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(10/09/06 2:50am)
Ask anyone at the Indiana Daily Student: A great headline is a precious thing. Summing up a 700-word article in a mere four-word phrase is not an easy thing to do. The headline has to make sense, it needs to relate to the story, it must inform, but it also has to grab the reader. The headline is a hook to entice the reader to keep reading, which is why so many headlines are puns or plays on words. It's that sort of attention-grabbing mentality that steered the IDS into the realm of the offensive last week when management published the headline: "All-white jury will judge accused killer in Jill Behrman case" (Oct. 3). Let's be frank; southern Indiana is not exactly the most diverse region in the country. In fact, according to 2004 U.S. Census figures, Morgan County, the trial's venue, is 98.5 percent white -- hence, it's nearly a statistical guarantee that of the few dozen randomly selected jury candidates, the 15 chosen will be Caucasian. Though the IDS headline is factually accurate, by specifically singling out race as the common thread between the jurors, the headline begs the reader to speculate unnecessarily into the fairness of the trial and the objectivity of the jury. After all, how can a jury of one's peers be considered representative and impartial if the prosecution and defense decided to cut potential jurors because of their race? (For the record, the defendant, John R. Meyers II, is white as well).\nHad the headline simply read "Behrman case has 15 jurors for trial" (Louisville Courier-Journal, Oct. 4) or "Behrman jury to start at 15" (Indianapolis Star, Oct. 3), the average reader would have learned all he needed to know before breezing over to the next article. There would be no incentive to read further. So we opted for sensationalism over substance. While the Oct. 6 Reporter-Times in Martinsville focused on the jurors' backgrounds with "Jurors for Myers mostly married, with varied jobs," the IDS played the race card.\nHowever, the story did not attempt to infer any issues of racial bias on the jury. Indeed, the story was straightforward, written only to inform the IDS readership that a jury had been selected for the murder trial in the Jill Behrman case. Upon looking at the jury, one finds that the members are average Joes and Janes: eight men, seven women between 23 and 57, some with advanced degrees, some without. Facing a dull story with a duller headline -- as if the Behrman trial is not a sensitive enough issue on its own -- management took it upon itself to give the story that extra pizzazz. \nProvoking controversy for controversy's sake is the job of the Opinion Page, not the body of the IDS. The headline should attract readers without resorting to such gimmicks. Newspapers are not entertainment; they're information. A story should be attention-worthy on its own merits. A newspaper doesn't need to provoke it further.
(10/09/06 2:50am)
KAMPALA, Uganda -- Oil has been discovered in western Uganda after years of exploration, its president announced Sunday, saying he expected production to begin in 2009.\nPresident Yoweri Museveni said the country plans to build an oil refinery, with Uganda initially producing between 6,000 to 10,000 barrels a day.\nHe did not give details of how the oil will be produced, saying only that Uganda has studied various oil production contracts around the world. The government will use some of the oil to produce electricity, Museveni said.\nSome opposition politicians have said that the oil could turn into a curse and lead to wars, as it has done in other countries, but the president dismissed those concerns.\n"The oil of Uganda cannot be a curse. Oil becomes a curse when you have got useless leaders, and I can assure you that we don't approach that description even by a thousandth of a mile," Museveni said. "The oil is a blessing for Uganda, and money from it will be used for development."\nThomas Male, a Ministry of Energy official, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the three fields in western Uganda where the oil has been discovered have 100 million barrels to 300 million barrels of oil in reserve with 30 million barrels ready for extraction.\nThat figure would be low compared to other oil producing countries in Africa. By comparison, Chad produces about 170,000 barrels a day while Sudan produces several hundred thousand barrels a day.\nNigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, is currently producing more than 2.3 million barrels a day.\nOil exploration in western Uganda began in earnest in 1989. An Australian oil exploration company, Hardman Resources Ltd., discovered oil at three wells in western Uganda in June, Museveni told participants at a national prayer breakfast Sunday.\nMuseveni said officials were waiting to make the announcement until after a national prayer festival that began Saturday.\nEver since rumors about the oil began circulating, wealthy Ugandans have been scrambling to buy land near where the exploration was taking place.
(10/09/06 2:48am)
KABUL, Afghanistan -- NATO's top commander in Afghanistan warned on Sunday that a majority of Afghans would likely switch their allegiance to resurgent Taliban militants if their lives show no visible improvements in the next six months.\nGen. David Richards, a British officer who commands NATO's 32,000 troops here, told The Associated Press that he would like to have about 2,500 additional troops to form a reserve battalion to help speed up reconstruction and development efforts.\nHe said the south of the country, where NATO troops have fought their most intense battles this year, has been "broadly stabilized," which gives the alliance an opportunity to launch projects there. If it doesn't, he estimates about 70 percent of Afghans could switch their allegiance from NATO to the Taliban.\n"They will say, 'We do not want the Taliban but then we would rather have that austere and unpleasant life that might involve than another five years of fighting,'" Richards said in an interview.\n"We have created an opportunity," following the intense fighting that left more than 500 militants dead in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, he said. "If we do not take advantage of this, then you can pour an additional 10,000 troops next year, and we would not succeed because we would have lost by then the consent of the people."\nNATO extended its security mission last week to all of Afghanistan, taking command of 12,000 U.S. troops in the war-battered country's east. The mission is the biggest ground combat operation in NATO history and gives Richards command of the largest number of U.S. troops under a foreign leader since World War II.\nSome 8,000 U.S. troops will continue to function outside NATO, tracking al-Qaida terrorists, helping train Afghan security forces and doing reconstruction work.\nAfghanistan is going through its worst bout of violence since the U.S.-led invasion removed the former Taliban regime from power five years ago. The Taliban has made a comeback in the south and east of the country and is seriously threatening Western attempts to stabilize the country after almost three decades of war.\nTaliban militants have acknowledged adopting the suicide attacks commonly used by insurgents in Iraq, launching 78 suicide bombings across Afghanistan this year, which have killed close to 200 people, NATO said Sunday.\nThere were only two suicide attacks in 2003 and six in 2004, said Seth Jones, an analyst for the U.S.-based RAND Corp. He said there were 21 in 2005.\nRichards, who will lead the NATO forces in Afghanistan until U.S. Gen. Dan K. McNeil takes over in February, said the Taliban might lose support among Afghans if it continues the attacks.\n"The very cowardly use of suicide bombers, the tragic use of suicide bombers, reveals weakness on the part of the Taliban, not strength," he said.\nRichards said NATO troops have also seen an upsurge in violence along the eastern border with Pakistan since that country's government signed a deal with pro-Taliban militants last month to end fighting that broke out after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.\nU.S. military officials have said the number of attacks on coalition and Afghan troops has tripled in the tribal border region. Afghan and Western officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of not doing all it can to block the flow of insurgents over the border, but Pakistan has rejected the charge.\nRichards, who will travel to Pakistan for meetings with military leaders Monday, urged "partnership and cooperation rather than confrontation" in dealings with Pakistan.
(10/09/06 2:47am)
FRISCO, Texas -- Like the artwork that teacher Sydney McGee insists she was fired for letting her students study, her former school says there's more to her dismissal than is apparent at first glimpse.\nMcGee, who taught elementary school in this sprawling Dallas suburb, has drawn national sympathy and disbelief since claiming she was let go last month because parents complained that their child saw a nude piece during a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art.\nEighty-nine of McGee's fifth-graders toured the museum during the April trip, which McGee concedes likely included nudes but was arranged as a chance to see Picassos and Piet Mondrians.\n"It's not a place of pornography; it's art," said McGee, 51, who has taught for 28 years and lists Oxford University among her graduate studies.\nThe Frisco school board suspended McGee with pay, Sept. 22 for the remainder of the school year, and the superintendent has said he will recommend her contract not be renewed. District officials have vigilantly maintained that the decision stemmed from separate personnel issues and not one child's exposure to a nude artwork.\nBut as public attention has intensified, school officials are trying to defend their decision in a back-and-forth they say puts them in "an extreme disadvantage ... due to issues of employee privacy and ethical considerations."\nOn the school district's Web site last week, administrators posted that "we have tried very hard to take the high road" and said they asked McGee for permission to make her personnel files public. In a memo to McGee dated almost three weeks after the field trip, Fisher principal Nancy Lawson lists performance concerns that include not updating lesson plans and wearing flip-flops to work.\nMcGee's attorney, Rogge Dunn, said he would approve the disclosure if the district superintendent and McGee's former principal also disclose their personnel files.\nDunn said he is reviewing what legal options McGee might have. He downplayed news this week that McGee accepted a buyout of nearly $8,300 at her last teaching position in nearby McKinney, saying the documents, which include parents' complaints about her teaching, don't reveal the reason for the buyout.\n"That doesn't mean you're bad at your job," Dunn said. "This doesn't change anything."\nMcGee said she arranged the field trip with Lawson's encouragement and toured the museum twice before taking her students. She said she decided against having the class examine a Mayan exhibit because its virgin sacrifices and bloodletting scenes were too "esoteric" for the students.\n"We have a lot of sporting things in Frisco, with the soccer and the baseball," McGee said. "But not a lot of those kids go to the museum"
(10/09/06 2:46am)
I love all bags. Black bags, white bags -- even bags that still wear flares because they haven't gotten the memo about skinny jeans yet. But there is such a thing as too much bag.\nFor example: Girls who like to carry both a backpack and a purse on campus. Umm, what? Couldn't you just, oh, I don't know, put the stuff from your purse in your backpack? Isn't that like wearing jeans and then putting jean shorts on over them? \nI don't care if your little jean shorts are worth hella Benjamins. Hell, I wouldn't care if they were diamond-encrusted and worn to the Last Supper.\nBy the way, Louis Vuitton called. He said, "Why the hell are you spending $900 on my ugly bag? I saw the same one at Claire's yesterday. It was $14.99, and it came with a free ear-piercing."\nThe following is a list of things I would rather spend $900 on: 113 copies of Weird Al Yankovic's Greatest Hits CD, a 60-year subscription to Cat Fancy magazine or 22.5 10th Anniversary Edition Tickle Me Elmo dolls.\nWhat's so great about Louis bags? Umm ... he knows his own initials? I guess that's always a plus. Coach doesn't even have initials. Give me a break.\nWhy would you want to carry all your essentials (wallet, cell phone, Go-gurt) in the same bag as everyone else? This could get mighty confusing. You could come home from the bars with a purse full of Twizzlers and Bratz dolls. That never happens when you shop at Forever 21. And, even if it did, the price of the bag equals the approximate price of six Twizzlers. That, my friends, is called thriftiness.\nNow onto the purse's chubbier, stays--at--home--on--the--weekends older sister, the backpack. Now, "backpack" is a blanket term used to classify satchels, canteens with straps, miniature suitcases with wheels and a handle (often denoting a trip to Grandma's in large block letters and primary colors) and all other nonpurse--related items. \n"But what about paisley diaper bags? Do they count, too?" asks Vera Bradley.\n"Yes, Vera. They count," I say. But only if you're blind. And maybe deaf. Even Helen Keller managed to accessorize with a pink JanSport. That Vera Bradley bag might be paisley, but it's still screaming, "My mommy spoils me!" \nYour backpack is important, so show it some love -- perhaps in the form of leather or a nice printed canvas. You know who loves canvas? Mischa Barton. She loves canvas so much that she is marrying it and starring in a major ad campaign to promote it. \nHere is my point: Mischa Barton is the only person in the free world who can wear those canvas Keds and still be cool.\nKidding. Well, no, but here is my real point: Backpacks are like boyfriends. They carry your books and feel you up in public, so they better be pretty.\nPurses, on the other hand, aren't that important. When you're going to the bars and finally leaving the gaucho pants at home, your outfit should do all the talking. You're not going to shack up because your teeny-tiny Coach purse had one too many tequila shots and showed a little too much cleavage. \nYour backpack might be the purse's chubbier older sister, but its ass is out of this world.
(10/09/06 2:44am)
There was no life of the party during IU's production of "The Birthday Party" by Harold Pinter. There were six. The small cast's character interpretations and executions of the many emotional shifts vital to Pinter's work were well done.\nThe show opened Friday night at the Ruth N. Halls Theatre to a nearly full house. In three acts, the audience was taken from a light comedy to a sinister mystery, witnessing the deterioration of the focal character, Stanley, played by sophomore Josh Hambrock. His character is the sole boarder in the drab house of naive Meg and her husband Petey in northern England. He retreats there to hide from his fuzzy past, only to have two suited men, Goldberg and McCann, show up looking for him on his birthday.\nThe first act introduces the audience to the odd routine between Petey and Meg, played by graduate students Harper Jones and Allison Moody, respectively. Their inane dialogue made members of the audience chuckle with the drawn out vowels and Meg's signature question of whether or not something is "nice." \nMoody perfected the borderline annoying, in-your-face, too excitable Meg. Her character is crucial to the play overall because she is the only one of the six who does not go through a change by the end. She remains frighteningly oblivious to the goings on in her own boarding house, and Moody represented this well. \nEnter Stanley, the boarder of Meg's adoration, who cannot disrupt her cheer no matter how many insults he shoots her way. Hambrock's talent for abruptly transitioning between Stanley's moods -- from flirtatious to malicious in a matter of seconds -- contributed greatly to the depth of his character as his life began unraveling in the play. \nWe are briefly introduced to Lulu, played by graduate student Dawn Thomas, but it's long enough to pick up on the sexual tension between her and Stanley, which turns out to be of importance later.\nGoldberg, played by graduate student Jeff Grafton, and his intimidating sidekick McCann, sophomore Matt Thompson Gripe, came to find Stanley at the end of the first act. Grafton's rendition of Goldberg with exaggerated diction and a puffed out chest pleased the audience, especially during heated moments of the plot. Grafton was the most entertaining to watch, keeping a delicate balance between lovable and threatening, topped with a menacing laugh.\nThe second act, the most thrilling of the three, heightened the pace with fast dialogue during Goldberg and McCann's interrogation of Stanley. Fighting, yelling and confusion all came into play as the two suited, mystery guests screamed rhetorical questions such as, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" in unison, throwing their entire bodies into the words. \nThe party for which the play is titled is held at the end of Act Two. By the end of it, sounds of good spirits dropped to reverberations of murder and rape -- staying true to Pinter's method of throwing in odd twists and turns for the viewers to dwell on, leaving a chilling feeling when the act ended.\nThe final act begins with the seemingly normal interaction between Meg and Petey, but the feeling is much different as Petey desperately tries to shelter consistently oblivious Meg from the real events that took place. Hambrock, zombie-like and pale-faced, gave a moving performance of the morphed Stanley, even without dialogue. \nDirector Dale McFadden's blocking of the characters was an intriguing tool. Goldberg and McCann shared choreographed movements from their first appearance in the foggy windows to their interrogation of Stanley and to their exit. Their movements in unison stood out among the hum-drum of Meg and Petey's daily routine. The set, a bland and seedy living room, contrasted with the boldness of the characters, which allowed the audience to see them more clearly. \nIt is a treat to see actors display a wide range of emotions and strong characterizations, which are so essential to Pinter's work. "The Birthday Party" is highly recommended and will be running at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9-14 at the Ruth N. Halls Theatre. Tickets are $13 for IU students and $16 for the general public. Visit www.theatre.indiana.edu for more information.
(10/06/06 4:13am)
NEW YORK -- Justin Verlander and Detroit's bullpen held down the New York Yankees' mighty offense, bringing just enough 100 mph heat to send the Tigers home with a split.\nCurtis Granderson hit a go-ahead triple off Mike Mussina in the seventh inning to cap a comeback from a two-run deficit, and the Tigers beat the Yankees 4-3 Thursday to even their best-of-five AL playoff series at one game apiece.\nAfter the threat of rain caused a postponement Wednesday night, the skies were sunny for the rare postseason day game at Yankee Stadium. Before a somewhat stunned crowd of 56,252, the wild-card Tigers ended a six-game losing streak that stretched to the final week of the regular season.\nVerlander, his pitches reaching 100 mph, allowed his only runs on Johnny Damon's fourth-inning homer, which put New York ahead 3-1. Jamie Walker, Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones finished, facing 10 batters and getting 11 outs, including a double play.\nZumaya topped out at 102 mph, according to the center-field scoreboard. Walker got the win, and Jones pitched the ninth for the save.\nHideki Matsui singled off Jones leading off the ninth. Jones, a soft tosser when compared to the Tigers' other hard throwers, struck out Jorge Posada, retired Robinson Cano on a soft fly and got Damon to fly out on a 92-mph pitch.\nNew York, an overwhelming favorite with All-Stars at every position, won Tuesday's opener 8-4 and had plenty of chances early in this one. The Yankees struck out nine times and went 1-for-8 with men in scoring position.\nAlex Rodriguez had another tough day at the plate, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, including one that ended the first with the bases loaded.\nA-Rod, booed loudly after his final two at-bats, hasn't driven in a run in his last 10 postseason games and is 5-for-40 (.125) in his last 11. He's 1-for-8 with four strikeouts in this series.\nWhen the series resumes in Detroit on Friday night, Randy Johnson (17-11) will test his stiff back for New York, opposed by former-Yankee Kenny Rogers (17-8). Because of the rainout, the teams lost their travel day.\nDamon's three-run homer into the right-field upper deck erased an early Detroit lead created by Marcus Thames' second-inning RBI single. The Tigers tied it at 3 on Granderson's fifth-inning sacrifice fly and Carlos Guillen's sixth-inning homer into the right-field lower deck.\nThames singled leading off the seventh for his third hit of the game, took second on Posada's passed ball and went to third when No. 9 hitter Brandon Inge sacrificed.\nNew York moved the infield in, and Granderson fell behind 0-2 and fouled off two more pitches before lining the ball to the wall in left-center. With the infield still in, Placido Polanco lined to Rodriguez, who made a dive to the third-base bag and nearly doubled up Polanco. Sean Casey then flied out.\nVerlander, a 23-year-old rookie who went 17-9 during the regular season, kept getting in and out of trouble early. New York loaded the bases in the first on Damon's single and a pair of walks. But, after a mound visit from pitching coach Chuck Hernandez, Verlander got Rodriguez to miss a 99 mph fastball and foul off a 100 mph fastball before freezing him with an offspeed pitch for a third strike.\nNew York got its first two runners on in the second but failed to score, and Gary Sheffield followed Bobby Abreu's leadoff walk in the third by grounding into a double play.
(10/06/06 4:07am)
WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Thursday endorsed President Bush's plans to prosecute and interrogate terror suspects, all but sealing congressional approval for legislation that Republicans intend to use on the campaign trail to assert their toughness on terrorism.\nThe 65-34 vote means the bill could reach the president's desk by week's end. The House passed nearly identical legislation on Wednesday and was expected to approve the Senate bill on Friday, sending it on to the White House.\nThe bill would create military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects. It also would prohibit blatant abuses of detainees but grant the president flexibility to decide what interrogation techniques are legally permissible.\nThe White House and its supporters have called the measure crucial in the anti-terror fight, but some Democrats said it left the door open to abuse, violating the U.S. Constitution in the name of protecting Americans.\nSen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who helped draft the legislation during negotiations with the White House, said the measure would set up a system for treating detainees that the nation could be proud of. He said the goal "is to render justice to the terrorists, even though they will not render justice to us."\nDemocrats said the Republicans' rush to muscle the measure through Congress was aimed at giving them something to tout during the campaign, in which control of the House and Senate are at stake. Election Day is Nov. 7.\n"There is no question that the rush to pass this bill _ which is the product of secret negotiations with the White House _ is about serving a political agenda," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.\nSenate approval was the latest step in the remarkable journey that Bush has taken in shaping how the United States treats the terrorism suspects it has been holding, some for almost five years.\nThe Supreme Court nullified Bush's initial system for trying detainees in June, and earlier this month a handful of maverick GOP senators embarrassed the president by forcing him to slightly tone down his next proposal. But they struck a deal last week, and the president and congressional Republicans are now claiming the episode as a victory.\nWhile Democrats warned the bill could open the way for abuse, Republicans said defeating the bill would put the country at risk of another terrorist attack.\n"We are not conducting a law enforcement operation against a check-writing scam or trying to foil a bank heist," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "We are at war against extremists who want to kill our citizens."\nApproving the bill before lawmakers leave for the elections has been a top priority for Republicans. GOP leaders fought off attempts by Democrats and a lone Republican to change the bill, ensuring swift passage.\nBy mostly party-line votes, the Senate rejected Democratic efforts to limit the bill to five years, to require frequent reports from the administration on the CIA's interrogations and to add a list of forbidden interrogation techniques.\nThe legislation could let Bush begin prosecuting terrorists connected to the Sept. 11 attacks just as voters head to the polls, and let Republicans use opposition by Democrats as fodder for criticizing them during the campaign.\n"Some want to tie the hands of our terror fighters," said Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., alluding to opponents of the bill. "They want to take away the tools we use to fight terror, to handcuff us, to hamper us in our fight to protect our families."\nDemocrats contended the legislation could set a dangerous precedent that might invite other countries to mistreat captured Americans. Their opposition focused on language barring detainees from going to federal court to protest their detention and treatment -- a right referred to as "habeas corpus."\n"The habeas corpus language in this bill is as legally abusive of rights guaranteed in the Constitution as the actions at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and secret prisons that were physically abusive of detainees," said Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel.
(10/06/06 4:07am)
BOSTON -- Rose Kennedy, for one brief shining moment the most powerful mother in America, went over John F. Kennedy's head in 1962 to write directly to Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev. For that, she got a playful scolding from her son.\nSpunky Kennedy wrote a letter asking the Russian leader to autograph photographs of his meeting with her son, and Khrushchev complied.\n"Would you be sure to let me know in the future any contacts you have with heads of state," John Kennedy wrote to his mother on White House stationery Nov. 3, 1962, just days after the Cuban missile crisis ended. "Requests of this nature are subject to interpretations, and therefore I would like to have you clear them before they are sent."\nUnfazed, Rose Kennedy wrote back, "Dear Jack: I am so glad you warned me about contacting heads of state as I was just about to write to Castro."\nThe exchange was contained in Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy's papers -- 250 boxes of letters, photographs and notes -- that became available to the public for the first time Thursday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston.\nThe collection sheds light on a woman best known as the daughter of a mayor, wife of an ambassador, and mother of sons who became president, attorney general and senator in a family that has known intense grief as well as enormous success.\n"She's a hot ticket," said Megan Desnoyers, archivist for family collections at the library. "I don't think people know much about Rose Kennedy."\nThe eldest daughter of Boston Mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, who also was a congressman, Rose Fitzgerald married Joseph Kennedy. Their 1914 Wedding Log, which is part of the collection, shows that they traveled to Philadelphia on their honeymoon to watch the Boston Braves play in a World Series game at Shibe Park.\nDesnoyers describes Rose Kennedy as a "note taker and a keeper." She lived to be 104, dying in 1995.\nAs a teenager she became comfortable on the campaign trail with her father, said James Wagner, exhibits specialist at the library. That came in handy during her son's 1960 presidential campaign, during which she visited more than a dozen states.\nA six-page draft of a stump speech she gave in Wisconsin in 1960 includes her handwritten revisions.\n"On the dais up until the last minute, she'd be revamping her speech," Wagner said. "She was a very comfortable public speaker. She would write her own speeches and edit them."\nThe papers were donated by the Kennedy family two years ago. Buried somewhere in the 250 boxes, but not yet pulled out for public display, is a letter she wrote to her son Edward in the early '60s, around the time he was either running for Senate or had already been elected. It schools him on the proper pronunciation of "nuclear."\n"She was always correcting their grammar. She definitely was a mother," Desnoyers said.\nShe was a disciplinarian as well.\n"When the children needed to be spanked, I often used a ruler -- and sometimes a coat hanger which was often more convenient because in any room there would be a closet and the hangers in them would be right at hand," she said in a letter dictated in 1972.\n"Of course," it continued, "the children would sometimes anticipate what was coming and stuff their trousers with a pillow so I am not sure the spankings had much lingering effect."\nRose Kennedy's papers include solemn remembrances as well.\n"My reaction to grief is a certain kind of nervous action," she wrote in her diaries shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. "I just keep moving, walking, pulling away at things, praying to myself while I move, and making up my mind that it is not going to get me. I am not going to be licked by tragedy, as life is a challenge and we must carry on and work for the living as well as mourn for the dead"
(10/06/06 4:07am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Corey Simon will miss the rest of the season after being placed on the nonfootball illness-injury list Thursday by the Indianapolis Colts. No details about illness were disclosed.\nSimon, the biggest defensive lineman on the team's roster at 300 pounds, was expected to be a major part of the Colts' run defense this year, but he has not played or practiced since banging his knee in early August.\nSeveral weeks later, he had arthroscopic surgery, but a written statement issued by team president Bill Polian said the injury and illness weren't connected.\n"It is not football related," Polian said. "Fortunately, it is not life-threatening, but it has severely limited Corey's ability to condition, practice or play and has been debilitating for him."\nSimon's agent, Roosevelt Barnes, said he thought it was only the knee injury that kept him out.\n"Corey had surgery on the knee and had been rehabbing, getting ready to play," Barnes said in a telephone interview from his office in Roanoke, Ind., near Fort Wayne. "That's my understanding as to what kept him off the field."\nThere is no prognosis on when Simon might return to playing football. Polian's statement said Simon had been checked at the Mayo Clinic.\n"We reached this decision reluctantly and only after extensive tests were run by our medical staff and many outside medical specialists," Polian said. "Corey has shown some improvement in recent days, but none of the medical personnel we consulted believe he can safely return to football in the near future."\nThe Colts, citing federal privacy laws and a decision to protect Simon's privacy, did not divulge what the illness was.\nSimon was not available in the locker room before practice, and the team did not issue its statement until after practice had ended and coach Tony Dungy had already spoken with reporters.\nBarnes said Simon was disappointed. \n"Eventually he expected to play," Barnes said. "Corey loves to play, as you know."\nFor several weeks, Simon's condition has been a mystery. Dungy and Polian had only said that Simon continued to have tests done but never mentioned the illness.\nSimon signed with the Colts last year after sitting out all of training camp in a contract dispute with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles released Simon Aug. 28, and four days later the Colts signed him to a multiyear contract -- hoping he would be the final piece to their Super Bowl puzzle.\nInstead, Simon struggled with his weight and had to learn a new defense. He finished with 31 tackles, no sacks and forced one fumble last season but did not play at his previous Pro Bowl level.\nThe Colts expected more from Simon this season. When he reported to training camp, Simon said he had lost 20 to 25 pounds and expected to have a better season. On Aug. 4, he banged his knee in camp and did not return.\nThe Colts (4-0) rank near the bottom of the league in run defense, giving up 155 yards a game.
(10/06/06 4:06am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts coach Tony Dungy put his revamped no-huddle plans on hold Thursday.\nBut if there's a repeat of what he saw Sunday against the New York Jets, Dungy says he won't hesitate to employ a new version of the Colts base offense by substituting players and snapping the ball before defenses can make comparable changes.\n"We were going to do it," Dungy said Thursday. "What we were going to do was put 13 on the field and as soon as they substituted, we were going to snap the ball."\nDungy thought he understood the rule regarding no-huddle offenses until he sought an explanation from league officials this week. It was then Dungy found out there had apparently been a change.\nDungy said he was told part of the wording -- giving the defense time to substitute -- had changed in the 1990s but that few knew of it.\nSo Dungy promised changes.\nWhat at first upset Dungy was an argument he had with the referees during the third quarter of Sunday's game. Dungy thought the Colts' defense should be given ample time to substitute after the Jets made a change on offense. Instead, the Colts had to burn a timeout.\nDungy said the Jets did that at least four times, something Dungy said most people around the league considered a violation of the rule.\n"We've run the no-huddle, as you know, for about eight years and we've always asked what we can do so that's what we've done," Dungy said. "Now they tell me Sunday that you can do this, and I was a little bit upset."\nThursday, the league's officiating office notified all 32 teams that the rule's original intent would be applied.\nA weekly officiating video sent out Tuesday also included an explanation from Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating. Pereira said if the offense substituted and did not give the defense a chance to make changes, the play would be voided and the offense would be warned. A second infraction would result in a 15-yard unsmportsmanlike conduct penalty.\n"It's just good to remind ourselves if you substitute, the defense gets a chance to match up," Pereira said at the end of a 1:40 segment.\nDungy hopes that interpretation will be enforced the rest of the season. If not, he'll roll out a new version of the no-huddle offense.\n"The other 32 coaches and everyone else thought it was one way," he said. "No one I know of, outside the officiating office, knew any different. ... That's the spirit of the law."\nThe last thing the Tennessee Titans (0-4) need to worry about is the Colts (4-0) changing receivers near their sideline and having Peyton Manning snap the ball when the defense has more than 11 players on the field.\nThe Titans have already lost seven straight games overall, plus seven consecutive on the road and six straight to the Colts.\nCoach Jeff Fisher's roster is the second-youngest in football, and Tennessee will also be missing starting defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who is starting a five-game suspension for twice kicking Dallas center Andre Gurode in the head last week.\nSome Colts players acknowledged they had not discussed altering the offense this week, nor did they think it was necessary.\n"It would be chaos," said receiver Aaron Moorehead, who might have been in the rotation. "But our offense has worked so well, I don't think there's any real reason to make a change"
(10/06/06 3:44am)
I was ready to make fun of Illinois from the very start of the season once they lost to Rutgers University.\nAs a New Jersey native, I know all about Rutgers football. The Scarlet Knights are more like Scarlet fever in the dirty Jerz. Their losing is a chronic illness, and the only antidote -- wins -- are few and far between.\nIn the first week of the season, the Fightin' Illini inoculated the Scarlet Knights, losing 33-0. I laughed and was tempted to put a "W" next to the IU schedule that read, "Oct. 7 at Illinois." But Rutgers hasn't lost a game since and remains unbeaten at 5-0. The Scarlet Knights have staved off their Scarlet fever, but IU and Illinois remain infected.\nIf the Big Ten were a family, IU and Illinois would be twins with leprosy. No one in our family will talk to us, acknowledge us or even admit that we're related. Quarantined and ostracized, these two football programs might as well be dead this season.\nSo what is important about this unimportant game? Only one thing -- the one thing Illinois has and IU has been without. It is momentum, and Saturday we'll find out just how important it can be. \nLadies and germs, this is it. This is the final game of the football schedule that IU should win. And in IU's true underdog fashion, the Fighting Illini enter the game flaunting full momentum, while the Hoosiers have all their momentum, of course, going against them.\nHow do you define momentum in college football? In an average 12-game schedule, one win or one loss can fuel or fool a football team. \nLast week, IU should have lost to Wisconsin. They did, 52-17.\nLast week, the Illini should have lost to Michigan State. They didn't, winning 23-20.\nThe Fighting Illini won their first Big Ten game in three years. IU lost its seventh consecutive conference contention. Repeat those last three words five times fast. Now, imagine that on a football field. The Hoosiers have stumbled, stammered and stuttered in their recent three-game homestead. They went from undefeated to only defeated, and Saturday they will stumble, stammer and stutter their way into Champaign, Ill., against a Fighting Illini squad that actually has a fight in it.\nAn inoculation, like the one with which Rutgers was treated with, is hard to come by several weeks into the football season. Now, it's about overcoming the disease dubbed losing, overcoming our leprosy.\nThat is the importance of being cured. That is the importance of being a good football team. That is the importance of being earnest about the rest of your season. And if IU can't shake off this sickness Saturday, that'll signify the importance of being momentous.
(10/06/06 3:38am)
A male resident of Forest Quad reported forcible fondling Wednesday night by a male he knew, IU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger said. \nThe man was sleeping in his room when he noticed the door open from the light that came in from the hallway, Minger said, reading from the report. He was groggy but realized someone had entered his room, and when he fully awoke he realized a man he knew was touching his genitals, Minger said. \nThe forcible fondling is classified as a sex crime, Minger said, and the perpetrator could face judicial proceedings with the University.
(10/06/06 2:37am)
Oil prices rise on reported cuts\nWASHINGTON -- Oil prices rose Thursday on expectations that OPEC will soon cut its output and as the United Nations considers possible sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Violence in Nigeria also raised concerns in the market about the stability of world oil supplies.\nU.N. to discuss Iran sanctions\nUNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council will start discussing a resolution next week that would impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, Britain's U.N. ambassador said Thursday. The council's decision to take up a sanctions resolution follows lengthy negotiations between European and Iranian negotiators that failed to convince Tehran to suspend its enrichment program during negotiations on its nuclear program.\nS. Korea, Russia try to stop N. Korea\n SEOUL, South Korea -- The president of South Korea reportedly ordered his government to send a "grave warning" to North Korea about the consequences of a nuclear test, and Russia said it was trying to dissuade Pyongyang from conducting it. Amid the rising tensions, Japan's Kyodo News agency said a U.S. military plane capable of detecting radiation took off from southern Japan, believed to be part of U.S. efforts to monitor for signs of a North Korean test.\nAmish gather, pray at girls' funerals\nGEORGETOWN, Pa. -- A procession of 34 buggies and carriages carried mourners to a hilltop cemetery Thursday as the Amish community buried the first of five girls killed by a gunman inside their tiny one-room schoolhouse. Two state troopers on horseback and a funeral director's black sedan with flashing yellow lights led the cortege, followed by a long horse-drawn buggy carrying the body of 7-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersol.
(10/06/06 2:32am)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, making an election-season visit to Iraq, said Thursday that its leaders have limited time to settle political differences spurring sectarian and insurgent violence.\n"They don't have time for endless debate of these issues," Rice said during a news conference aboard her plane. "They have really got to move forward. That is one of the messages that I'll take, but it will also be a message of support and what can we do to help."\nRice said Iraqis must resolve for themselves complex problems such as the division of oil wealth, possible changes to the national constitution and the desire for greater autonomy in various regions of the country.\n"Our role is to support all the parties and indeed to press all the parties to work toward that resolution quickly because obviously the security situation is not one that can be tolerated, and it is not one that is being helped by political inaction," she said.\nCar bombs, as well as other explosions and shootings, killed 34 people across the country Wednesday. At least 21 U.S. soldiers have been killed since Saturday, a disproportionately high number. Most of the casualties have been in Baghdad amid a massive security sweep by American and Iraqi forces that has been going on since August.\nA military transport plane that flew Rice and her party into Baghdad on Thursday had its landing delayed by 35 minutes by "indirect fire" -- either from mortar rounds or rockets -- in the airport area, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.\nRice met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other officials as the sectarian spiral of revenge killings between Shiites and Sunnis threatened to undermine his government. The tit-for-tat killings have become the deadliest violence in Iraq, with thousands slain in recent months. Shiite and Sunni parties in his coalition accuse each other of backing militias.\n"Obviously the security side and the political side are linked," she told reporters.\nRice described the task as "the ability to get everybody to understand precisely how their interests are going to be represented and how their interests are going to be served in this political process."\nSuch an understanding would draw Iraqis out of the insurgency working against the al-Maliki government and away from the sectarian militias blamed for much of the recent violence, she said.\n"This visit will be an opportunity for consultation and dialogue on a number of issues that are important to both countries," al-Maliki said through an interpreter.\n"This is, of course, a time of challenge for the Iraqi people," Rice said. "They are a committed people, and we know they will overcome these challenges."\nIn addition to meeting al-Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Rice also was to meet with Sunni leaders.\nThe Bush administration has made similar arguments at each stage along Iraq's stop-and-go struggle toward a functioning democracy. Although an elected parliamentary government has replaced Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, it has been unable to counter the rise in violence.\nOn Monday, al-Maliki announced a new security plan to unite the feuding parties, creating local committees in which Sunnis and Shiites will work together to manage efforts to stop the violence on a district-by-district level.\nBut contentious details of the plan still must be worked out -- and Shiite and Sunni parties for a second day on Wednesday put off negotiations.\nAt the same time, Sunni-led insurgents have continued their attacks targeting civilians, Iraqi officials and U.S. and Iraqi troops.\nThe conflict, now in its fourth year, has claimed the lives of more than 2,700 American troops and cost more than $300 billion.\nThere may also be a political cost for Rice's Republican Party. With less than five weeks left before congressional elections, new polls show Americans are increasingly unhappy with the war in Iraq and President Bush's leadership.\nBush asserted last Friday that critics who claim the Iraq war has made America less safe embrace "the enemy's propaganda." He acknowledged setbacks in Afghanistan against a Taliban resurgence but predicted eventual victory.
(10/06/06 2:31am)
WASHINGTON -- The House ethics committee approved four dozen subpoenas for documents and testimony Thursday, launching an investigation of a congressional page sex scandal that has imperiled Republican prospects in next month's elections.\nThe committee's chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said a newly formed subcommittee's investigation "will go wherever our evidence leads us."\nAsked if embattled House speaker Dennis Hastert was among those subpoenaed, Hastings would not comment.\n"We are looking at weeks, not months," said the committee's senior Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman of California.\nA House GOP official said Hastert, fighting to save his job, will take responsibility for the unfolding scandal but insist that he will stay on as leader of House Republicans at a news conference scheduled later in Batavia, Ill.\nHastert will ask former FBI director Louis Freeh to also examine the page system and make recommendations on how to improve the program, which is almost as old as the Congress itself. Freeh headed the FBI from 1993 to 2001 during Bill Clinton's presidency.\nHastert also will also ask the Ethics Committee to consider new rules so that anyone making inappropriate contact with pages be disciplined. In the case of staff, they would be fired; lawmakers would be subject to expulsion, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity so as to not upstage Hastert.\nHastings said the subpoenas cover lawmakers and staff as well as appointed officers of the House.\nHastert praised the ethic committee's actions and said he would instruct his attorney to cooperate with the panel "in getting to the bottom of this."\n"The committee is moving to get control of this situation and find answers to provide all of us peace of mind," he said in a statement.\n"Any person who is found guilty of improper conduct involving sexual contact or communication with a page should immediately resign, be fired or subjected to a vote of expulsion," Hastert said.
(10/06/06 2:28am)
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans, already struggling against negative public perceptions of Congress, now face voters who say new scandals will significantly influence their vote in November.\nWith midterm elections less than five weeks away, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that about half of likely voters say recent disclosures of corruption and scandal in Congress will be very or extremely important when they cast their vote next month.\nThe poll was conducted this week as House Republican leaders came under increasing pressure to explain what they knew of sexually explicit messages from former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida to teenage pages.\nMore troubling for Republicans, the poll found that by a margin of nearly 2-to-1, likely voters say Democrats would be better at combatting political corruption than Republicans.\nThe Foley scandal, fueled by new revelations each day, has put Republican leaders and GOP candidates on the defensive, forcing them into a political detour just as they were preparing their final offensive against Democrats to save control of Congress.\nAt least one House Republican said Wednesday the GOP likely will lose control in November.\nFour-term Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho said he was "not confident" about retaining the majority in the House.\n"It was pretty much a given in conventional wisdom six months ago that the House was gone, we'd lost the House," Simpson said in an interview with The Associated Press. "In September we came back after August recess, conventional wisdom shifted we would lose three, four or five seats but would retain the majority. That was good until last Thursday. From Thursday, it went to fairly confident we were going to keep the majority to a real toss-up."\nThe poll also found that President Bush's efforts to depict the war in Iraq as part of a larger campaign against terrorism and to portray Democrats as weak on national security was not altering the political landscape.\nApproval of Bush's handling of the war in Iraq was at 37 percent among likely voters, down slightly from 41 percent last month. Bush's rating on handling foreign policy and terrorism also fell slightly, from 47 percent last month to 43 percent this month.\nThe poll of 741 likely voters was conducted Monday through Wednesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
(10/06/06 2:23am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- The city has called in the big guns to battle thousands of starlings that flock to Monument Circle and other spots downtown each fall.\nThe city and downtown property owners have tried several methods for years to get rid of the birds, but Julia Watson, spokeswoman for Indianapolis Downtown Inc., said more needs to be done to discourage the birds from roosting.\nTheir droppings cause a mess on trees, statues and sidewalks, so the city has tried electric shocks, poisons, sterilization and even hunting parties.\nOn Wednesday, Judy Loven, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's state wildlife services director, fired a pistol-like device Wednesday to scare the birds away from Monument Circle.\nThe loud boom from the gun echoed off downtown buildings, prompting people in at least one building to call police.\nLoven said the pyrotechnics must be loud to cut through other city noise. They will be fired on a daily basis beginning about an hour before sunset and continuing until dark.\nThe federal workers will provide the equipment and a bird relocation plan, all paid for by owners and managers of downtown property, the city and the state, Watson said. She added similar projects have helped eliminate bird problems in other cities, including Omaha, Neb.\nUSDA experts say one key to driving birds from a roosting area is to constantly mix up the approach. If not, the birds just get used to the man-made nuisances and will stay around.\n"They're telling us that you've got to throw a little variety in there," Watson said.
(10/06/06 2:22am)
I came to Bloomington with great expectations.\nFor some reason these expectations took shape under the assumption that this campus would be the exception to the "apathetic" rule prevalent in guiding our generation.\nIt is hard to say whether it was naive idealism that encouraged this vision of a campus teeming at the brim with political activism, interest and involvement, or if my expectations were a product of how I thought things should be. Either way, I've been left sorely disappointed.\nRecently, while examining the ever popular District 9 congressional race between Mike Sodrel and Baron Hill, I've found myself wondering if this really is so bad. Do we have a reason to care about this particular congressional election? Perhaps these candidates really offer nothing of interest to college students. Maybe the fault lies in their campaigning. Maybe they just aren't giving us enough attention. Or maybe they need to be striving to mobilize the student demographic in a bigger way. Let's blame the politicians for our lack of concern. It sounds easier than getting involved anyway. While these are easy conclusions to which to jump, my idealistic nature persuaded me to endure.\nIf I really want to know what these candidates offer, why don't I just ask them? So I sent Sodrel and Hill identical e-mails explaining my situation, how I've found involvement to be lacking in this race compared to student involvement in District 2, where I'm from. I asked a few basic questions. I asked them if the level of involvement at IU was thought of as pivotal to the district, what their campaigns offer to attract the vote of students and what they thought could be done to make this race more appealing.\nI can't tell you what Sodrel has to say about these queries because I was never contacted by him or a staff member (whether this is a coincidence, the fault of technology or the product of time constraints, I could not say).\nHowever, I can tell you that Melanie Morris, Baron Hill's press secretary, contacted me within hours of sending the e-mail, asking me if the next day would be fine for her to send his response. I can tell you what Hill offers to the college student. I can explain his intent to "fight to make college more affordable." I can even explain how "Mike Sodrel voted against an alternative higher education funding bill that would cut student loan interest rates and reverse cuts to student aid." I am now aware of the plans Hill has that would "encourage voter registration and participation and promote young political activism at IU." I do, after all, feel the student vote is critical especially in a district in which Sodrel claimed his 2004 victory "by less than 1500 votes" (1,365 votes to be exact). So if students are ready to get involved, I know there is at least one candidate who is looking to work for those "disappointed with our leaders in Washington," and I know another "who sides with the Administration over the people of Indiana"
(10/06/06 2:20am)
The third season of the popular TV show "Lost" premiered Wednesday. "Lost" is one of those shows with a fanatical cult following. I just happen to be one of those fanatics, and I know that missing an episode is a tragedy. Unfortunately, it seems like I don't have time for TV anymore. \nSince I've been in college, it's become hard for me to know where I'll be or what I'll be doing at a given time. It's so hard to remember to be in front of a TV and tuned into a certain station at a specific time. Sometimes I'm eating dinner at 8 p.m., sometimes I'm napping, sometimes I'm at the gym, sometimes I'm studying, sometimes I'm playing poker or euchre or hearts -- but rarely am I thinking about rotting my brain in front of a glowing cube. I used to watch so much TV that it was alien to me to miss a show or not to have the morning version of "SportsCenter" memorized. Where does all the time go? Am I really that busy? My hectic schedule makes everything uncertain.\nI anticipated more free time in college. Less time in class, more time to do other stuff, right? Little did I know that walking everywhere takes up a ton of time. I also didn't know that people were so lonely on this campus. I am constantly called simply to walk somewhere with somebody. Am I a bodyguard now? \nDinner is an hour-and-a-half affair. I have so much freaking Spanish homework. I have to write columns and staff editorials. My duties as floor governor eat up all of my Sunday nights. There are so many activities and clubs fighting for my attention via sidewalk chalk that I don't know what to do with myself. Should I join the College Democrats or become a professional Disney character? It's a tough call. Maybe it's just a primary wave of chaos hitting me as a freshman. I can only hope it eventually dies down, but it might be a precursor for what the rest of my life will be like. I don't see my parents sitting down and indulging in cartoons and reality shows every night. Being insanely busy might just be part of growing up.\nSeriously. I can't miss "Lost." As beautiful as my glossy 13.3" MacBook screen is, I can't submit myself to downloading episodes and watching them on my computer later. I have to know what happens as the rest of the world finds out. I had to constantly remind myself all week to watch it. As of writing this Wednesday morning (darn newspaper deadlines), I had yet to see the premiere. And so I can't even guarantee that I got to watch "Lost" the other night. I hope so, but if I missed it, I only ask one thing: If you see me walking around campus this weekend, please, please, don't tell me what happened. God, I need a TiVo.