ANALYSIS by GARY LANGER
Preliminary exit poll results in the Wisconsin primaries underscore both differences and similarities between the two parties in the state.
Around nine in 10 voters, in both the Democratic and Republican contests, are white. But a substantial majority of Democratic voters are women, more than usual for a Wisconsin Democratic primary, while on the Republican side a substantial majority are men, considerably more than in most GOP primaries this year. (It'll take updated data to see if that comes out as a high for the cycle.)
In the Democratic race, nearly half the voters are liberals -- up from 2004.
Among Republican voters, six in 10 are conservatives. Both are in the mid-range for primaries this year.
The preliminary results also indicate that more seniors than usual are voting in the Democratic race -- up from their 2004 level, and also potentially a high for Democratic voters this cycle, though again it'll take final data later tonight to see that holds.
As in previous contests, the top issue for Democrats and Republicans alike is the economy -- around four in 10 call it the most important issue facing the country. (It's been considerably higher for Democrats in some other states.)
On candidate attributes, again as in the past, someone who can "bring about needed change" is tops by far for Democrats; among Republicans, as in previous primaries, it's someone who "shares my values."
Just over a third of GOP voters in these preliminary results identify themselves as evangelical Christians, about the norm for a non-Southern state this year.
Turnout by independents in the Republican race looks to be down from the last primary for which we have comparable data, in 1996.
In the Democratic contest, about four in 10 voters have college degrees -- another important factor in voting decisions this year. That's a bit under the norm in primaries so far.
In one further similarity, about one in 10 Democratic and Republican voters alike say they made their final decision today. At the other end of the spectrum, a third of Republicans, and nearly half of Democrats, say they decided more than a month ago.
Source: ABC news
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Former Teacher Sentenced in Sex Case
By KATRINA A. GOGGINS
LAURENS, S.C. - A former middle school teacher was sent to prison for six years Tuesday for having sexual encounters with five teenage boys. Authorities said Allenna Ward, 24, met 14- and 15-year-old boys at the school where she taught as well as at a motel, a park and behind a restaurant.
"I apologize from the depths of my heart," Ward said in court.
Police began investigating last year after school officials found a note believed to have been written by Ward to one of the boys. Some of the victims were students at Bell Street Middle School in Clinton, where Ward taught. She was fired about a year ago.
Ward pleaded guilty in September to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and three lewd acts on a minor.
Forensic psychiatrist Donna Schwartz-Watts said Ward is not a pedophile, but rather a childlike victim suffering from personality disorders and a repressed childhood. Schwartz-Watts said the minister's daughter lived a sheltered life but really was a "free spirit" who never got a chance to break away from her family.
Prosecutors painted Ward's crimes in a harsher light and said she violated the trust that parents place in teachers.
Some of the victims' families attended the sentencing but did not speak during the court hearing."I just feel like justice has been served," the sister of one victim said after the hearing.
"We're just glad that it's all over."The Associated Press does not normally identify victims of sexual crimes.
Ward's lawyer Donald Hocker cited the psychiatric testimony in asking for home imprisonment for his client. Hocker said Ward will be vulnerable to physical and emotional abuse at the hands of other prisoners.
"It's an awful case with awful consequences, but Allenna Ward is not an awful woman," Hocker said in court. He declined to speak to a reporter after the hearing.
Ward was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each lewd act count, but the punishments were suspended to six years. She also was sentenced to six years on each second-degree criminal sexual conduct count. The sentences are to run concurrently.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
Source: Trib.com
LAURENS, S.C. - A former middle school teacher was sent to prison for six years Tuesday for having sexual encounters with five teenage boys. Authorities said Allenna Ward, 24, met 14- and 15-year-old boys at the school where she taught as well as at a motel, a park and behind a restaurant.
"I apologize from the depths of my heart," Ward said in court.
Police began investigating last year after school officials found a note believed to have been written by Ward to one of the boys. Some of the victims were students at Bell Street Middle School in Clinton, where Ward taught. She was fired about a year ago.
Ward pleaded guilty in September to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and three lewd acts on a minor.
Forensic psychiatrist Donna Schwartz-Watts said Ward is not a pedophile, but rather a childlike victim suffering from personality disorders and a repressed childhood. Schwartz-Watts said the minister's daughter lived a sheltered life but really was a "free spirit" who never got a chance to break away from her family.
Prosecutors painted Ward's crimes in a harsher light and said she violated the trust that parents place in teachers.
Some of the victims' families attended the sentencing but did not speak during the court hearing."I just feel like justice has been served," the sister of one victim said after the hearing.
"We're just glad that it's all over."The Associated Press does not normally identify victims of sexual crimes.
Ward's lawyer Donald Hocker cited the psychiatric testimony in asking for home imprisonment for his client. Hocker said Ward will be vulnerable to physical and emotional abuse at the hands of other prisoners.
"It's an awful case with awful consequences, but Allenna Ward is not an awful woman," Hocker said in court. He declined to speak to a reporter after the hearing.
Ward was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each lewd act count, but the punishments were suspended to six years. She also was sentenced to six years on each second-degree criminal sexual conduct count. The sentences are to run concurrently.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
Source: Trib.com
Monday, February 18, 2008
Australia PM said most popular for 20 years
by Michael Perry and Sanjeev Miglani 
Source: REUTERS
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is the country's most popular leader in two decades after apologising to Aborigines for past injustices and ratifying the Kyoto climate pact, a poll showed on Tuesday.
Labor's Rudd, who ended 11 years of conservative government rule last November, was preferred leader for 70 percent of voters, said a Newspoll in the Australian newspaper.
The reading was the highest since the survey was first published in 1987 and also showed 69 percent of voters supported Rudd's apology to Aborigines for past injustices, a move which overturned the previous conservative government's opposition to saying sorry to the disadvantaged indigenous population.
Conservative opponents said the result reflected saturation coverage of Wednesday's apology, which was watched by Australians on huge outdoor television screens in cities across the country.
"Newly elected governments go through this sort of honeymoon and with the apology, the prime minister has received enormous publicity," opposition spokesman Nick Minchin told local radio.
Opponents say Rudd has been making "grand gestures" like the apology and December's decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, again overturning the previous government policy, to maintain momentum in the wake of his crushing election win.
But the conservatives remain in disarray after the exit from politics of former prime minister John Howard, who lost his seat in the landslide to Rudd after almost 12 years in power.
A television programme screened on Monday had senior members of the former government telling how they secretly pressured Howard to retire from mid-2006 to rejuvenate the party.
The Newspoll showed support for new opposition leader Brendan Nelson was at just 9 percent. Nelson's poor reading will add to divisions over the conservative leadership, with lawmakers split between the former doctor and Australia's richest MP, former investment banker Malcolm Turnbull, who narrowly lost to Nelson.
Source: REUTERS
Musharraf allies headed for defeat
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The main party that backs Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was headed for defeat on Tuesday after voters rallied to the opposition, raising questions about the future of the U.S. ally who has ruled since 1999.
As president, former army chief Musharraf did not contest Monday's parliamentary elections aimed at completing a transition to civilian rule, but the outcome could seal his fate.
A hostile parliament could try to remove Musharraf, who took power as a general in a 1999 coup and emerged as a crucial U.S. ally in a "war on terror" that most Pakistanis think is Washington's, not theirs.
The election was relatively peaceful after a bloody campaign and opposition fears of rampant rigging by Musharraf's supporters appeared unfounded.
The election was postponed from January 8 after the assassination of former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a suicide attack on December 27.
The death of Bhutto, the most progressive, Western-friendly politician in a Muslim nation rife with anti-American sentiment, raised concern about the stability of the nuclear-armed country.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has been expected to reap a sympathy vote after her murder but some analysts said the decisive factor in the election was Musharraf.
In a major blow for the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) which backs Musharraf, its president, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a former prime minister, was defeated in his Punjab province constituency by a rival from Bhutto's party, television networks said, citing unofficial Election Commission tallies. Continued...
Source: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The main party that backs Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was headed for defeat on Tuesday after voters rallied to the opposition, raising questions about the future of the U.S. ally who has ruled since 1999.
As president, former army chief Musharraf did not contest Monday's parliamentary elections aimed at completing a transition to civilian rule, but the outcome could seal his fate.
A hostile parliament could try to remove Musharraf, who took power as a general in a 1999 coup and emerged as a crucial U.S. ally in a "war on terror" that most Pakistanis think is Washington's, not theirs.
The election was relatively peaceful after a bloody campaign and opposition fears of rampant rigging by Musharraf's supporters appeared unfounded.
The election was postponed from January 8 after the assassination of former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a suicide attack on December 27.
The death of Bhutto, the most progressive, Western-friendly politician in a Muslim nation rife with anti-American sentiment, raised concern about the stability of the nuclear-armed country.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has been expected to reap a sympathy vote after her murder but some analysts said the decisive factor in the election was Musharraf.
In a major blow for the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) which backs Musharraf, its president, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a former prime minister, was defeated in his Punjab province constituency by a rival from Bhutto's party, television networks said, citing unofficial Election Commission tallies. Continued...
Source: REUTERS
Fayed says UK royals wanted to "get rid of" Diana
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Luxury storeowner Mohamed al-Fayed said on Monday the death of Princess Diana and his son Dodi in a 1997 Paris car crash was murder and accused the British royal family of wanting to "get rid" of Diana.
In an emotional appearance at the inquest into their deaths, al-Fayed accused Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband and Diana's former father-in-law, of being a "Nazi" and a "racist."
"You want to know his original name -- it ends with Frankenstein," al-Fayed told the court.
He said Diana, divorced from heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, had "suffered for 20 years from this Dracula family".
After waiting more than a decade for his day in court, al-Fayed came close to tears, shaking his head and taking a tissue out of his pocket as his voice cracked.
But then later the Egyptian-born tycoon, who alleges that the British security services murdered Diana on Prince Philip's orders, turned angrily on one of the lawyers, accusing him of talking "out of your backside".
French and British police investigations have both concluded their deaths were tragic accidents caused by a speeding driver who was found to have been drunk. Both inquiries rejected al-Fayed's conspiracy theories.
Al-Fayed said of Diana's former husband, Prince Charles: "He participated and I'm sure he knew what was going to happen."
Source: REUTERS
LONDON (Reuters) - Luxury storeowner Mohamed al-Fayed said on Monday the death of Princess Diana and his son Dodi in a 1997 Paris car crash was murder and accused the British royal family of wanting to "get rid" of Diana.
In an emotional appearance at the inquest into their deaths, al-Fayed accused Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband and Diana's former father-in-law, of being a "Nazi" and a "racist."
"You want to know his original name -- it ends with Frankenstein," al-Fayed told the court.
He said Diana, divorced from heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, had "suffered for 20 years from this Dracula family".
After waiting more than a decade for his day in court, al-Fayed came close to tears, shaking his head and taking a tissue out of his pocket as his voice cracked.
But then later the Egyptian-born tycoon, who alleges that the British security services murdered Diana on Prince Philip's orders, turned angrily on one of the lawyers, accusing him of talking "out of your backside".
French and British police investigations have both concluded their deaths were tragic accidents caused by a speeding driver who was found to have been drunk. Both inquiries rejected al-Fayed's conspiracy theories.
Al-Fayed said of Diana's former husband, Prince Charles: "He participated and I'm sure he knew what was going to happen."
Source: REUTERS
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pakistani troops fan out ahead of polls
By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Tens of thousands of troops fanned out across Pakistan on Tuesday to bolster security ahead of next week's parliamentary elections, but senior military officials say they would not try to interfere with the vote.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Tens of thousands of troops fanned out across Pakistan on Tuesday to bolster security ahead of next week's parliamentary elections, but senior military officials say they would not try to interfere with the vote.
Underscoring concerns that violence could mar the election, at least nine people were wounded Tuesday in a bomb blast near the office of a candidate in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. It was the latest in a string of attacks that have overshadowed the campaign.
"The bomb was planted in a bicycle parked near the election office where Sardar Aslam Bizenjo was preparing to address a press conference," said Hamid Shakeel, the police chief in Khuzdar, 185 miles south of Quetta.
The candidate was unhurt and there were no immediate claims of responsibility.
There are concerns that militants could launch attacks during the Feb. 18 vote, seen as key to Pakistan's transition to democracy after eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the war against terrorism.
But the main fear is a major outbreak of political violence if there are allegations of vote rigging.
Interior Ministry spokesman, Jawed Iqbal Cheema said provincial officials had asked for the troops to help maintain peace and order during the election, but promised that none would be stationed at voting stations — a move which could serve to intimidate voters.
The army had earlier said it would only deploy if it was asked to do so by civilian authorities.
Arif Ahmad Khan, the home secretary in the southern province of Sindh, said around 24,000 troops would be deployed there alone.
Furqan Bahadur, home secretary in Baluchistan, said security forces there would be placed on standby, responding only if violence flared.
"We do not want to reach a point where we have to say the situation is out of our control," Khan said.
Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani has sought to refocus the military away from politics since he took over the top job last November when Musharraf resigned gave up the post.
Last month, Kayani issued a directive barring officers from unauthorized meetings with politicians and said last week the army would limit its role in the elections to providing security.
Over the weekend, dozens of people were killed in a suicide bombing and an attack Monday wounded a candidate while he was campaigning.
Security forces also were searching for Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, who was missing and feared kidnapped as he traveled in a volatile Pakistani tribal region.
The security threat has heightened at a time when public support for Musharraf has plunged to an all-time low. Opposition parties loyal to the late Benazir Bhutto and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appear poised for a landslide victory, recent polls showed.
Musharraf is not a candidate but needs commanding majority in the new parliament to block any moves to impeach him.
He is grappling with rising Islamic extremism in his country, especially in northwest regions bordering Afghanistan.
He also faces political dissent following his move late last year to oust Supreme Court judges seen as a challenge to his rule, raising fresh questions Tuesday about the credibility of the vote.
The deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, and his family remain under house arrest in Islamabad. Several other senior independent-minded judges are also restricted to their homes.
"Days before Pakistan goes to the polls, its lawful chief justice and his children remain under illegal house arrest, as do many lawyers who would likely challenge election-rigging in the courts," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement released Tuesday.
"Musharraf's systematic destruction of legal institutions has seriously compromised the upcoming elections."
Source: Yahoo news
Tom Lantos, 80; congressman survived Holocaust
By Johanna Neuman
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame), the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress, died Monday of complications from cancer of the esophagus at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, his staff said. He was 80.
A champion of civil liberties, Lantos founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and supported human rights struggles against both right-wing and left-wing regimes in China, Russia, Myanmar, Darfur and wherever official pressure could, as he put it, "prevent another Holocaust." He also was passionate about animal rights, working to stop seal hunts, dog killings in foreign countries, and horse slaughter, bear baiting and the operation of puppy mills at home.
He also used his post as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to highlight human rights violators. He argued that nations with bad records had no place on the U.N. Human Rights Commission, that Beijing should not be awarded the 2008 Olympics because of its human rights record, and that corporations had an obligation to protect individuals and press freedoms. When executives of Yahoo Inc. appeared before the committee last year to defend their role in the jailing of a journalist by Chinese officials, Lantos said, "While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are Pygmies."
Vigilant against appeasement in foreign policy -- whether the culprit was Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin or Saddam Hussein -- Lantos was a supporter of the Iraq war even though his 12th Congressional District, stretching from southwest San Francisco down the peninsula to take in much of San Mateo County, was overwhelmingly opposed. Although he led the debate for authorization of the campaign to oust Hussein in 2002, he later became disillusioned with faulty prewar intelligence and called for an independent investigation into what went wrong.
"The American people have not sent us here just to be an amen cho- rus for this administration," he said when he finally rose to criticize the war. "There are serious problems and we should be debating serious solutions."
Last year he opposed the surge of extra troops in Iraq, telling Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who was lobbying Congress for support: "Our efforts in Iraq are a mess, and throwing in more troops will not improve it."
Lantos, a staunch supporter of Israel, led a U.S. walkout from a United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 over its anti-Semitic language. But he also was an advocate of talking to renegade regimes. He was among the first members of Congress to visit Libya in 2004, lauding Moammar Kadafi's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction. And when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) met with Syrian President Bashar Assad last year, Lantos was at her side. "Dialogue," he said, "is not appeasement."
Pelosi, calling his death "a profound loss for the Congress and for the nation and a terrible loss for me personally," said in a statement Monday that Lantos had used his chairmanship "to empower the powerless and give voice to the voiceless throughout the world. Having lived through the worst evil known to mankind, Tom Lantos translated the experience into a lifetime commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism."
Born Feb. 1, 1928, to a middle-class family in Budapest, Hungary, Lantos was 16 when Nazis occupied the city in 1944. Sent to a labor camp in a nearby village, he escaped, was recaptured and beaten. After he escaped a second time, he took refuge with his aunt in one of the safe houses maintained by Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. With his blue eyes and blond hair, Lantos often served as a courier, delivering food to Jews in hiding and working for the anti-Nazi underground.
After the war he learned that his mother had died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and that other relatives had died as well. He located his childhood sweetheart, Annette Tilleman, a cousin of the glamorous Gabor sisters. He came to the United States in 1947, earning a degree in economics from the University of Washington and a doctorate from UC Berkeley. Tilleman arrived in 1948 to finish high school in Seattle. They were married in 1950.
Lantos, calling himself "an American by choice," took a quixotic path to Congress. Before his election, his resume was that of an academic who had taught economics at San Francisco State University, served as president of the Millbrae School District board, and been an occasional advisor to Congress on economic and foreign policy. But in 1978, Democrat Leo J. Ryan became the first and only congressman ever slain in the line of duty, killed in Guyana, where he went to investigate whether Americans were being held against their will by cult leader Jim Jones. Ryan was gunned down just before Jones engineered a mass suicide among his followers.
Republican Bill Royer won a special election to serve out Ryan's term. But in 1980, Lantos surprised Royer with an upset victory to take the seat. Despite an attempted return by Royer and later efforts to oust Lantos for his hawkish foreign policy views, he had won reelection with comfortable margins of more than 65% ever since.
His first major bill in Congress was to give honorary American citizenship to Wallenberg, whom Lantos called "the central figure in my life."
Lantos, an avid swimmer who never smoked, announced last month that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would retire at year's end.
"It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress," he said. "I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country."
With his mane of white hair and his Hungarian-accented English, Lantos cut a dashing figure on Capitol Hill. But he could also be a sarcastic, partisan inquisitor. When Samuel Pierce Jr., the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said he needed more time to prepare for hearings because he was having trouble finding an attorney, Lantos said, "I can understand not being able to find affordable housing in Washington but not an attorney."
Lantos did not attend the United Nations' annual commemoration of the Holocaust last month. His remarks were delivered by his daughter, Katrina Lantos Swett.
In his speech, Lantos called on the world community, "on this day dedicated to one of the worst episodes in human history," to "re-dedicate ourselves to stopping current tragedies such as the genocide in Darfur -- and there is no other proper word for this atrocity -- and to preventing such inhuman cruelty in the future." Saying that "the veneer of civilization is paper thin," Lantos added, "we are its guardians, and we can never rest."
He is survived by his wife, Annette, their children, Katrina Lantos Swett of New Hampshire and Annette Lantos Dick of Colorado, as well as 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Source: Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame), the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress, died Monday of complications from cancer of the esophagus at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, his staff said. He was 80.
A champion of civil liberties, Lantos founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and supported human rights struggles against both right-wing and left-wing regimes in China, Russia, Myanmar, Darfur and wherever official pressure could, as he put it, "prevent another Holocaust." He also was passionate about animal rights, working to stop seal hunts, dog killings in foreign countries, and horse slaughter, bear baiting and the operation of puppy mills at home.
He also used his post as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to highlight human rights violators. He argued that nations with bad records had no place on the U.N. Human Rights Commission, that Beijing should not be awarded the 2008 Olympics because of its human rights record, and that corporations had an obligation to protect individuals and press freedoms. When executives of Yahoo Inc. appeared before the committee last year to defend their role in the jailing of a journalist by Chinese officials, Lantos said, "While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are Pygmies."
Vigilant against appeasement in foreign policy -- whether the culprit was Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin or Saddam Hussein -- Lantos was a supporter of the Iraq war even though his 12th Congressional District, stretching from southwest San Francisco down the peninsula to take in much of San Mateo County, was overwhelmingly opposed. Although he led the debate for authorization of the campaign to oust Hussein in 2002, he later became disillusioned with faulty prewar intelligence and called for an independent investigation into what went wrong.
"The American people have not sent us here just to be an amen cho- rus for this administration," he said when he finally rose to criticize the war. "There are serious problems and we should be debating serious solutions."
Last year he opposed the surge of extra troops in Iraq, telling Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who was lobbying Congress for support: "Our efforts in Iraq are a mess, and throwing in more troops will not improve it."
Lantos, a staunch supporter of Israel, led a U.S. walkout from a United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 over its anti-Semitic language. But he also was an advocate of talking to renegade regimes. He was among the first members of Congress to visit Libya in 2004, lauding Moammar Kadafi's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction. And when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) met with Syrian President Bashar Assad last year, Lantos was at her side. "Dialogue," he said, "is not appeasement."
Pelosi, calling his death "a profound loss for the Congress and for the nation and a terrible loss for me personally," said in a statement Monday that Lantos had used his chairmanship "to empower the powerless and give voice to the voiceless throughout the world. Having lived through the worst evil known to mankind, Tom Lantos translated the experience into a lifetime commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism."
Born Feb. 1, 1928, to a middle-class family in Budapest, Hungary, Lantos was 16 when Nazis occupied the city in 1944. Sent to a labor camp in a nearby village, he escaped, was recaptured and beaten. After he escaped a second time, he took refuge with his aunt in one of the safe houses maintained by Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. With his blue eyes and blond hair, Lantos often served as a courier, delivering food to Jews in hiding and working for the anti-Nazi underground.
After the war he learned that his mother had died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and that other relatives had died as well. He located his childhood sweetheart, Annette Tilleman, a cousin of the glamorous Gabor sisters. He came to the United States in 1947, earning a degree in economics from the University of Washington and a doctorate from UC Berkeley. Tilleman arrived in 1948 to finish high school in Seattle. They were married in 1950.
Lantos, calling himself "an American by choice," took a quixotic path to Congress. Before his election, his resume was that of an academic who had taught economics at San Francisco State University, served as president of the Millbrae School District board, and been an occasional advisor to Congress on economic and foreign policy. But in 1978, Democrat Leo J. Ryan became the first and only congressman ever slain in the line of duty, killed in Guyana, where he went to investigate whether Americans were being held against their will by cult leader Jim Jones. Ryan was gunned down just before Jones engineered a mass suicide among his followers.
Republican Bill Royer won a special election to serve out Ryan's term. But in 1980, Lantos surprised Royer with an upset victory to take the seat. Despite an attempted return by Royer and later efforts to oust Lantos for his hawkish foreign policy views, he had won reelection with comfortable margins of more than 65% ever since.
His first major bill in Congress was to give honorary American citizenship to Wallenberg, whom Lantos called "the central figure in my life."
Lantos, an avid swimmer who never smoked, announced last month that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would retire at year's end.
"It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress," he said. "I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country."
With his mane of white hair and his Hungarian-accented English, Lantos cut a dashing figure on Capitol Hill. But he could also be a sarcastic, partisan inquisitor. When Samuel Pierce Jr., the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said he needed more time to prepare for hearings because he was having trouble finding an attorney, Lantos said, "I can understand not being able to find affordable housing in Washington but not an attorney."
Lantos did not attend the United Nations' annual commemoration of the Holocaust last month. His remarks were delivered by his daughter, Katrina Lantos Swett.
In his speech, Lantos called on the world community, "on this day dedicated to one of the worst episodes in human history," to "re-dedicate ourselves to stopping current tragedies such as the genocide in Darfur -- and there is no other proper word for this atrocity -- and to preventing such inhuman cruelty in the future." Saying that "the veneer of civilization is paper thin," Lantos added, "we are its guardians, and we can never rest."
He is survived by his wife, Annette, their children, Katrina Lantos Swett of New Hampshire and Annette Lantos Dick of Colorado, as well as 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Monday, February 11, 2008
NIGHT OF RHYTHM & 'SNOOZE'
By DAN AQUILANTE
February 11, 2008 -- WHAT do you get an awards ceremony for its 50th birthday? How about a little excitement, because last night's Grammys sure could have used a shot of adrenaline.
Right up front, Alicia Keys was at the baby grand doing a beyond-the-grave duet with Frank Sinatra.
The message was clear: This was going to be a classy affair, even if it was going to render America unconscious.
Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban did their Sominex best with operatic bellows; Herbie Hancock played "Rhapsody in Blue" (all of it) while the Foo Fighters dulled its edge with a symphonic backing.
Kanye West - the artist who went to the awards with the most nominations, at eight - found the audience's pulse 45 minutes into the show with his robotic rap "Stronger." West, still grieving his mother (who died from complications after plastic surgery last year), then dropped into tear-gear with "Hey Mama."
After Beyoncé's much-anticipated duet with Tina Turner on "Proud Mary" - the night's best performance - it was Amy Winehouse's turn to try to jump-start the awards.
Winehouse had the presence of an 800-pound Grammy-grabbing gorilla.
She's a better writer and singer than live performer, and proved it. Beamed from London, she was jittery and dropped a line from her song "Rehab."
Still it was Amy's party and she didn't get to go. Now that could drive a girl to drink.
Source: NewYorkPostPanthers' Richard Zednik Is Stable After Skate Blade Cuts Neck
By Erik Matuszewski
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers is in stable condition in a Buffalo, New York, hospital after having his neck accidentally cut by a teammate's skate blade during a National Hockey League game last night.
Zednik underwent surgery at Buffalo General Hospital to close a laceration in his neck, according to the NHL's Web site. No other information was immediately available.
Midway through the third period of Florida's 5-3 loss in Buffalo last night, Jokinen was upended by Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell. As Jokinen fell, his right skate flew up and caught Zednik in the neck, causing blood to gush onto the ice at HSBC Arena. Zednik immediately skated to the Panthers' bench, where trainers attended to him and rushed him to the hospital.
The game was delayed for more than 15 minutes as Zednik's blood was cleaned from the ice.
``As soon as he got into the dressing room, I think they were able to stabilize him and stop the bleeding, which was probably crucial,'' Panthers coach Jacques Martin said at a post-game news conference.
Martin said Zednik, 32, was conscious when he was taken to the hospital. Zednik has 15 goals and 11 assists in 53 games for the Panthers this season.
Zednik's injury came 19 years after former Sabres goaltender Clint Malarchuk almost died when his jugular vein was cut by a skate blade in a goal-mouth collision between St. Louis winger Steve Tuttle and Buffalo defenseman Uwe Krupp.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net
Source: Bloomberg.com
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Gates Warns Europe on Afghan Danger
By THOM SHANKER and NICHOLAS KULISH
MUNICH — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates issued a stark warning Sunday to the people of Europe, saying that their safety from terrorist attack by Islamic extremists is directly linked to NATO’s success in stabilizing Afghanistan.
After weeks of calling on alliance governments to send more combat troops and trainers to Afghanistan, Mr. Gates made his case directly to populations across the continent in a keynote address to the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an international security conference. Mr. Gates summoned the memory of Sept. 11, 2001, to say that Europe is at risk of becoming victim to attacks of the same enormity.
"I am concerned that many people on this continent may not comprehend the magnitude of the direct threat to European security,” Mr. Gates said. “For the United States, Sept. 11 was a galvanizing event, one that opened the American public’s eyes to dangers from distant lands.”
In a hall filled with government officials, legislators and policy analysts from around the world, Mr. Gates added: “So now I would like to add my voice to those of many allied leaders on the continent and speak directly to the people of Europe. The threat posed by violent Islamic extremism is real and it is not going to go away.”
Mr. Gates cited terrorist attacks in Madrid, London, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Paris and Glasgow, and said that other attacks, some complex, had been disrupted before they could be carried out in Belgium, Germany and Denmark and in airliners over the Atlantic.
“Just in the last few weeks, Spanish authorities arrested 14 Islamic extremists in Barcelona suspected of planning suicide attacks against public transport systems in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and Britain,” he said.
“I am not indulging in scare tactics,” Mr. Gates stated. “Nor am I exaggerating either the threat or inflating the consequences of a victory for the extremists. Nor am I saying that the extremists are 10 feet tall.”
He said the task facing Europe, the United States and allies around the world “is to fracture and destroy this movement in its infancy — to permanently reduce its ability to strike globally and catastrophically, while deflating its ideology
The “best opportunity as an alliance to do this,” he stated, “is in Afghanistan.”
Mr. Gates said that some terrorist cells in Europe are funded and receive inspiration from abroad. “Many who have been arrested have had direct connections to Al Qaeda,” he said. “Some have met with top leaders or attended training camps abroad. Some are connected to Al Qaeda in Iraq.”
He said that the Barcelona terrorist cell appeared to have links with a terrorist network commanded by extremists in Pakistan who are thought to be affiliated with the Taliban and Al Qaeda and have been blamed for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
many NATO governments “appreciate the importance of the Afghan mission, European public support for it is weak,” Mr. Gates said. “Many Europeans question the relevance of our actions and doubt whether the mission is worth the lives of their sons and daughters.”
But they “forget at our peril that the ambition of Islamic extremists is limited only by opportunity,” he added.
Mr. Gates said that in Afghanistan, “the really hard question the alliance faces is whether the whole of our effort is adding up to less than the sum of its parts.”
In specific policy initiatives, Mr. Gates called for a common set of training standards for every soldier and civilian deployed to Afghanistan, and for the appointment of a high-level European to serve as civilian administrator to coordinate international assistance.
Echoing U.S. lessons from the exhausting effort to suppress insurgents and terrorists in Iraq after the swift invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Mr. Gates said NATO must better coordinate military operations and civilian reconstruction and “put aside any theology that attempts clearly to divide civilian and military operations. It is unrealistic.”
During a lively question-and-answer period after the speech, a member of the Russian Parliament, Alexey Ostrovskiy, asked Mr. Gates whether the blame for Al Qaeda did not lie at the feet of the U.S. intelligence community for funding the mujahedeen in Afghanistan who resisted the Soviet occupation during the 1980s. Many of those anti-Soviet fighters went on to become Islamic extremists and members of the Taliban or Al Qaeda.
“After that, when the Soviet troops left, for all intents and purposes, people who were created by you were idle,” said Mr. Ostrovskiy.
“If we bear a particular responsibility for the role of the mujahedeen and Al Qaeda growing up in Afghanistan, it has more to do with our abandonment of the country in 1989 than our assistance of it in 1979,” Mr. Gates answered.
Source: Europe
MUNICH — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates issued a stark warning Sunday to the people of Europe, saying that their safety from terrorist attack by Islamic extremists is directly linked to NATO’s success in stabilizing Afghanistan.
After weeks of calling on alliance governments to send more combat troops and trainers to Afghanistan, Mr. Gates made his case directly to populations across the continent in a keynote address to the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an international security conference. Mr. Gates summoned the memory of Sept. 11, 2001, to say that Europe is at risk of becoming victim to attacks of the same enormity.
"I am concerned that many people on this continent may not comprehend the magnitude of the direct threat to European security,” Mr. Gates said. “For the United States, Sept. 11 was a galvanizing event, one that opened the American public’s eyes to dangers from distant lands.”
In a hall filled with government officials, legislators and policy analysts from around the world, Mr. Gates added: “So now I would like to add my voice to those of many allied leaders on the continent and speak directly to the people of Europe. The threat posed by violent Islamic extremism is real and it is not going to go away.”
Mr. Gates cited terrorist attacks in Madrid, London, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Paris and Glasgow, and said that other attacks, some complex, had been disrupted before they could be carried out in Belgium, Germany and Denmark and in airliners over the Atlantic.
“Just in the last few weeks, Spanish authorities arrested 14 Islamic extremists in Barcelona suspected of planning suicide attacks against public transport systems in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and Britain,” he said.
“I am not indulging in scare tactics,” Mr. Gates stated. “Nor am I exaggerating either the threat or inflating the consequences of a victory for the extremists. Nor am I saying that the extremists are 10 feet tall.”
He said the task facing Europe, the United States and allies around the world “is to fracture and destroy this movement in its infancy — to permanently reduce its ability to strike globally and catastrophically, while deflating its ideology
The “best opportunity as an alliance to do this,” he stated, “is in Afghanistan.”
Mr. Gates said that some terrorist cells in Europe are funded and receive inspiration from abroad. “Many who have been arrested have had direct connections to Al Qaeda,” he said. “Some have met with top leaders or attended training camps abroad. Some are connected to Al Qaeda in Iraq.”
He said that the Barcelona terrorist cell appeared to have links with a terrorist network commanded by extremists in Pakistan who are thought to be affiliated with the Taliban and Al Qaeda and have been blamed for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
many NATO governments “appreciate the importance of the Afghan mission, European public support for it is weak,” Mr. Gates said. “Many Europeans question the relevance of our actions and doubt whether the mission is worth the lives of their sons and daughters.”
But they “forget at our peril that the ambition of Islamic extremists is limited only by opportunity,” he added.
Mr. Gates said that in Afghanistan, “the really hard question the alliance faces is whether the whole of our effort is adding up to less than the sum of its parts.”
In specific policy initiatives, Mr. Gates called for a common set of training standards for every soldier and civilian deployed to Afghanistan, and for the appointment of a high-level European to serve as civilian administrator to coordinate international assistance.
Echoing U.S. lessons from the exhausting effort to suppress insurgents and terrorists in Iraq after the swift invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Mr. Gates said NATO must better coordinate military operations and civilian reconstruction and “put aside any theology that attempts clearly to divide civilian and military operations. It is unrealistic.”
During a lively question-and-answer period after the speech, a member of the Russian Parliament, Alexey Ostrovskiy, asked Mr. Gates whether the blame for Al Qaeda did not lie at the feet of the U.S. intelligence community for funding the mujahedeen in Afghanistan who resisted the Soviet occupation during the 1980s. Many of those anti-Soviet fighters went on to become Islamic extremists and members of the Taliban or Al Qaeda.
“After that, when the Soviet troops left, for all intents and purposes, people who were created by you were idle,” said Mr. Ostrovskiy.
“If we bear a particular responsibility for the role of the mujahedeen and Al Qaeda growing up in Afghanistan, it has more to do with our abandonment of the country in 1989 than our assistance of it in 1979,” Mr. Gates answered.
Source: Europe
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Macy's regroups, will cut jobs
BY JOHN ECKBERG JECKBERG@ENQUIRER.COM
Rocked by weak holiday sales and facing a critical spring 2008 fashion season, Macy's Inc. on Wednesday moved to turn around its slumping share price by announcing layoffs of up to 2,300 employees, eliminating three divisions and creating a new district management structure.
"When you have to come out and be at a division that is no longer going to exist, it's never easy," said Terry J. Lundgren, chief executive of the Cincinnati-based retail giant and architect of the new initiative. "I really dislike this part of the job. But it's the reality of the business. If it was just a consolidation, well, I'd say we've done that and been there. This is something quite different."
None of the job losses will hit Cincinnati, Macy's promised, although other areas of the nation won't be so lucky.
Macy's, the downtown Cincinnati-based retailer with 850 Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores and a surging online arm in Macys.com, expects layoffs to save the company $100 million beginning in 2009.
Relocation assistance for executives, severance and outplacement services will cost the company about $150 million in 2008.
The company plans to create a new district structure that could add 250 jobs - an approach that is modeled, in part, upon the packaged goods industry, Lundgren said in an interview Wednesday, one hour after the announcement.
"We are in the fashion business," Lundgren said. "We are not just selling tissues. You can't have the same shirt in 800 stores and assume success. Being in the fashion business, the product changes every few months and you have to anticipate. You need a hands-on organization."
Called "My Macy's," the localization initiative creates 20 districts of about 10 stores each.
Cincinnati will be the base for one district that could bring up to 40 jobs here.
The new approach, based upon customer research and developed over the past year, is an effort to accelerate sales growth with a custom-tailored shopping experience.
More managers will concentrate on bringing a better assortment of apparel to local markets based on shopping habits of customers in that region, Lundgren said.
"If we continue on the exact same course, we won't have dramatically different results," Lundgren said.
"If you want different results, you don't keep trying the same thing over and over again.
"We are actually putting more money and more investment into the local market with this structure," he said.
Lundgren said high gasoline prices and a nationwide housing slump have taken a toll on department store customers, making them more cautious.
Those were the macro issues," Lundgren said. "I suspect they will not be sorted out over the next couple of quarters. That's what the best minds are suggesting in Washington."
The company also said Wednesday that same-store, year-to-year sales, considered the best measure of a retailer's health, fell by 7.1 percent over 2006 results for the final four weeks of fiscal 2007.
company had advised shareholders that same-store sales for that period would be off by 4 percent to 6 percent.
For the 13-week fourth quarter of 2007, Macy's sales were $8.59 billion, down 6.1 percent from $9.16 billion reported for the same period in 2006.
Macy's will take a one-time pre-tax charge of $150 million in 2008 related to the consolidation.
Macy's also said Wednesday it will no longer offer guidance for quarterly sales or earnings. It expects the range of same-store sales for 2008 to be down 1 percent to up 1.5 percent.
, it told investors the company no longer expects to reach a goal of earnings as a percentage of sales before income tax, depreciation and amortization in the range of 14 percent to 15 percent in 2008-2009.
for 2007 were $26.31 billion, down 2.4 percent from sales of $26.97 billion in 53 weeks of the fiscal 2006 calendar.
On a same-store basis, sales were down by 1.3 percent in 2007 compared with 2006.
Macy's expects fourth-quarter earnings per diluted share to be between $1.75 and $1.80, which excludes merger integration costs of about $70 million.
Job losses will occur when Macy's consolidates its Minneapolis-based Macy's North into the New York-based Macy's East, its St. Louis-based Macy's Midwest into Atlanta-based Macy's South and its Seattle-based Macy's Northwest into Macy's West. The Atlantadivision will be renamed Macy's Central.
Al Ferara, national director of retail services for BDO Seidman, an accounting and consulting firm based in New York City, said Macy's, which has headquarters in New York City, had no choice but to slash the payroll because of the tough economic climate. "I expect that sales for the upcoming year are not so glossy," Ferara said. "You have to react to that, and now is the perfect time."
in Macy's closed Wednesday at $23.94, down $1.16 or 4.62 percent.
Source: local business
Rocked by weak holiday sales and facing a critical spring 2008 fashion season, Macy's Inc. on Wednesday moved to turn around its slumping share price by announcing layoffs of up to 2,300 employees, eliminating three divisions and creating a new district management structure.
"When you have to come out and be at a division that is no longer going to exist, it's never easy," said Terry J. Lundgren, chief executive of the Cincinnati-based retail giant and architect of the new initiative. "I really dislike this part of the job. But it's the reality of the business. If it was just a consolidation, well, I'd say we've done that and been there. This is something quite different."
None of the job losses will hit Cincinnati, Macy's promised, although other areas of the nation won't be so lucky.
Macy's, the downtown Cincinnati-based retailer with 850 Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores and a surging online arm in Macys.com, expects layoffs to save the company $100 million beginning in 2009.
Relocation assistance for executives, severance and outplacement services will cost the company about $150 million in 2008.
The company plans to create a new district structure that could add 250 jobs - an approach that is modeled, in part, upon the packaged goods industry, Lundgren said in an interview Wednesday, one hour after the announcement.
"We are in the fashion business," Lundgren said. "We are not just selling tissues. You can't have the same shirt in 800 stores and assume success. Being in the fashion business, the product changes every few months and you have to anticipate. You need a hands-on organization."
Called "My Macy's," the localization initiative creates 20 districts of about 10 stores each.
Cincinnati will be the base for one district that could bring up to 40 jobs here.
The new approach, based upon customer research and developed over the past year, is an effort to accelerate sales growth with a custom-tailored shopping experience.
More managers will concentrate on bringing a better assortment of apparel to local markets based on shopping habits of customers in that region, Lundgren said.
"If we continue on the exact same course, we won't have dramatically different results," Lundgren said.
"If you want different results, you don't keep trying the same thing over and over again.
"We are actually putting more money and more investment into the local market with this structure," he said.
Lundgren said high gasoline prices and a nationwide housing slump have taken a toll on department store customers, making them more cautious.
Those were the macro issues," Lundgren said. "I suspect they will not be sorted out over the next couple of quarters. That's what the best minds are suggesting in Washington."
The company also said Wednesday that same-store, year-to-year sales, considered the best measure of a retailer's health, fell by 7.1 percent over 2006 results for the final four weeks of fiscal 2007.
company had advised shareholders that same-store sales for that period would be off by 4 percent to 6 percent.
For the 13-week fourth quarter of 2007, Macy's sales were $8.59 billion, down 6.1 percent from $9.16 billion reported for the same period in 2006.
Macy's will take a one-time pre-tax charge of $150 million in 2008 related to the consolidation.
Macy's also said Wednesday it will no longer offer guidance for quarterly sales or earnings. It expects the range of same-store sales for 2008 to be down 1 percent to up 1.5 percent.
, it told investors the company no longer expects to reach a goal of earnings as a percentage of sales before income tax, depreciation and amortization in the range of 14 percent to 15 percent in 2008-2009.
for 2007 were $26.31 billion, down 2.4 percent from sales of $26.97 billion in 53 weeks of the fiscal 2006 calendar.
On a same-store basis, sales were down by 1.3 percent in 2007 compared with 2006.
Macy's expects fourth-quarter earnings per diluted share to be between $1.75 and $1.80, which excludes merger integration costs of about $70 million.
Job losses will occur when Macy's consolidates its Minneapolis-based Macy's North into the New York-based Macy's East, its St. Louis-based Macy's Midwest into Atlanta-based Macy's South and its Seattle-based Macy's Northwest into Macy's West. The Atlantadivision will be renamed Macy's Central.
Al Ferara, national director of retail services for BDO Seidman, an accounting and consulting firm based in New York City, said Macy's, which has headquarters in New York City, had no choice but to slash the payroll because of the tough economic climate. "I expect that sales for the upcoming year are not so glossy," Ferara said. "You have to react to that, and now is the perfect time."
in Macy's closed Wednesday at $23.94, down $1.16 or 4.62 percent.
Source: local business
McCain and conservatives seek common purpose
By Frank Davies
WASHINGTON - Memo to conservative activists: Do the math. John McCain will be the Republican presidential nominee, so get with the program.
Memo to McCain: Work harder to win over conservative skeptics in the party.
That summarizes much of the advice coming from Republicans and political analysts Wednesday as they weigh how a fractured party can reunite after McCain won a string of victories - and snagged scores of party delegates - from New York to California on Super Tuesday, giving him a formidably large lead for the nomination.
primaries and caucuses in 28 states since early January, the Arizona senator has secured 703 convention delegates, almost 60 percent of the 1,191 needed to become the nominee, according to the Associated Press. Mitt Romney has 260, Mike Huckabee has 190. Ron Paul is running a distant fourth with 14.
On Wednesday, though, Romney and Huckabee weren't taking the bait about the need to unify behind a single candidate. Both told supporters they would continue campaigning and that there was still time to catch and beat McCain, despite his stellar showing Tuesday.
California played a major role in McCain's ascendancy. Boosted by an endorsement from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, McCain won 42 percent of the statewide vote to Romney's 34 percent. More important, McCain took all but three or four of the state's 53 congressional districts, giving him at least 147 delegates.
Rep. Dan Lungren, a Republican from
the Sacramento area who backed the Arizona senator more than a year ago, said he was stunned by McCain's comeback and the scope of his victory in California. The McCain campaign "spent almost no money in California until a little the last week, so I didn't know what to expect. I would not have predicted this when polls closed yesterday."
But exit polls show that the GOP has some deep fissures. Social conservatives and evangelicals around the country are still leery of McCain, and they voted for Huckabee in the South and for Romney in some Western states. In California, evangelicals split almost evenly among the top three candidates, the exit polls said.
Talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and conservative bloggers who channel the more rigid posture of the GOP's right wing have blistered McCain on issues from immigration to global warming.
"There has been a backlash against McCain from conservatives, but they didn't have enough time before Super Tuesday" to stop him, said David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union.
Good of the party
strategists say McCain and conservative activists are going to have to find a way to reconcile for the good of the party and improve their chances in the general election. This year Democrats are energized by large primary turnouts and what they see as voters' weariness of President Bush.
"McCain has always been able to reach out to swing voters, independents and moderates, but he still needs the party's conservative base to win in the fall," said political strategist Dan Schnur, who worked on McCain's 2000 campaign.
Schnur, who is neutral in this race, said McCain's choice of a running mate would send "a strong signal to the base," and his continued emphasis on national security helps "because it's a policy area where he's in complete sync with conservative voters."
And some point out that McCain and conservatives agree on some core principles.
Lungren said that while the candidate's position on immigration reform and willingness to work with Democrats "irritates many conservatives, there is agreement on the war, the threat of Islamo-fascism and the need to hold the line on spending."
"As far as the talk show hosts, what they're saying is not evidently getting through to many voters," Lungren added.
"I think (critics) have made their case against me pretty eloquently," McCain said Wednesday, adding caustically, "if that's the right word." He said that Ronald Reagan tried to reach out to Democrats, as he has done.
"I do hope that at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there are areas that we can agree on for the good of the party and for the good of the country," McCain said.
The conservative blogosphere is alive with debate over what to do about McCain. Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, a McCain backer, suggested on Fox News that pressure would build on Romney and Huckabee to withdraw for the good of the party.
so fast, say other conservatives.
"The question is not whether conservatives can find a way to reconcile themselves to vote for McCain," wrote commentator Mark Tapscott. "That's just another way of saying the same old cliche that conservatives have no place to go. They do if they choose to, and how they choose will be determined now by McCain."
McCain has made an effort at reconciliation in recent days, and today he speaks to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, a gathering of activists that he skipped last year.
Tapscott said that when McCain speaks to the conservative group, "he must make it clear that he is the guy who needs them more than they need him."
points
Blogger Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters wrote that McCain "has to start negotiating for support in part on the terms of conservatives. He will likely do so on judicial nominations, pork-barrel spending and budget reductions."
But McCain's big win in California may offer a different model for victory in the fall, by attracting moderates, independents and enough conservatives to form a new majority. Bruce Cain, a University of California-Berkeley political scientist who has studied state politics, said California Republicans are conservatives - but also pragmatists who want to win. And he suspects the same may be true elsewhere.
The "Schwarzenegger model" of reaching out to moderates could work in other states, Cain said. And conservatives would also be highly motivated if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee.
"Nothing unites a group more than someone they regard as such a negative figure," Cain said.
Source: mercury.com
WASHINGTON - Memo to conservative activists: Do the math. John McCain will be the Republican presidential nominee, so get with the program.
Memo to McCain: Work harder to win over conservative skeptics in the party.
That summarizes much of the advice coming from Republicans and political analysts Wednesday as they weigh how a fractured party can reunite after McCain won a string of victories - and snagged scores of party delegates - from New York to California on Super Tuesday, giving him a formidably large lead for the nomination.
primaries and caucuses in 28 states since early January, the Arizona senator has secured 703 convention delegates, almost 60 percent of the 1,191 needed to become the nominee, according to the Associated Press. Mitt Romney has 260, Mike Huckabee has 190. Ron Paul is running a distant fourth with 14.
On Wednesday, though, Romney and Huckabee weren't taking the bait about the need to unify behind a single candidate. Both told supporters they would continue campaigning and that there was still time to catch and beat McCain, despite his stellar showing Tuesday.
California played a major role in McCain's ascendancy. Boosted by an endorsement from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, McCain won 42 percent of the statewide vote to Romney's 34 percent. More important, McCain took all but three or four of the state's 53 congressional districts, giving him at least 147 delegates.
Rep. Dan Lungren, a Republican from
the Sacramento area who backed the Arizona senator more than a year ago, said he was stunned by McCain's comeback and the scope of his victory in California. The McCain campaign "spent almost no money in California until a little the last week, so I didn't know what to expect. I would not have predicted this when polls closed yesterday."
But exit polls show that the GOP has some deep fissures. Social conservatives and evangelicals around the country are still leery of McCain, and they voted for Huckabee in the South and for Romney in some Western states. In California, evangelicals split almost evenly among the top three candidates, the exit polls said.
Talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and conservative bloggers who channel the more rigid posture of the GOP's right wing have blistered McCain on issues from immigration to global warming.
"There has been a backlash against McCain from conservatives, but they didn't have enough time before Super Tuesday" to stop him, said David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union.
Good of the party
strategists say McCain and conservative activists are going to have to find a way to reconcile for the good of the party and improve their chances in the general election. This year Democrats are energized by large primary turnouts and what they see as voters' weariness of President Bush.
"McCain has always been able to reach out to swing voters, independents and moderates, but he still needs the party's conservative base to win in the fall," said political strategist Dan Schnur, who worked on McCain's 2000 campaign.
Schnur, who is neutral in this race, said McCain's choice of a running mate would send "a strong signal to the base," and his continued emphasis on national security helps "because it's a policy area where he's in complete sync with conservative voters."
And some point out that McCain and conservatives agree on some core principles.
Lungren said that while the candidate's position on immigration reform and willingness to work with Democrats "irritates many conservatives, there is agreement on the war, the threat of Islamo-fascism and the need to hold the line on spending."
"As far as the talk show hosts, what they're saying is not evidently getting through to many voters," Lungren added.
"I think (critics) have made their case against me pretty eloquently," McCain said Wednesday, adding caustically, "if that's the right word." He said that Ronald Reagan tried to reach out to Democrats, as he has done.
"I do hope that at some point we would just calm down a little bit and see if there are areas that we can agree on for the good of the party and for the good of the country," McCain said.
The conservative blogosphere is alive with debate over what to do about McCain. Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, a McCain backer, suggested on Fox News that pressure would build on Romney and Huckabee to withdraw for the good of the party.
so fast, say other conservatives.
"The question is not whether conservatives can find a way to reconcile themselves to vote for McCain," wrote commentator Mark Tapscott. "That's just another way of saying the same old cliche that conservatives have no place to go. They do if they choose to, and how they choose will be determined now by McCain."
McCain has made an effort at reconciliation in recent days, and today he speaks to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, a gathering of activists that he skipped last year.
Tapscott said that when McCain speaks to the conservative group, "he must make it clear that he is the guy who needs them more than they need him."
points
Blogger Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters wrote that McCain "has to start negotiating for support in part on the terms of conservatives. He will likely do so on judicial nominations, pork-barrel spending and budget reductions."
But McCain's big win in California may offer a different model for victory in the fall, by attracting moderates, independents and enough conservatives to form a new majority. Bruce Cain, a University of California-Berkeley political scientist who has studied state politics, said California Republicans are conservatives - but also pragmatists who want to win. And he suspects the same may be true elsewhere.
The "Schwarzenegger model" of reaching out to moderates could work in other states, Cain said. And conservatives would also be highly motivated if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee.
"Nothing unites a group more than someone they regard as such a negative figure," Cain said.
Source: mercury.com
Monday, February 4, 2008
Italy looks likely to hold early election
By Silvia Aloisi and Robin Pomeroy
ROME, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Italy seems likely to call an election by mid-April after the Senate speaker gave up trying to form a temporary government to end a political standoff triggered by Romano Prodi's resignation as prime minister.
Centre-right opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi wants an early election because he is riding high in opinion polls and hopes to return to the office of prime minister he has held twice before.
Many economists say another government elected under current electoral rules will prove just as unstable as Prodi's, and some worry another free-spending Berlusconi government will undo the centre-left's work on cutting the budget deficit.
Senate speaker Franco Marini, who had been asked by President Giorgio Napolitano to seek cross-party backing for an interim administration to reform the electoral system ahead of an election, said on Monday there was no such support.
"I could not find a significant majority on a precise electoral reform," Marini said as he left Napolitano's office after handing back his mandate on forming a new government.
Napolitano appears to have little choice now but to dissolve parliament and call an election. He could theoretically ask Marini or someone else to try again but that is considered unlikely as the centre-right is sure to reject further advances.
"We hope ... the head of state will call elections immediately because the country quickly needs an efficient government to solve its grave problems," Berlusconi, a 71-year-old media tycoon, told reporters.
Business leaders have pleaded for stability since Italy's 61st post-war government collapsed last month after Prodi lost a confidence vote in parliament following defections from his centre-left coalition. He had been in power for only 20 months.
Source: Reuters
ROME, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Italy seems likely to call an election by mid-April after the Senate speaker gave up trying to form a temporary government to end a political standoff triggered by Romano Prodi's resignation as prime minister.
Centre-right opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi wants an early election because he is riding high in opinion polls and hopes to return to the office of prime minister he has held twice before.
Many economists say another government elected under current electoral rules will prove just as unstable as Prodi's, and some worry another free-spending Berlusconi government will undo the centre-left's work on cutting the budget deficit.
Senate speaker Franco Marini, who had been asked by President Giorgio Napolitano to seek cross-party backing for an interim administration to reform the electoral system ahead of an election, said on Monday there was no such support.
"I could not find a significant majority on a precise electoral reform," Marini said as he left Napolitano's office after handing back his mandate on forming a new government.
Napolitano appears to have little choice now but to dissolve parliament and call an election. He could theoretically ask Marini or someone else to try again but that is considered unlikely as the centre-right is sure to reject further advances.
"We hope ... the head of state will call elections immediately because the country quickly needs an efficient government to solve its grave problems," Berlusconi, a 71-year-old media tycoon, told reporters.
Business leaders have pleaded for stability since Italy's 61st post-war government collapsed last month after Prodi lost a confidence vote in parliament following defections from his centre-left coalition. He had been in power for only 20 months.
Source: Reuters
Candidates Blitz States as Big Day Looms
By MICHAEL COOPER
The presidential candidates from both parties campaigned frenetically on Monday, making their final pushes with a series of rallies and blitzes of television commercials for a last bout of November-style campaigning before more than 20 states vote in Tuesday’s virtual national primary.
Several candidates — including Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain — focused their time on the delegate-rich Northeast. But the tightening race in the biggest prize of all, California, was underscored when Mitt Romney and Mr. McCain both made changes to their schedules to add 11th-hour visits there.
The final day of campaigning before Feb. 5 showed how the dynamic of the race had shifted in the last month. Mrs. Clinton, who was long considered the Democratic favorite, found herself locked in a series of races in several states with Mr. Obama. On the Republican side, which only weeks ago had seemed wide open, Mr. McCain sought to ride his recent victories and rising poll numbers to the nomination, while Mr. Romney sought to win enough delegates to keep his campaign alive.
Mr. Romney spent much of the day trying to cast doubts on Mr. McCain’s conservatism — a theme that echoed loudly among conservative talk-radio commentators suspicious of his past positions on taxes and immigration.
“We’re going to hand the liberals in our party a little surprise,” Mr. Romney boasted in Atlanta, predicting victories in California and other states.
Mr. McCain responded with a national television advertisement showing Mr. Romney, in a previous campaign, saying: “Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.” The announcer says: “Mitt Romney was against Ronald Reagan before he was for him.”
The candidates embarked on a final frenzy of campaigning. Mr. Romney began a grueling 24-hour tour to try to block Mr. McCain from sewing up the Republican nomination. Mrs. Clinton had an emotional moment during a nostalgic visit to Yale, where she graduated from law school 35 years ago. And, in the psychological warfare department, Mr. McCain swaggered into the heart of Romney country with a rally at Faneuil Hall in Boston, while Mr. Obama held a rally in East Rutherford, N.J., across the Hudson River from Mrs. Clinton’s home state of New York.
“We have a real choice to make,” Mr. Obama said at a rally at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands, where he filled about a third of the seats for a rally where he appeared with Senator Edward M. Kennedy. “It is a choice, not between black and white, not between genders and regions or religions, but a choice between the past and the future. And if I’m running against John McCain, I want to be making the argument for the future, not for the past. I want to be going forwards, not backwards.”
Mr. Obama was accompanied by Robert DeNiro (his tough-guy endorser, in a year in which Mike Huckabee got a boost from Chuck Norris and Mr. McCain from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California).
Mr. Obama also received a free publicity boost by way of a music video created in his honor that spread in viral fashion throughout the Web with an intensity that was high even by the standards of this Internet-focused campaign season. The video was created by the singer will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, and featured celebrities singing along to Mr. Obama’s New Hampshire concession speech on Jan. 8. Released on Friday, the digital video had already been viewed more than one million times on YouTube alone by Monday evening.
Mrs. Clinton — whose emotional, eye-welling response to a question just before the New Hampshire primary was credited by some analysts with humanizing her and helping her win there — showed emotion during a campaign stop on Monday morning at the Yale Child Study Center, where she had volunteered as a law student.
“I said I would not tear up — already, we’re not on that path,” a moist-eyed Mrs. Clinton said, drawing laughs after Penn Rhodeen, a lawyer who worked with her as a student, recalled the day she showed up on his doorstep in purple bell bottoms.
Later, at a rally in Worcester, Mass., Mrs. Clinton took aim at Mr. Obama. “You know, change is hard,” she said, in a reference to Mr. Obama’s frequent campaign message. “I wish all you had to do was just say it’s going to happen and it’ll materialize. But it’s going to take hard work. It’s going to take every one of us.”
The Obama-Clinton competition over fund-raising has also intensified as both candidates seek fresh support from donors. But it appears that Mr. Obama has been out front recently: His campaign reported raising $32 million in January, while Terry McAuliffe, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, said on MSNBC on Monday that her team raised about $13.5 million last month.
And other groups are pumping money into this election cycle. A new group, financed in part by the billionaire George Soros and called Fund for America, has raised $6.75 million on behalf of Democratic candidates and the party. The group will be working outside of the official Democratic candidates and campaigns.
Mr. McCain, buoyed by strong national poll numbers, brimmed with confidence at his rally in Boston. Asked by a reporter about his foray into Massachusetts, where Mr. Romney was governor, Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, said: “He’s certainly welcome to come to Arizona if he likes. The weather’s very nice.”
Mr. McCain went on to campaign in New Jersey and in Grand Central Terminal in New York, where he collected the endorsement of George E. Pataki, the former governor.
Mr. Romney, stumping in the South, tried to seize on doubts about Mr. McCain’s conservatism. In Nashville, hoarse from the frenzied race to the finish, Mr. Romney led a call-and-response about Mr. McCain’s deviations from Republican orthodoxy that has become a standard part of his stump speech.
“Do you want a nominee who voted against the Bush tax cuts?” Mr. Romney asked.
“Nooo!” the crowd roared back.
Later, in Atlanta, Mr. Romney added another one about Mr. McCain’s vote in the Senate against a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
The questions have resonated on talk radio. Rush Limbaugh, who has been especially vocal in his criticisms of Mr. McCain in recent days, complained that Mr. McCain had “stabbed his own party in the back” on several occasions.
And Mr. Romney, who was himself considered a moderate when he was governor of Massachusetts, was challenged on his own conservative credentials by Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, who campaigned in the South and who called himself a candidate who “hasn’t just decided this year where he stands on the Second Amendment,” an apparent dig at Mr. Romney.
Mr. Romney seemed pleased to have drawn Mr. McCain back to California; after Mr. Romney added a Monday-night stop there, Mr. McCain added a stop on Tuesday. The Romney campaign is focusing its television advertising budget on California and cable television, deciding against running commercials in Missouri and Georgia.
“I understand that we’ve now brought Senator McCain back to California, too,” Mr. Romney said at a news conference in Nashville on Monday morning. “He’s like, ‘Oh wow, Romney’s there. I better go back there and see if I can’t shore up the race there.’ But he’s sliding in California.”
Reporting was contributed by Julie Bosman from New Haven; Jeff Zeleny from East Rutherford, N.J.; Michael Luo from Nashville; Elisabeth Bumiller, Patrick Healy, Leslie Wayne and Jim Rutenberg from New York City; and Ariel Alexovich from Washington.
Source: Politics
The presidential candidates from both parties campaigned frenetically on Monday, making their final pushes with a series of rallies and blitzes of television commercials for a last bout of November-style campaigning before more than 20 states vote in Tuesday’s virtual national primary.
Several candidates — including Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain — focused their time on the delegate-rich Northeast. But the tightening race in the biggest prize of all, California, was underscored when Mitt Romney and Mr. McCain both made changes to their schedules to add 11th-hour visits there.
The final day of campaigning before Feb. 5 showed how the dynamic of the race had shifted in the last month. Mrs. Clinton, who was long considered the Democratic favorite, found herself locked in a series of races in several states with Mr. Obama. On the Republican side, which only weeks ago had seemed wide open, Mr. McCain sought to ride his recent victories and rising poll numbers to the nomination, while Mr. Romney sought to win enough delegates to keep his campaign alive.
Mr. Romney spent much of the day trying to cast doubts on Mr. McCain’s conservatism — a theme that echoed loudly among conservative talk-radio commentators suspicious of his past positions on taxes and immigration.
“We’re going to hand the liberals in our party a little surprise,” Mr. Romney boasted in Atlanta, predicting victories in California and other states.
Mr. McCain responded with a national television advertisement showing Mr. Romney, in a previous campaign, saying: “Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.” The announcer says: “Mitt Romney was against Ronald Reagan before he was for him.”
The candidates embarked on a final frenzy of campaigning. Mr. Romney began a grueling 24-hour tour to try to block Mr. McCain from sewing up the Republican nomination. Mrs. Clinton had an emotional moment during a nostalgic visit to Yale, where she graduated from law school 35 years ago. And, in the psychological warfare department, Mr. McCain swaggered into the heart of Romney country with a rally at Faneuil Hall in Boston, while Mr. Obama held a rally in East Rutherford, N.J., across the Hudson River from Mrs. Clinton’s home state of New York.
“We have a real choice to make,” Mr. Obama said at a rally at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands, where he filled about a third of the seats for a rally where he appeared with Senator Edward M. Kennedy. “It is a choice, not between black and white, not between genders and regions or religions, but a choice between the past and the future. And if I’m running against John McCain, I want to be making the argument for the future, not for the past. I want to be going forwards, not backwards.”
Mr. Obama was accompanied by Robert DeNiro (his tough-guy endorser, in a year in which Mike Huckabee got a boost from Chuck Norris and Mr. McCain from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California).
Mr. Obama also received a free publicity boost by way of a music video created in his honor that spread in viral fashion throughout the Web with an intensity that was high even by the standards of this Internet-focused campaign season. The video was created by the singer will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, and featured celebrities singing along to Mr. Obama’s New Hampshire concession speech on Jan. 8. Released on Friday, the digital video had already been viewed more than one million times on YouTube alone by Monday evening.
Mrs. Clinton — whose emotional, eye-welling response to a question just before the New Hampshire primary was credited by some analysts with humanizing her and helping her win there — showed emotion during a campaign stop on Monday morning at the Yale Child Study Center, where she had volunteered as a law student.
“I said I would not tear up — already, we’re not on that path,” a moist-eyed Mrs. Clinton said, drawing laughs after Penn Rhodeen, a lawyer who worked with her as a student, recalled the day she showed up on his doorstep in purple bell bottoms.
Later, at a rally in Worcester, Mass., Mrs. Clinton took aim at Mr. Obama. “You know, change is hard,” she said, in a reference to Mr. Obama’s frequent campaign message. “I wish all you had to do was just say it’s going to happen and it’ll materialize. But it’s going to take hard work. It’s going to take every one of us.”
The Obama-Clinton competition over fund-raising has also intensified as both candidates seek fresh support from donors. But it appears that Mr. Obama has been out front recently: His campaign reported raising $32 million in January, while Terry McAuliffe, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, said on MSNBC on Monday that her team raised about $13.5 million last month.
And other groups are pumping money into this election cycle. A new group, financed in part by the billionaire George Soros and called Fund for America, has raised $6.75 million on behalf of Democratic candidates and the party. The group will be working outside of the official Democratic candidates and campaigns.
Mr. McCain, buoyed by strong national poll numbers, brimmed with confidence at his rally in Boston. Asked by a reporter about his foray into Massachusetts, where Mr. Romney was governor, Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, said: “He’s certainly welcome to come to Arizona if he likes. The weather’s very nice.”
Mr. McCain went on to campaign in New Jersey and in Grand Central Terminal in New York, where he collected the endorsement of George E. Pataki, the former governor.
Mr. Romney, stumping in the South, tried to seize on doubts about Mr. McCain’s conservatism. In Nashville, hoarse from the frenzied race to the finish, Mr. Romney led a call-and-response about Mr. McCain’s deviations from Republican orthodoxy that has become a standard part of his stump speech.
“Do you want a nominee who voted against the Bush tax cuts?” Mr. Romney asked.
“Nooo!” the crowd roared back.
Later, in Atlanta, Mr. Romney added another one about Mr. McCain’s vote in the Senate against a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
The questions have resonated on talk radio. Rush Limbaugh, who has been especially vocal in his criticisms of Mr. McCain in recent days, complained that Mr. McCain had “stabbed his own party in the back” on several occasions.
And Mr. Romney, who was himself considered a moderate when he was governor of Massachusetts, was challenged on his own conservative credentials by Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, who campaigned in the South and who called himself a candidate who “hasn’t just decided this year where he stands on the Second Amendment,” an apparent dig at Mr. Romney.
Mr. Romney seemed pleased to have drawn Mr. McCain back to California; after Mr. Romney added a Monday-night stop there, Mr. McCain added a stop on Tuesday. The Romney campaign is focusing its television advertising budget on California and cable television, deciding against running commercials in Missouri and Georgia.
“I understand that we’ve now brought Senator McCain back to California, too,” Mr. Romney said at a news conference in Nashville on Monday morning. “He’s like, ‘Oh wow, Romney’s there. I better go back there and see if I can’t shore up the race there.’ But he’s sliding in California.”
Reporting was contributed by Julie Bosman from New Haven; Jeff Zeleny from East Rutherford, N.J.; Michael Luo from Nashville; Elisabeth Bumiller, Patrick Healy, Leslie Wayne and Jim Rutenberg from New York City; and Ariel Alexovich from Washington.
Source: Politics
Manning Keeps Cool, and Keeps a Drive Alive
By JOE LAPOINTE
GLENDALE, Ariz. — After winning the Most Valuable Player award in Super Bowl XLII for leading the Giants to a 17-14 victory over the New England Patriots, quarterback Eli Manning seemed as composed as he did on the field when he brought his team from behind twice in the fourth quarter with drives that ended in touchdown passes.
A smile played about his face, which looks younger than his 27 years, and he kept fighting it off the way he dodged tacklers, especially those who almost sacked him late in the game in the moments before he completed that 32-yard pass to David Tyree that kept alive a drive that will live forever in Giants’ lore.
Manning did not want to brag, but sometimes a man just has to tell the truth. “You can’t write a better script,” he said. “You’re going up against a team that’s unbeaten, the best team in the league at the time, and we beat them. We played better than they did.”
Manning is now the second brother in the family to win the Super Bowl and its M.V.P. trophy. His older brother Peyton did it last year with the Indianapolis Colts. Their father, Archie Manning, also was an N.F.L. quarterback, but his teams never won this game.
“I told him I that I was proud of him, I couldn’t be prouder,” Archie Manning said. When asked whether he expected such success for both of his sons, Archie said: “I never thought about them even playing college ball, much less pro football, much less winning Super Bowls or M.V.P.’s. It wasn’t in the plan.”
More than Eli’s 5-yard scoring pass early in the fourth quarter to Tyree, more than his 13-yard scoring pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute, the play that will be replayed and discussed endlessly came when Manning scrambled on third-and-5 from the Giants’ 44-yard line with about a minute left.
It seemed as if he was about to be sacked, and that would have been devastating. Would-be tacklers grabbed at him, clutching his shirt and tugging it. “You try to get small and see if you can squeak through,” Manning said.
He kept moving to his left, ducked out of a scrum, found open space and launched a soaring pass toward Tyree at the Patriots’ 25-yard line. “The ball hung up there,” Manning said with great understatement.
Tyree leaped in the air and brought it down with his hands, which pressed the ball against his helmet. The Giants had a first down with 59 seconds left. Four plays later they scored to beat a team that was 18-0. “I’m really happy for the kid; No. 10 proved his mettle,” Tyree said. “Everyone tried to put him to shame the past three years. He’s always cool. We love him. He was a shining leader today.”
Tyree was not speaking with hyperbole. Until the end of the regular season, Manning was doubted by some teammates, fans and news media skeptics.
Peyton Manning, referring to his brother’s pivotal play, said: “The scramble will go down as one of the greatest plays of all time. It was fun to say you were here to witness it, and the fact that I’m related to the quarterback who threw it makes it pretty neat as well.”
Was Eli Manning really a first-rate N.F.L. quarterback? Would he ever be as good as his brother? In the playoffs, against Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay, Manning seemed to find his stride and his teammates could sense it, too.
Center Shaun O’Hara called Manning unstoppable and said that before the final drive, Manning stalked the sideline telling his teammates that this is what they play for. Regarding Manning’s escape of the sack on third down, O’Hara said: “I saw Eli break a tackle, which I don’t think he has ever done before. It was very Steve Young- and Joe Montana-like. I don’t know how he had the composure.”
Michael Strahan, the defensive end, said: “He’s not Peyton Manning’s little brother. He’s not Eli who slumps. He’s a champion.” Referring to his third-down scramble and pass, Strahan said: “That play alone took a few years off my life.”
Manning completed 19 of 34 passes for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had one interception, but it was among the three balls that his receivers caught and dropped.
More than his statistics, however, Manning seemed to show poise under pressure, which is often the difference between good players and great ones.
When asked about the final drive, when his team trailed by 4 points and knew that a field goal was of no use, Manning let that smile play again across his face.
“This is where you want to be, honestly,” he said. “You kind of like being down 4. You have to score a touchdown.”
Source: Pro Football
GLENDALE, Ariz. — After winning the Most Valuable Player award in Super Bowl XLII for leading the Giants to a 17-14 victory over the New England Patriots, quarterback Eli Manning seemed as composed as he did on the field when he brought his team from behind twice in the fourth quarter with drives that ended in touchdown passes.
A smile played about his face, which looks younger than his 27 years, and he kept fighting it off the way he dodged tacklers, especially those who almost sacked him late in the game in the moments before he completed that 32-yard pass to David Tyree that kept alive a drive that will live forever in Giants’ lore.
Manning did not want to brag, but sometimes a man just has to tell the truth. “You can’t write a better script,” he said. “You’re going up against a team that’s unbeaten, the best team in the league at the time, and we beat them. We played better than they did.”
Manning is now the second brother in the family to win the Super Bowl and its M.V.P. trophy. His older brother Peyton did it last year with the Indianapolis Colts. Their father, Archie Manning, also was an N.F.L. quarterback, but his teams never won this game.
“I told him I that I was proud of him, I couldn’t be prouder,” Archie Manning said. When asked whether he expected such success for both of his sons, Archie said: “I never thought about them even playing college ball, much less pro football, much less winning Super Bowls or M.V.P.’s. It wasn’t in the plan.”
More than Eli’s 5-yard scoring pass early in the fourth quarter to Tyree, more than his 13-yard scoring pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute, the play that will be replayed and discussed endlessly came when Manning scrambled on third-and-5 from the Giants’ 44-yard line with about a minute left.
It seemed as if he was about to be sacked, and that would have been devastating. Would-be tacklers grabbed at him, clutching his shirt and tugging it. “You try to get small and see if you can squeak through,” Manning said.
He kept moving to his left, ducked out of a scrum, found open space and launched a soaring pass toward Tyree at the Patriots’ 25-yard line. “The ball hung up there,” Manning said with great understatement.
Tyree leaped in the air and brought it down with his hands, which pressed the ball against his helmet. The Giants had a first down with 59 seconds left. Four plays later they scored to beat a team that was 18-0. “I’m really happy for the kid; No. 10 proved his mettle,” Tyree said. “Everyone tried to put him to shame the past three years. He’s always cool. We love him. He was a shining leader today.”
Tyree was not speaking with hyperbole. Until the end of the regular season, Manning was doubted by some teammates, fans and news media skeptics.
Peyton Manning, referring to his brother’s pivotal play, said: “The scramble will go down as one of the greatest plays of all time. It was fun to say you were here to witness it, and the fact that I’m related to the quarterback who threw it makes it pretty neat as well.”
Was Eli Manning really a first-rate N.F.L. quarterback? Would he ever be as good as his brother? In the playoffs, against Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay, Manning seemed to find his stride and his teammates could sense it, too.
Center Shaun O’Hara called Manning unstoppable and said that before the final drive, Manning stalked the sideline telling his teammates that this is what they play for. Regarding Manning’s escape of the sack on third down, O’Hara said: “I saw Eli break a tackle, which I don’t think he has ever done before. It was very Steve Young- and Joe Montana-like. I don’t know how he had the composure.”
Michael Strahan, the defensive end, said: “He’s not Peyton Manning’s little brother. He’s not Eli who slumps. He’s a champion.” Referring to his third-down scramble and pass, Strahan said: “That play alone took a few years off my life.”
Manning completed 19 of 34 passes for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had one interception, but it was among the three balls that his receivers caught and dropped.
More than his statistics, however, Manning seemed to show poise under pressure, which is often the difference between good players and great ones.
When asked about the final drive, when his team trailed by 4 points and knew that a field goal was of no use, Manning let that smile play again across his face.
“This is where you want to be, honestly,” he said. “You kind of like being down 4. You have to score a touchdown.”
Source: Pro Football
Energetic Mika erupts in colorful glitz
By Sarah Rodman
If energetic glee, unironic thumping disco beats, and unshakable melodies were valued commodities in the current US musical mainstream then Mika's stock would be as prized as that of someone like John Mayer.
That it isn't mattered not a whit to the 2,800 able-voiced members of the audience that packed the Orpheum Theatre Friday night to champion and nearly drown out the Beirut-born, London-bred pop singer, whose debut album "Life in Cartoon Motion" has become an international hit.
From the liberating opener "Relax (Take it Easy)" to the world's-best-birthday-party meets new-year's-celebration giddiness of closer "Lollipop" Mika proved as tireless a performer as he is a gifted melody-maker. The diverse crowd matched the booty-moving, call-and-response rhapsody of the singer-songwriter and his five-person band from start to finish, gamely responding, even when Mika called in an increasingly cartoonish, yet impressively tuneful falsetto.
The theatrical proceedings - like the zaftig go-go gals hoofing it up during "Big Girl (You are Beautiful)" and later falling snow, manic trash can drum solos, giant puppets, blow-up dolls and headdresses - mixed camp and rock concert glitz but never obscured the songs or Mika's sincerity in delivering them.
A throbbing, revved-up cover of Eurythmics' "Missionary Man" augmented album tracks like the bouncing "Grace Kelly" and new similarly candy-coated tunes.
Whether pounding on his keyboard while banging his curly head of teen heartthrob-worthy locks or shimmying across the stage to piercing shrieks - a shirtless interlude predictably raised the decibels - Mika was clearly enjoying himself. He crowed about the upgrade in venue size since his last visit to the Hub and basked in the adoring response to "Billy Brown," a song concerning a man's questions over his sexual identity that Mika was told by his record label would never fly in the United States.
The night climaxed in an explosion of multicolored confetti, streamers and balloons in arena-size portions with the band dressed up in furry animal costumes dancing onstage with what seemed like half the audience who left with cotton candy-sated smiles like kids departing the circus.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
Source: boston.com
If energetic glee, unironic thumping disco beats, and unshakable melodies were valued commodities in the current US musical mainstream then Mika's stock would be as prized as that of someone like John Mayer.
That it isn't mattered not a whit to the 2,800 able-voiced members of the audience that packed the Orpheum Theatre Friday night to champion and nearly drown out the Beirut-born, London-bred pop singer, whose debut album "Life in Cartoon Motion" has become an international hit.
From the liberating opener "Relax (Take it Easy)" to the world's-best-birthday-party meets new-year's-celebration giddiness of closer "Lollipop" Mika proved as tireless a performer as he is a gifted melody-maker. The diverse crowd matched the booty-moving, call-and-response rhapsody of the singer-songwriter and his five-person band from start to finish, gamely responding, even when Mika called in an increasingly cartoonish, yet impressively tuneful falsetto.
The theatrical proceedings - like the zaftig go-go gals hoofing it up during "Big Girl (You are Beautiful)" and later falling snow, manic trash can drum solos, giant puppets, blow-up dolls and headdresses - mixed camp and rock concert glitz but never obscured the songs or Mika's sincerity in delivering them.
A throbbing, revved-up cover of Eurythmics' "Missionary Man" augmented album tracks like the bouncing "Grace Kelly" and new similarly candy-coated tunes.
Whether pounding on his keyboard while banging his curly head of teen heartthrob-worthy locks or shimmying across the stage to piercing shrieks - a shirtless interlude predictably raised the decibels - Mika was clearly enjoying himself. He crowed about the upgrade in venue size since his last visit to the Hub and basked in the adoring response to "Billy Brown," a song concerning a man's questions over his sexual identity that Mika was told by his record label would never fly in the United States.
The night climaxed in an explosion of multicolored confetti, streamers and balloons in arena-size portions with the band dressed up in furry animal costumes dancing onstage with what seemed like half the audience who left with cotton candy-sated smiles like kids departing the circus.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
Source: boston.com
Israel Hit by First Suicide Attack in a Year
By ISABEL KERSHNER
DIMONA, Israel — One of two suicide bombers who may have snuck into Israel from the Egyptian Sinai blew himself up at a shopping center in this southern desert town on Monday, and medical officials said he killed an Israeli woman and wounded 11 others. It was the first suicide attack in Israel in more than a year.
The second bomber failed to detonate his explosive belt and was shot dead by a police officer at the scene, a police spokesman said.
The identities and nationalities of the attackers were not immediately clear but militant Palestinian groups claimed responsibility and speculation in Israel immediately focused on whether they were Gazans who had entered the country through the Egyptian border.
Over the previous 11 days, residents of Gaza had been able to move in and out of Egypt with relative ease because of a temporary breach in the sealed Gaza-Egypt border, which the Egyptian military resealed on Sunday.
The last suicide attack in Israel came in January 2007 in the southern city of Eilat, killing three Israelis.
In the hours after Monday’s attack, police officers lined the streets of Dimona and closed off the area of the bombing to the public.
Esther Peretz, 41, who had been running an errand at the shopping center, said she heard the bomb explode at around 10:30 a.m. and arrived at the scene a few minutes later to see pieces of flesh on the road and people gathering outside the City Hall. “It’s the first time a bomb has gone off like this in Dimona,” she said. “I can’t quite absorb it. There is a very hard feeling today.”
Kobi Moor, 34, the police officer who shot the second attacker, said he approached the militant, who was apparently injured from the first blast and was lying on the ground, and shot him four times in his head when he saw him move his hand toward his explosive belt strapped to his stomach.
“His hand was twitching,” Mr. Moor said, speaking to reporters. “He raised it again. So I shot four bullets into his head and neutralized him.”
Following the bombing, the police services went on high alert in various areas of the country, and near Dimona police officers were stationed at main junctions on roads leading to the city.
Dimona, a remote working class town in the Negev desert, is best known for its proximity to Israel’s nuclear reactor. The attack took place several miles from the site of the heavily guarded reactor.
The groups that claimed responsibility for the attack included one loosely affiliated with the mainstream Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas. It was not immediately clear how credible those early claims were.
The Israeli authorities had warned in recent days that Palestinian militants took advantage of the breach of the border between Gaza and Egypt after members of the Hamas movement that runs Gaza blasted sections of a wall between the two on Jan. 23 to cross from Gaza into Egypt and from Egypt into Gaza.
The Egyptian authorities have reported the arrest of more than a dozen Palestinian militants carrying weapons and explosives in the Sinai peninsula, close to the border with Gaza, over the past few days.
“Palestinian terror groups continue to strike at Israeli civilians,” said David Baker, an Israeli government spokesman, after the attack Monday. “Israel will continue to take the requisite steps to defend its people,” he said, without elaborating on any likely response.
Earlier Monday, Israeli forces killed two Islamic Jihad militants in an exchange of fire during an arrest raid in the village of Qabatiya in the northern West Bank.
Mr. Abbas’s Palestinian Authority issued a statement on Monday condemning both the Qabatiya raid and the attack in Dimona.
The Israeli air force later said it had also carried out an attack in Gaza against militants it said had been responsible for rocket attacks on Israel. Reuters reported that a senior Palestinian militant and several others were injured in the attack, citing a source in Hamas.
At Sunday’s cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service warned that militants had smuggled advance weaponry into Gaza while the border was down, including long-range missiles and anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.
The defense minister, Ehud Barak, told the cabinet there was an urgent need to build a fence along the porous border between Israel and Egypt.
Source:World Special
DIMONA, Israel — One of two suicide bombers who may have snuck into Israel from the Egyptian Sinai blew himself up at a shopping center in this southern desert town on Monday, and medical officials said he killed an Israeli woman and wounded 11 others. It was the first suicide attack in Israel in more than a year.
The second bomber failed to detonate his explosive belt and was shot dead by a police officer at the scene, a police spokesman said.
The identities and nationalities of the attackers were not immediately clear but militant Palestinian groups claimed responsibility and speculation in Israel immediately focused on whether they were Gazans who had entered the country through the Egyptian border.
Over the previous 11 days, residents of Gaza had been able to move in and out of Egypt with relative ease because of a temporary breach in the sealed Gaza-Egypt border, which the Egyptian military resealed on Sunday.
The last suicide attack in Israel came in January 2007 in the southern city of Eilat, killing three Israelis.
In the hours after Monday’s attack, police officers lined the streets of Dimona and closed off the area of the bombing to the public.
Esther Peretz, 41, who had been running an errand at the shopping center, said she heard the bomb explode at around 10:30 a.m. and arrived at the scene a few minutes later to see pieces of flesh on the road and people gathering outside the City Hall. “It’s the first time a bomb has gone off like this in Dimona,” she said. “I can’t quite absorb it. There is a very hard feeling today.”
Kobi Moor, 34, the police officer who shot the second attacker, said he approached the militant, who was apparently injured from the first blast and was lying on the ground, and shot him four times in his head when he saw him move his hand toward his explosive belt strapped to his stomach.
“His hand was twitching,” Mr. Moor said, speaking to reporters. “He raised it again. So I shot four bullets into his head and neutralized him.”
Following the bombing, the police services went on high alert in various areas of the country, and near Dimona police officers were stationed at main junctions on roads leading to the city.
Dimona, a remote working class town in the Negev desert, is best known for its proximity to Israel’s nuclear reactor. The attack took place several miles from the site of the heavily guarded reactor.
The groups that claimed responsibility for the attack included one loosely affiliated with the mainstream Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas. It was not immediately clear how credible those early claims were.
The Israeli authorities had warned in recent days that Palestinian militants took advantage of the breach of the border between Gaza and Egypt after members of the Hamas movement that runs Gaza blasted sections of a wall between the two on Jan. 23 to cross from Gaza into Egypt and from Egypt into Gaza.
The Egyptian authorities have reported the arrest of more than a dozen Palestinian militants carrying weapons and explosives in the Sinai peninsula, close to the border with Gaza, over the past few days.
“Palestinian terror groups continue to strike at Israeli civilians,” said David Baker, an Israeli government spokesman, after the attack Monday. “Israel will continue to take the requisite steps to defend its people,” he said, without elaborating on any likely response.
Earlier Monday, Israeli forces killed two Islamic Jihad militants in an exchange of fire during an arrest raid in the village of Qabatiya in the northern West Bank.
Mr. Abbas’s Palestinian Authority issued a statement on Monday condemning both the Qabatiya raid and the attack in Dimona.
The Israeli air force later said it had also carried out an attack in Gaza against militants it said had been responsible for rocket attacks on Israel. Reuters reported that a senior Palestinian militant and several others were injured in the attack, citing a source in Hamas.
At Sunday’s cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service warned that militants had smuggled advance weaponry into Gaza while the border was down, including long-range missiles and anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.
The defense minister, Ehud Barak, told the cabinet there was an urgent need to build a fence along the porous border between Israel and Egypt.
Source:World Special
'Boston Globe' Hikes Newsstand Price to 75 Cents -- Job Cuts Coming?
By E&P Staff
NEW YORK The Boston Globe announced today its newsstand price will increase to 75 cents from 50 cents on Feb. 4.
Home delivery and Sunday remain unchanged.
The increase applies to newspapers sold in Greater Boston. The daily Globe is already priced at 75 cents at locations beyond 30 miles from the city.
Meanwhile, the president of the Boston Newspaper Guild fired off a letter to Globe executives after the Metro newspaper said layoffs were coming. It opened: "The Boston Newspaper Guild is disgusted to have read the Metro story about possible layoffs at the Boston Globe with no prior mention of reductions by Globe representatives to The Boston Newspaper Guild.
"A Globe spokesman, Al Larkin, executive denied the Metro story -- or at least the size of the layoffs, with this statement: "Metro Boston's front page story today claiming that the Boston Globe is planning 'hundreds of layoffs' is factually incorrect. There are no plans for a staff reduction of the size cited in the Metro. As we have said many times in the past, we are always looking for operational efficiencies and will make staff reductions in accordance with those efforts when and if appropriate."
Source: Muller Martini
NEW YORK The Boston Globe announced today its newsstand price will increase to 75 cents from 50 cents on Feb. 4.
Home delivery and Sunday remain unchanged.
The increase applies to newspapers sold in Greater Boston. The daily Globe is already priced at 75 cents at locations beyond 30 miles from the city.
Meanwhile, the president of the Boston Newspaper Guild fired off a letter to Globe executives after the Metro newspaper said layoffs were coming. It opened: "The Boston Newspaper Guild is disgusted to have read the Metro story about possible layoffs at the Boston Globe with no prior mention of reductions by Globe representatives to The Boston Newspaper Guild.
"A Globe spokesman, Al Larkin, executive denied the Metro story -- or at least the size of the layoffs, with this statement: "Metro Boston's front page story today claiming that the Boston Globe is planning 'hundreds of layoffs' is factually incorrect. There are no plans for a staff reduction of the size cited in the Metro. As we have said many times in the past, we are always looking for operational efficiencies and will make staff reductions in accordance with those efforts when and if appropriate."
Source: Muller Martini
Boston Globe delivery to resume this week
by Anna Webster
The Boston Globe said an "oversight with delivery" of newspapers to Boston University dorms accounted for the absence of the broadsheet around campus this semester, in an email to Boston University.
Webb Lancaster, director of operations in the BU Auxiliary Services Department, said the Globe apologized for confusion about resuming delivery after it was suspended over break and said the newspapers, available to students for free, should be back on campus by Wednesday.
BU will continue to receive the Globe for the rest of the semester, and Lancaster emphasized the friendly relationship between the university and the newspaper.
"I always get a kick out of seeing free papers in the student residences," said BU spokesman Colin Riley. "There's a benefit for it.
"The Daily Free Press first reported the newspapers were missing from their stands Friday.
"Nobody contacted any of the administrative offices or Residence Life to notify that the papers were not coming," Lancaster said in the Feb. 1 article. "I didn't realize the papers were not being delivered, and I don't think anybody else did.
"The missing newspapers sparked confusion and questions from students and professors in the College of Communication, in particular, as many journalism classes require students to obtain hard copies for assignments.
"It is not always easy for students to buy the paper," said journalism department Chairman Lou Ureneck. "For a journalism department, the newspaper is essential."
Source: The Daily Free Press
The Boston Globe said an "oversight with delivery" of newspapers to Boston University dorms accounted for the absence of the broadsheet around campus this semester, in an email to Boston University.
Webb Lancaster, director of operations in the BU Auxiliary Services Department, said the Globe apologized for confusion about resuming delivery after it was suspended over break and said the newspapers, available to students for free, should be back on campus by Wednesday.
BU will continue to receive the Globe for the rest of the semester, and Lancaster emphasized the friendly relationship between the university and the newspaper.
"I always get a kick out of seeing free papers in the student residences," said BU spokesman Colin Riley. "There's a benefit for it.
"The Daily Free Press first reported the newspapers were missing from their stands Friday.
"Nobody contacted any of the administrative offices or Residence Life to notify that the papers were not coming," Lancaster said in the Feb. 1 article. "I didn't realize the papers were not being delivered, and I don't think anybody else did.
"The missing newspapers sparked confusion and questions from students and professors in the College of Communication, in particular, as many journalism classes require students to obtain hard copies for assignments.
"It is not always easy for students to buy the paper," said journalism department Chairman Lou Ureneck. "For a journalism department, the newspaper is essential."
Source: The Daily Free Press
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Dave's Super Spot-light: Fifth break
by Dave Walker, TV columnist
Grass grows wherever Derek Jeter goes. Peyton Manning, too, it turns out. The ad's for G2, a new beverage from Gatorade.
GoDaddy.com paid $2.7 million to tell people about a commercial only airing at GoDaddy.com. I'd say, Don'tGoDaddy.com, but there was a viewer discretion warning. On the Internet. Imagine.
A Dell notebook will win you admirers, not to mention bruises.
Great big carrier pigeons are competing with FedEx. Clever, weird, not funny.
Plan B for a guy who did his research at Cars.com involved a crazy guy and burning rocks. I'll take the bus.
For Tide's stain stick, a brilliant spot about a talking shirt stain. Just weird enough, and the point is crystal clear: Your sloppy spills do all your talking for you.
Source: Living
Grass grows wherever Derek Jeter goes. Peyton Manning, too, it turns out. The ad's for G2, a new beverage from Gatorade.
GoDaddy.com paid $2.7 million to tell people about a commercial only airing at GoDaddy.com. I'd say, Don'tGoDaddy.com, but there was a viewer discretion warning. On the Internet. Imagine.
A Dell notebook will win you admirers, not to mention bruises.
Great big carrier pigeons are competing with FedEx. Clever, weird, not funny.
Plan B for a guy who did his research at Cars.com involved a crazy guy and burning rocks. I'll take the bus.
For Tide's stain stick, a brilliant spot about a talking shirt stain. Just weird enough, and the point is crystal clear: Your sloppy spills do all your talking for you.
Source: Living
Origin of false fire reports not clear
by Norm Clarke
A news alert e-mailed by KVBC-TV, Channel 3 about 18 minutes after the Monte Carlo fire erupted Jan. 25 might have been the source of the false reports of mass hotel evacuations by local and national outlets.
Vegas Confidential obtained a copy of the news alert, which was sent at 11:15 a.m.
It read: "Guests of the Monte Carlo, Bellagio and New York-New York are being evacuated because of the blaze atop the Monte Carlo. Stay with News 3 for the latest."
KVBC news director Deborah Clayton said the station's webmaster indicated that "it appears to be one of our e-mails. It should have read 'Guests of the Monte Carlo are being evacuated to Bellagio and New York-New York,' which is how we correctly reported it on air."
The source of the trapped workers report isn't quite clear, although Holly Steuart, vice president and general manager at KVVU-TV, Channel 5, indicated in an e-mail last week that "our reporting of workers on the roof was sourced on reports coming from our network, Fox News, and (Fox 5 anchor Monica Jackson) attributed the information correctly."
KLAS-TV, Channel 8 anchor Gary Waddell, a veteran of the 1980 MGM Grand fire, delivered some of the most restrained reporting.
About 45 minutes into the fire, at 12:40 p.m., he told viewers, "There are some reports that people are trapped and we're hearing that the Bellagio and MGM Grand are being evacuated and those are not correct."
Between 1 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. he stated on air that national mentions of trapped workers were "not confirmed, not corroborated and I'm sort of doubting that."
Waddell called me last week to say that he did not criticize KVVU-TV, Channel 5, which had mentioned the trapped workers and evacuations.
When I called Waddell last Saturday to discuss the fire coverage, I asked him to confirm that he had criticized "Fox coverage." I was referring to the local Fox station, which is an affiliate of Fox News network, not Fox News Channel, the cable network.
Waddell assumed I was referring to Fox Network and confirmed he had questioned the coverage but declined to elaborate. Hence, the mix-up.
FNC briefly aired Jackson's audio with KTNV-TV, Channel 13's video feed.
KLAS captured the final Nielsen ratings, winning seven quarter hours to runner-up KVBC's four. KTNV-TV, Channel 13 won one quarter hour. KVVU, the only station without a helicopter, was shut out.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
That Siegfried & Roy tell-all by former employee Jim Lavery has been delayed to this spring. The author, Henrietta Tiefenthaler, co-authored "Train Wreck: The Life and Death of Anna Nicole Smith" with Donna Hogan, Smith's half sister.
There's buzz in the restaurant world that star chefs Mario Batali and Paul Bartolotta, who both have Las Vegas restaurants, squared off on "Iron Chef" last May. The episode will air in June.
Batali just launched Carnevino, at Palazzo after opening B&B Ristorante and Enoteca San Marco at The Venetian last year. Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare is one of the most successful restaurants at Wynn Las Vegas.
SIGHTINGS
Barry Bonds, roundly booed when he was shown on the scoreboard Saturday at UFC 81 at Mandalay Bay. Also in the crowd: Ken Griffey Jr., Jay-Z with Chuck Liddell and George St. Pierre and pro wrestling legends "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Undertaker and Kurt Angle to watch Brock Lesnar's battle against Frank Mir. ... Derek Jeter, playing blackjack at $800 a hand at the Playboy Club (Palms) early Saturday. ... In a VIP skybox at the 40/40 club: Sacramento Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof, watching the Kings-Bulls game with Bonds, one of just four players in baseball's exclusive 40-40 club (40 homers and 40 stolen bases). ... Siegfried and Roy, in the audience at "Variety Live! Direct from The London Palladium" (Suncoast) on Friday. ... Dominic Allen of Foreigner, joining the Scintas on stage Friday at the Hilton for "Hot Blooded."
Source: reviewjournal
A news alert e-mailed by KVBC-TV, Channel 3 about 18 minutes after the Monte Carlo fire erupted Jan. 25 might have been the source of the false reports of mass hotel evacuations by local and national outlets.
Vegas Confidential obtained a copy of the news alert, which was sent at 11:15 a.m.
It read: "Guests of the Monte Carlo, Bellagio and New York-New York are being evacuated because of the blaze atop the Monte Carlo. Stay with News 3 for the latest."
KVBC news director Deborah Clayton said the station's webmaster indicated that "it appears to be one of our e-mails. It should have read 'Guests of the Monte Carlo are being evacuated to Bellagio and New York-New York,' which is how we correctly reported it on air."
The source of the trapped workers report isn't quite clear, although Holly Steuart, vice president and general manager at KVVU-TV, Channel 5, indicated in an e-mail last week that "our reporting of workers on the roof was sourced on reports coming from our network, Fox News, and (Fox 5 anchor Monica Jackson) attributed the information correctly."
KLAS-TV, Channel 8 anchor Gary Waddell, a veteran of the 1980 MGM Grand fire, delivered some of the most restrained reporting.
About 45 minutes into the fire, at 12:40 p.m., he told viewers, "There are some reports that people are trapped and we're hearing that the Bellagio and MGM Grand are being evacuated and those are not correct."
Between 1 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. he stated on air that national mentions of trapped workers were "not confirmed, not corroborated and I'm sort of doubting that."
Waddell called me last week to say that he did not criticize KVVU-TV, Channel 5, which had mentioned the trapped workers and evacuations.
When I called Waddell last Saturday to discuss the fire coverage, I asked him to confirm that he had criticized "Fox coverage." I was referring to the local Fox station, which is an affiliate of Fox News network, not Fox News Channel, the cable network.
Waddell assumed I was referring to Fox Network and confirmed he had questioned the coverage but declined to elaborate. Hence, the mix-up.
FNC briefly aired Jackson's audio with KTNV-TV, Channel 13's video feed.
KLAS captured the final Nielsen ratings, winning seven quarter hours to runner-up KVBC's four. KTNV-TV, Channel 13 won one quarter hour. KVVU, the only station without a helicopter, was shut out.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
That Siegfried & Roy tell-all by former employee Jim Lavery has been delayed to this spring. The author, Henrietta Tiefenthaler, co-authored "Train Wreck: The Life and Death of Anna Nicole Smith" with Donna Hogan, Smith's half sister.
There's buzz in the restaurant world that star chefs Mario Batali and Paul Bartolotta, who both have Las Vegas restaurants, squared off on "Iron Chef" last May. The episode will air in June.
Batali just launched Carnevino, at Palazzo after opening B&B Ristorante and Enoteca San Marco at The Venetian last year. Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare is one of the most successful restaurants at Wynn Las Vegas.
SIGHTINGS
Barry Bonds, roundly booed when he was shown on the scoreboard Saturday at UFC 81 at Mandalay Bay. Also in the crowd: Ken Griffey Jr., Jay-Z with Chuck Liddell and George St. Pierre and pro wrestling legends "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Undertaker and Kurt Angle to watch Brock Lesnar's battle against Frank Mir. ... Derek Jeter, playing blackjack at $800 a hand at the Playboy Club (Palms) early Saturday. ... In a VIP skybox at the 40/40 club: Sacramento Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof, watching the Kings-Bulls game with Bonds, one of just four players in baseball's exclusive 40-40 club (40 homers and 40 stolen bases). ... Siegfried and Roy, in the audience at "Variety Live! Direct from The London Palladium" (Suncoast) on Friday. ... Dominic Allen of Foreigner, joining the Scintas on stage Friday at the Hilton for "Hot Blooded."
Source: reviewjournal
Reviewing TNA Impact - the importance of titles
By James Caldwell
Updated Friday, February 1
Here's TNA Impact in its weekly nutshell. The first three reader reax scores for last night's episode were 5.0, 0.0, and 8.5. You either love it or you hate it, or you just can't figure out what to do with this show.
The thing about TNA is that TV ratings are steady, with signs of slight growth. House show business is pretty strong with management happy with recent turn-outs in Texas and Ohio. But, they're not committed to selling PPVs or establishing the importance of titles, which drives PPV business in pro wrestling.
Looking at the title situation, the importance of the belts is virtually non-existent. TNA World champ Kurt Angle has a title defense against Christian Cage at the next PPV. On last night's episode, Christian had exactly five seconds of TV time and all he did was talk about Tomko. As for Angle's character, there is no concern for Christian as a threat, because the only concern is A.J. Styles and Tomko.
Most egregious was the booking of Jay Lethal. He lost the X Division Title last week to Johnny Devine (who already had possession of the title), but instead of trying to get his title back, Lethal was scripted in to play a parody role in a parody of a parody skit on a parody show instead of trying to get his title back.
In the tag division, B.G. James and Bob Armstrong are training for something, but it wasn't ever made clear last night that they're going after the tag titles. B.G. is such a threat that his "old man" - Jeff Jarrett's favorite term for his father - is showing him up in a training video, which is essentially a parody of the Shawn Michaels and Jose Lothario training videos. And the tag champs of Styles & Tomko are so concerned about their title defense that they haven't even acknowledged the existence of B.G. & Bob.
Which leaves the Women's Division, which, as usual, is the only division with competent storytelling. Awesome Kong is the champ. ODB is the #1 contender. ODB is on a hot streak. Kong is annoyed by ODB's invasion. Let's have a match. Simple and effective.
So, the result is that TNA continues to book TV that leads into the next TV episode, with the PPVs simply being an extra show once-a-month on Sunday nights. The same 30,000 people or 2 percent of their TV audience is going to buy the PPVs, and TNA is happy to have them on board.
If it works, then it works. But, they're leaving a ton of money on the table every month with weak PPV build-up and a lack of focus on the importance of titles, the holders of titles, and the chase for the title.
Updated Thursday, January 31
Over the past several weeks, the Brock Lesnar UFC fight hype has been all over the Internet. Major news and sports outlets have been covering Lesnar's UFC debut. Some press has been positive, same has been with the usual raised eyebrow for anyone with "the stain" of WWE. It's like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry's car stinks so bad that no one who has been inside the car can wash out the smell. Poor Elaine.
But, most interesting about the hype for Brock has been WWE's involvement in promoting Saturday's fight. They've granted UFC access to WWE video for their hype commercials. They've promoted the fight on their website with a splash background on the main page and a prominently displayed hype video. Granted, they didn't air anything Brock-related on their TV shows this week, but UFC did have advertising during commercial breaks on Raw and ECW.
The most-common answer for why WWE is promoting a fight for a former wrestler who wants nothing to do with WWE is that WWE believes UFC is in a different market. WWE has said that before on investor conference calls, while at the same time acknowledging that UFC has the most formidable business model of the MMA promotions to keep a share of the MMA pie without watering down the PPV market.
But, there are two more reasons I believe WWE is involved in the UFC marketing. One reason is that WWE believes they still have ownership over Brock. Ownership in the sense that WWE believes they made Brock into a mega-star by giving him a platform on TV and PPVs.
With the UFC 81 hype, WWE has one foot in the water and one foot on the edge of the pool. On one hand, they've allowed UFC to use their footage. On the other hand, they haven't openly promoted the PPV on TV.
If the PPV does big business, WWE will be able to take a measure of credit because they believe they created Brock into a mega-star and they are allowing UFC to use their footage in the hype videos. If the PPV bombs, WWE will be able to say Brock is just another former WWE star who isn't a big name without the full investment of the WWE hype machine. It's basically a win-win situation for WWE.
Another reason is the possibility of UFC getting a broadcast TV slot. UFC playing that WWE footage on CBS, ABC, NBC, or FOX with the WWE logo in the corner of the screen is a subtle (and maybe subliminal) piece of advertising for WWE's product. Hey, look, wasn't this guy in WWE a few years ago? I wonder what's going on in WWE these days!
It's similar to WWE promoting the NWA brand on their WWE 24/7 service. Half of the classic footage on 24/7 is from the NWA era that people associate with Ric Flair, who is still current on Raw. It's basically free advertising by association.
So, for wrestling fans who may have been Brock Lesnar fans during his WWE run or simply want to see a former WWE wrestler in the octagon, what are your plans for Saturday night? Are you more or less inclined to order the PPV or visit a sportsbar to watch it? Send in your feedback and vote in the two Torch polls I just put up asking the questions for this weekend's pre-Super Bowl UFC fight.
Updated Wednesday, January 30
6:55 p.m. Everyone likes a list (perhaps), so I'm debuting a Top 25 weekly ranking of the Top 5 wrestlers from each of the five U.S. pro wrestling "brands" (Raw, Smackdown, ECW, TNA, and ROH). WWE Raw could probably have 10 wrestlers in the Top 25, but to keep things even, I'm only picking the top 5 wrestlers from each brand. I'll run this every Wednesday evening here in the Cube.
Since pro wrestling is highly subjective, I've established three criteria points to evaluate the rankings, in the family of the Most Influential list compiled yearly in the Torch Newsletter. 1) Quality of TV/PPV time spent on the wrestler. 2) Quality of in-ring and "storyline" performance. 3) Is the wrestler in a position to draw money or ratings for the company?
The other consideration, much like college basketball rankings, is how much weight to place on wrestlers from WWE (high-end BCS schools) against wrestlers from TNA (low-end BCS schools) and ROH (mid-major schools).
Your feedback is certainly welcome. To the rankings...
(1) John Cena - Raw #1. Major surprise return to win Royal Rumble. In main event of WWE's next PPV. Highly-rated opening segment on 1/28 Raw. WWE's most-protected investment.
(2) Edge - SD #1. Current World Hvt. champion following Rumble victory. Given majority of Smackdown's key TV time. In Smackdown's top match at next PPV.
(3) Triple H - Raw #2. Finalist in Royal Rumble match. In Elimination Chamber match at next WWE PPV. Expected to be in a WrestleMania main event with Triple H DVD coming out just before Mania.
(4) Kurt Angle - TNA #1. Current TNA World Hvt. champion. Headlining TNA's next PPV and most visible wrestler on TNA Impact, with majority of TV time devoted to his storylines.
(5) Randy Orton - Raw #3. Current WWE champion with significant victory over hard-charging Jeff Hardy at Royal Rumble. Left KO'ed at the end of Jan. 28 Raw.
(6) Jeff Hardy - Raw #4. Mega-push leading to Royal Rumble subsided slightly on Jan. 28 Raw. Still in the headline Elimination Chamber match and a serious WWE player.
(7) Nigel McGuinness - ROH #1. Current ROH World champ. Headlining ROH's next New York City show against Bryan Danielson on Feb. 23.
(8) Bryan Danielson - ROH #2. Considered one of the best wrestlers in the world. Will face Nigel for the ROH Title on Feb. 23 NYC show.
(9) Tomko - TNA #2. Seriously being pushed for main event position as top babyface in the company. Survived two-on-one odds on Jan. 24 Impact to retain TNA Tag Titles.
(10) Ric Flair - SD #2. Scored clean victory over MVP at the Rumble PPV, and given respectable amount of TV time leading to PPV. In headline match against Mr. Kennedy at next PPV.
(11) C.M. Punk - ECW #1. Former ECW champion had upper hand over current ECW champion on Jan. 29 show. Beat formidable opponent, Elijah Burke, for a significant bounce-back win.
(12) Christian Cage - TNA #3. Main eventing second consecutive TNA PPV against Kurt Angle. Not booked like a serious threat to Angle's title, though.
(13) Rey Mysterio - SD #3. Lost to Edge at Royal Rumble, but will be in Smackdown's main event at WWE's next PPV in the re-match.
(14) MVP - SD #4. Clean loss to Ric Flair at Rumble set MVP back slightly. Still one of the most entertaining wrestlers on TV. In Smackdown's Elimination Chamber match, but not considered a serious threat to win.
(15) Shawn Michaels - Raw #5. Played lackey to Triple H as flashback to Michaels's role as a comedy figure in the DX 2006 era. Could be major player in the Elimination Chamber match.
(16) The Undertaker - SD #5. Eliminated earlier than expected from Royal Rumble. In position for WrestleMania main event, but currently without TV program.
(17) Samoa Joe - TNA #4. Position at next TNA PPV unclear, while regaining momentum in program with Nash antagonizing Jim Cornette.
(18) Chavo Guerrero - ECW #2. Current ECW champion, but has more losses than wins since coming to ECW. Not viewed as credible champion on a weak brand that isn't put in position to draw money for WWE.
(19) Austin Aries - ROH #3. Won blow-off match against Roderick Strong at ROH's most recent PPV. Being positioned as babyface leader. Faces Go Shiozaki in NYC on Feb. 23.
(20) The Briscoes - ROH #4. Booked as top tag team in pro wrestling despite recent tag title loss. Semi-main evented ROH's most recent PPV.
(21) The Miz & John Morrison - ECW #3. Current WWE tag champions. Returned to form with decisive victory over Colin Delaney to restore strong position.
(22) A.J. Styles - TNA #5. Given plenty of TV time alongside Kurt Angle, but turned into comedy heel figure. In no position to be taken seriously as PPV draw.
(23) Erick Stevens - ROH #5. Current FIP champion and being groomed for main event slot on future cards. Faces test against Go Shiozaki at ROH's next show on Feb. 22.
(24) Shelton Benjamin - ECW #4. Solid opening match against Kane on Jan. 29 TV. Sense of a real future for Shelton in ECW's main event position, despite poor showing at Rumble.
(25) Colin Delaney - ECW #5. Greatness. Given quality TV time to build-up program that led to Tommy Dreamer saving him from another beating on Jan. 29 show.
Others who would have received votes: Batista (SD #6), Mr. Kennedy (Raw #6), JBL (Raw #7), Chris Jericho (Raw #8), Roderick Strong (ROH #6).
***
11:15 a.m. ECW had one of its better offerings in several weeks last night. A good, solid show with quality wrestling and key storylines advanced. (Specifically, the Colin Delaney storyline picked up some steam, so that's an automatic thumbs up.)
ECW is really at its best not trying to be flashy, but just producing a fundamentally-strong one hour show. It's like a good first-hour PPV match. You don't want the match to steal the show; you just want a solid, memorable mid-card match. ECW usually has the fundamentals down, but the problem is that it's easily forgotten during the week.
The show is easily skippable for WWE fans, as the show draws less than half of the Raw audience. But, with the sharper set and some intriguing storylines developing, it might be worth another look. (Specifically for Colin Delaney.)
Compared to Raw two nights ago, ECW actually had a better wrestling product outside of Raw's main event. Shelton vs. Kane was a very good opener. If anything, it was good to see him last longer in the ring against Kane than he did during the Rumble match. Cat-leap. Superkick. Out you go.
And WWE can do a finish like Shelton walking out of the match after a competitive battle because it makes sense in Week 2 of the feud. So, Shelton felt like January 29 wasn't his day to beat Kane in a one-on-one match. Well, WWE doesn't enforce a penalty for walking out of a match in the storylines, so come back next week or the week after and see if that's a better day.
Now, specifically related to Colin Delaney, the show went from good to great. There's just something about the way Colin looks pathetic on camera that makes for great TV. And then, the way he takes a beating is tremendous. It's been written before that Colin's program is great not only because he's great, but because WWE has a reason for booking squash matches every week.
Miz & Morrison looked like a million bucks as heels tearing apart Colin. On Smackdown last week, they looked like a folded-up $5 bill when they were completely ignored during the Noble-Palumbo-Michelle angle. Bam. One Colin Delaney segment later and they're back to an acceptable level as tag team champions. Now, with Tommy Dreamer helping out Colin Whipwreck, they have a tag team program ripe for a lengthy run.
As for the C.M. Punk and Chavo Guerrero interaction, it was fine. I can go either way on it, as Punk's character seemed desperate with him dressing up as a Mariachi player to sneak attack Chavo. Punk did have a nice rebound win against Elijah Burke, so it's a wash. Punk chasing Chavo and the ECW Title should make for good TV going forward, though.
Updated Tuesday, January 29
12:10 p.m. Last night's Raw was an OK show, but it fell into that trap of having a letdown after a big PPV. Based on nothing more than memory, it seems like the Raw after a newsworthy PPV starts off hot to follow-through on the big news coming out of the PPV, but then slowly slides into mediocrity.
The classic example is the traditional Raw after WrestleMania where WWE wants to strike while the iron is hot to transition into the next series of storylines, but everyone is too hung over - in some cases, literally - to produce a good show. The writers, wrestlers, producers, and announcers have been driving for eight weeks on the road to Mania, and then they're expected to get behind the wheel right after finishing a long road trip to drive another 500 miles. (Don't hate on the analogy, as I'm simply prepping everyone for Michael Cole and Coach's 18,000 "Road to WrestleMania" clichés between now and Mania.)
From a creative perspective, there were plenty of unanswered questions and head-scratching storyline progressions on Raw last night that may have been caused by Rumble letdown. That is, unless the writers are one step ahead and have all the explanations figured out for Raw next week. Explanations for things such as ... Why Triple H was able to pick his own partner in a tag match, how Cena was allowed into the Rumble without qualifying, and how Regal suddenly had graphics ready for the Elimination Chamber match three minutes after convincing Vince of the idea.
From WWE's perspective, the top story coming out of the show was John Cena cashing in his Money in the...er...Royal Rumble opportunity at No Way Out, then taking out Orton after the main event to get his message across. Same song, different year. But, the story most fans were probably looking for was how Jeff Hardy would be portrayed after losing the title match.
I'd say it was a wash. Hardy made his first appearance of the show in the sixth quarter-hour, with the line about the title loss not being the end of the road, but only the beginning of his quest. Jim Ross then really helped his cause by saying Hardy had the most quality statement of the night.
The main event left Hardy in a second-fiddle position, though, when Cena came out to save the day after the match while Hardy was selling an injury. The message was clear that Hardy is back to the second tier, with Cena on top again. There was definitely a sense of the mega-push for Hardy subsiding.
Of course, the Cena-Hardy symbolism that transferred over from the Rumble opens the door for a mega-match down the road. Cena would obviously be the aggressor in the feud, with the anti-Cena fans making it easy for him to play more of a heel role, especially with the unspoken message that he returned from injury to steal Hardy's opportunity at the WWE Title.
Based on our current Torch poll, you want that Cena vs. Hardy match in the main event at Mania more than any other possible match from the Raw brand. I was initially in that camp on Monday morning, but I believe the Cena vs. Hardy match could mean a lot more if WWE held off their first encounter until Summerslam or even next year's Mania. The risk on holding off that long is that Hardy cools off, and the match down the road wouldn't have as much intrigue. It's all great speculation until the Mania matches are set.
Updated Monday, January 28
3:35 p.m. What an interesting 20 hours. First of all, check out Jeremy Maes and Justin Parker's blogs on the Rumble and reaction to the big stories coming out of the Rumble. Two excellent blogs in the Specialist section.
Standing back for a second to survey the scene, there are two things I'm certain of. One is that WWE's roster is back to full-strength after 2007 was about injuries and Wellness depleting the roster. The other thing I'm certain of is that WWE caught everyone, including myself, off guard in more than one way.
They caught everyone off guard with the Cena surprise, which Cena orchestrated like a true pro in his mainstream interviews last week. They also got people, including myself, worked up on Hardy not winning the belt to distract from one thing we should all be most concerned about.
During the JBL vs. Jericho match, there was an unprotected chair shot to the head from Jericho to JBL. There was also Jericho hanging JBL with a TV cord across the top rope, with the imagery of JBL having the life choked out from him.
WWE tested the audience last night - consciously or not - to see how much we really care about concussions and the Benoit family tragedy. They played that Hardy card so strong on Raw leading to the Rumble, that anything short of a title change at the Rumble PPV would have created serious outrage.
So, do we care as much about JBL taking an unprotected chair shot to the head as Hardy not winning the belt? Are we as outraged about the TV cable being used in the JBL-Jericho feud as we are about Hardy not winning the belt?
I'll be the first to admit I failed the test. Reminds me of that Calculus class in college. I should have seen the test coming, too, as a Torch reader sent me an email last week questioning whether we really care about the serious issues in wrestling when Jeff Hardy was being glorified, despite putting his body at risk with the "30-foot" Swanton bomb and "playing hurt" with a laundry list of injuries he talked about in his pre-Rumble interviews.
Setting aside the "wrestling debate" of whether Hardy or Orton should be holding the WWE Title, the serious question is whether Hardy should have been put in a position to carry the company as the top wrestler by virtue of holding the WWE Title.
As a babyface champion, carrying the belt adds significant responsibility above and beyond holding the IC Title. More appearances, more house shows, more little things necessitated to wave the WWE banner across the globe. Only Hardy knows if he would have been able to physically handle that responsibility. If we really care about the serious injuries in wrestling then it should be acceptable that Hardy didn't win the belt (I'll keep trying to tell myself that), with there still being an opportunity for Hardy to remain a key player on Raw going forward.
WWE exposed where my priorities were last night. And I would bet the number of hate mail to WWE on Hardy not winning the belt far, far, far exceeded any concern over JBL taking that chair shot to the head. WWE, the master of the mind games, won twice last night for Cena's surprise and exposing misaligned priorities.
***
12:15 p.m. Oh, the Rumble. What a tangled web that shall surely begin to unfold tonight on Raw as they start traversing the road to WrestleMania. Clearly, the top story coming out of last night's show was John Cena's surprise entry in the Rumble. That was a rather significant surprise after he did interviews in the week leading to the Rumble that he wouldn't even be part of WrestleMania.
The other top story is WWE not going with Jeff Hardy as champion. In the interviews, leading to the Rumble, Hardy seemed to softening the blow of him not winning the title. He talked about wanting to be in Money in the Bank, or wrestling Rey Mysterio, or working a program with Matt Hardy. (I half-expected Matt to turn on Jeff last night to cost him the title.)
I hear the argument of sticking with the Mania plans and not going with Hardy, but I don't buy the argument. Looking at what a Hardy title reign could have meant, I'll make a case purely on the potential Mania title matches that Hardy would have created.
Unless plans change and Hardy wins the belt on a Raw or the No Way Out PPV before Mania, the following fresh and significant match-ups can be thrown out the window. Hardy vs. Triple H. Hardy vs. Cena. Hardy vs. Undertaker. Hardy and Hunter already have a back-story, with Hardy having the Rumble title match opportunity after defeating Hunter in December. Hunter could get his revenge by winning the belt at Mania, followed by Hardy chasing until Summerslam if he remains hot on TV. (Guest reviewer Jason Hess and I discuss that scenario in our post-Rumble audio update.)
Hardy vs. Cena would have been a match-up of two of the top babyfaces in the company from the last 12 months, forcing fans to pick their allegiance. Hardy vs. Taker would really bring Hardy full-circle from the closest he ever came to winning the WWE Title in that 2002 ladder match when Taker was riding a bike and Hardy was on his first WWE run.
Based on our current Rumble poll, the votes are in (70 percent) that Jeff Hardy winning the belt was the most-desirable scenario for Torch readers. Instead, the possibilities for Mania are straight from the recycling bin, although WWE could turn a recycled feud into a hot angle just as easily as they turned Jeff Hardy into the top star in the company in three weeks.
Unless Cena loses the title opportunity between now and Mania - with his surprise appearance and Rumble victory simply being an attempt to off-set the negative reaction to Hardy not winning the belt - we're looking at repeat feuds. There is one very intriguing feud out there in the form of Cena vs. Undertaker, but the most-likely candidates are Orton vs. Cena or Orton vs. Hunter. Been there, done that, got that PPV t-shirt.
Tonight's Raw will paint a clearer picture of where WWE is going with the top matches at Mania. If there's one thing WWE can take away from three weeks of Hardy build-up, it's that his popularity is at an all-time high. If they're not going with Hardy as champion, it's imperative to keep him strong and in the main event picture. I'm looking three, six, nine months down the road when he can help sell PPVs (if WWE didn't lose some of their audience when Hardy didn't win the belt) with a significant and well-established second-from-the-top feud.
And now for a closing thought on John Cena from Keith in Orlando, Fla.: Can someone please explain the logic behind John Cena being in the Rumble as a surprise 30th entrant? Triple H had to go through hell and high water to get in. C.M. Punk had to win a qualifying match. And not only does Cena just walk in without qualifying, but he gets the highly coveted 30th spot? It’s the exact reason the 18+ crowd grew tired of Cena. He gets shoved down our throats. How often are we supposed to believe his Superman, "overcoming the odds" bit? It only makes me feel better about not purchasing tickets to Mania even though it’s in town for me for the first time ever. So he decides to return, and just in time to kill Hardy’s push. Jeff, that 30-foot Swanton will be completely forgotten, except as a highlight-reel fond memory.
Source: PWTORCH
Updated Friday, February 1
Here's TNA Impact in its weekly nutshell. The first three reader reax scores for last night's episode were 5.0, 0.0, and 8.5. You either love it or you hate it, or you just can't figure out what to do with this show.
The thing about TNA is that TV ratings are steady, with signs of slight growth. House show business is pretty strong with management happy with recent turn-outs in Texas and Ohio. But, they're not committed to selling PPVs or establishing the importance of titles, which drives PPV business in pro wrestling.
Looking at the title situation, the importance of the belts is virtually non-existent. TNA World champ Kurt Angle has a title defense against Christian Cage at the next PPV. On last night's episode, Christian had exactly five seconds of TV time and all he did was talk about Tomko. As for Angle's character, there is no concern for Christian as a threat, because the only concern is A.J. Styles and Tomko.
Most egregious was the booking of Jay Lethal. He lost the X Division Title last week to Johnny Devine (who already had possession of the title), but instead of trying to get his title back, Lethal was scripted in to play a parody role in a parody of a parody skit on a parody show instead of trying to get his title back.
In the tag division, B.G. James and Bob Armstrong are training for something, but it wasn't ever made clear last night that they're going after the tag titles. B.G. is such a threat that his "old man" - Jeff Jarrett's favorite term for his father - is showing him up in a training video, which is essentially a parody of the Shawn Michaels and Jose Lothario training videos. And the tag champs of Styles & Tomko are so concerned about their title defense that they haven't even acknowledged the existence of B.G. & Bob.
Which leaves the Women's Division, which, as usual, is the only division with competent storytelling. Awesome Kong is the champ. ODB is the #1 contender. ODB is on a hot streak. Kong is annoyed by ODB's invasion. Let's have a match. Simple and effective.
So, the result is that TNA continues to book TV that leads into the next TV episode, with the PPVs simply being an extra show once-a-month on Sunday nights. The same 30,000 people or 2 percent of their TV audience is going to buy the PPVs, and TNA is happy to have them on board.
If it works, then it works. But, they're leaving a ton of money on the table every month with weak PPV build-up and a lack of focus on the importance of titles, the holders of titles, and the chase for the title.
Updated Thursday, January 31
Over the past several weeks, the Brock Lesnar UFC fight hype has been all over the Internet. Major news and sports outlets have been covering Lesnar's UFC debut. Some press has been positive, same has been with the usual raised eyebrow for anyone with "the stain" of WWE. It's like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry's car stinks so bad that no one who has been inside the car can wash out the smell. Poor Elaine.
But, most interesting about the hype for Brock has been WWE's involvement in promoting Saturday's fight. They've granted UFC access to WWE video for their hype commercials. They've promoted the fight on their website with a splash background on the main page and a prominently displayed hype video. Granted, they didn't air anything Brock-related on their TV shows this week, but UFC did have advertising during commercial breaks on Raw and ECW.
The most-common answer for why WWE is promoting a fight for a former wrestler who wants nothing to do with WWE is that WWE believes UFC is in a different market. WWE has said that before on investor conference calls, while at the same time acknowledging that UFC has the most formidable business model of the MMA promotions to keep a share of the MMA pie without watering down the PPV market.
But, there are two more reasons I believe WWE is involved in the UFC marketing. One reason is that WWE believes they still have ownership over Brock. Ownership in the sense that WWE believes they made Brock into a mega-star by giving him a platform on TV and PPVs.
With the UFC 81 hype, WWE has one foot in the water and one foot on the edge of the pool. On one hand, they've allowed UFC to use their footage. On the other hand, they haven't openly promoted the PPV on TV.
If the PPV does big business, WWE will be able to take a measure of credit because they believe they created Brock into a mega-star and they are allowing UFC to use their footage in the hype videos. If the PPV bombs, WWE will be able to say Brock is just another former WWE star who isn't a big name without the full investment of the WWE hype machine. It's basically a win-win situation for WWE.
Another reason is the possibility of UFC getting a broadcast TV slot. UFC playing that WWE footage on CBS, ABC, NBC, or FOX with the WWE logo in the corner of the screen is a subtle (and maybe subliminal) piece of advertising for WWE's product. Hey, look, wasn't this guy in WWE a few years ago? I wonder what's going on in WWE these days!
It's similar to WWE promoting the NWA brand on their WWE 24/7 service. Half of the classic footage on 24/7 is from the NWA era that people associate with Ric Flair, who is still current on Raw. It's basically free advertising by association.
So, for wrestling fans who may have been Brock Lesnar fans during his WWE run or simply want to see a former WWE wrestler in the octagon, what are your plans for Saturday night? Are you more or less inclined to order the PPV or visit a sportsbar to watch it? Send in your feedback and vote in the two Torch polls I just put up asking the questions for this weekend's pre-Super Bowl UFC fight.
Updated Wednesday, January 30
6:55 p.m. Everyone likes a list (perhaps), so I'm debuting a Top 25 weekly ranking of the Top 5 wrestlers from each of the five U.S. pro wrestling "brands" (Raw, Smackdown, ECW, TNA, and ROH). WWE Raw could probably have 10 wrestlers in the Top 25, but to keep things even, I'm only picking the top 5 wrestlers from each brand. I'll run this every Wednesday evening here in the Cube.
Since pro wrestling is highly subjective, I've established three criteria points to evaluate the rankings, in the family of the Most Influential list compiled yearly in the Torch Newsletter. 1) Quality of TV/PPV time spent on the wrestler. 2) Quality of in-ring and "storyline" performance. 3) Is the wrestler in a position to draw money or ratings for the company?
The other consideration, much like college basketball rankings, is how much weight to place on wrestlers from WWE (high-end BCS schools) against wrestlers from TNA (low-end BCS schools) and ROH (mid-major schools).
Your feedback is certainly welcome. To the rankings...
(1) John Cena - Raw #1. Major surprise return to win Royal Rumble. In main event of WWE's next PPV. Highly-rated opening segment on 1/28 Raw. WWE's most-protected investment.
(2) Edge - SD #1. Current World Hvt. champion following Rumble victory. Given majority of Smackdown's key TV time. In Smackdown's top match at next PPV.
(3) Triple H - Raw #2. Finalist in Royal Rumble match. In Elimination Chamber match at next WWE PPV. Expected to be in a WrestleMania main event with Triple H DVD coming out just before Mania.
(4) Kurt Angle - TNA #1. Current TNA World Hvt. champion. Headlining TNA's next PPV and most visible wrestler on TNA Impact, with majority of TV time devoted to his storylines.
(5) Randy Orton - Raw #3. Current WWE champion with significant victory over hard-charging Jeff Hardy at Royal Rumble. Left KO'ed at the end of Jan. 28 Raw.
(6) Jeff Hardy - Raw #4. Mega-push leading to Royal Rumble subsided slightly on Jan. 28 Raw. Still in the headline Elimination Chamber match and a serious WWE player.
(7) Nigel McGuinness - ROH #1. Current ROH World champ. Headlining ROH's next New York City show against Bryan Danielson on Feb. 23.
(8) Bryan Danielson - ROH #2. Considered one of the best wrestlers in the world. Will face Nigel for the ROH Title on Feb. 23 NYC show.
(9) Tomko - TNA #2. Seriously being pushed for main event position as top babyface in the company. Survived two-on-one odds on Jan. 24 Impact to retain TNA Tag Titles.
(10) Ric Flair - SD #2. Scored clean victory over MVP at the Rumble PPV, and given respectable amount of TV time leading to PPV. In headline match against Mr. Kennedy at next PPV.
(11) C.M. Punk - ECW #1. Former ECW champion had upper hand over current ECW champion on Jan. 29 show. Beat formidable opponent, Elijah Burke, for a significant bounce-back win.
(12) Christian Cage - TNA #3. Main eventing second consecutive TNA PPV against Kurt Angle. Not booked like a serious threat to Angle's title, though.
(13) Rey Mysterio - SD #3. Lost to Edge at Royal Rumble, but will be in Smackdown's main event at WWE's next PPV in the re-match.
(14) MVP - SD #4. Clean loss to Ric Flair at Rumble set MVP back slightly. Still one of the most entertaining wrestlers on TV. In Smackdown's Elimination Chamber match, but not considered a serious threat to win.
(15) Shawn Michaels - Raw #5. Played lackey to Triple H as flashback to Michaels's role as a comedy figure in the DX 2006 era. Could be major player in the Elimination Chamber match.
(16) The Undertaker - SD #5. Eliminated earlier than expected from Royal Rumble. In position for WrestleMania main event, but currently without TV program.
(17) Samoa Joe - TNA #4. Position at next TNA PPV unclear, while regaining momentum in program with Nash antagonizing Jim Cornette.
(18) Chavo Guerrero - ECW #2. Current ECW champion, but has more losses than wins since coming to ECW. Not viewed as credible champion on a weak brand that isn't put in position to draw money for WWE.
(19) Austin Aries - ROH #3. Won blow-off match against Roderick Strong at ROH's most recent PPV. Being positioned as babyface leader. Faces Go Shiozaki in NYC on Feb. 23.
(20) The Briscoes - ROH #4. Booked as top tag team in pro wrestling despite recent tag title loss. Semi-main evented ROH's most recent PPV.
(21) The Miz & John Morrison - ECW #3. Current WWE tag champions. Returned to form with decisive victory over Colin Delaney to restore strong position.
(22) A.J. Styles - TNA #5. Given plenty of TV time alongside Kurt Angle, but turned into comedy heel figure. In no position to be taken seriously as PPV draw.
(23) Erick Stevens - ROH #5. Current FIP champion and being groomed for main event slot on future cards. Faces test against Go Shiozaki at ROH's next show on Feb. 22.
(24) Shelton Benjamin - ECW #4. Solid opening match against Kane on Jan. 29 TV. Sense of a real future for Shelton in ECW's main event position, despite poor showing at Rumble.
(25) Colin Delaney - ECW #5. Greatness. Given quality TV time to build-up program that led to Tommy Dreamer saving him from another beating on Jan. 29 show.
Others who would have received votes: Batista (SD #6), Mr. Kennedy (Raw #6), JBL (Raw #7), Chris Jericho (Raw #8), Roderick Strong (ROH #6).
***
11:15 a.m. ECW had one of its better offerings in several weeks last night. A good, solid show with quality wrestling and key storylines advanced. (Specifically, the Colin Delaney storyline picked up some steam, so that's an automatic thumbs up.)
ECW is really at its best not trying to be flashy, but just producing a fundamentally-strong one hour show. It's like a good first-hour PPV match. You don't want the match to steal the show; you just want a solid, memorable mid-card match. ECW usually has the fundamentals down, but the problem is that it's easily forgotten during the week.
The show is easily skippable for WWE fans, as the show draws less than half of the Raw audience. But, with the sharper set and some intriguing storylines developing, it might be worth another look. (Specifically for Colin Delaney.)
Compared to Raw two nights ago, ECW actually had a better wrestling product outside of Raw's main event. Shelton vs. Kane was a very good opener. If anything, it was good to see him last longer in the ring against Kane than he did during the Rumble match. Cat-leap. Superkick. Out you go.
And WWE can do a finish like Shelton walking out of the match after a competitive battle because it makes sense in Week 2 of the feud. So, Shelton felt like January 29 wasn't his day to beat Kane in a one-on-one match. Well, WWE doesn't enforce a penalty for walking out of a match in the storylines, so come back next week or the week after and see if that's a better day.
Now, specifically related to Colin Delaney, the show went from good to great. There's just something about the way Colin looks pathetic on camera that makes for great TV. And then, the way he takes a beating is tremendous. It's been written before that Colin's program is great not only because he's great, but because WWE has a reason for booking squash matches every week.
Miz & Morrison looked like a million bucks as heels tearing apart Colin. On Smackdown last week, they looked like a folded-up $5 bill when they were completely ignored during the Noble-Palumbo-Michelle angle. Bam. One Colin Delaney segment later and they're back to an acceptable level as tag team champions. Now, with Tommy Dreamer helping out Colin Whipwreck, they have a tag team program ripe for a lengthy run.
As for the C.M. Punk and Chavo Guerrero interaction, it was fine. I can go either way on it, as Punk's character seemed desperate with him dressing up as a Mariachi player to sneak attack Chavo. Punk did have a nice rebound win against Elijah Burke, so it's a wash. Punk chasing Chavo and the ECW Title should make for good TV going forward, though.
Updated Tuesday, January 29
12:10 p.m. Last night's Raw was an OK show, but it fell into that trap of having a letdown after a big PPV. Based on nothing more than memory, it seems like the Raw after a newsworthy PPV starts off hot to follow-through on the big news coming out of the PPV, but then slowly slides into mediocrity.
The classic example is the traditional Raw after WrestleMania where WWE wants to strike while the iron is hot to transition into the next series of storylines, but everyone is too hung over - in some cases, literally - to produce a good show. The writers, wrestlers, producers, and announcers have been driving for eight weeks on the road to Mania, and then they're expected to get behind the wheel right after finishing a long road trip to drive another 500 miles. (Don't hate on the analogy, as I'm simply prepping everyone for Michael Cole and Coach's 18,000 "Road to WrestleMania" clichés between now and Mania.)
From a creative perspective, there were plenty of unanswered questions and head-scratching storyline progressions on Raw last night that may have been caused by Rumble letdown. That is, unless the writers are one step ahead and have all the explanations figured out for Raw next week. Explanations for things such as ... Why Triple H was able to pick his own partner in a tag match, how Cena was allowed into the Rumble without qualifying, and how Regal suddenly had graphics ready for the Elimination Chamber match three minutes after convincing Vince of the idea.
From WWE's perspective, the top story coming out of the show was John Cena cashing in his Money in the...er...Royal Rumble opportunity at No Way Out, then taking out Orton after the main event to get his message across. Same song, different year. But, the story most fans were probably looking for was how Jeff Hardy would be portrayed after losing the title match.
I'd say it was a wash. Hardy made his first appearance of the show in the sixth quarter-hour, with the line about the title loss not being the end of the road, but only the beginning of his quest. Jim Ross then really helped his cause by saying Hardy had the most quality statement of the night.
The main event left Hardy in a second-fiddle position, though, when Cena came out to save the day after the match while Hardy was selling an injury. The message was clear that Hardy is back to the second tier, with Cena on top again. There was definitely a sense of the mega-push for Hardy subsiding.
Of course, the Cena-Hardy symbolism that transferred over from the Rumble opens the door for a mega-match down the road. Cena would obviously be the aggressor in the feud, with the anti-Cena fans making it easy for him to play more of a heel role, especially with the unspoken message that he returned from injury to steal Hardy's opportunity at the WWE Title.
Based on our current Torch poll, you want that Cena vs. Hardy match in the main event at Mania more than any other possible match from the Raw brand. I was initially in that camp on Monday morning, but I believe the Cena vs. Hardy match could mean a lot more if WWE held off their first encounter until Summerslam or even next year's Mania. The risk on holding off that long is that Hardy cools off, and the match down the road wouldn't have as much intrigue. It's all great speculation until the Mania matches are set.
Updated Monday, January 28
3:35 p.m. What an interesting 20 hours. First of all, check out Jeremy Maes and Justin Parker's blogs on the Rumble and reaction to the big stories coming out of the Rumble. Two excellent blogs in the Specialist section.
Standing back for a second to survey the scene, there are two things I'm certain of. One is that WWE's roster is back to full-strength after 2007 was about injuries and Wellness depleting the roster. The other thing I'm certain of is that WWE caught everyone, including myself, off guard in more than one way.
They caught everyone off guard with the Cena surprise, which Cena orchestrated like a true pro in his mainstream interviews last week. They also got people, including myself, worked up on Hardy not winning the belt to distract from one thing we should all be most concerned about.
During the JBL vs. Jericho match, there was an unprotected chair shot to the head from Jericho to JBL. There was also Jericho hanging JBL with a TV cord across the top rope, with the imagery of JBL having the life choked out from him.
WWE tested the audience last night - consciously or not - to see how much we really care about concussions and the Benoit family tragedy. They played that Hardy card so strong on Raw leading to the Rumble, that anything short of a title change at the Rumble PPV would have created serious outrage.
So, do we care as much about JBL taking an unprotected chair shot to the head as Hardy not winning the belt? Are we as outraged about the TV cable being used in the JBL-Jericho feud as we are about Hardy not winning the belt?
I'll be the first to admit I failed the test. Reminds me of that Calculus class in college. I should have seen the test coming, too, as a Torch reader sent me an email last week questioning whether we really care about the serious issues in wrestling when Jeff Hardy was being glorified, despite putting his body at risk with the "30-foot" Swanton bomb and "playing hurt" with a laundry list of injuries he talked about in his pre-Rumble interviews.
Setting aside the "wrestling debate" of whether Hardy or Orton should be holding the WWE Title, the serious question is whether Hardy should have been put in a position to carry the company as the top wrestler by virtue of holding the WWE Title.
As a babyface champion, carrying the belt adds significant responsibility above and beyond holding the IC Title. More appearances, more house shows, more little things necessitated to wave the WWE banner across the globe. Only Hardy knows if he would have been able to physically handle that responsibility. If we really care about the serious injuries in wrestling then it should be acceptable that Hardy didn't win the belt (I'll keep trying to tell myself that), with there still being an opportunity for Hardy to remain a key player on Raw going forward.
WWE exposed where my priorities were last night. And I would bet the number of hate mail to WWE on Hardy not winning the belt far, far, far exceeded any concern over JBL taking that chair shot to the head. WWE, the master of the mind games, won twice last night for Cena's surprise and exposing misaligned priorities.
***
12:15 p.m. Oh, the Rumble. What a tangled web that shall surely begin to unfold tonight on Raw as they start traversing the road to WrestleMania. Clearly, the top story coming out of last night's show was John Cena's surprise entry in the Rumble. That was a rather significant surprise after he did interviews in the week leading to the Rumble that he wouldn't even be part of WrestleMania.
The other top story is WWE not going with Jeff Hardy as champion. In the interviews, leading to the Rumble, Hardy seemed to softening the blow of him not winning the title. He talked about wanting to be in Money in the Bank, or wrestling Rey Mysterio, or working a program with Matt Hardy. (I half-expected Matt to turn on Jeff last night to cost him the title.)
I hear the argument of sticking with the Mania plans and not going with Hardy, but I don't buy the argument. Looking at what a Hardy title reign could have meant, I'll make a case purely on the potential Mania title matches that Hardy would have created.
Unless plans change and Hardy wins the belt on a Raw or the No Way Out PPV before Mania, the following fresh and significant match-ups can be thrown out the window. Hardy vs. Triple H. Hardy vs. Cena. Hardy vs. Undertaker. Hardy and Hunter already have a back-story, with Hardy having the Rumble title match opportunity after defeating Hunter in December. Hunter could get his revenge by winning the belt at Mania, followed by Hardy chasing until Summerslam if he remains hot on TV. (Guest reviewer Jason Hess and I discuss that scenario in our post-Rumble audio update.)
Hardy vs. Cena would have been a match-up of two of the top babyfaces in the company from the last 12 months, forcing fans to pick their allegiance. Hardy vs. Taker would really bring Hardy full-circle from the closest he ever came to winning the WWE Title in that 2002 ladder match when Taker was riding a bike and Hardy was on his first WWE run.
Based on our current Rumble poll, the votes are in (70 percent) that Jeff Hardy winning the belt was the most-desirable scenario for Torch readers. Instead, the possibilities for Mania are straight from the recycling bin, although WWE could turn a recycled feud into a hot angle just as easily as they turned Jeff Hardy into the top star in the company in three weeks.
Unless Cena loses the title opportunity between now and Mania - with his surprise appearance and Rumble victory simply being an attempt to off-set the negative reaction to Hardy not winning the belt - we're looking at repeat feuds. There is one very intriguing feud out there in the form of Cena vs. Undertaker, but the most-likely candidates are Orton vs. Cena or Orton vs. Hunter. Been there, done that, got that PPV t-shirt.
Tonight's Raw will paint a clearer picture of where WWE is going with the top matches at Mania. If there's one thing WWE can take away from three weeks of Hardy build-up, it's that his popularity is at an all-time high. If they're not going with Hardy as champion, it's imperative to keep him strong and in the main event picture. I'm looking three, six, nine months down the road when he can help sell PPVs (if WWE didn't lose some of their audience when Hardy didn't win the belt) with a significant and well-established second-from-the-top feud.
And now for a closing thought on John Cena from Keith in Orlando, Fla.: Can someone please explain the logic behind John Cena being in the Rumble as a surprise 30th entrant? Triple H had to go through hell and high water to get in. C.M. Punk had to win a qualifying match. And not only does Cena just walk in without qualifying, but he gets the highly coveted 30th spot? It’s the exact reason the 18+ crowd grew tired of Cena. He gets shoved down our throats. How often are we supposed to believe his Superman, "overcoming the odds" bit? It only makes me feel better about not purchasing tickets to Mania even though it’s in town for me for the first time ever. So he decides to return, and just in time to kill Hardy’s push. Jeff, that 30-foot Swanton will be completely forgotten, except as a highlight-reel fond memory.
Source: PWTORCH
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