ideas. We can invade it with examples of true democracy. I know it is easy to question whether the United States itself is a true democracy, but I think it's safe to say we get it a little better than Russia. \nSo this is my new suggestion to the Bush administration: Deal with Russia before the problem becomes too big for us to handle.
(10/11/06 3:29am)
On Monday, search-engine titan Google acquired the post-your-own-videos site YouTube for a cool $1.65 billion. While this deal is significant in and of itself, the major implications will be determined in the coming months as owners of copyrighted content and their lawyers challenge YouTube users' freedom to upload video clips -- the freedom that made YouTube valuable in the first place.\nThe Internet is arguably the most important cultural development of our times, and right now we are in the midst of a struggle over its fundamental nature. Specifically, the Internet has become so influential due to users' ability to readily access information free of charge. Yet many individuals and groups are looking to charge for access to that information -- some rightly (artists, for example, who want payment for the reproduction of their work) and some dubiously (cable companies, for example, who want to direct Web traffic to the sites that pay them the most).\nThis conflict has crossed into the realm of higher education on several occasions, but a new fight is showing its potential to affect the basic conduct of classroom activity. Last January, Blackboard Inc. was granted a U.S. patent for "a system and methods for implementing education online by providing institutions with the means for allowing the creation of courses to be taken by students online, the courses including assignments, announcements, course materials, chat and whiteboard facilities, and the like, all of which are available to the students over a network such as the Internet." In other words, Blackboard's patent is for its popular online course-management system (akin to Oncourse). \nCritics have argued that this patent is unduly broad -- in effect, awarding Blackboard with the patent not for "any device or even specific software code" but "the idea of putting such tools together in one big, scalable system across a university" (USA Today, Aug. 27). The fear is that Blackboard will wield this patent against competitors and open-source software projects that were developed with the cooperation of the academic community. Those concerns might not be unfounded: In August, Blackboard sued competitor Desire2Learn Inc. for royalties.\nAccording to IU Chief Information Officer and Dean of Information Technology for IU Bloomington Brady Wheeler, IU's Oncourse is not under threat of lawsuit because it "predated the first Blackboard claim by at least 18 months." However, IU "has been following the patent matters very closely and is working with the Software Freedom Law Center (www.softwarefreedom.org) to review the merits of this patent." Meanwhile, for Blackboard's part, its senior vice president and general counsel Matthew Small has said, "It would make no sense for Blackboard to go after open-source programs like Moodle and Sakai ... because they are not commercial providers" (Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 2). The current variation of Oncourse, Oncourse CL, uses Sakai 2.1 software.\nNevertheless, the Blackboard case does highlight the fact that academia has a stake in this debate over who-owns-what on the Internet -- and that we must be vigilant to ensure that the outcome preserves its status as an invaluable educational resource.
(10/11/06 3:18am)
Everyone knows that IU is better than Purdue -- it's a simple fact of life. Our campus is more attractive, our academics better and even our lack of a real mascot is superior to their Purdue Pete. However, IU has been falling behind Purdue and many other universities in a very critical area: campus environmental sustainability. While our School of Public and Environmental Administration is no slouch, Purdue has both a Center for the Environment and an Interdisciplinary Center for Ecological Sustainability. What's going on here?\nEnvironmental sustainability means living in such a way that we won't damage the world that future generations will inherit. Thankfully, it seems the awareness of our lack of environmental integrity may be catching on. Last Tuesday, IUSA voted to support a letter asking Interim Provost Michael McRobbie to create a campus Sustainability Task Force. While we applaud the folks at IUSA for getting the ball rolling, rest assured that we are also rolling our eyes, tapping our feet and muttering under our breath, "It's about time!" \nJust look around and you will see that IU has a long way to go. Our coal-burning power plant, ironically located behind SPEA, emits nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide into the air, while students, assuming electricity is free because they don't see the cost, waste it wantonly.\nWhat's more, despite the fact that we live in the middle of the giant cornfield that is southern Indiana, our dining halls are supplied by food products from far away. This means that by the time they arrive at the salad bar, your tomatoes have traveled so far onboard a diesel-powered, emission-generating semi that they practically need their own passports. \nAt IU, more trash ends up in the Jordan River than in the trash cans. The recycling bins on campus are also underused, and it is easier to find wads of chewed gum inside them than the plastic, aluminum and paper goods that should be there. In addition, planners are adding more parking garages rather than encouraging carpooling or improving our bus system -- moves that would significantly reduce the amount of exhaust that we release into the air.\nObviously, we have a daunting task ahead of us. Like Kermit the Frog once said, "It's not easy being green." However, it beats the alternative. Global warming and global climate change are happening here and now, and they are happening because of human actions. Sea levels are rising, droughts are becoming more frequent and severe weather systems are now becoming a normal occurrence (remember how quickly we ran out of names for hurricanes last year?). \nBesides, although the start-up costs of environmentally friendly initiatives may seem a bit steep, in the end, the reduction in waste disposal and energy costs from eco-friendly policies and green buildings will help us come out ahead financially. So congratulations, IUSA; you've got us headed in the right direction. But let's not celebrate just yet. We still have a long way to go.