Oprah Chooses 'A New Earth' By Eckhart Tolle as Her New Book Club Selection

CHICAGO, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- "Being able to share this material with you is a gift and a part of the fulfillment of my life's purpose," Oprah Winfrey said on Wednesday, January 30, 2008, as she revealed the 61st Oprah's Book Club selection "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. She added, "It was an awakening for me that I want for you, too."

For the first time ever, readers around the world will be able to participate in a free, live interactive classroom discussion, led by Winfrey and Tolle. Each weekly class will correspond to a chapter from "A New Earth," with the discussion focusing on the chapter's themes. The 10 weekly sessions will be webcast every Monday night from March 3 through May 5, at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT. To pre-register for the class, log onto www.oprah.com/anewearth.

Published in 2005, "A New Earth" encourages a collective sense of commitment to changing the way we live for people who want to make a difference. With the knowledge that we live in a time desperate for global change, renowned spiritual teacher Tolle's book answers the question: what can one person do to enact that change? With clarity and in practical terms, he gently leads readers to a new level of consciousness, awakening them to their lives' purpose and inviting them to envision a new earth where peace and fellowship are the norm.

"A New Earth" is published internationally in the English language by Penguin Group, one of the world's premier global consumer trade book publishers. The 10-part interactive worldwide web event is a pioneering venture that will have the potential to reach an unprecedented number of readers in all English-language territories far and wide. With key market positions in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Canada, India, China, New Zealand and Ireland, Penguin Group will be able to share this Oprah's Book Club selection with a worldwide audience.

John Makinson, Penguin Group Chairman and CEO, commented, "Penguin is one of the world's few truly global publishers and all of us are honored to be working with Ms. Winfrey on this ground-breaking project. 'A New Earth' is an unforgettable manifesto for a better way of life. Its message reaches across boundaries to illuminate and enrich the human spirit everywhere. Eckhart Tolle teaches us to change the way we view the world and make connections to each other."

Oprah's Book Club works with the American Library Association (ALA) to distribute thousands of free Book Club selections donated by each publisher, to school, public, and community college libraries nationwide. The Chicago- based ALA, www.ala.org, is the oldest and largest library association in the world with more than 64,000 members.

As the biggest book club in the world, Oprah's Book Club has approximately one million online members. Each of its selections have skyrocketed to the top of bestsellers lists. Enrollment is free and provides members with access to benefits such as online discussion groups, reading questions, and Q&A sessions with the author. To join, log onto www.oprah.com.

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" has remained the number one talk show for 21 consecutive seasons, winning every sweep since its debut in 1986.* It is produced in Chicago by Harpo Productions, Inc. and syndicated to 212 domestic markets by CBS Television Distribution Group and to 135 countries by CBS Paramount International Television.

http://sev.prnewswire.com/magazines/20080130/NYW08530012008-1.html#

First Daughter Margaret Truman Dies

Margaret Truman, the only child of former President Harry S. Truman who became a concert singer, actress, radio and TV personality and mystery writer, died Tuesday. She was 83.

Truman, known as Margaret Truman Daniel in private life, died at a Chicago assisted living facility following a brief illness, according to a statement from the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence. She had been at the facility for the past several weeks and was on a respirator, the library said.

Her father's succession to the presidency in 1945 thrust her into the national spotlight while a college junior.

"I feel that I've lived several different lives and that was one of them," she said in 1980. "Some of it was fun, but most of it was not. It was a great view of history being made.

"The only thing I ever missed about the White House was having a car and driver," she once said.

Her singing career attracted the barbs of music critics — even the embarrassment of having her father threaten one reviewer. But she found a fulfilling professional and personal life in New York City where she met her husband, journalist Clifton Daniel, who later became managing editor of The New York Times. They married in 1956.

She published her first book, an autobiography titled "Souvenir," in 1956. She said it was "hard work" and told reporters: "One writing job is enough."

But then she did a book on White House pets in 1969, and later more, one a biography of her father. The idea of doing a mystery called "Murder in the White House" came "out of nowhere," she said.

That 1980 title was followed by mysteries set in the Supreme Court, the Smithsonian, Embassy Row, the FBI, Georgetown, the CIA, Kennedy Center, the National Cathedral and the Pentagon.

By that time she was a grandmother and sang only in her church choir.

"I've had three or four different careers," she told an interviewer in 1989. "I consider being a wife and mother a career. I have great respect for women — both those who go out and do their thing and those who stay at home. I think those who stay at home have a lot more courage than those who go out and get a job."

Mary Margaret Truman was born Feb. 17, 1924, in Independence. She was the only child of Bess and Harry Truman, who was a county judge at the time.

For a few years after her father was elected to the Senate in 1934, she split her school year between Independence and a private girls' school in Washington D.C. She later attended George Washington University. She also had taken voice lessons, at the urging of a church choir leader. After graduation, she used the political limelight to launch her singing career.

"I wanted to establish myself as an individual capable of standing on my merit, to experience the satisfaction of achievement," she explained.

She made her professional singing debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1947 and gave her first Carnegie Hall concert two years later. Critics generally praised her poise but were less impressed with her vocal talent.

When Washington Post critic Paul Hume wrote after a 1950 concert that she "is extremely attractive on the stage ... (but) cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time," her father fired off a note on White House stationery scolding Hume for a "lousy review."

"I have never met you, but if I do you'll need a new nose and plenty of beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below," the president wrote.

The note made Page One news — but was not the sort of publicity an aspiring artist seeks. Years later she was able to laugh about it: "I thought it was funny. Sold tickets."

She soon turned more to radio and television, where she made regular guest appearances with Jimmy Durante and Milton Berle.

On radio, she was co-host, with Mike Wallace, of a daily talk show on the NBC network and had her own nationally syndicated interview program for eight years. She also worked with Fred Allen and Tallulah Bankhead.

Her stage career began in 1954, about the time she quit the concert stage.

"I learned my comedy timing from Fred Allen and Goody (Goodman) Ace," she recalled. "You couldn't do better than that. I'd still rather hear an audience laugh than do a serious play."

Throughout her 20s, reporters were constantly asking about marriage prospects, but she said she was pursuing her career for the time being.

When she met Clifton Daniel at a dinner party in 1955, he was working in New York after a decade as a foreign correspondent. It was not until a month before their wedding in April 1956 that their romance became public.

"We had a lot in common," he wrote in a 1984 memoir. "We were the kind of people who wouldn't marry anybody our mothers wouldn't approve of: a couple of citified small-towners, puritans among the fleshpots."

She and Daniel had four sons; he died in February 2000. Son William died in September 2000 when he was hit by a taxi; he was 41.

She was honorary co-chair of the Harry S. Truman Library Institute, the nonprofit partner of her father's presidential library, and a governing board member of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. Health issues had prevented her from visiting the library in recent years, but she remained actively interested in its operations, said Michael Devine, director of the library.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1707893,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

Two from area on ‘Millionaire’

Two women from Montgomery County have taken the hot seat across from Meredith Vieira on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

First up, today at 12:30 p.m. (Channel 6), was Melissa Feilke, 33, of Abington, a former history teacher at Hallahan Catholic Girls High and stay-at-home mom with three kids under age 3. She also has a small business selling bags. She assigns names to the bags - and named one after Vieira. The "Meredith Bag" has a side pocket to hold a coffee cup.

She correctly answered the $16,000 question, which was: "Also known as a honey bear, the kinkajou belongs to the same family as what other animal? A) Raccoon, B) Skunk, C) Badger, D) Opossum." Answer was A.

She then faced the $25,000 question: "Tegucigalpa is the capital of what Central American country?" Answers: A) Guatemala, B) El Salvador, C) Honduras, D) Nicaragua. She was unsure that Honduras was the correct response, so she walked away with $16,000.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20080129_Two_from_area_on_Millionaire.html

American Liberty Teetering on Edge of Abyss

by Paul Craig Roberts

"Your papers please" has long been a phrase associated with Hitler's Gestapo. People without the Third Reich's stamp of approval were hauled off to Nazi Germany's version of Halliburton detention centers.

Today Americans are on the verge of being asked for their papers, although probably without the "please."

Thanks to a government that has turned its back on the U.S. Constitution, Americans now have an unaccountable Department of Homeland Security that is already asserting tyrannical powers over U.S. citizens and state governments. Headed by the neocon fanatic Michael Chertoff, the Orwellian-sounding Department of Homeland Security has mandated a national identity card for Americans, without which Americans may not enter airports or courthouses.

There is no more need for this card than there is for a Department of Homeland Security. Neither are compatible with a free society.

However, Bush, the neocons, Republicans, and Democrats do not want America to any longer be a free society, and they are taking freedom away from us just as they took away the independence of the media.

Free and informed people get in the way of power-mad zealots with agendas.

It is the agendas that are supreme, not the American people, who have less and less say about less and less.

George W. Bush, an elected president, has behaved like a dictator since Sept. 11, 2001. If "our" representatives in Congress care, they haven't done anything about it. Bush has pretty much cut Congress out of the action.

In truth, Congress gave up its lawmaking powers to the executive branch during the New Deal. For three-quarters of a century, the bills passed by Congress have been authorizations for executive branch agencies to make laws in the form of regulations. The executive branch has come to the realization that it doesn't really need Congress. President Bush appends his own "signing statements" to the authorizations from Congress in which the president says what the legislation means. So what is the point of Congress?

As for laws already on the books, the U.S. Department of Justice (sic) has ruled that the president doesn't have to abide by U.S. statutes, such as FISA or the law forbidding torture. Neither does the president have to abide by the Geneva Conventions.

Other obstacles are removed by edicts known as presidential directives or executive orders. There are more and more of these edicts, and they accumulate more and more power and less and less accountability in the executive.

The disdain in which the executive branch holds the separate and equal legislative branch is everywhere apparent. For example, President Bush is concluding a long-term security agreement with the puppet government he has set up in Iraq. Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, when the president became The Decider, a defense pact was a treaty requiring the approval of Congress.

All that is now behind us. Gen. Douglas Lute, President Bush's national security adviser for Iraq, says that the White House will not be submitting the deal to Congress for approval. Lute says Bush will not be seeking any "formal inputs from the Congress."

"There is literally no question that this is unprecedented," said Yale Law School Professor Oona Hathaway.

Bush can do whatever he wants, because Congress has taken its only remaining power – impeachment – off the table.

The Democratic Party leadership thinks that the only problem is Bush, who will be gone in one year. Besides, the Israel Lobby doesn't want Israel's champion impeached, and neither do the corporate owners of the U.S. media.

The Democrats are not adverse to inheriting the powers in Bush's precedents. The Democrats, of course, will use the elevated powers for good rather than for evil.

Instead of having a bad dictator, we'll have a good one.

http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=12275

WHITE HOUSE - MEDIA ACCUSED OF UNCRITICAL COVERAGE OF IRAQ WAR BUILDUP

A study conducted jointly by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism has concluded that the news media gave "deferential and uncritical" coverage to hundreds of false administration statements about the national security threa t from Iraq following the 9/11 attacks that "effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

The study, posted Tuesday on the CPI's website and reported later by Editor and Publis her, tallied 935 false statements by Bush administration officials, including President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and White House spokesmen Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan.

"The cumulative effect of these false statements -- amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts -- was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war," the study concluded.

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/media%20accused%20of%20uncritical%20coverage%20of%20iraq%20war%20buildup_1057247

Eye in the sky - Selling autonomy for false security

Only Mom, apple pie and baseball are more American than a cookie store. So it’s fitting that Bill Ross, owner of a local Mrs. Fields Cookies, expressed the feelings of most Americans when he spoke about police surveillance cameras.

“I don’t know about civil rights. That’s not my concern. Safety is,” said Ross, whose store operates at 32 N. Tejon.

In response to recent melees in and near bars on Tejon Street, Colorado Springs police will begin monitoring the street in March, recording public activity with video surveillance. An ABC News poll in July found that 71 percent of Americans favor increased use of surveillance cameras in the interest of safety. From coast to coast, American cities are installing cameras at intersections, on light poles and on buildings. Once controversial, cameras go up with hardly a complaint.

Benjamin Franklin has long been quoted saying: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.”

Historians believe the quote rightfully belongs to Franklin’s fellow diplomat, Richard Jackson, and appeared in a book that Franklin published. The urban legend variant — “He who sacrifices freedom for safety deserves neither” — summarizes the principle. Of what value is safety, or even life itself, without freedom?

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death,” said Patrick Henry to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

“Live free or die,” wrote Gen. John Stark, in a letter to fellow Revolutionary War generals.

During the Cold War, Soviet propaganda highlighted crime in the United States — a place where hoodlums had so much freedom that grandmas were mugged in the streets. Communist propaganda was distorted, but somewhat true. The cost of freedom — in the form of privacy, limited law enforcement, and personal autonomy from the state — includes a degree of lawlessness.

If crime control and safety are America’s highest values, rather than freedom, we should eliminate crime. Remove the Fourth Amendment, and allow police unlimited authority to search our bodies and our properties. Eliminate the Second Amendment and begin rounding up guns and knives. And what of this “presumption of innocence” that’s respected in the 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments? Authoritarian regimes have much lower crime rates, in general, because guilt is presumed; innocence must be proved.

If safety is the highest value, by all means we should make a case for government cameras to monitor every person’s every move on each square inch of public turf. Early experience in other cities shows the cameras don’t lower crime, but it might work. In Nazi Germany, communist East Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia, police spied on ordinary people “to keep the peace.”

In Texas, police departments have begun using cameras on a broad scale to keep the peace — and increasingly to abuse the public. Writing for National Review Online, Jim Harper explains how Lubbock police shortened the duration of yellow lights at intersections. Doing so caused more people to inadvertently run red lights, which meant the city’s camera system could generate more tickets. Harper quoted Mayor David Miller saying the cameras enhance safety, but “it’s also about the generation of revenue.”

USA Today reported in 2006 that Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt wants surveillance cameras in apartment buildings, shopping malls and even private homes to counter the city’s shortage of police recruits.

“I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?” Hurtt told reporters.

Why should we worry? Because Americans have a right to get lost. We have a right to keep secrets. We have a right be naked in our homes. We have a right to secretly associate with others in private. It’s reasonable, in a free society, to expect that visiting a bar won’t generate a recording for police to review.

Public safety is a legitimate government role, but only within limits. If safety and civility are what we value most, there’s no limit to what government will gladly provide.

Revolutionaries didn’t fight and die so their ancestors would have a place to be safe. They left us this country as one place on earth where humans could live free. To maximize freedom, we must demand privacy and autonomy from the state — which includes local police. It means fewer cameras, not more. It means drunks will sometimes fight on Night Life Street. Don’t sell freedom for safety, much less the false sense of security spy cameras provide.

What Republicans?

The front page of Wednesday’s New York Times asked: “Can anyone bring the Republicans together again?” Following Tuesday’s primary, we’ve yet to see a Republican who expresses the conservative philosophy that Reagan used to coalesce Americans. Only Ron Paul seems to grasp the idea that less is more — that limited government and free markets appeal to the masses yearning to be free. But Paul — who has trounced media darling Rudy Giuliani in the first three primaries — can’t shake the kook label.

Others act like they discovered conservative values last week. They come with big government baggage, such as RomneyCare and Giuliani’s anti-gun, “government solutions” mentality. For this we need a Republican? Can anyone bring the GOP together again? It appears unlikely, at least for now.

http://www.gazette.com/opinion/safety_32055___article.html/cameras_police.html

Where can I buy hgh?

That is a question that has been asked a lot in recent hours with all the controversy going on about steriods and injections of human growth hormone.

It is strange that there is so little awareness of the danger of injections - when in fact there exist natural products that do not expose you to such risks.

Is it an Anti Aging Youth Formula?

Decide for yourself: Quoting: "It is a patented, all natural, pure crystalline free-form amino acid stack which encourages the pituitary gland to release its own human growth hormone (HGH) in quantities similar to that of people in their mid-twenties. It is a highly effective anti-aging tool. By stimulating the pituitary to release its own human growth hormone (HGH) you can slow, stop and even reverse many of the symptoms of aging."

Read more, go here and decide for yourself:

http://www.youngqualityoflife.com/

The Importance of Hyperbaric Chambers

Doctors at St. Elizabeth Hospital used hyperbaric chambers to treat a Grand Chute family poisoned by carbon monoxide Thursday.

The critical machines are becoming more widespread, especially in Wisconsin hospitals.

The best known way to treat carbon monoxide poisoning is to spend a couple of hours in the glass tube.

Dr. Lubomyr Domashevsky of St. Elizabeth Hospital said "The person is acting unusually unable to walk, not thinking clearly, unconsciousness."

But, if the patient makes it to the hospital in time the bloodstream is bombarded with oxygen, and the hyperbaric chamber saves another life.

Dr. Domashevsky said "It accelerates getting that carbon monoxide from the tissues much much much faster, about 20 times faster than 100% oxygen will."

Doctors say one of their favorite things about the hyperbaric chambers is the speed at which they work. Several times a month at St. Elizabeth, doctors say they see patients go from near death to perfectly healthy in a matter of a couple of hours.

Dr. Domashevsky added "The patients will often come in confused sometimes even comatose, and they will come around rather quickly with oxygen and even a single treatment."

Two years ago, St. Elizabeth was just one of two Wisconsin hospitals where these life-saving machines could be found.

That number has since grown to 14 across the state. Among those include Green Bay's Surora Baycare and St. Vincent.

Doctors say that's a testament to how vital they really are.

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=7550027

Local gets call to join surfing superstars at big-wave contest

As 30- to 40-foot mountains of moving water charged across the North Pacific on Friday, big-wave surfer Ion Banner was trying to think about something — anything — else.

"Sometimes you get too excited about it, so over the years I've tried to learn not to think about it," the rangy, 38-year-old said in a recent interview at his small house on a hill overlooking Pillar Point Harbor. Just beyond the rocky seawall that shields the boats from the open ocean is one of the surfing world's most awesome spectacles, the nasty and unpredictable break known as Mavericks.

On Saturday, Banner will be among two dozen elite big-wave surfers who will point their big-wave "gun" surfboards down the swells' three-story faces in the latest installment of the legendary Mavericks Surf Contest. Banner has competed several times before, with his best showing — a 10th-place finish — coming in 1999.

As the only Half Moon Bay resident in this year's field, Banner earned his spot in the lineup through years of braving the region's frigid, fog-enshrouded waves with little or no company, unlike most of the other competitors who trot the globe on the professional surfing circuit.

Even though Banner may know Mavericks well, there's little home-field advantage, even after 15 years of surfing the infamous break.

"The challenge of a wave like that never goes away," Banner said. "It's just too intense."

Each winter, when huge, storm-generated swells batter the Northern California coast, the world's top big-wave riders are put on notice. Within a four-month window that typically begins in early December, contest organizers wait for ideal conditions before giving invitees little more than 24 hours to travel from wherever they are in the world to Half Moon Bay, about 20 miles south of San Francisco.

This year's call went out late Thursday. Banner was on his way to Oregon to compete in a tow-in surfing contest when his phone rang near Eureka, Calif. He turned the car around and started back.

"I've been trying to relax all day," he said Friday. "My heart's been pumping all morning."

Contest organizer Jeff Clark had been watching the weather all week, and saw his opportunity on Thursday to get this year's contest going.

"With this storm lining up, coming at us from the International Dateline unobstructed, I wasn't going to let this one go by," said Clark, the surf pioneer who "discovered" Mavericks in 1975 and for about 15 years was the only one to surf it.

A big day at Mavericks requires a certain combination of meteorological events.

That began to play out Monday, when a storm with strong winds developed in the North Pacific, south of the Aleutian Islands. As it bulldozed across the ocean's surface, it generated a chain of moving swells that began marching in procession toward Mavericks like the concentric ripples created by a stone tossed into a pond.

The swells are groomed into shape as they cross thousands of miles of deep, open ocean. If another storm gets in the way, or if the wind is blowing the wrong direction when they arrive — the waves won't be right.

"It's a freak of nature for these multiple things to come into play simultaneously," said Mark Sponsler of Stormsurf.com, the forecasting service that helps organizers decide when to hold the contest.

Some winters, including last year, it never happens within the window of time set aside for the contest. Saturday's will be the sixth contest since the Mavericks event was born in 1999.

The swells travel for five days before reaching the shallow waters of the Mavericks reef, about 1 1/2 miles off Pillar Point.

What makes this break special is a small section of reef that juts out into deep water like a finger. This sudden change in depth forces the moving mass of water to heave upward as it rolls over the reef.

Then gravity brings it crashing back down again.

The wave is so steep that Mavericks surfers and their boards often lose contact with the surface and free-fall down the face before hitting the water at high speeds as they try to outrun the powerful flood of whitewater churning at their heels.

If surfers lose their balance, they can be held underwater for what can seem like an eternity, pinned to the jagged reef, or pin-balled through the craggy rocks between the reef and the beach.

Over the years, Mavericks has claimed its share of broken boards and bloodied, humbled surfers. In 1994, Mark Foo, a seasoned big-wave surfer from Hawaii, died while surfing Mavericks.

These treacherous conditions are why Mavericks was considered too dangerous to surf for decades.

In the 1980s, as a teenager, Banner would walk his dog along the reef at low tide. Clark shaped Banner's first Mavericks board, and Banner says he was among the small group of local surfers who first followed Clark's lead in 1989.

Today, when Mavericks breaks, local surfers are joined by a much larger group, including some of the world's elite big-wave riders. But the wave's size and the skill required to surf it keep the cherished break from getting too crowded.

"Mavericks is one of those places that will take care of itself," Clark said. "No one owns Mavericks, the best in the world have come here and surfed it. But as soon as they think they got it they're being held down for 20 seconds."

And the contest has become a lucrative event broadcast on network television and featured in magazines and newspapers. The winner earns $75,000.

Banner is happy to see Half Moon Bay — a town otherwise best known for its annual pumpkin festival — get some recognition from the international surfing community. But the contest has also created some problems for locals.

"It's definitely a mixed bag," he said. "It's affected our area positively as far as small businesses and bringing attention to the area. But from a local standpoint, the area has gotten kind of exploited."

When the window for Mavericks opened on Dec. 7, Banner's life became a bit more complicated. He started constantly checking his cell phone for the call announcing the contest. He was afraid to stray too far from home and be unable to get back in time.

"For a lot of the pros, they're flying around anyway so it's no big deal to them," he said. "Their sponsors are flying them here.

"I can't go other places and pay to fly back," he said. "So I'm pretty much just waiting for it."

When not surfing, Banner makes ends meet by working construction and odd jobs. He does have a few sponsors who give him wet suits and leashes, but no salary.

The training never ends, but it's not exactly a hardship. Most mornings, Banner is up at 5:30 a.m. He walks past his snoring pit bull and pulls his shortwave weather radio from a kitchen shelf. If the staccato, computerized voice from the National Weather Service gives favorable news on the swell, he goes surfing.

At 38, Banner figures he's got at least 10 years of big-wave surfing left if he keeps himself in good shape.

"I'm more limited with the age," he said. "I have to give myself a chance to recuperate, which I didn't when I was younger."

Banner sees his chance to ride alongside some of the world's best watermen as the result of a lifetime of hard work and dedication.

"I don't surf a lot of contests," he said, "so it gives me a big rush. It's hard to sleep."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/11/sports/s124612S87.DTL

The sound of climbing mountains, with Strauss and Andsnes

The Spanish maestro Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos is back on the Boston Symphony Orchestra podium with a second week of, it must be said, lackluster programming. There is nothing wrong with a de facto mini-festival of Strauss tone poems but this should ideally be done with real intentionality, and the music presented in suggestive pairings designed to offer some larger interpretive gesture. Better still if the conductor at hand is bursting with fresh things to say with this music. Neither one appears to be the case.

Strauss this week is being paired with Rachmaninoff. It was the latter man who once wrote that "a composer's music should express the country of his birth, his love affairs, his religion, the books which have influenced him, the pictures he loves." Strauss would have clearly added "the mountains he has climbed." This week's tone poem is the "Alpine" Symphony, a kind of massively scaled hiking trip for orchestra that was inspired in part by one of Strauss's own alpine adventures. Its pictorialism is extremely specific and we hear the sunrise, the tripping brook, the waterfall, the flowery meadows, and so on. Danger looms on the way to the summit but it is conquered and our hikers make it back down into the enveloping night, but not before being caught in a dramatic thunderstorm.

The work's ultra-bombastic Romanticism is a tough sell these days and the music flirts perilously with vulgarity. Frühbeck's reading was strong on the music's elemental forces but weak on its details. The orchestra and especially its brass had blindingly brilliant moments but there were also sections still quite rough around the edges. The offstage hunting party came across to fine effect, and the thunderstorm was frighteningly realistic.

Before Strauss took to the mountains, the pianist Leif Ove Andsnes scaled the heights of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. This soft-spoken Norwegian pianist may not seem like a natural for this kind of big-boned warhorse piano repertory, but he has an almost peerless technique and last night he gave a beautifully musical account, full of playing that was fleet, clear, and unmannered. Frühbeck made the most of Rachmaninoff's undulating orchestral lines, drawing warm and shapely phrases from the strings, but the soloist was covered too often. Elsewhere the orchestra was a full-throated and lyrical partner.

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/01/11/the_sound_of_climbing_mountains_with_strauss_and_andsnes/

Record turnout in New Hampshire primary

Record turnout in New Hampshire primary

A record number of New Hampshire voters kicked off the presidential primary season Tuesday, with Barack Obama and John McCain the favorites.

The Manchester (N.H.) Union-Leader said 500,000 Granite State residents -- more than half the state population -- were expected to cast ballots in the first presidential sweepstakes without an incumbent or sitting vice president in the mix in years. The previous high turnout was 396,000 in 1992.

Polls opened at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. EST.

Obama, the junior Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois who scored a surprise victory in last week's Iowa caucuses, got in some last-minute campaigning in a bid to cement his front-runner status over Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who finished third in Iowa behind Obama and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.

"Today, it is your turn to stand up and be counted," Obama told a morning rally at Dartmouth College, The Washington Post reported. "Today, you have your turn to say that you are fed up with the petty politics of Washington."

Clinton pledged to stay in the race for the long haul, no matter Tuesday's results.

On the Republican side, John McCain, the senator from Arizona, was poised to top former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who was already spinning a second-place finish as good news. Romney finished second to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses.

A CNN/WMUR-TV poll released Monday night showed McCain leading former Romney by a margin of 31 to 26 percentage points. Huckabee was third with 13 percent.

Among Democrats, Obama had a 9-percentage-point lead over Clinton, 39-30. Edwards was third with 16 percent.

The weather cooperated to boost the turnout with temperatures in the 40s and 50s and no precipitation forecast.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/01/08/record_turnout_in_new_hampshire_primary/6475/

Iranian boats harass US navy in Strait of Hormuz: Pentagon

Iranian speedboats swarmed three US navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, radioing a threat to blow them up and prompting a stiff US warning ahead of President George W. Bush's trip to the Mideast, Pentagon officials said Monday.

"I'm coming at you and you will blow up in a couple of minutes," a US defense official quoted the Iranian radio transmission as saying.

Crew aboard the five speedboats also dumped boxes into the water in the path of one of the vessels, said a second official, who said nothing apparently came of them.

The incident on Saturday came just days ahead of Bush's departure Tuesday for the region, to boost the Israeli-Palestinian peace process while reiterating to allies that Washington continues to view Iran as a threat.

The White House on Monday sternly warned Tehran against "such provocative actions."

"We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a terse statement.

And the US State Department said the United States will confront any threats from Iran.

"The United States will confront Iranian behavior where it seeks to do harm either to us or our friends or allies in the region. There is wide support for that within the region," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

US defense officials, who asked not to be identified, said no shots were fired during the encounter, which occurred Saturday in international waters as the three US navy ships transited the Strait of Hormuz.

"Five Iranian speedboats pretty much swarmed three US warships as they were transiting through international waters," the first Pentagon official said.

The speedboats came within a couple hundred meters of the US vessels, the officials said.

CNN, which first reported on encounter, said the speedboats were believed to be operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The officials would not identify the US navy ships passing through the Strait at the time of the incident, but said one of the warships was a destroyer.

The incident, which occurred at 0400 GMT January 6, lasted about 20 minutes, the official said.

The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial choke point for world energy supplies. Except for Saudi Arabian oil exports through the kingdom's Red Sea outlet, all crude exports from oil-rich Gulf Arab countries passes through the strait -- about 20-25 percent of the world's crude oil.

On March 23, 2007, Iran seized 15 British sailors and marines in the Gulf and held them for nearly two weeks, alleging that they had entered Iranian territorial waters.

Britain maintained they had been on a routine anti-smuggling patrol in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate. Tehran finally released the sailors on April 4.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080107/pl_afp/usiranmilitarynavy_080107161324

QE2 sets sail on last world cruise

One of the world's most famous cruise ships -- the Queen Elizabeth 2 -- set sail Sunday on its final global voyage before being turned into a floating hotel, media reported.

The vessel left with a fireworks send-off from the southern English port city of Southampton for her last winter trip, the domestic Press Association news agency said.

Her sister ship, the recently-named Queen Victoria, set off on her first world cruise at the same time. Both ships will travel in tandem across the north Atlantic Ocean to New York.

US cruise operator Carnival sold the QE2 for about 50 million pounds (67 million euros, 99 million dollars) in November last year to Istithmar, the investment arm of state-owned tourism company Dubai World.

On return from her final world cruise in April, she will be refurbished and turned into a five-star hotel at a specially-constructed pier on the world's largest man-made island, The Palm Jumeirah.

Launched by her namesake in September 1967, the QE2 is previous owner Cunard's longest-serving ship. The 963-feet (294-metre) long ship weighs 70,000 tonnes and can carry up to 1,778 passengers and more than 1,000 crew.

She has travelled 5.5 million nautical miles -- the equivalent of travelling to the moon and back 13 times -- undertaken 25 world cruises, crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, and carried more than two million passengers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080106/wl_uk_afp/britaintravelshippingqe2

Edgy, exciting Rio will woo & wow you

It says something crucial about Rio de Janeiro that the city chose to name its international airport after a musician: samba legend Antonio Carlos Jobim.

In Rio - as well as all over Brazil's vast land - music serenades every aspect of life. The sound of home-grown musical forms, like samba, bossa nova, tropicalia and forro (pronounced "foho") bursts from bars, sweeps up from street singers, pounds around the pavement and even occupies its own excellent state-run radio station (MPB, or "Music Popular Brasil," 90.3 on your dial).

There's music in the language, too. The form of Portuguese spoken here holds far more sensuality than you'll find in its land of origin. It's all soft consonants and rich vowels, a rush of sounds that turn every phrase into a breathy exhale.

The sensuality of Rio is hardly confined to aural intrigue. The marbled texture of its beef at their "churrascaria" restaurants, the curving glide of their beaches at Ipanema and the genetic privilege of their "Cariocas" (the name adopted by the drop-dead gorgeous locals) all speak of tactile pleasures.

Speaking of that last lure: The local gene pool - mixed from the African slave trade, the Portuguese conquerors and indigenous Indians - has created features and figures lusted after the world over. No wonder Rio has become nearly synonymous with sex.

Contrary to popular belief, however, the beaches where these creatures preen and frolic hardly mandates the wearing of a thong. In fact, in the four days I spent here, I barely saw a single one of those silly things.

Copacabana's beach actually boasts a fair share of older people. It's nearly the Miami of these parts. Each area of the city's three most popular, and contiguous, sand zones - Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon - caters to a different tribe. There are numbered beaches dedicated to bodybuilders, families, older people, gays, you name it. (You'll figure out which is which soon enough.)

Copacabana tends to be more reasonably priced and down-to-earth, though also more crime-prone than the fancier areas of Leblon or Ipanema. Of course, that last named beach inspired the most famous bossa nova song in the world, "The Girl From Ipanema." Its locals have dutifully exploited that fact with a small park, a touristy bar and a cheesy store, each named after the hit.

Hearty types can walk the length of all three of the main beach areas in a bit over an hour. But even the least athletic should make sure to stop at Fort Copacabana, which divides Copa from Ipanema. Jutting far out into the bay, this bulky structure provides killer views back to the soaring skylines of the hotel circuit, as well as the area's many undulating mountains.

No matter where you stand in this city, the view is likely to leave you gasping. For one thing, you're always catching sight of the two most famous landmarks: Corcovado - that giant Christ on the hill with his arms stretched to embrace the city - and Sugar Loaf, the best formed of the many mountains that tease their way around the town.

To reach the peak of Corcovado you take a cute, Swiss-made train in a 35-minute ride through an urban jungle complete with anteaters, monkeys and, naturally, some guys playing samba looking for a handout.

Once on top, you can gape at the world's largest art deco statue. It's a marvel of sleek design, even though from far below it looks suspiciously like the world's largest hood ornament.

Sugarloaf offers equally majestic vistas - so much so that you'll have to take two suspension cars to get to its precarious peak. For anyone who fears heights, this is a nightmare waiting to happen. For everyone else, it provides a vista you'll never get out of your mind.

After these places, probably the most attended tourist site would be Maracana Stadium, the world's largest soccer venue (200,000 capacity), complete with a museum to the sport housed in its bowels. Soccer fetishists (which includes every living Brazilian, it seems) will drool over things like a life-size bust of Pele's leg. All others will find the place a snore.

To reach these places from the beaches, you can navigate a pretty fathomable bus system. But if you can afford a driver, that will make things that much easier. Several other far-flung places should lure you from beachy pursuits to more urban exploration.

Definitely take the ferry from Rio's downtown to the town of Niteroi, which lies 13 kilometers across the bay. The draw here - besides yet another different and great view back to Rio - is a fantastically mod piece of architecture housing the city's Contemporary Art Museum. Rising like a flower out of a rock, the place looks amazingly like Diane Keaton's house of the future from Woody Allen's "Sleeper."

At night, you should spring for a cab to take you to the Lapa district, located downtown (roughly $15). This super-cool part of town boasts narrow streets, old Brazilian architecture, and a music and club scene so bustling, fresh and seedy/exciting, it made me misty for the long-vanished downtown New York of the '70s. Think the Mudd Club, Heat and Hurrah, all rolled into one.

Make sure to go to the club Scenarium (Rua do Lavradio, 20), a boho palace packed with old dentist equipment and other cool curios. Here I saw an amazing samba-rock fusion band, Empolga as Nove (Excuses at Nine); check them out on the Internet.

In this area, you can roam from club to club. They're packed into a few tight streets, all in the shadow of the imposing downtown skyscrapers.

The more camp among you may be tempted to visit the Carmen Miranda Museum while in town. Don't. It's a tiny mildewed dump, strewn with a few tattered versions of her fruity gowns. Apparently, warring factions within her estate have kept the most interesting stuff from a proper display.

Instead, you should visit one of the many "samba schools." These are the places where groups perfect their sambas to compete in February's Carnival. Not far from the soccer stadium there's a small Museum of Samba, located at the Sambodromo. Here you view examples of the festival's grand outfits, which make their participants look like walking wedding cakes.

Speaking of food, while here you shouldn't miss Brazil's most devilish dish: Feijoada, a dark brew of beans, pork, sausage, bacon, spare ribs and just about every other edible part of a pig. Food writer Robert Sietsema once referred to this dish as "a symphony of oink," but it will make you coo. Sop it up with plenty of pão de queijo, their gummy-but-great cheese bread. Wash it all down with their liquor-loaded house drink, caipirinah. The booze comes from the powerful, sugar-based cachaca, which makes it all work quicker.

Food-wise, Brazil also boasts tons of those all-you-can-gorge churrascarias, where you cruise the salad bar first (usually laden with lots of fish crudo and sushi concoctions), after which waiters come around with giant skew-ers of meats that they'll carve for you as often as you like.

Though a godsend for carnivores, I have to say I had the best sushi I've had in my life in Rio. (There's a huge Japanese population in Brazil, it turns out). Given the favorable exchange rate to the local currency (roughly two reals to the dollar), even the fanciest of these places - like the gorgeously situated Porcão - will run you around $45, not including booze and tip.

To work off the feasting, you could go for a night walk along the beaches. Just make sure to stay on the path by the main road. Venturing down to the sand could end in something nasty. Crime and Brazil have an intimate relationship, unfortunately, due to the alarming disparity in wealth. You have to take the usual care in such places: Don't flash money or wear jewelry. Forgo fancy cameras and try to blend in as much as possible. Also, you should be careful in the clubs, where date-rape drugging of tourists is a local sport.

If you want to tempt fate further, you can always take a tour through Brazil's super-dangerous slums (favelas). The companies that run these things make you sign your life away before you go, but as far as poverty voyeurism goes, they can't be beat.

If you want a safer view of favelas - which, ironically, occupy the most beautiful vistas in the mountains surrounding Rio's beaches - rent the 1959 movie "Black Orpheus" when you're back home. It's an epic dance of a film, shot in the hills and bursting with sex, energy, tragedy and joy.

Those elements pretty much describe Rio as a whole. On the negative side, that popping sound you hear from your hotel window at night may well be gunfire from the favelas. But if you keep to the safer areas, and try to stay with the crowd, you'll experience colors, textures and food like no place on earth, all tied to a tune and a beat that will move you.

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/travel/2008/01/06/2008-01-06_edgy_exciting_rio_will_woo__wow_you-1.html

Chad Knight to Appear on American Gladiators

Following NBC's official announcement of the fresh batch of warriors, consisting of six men and women, to battle on American Gladiators, the news about their contenders are gradually surfacing the media. One of the first contenders to grace the ultimate “David and Goliath battle” is professional skateborder Chad Knight, who is expected to appear on the premiere episode airing on Sunday, January 6.

So far, details about Knight's participation on American Gladiators have not yet been revealed. But he is expected to pit himself against the show's gladiators, which is comprised of a team of action stars and stunt professionals, and will be possibly engaging in events like The Joust, The Wall, Hang Tough and The Eliminator.

Raised in Westerville, Ohio, Knight began skateboarding at the age of eight in the midst of the second wave of the sport's popularity. Though he initially engaged in the sport just to prove to his brother that it was possible to charge down the driveway and to still make the turn at the bottom onto the sidewalk, his fondness for skateboarding grew and developed into a regular pastime with other kids in the neighborhood. Within a short period of time, he quickly rose from local competitions and traveled to other states to compete. Eventually, he was recognized for taking skateboarding in a new direction with innovative tricks and a new approach to skateboard videos.

Knight has had a long and fruitful professional skateboarding career that has spanned some 20 years from the time he was a child. At present, the 31-year-old skater is with 1031 Skateboards where he is working on several large projects including interviews and television segments.

After the premiere episode, fans can catch American Gladiators every Monday at 8pm ET/PT on NBC. This modern reinvention series will be produced by MGM Television and Reveille.

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/american-gladiators/chad-knight-to-appear-on-ameri-14884.aspx

Bill Bradley endorses Obama

Former presidential candidate and ex-U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley endorsed Barack Obama this morning.

Like Obama, Bradley waged a presidential bid in 2000 that challenged the party establishment's candidate, former Vice President Al Gore, and drew heavily from independent voters.

Bradley will be campaigning for Obama in New Hampshire on Monday, an Obama spokesman said.

In endosring Obama, Bradley cited the Illinois senator's ability to draw support from independents and Republicans.

“Barack Obama is building a broad new coalition that brings together Democrats, Independents, and Republicans by once again making idealism a central focus of our politics,” Bradley said in a statement the Obama campaign released a few moments ago.

“Because of his enormous appeal to Americans of all ages and backgrounds, Obama is the candidate best positioned to win in November. Barack knows above all that unless people can once again believe in our democracy, we won’t be able to do the things that need to be done on health care and education or to break our dependence on foreign oil.

His movement for change could create a new era of American politics – truly a new American story.”

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/bill_bradley_endorses_obama.html

Schalke Sign Ze Roberto

Schalke have signed Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto for €3 million from Botafogo..

Born Jose Roberto de Oliveira, the ex-Cruzeiro midfielder has signed on a three and a half year contract with the German side.

Manager Andreas Mueller has expressed his delight at the signing, revealing that he had hoped it would be finalised before this season started.

"We wanted him to sign already in the summer, but from his side it didn't happen," said the Schalke manager. "Now we're happy that he is here."

Schalke currently lie fifth in the table, and having finished as runners up last season they are looking to add more quality to their ranks to push for a similar or better finish this season.

It is rumoured they will be making at least one more signing in this month's transfer window, with their primary target being Uruguay forward Vicente Sanchez.

"We will try everything to have him here with us in the next few days," declared Mueller.

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=535541

Revelry in Rio

The `Marvellous City's' annual Carnaval is a kaleidoscope of colourful costumes, fabulous floats and sensual sounds

Few cities in the world can match the stunning natural beauty and frenetic energy of Rio de Janeiro. Appropriately dubbed the "Cidade Maravilhosa" (Marvellous City), Rio's tropical climate, endless beaches and graceful arching coastal mountains combine to create a magical atmosphere.

This aura reaches its pinnacle during the city's Carnaval celebrations every February.

During Carnaval, daily street parties and nightly luxurious balls pave the way for a spectacular parade, in which samba schools compete against one another for bragging rights.

Samba drums fill the city with a pulsating rhythm that lasts for two weeks straight, and thousands of Brazilians from every walk of life try to outdo each other with outrageous and architecturally impressive costumes.

Intrepid travellers from around the world take part in the celebrations as well; some even participate in the parade.

In many ways, Carnaval is a showcase of the best that Rio has to offer, demonstrating the incredible vitality and exhilaration of a city that continues to blend unique traditions with extraordinary decadence.

http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/290458

Winter Antiques Show Celebrates its 54th Year

with New Exhibitors and a Loan Exhibition from the Shaker Museum and Library of Old Chatham, New York

Exclusive Offerings from 75 U.S. and International Exhibitors .

The Winter Antiques Show celebrates its 54th year in January as America's most prestigious antiques show showcased by 75 exhibitors specializing in American, English, European and Asian fine and decorative arts. This fully vetted show, held January 18-27, is the standard of excellence by which all other antiques shows in America are measured. Further, this is the only major antiques show in New York from which all net proceeds from ticket sales support a charity, East Side House Settlement, a non-profit in the South Bronx providing social services to community residents.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080103/NYTH084 )

Source: Winter Antiques Show

Antiques Show to Offer an Exhbition from the Shaker Museum

· Click Here to Download Image

In honor of their long-standing, continued support of the Winter Antiques Show and East Side House Settlement, Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Chilton, Jr. have been selected as the Honorary Chairs for 2008. Bank of America premiers as the proud Show sponsor for 2008, with Alan Rappaport, New York President, Bank of America, and Pamela Fiori, Editor in Chief of Town & Country as Co-Chairs of the Opening Night Party on Thursday, January 17th.

The 2008 loan exhibition, An Eye Toward Perfection: The Shaker Museum and Library, showcases nearly 100 Shaker objects, including quintessential Shaker chairs, buckets and boxes, as well as three rare hand-knit wool rugs. Based in Old Chatham, New York, the Shaker Museum and Library holds the world's largest and best-documented collection of Shaker materials. The loan exhibition is designed by Stephen Saitas and sponsored by Chubb Personal Insurance for a twelfth consecutive year.

Complementing the loan exhibition, the Shaker Museum and Library will present a lecture series at the Winter Antiques Show; highlights include collecting Shaker boxes and a preview of the museum's future home at the historic Mt. Lebanon site.

Bank of America is the Show's proud sponsor. As part of the Bank's major commitment in underwriting the Show, the company will donate three classic photographs by Ansel Adams to East Side House Settlement, to be auctioned in April 2008 with all proceeds to benefit the charity.

"Bank of America is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the 54th annual Winter Antiques Show," said Alan Rappaport, New York President, Bank of America. "Committed to playing a vital role in all the markets we serve, we understand and believe in the importance of developing and pursuing opportunities that strengthen our communities. Our support of this event, and of East Side House Settlement, is an example of that conviction."

New exhibitors include Elliott & Grace Snyder Antiques, dealing primarily in 17th, 18th, and early 19th century material, with an emphasis on American vernacular furniture, textiles, and metalwork, particularly early lighting; Daniel Katz Limited, a specialist in European sculpture since 1968; Aronson of Amsterdam, founded in 1881, offers some of the earliest and rarest ceramics objects produced by the Delft factories in the 17th and 18th centuries; and John Alexander Ltd., specializing in Reformed Gothic, Aesthetic Movement, Arts and Crafts design, and 20th century British handcrafted furniture and decorative arts.

The popular Young Collectors' Night will be held Thursday, January 24th and will feature cocktails, jazz and a silent auction. The evening is being sponsored by Badgley Mischka.

Highlights, including images and captions, from this year's exhibitors are available in the image gallery at: http://www.winterantiquesshow.com/press/.

The 54th annual Winter Antiques Show will be held from January 18-27, 2008 at the Park Avenue Armory, 67th Street and Park Avenue, New York City. Show hours are from 12 Noon to 8 p.m. daily, except Sundays and Thursday, 12 Noon to 6 p.m. To purchase tickets for the Opening Night Party on Thursday, January 17th or the Young Collectors' Night on Thursday, January 24th, call (718) 292-7392 or visit www.winterantiquesshow.com. General admission to the Show is $20.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080103/nyth084.html?.v=101

The Iowa Caucus Results!

We'll be offering results and commentary on the Iowa caucus results all night, with material from numerous TV and Web outlets. We will update from the top, blog style.

10:10: Hillary and Bill about to speak. You can almost feel the spin from here, as she still trails Edwards slightly for 2nd with not much vote to come. Matthews expects a big announcement of some kind.

Chris Wallace on Fox signs off with praise for Huckabee -- Fox may have decided to stop knocking guy they may have to back in the fall.

Poll analysis shows 56% of first time caucus voters went for Obama. But will young turn out everywhere, and in fall? They often disappear.

9:40: Obama pulling away with 37% to the other two at 30% -- a big win. Huckabee lead over Romney trimmed to 34% to 25%.

Rudy on TV looking for help in Florida to save candidacy. Romney campaign manager Ed Rollins on Fox getting testy with Chris Wallace probably because Fox has mocked Huck.

Bill Schneider on CNN analyzing polls that show "change" people went for Obama and "experience" people went for Clinton. Surprise. Clinton polled very poorly among young. Independents swung it to Obama, but Democrats were purely split. They get to vote in New Hampshire, too.

9:30: NBC calls it for Obama. He is drawing about 35% with Hillary with chance to finish 3rd, tied with Edwards at 31%. Matthews crowing about smashing Clinton setback with "two-thirds" voting against her. But Rachel Maddow points out, "two-thirds voted against the other two, also."

9:20: With 60% of Dem vote in, Obama widening lead to 35% to 31% for both Clinton and Edwards. More than half his vote coming from 17 to 29 year olds. Seventeen? Yes, they can vote now, if they turn 18 by November.

9:15: Analysts point out that Huckabee will need to broaden base since most states don't have the same 60% GOP vote as Iowa. Still, he is in line with much of party and as Pat Buchanan says, "Huckabee now has a ticket to the finals in the Republican race." Howard Fineman wonders who will be the un-Huckabee. Buchanan says it will be McCain, especially if Romney loses New Hampshire.

Thompson still drawing 14%, McCain and Paul about 12%.

9:02: NBC calls it for Huckabee, easily. Did the bass playing with Jay Leno prove the difference? Where is Derek Smalls when we really need him?

9:00: Now with 27% in, "tight as a tick," as Dan Rather used to put it, with Edwards at 34% and Obama and Hillary at 32%. Chris Matthews still inanely insisting that 33% would be major defeat for her, even if she wins. Huckabee with surprisingly big lead at 36% to 23% over Mitt, with Thompson at unexpectedly high 14%. Matthews no longer fantasizing about McCain drawing 18%.

8:55: The popular liberal blog DailyKos seems to be quickest with actual results as reported by the Iowa Democratic party. Latest, with about 15% choosing, finds Edwards leading with about 34%, and Obama and Clinton at 32%

8:45: Edwards actually leads with first actual numbers in, with 9% reporting, with a healthy 39%.

8:30: NBC says that its "early" entrance polls indicate that Obama and Clinton are topping Edwards, and Huckabee and Romney neck and neck. Even if true, Edwards is said to be a strong second choice of the voters for the lower-tier candidates and so could still end up on top.

One explanation if indeed he is trailing: Possibly a huge turnout, with added women (favoring Hillary) and more young and indies (for Obama). MSNBC found David Gregory at one caucus site where partication tripled from four years ago, from roughly 85 to 250.

Liberal bloggers upset with early Chris Matthews spin that 30% would represent a smashing defeat for Clinton while 18% would be a triumph for media-fave McCain. If Ron Paul manages to tie or beat McCain for 3rd, watch his head explode on live TV.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003691480&imw=Y

Online Caucus Results

Political junkies intently watching the presidential race don't have to spend tonight glued to the tube waiting for the Iowa caucus results to trickle in. Instead, they can monitor the results via the Web.

Both Iowa's Democrats and Republicans will be posting real-time results of the 2008 presidential campaign's kickoff caucuses on the Internet starting this evening.

Unlike voting in primaries, caucusing usually takes a few hours, especially for those on the Democratic side who have to deal with the party's set of complex rules and what looks to be a virtual tie in Iowa among front-runners Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama.

Occasionally checking online may make the evening less tedious. The Iowa GOP has partnered with Google, which, once the results are in, will be posting them to Google maps so users can view Iowa Republicans' presidential picks county by county.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/news-desk/2008/01/03/online-caucus-results.html

Charles Chatman Freed after Serving 26 Years for a Sexual Assault he Never Committed

A Dallas judge recommended that Charles Chatman be released on Thursday after the 47-year-old man served 26 years for an aggravated sexual assault that he never committed.

DNA tests proved that Chatman, who lived five houses down from the woman who was assaulted, was never involved in the crime that he was convicted of and sentenced to 99 years.

Chatman had maintained his innocence throughout his time in prison and the Innocence Project took on his case and was able to prove through DNA evidence that Chatman was telling the truth.

For more Law related stories please go to:

http://news.finditt.com/NewsList.aspx?cat=19&wcat=17

Obama wins 'Coffee Bean Caucus'

After months of political events and bean dropping, caucus time has finally come for Iowa and the Hamburg Inn No. 2.

The iconic Iowa City diner, which has become a political hotspot, was packed with patrons munching on pancakes, bacon and eggs and possibly hoping for a shot to share their political views with the nation.

CNN’s American Morning Show was at the Hamburg Inn early on Wednesday to broadcast live, interview locals about their plans for Caucus Day and unveil the winner of the “One Bean One Vote” Iowa Coffee Bean Caucus. Despite temperatures being in the single digits, the diner was constantly full with many people sporting campaign stickers and t-shirts.

“I think we’re getting a nice crowd,” said Dave Panther, the owner of Hamburg Inn. “It’s been a really good mix, a little bit of everybody.”

Though Iowa City is predominantly comprised of Democrat supporters, many Republican supporters came out for breakfast and to make their presence known.

“I’m a big supporter of Rudy Giuliani and I knew CNN was going to be here and I wanted to see what they had to say,” said University of Iowa junior Kendall Sater.

The political science major from Bartlett, Ill., said she wasn’t expecting so many people to come out so early in the morning.

“It’s kind of weird for me because I’m from Illinois,” Sater said.

However, Iowa City resident Bob Hibbs said he wasn’t surprised by the big turn out. Hibbs said he and his wife came early to the diner to make sure they got a seat and to take in “the excitement of the election process.”

“We’re in the political mood right now,” Hibbs said.

Many candidates have appeared at the Hamburg over the last few months as they geared up for the Iowa Caucus. Former President Bill Clinton and Democratic hopeful John Edwards also made impromptu visits to the diner while they were in Iowa City.

However, it was Barack Obama who came out as the big winner of the Coffee Bean Caucus. Obama got more than twice as many votes as any other candidate with 1,733. Hillary Clinton placed second with 830 and Edwards received 445. Trailing behind several other Democratic candidates, Ron Paul led the Republicans with 132 votes.

Panther said while it was somewhat bittersweet that the political fervor will like wane once the politicians start focusing on the New Hampshire primary after Thursday, he enjoyed the excitement.

“It’s been fun,” he said. “It’ll be interesting now to see who shows up to the real caucus and how it turns out.”

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/NEWS01/80102001

New year blossoms with the tradition of the Rose Parade

America loves a parade.

From tiny towns and suburbs, with their decorated Fourth of July wagons and pets, to the giant balloons of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York to the spectacular creations of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., this morning.

More than 35 million people likely will watch all or part of the event, if past records are any indication. That's more people than the finale of "American Idol" gets sometimes, and maybe more than the Rose Bowl game itself will attract.

The parade can be seen in more than 150 countries. It should look spectacular in HD, but if you want it without a lot of commercials, check out HGTV.

It might be good if some channel had an announcer-less version so you wouldn't have to listen to all the often-mindless chatter between the co-hosts. They could just tell viewers which band or float was on screen at any given moment. Of course, you could just mute the sound, but then you'd miss the bands. They never let you hear enough of the bands anyway.

Not everyone will tune in for the full treatment. Many will just dip in and out of it, but some folks will stay for the whole show, and there's nothing quite like it.

It's always hard to believe that everything covering all those gigantic floats is composed of flowers or natural materials (such as leaves or sometimes bark), but the rules are strict.

In the very beginning, way back in 1890, the parade was just a local thing, staged on New Year's Day to entertain the townspeople and perhaps get some newspaper coverage back East, where the winter winds were howling and cities were being buried in snow. The gloating factor was big -- and it is still.

The original parade consisted of people putting flowers on their horse-drawn carriages and cruising down the main drag -- but never on Sunday: The town fathers were afraid that such doings on a church day might disrupt services and spook the horses tied up along the route.

Nowadays, they don't have it on Sundays because they don't want to compete with anything the National Football League might schedule. Remember to keep sacred the pigskin day.

In 1890, parade-goers retired to a nearby park and held footraces and tug-of-war contests -- and probably brought along a picnic lunch.

Motorized carriages came along about 1900. Now, more than a century later, the whole thing is motorized, computerized and super-sized.

Many of the floats are built by firms that specialize in such colossal concoctions for a large price that a big-name sponsor pays.

According to reports, some of the Tournament of Roses' floats are still built by volunteers putting in as many as 65,000 hours. And the results are breathtaking.

It's hard to imagine that they can design and create such things. Some of the work is done over a year's period with people who begin planning the day after the parade.

The flowers are placed in pods and sometimes in individual vials of water in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, with most being inserted two to three days ahead of time. It's all done by hand, one flower at a time, using thousands of blossoms for each float. Some of them can cost up to $ 1 million, not counting volunteer labor.

The parade travels a 5.5-mile route, and it would take 2.5 hours for the whole parade to pass by if you were standing in one place -- or were lucky enough to have a bleacher seat.

One of the most remarkable things about the long history of the parade is that it almost never rains in California on New Year's Day. There was a streak of more than a half-century without significant precipitation -- until 2006, when it poured on the parade and practically turned it into a sorry, soggy mess. But 50-1 odds are pretty good.

If you were in Los Angeles, you could go by and see all the floats up close in a park for a couple of days after the parade.

Anyway, doing a little California dreaming and seeing all those flowers on such a winter's day back here is a pleasant way to welcome in the new year.

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