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(10/02/06 4:20am)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Justin Miller's 103-yard kickoff return was the quick score the New York Jets needed. The only problem: It left Peyton Manning with one last chance and plenty of time.\nAfter Miller's dash gave New York the lead with 2:20 left, Manning led Indianapolis on the type of efficient drive that has defined his career -- capping it with a 1-yard run that gave the Colts a wild 31-28 victory Sunday.\nManning was 6-of-8 for 60 yards on the drive, including a 19-yard pass to Marvin Harrison and a 15-yarder to Reggie Wayne that put the ball at the 1. Running the no-huddle offense, Manning then took the ball and pushed himself into the end zone.\nWith eight seconds left, the Jets got off one last, desperate circus play, a never-ending lateral-fest that almost worked. Chad Pennington threw a short pass to Leon Washington, who ran for an 8-yard gain and lateraled the ball to Brad Smith.\nThat was just the beginning.\nA series of four laterals -- including one back to Pennington, who then threw a crosswise pass to Justin McCareins to keep the chaos rolling -- and two fumbles recovered by the Jets followed, with center Nick Mangold finally losing the ball at the Colts 35 and Jason David recovering for Indianapolis (4-0) to end the game.\nMiller's kickoff return from the end zone came moments after he was called for a costly pass interference penalty that helped set up the Colts' go-ahead touchdown by Bryan Fletcher with 2:34 left.\nKicker Martin Gramatica had a chance to tackle him at about the Colts 40, but Miller shook off the attempt and sped into the end zone for the longest kickoff return in Jets history. Miller's second return for a touchdown had the Giants Stadium crowd in a frenzy and the Jets (2-2) sensing a victory.\nBut with Manning on the other side, they should've known better.\nManning finished 21-of-30 for 217 yards and a touchdown. With the scoring pass to Fletcher, he became the second-fastest quarterback to throw 250 touchdown passes in his career, doing it in 132 games; only Dan Marino (128) accomplished it faster.
(10/02/06 4:17am)
In its first test of the season, the No. 26 IU women's cross country team finished seventh at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore., Friday.\nThe Hoosiers finished with 170 points and were led by an 11th-place finish from senior Jessica Gall, who ran the 6K in 20:55. Senior Lindsay Hattendorf (22nd place, 21:19), sophomores Wendi Robinson (28th place, 21:30), Stephanie Greer (54th place, 22:22) and Kristina Trcka (62nd place, 22:29) rounded out the top five for the Hoosiers.\nAfter winning the Indiana Intercollegiates, the Hoosiers entered the Bill Dellinger Invitational looking to compete against some of the nation's top teams. Three of the top 10 teams in the coach's poll competed in the meet. No. 8 Arkansas captured the title, No. 5 Brigham Young University finished second with 55 points and unranked Wake Forest (117 points) took third overall.\nWith this week off, the Hoosiers will compete next at the Pre-NCAA meet Oct. 14.
(10/02/06 4:11am)
A first win is always sweet.\nFreshman Jordan Kyle of the IU men's cross country team brought the Hoosiers just that, recording his first ever first-place finish with a time of 24:45 at the George Mason Invitational Saturday in Manassas, Va. It was also a career best for the freshman on an 8K course.\nThe team finished with 23 points, and three of its runners placed in the top five. Junior Brennan Plotner finished third overall, followed by sophomore Mark Fruin, who finished fourth. Plotner also recorded a career-best after finishing at 25:08, battling Fruin whose time was 25:09.\n"The guys did a good job today," IU coach Robert Chapman said in a statement. "It was the first time we ran our full team together, and now we have an idea of where we're at and where we need to go."\nSophomore Timothy McLeod (sixth place, 25:15) and senior Marcus Aguilar (ninth place, 25:22) rounded out the top five finishers for the Hoosiers during the race.\nThe University of Charlotte (59 points) and host George Mason University (95 points) followed the Hoosiers in second and third place respectively.\nAfter taking the next week off, the Hoosiers will compete at the Pre-NCAA meet Oct. 14 in Terre Haute.
(10/02/06 4:09am)
The good news: IU scored 17 unanswered points against Wisconsin on Saturday. \nThe bad news: Wisconsin was winning the game 52-0 at the time.\nSorry, IU, that joke was too easy. And this game, like the last, was a joke. We were playing checkers on Wisconsin's chessboard. \nThe debacle was aired nationally on ESPN2. Not only did the state of Indiana see Saturday's game, but households across the continental United States were exposed to IU football.\nI should know. I've got the text messages to prove it. \n"IU is on TV in New Jersey! How exciting!" -- my mother at kickoff.\n"Did you know that your school has a football team?" -- my grandfather (14-0, Wisconsin).\nThat text message was followed shortly by:\n"Apparently we don't have a football team" -- my friend Alex (21-0).\n"Uncle Jesse is kicking our ass right now" -- my roommate Louie (21-0).\nYes, he is, Louie. Wisconsin quarterback John "Stamos" Stocco threw for 304 yards and three touchdowns against an outcoached and outplayed IU defense. \n"Why is everyone in the crowd wearing the color gray on TV?" -- my mother (21-0). \nThey're not, Mom. That's the color of the granite bleachers.\n"Someone should tell IU that the game has started" -- my brother Ryan (28-0).\nAt this point in the game, Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback "Big Ben" Roethlisberger -- a former player of IU coach Terry Hoeppner -- is being interviewed by a reporter on the sidelines.\n"Big Ben is at the game! Get me an autograph!" -- my sister (28-0).\nNo. But I will buy him a shot at Kilroy's later. Oh yes, I will.\n"Do you think this game reminds Big Ben of a motorcycle accident?" -- my brother Ryan (28-0).\nThat was my favorite text message of the game. Big Ben still hasn't recovered from that catastrophe; will the Hoosiers recover from theirs?\n"So ... we really are this bad" -- my roommate Chris (35-0).\n"Hey! Basketball tickets are on sale right now. Let's go!" -- my roommate Louie (42-0).\nYep, when the score is 42-0, it's about that time to remind students that Hoosier Hysteria is a week from Friday.\n"I'm gonna fart on your face when you get home" -- my roommate Brad (45-0).\nWow. These are my roommates.\n"I'm not near a TV. What's the score?" -- my dad (52-0).\nOh, it's only 52-0, Dad. It's one of those "I wish I had stayed in bed" games.\n"Indiana, Oh Indiana ... Indiana, you're awful, too!" -- my friend Elliot, who goes to Illinois (52-0).\nA fun play on words using the Indiana fight song. Nice job, Elliot.\n"Someone should tell Wisconsin that they won the game two hours ago" -- my roommate Chris (52-0). \n"Hey! You guys scored a field goal!" -- my mom (52-3).\nA field goal! Too bad it was four quarters too late.\n"Be careful what you write, honey. You need your legs" -- my mom (52-17, final).\nI didn't have to say it, Mom. My family and friends said it for me.
(10/02/06 2:43am)
CHICAGO -- Wendy Ellis Somes is explaining to a ballerina portraying the Summer Fairy in "Cinderella" how to capture the languid essence of her solo: Think of how caramel would react on a steamy Chicago day, she suggests.\nDuring her career with Britain's Royal Ballet, Somes danced everything from the tiny part of a page to the title role of the girl who loses her slipper in Frederick Ashton's lavish full-length version of the fairy tale, set to a score by Sergei Prokofiev.\nNow Somes is in Chicago coaching the Joffrey Ballet, which will become the first American company to perform Ashton's work when "Cinderella" opens Wednesday at the Auditorium Theater. It's the company's biggest production ever, with a cast of 50 dancers plus 25 children and a budget of more than $1.5 million.\n"They're very excited because it's a very challenging ballet for them ... and I mean that from Cinderella to the smallest role in the corps de ballet," Somes said in a recent interview following her rehearsal with four dancers, each playing a different seasonal fairy.\n"It's all hard -- really hard dancing. And that is quite unusual in big ballets today. There is a lot of sort of milling around, and not exactly doing steps."\nAshton, a contemporary of George Balanchine, is considered one of the great classical choreographers of the 20th century, known for his lyricism and musicalilty. His other landmark ballets include "The Dream," "La Fille mal Garde" and "Birthday Offering."\nAshton died in 1988, and he left his ballets to friends, dancers and relatives. He willed the rights to "Cinderella" to Michael Somes, a frequent partner of Margot Fonteyn who created the role of the Prince when The Royal Ballet debuted "Cinderella" in 1948. When Somes died, he left the ballet to his wife, Wendy Ellis Somes.\nSomes said other companies in the United States have expressed interest in performing Ashton's "Cinderella." Robert Joffrey even hoped to make it happen for his namesake company before his death in 1988.\nBut it's a major undertaking, requiring a huge cast and glorious costumes and sets. Somes decided to grant the rights to the Joffrey after coming from England two years ago to see the company perform. She appreciated the quality of the company's dancers and productions and how it felt like a family.\n"I felt comfortable. I felt, yes, this is the right time to do it," she said. "It just felt right. A gut feeling."\nAnd back at the Joffery, they felt a production of Ashton's "Cinderella" was perfect for its two-season celebration of the 50th anniversary of the company's founding by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino.\nNot only had Robert Joffrey always hoped to have his company perform the ballet, the Joffrey was offered the chance to buy "Cinderella" sets and costumes from the Dutch National Ballet -- saving it the expense and time of creating them from scratch.\nAnd as a special treat, the Joffrey has arranged for two of the company's big stars from the 1970s -- Christian Holder and Gary Chryst -- to return and dance the roles of the Ugly Stepsisters, portrayed in Ashton's version by men in 2 1/2-inch high heels, towering wigs, heavy makeup and outlandish dresses. (Ashton played the younger stepsister himself.)\nHolder and Chryst said Joffrey actually mentioned to them once in the 1970s that he could envision them as the stepsisters. It was unusual, they said, because he didn't usually talk to dancers about what he had in mind for them.\nDecades later, they were both in Chicago to see a Joffrey performance when they heard about the company's interest in "Cinderella." When they mentioned what Robert Joffrey had told them decades ago, the company's management knew they'd found their stepsisters.
(10/02/06 2:42am)
MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio -- It was recently Fashion Week in New York City, with plenty of lights, cameras and action on the runways.\nIn contrast -- make that a deep, deep contrast -- talk of women's clothes in Geauga County's Amish community reaches a peak only when a lot of weddings are planned.\nAnd there just happen to be a lot of weddings planned, says Emma Miller, owner of the gas-lighted Amish Home Craft Shop in Middlefield Township.\n"It slowed down for a while this summer when the weather was really hot, but it's picked back up again," Miller says, the thin white straps of her prayer cap dangling as she moves.\nThat, in the world of Amish clothing, might be as close to a trend as it gets.\nOr is it?\nSeveral years ago, when she reopened her parents' quilt and woodcraft shop in a white barn building on Kinsman Road -- one of the main routes through the world's fourth-largest Amish community -- Miller added a side room for clothing. She hung new Amish pants, shirts and jackets for men and boys along one wall, and jackets, bonnets and capes for women and girls along the other.\nLocal Amish women made the clothing at home and Miller sold the goods on consignment. A store or two like hers can be found in most large Amish communities.\nMore recently, Miller did what few, if any, of those other stores did: She added a small supply of Amish dresses.\nWhat makes this interesting is that Amish women ordinarily do not buy their dresses off the rack. They can't be mass-produced because every detail of a dress -- from sleeve length to the use of elastic on a waistband -- is sanctioned by the church officials in each community.\nAlso, dresses are one of the easiest clothing items to make at home and by doing so, a woman can have more control of the color, fabric and fit.\nSomeone like Miller doesn't need to make dozens of outfits for herself.\nHer personal wardrobe might include a half-dozen dresses for Sunday services and weddings, plus another half-dozen for everyday wear. What starts out in the first category eventually makes its way into the second. Brides making their own wedding dresses (or who have mothers who will sew for them), know it is just a newer version of the others. She will wear it again. And again.\nMiller added her dress inventory in part because she knows women are busier than ever with kids and canning, and that an increasing number of Amish women have gone to work in their family businesses. That means they have less time to sew.\nSusan Spector offers the complementary view that some Amish women have taken the opportunity to turn sewing into an enterprise. Spector, the owner of Spector's department store in Middlefield -- with other Ohio locations in Berlin, Mount Eaton, Sugarcreek and in Shipshewana, Ind. -- runs a family business that has sold fabric to the Amish since 1937.\nShe says sewing has become an option as the Amish face a scarcity of land and turn to non-farming work.\n"It's great for someone who has the ability and enjoys it," she says.\nSpector is already thinking about adding Amish clothing to her stores.\n"The trend is coming," she says, although she isn't sure how big a trend it will be. In the Amish community, she adds, "there are people ahead of the curve, people with the curve, and people who never were on the curve."\nBack at Miller's store, 39-year-old Cindy Shrock sweeps in for some buying while her hired van driver idles his engine outside. She needs a new quilt-lined black winter cape and black bonnet for her growing teenage daughter. Shrock wears a solid-brown rayon dress with the slightest hint of texture. The fabric catches the light in a liquid-like way. The dress fits her impeccably.\nDoes she make her own clothing?\n"I try to be self-sufficient," she says, nodding.
(10/02/06 2:40am)
Brrrr. This weekend was cold. So cold, in fact, that I saw girls wearing warm Ugg boots with their miniskirts and belted tanks at every party I went to.\nOh, nevermind, they did that in July. Regardless, it's THO weather. And you know what that means: It's time to break out the padded bras and North Face jackets. \nAccording to The North Face Web site, the brand got its name because "the north face of a mountain is generally the coldest, iciest and most formidable route to climb." It goes on to say the founders thought the name reflected their "mission and dedication to the extreme."\nAs I trek through the Arboretum during the peak of Indiana's notoriously icy autumn weather, my fingers purple from frostbite and my hair quickly evolving into brownish-red icicles, I begin easing in and out of consciousness. My fellow students' corpses are scattered in every direction -- the trek to Briscoe was just too far. I, however, am headed to the health center, where I will get most of my more useless appendages sliced off with a hacksaw and pick up free condoms on the third floor. I will then be able to continue my expedition and, I hope, reach my final destination: the IU Bookstore -- I'm out of Burt's Bees, and my lips are crazy-chapped.\nGood thing I'm wearing a North Face fleece, otherwise the walk to class would be a deathtrap. \n It makes sense, given that IU is the coldest, iciest and most formidable campus on earth.\nWhat? All right, let's face it: I hate The North Face. I hate it more than I hate girls whose names are one letter off from normal names, like "Kirsten" or "Lara." (Why do that to your child? You know she's going to spend 75 percent of her lifetime correcting substitute teachers.) \nBut it's not that I hate The North Face entirely. I just hate that one freakin' coat. You know the one: You've seen it on 27,000 of your closest friends. It's fleece (If cotton is the official "fabric of our lives," then fleece is the official fabric of tools). It's typically gray or black, but some of the more adventurous ladies out there dare to wear it in pink or baby blue. It's kind of like when parents dress up their ugly, androgynous babies in obviously gendered clothes to avoid that awkward "What's this cute little man's name?" "Uhh, it's Jill ..." moment. Ma'am, your baby girl is still fugly in that frilly dress. Ladies, that coat is still ugly despite the advanced technologies of pastel-colored fleece.\nI was thinking that this ugly black/gray/pink/blue compost heap of fleece was all that the company sold. But after browsing the Web site, I now know that The North Face manufactures 112 different coats for men and 110 for women. That's a veritable smorgasbord of warmth. And, get this: They come in other styles and colors. Someone should really spread the word about this. Who wants to start the "For every 1,000 people who buy a nonfleece North Face jacket, I will donate one nickel to Darfur" group on Facebook?\nThere are a lot of coats out there. So why the obsession with this particular brand? Is it because of the one-of-a-kind logo? Or your devotion to extreme sports (like using the elliptical at the SRSC or lifting a 250-pound fatty for a keg stand)? Or because you like wearing the same coat as your little brother, grandmother, barber, mail carrier, hamster and fun-loving youth pastor? \nI know it's warm and all. (I hear the lining's made of kittens and toaster ovens.) But aren't all coats warm? Unless your coat has spaghetti straps and a v-neck, I'm guessing it's going to keep out the cold. Don't blame poor, innocent warmth on your unsightly, conformist coat. \nSo unless I see you scaling the east wall of Ballantine Hall or spelunking in the basement of Memorial Hall, you need to (North) face the facts. Your coat might keep you warm, but you sure don't look hot.
(10/02/06 2:39am)
NEW YORK -- America might be falling for America Ferrera, the star of ABC's "Ugly Betty," an underdog that has become the most-watched new series of the fall television season so far.\nThe comedy, which stars Ferrera as a plain Queens girl who pushed her way into the fashion world, was seen by 16.1 million people in its ABC debut Thursday night, according to Nielsen Media Research.\nAll but about a half-dozen of the 24 new series the broadcast networks are introducing this fall have made it onto the air already, and so far "Ugly Betty" stands at No. 1.\nThe show did it without the advantage of a strong program airing ahead of it. Shows like "Shark" and "Brothers & Sisters" that have had strong debuts were helped because they followed "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "Desperate Housewives." "Ugly Betty" opened the night at 8 p.m. ET.\nIt was ABC's largest audience in the time period with a scripted show since "Matlock" in 1995, according to Nielsen Media Research.\nABC, owned by The Walt Disney Co., had some inkling that "Ugly Betty," an American version of a popular Spanish-language telenovela, was attracting attention even before the first episode aired. It had originally scheduled the show for Friday nights -- one of the slowest nights on TV -- before switching it to Thursday over the summer.\nWith "Grey's Anatomy" seen by 23.3 million at 9 p.m., ABC is suddenly a player on a night considered television's most valuable because advertisers are eager to be seen there, a night ABC has been off the ratings radar for years.\nCBS, which has dominated Thursday the past few years, had 23.5 million viewers for "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and 16.6 million viewers for "Survivor: Cook Island."\nThe "Survivor" episode, only its third of the season, was notable for breaking up the segregated tribes that caused some hubbub weeks ago.\nThis season began with separate "tribes" of black, white, Asian and Latinos on "Survivor." The segregation drew criticism, with some New York City Council members accusing CBS Corp. of promoting divisiveness.\nBut Thursday the reality show producers merged those four tribes into two multi-race gangs. It wasn't in response to any of the criticism; the "Survivor" episodes were filmed before CBS had even announced the cast members.\nThe show had begun the season missing a few advertisers that it had in past seasons, including General Motors, although the advertisers denied that they left because of the segregation experiment.
(10/02/06 2:31am)
WASHINGTON -- Democrats demanded Sunday that House Republicans keep them in the loop and thoroughly investigate former Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a 16-year-old boy. The White House went further, suggesting the need for a criminal probe.\n"This should be investigated objectively. I think the Democratic leadership should have been told 10 months ago," said Rep. Jane Harman of California, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "I gather that basically nothing was done except that Foley was warned."\nFoley, R-Fla., quit Congress on Friday after the disclosure of the e-mails he sent to a former congressional page in the House, and the sexually suggestive instant messages that the five-term congressman from West Palm Beach sent to other high school pages.\nHouse Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., maintained at first that he had learned only last week about the e-mails. Hastert acknowledged over the weekend that his aides had, in fact, referred the matter to the House clerk and to the congressman who was chairman of the board that oversees the page program.\nHastert's office said, however, it had not known the e-mails were anything more than "over-friendly."\nMajority Republicans engineered a House vote Friday that refers the Foley matter to the House ethics committee but lets that panel decide whether there should even be an investigation.\nRep. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, pressed the committee Sunday to begin investigating and make a preliminary report within 10 days.\n"The children, their parents, the public and our colleagues must be assured that such abhorrent behavior is not tolerated and will never happen again," she wrote the committee's leaders.\nPelosi, D-Calif., demanded to know who knew of the messages, whether Foley had other contacts with pages and when the Republican leadership was notified of Foley's conduct.\nWhite House counselor Dan Bartlett said the allegations against Foley were shocking and that President George W. Bush had not learned of the e-mails before the news broke.\nBartlett said House leaders were pursuing the matter aggressively enough that an independent outside investigation was not warranted.\n"There is going to be, I'm sure, a criminal investigation into the particulars of this case," Bartlett said. "We need to make sure that the page system is one in which children come up here and can work and make sure that they are protected."\n"If you take the allegations at face value, I think there'd have to be at least a preliminary look to see if there's any breaking of criminal law," Bartlett added. "I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know all the particulars of the case, but I think this is going to get a lot of scrutiny, and it should get a lot of scrutiny."\nCongressional pages have been a staple of Washington politics since the 1820s. Each year, high school students who have competed for the honor don navy jackets and white shirts and serve as temporary gofers in the House and Senate. The program, involving classes and dormitory life, nearly ended in the early 1980s, due to alleged sexual misconduct and drug use.\nRepublican leaders say it is their duty to ensure House pages' safety and are now creating a toll-free hotline for pages and their families to call to confidentially report any incidents. They also will consider adopting new rules on communications between lawmakers and pages.\nRep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said it was outrageous the House GOP leadership had not acted sooner. \n"It really makes me nervous that they might have tried to cover this up," he said.\nMurtha said the House ethics committee should conclude its work on the Foley case before the November elections so that voters can "hold people accountable." Doing so, he said, might help restore public confidence, since already "the reputation of Congress under the Republican leadership is lower than used car salesmen."\nRep. Thomas Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, said Saturday he told Hastert months ago about concerns Foley sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy. Reynolds, R-N.Y., is under attack from Democrats who say he did too little to protect the boy.\nFoley, who is 52 and single, was co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus. In a statement Friday, the lawmaker said, "I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent."\nThe boy who received the e-mails was 16 in the summer of 2005 when he was a House page. After his return home to Louisiana, Foley e-mailed him and asked for a picture. That request was "sick" and "freaked me out," the boy said in an e-mail to a colleague in the office of Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who had sponsored the boy in the House.
(10/02/06 2:30am)
DANANG, Vietnam -- Tropical storm Xangsane barreled across central Vietnam on Sunday, leaving at least six people dead, hundreds injured and tens of thousands of homes damaged, officials said.\nHeavy rains are expected to continue for several days and could unleash floods and landslides across the region, national weather center director Bui Minh Tang said.\nThe storm, which killed at least 76 people and left about 69 missing in the Philippines last week, hit Vietnam's coastal city of Danang on Sunday morning and caused widespread blackouts, officials said.\nXangsane, downgraded from a typhoon just before it hit Vietnam, killed at least four people in Danang, a city of 770,000 people, said local disaster official Huynh Van Thang. At least 5,500 homes were destroyed or damaged in the city.\nAbout 435 people were injured in Danang, said Trinh Luong Tran, director of the city's public health department.\nIn neighboring Quang Nam province, a woman was killed by falling debris, said deputy provincial governor Nguyen Ngoc Quang. Another 61,000 people, including nearly 500 foreign tourists from hotels in the ancient town of Hoi An, were evacuated.\nIn Quang Tri province, one person was killed by lightning, officials said.\nMore than 14,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and 43 people were injured in Thua Thien Hue province, said provincial disaster official Phan Thanh Hung.\nIn Danang, many houses had their tin roofs blown off, and tin sheets could be seen hanging over trees and electricity cables.\nNational carrier Vietnam Airlines said it canceled 48 domestic flights Sunday, and train service was interrupted, stranding thousands.
(10/02/06 2:29am)
LONDON -- Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, smiles and jokes with another hijacker before the two turn serious and speak intently to a camera in a video posted Sunday on a British newspaper's Web site.\nThe Sunday Times said the video, which was dated Jan. 18, 2000 -- about a year and a half before the attacks against the United States -- was made in Afghanistan for release after the men's deaths.\nFor more than 30 minutes, the video shows Atta, who flew one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, and Ziad Jarrah, who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a Pennsylvania field, both alone and together.\nThe newspaper said the hour-long video was made at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. It includes images of Osama bin Laden speaking to supporters in Kandahar, Afghanistan. A time stamp indicated that the footage of the leader was shot Jan. 8, 2000.\nIt has no sound, and the newspaper quoted a "U.S. source" who was not identified as saying that lip readers had been unable to decipher what the men were saying.\nAt times in the video, the two men look relaxed, laughing and chatting together before they grow serious and speak directly into the camera. At one point, they lean over a document the newspaper identifies as a will, studying it intently and sometimes pointing to specific sections and commenting to one another.\nThe Sunday Times said it had obtained the video "through a previously tested channel" but gave no further details.\nIt shows Atta and Jarrah sitting on the floor and alternates between tight shots, including only their faces, and wider images showing what appears to be a gun propped up on the wall next to them. Both men have full, dark beards.\nAtta wears a dark sweater or sweat shirt with a zipped-up collar and light stripes on the arms. He tries on a traditional Afghan cap at one point, then tosses it aside. Jarrah is in a long white robe and wire-frame glasses, which he later removes.\nBen Venzke, head of the Virginia-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said the video was probably raw footage which al-Qaida had intended to edit into a package similar to one released last month showing the last testament of two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Wail al-Shehri and Hamza al-Ghamdi.\nBin Laden said a few years ago that he was saving Atta's last testament to release for a special occasion, Venzke said.\n"It is highly unlikely that al-Qaida wanted the material to be released in this manner, and it is not consistent with any previous release," he said.\nThe Sunday Times said the footage of bin Laden appeared to have been made at Tarnak Farm, once the base for the leader's family in the Afghan desert near Kandahar's airport.\nIt shows about 75 men, many in turbans or caps, sitting on the ground as bin Laden arrives to address them. A few children are also in the crowd. The man who appears to be bin Laden stands in front of an expanse of bare dirt dotted with a few trees and windowless, one-story mud-colored buildings, some of them partly in ruins.\nHe appears calm, with a long beard and a tan cloak over a white robe that covers his head. He speaks for more than 10 minutes, although the camera frequently cuts away from him and onto the audience. He often keeps his hands on the lectern and gesticulates occasionally.\nThe Sunday Times said those shown listening to bin Laden included Ramzi Binalshibh, who allegedly helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks and is now being held in the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.\nAlso reportedly present was Nasir Ahmad Nasir al Bahri, a security guard who the Sunday Times said has claimed he was authorized to shoot bin Laden in the head if the leader was in danger of being captured.
(10/02/06 2:25am)
A woman bludgeons her pregnant friend, rips the fetus from the womb with scissors, kidnaps her other three children, drowns them and leaves their corpses to rot in the washer and dryer. A man uses MySpace to stalk six high school girls, takes them hostage in their school and proceeds to sexually assault each of them, before shooting one in the head and committing suicide. If these events in the past week haven't stopped you in your tracks and made you question your comfortable niche in the world, then you're either inhuman or numb. \nI would guess that most people who heard about these tragedies on the news responded in earnest with "Oh Lord, how sad," or "Wow, what a sicko," etc. So we all agree that the above scenarios are far beyond the limits of functioning within our society, but it would be naive to believe that these acts are isolated incidents of a handful of sick people. \nIn the same week as the aforementioned deranged acts, murders happened in Detroit, New York and all major centers of population concentration. In the same week, drunk-driving deaths occurred, foster abuses went undocumented and immigrants, legal and illegal, were deprived of basic human necessities so someone could make a buck. In the same week, soldiers were killed in Iraq, babies were slaughtered in Darfur, women in various places were guilted into accepting the fault for their rape and we didn't bat an eyelash. \nWe accept the murders in urban areas, the average amount of domestic violence and the death toll of war because that's "just what happens." We, as a society, are numb to ordinary hatred, to ordinary acts of desperation. We are so overloaded with information, overwhelmed by the immensity of average tragedy, that our brains have had to turn off to protect ourselves from despair. It is only when something bizarre happens in our immediate reality that we are shaken from normalcy. \nI have been desperate this week to try to find a scapegoat for these particular instances of brutality. It would be easy to blame media sensationalism, violent video games, movies and music, violence in the form of war, the government's mismanaged funds and misdirected programs for the ugly parts of society. The list of possible easy excuses could go on for pages, but these issues are symptoms of a much deeper social disease. We are an apathetic (read: pathetic) people. With our cell phones, iPods and Internet, we have more technology than ever to be better connected, but instead we are as fragmented and self-absorbed as we ever were. To combat social problems we must first recognize that the suffering of others is not in a separate sphere. We must have compassion for the "other" and realize how amazingly privileged we are. If we won't sacrifice some of our own comfort to alleviate suffering, then we should expect more bad news because it won't get any better without a cooperative willingness to work for justice.
(10/02/06 2:24am)
The renowned essayist Christopher Hitchens delivered a spirited barrage of arrows in the direction of those "easily offended fascists" for whom "everything that is not absolutely compulsory is absolutely forbidden." A solitary clap rang out from Alumni Hall.\n"A rather tentative beginning to the defense of civilization," Hitchens replied. \nFor roughly the next two hours Wednesday night, Hitchens, drawing heavily from the life and writing of George Orwell, supplied a heavy arsenal for that defense. Orwell's salutary example conveys a two-part lesson. First, that language offers, to those who will listen and speak and think for themselves, the enunciation of truth. In this, Orwell was an early opponent of the postmodern school, which denies the existence of objective truth. \nSecond is the "power of facing unpleasant facts," as Orwell put it. What this implies is a certain moral muscle, in that one both refuses others' lies and accepts for oneself the consequences of telling the truth. That kind of personal responsibility is out of fashion in our epoch of relativistic arguments. If those who idly "speak out" in cocktail chatter wish to give the impression that they do not care for the truth, then by abjuring serious criticism they are well on their way to succeeding.\nSo instead of citing events to vindicate his own opinions, Orwell preferred to anticipate them by crafting his own views after considerable investigation. This is known as intellectual honesty. And rather than playing the role of a spectator in the cinema (passively willing to applaud goodness but not actively eager to fight for it), better, he thought, to be in the arena. And this has been called moral integrity. These are the habits that go to make up what Hitchens called the "antibodies to totalitarianism." \nSuch individuals as Orwell and Hitchens tend to sustain plenty of blows to their armor. A striking fact about those blows -- because of the hard and dignified manner in which they are acquired -- is that they leave the armor no worse for wear. Hitchens remains a front-line fighter in the moral confrontations of our times to such an extent that his eulogy, to quote Homer, might one day plausibly read: "A joy to friends, a woe to enemies." He would have it no other way. And as a chronicler, as well as a comrade of his (both of which I can now fairly assert), neither would I.\nThis brings us back to where we began, with the defense of civilization. This mission is appropriately seated at the university and requires that we move past subjective 'views' into the realm of fact -- or 'truth,' as people used to say. Only by acquiring that kind of perspective will we be adequately armed to meet the challenges that our way of life will always arouse. And, truth be told, only then will we have gathered an arsenal on which we can honorably depend in times of danger, and, thus, never be forced to desert except in dishonor.
(10/02/06 2:23am)
Hi.\nHey.\nSup?\nNot too much, you?\nNot a lot.\nThanks to AOL Instant Messenger, AIM, if you will, probably the vast majority of us -- college students, adolescents of the '90s -- have had conversations beginning similarly, if not exactly, to that above.\nThanks to the simplicity of the AIM conversation, we never have to face rejection firsthand again. Our vocal chords can rest. We never have to encounter awkward eye contact. We don't even have to wear underpants as we speak to our peers via AIM, nor do we ever need 2 type out whole words. Sleazy and efficient!\nAIM also provides a channel for the most intense passive-aggressive expression known to mankind: the away message. Bitter about an ex? Insert Avril Lavigne song lyrics. Confused about the conclusion of your last date? A quote from "Family Ties." Never had a date? Some obscure allusion to "Star Wars."\nThough sarcasm saturates my words, I fail to believe there is anything inherently "bad" about communicating via AIM. Sure, conversations in person -- and even over the telephone -- are more effective means of communication, as a person's vocal and facial expressions are lost among the lines of text in an instant message box. Plus, over AIM, the poor English language takes a beating with online jargon and the laziness of conversation participants regarding accurate punctuation, verb agreement and capitalization.\nBut like with any form of low-cultured entertainment -- browsing Facebook, watching "Laguna Beach," eating kittens -- people typically speak of their AIM chats with a hint of dishonor and embarrassment (when it's brought up in the public sphere at all). Meanwhile, people who do not partake in such activities often speak with arrogance about their high and mighty lifestyle that excludes such nominal activities. And that's fantastic. You don't fill your days with mindless entertainment -- ever! Congratulations! Unless you're finding a cure for AIDS or passing out sandwiches to homeless children with the free time in your day, you're a jackass -- or at least unnecessarily arrogant.\nTo participate in a low-cultured activity -- that is, to have an AIM chat, to eagerly watch "Grey's Anatomy," to buy a Van Gogh print at Hobby Lobby -- is not shameful, and I resent the stigmas that come along with such activities.\nAfter all, we don't all have the time and money to enjoy ballets, tours of the Met or ... conversations with human beings?\nOK, so talking over AIM isn't quite the same as a HALO marathon. And I would never advocate AIM chats over a discussion at the dinner table. Of course, the latter is more meaningful or at least more personal.\nI would, however, advocate the elimination of any feelings of guilt from it.\nOnline conversations, just like reality television and dangerous, unproductive wars, are part of our culture now. Talking online doesn't mean you're a coward or a bad friend, it just means you're lazy. And very, very normal.\nI gtg -- ttyl.
(10/02/06 2:22am)
The Daily Illini, an "independent student news agency" for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has recently decided to halt its opinion page's staff editorial until further notice. Sitting with our own editorial board here at the Indiana Daily Student, it was difficult to fathom what went wrong to force a paper much like our own to take such drastic measures. An open forum without an editorial? Unthinkable.\nSo what happened? Egregious errors happened.\nOn Sept. 20 the editorial titled "Students missing out on Madness tickets" spoke out about how quickly the Illinois Basketball Midnight Madness event sold out. The article depicted the tickets as supposedly having "vanished into the hands of excited fans at up to six tickets per person" and went on to describe how students had been left out of this process by a department that "simply 'forgot' to reserve some seating for students in the process of organizing the event." The next day a correction was printed. In regard to the tickets being sold out, the correction letter stated that in reality "the tickets were given away for free to increase attendance" and added that "at the time of publication, the tickets were not sold out. Roughly 500 tickets remain(ed), as of 4:45 Wednesday evening, free for anyone to obtain."\nInstead of leaving students out of the loop, like the editorial had explained, the correction acknowledged that "a press release was made to inform students of the ticket availability, and persons who had purchased sports tickets in the past were also informed through e-mail."\nIn light of these major errors that would obviously threaten the credibility of any established news agency, another statement was made explaining that "The Daily Illini Editorial Board has decided to stop publishing editorials until further notice." While we can sympathize with the severity of printing something that has been "based on faulty facts, providing nothing but misinformation and misrepresentation," other measures should have been put in place that would allow the editorials to continue.\nPublishing a college newspaper, though it can, at times, be just as stringent as a professional news-writing process, is still a learning experience. While it is hard to see how these errors slipped through standard fact-checking procedures, like the ones used here at the IDS, one must wonder why more precautions weren't taken, especially since the paper has admitted to publishing several editorials with faulty content before.\nStaff training and strengthening the opinion page's fact-checking process by reinforcing current procedures with additional measures to ensure the accuracy of every editorial's claim is necessary. There are many other measures that could structure the staff without hindering its right to express a combined opinion in an editorial. These actions should have been taken before the publishing of editorials halted. A paper owes its readers. Admitting defeat is the wrong call. We can only hope that the editorials will not be stopped long and that procedures will be put into place that lessen the possibility of a next time.
(09/29/06 4:13pm)
Standing on a scale in nothing but a sports bra and spandex shorts, Pam Smith saw the number 252 staring at her. Smith, 25, of Martinsville, Ind., wasn't in the privacy of her own home. She was on national television in NBC's third installment of the popular weight-loss show, "The Biggest Loser." \nI'll admit, it takes a lot of guts to expose every flaw to millions of strangers. The premise of the show, at least on the surface, is endearing: gather overweight people from every state in the nation, select 14 lucky ones to stay at the ranch and have two top trainers give them diet and fitness advice. However, my problem is with the show's presentation. \nSmith accomplished a feat in itself by losing a whopping 10 pounds in one week, but this was insignificant compared to other contestants, who lost in excess of 20 pounds in one week. The emphasis on rapid weight loss not only does a disservice to the 65 percent of Americans who are overweight, but it completely misses the target regarding effective weight loss. The National Institute of Health recommends a loss of 1/2 pound to 2 pounds per week. I'm no math major, but that's a big (pardon the pun) difference from 20. Overweight and often impatient Americans think they can achieve such a loss and get frustrated when they fail. Little do they realize it's not their efforts that are lacking, but that the contestants have been required to do nothing but exercise and eat minimal calories throughout the day. Comparatively speaking, "Celebrity Fit Club," a weight-loss show on VH1 featuring B-list celebrities, offers a far healthier and more realistic take on losing weight. The VH1 show requires its contestants to lose from 2 to 6 pounds between weigh-ins. They also have two weeks to meet their target loss. Not only that, but they get to keep their regular clothes on. \nNext, I strongly disagree with the portrayal of the trainers. NBC replaced Jillian Michaels with Kim Lyons, a professional fitness competitor. Not only is her look completely unrealistic for most people to achieve, but it wouldn't shock me if Lyons had a little help from a cosmetic surgeon. On the other hand, "Biggest Loser's" male trainer, Bob Harper, has morphed from a Zen-like master to a recently inked and mohawked hard-ass. The trainers make contestants work out until they puke and put them through strenuous and painful activities. This only fuels the perception that exercise must be unpleasant to be effective, which couldn't be further from the truth. \nI understand why NBC has implemented all of these techniques into "The Biggest Loser." They want drama. They want ratings. They want BIG results. They also want to sell Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal and 24-Hour Fitness, which can be seen in just about every camera shot. \nIt's just a shame that something as simple as maintaining a healthy lifestyle has to be placed in such a negative light.
(09/29/06 4:09am)
All aboard. The S.S. IU sets sail Saturday for Big Ten waters chockfull of sea creatures, submarines and the occasional iceberg.\nPassengers beware. This voyage won't be easy. Last season, the Hoosiers started at 3-0 before sinking seven of their next eight games, all against Big Ten opponents. So here the Hoosiers are docked in 2006, ready to set sail at 2-2 having dropped their previous two games -- games that they could and should have willed themselves into winning. \nTruth is things did not go as planned once IU coach Terry Hoeppner relinquished his post. The Hoosiers expected to take at least one of their final two nonconference games but lost both by seven points. Rest assured, football fans -- the Captain is back. Captain Hep and his plethora of passionate players are on the poop deck and prepared for battle. However, Hep needs help. He needs more crew. He needs a Crimson Crew. So, I guess the question is: where will YOU be? \nYOU, the fan, have one choice to make: get on the boat or get the hell off it. The town, the alumni and your local football columnist are all on board, but we'll make up less than half of the S.S. IU. We need YOU, the student body. More importantly, we need a win.\nThus, these are the three points of power for the Hoosiers this weekend. \nFirst, the IU defense needs to put pressure on Badger quarterback John Stocco: all day, every play. Who does this guy think he is -- John Stamos? Sorry, Uncle Jesse, but any pressure the Hoosiers can force will make you buckle like a belt. Sure, Stocco has averaged 168 yards per game and sports a 55.2 completion percentage, but his job is Taylor-made with a strong rushing attack. This brings me to my next point. \nSecond, the IU defense will need to repeat the job against Wisconsin freshman P.J. Hill that they performed against UConn's Terry Caulley. So far this season Hill is 10th in the nation, averaging 117.2 yards per game and five touchdowns. IU has to make Hill a nonfactor Saturday, or he'll be the only factor directly responsible for another loss.\nFinally, on the other side of the ball, quarterbacks Blaklen Lewers (combination of junior Blake Powers and freshman Kellen Lewis) will have to get wide receiver James Hardy the ball early and often. Hardy is back after two weeks of personal problems, and he has a lot to prove against Big Ten defenses that have him targeted for takedown. Wisconsin sophomore Allen Langford, who secured two interceptions last week against Michigan, has Hardy on aim this week. \nLet's be honest about most of the student body. They don't care who IU is playing, whether the Hoosiers have a good chance or not to win, or even if Coach Hep asks for their help to Defend the Rock.\nThe student bodies' thermometer Saturday morning measures the weather outside. If there's daylight -- they're drinking. If there are clouds -- they're clinging to their couches. Hep needs a Crimson Crew tough enough to remain aboard despite gray skies, squalls and good teams that score. \nLast season, Hep wanted YOU, and he still does: just look above. The Captain has returned, the ship is ready to sail and YOU have got a choice to make. \nAll aboard, Hoosier Nation. Get on the ship and embrace this football team.\nOr get the hell off it.
(09/29/06 3:46am)
Iraq terrorist calls scientists to jihad\nCAIRO, Egypt -- In a new audio message Thursday, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called for explosives experts and nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war against the West. "We are in dire need of you," said the man, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir -- also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri -- the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "The field of jihad (holy war) can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases (in Iraq) are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them. "\nColo. school attack 'sexual in nature'\nBAILEY, Colo. -- The gunman who killed himself after fatally shooting one of six girls he held in a high school classroom Wednesday methodically selected his hostages and had sexually assaulted some of them, the sheriff and a witness said Thursday. "He did traumatize and assault our children," Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said. "I'll only say that it's sexual in \nnature."\n40 bodies found tortured in Iraq; 21 others dead\nBAGHDAD, Iraq -- The bodies of 40 men who been tortured were found in the capital in a span of 24 hours, police said Thursday. Bombings and shootings killed at least 21 people in and around Baghdad, including five people who died from a car-bomb explosion near a restaurant. Thirty-four people were wounded in the bombing. Many of them had serious burns, and some were not expected to survive, police Lt. Ali Mohsen said at the Kindi Hospital.\nStock prices fall after Dow Jones\nmilestone\nNEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average topped its record-high close today, reaching a milestone in Wall Street's recovery from nearly seven years of corporate upheaval, economic recession and the impact of terrorism. The high close was 11,722.98, set on Jan. 14, 2000. Shortly after the index of 30 blue chip stocks surpassed its record, rising to 11,724.86 in early morning trading, stocks dropped amid a dearth of news that could motivate investors.\nFormer HP chair defends company spying probe\nWASHINGTON -- Ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. chairwoman Patricia C. Dunn told Congress on Thursday that she was assured by an outside investigator that the phone records of people targeted in a boardroom leak probe were obtained lawfully from public sources. Lawmakers denounced the intrusive tactics used in Hewlett-Packard's spying probe as the hearing opened with stark comparisons between the tawdry affair and the 67-year-old company's reputation for \nintegrity.
(09/29/06 3:32am)
Today IU President Adam Herbert announced the new dean of the School of Continuing Studies. Daniel Callison, a professor and executive associate dean of the School of Library and Information Sciences in Indianapolis, has accepted the appointment and will take over the position subject to being confirmed by the IU board of trustees at its Nov. 3 meeting. \n"Daniel Callison has the right mix of skills and experience needed to lead the IU School of Continuing Studies," Herbert said in a statement. "He has established an enviable record of academic accomplishment. He also has been a national leader in developing and expanding the emerging technologies of distance learning." \nAccording to a press release, Callison has been at IU since 1979 and is currently the director of the master's in library science program. In that role, he oversees 11 full-time faculty members and 40 adjunct instructors who teach more than 48 courses. With the new position, Callison will report to interim Provost Michael McRobbie.\n"Danny has led several programs that have been very successful in attracting students and maintaining high levels of academic quality," McRobbie said in a statement. "Many of these programs are also serving students at several locations via the Internet. With this track record, he was the ideal candidate for this deanship." \nIn a statement Callison praised the opportunities the school provides and said he looks forward to taking over its leadership role.\n"IU has the instructional content and technological expertise to expand offerings for a wide variety of learning audiences," Callison said in a statement. "SCS and its excellent faculty and staff will increase its involvement in programs and grants to support educational options for Indiana's workforce needs, opportunities for the growing number of Hoosiers seeking meaningful professional career changes and will seek ways to be a substantial player in online course delivery to international sites as well"
(09/29/06 3:28am)
NEW YORK -- Somewhere between the piano and stage left, Chan Marshall turns to the audience and raises her fists, flexing her slender arms like a prizefighter.\nThe triumphant posture, seen in concerts throughout the summer, symbolizes the new, confident and sober Marshall. The sold-out shows by the singer-songwriter -- who performs under the name Cat Power -- have been a revelation.\nBacked by the 12-piece Memphis Rhythm Band, Marshall -- once famous for stage fright and breaking down in the middle of songs -- now struts back and forth, coos to the audience and sometimes even changes her wardrobe mid-set.\nCritics hail the transformation. David Byrne, the former Talking Heads singer, wrote on his Web site that a June concert in New York was "one of the best shows I've ever seen."\n"I can't even describe it. I've never felt this way before," Marshall, 34, said during a recent interview. "I mean, the way I feel now onstage singing is the way I felt when I was 6 years old singing for my grandmama."\nCharlyn Marie Marshall (Chan is pronounced "Shawn") was raised in Georgia and shuffled among relatives for most of her childhood. After dropping out of high school and moving to New York, she collaborated with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and guitarist Tim Foljahn.\nAfter her first two albums in the mid-'90s, Marshall signed with the indie label Matador Records. More discs followed, including 1998's "Moon Pix," 2000's "The Covers Record" and 2003's acclaimed "You Are Free."\nAll the while, Marshall's morose stage presence, bangs hiding her eyes, seemed to enhance fans' appreciation of her darkly personal songs. At the concerts that ended prematurely with her crying onstage, many would try to comfort her.\nOften, alcohol or pills -- or both -- had something to do with it. Filmmaker Vincent Gallo, who knew Marshall from years ago, happened by during the interview at a downtown Manhattan hotel and related the story of when he met Marshall.\nBefore she was a full-time musician, Marshall lived briefly in New York and worked at a copy shop in Greenwich Village. When Gallo, who lived nearby, came in one day, he found her appearance startling. \n"She had men's shoes on, a non-matching set, and both of them on the wrong foot -- but she wasn't kidding. You understand? It was no joke. And I thought, `Oh, that girl is the greatest.'"\nHis infatuation soon dissipated when the two went for a walk, and Marshall skipped into bars for shots of tequila. She was an alcoholic.\nIt's perhaps not atypical of how charming Marshall can be and how she can disappoint. Alluding to her inconsistency as a professional musician, The New York Times wrote earlier this year that she possesses "a beautiful voice that is at times ineptly handled"