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(10/06/06 2:19am)
Technology and democracy: For some, it's a marriage blessed in the ninth circle of hell. The majority of voters, however, find themselves happily undisturbed by the way the Internet has infiltrated nearly every aspect of American life. Soon, moderate voices will prevail, and the Internet will be used to ease one of the most aggravating parts of voting: designated precincts.\nConsider a single mother of two: It's 8:30 a.m. on Election Day. After cleaning and dressing her kids, she drops them off at school at 9:00 a.m. From there, it's a mad dash to work because little Suzie didn't want to leave her mother. After pulling a 15-hour shift to make ends meet, she picks her kids up at the neighbor's house, and the neighbor asks, "Who'd you vote for?" \n"Well," the single mother says, "I would have voted for Democrat candidate X because I need a raise in the living wage, but I didn't have time to vote. Woe is me -- if only I could have been registered at a polling station downtown." \nNo longer! Next year Suzie's mom will be able to work and vote. It's the American dream.\nTippecanoe County -- the fourth circle of hell -- will serve as a proving ground for a new system to give voters the choice of which voting center to use instead of being assigned a station based on a voter's residential address. The would-be ballot-caster is registered in a countywide database, which then records where they voted so as to prevent him or her from voting at more than one station. A similar system has been successfully used in Colorado for three years now with impressive results. Not usually recognized as being on the forefront of technological innovation, Tippecanoe County ought to be applauded for this new proposal. Time and again, voters have been forced to abstain from local and national elections because they just can't find the time. It may be a sad state of democracy, but it's the reality nonetheless.\nOther than making voting more convenient for John Everyman, the new proposal has three specific benefits:\nThe first stems from voter fraud. By registering voters and their preferred locale, the state can ensure that voters aren't stuffing the ballot box with multiple votes.\nSecond, it makes the election, on the whole, cheaper. Last year, Tippecanoe County had 69 separate voting facilities, each with its own staff of volunteers and election monitors, plus voting machines. The new system will only require 15 to 30 centers countywide.\nThe third benefit, a consequence of the first improvement, is that with costs being driven down by lower demand for staff and equipment, polling stations can stay open later. As it is, citizens can only cast a ballot between normal business hours.. By extending voting hours until 8 or even 9 p.m., Indiana can serve disenfranchised voters and, in turn, increase turnout.\nThe editorial board has just one question about this new plan: Why Purdue first?
(10/05/06 10:12pm)
The modern feminist movement, which has been gaining exponential momentum since the earliest women's suffrage movements, is all about equality.
(10/05/06 10:12pm)
Many IU students are too devoted to their academics, extra-curricular activities or close-knit college community to study abroad. Thankfully, traveling overseas is not the only way to experience other cultures -- to get the chance to make small talk in Chinese or Hindi at a traditional celebration or ceremony. The Leo R. Dowling International Center serves the diverse needs of international students at IU and offers a lesser-known but invaluable gateway for American students to the international experience.
(10/04/06 4:41am)
NEW YORK -- At a pivotal time in the abortion debate, Ms. magazine is releasing its fall issue next week with a cover story titled "We Had Abortions," accompanied by the names of thousands of women nationwide who signed a petition making that declaration.\nThe publication coincides with what the abortion-rights movement considers a watershed moment for its cause. Abortion access in many states is being curtailed, activists are uncertain about the stance of the U.S. Supreme Court and South Dakotans vote Nov. 7 on a measure that would ban virtually all abortions in their state, even in cases of rape and incest.\n"All this seems very dire," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, which publishes Ms.\n"We have to get away from what the politicians are saying," she said, "and get women's lives back in the picture."\nEven before the issue reaches newsstands Oct. 10, anti-abortion activists have been decrying it. Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, wrote in a commentary that when she saw a Ms. announcement of the project, "the evil practically jumped right off the page."\nMs. Executive Editor Katherine Spillar said more than 5,000 women have signed the petition so far -- heeding its appeal to declare they are unashamed of the choice they made. The magazine itself had room for only 1,016 names, she said Tuesday, but all of them will be viewable online as Ms. encourages other women to continue adding their signatures.\nMs. says it will send the petition to Congress, the White House and state legislators.\nThe signatories include Ms. founder Gloria Steinem, comedian Carol Leifer, and actresses Kathy Najimy and Amy Brenneman, but most are not famous names.\nTyffine Jones, 27, of Jackson, Miss., said she had no hesitation about signing -- although she lives in a state where restrictions on abortion are tough, and all but one abortion clinic has been closed.
(10/04/06 4:19am)
Today
(10/04/06 3:42am)
As the Indiana Memorial Union prepares to open newly renovated facilities -- the Whittenberger Auditorium and a Starbucks on the first floor near the Student Activities Tower -- the Union Board continues its storied history as the governing body of the IMU and one of the strongest student organizations on campus. Sixteen student directors, three nonstudent directors and some 300 student committee members and assistant directors make up the board.\nFor nearly 100 years, Union Board has been at the forefront of a changing campus. In 1932 the Union Board urged then-President William Lowe Bryan to build the IMU. Now, 74 years later, Union Board is still committed to listening to students' voices and providing valuable campus programming. \nWhen administrators give students the ability to take charge and make a difference, the students and the campus benefit. The IMU and the Union Board provide opportunities like these nearly every day. We are challenged all the time. There are lessons learned in our mistakes and pride taken in our successes. \nWe can bring any program the students want; in our office anything is possible. To do this we need you, the students, in our office letting us know what you want to see on campus. Thirteen different committees comprise Union Board: arts, diversity performance, lectures, I.Life, concerts, Live From Bloomington, design, major events and attractions, public relations, debates and issues, colloquium, films and comedy. Each provides something different to our community. Surely one of them interests you. \nWe present roughly 300 programs each year. Events with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Maya Angelou, John Mellencamp, The Roots, Widespread Panic, O.A.R, Incubus, Ben Folds, Dave Chappelle and Adam Pascal; a gay-marriage debate with John Corvino and Glen Stanton; the student arts magazine Canvas; local music supporter Live From Bloomington; the Student Involvement Fair; Miss IU and the Union Board Film Series are just some of these offerings.\nSo get involved. Check out our Web site, ub.indiana.edu, learn a little bit more about us and contact the committee you want to join. As a part of Union Board, you can be as involved as you want to be. Committee members run programs, make presentations in our weekly board meetings and involve themselves in all aspects of campus life. They are the backbone of our organization. \nThe professional experience gained by being a part of Union Board is invaluable. We run our own fully functional advertising and public relations office. We manage one of the largest student organization budgets on campus. We maintain and pass all the policies of the IMU. With the help of our dedicated advising staff, Union Board students continue to program for the IU community, as students working for students. \nI urge all of you, even seniors, to come by the office on the second floor of the Student Activities Tower of the IMU, talk to a director and become a part of our dedicated history -- IU's history.
(10/04/06 3:41am)
I'm in a bit of a pickle, and I think I share my conundrum with many of you readers. The dilemma is this: In a few short months, I will graduate. Then what? Graduate school? A career? The Peace Corps? Teach for America?\nI have spent 16 years going to school. That's nearly 75 percent of my life. I'm not sure I know how to do anything else. So helpful friends try to assist me; they ask: "What is it, exactly, that you want to do with your life?"\n"Oh, I don't know. Maybe take a vow of poverty and live on a hilltop in the Himalayas thinking deep thoughts."\n"Really?"\n"Maybe. I've been to the Himalayas. They're astonishingly beautiful, but that's only one of many possibilities."\nOf course, this option is a little facetious. As beautiful as the Himalayas are, I doubt I could think deep thoughts for more than a few days. And even if I outlasted my deep thoughts, it gets very cold, snowy and lonely in the Himalayas.\nThe truth is that I have a few goals for my life. But most of these goals have almost nothing to do with my future career. The one that most influences my career aspirations is this: I want to have a career that leaves my wife free to raise children (preceding this goal, of course, is the goal to "meet and marry the woman of my dreams").\n"You misogynistic pig! What kind of freedom is raising children?!" At least that's the response I always expect for my honest answer, so I pretend to consider philosophizing on a mountaintop instead.\nIt is abundantly obvious that the essence of love is self-sacrifice. From Hollywood to Holy Scriptures, examples abound. To cite only one, Jesus said that there is no greater love than that of a man who would lay down his life for his friend.\nIn this respect, a woman biologically has an advantage in her capacity to love: Procreating very literally demands a woman to sacrifice her body for her child. Given that every person needs to love and be loved, how could I possibly reciprocate in the face of such love? The most fundamental, tangible way to love such a woman is to provide for her and our child.\nOf course, such an aspiration is not particularly helpful in making career decisions.\nIf feminism has taught us anything, it's that women can do everything men can, and this seems to generally be true. On the other hand, no man can be a mother.\nAny career I take will require me to specialize: I will be Abram the Chemist or Professor Hess or the Philosopher on the Mountain. Conversely, the calling of motherhood requires a woman to be many things: teacher, linguist, counselor, confidant, etc. To paraphrase the philosopher G. K. Chesterton, is it better to be one thing to every person or to be everything to one person?
(10/04/06 3:40am)
Like every good child from a liberal family, I was raised with the belief that Wal-Mart's existence was nothing less than the work of the devil. I learned that it represented capitalism gone awry: It squelched small businesses, had some very questionable labor practices and stole your soul. Besides, that happy face just got annoying after a while.\nThat is why making this confession might very well be one of the hardest things I will ever have to do in my life:\nWal-Mart is no longer on my bad list.\nNow while I wait for the sky to open and the lightning bolt to strike me, let me at least explain my position. \nBelieve it or not, Wal-Mart has gone green. \nThat's right: The world's largest retailer and the inspiration for such Facebook groups as "Wal-Martians Are Taking Over the World" and "Wal-Mart Is Really the Seventh Circle of Hell and I Have Thought About Burning It Down" has taken it upon itself to lead the way in environmental sustainability.\nIt's moments like this that make you question your morals. \n"Our environmental goals at Wal-Mart are simple and straightforward," reads a fact sheet from Wal-Mart's corporate headquarters. "To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain our resources and our environment."\nAlthough Wal-Mart's motives are probably centered on cost-cutting and world domination, I can't dispute the facts:\nDuring the next three to five years, Wal-Mart plans to purchase all its wild-caught fish for the North American market from Marine Stewardship Council-certified fisheries and is hyping new products that are less harmful to the environment. In addition, it promises to double the efficiency of its imperial fleet -- er, uh, delivery trucks -- within 10 years. \nBut that's not all. The supercompany will make changes to its electrical systems to conserve energy and plans to work with suppliers to reduce product packaging and thus eliminate waste. Finally, Wal-Mart is partnering with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to preserve one acre of wildlife habitat for every acre Wal-Mart has developed and will develop for the next 10 years. \nWhy, Wal-Mart, why? Has your creepy happy face developed a green thumb (despite its lack of all other body parts)? Or is it all a ploy to get suckers, like yours truly, to give in to the dark side?\nRegardless of its reasons, once Wal-Mart has gone eco-friendly, I would venture to say Target will do the same, and once Target is in on it, the rest of the world will surely follow suit (because come on, everyone loves Target!). \nSo congratulations, Wal-Mart, on a job well done. Give yourself a pat on the back, and enjoy the realization that the environmentalists of the world support your efforts -- or at least are too confused to denounce you as the spawn of Satan, as is their custom. \nJust don't get used to it.
(10/04/06 3:39am)
Sydney McGee, an award-winning art teacher of 28 years, was recently fired from her job at a Frisco, Texas, elementary school. Did she abuse a student? Sell drugs on the playground? Accept a bribe?\nNope. She took her class on a field trip.\nMcGee's troubles started last April, when a student saw a nude sculpture while McGee and 89 Fisher Elementary fifth graders were visiting the Dallas Museum of Art. The next day, Principal Nancy Lawson scolded McGee, although Lawson urged her to conduct the field trip in the first place. \nThe Frisco School Board decided to release McGee and did not grant her a transfer to another school. The district asserted there are other "performance issues" that led to McGee's discharge, including lesson planning, and the field trip was not the only reason for her dismissal. \nIt would be wise for Lawson and co. to establish what these performance issues were. Until these unidentified faults are revealed, we believe the Frisco School District has made a grave mistake. McGee's firing represents a disrespect toward art, the human body and education itself. \nMcGee spoke with the museum employees in advance for approval of the content. The children's parents as well as the principal approved the museum trip.\nWhat this fifth-grader saw is not pornography; it is art. School administrators and parents would be naive if they thought there are no nude sculptures in a museum. What would have happened if a teacher took a group of students to the zoo and a student saw hippos mating? Should the teacher know not to take his or her students to the zoo during mating season?\nTo attempt to classify any and all works with nude subjects as pornographic would be to dismiss countless masterpieces across thousands of years as being nothing more than base attempts at titillation. Besides obvious targets such as the "Venus de Milo" and Michelangelo's "David," such parochial thinking would claim Da Vinci's investigations of the human body, ground-breaking examinations of human perception such as Marcel DuChamp's dadaist "Nude Descending Staircase," Pablo Picasso's cubist works and Salvador Dali's attempts to capture the imagery of dreams are all mere pornography. It would be tantamount to slamming the door on a key avenue by which humanity has sought to understand itself. \nPerhaps these parents wish to raise children that are intellectually stunted, maladjusted and unprepared for the world around them -- art aside, just imagine what it'll be like when these kids grow up and see nude people in the flesh. But our public schools should not have a role in aiding and abetting them. Art will continue to flourish, and the beauty of the human body will not diminish. As for a small elementary school in Texas, its sadness lies in the deprivation of its students.
(10/04/06 3:23am)
The intramural men's, women's and mixed doubles tournament contenders \nfinished up \ncompetition \nSunday. Here are the results:
(10/04/06 3:16am)
After a grueling 162-game season, the Major League Baseball playoffs are set to commence. They're less exciting than sports enthusiasts would like to admit, but the race to enter October was a long and exhilarating one for the likes of St. Louis, San Diego and Los Angeles. And for the teams that didn't quite get in this year -- like Philadelphia, Florida and the Chicago White Sox -- next year is only a stone's throw away.\nBaseball players are ready to celebrate the most important month of the major league season, and on the brink of Detroit traveling to the Bronx for the beginning of the Divisional Series, there is steroid talk. \nFantastic.\nBut it's not just any steroid talk; it's pretty heavy. Household names such as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Miguel Tejada are now associated with human growth hormones and other anabolic steroids. But is anyone surprised? \nI'm not implicating any of them. In fact, "innocent until proven guilty" needs to apply here. But any fan, federal agent, athlete, owner or any yahoo likes to go on witch hunts, which is what this is to some degree.\nBut I'm going to play blind and naive in this situation for a couple reasons. First, I don't want to believe Clemens shot a needle into his ass or was pill popping. The guy is one of the greatest right-handed pitchers of all-time, and if he is implicated on steroid allegations, it tarnishes every Cy Young Award he has ever won. That makes we fans out to be fools. Fools, I say!\nThe second reason for acting like a stubborn 5-year-old -- and the most important, in my mind -- is jealousy. No, I'm not jealous of athletes taking steroids -- I have natural athleticism and very defined features. I'm just jealous of our parents and grandparents. \nNot because of their nose hairs, certainly not because of the colonoscopies or even the forced diets to get your cholesterol down. I'm jealous of their baseball era. They lived to see baseball at its finest, free of steroid talk and full of mystique. Where is our mystique? Mickey Mantle hit a homerun in 1961 with virtually one arm in the heat of the home run race with Roger Maris. And for us, Sammy Sosa throws out his back by sneezing. \nIt's just not fair. They lived to see Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth's home run record, Roberto Clemente pioneer a Hispanic migration into the big leagues, Bob Gibson throw 13 shutouts in a season, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale dominate hitters as the most feared pitching duo and Willie Mays make ridiculous over-the-shoulder catches in deep center field.\nAnd that's only to name a few. There was still Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Ernie Banks, Warren Spahn and Eddie Matthews. Who do we have? Ken Griffey Jr. could have been up there with the greats had he not injured himself away from the home run record. Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Clemens were once record holders who are now knee-deep in steroid allegations. Sure, we have Derek Jeter diving into the stands and Curt Schilling's bloody sock and Pedro Martinez giving the Stone-Cold Stunner to Don Zimmer. \nBut the steroid era is cheating us out of quality baseball.\nAnd even if fewer players take 'roids than we think, the "possibility" and the witch hunts will always overshadow this era of baseball, just like it did this week. Rather than celebrating a return to October and the World Series chase, we are worrying about whether "The Rocket" took steroids. I guess it's just the era we were born into. And the best way to cope with it is to embrace it.\nI'll have the cliched father-to-son talk 20 years from now: "In my day, baseball players put needles in their asses, had smaller balls and hit home runs farther than your eyes could see. I remember Albert Belle corking his bat and then stalking a woman on his way to jail time. Those were the days!"\nOy vey.\nI guess all I can do as a baseball traditionalist is try to live baseball's glory years through my dad. And hopefully, the likes of Ryan Howard, David Wright, Albert Pujols, Johan Santana and Dontrelle Willis can give me something to tell future generations. \nBecause this Albert Belle thing just won't cut it.
(10/04/06 3:05am)
WHAT: Asian Culture Center presents Moon Festival\nWhere: Kirkwood Observatory\nWhen: 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.\nMore Information: This event celebrates the harvest moon, when the crops have been gathered and hard work in the fields is completed, according to the Asian Culture Center Web site. The Asian Moon Festival holiday is a chance for family and friends to come together and give thanks. Guests are invited to this free event to view the moon, have hot tea and moon cakes and make crafts. The event is sponsored by IU, the Asian Culture Center and the Department of Astronomy.
(10/04/06 3:04am)
DALLAS -- The white, cotton T-shirt with the $15,000 price tag has a Hollywood pedigree, having once hugged the torso of actor James Dean during the filming of "Rebel Without a Cause."\nThat makes it a valuable collectible to some of the quarter million registered customers who could bid on it during online auctions scheduled for Friday and Saturday.\nThe shirt is one of more than 1,800 items up for sale in the latest pop culture offering from Heritage Auction Galleries. The Dallas-based auction house specializes in the trivial -- from Fred Astaire's top hat to Dean's undershirt.\nDean, who grew up near Fairmount, Ind.., is the star attraction at this auction. An Indiana museum featuring all things Dean closed earlier this year, and Heritage secured the rights to unload the memorabilia.\nHeritage's director of music and entertainment memorabilia said the Dean mystique should help the upcoming auction match or exceed its last sale, which totaled nearly $1.6 million. "This auction, I think, trumps all the other ones," Doug Norwine said.\nThe Dean trophies range from the mundane to the macabre. The brown suit he wore in "East of Eden" reveals how slight the actor was -- just 5 feet and 8 inches. It could fetch $18,000. On the morbid side is a belt buckle-sized piece of the silver Porsche Spyder Dean was driving when he collided with a station wagon near rural Cholame, Calif., on Sept. 30, 1955. He died instantly at age 24.\nThe estimated worth of the car fragment is $5,000.
(10/04/06 3:01am)
NEW YORK -- Are models too thin? That's the question of the moment in fashion capitals across the world.\nNew York Fashion Week came and went last month with little talk on the issue, other than a few fashion-show regulars noting that they were seeing even more ribs and vertebra than usual.\nMeanwhile, Madrid banned ultra-thin models from appearing in its Fashion Week. The British culture secretary urged London to do the same, but organizers rejected her plea, saying that designers deserved creative control of their catwalk.\nIt was announced that in Milan, Italy, models will soon have to present a health certificate to appear on the runway, just like athletes need to do before playing competitive sports.\nCatwalkers -- now mostly an anonymous group of models since big names like Daria Werbowy, Carmen Kass and Karolina Kurkova seem to eschew the runway in favor of ad work -- are the primary target.\n"The place you tend to see very thin is the runway, and models on the runway tend to reflect trends in fashion design," says Katie Ford, CEO of Ford Models. After a parade of "womanly" models in the 1980s, "The counter-fashion trend in the '90s was grunge. That was a look that appealed to very young people. It was almost the opposite of womanly. The models were androgynous, very thin -- heroin chic, which ended pretty quickly because people rebelled against it -- but on the runway, some of that stayed on."\nWhile the debate over runway models has created lots of headline, runway modeling is only a small chunk of the business. Catalogs, advertising and magazine editorial pages spend far more money on models -- and they also are seen by a much bigger audience.\nThose models are still slimmer than most American women, but they are more likely to be fit.\nWitness some of the nation's most popular models, including Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum and Gisele Bundchen. They're all pop culture queens, and no one could say they look hanger thin, even though they're certainly slim and trim. "Womanly" superstars of the '80s and '90s -- Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington -- are also still going strong.
(10/04/06 2:51am)
BRINDISI, Italy -- Two Turks protesting Pope Benedict XVI's planned trip to Turkey next month hijacked a Turkish Airlines jet carrying 113 people from Albania to Istanbul on Tuesday, and it landed safely in this southern Italian coastal city, officials said.\nThe hijackers, who were unarmed, told authorities they were prepared to surrender, said Candan Karlitekin, chairman of Turkish Airlines' board of directors. He said no one aboard the Boeing 737-400 was injured.\nIstanbul Deputy Gov. Vedat Muftuoglu also said the hijackers had agreed to give themselves up.\nLights were out on the tarmac, and a fire truck carrying Brindisi airport's chief of security had pulled up near the jet.\nAlbanian lawmaker Sadri Abazi, who was aboard the plane, told News24 in Tirana, Albania in a brief cell phone call that his fellow passengers were shaken but safe.\n"Of course there is panic around, people are afraid, no information at all, but no one has been injured. They (the hijackers) are both at the pilots' cabin, and only one of them came out briefly," Abazi told the TV station.\nAsked about the hijacking, a Vatican official said he expected no changes in Benedict's plans for the visit. The official, who asked that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the issue, said an official Vatican announcement that the trip would take place Nov. 28-Dec. 1 would be made soon.\nBenedict angered the Muslim world in a speech in Germany on Sept. 12, when he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."\nBenedict has expressed regret for offending Muslims by his remarks and said they did not reflect his personal views, but he has not offered a complete apology as some had sought.\nTurkish Airlines officials had spoken to Capt. Mursel Gokalp and co-pilot Yavuz Yilmaz, who told them the hijackers were not armed and that the passengers were not in any danger, said Ali Genc, a spokesman for the carrier.\nMuftuoglu said the hijackers stormed the cockpit about 15-20 minutes after takeoff from the Albanian capital of Tirana.\n"They told the pilots that they wanted to carry out an act to protest the pope and that they wanted the plane diverted to Rome and that they (the pilots) should not resist," he told Turkey's CNN-Turk television.\nKarlitekin said the hijackers declared that they would surrender "the moment they hijacked the plane," which carried 107 passengers and a crew of six. Most of the passengers were Albanians, Genc said.\nThe Turkish captain issued an alert that his plane was hijacked, and he was contacted by Greek air traffic controllers at 5:55 p.m. (10:55 a.m. EDT), 15 miles north of Thessaloniki, Greece, said Dimitris Stavropoulos, spokesman for Greece's Civil Aviation Authority.\nThe captain told the Greek controllers: "I have two undesirable people who want to go to Italy to see the pope and give him a message," according to Stavropoulos.\nThe plane later contacted Italian air traffic controllers and asked to land in Brindisi, and it was escorted to the ground by two Italian military jets, according to Nicoletta Tomiselli, a spokeswoman for the Italian air traffic agency ENAV.\nAssociated Press writers Suzan Fraser and Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara, Turkey, Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, and Maria Sanminiatelli in Rome contributed to this story.
(10/04/06 2:50am)
North Korea says it will stage nuke test\nSEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea announced Tuesday that it will conduct a nuclear test in the face of what it claimed was an "extreme threat of a nuclear war" by the United States. The declaration provoked alarm and condemnation from leaders around the world. The United States warned a North Korean nuclear test "would pose an unacceptable threat to peace and stability," and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations raised the issue during a Security Council meeting. The council agreed to hold further discussions Wednesday after consulting capitals.
(10/04/06 2:47am)
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The lone survivor of the airliner crash at Lexington's airport that killed 49 people was released from a hospital Tuesday to begin several weeks of rehabilitation.\nJames Polehinke, co-pilot of Comair Flight 5191, had been at the University of Kentucky Hospital since the Aug. 27 crash at Blue Grass Airport.\nUniversity spokesman Jay Blanton said the family asked that he not release Polehinke's condition or the location of his rehabilitation.\nEarlier Tuesday, in a phone interview with The Associated Press, Polehinke's mother, Honey Jackson, said she thought it was too soon for him to be released but that he was eager to leave the hospital.\n"I want my son to walk out of Kentucky," Jackson said. "I don't want him in a wheelchair. Got to stay strong. Got to believe in miracles."\nPolehinke was pulled from the wreckage, but all 49 others aboard the regional airliner died. He has undergone surgeries to amputate his left leg, stabilize his spine and repair other injuries. Relatives have said he doesn't remember the crash, though he has been told what happened.\n"My son is not ready to speak with anybody," Jackson said. "He's been through hell. He's still going through hell."\nAccording to federal investigators, the flight's captain, Jeffrey Clay, taxied onto a runway that was too short before Polehinke attempted to get the plane airborne.
(10/04/06 2:46am)
STOCKTON, Calif. -- President George W. Bush said Tuesday he was "shocked and dismayed" at disgraced lawmaker Mark Foley's behavior and supports House Speaker Dennis Hastert's call for a full investigation.\n"This investigation should be thorough, and any violation of the law should be prosecuted," Bush said while campaigning for Republican lawmakers in California.\nSome, including a Washington newspaper, have called for Hastert to resign, but Bush expressed confidence in the speaker's ability to resolve the matter, calling him a "father, teacher, coach."\nBush spoke after Hastert brushed aside any suggestion of resignation Tuesday as House Republican leaders struggled to contain the fallout from an election-year scandal involving sexually explicit messages from the disgraced former Florida Republican lawmaker to underage male pages.\n"I know that he wants all the facts to come out, and he wants to ensure that these children up there on Capitol Hill are protected," the president said. "I'm confident he will provide whatever leadership he can to law enforcement in this investigation."\n"I was disgusted by the revelations and disappointed that he (Foley) would violate the trust of the citizens who placed him in office," Bush said. "Families have every right to expect that when they send their children to be a congressional page in Washington that those children will be safe."\nThe president spoke in a courtyard of the George W. Bush Elementary School. Inside, the president visited young children practicing their reading in the school library named after his wife, Laura. The school has 858 students in grades kindergarten through seventh grade.\nBush's comments on the Foley scandal came as he also addressed a string of deadly attacks in schools in the past week. He said Americans have a responsibility to protect their children.\n"Our school children should never fear their safety when they enter into a classroom," the president said.\n"Laura and I were saddened and deeply concerned, like a lot of citizens around the country, about the school shootings that took place in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Wisconsin. We grieve with the parents, and we share the concerns of those who worry about safety in schools," Bush said.\nOn Monday night, the White House announced a conference of education and law enforcement experts on how the federal government might help communities prevent violence and deal with its aftermath. No date has been set, and it was unclear whether Bush would attend.
(10/04/06 2:36am)
ANDERSON -- A woman seriously injured when she was thrown from a motorcycle that struck a pothole is suing Madison County officials for allegedly neglecting their roads.\nAmanda Abbott's lawsuit seeks damages for her injuries and claims the county has been negligent and failed to maintain and mark its roads, leaving them strewn with potholes.\nHer suit claims that on Sept. 4, 2005, she suffered serious head injuries when she was thrown from the back of a motorcycle when its driver, Timothy L. Barnhill, swerved to avoid a pothole, only to strike a second pothole.\nAbbott was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where she spent two weeks being treated for serious injuries to her brain, neck, back, arms, shoulders, elbows and legs, her lawsuit states. Barnhill was not hurt as seriously.\nAbbott's attorney, John E. Eisele, said his client incurred medical bills of more than $60,000. She is able to function but has ongoing medical issues, he said. Abbott was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, he said.\n"This road had chuck holes you wouldn't believe. A day or two later, the county came out and filled the holes," he said.\nAbbot's lawsuit, filed Aug. 31 in Madison Superior Court, names Madison County, the Madison County Highway Department and the Madison County Board of Commissioners.\nIt claims a loss of wages, stating that Abbott missed work during her medical treatment and will miss more work in the future.\nJames Stephenson, an Indianapolis attorney who represents Madison County in insurance cases, said Tuesday he cannot comment on the lawsuit until he reviews the information in the case.\nEisele said it could take months for discovery evidence to be collected and that Stephenson had filed for a 30-day extension of the case.\nCounty attorney Jim Wilson said he has seen the case and believes it will be difficult for Abbott to prove the condition of the county's road caused the accident.\n"It sounds like the pothole isn't what caused the damage. I think the swerving actually caused the damage. It will be difficult to prove," Wilson said.
(10/02/06 12:37pm)
Insulting, maligning, disparaging, sullying. These are the words we use to classify our descriptions of certain other women. These tramps - er, women - are usually dating our friends' ex-boyfriends. It's like that scene from "Sex and the City" when Samantha, one of Carrie's best friends, announces that Natasha is a stupid name. Natasha is Carrie's ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend. Of course she has a stupid name. She has to. Do you understand?