Table of Contents — August 8, 2008

Table of Contents — August 8, 2008
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It's a noble cause, but it's a bad deal for coffee growers.
World
Latin leftists reshape democracy (page 1)
Bolivians vote Sunday on the fate of President Evo Morales
Arts & Culture
In medals race, more countries in running (page 1)
Games enter era of unprecedented equality.
Reinventing rumba, Catalan style (page 13)
Barcelona-based bands wrap the traditional Spanish gypsy music
into urban rhythms in an ever-evolving new fusion.
US Army microgrants help revive small Iraqi businesses (page
4)
Grant recipients need to be held more accountable for loans, say
soldiers.
Designing the places we wait (page 13)
New book on lobbies and waiting rooms explores the creative
beauty of spaces for times in between.
Venezuelan businessman turns thieves into employees (page
4)
Alberto Vollmer's programs for poor squatters and young hoodlums
seen as a model for defusing social tensions.
Calls for France to rethink its Africa role (page 6)
A Rwandan report this week charged Paris with complicity in the
1994 genocide.
What Asia wants from the next U.S. president (page 7)
The wish list includes continued security aid to balance China,
greater engagement, and trade.
On Film (page 14)
Peter Rainer Reviews
Six Picks: Recommendations from the Monitor staff (page 16)
Sigur Rós's latest album, a look at modern Chinese architecture,
piano pop for fans of Keane, and more.
Backstory
Funny Friday (page 20)
Keep the hair dryer out of politics.
Funny Friday (page 20)
You are now free to cry about the country.
USA
How did anthrax suspect Ivins keep security clearance? (page
1)
The army microbiologist sought aid for mental health years ago.
The Home Forum
To deter crime, Los Angeles leaves the park lights on (page 1)
The Summer Night Lights program, started in July, combats gang
and gun violence during the summer months by keeping parks and
recreation centers in Los Angeles's highest-crime districts open
until midnight
When your grown child is far away (page 18)
A Christian Science perspective on daily life.
Veterans groups seek dedicated funding for healthcare (page
2)
The V.A. has yearly funding crunches because of lag time in
Congress's appropriations process, they say.
Strides in fighting homelessness (page 2)
The number of those chronically homeless has sharply declined, a
new report says. But family homelessness may be on the rise.
Campaign '08 enters goofy stage (page 3)
Paris Hilton for president! Just kidding, but the election's silly
season may be eroding Obama's 'celebrity.'
Editorial
Do apes have human rights? (page 8)
Spain may soon give rights to great apes. That could better their
treatment. But it will erode rights.
Letters to the Editor (page 8)
Readers write about the Confederate flag.
Appreciation for John K. Cooley (page 8)
The longtime Monitor correspondent distinguished himself in the
Middle East.
Opinion
I'm torn to see newspapers go (page 9)
I love my laptop, but I'll miss the feel of paper.
Fair-trade coffee: not worth a hill of beans (page 9)
Weather patterns that are all in our minds (page 18)
Can we come up with a better word than 'brainstorming'?
Over the hedge: The coolest dad to stop by day care (page 19)
Little Paul was awestruck by the uniform worn by another boy's
father.
Whose play is this, anyway? (page 19)
'Anastasia' was a seasoned actress who got the general gist of
Oscar Wilde's words.
News in Brief
Etc. (page 3)
World (page 7)
USA (page 3)
‘To injure no man,
but to bless all mankind’
VOL. 100, NO. 179
COPYRIGHT © 2008 THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY — All rights reserved
BOSTON ˙ FRIDAY
AUGUST 8, 2008
ARTS, 13
LATEST NEWS & EXTENDED COVERAGE: csmonitor.com
GANG LAND
To deter crime,
Los Angeles leaves
the park lights on
By MICHAEL B. FARRELL
STAFF WRITER
LOS ANGELES – The lights burned
late on a recent Saturday,
casting an inviting glow over
Ross Snyder Park in a notoriously rough South Los
Angeles neighborhood. The
park pulsated with the sound
of children as the community
staked its claim – at least for
a few hours – to the fields and
benches that typically turn into
the province of gang members
when night falls.
Throughout the summer,
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa is keeping eight
city parks and adjoining recreation centers open until
midnight four nights a week
in some of the city’s highestcrime districts. There’s basketball and soccer, hip-hop and
free food. He hopes it’s enough
to draw some of the city’s most
at-risk young people away
from the sway of the 720 gangs
active in the city.
It is too soon to judge the
impact of the program dubbed
“Summer Night Lights” that
began July 4, but early indicators suggest it’s having an
effect. As of Aug. 2, homicides dropped 5.2 percent
citywide compared with the
same period last year and Los
Angeles recorded 19 homicides
last month, compared with 42
in July 2007. That’s the lowest monthly total since March
1970.
The city did not provide statistics for the areas around the
TODAY
See ANTIGANG page 5
Paris Hilton for president?
Campaign silliness may hurt
both candidates’ image. 3
Land deal A Venezuelan
businessman’s innovative
solution to squatters. 4
ONE DOLLAR
Latin leftists reshape democracy
BOLIVIANS VOTE Sunday on the
By SARA MILLER LLANA
STAFF WRITER
MEXICO CITY – In a high-stakes vote, Bolivians
will decide Sunday whether populist
President Evo Morales gets to keep his job.
It’s the latest in a string of popular votes
called for by Latin America’s new crop of
leftist leaders whose reforms have brought
a sense of inclusion to the poor and, some
fate of President Evo Morales.
say, strengthened democracy. But others say
it reverses the region’s democratic gains. By
bringing votes directly to the people, leaders
are bypassing checks and balances and centralizing power in their own hands.
IN MEDALS RACE, MORE
COUNTRIES IN RUNNING
“There is a cascade of reform movements, and there is no doubt that Ecuador,
Bolivia, and Venezuela are inspired by what
is going on in each other’s countries,” says
Zachary Elkins, an assistant professor of
government at the University of Texas at
Austin. “What is common to all these revisions is more power to the president.”
See BOLIVIA page 10
READY: Chinese gymnast Yang
Wei; US swimmer Ryan Lochte;
US sprinter Lauryn Williams;
British cyclist Victoria Pendleton.
Games enter era of unprecedented equality.
By MARK SAPPENFIELD
STAFF WRITER
BEIJING – Seventeen days from tonight’s opening ceremonies, America’s
post-Soviet reign atop the Olympic gold-medal table is expected to
end – and that could be just the beginning.
Competition is changing more thoroughly than
at any time since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
China is at the head of a number of countries, from
Britain to Australia, significantly ramping up spending.
This Olympics will mark only the start of the trend. China’s massive
effort to win these Games is just now getting up to speed. It is tipped to
win the gold-medal table here. By 2012, it could dominate – following
See GAMES page 12
How did Ivins
keep security
clearance?
ANTHRAX SUSPECT sought aid
for mental health years ago.
By PETER GRIER AND GORDON LUBOLD
STAFF WRITERS
– Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins
may or may not have been the anthrax killer.
But FBI documents about his case released
Wednesday raise another troubling question:
Why did he retain security clearance and access
to deadly pathogens, despite years of strange –
sometimes disturbing – behavior?
It is possible Dr. Ivins’s superiors were
unaware that he had sought help for mentalhealth problems as early as 2000. And perhaps
the FBI did not want to alert him to their suspicions by starting a formal clearance review.
WASHINGTON
PHOTOS BY AP AND REUTERS
It is also possible that family members and
co-workers were reluctant to report his actions.
Sometimes, people don’t take the security
clearance process as seriously as they should,
says a lawyer who handles similar cases, even
at a facility as sensitive as Ivins’s workplace.
“It’s an exceptional case. It could be that it
just slipped through the cracks,” says attorney Mark F. Riley, a retired Army intelligence
officer.
Ivins’s security clearance and access
to labs at Fort Detrick’s US Army
Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases
See ANTHRAX page 11
2
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
usa
time they’re creating more of it by cutting affordablehousing programs,” Stoops says. “We need a greater
investment in low-income housing in this country.”
This summer, as part of legislation dealing with the
foreclosure crisis, Congress also passed the National
Housing Trust Fund Act to build low-income rental housresources to building permanent homes, the drop repre- ing. “That’s the first major affordable-housing act since
THE NUMBER of those chronically
sents a major success in dealing with a problem that has 1990,” Stoops says.
homeless has sharply declined, a new
Homelessness policy researchers agree that a key to
appeared almost intractable during the past 30 years.
report says. But family homelessness
“This is the largest documented decrease in home- solving the problem is the creation of more affordable
lessness in our nation’s history,” says Philip Mangano, housing. But they also credit the strides made in the
may be on the rise.
executive director of the Interagency
past five years in coping with the
Council on Homelessness.
chronically homeless. From 2005
180
By ALEXANDRA MARKS
But many homeless advocates,
to 2007, an estimated 50,000 units
2005
170
STAFF WRITER
including Mr. Mangano, are also voicof supportive housing became
175,914
NEW YORK – Against the dreary backdrop of the foreclosure ing a note of caution. The analysis
available – about the same number
160
crisis and soaring food costs comes some good news on is based on 2007 data and thus does
of fewer chronically homeless at
2006
the home front: Chronic homelessness has dropped 30 not reflect the full impact of the curshelters in the 2007 data.
150
155,623
percent from 2005 to 2007.
rent foreclosure crisis. They note that
Researchers and policymak140
That’s according to an assessment from the homeless shelters and food pantries
ers are now looking at the lesInteragency
Council
across the country are reportsons learned from dealing with
130
on Homelessness at
ing significant increases in the
the chronically homeless and
the US Department of
numbers of people using their
120
2007 trying to apply them to family
homelessness.
Housing and Urban
services. Many of the people are
123,833
110
“There’s a lot of policy innovaDevelopment (HUD). It
families with children, a group
Chronic homelessness
tion
going on around family homecites two reasons. The
that saw only a small decline in
100
across America dropped
lessness, and it’s borrowing a page
primary one is a shift
the report.
30 percent from 2005
from the chronic handbook in that
of resources on local,
“Our network of food banks
90
to 2007, says a July
the focus is on permanent housing
state,
and
national
and homeless services are reportreport
by
the
Depart80
and housing-first strategies,” says
levels from providing
ing their numbers are up and
ment of Housing and
Dennis Culhane, a housing and
emergency shelter to
they’re turning people away,”
Urban
Development.
70
homeless expert at the University
building what’s come to
says Michael Stoops, executive
Better data collection
be known as supportdirector of the National Coalition
of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
60
methods and a shift to
ive housing. This new
for the Homeless.
The HUD report found that an
providing permanent
50
housing – in permaBut even Mr. Stoops credestimated 130,000 families were
housing for the homeless
over the past five years
nent apartments – is for
its the Bush administration for
homeless in 2007. While that num40
are reasons cited
homeless
individuals
sharpening America’s focus on
ber is expected to go up because
for the shift.
with mental-health and
ending homelessness. Yet he
of the foreclosure crisis, advocates
30
addiction issues. The
faults the administration for
like Mary Cunningham, director
20
Note: Data based on local
second reason is more
playing what he calls “a shell
of the Homelessness Research
reports from a single day from
mundane: the use of a
game” by cutting resources from
Institute at the National Alliance
10
3,800 cities and counties.
much more consistent
affordable-housing programs in
on Homelessness in Washington,
and
comprehensive
general while increasing funds
say that “is a solvable number.”
0
MARY KNOX MERRILL – STAFF
data collection method
for supportive housing for the
“We’re not talking about milRICH CLABAUGH – STAFF
SOURCE: US Interagency
Council on Homelessness from the
LOS ANGELES: The city’s Skid Row
lions here,” she says. “It’s a matter
than in the past.
chronically homeless.
US Department of Housing and Urban
of prioritizing where we spend our
For advocates of the neighborhood has a large population
“They’re talking about ending
Development. July 2008, ‘The Third Annual
Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.’
money.”
shift in philosophy and of chronically homeless people.
homelessness, but at the same
NUMBER OF HOMELESS IN THOUSANDS
Strides in fighting homelessness
An unprecedented
decline
Veterans seek dedicated funding for healthcare
By GORDON LUBOLD
STAFF WRITER
– Veterans’ groups are lining up
behind a plan they say would shield their
healthcare benefits from political whim
and a “dysfunctional system” that they
say in effect shuts some war veterans out
of medical care.
An initiative of veterans’ groups called
Stand Up For Veterans wants Congress to
give the Veterans Administration a more
predictable funding stream by advancing
its annual budget a year ahead of time.
Such a move would protect the VA from
political wrangling that results in funding
delays and that forces it to freeze hiring,
curtail services, and extend waiting-room
time to the point that some veterans simply go home, veterans groups say.
It’s an old issue with new life, as these
groups seek to capitalize on attention they
can receive during an election when veterans’ issues are somewhat top of mind.
And while it may seem like special
treatment, veterans say they deserve that.
“We believe unapologetically that veterans do deserve to be taken care of first,”
says Peter Dickinson, a coordinator for
Stand Up for Veterans.
Sen. John McCain will speak
WASHINGTON
Saturday before a group of the veterans
in Las Vegas, where organizers like Mr.
Dickinson hope the Republican presidential hopeful will signal his support. Sen.
Barack Obama (D) will also appear, but
by video teleconference.
Many in and around the military are
surprised to learn that veterans’ healthcare benefits are defined only by the level
of funding set by Congress, not by actual
need. As a result, political squabbling
can delay passage of the pertinent spending bill, resulting in curtailed coverage
for anything from counseling for posttraumatic stress disorder to routine medical treatment, veterans groups say.
Veterans’ groups acknowledge that
funding for VA healthcare has increased
during the past several years. But the
delay causes problems and has become
standard practice. In 2003, Congress
didn’t pass VA funding until 142 days
after the fiscal year began; in 2004, it was
114 days, and in 2007, it was 137 days, the
National Journal reported last month, citing Library of Congress data.
The problem has existed for years.
“We’d rob Peter to pay Paul,” says Bob
Perreault, director of three veterans medical centers through the 1990s, now retired.
“We’d stop buying equipment, stop doing the government wants to spend,” says
much-needed maintenance, and divert Joseph Violante, national legislative direcmoney to maintain employment,” he says. tor for Disabled American Veterans.
Taxpayer watchdog groups cringe at
“The cadre of people who were working
as facilities directors knew that that was the idea, saying an advance appropriathe way of life, so we adapted to it. But ... tion would diminish Congress’s ability to
it was a very unfortunate situation for the monitor the way the federal government
spends its money.
veteran population.”
“I don’t think anyone is suggesting that
For several years, veterans’ groups
have called for veterans’ healthcare fund- we stiff our veterans, but there is a level
of flexibility that you need
ing through the VA to be
to have in the discretionary
essentially automatic, as
budget” to maintain overwith Social Security or
sight, says Steve Ellis, vice
Medicare. But lawmakers
president at Taxpayers for
have fought that initiative,
Common Sense, an advosaying they want to main– Peter Dickinson,
cacy group in Washington.
tain oversight.
veterans’ advocate
Even with an advance,
As a result, veterans’
groups are taking a differagencies and other groups
ent tack this year. They want healthcare typically come back “for another bite of
funding to become an “advance appropri- the apple” a year later, saying they need
ation,” by which Congress approves the additional funding on top of what they’ve
VA’s budget one year ahead of time.
already been allocated the year before.
Congress would still be able to shape “You end up spending more through
the budget, just a year behind. The advance appropriations.”
advance would minimize the effect of
That is the strength of the advance
funding delays on healthcare services and appropriation, says Mr. Dickinson. “It’s
lock in funding a year at a time, they say.
not rationed healthcare based on how
“All we’re asking them to do is fund VA much we choose to spend, but on how
at the level that is needed, not at the level much it will cost based on the need.”
‘We believe ... that
veterans do deserve to
be taken care of first.’
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Paris Hilton launches campaign
JUST KIDDING! But the election
season’s goofy stage may be
eroding Obama’s ‘celebrity.’
By LINDA FELDMANN
STAFF WRITER
After a week of tire gauges, Britney
Spears, and Paris Hilton, Barack Obama is no
doubt ready for a week in his native Hawaii,
where he heads Friday for a vacation with his
family.
Apparently the public is also ready for
a break: According to the Pew Research
Center, 48 percent of Americans say
they have been hearing too much lately
about Senator Obama, the Democrats’
presumptive presidential nominee.
Only 26 percent say the same about
his Republican opponent, John McCain. And in
what Pew calls a “slight, but statistically significant margin – 22 percent to 16 percent – people
say that recently they have a less rather than
more favorable view of [Obama].”
In a close race, with Obama consistently
ahead of Senator McCain by about four points,
a slight shift either way can be crucial. So after
what can easily be called one of the goofiest
weeks ever in presidential campaign politics,
WASHINGTON –
COURTESY OF FUNNY OR DIE.COM/REUTERS
WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS: She fired back, teasing
McCain and launching her own ‘candidacy.’
the real question may be whether it has any lasting effect – especially as it played out during the
summer doldrums.
“Most folks are paying attention with only
one ear, at most,” says Cal Jillson, a political
scientist at Southern Methodist University in
Dallas. “But still, you can establish a theme at
this point that builds through the convention.
What McCain has done is he’s blunted Obama’s
momentum coming home from Europe and
reestablished the sense that you don’t know
much about this guy.”
The first McCain campaign video that got
people buzzing highlighted footage of Obama’s
pop-star-esque reception in Berlin, followed by
images of celebrities Ms. Spears and Ms. Hilton
– an attempt to portray Obama as just another
celebrity (read: vapid). The video became a viral
hit online, with endless replays on cable TV.
McCain also broke through the buzz barrier by
handing out tire gauges to celebrate Obama’s
birthday last Monday – an attempt to mock
Obama’s suggestion that motorists keep their
tires inflated to save fuel. The McCain campaign portrayed the advice as the sum total of
Obama’s energy plan.
By the end of the week, the tire gauge gambit had played out, after it became clear that
keeping tires inflated is standard advice for fuel
efficiency – and Obama himself fought back
indignantly, saying, “It’s like these guys take
pride in being ignorant.”
But the biggest hit of the week may have been
Paris Hilton’s own mock “campaign ad,” rebutting that “white-haired dude” (McCain) and
laying out her own energy plan as she lounged
poolside in a leopard-print bathing suit.
Obama seemed to recover a bit by week’s end
– with an assist from Hilton and her mother, a
McCain donor who complained that the “celebrity” attack ad against Obama was “a complete
waste of the country’s time and attention.” (McCain’s own mother called her
son’s ad “kinda stupid.”)
The bottom line, though, is that for
the first time since the general election began two months ago, McCain
got just as much media coverage as
Obama. But to have a lasting impact,
McCain’s attacks have to be grounded in reality,
says Jeffrey Berry, a political scientist at Tufts
University in Medford, Mass.
“The fact that 1 million people watched the
video with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears – I
wouldn’t regard that as a signal of anything
other than that they are objects of fascination,”
he says. “The reality is that Barack Obama’s
credentials are thin – the public believes that.
Negative campaigning has the best chance of
succeeding when it’s aimed at real vulnerability
rather than trying to make up an image out of
whole cloth.”
This week’s breakout of silly season may be
in part a result of the YouTube-ization of politics, in which an entertaining video can be produced relatively cheaply and gain millions of
viewers. The campaigns themselves seem to be
producing about one a day, and without investing in major ad buys, the videos can be testmarketed online.
But Mr. Berry doesn’t blame the media for
covering all this political entertainment. After
all, he says, voters have a limited appetite for
dry policy deliberations.
On balance, Republicans were happy with
the week, with McCain for once driving the conversation and Obama back on his heels. Some
Democrats were privately wringing their hands
that Obama wasn’t fighting back hard enough,
but also taking comfort in the public warnings
of some Republicans – including former McCain
aide Mike Murphy – that McCain was risking
damage to his brand by going negative.
“They’re going for the 15 to 20 percent who
aren’t paying much attention and are still going
to vote, and figure they can knock Obama down
now and identify him early before the convention,” says Democratic strategist Peter Fenn.
“But there’s a lot of evidence I think that this
trivializes McCain. He’s supposed to be an experienced, serious guy here.”
Republican strategist Tony Fabrizio argues
that, on balance, “it was probably one of the better weeks for McCain.”
But he is concerned that he does not see a
unifying theme in the McCain campaign. “This
is one of those things where they threw something against the wall and it happened to stick,”
says Mr. Fabrizio. “But the problem is, when
you have things that are reactive or spur of the
moment and they are not tied to a unified theme,
it’s kind of tough to move to the next thing.”
Fabrizio hopes the McCain camp can keep
beating Obama on energy. “But the media are
going to grow bored of that,” he says. “There’s
only so many gimmicks before they move to
the next thing. I’m hoping McCain doesn’t get
caught flat-footed by Obama the way Obama
was caught flat-footed.”
USA NEWS
Applications filed for unemployment insurance rose a season-
ally adjusted 7,000 to 455,000
last week, their highest level
since March 2002, the Labor
Department said Thursday. At
the same time, retailers said
that with the benefits of stimulus checks drying up, a challenging back-to-school season
is expected.
The crash of a helicopter in
California carrying a firefight-
ing crew presumably killed as
many as eight of the 11 people
on board Wednesday, a forestry official said. The cause of
the crash, which occurred after
the chopper lifted off from a
clearing in a remote region
of the Shasta-Trinity National
Forest, 215 miles northwest of
Sacramento, was not immediately known.
This week’s shipment of California strawberries to China is
a “historic” breakthrough,
an industry source said
Wednesday. US growers have
long tried to get their strawberries into China, which has a
short growing season. When
China’s Olympic athletes said
they wanted strawberries during the Beijing Games, the call
went out to California, which
sent its first 450-pound, pickof-the crop shipment from
farms in Watsonville.
DAVID ZULUBOWSKI/AP
A majority of 75,000 tickets
for Barack Obama’s accep-
tance speech, which wraps
up the Democratic National
Convention in Denver (Aug.
25-28), will go to Coloradans,
party officials said Wednesday.
Colorado is a battleground
state considered critical in
winning the White House.
The speech will be held at
Invesco Field. Above, Colorado
Gov. Bill Ritter (l.) and Leah
Daughtry, CEO of the convention committee, announced
convention plans.
Quarterback Brett Favre
landed with the New York Jets
Wednesday, ending a month of
indecision about whether the
Green Bay Packers would take
the franchise’s beloved signal
caller back from an off-season
retirement. Details of the trade
were thought to involve draft
choices.
3
IN
BRIEF
Border patrol agents are spread
unevenly along the 2,000-mile
US boundary with Mexico,
an Associated Press staffing
analysis shows, raising questions about whether politics
influence staffing decisions.
The shortest sector in San
Diego has three times as many
agents per mile (37) as most
of Arizona, where the busiest
crossing is near Tucson. Below,
fences along the San Diego
sector divide California from
Tijuana, Mexico, on the left.
LENNY IGNELZI/AP
Compiled from wire service reports
by Ross Atkin
etc...
After all, I was here first
Rhett Davis says he respects the
fact that his neighbors in a new
Hooper, Utah, subdivision “spent a
lot on their homes.” It bothers him,
though, that they did so knowing
full well that he’s a farmer, yet they
complain about the flies that buzz
around his horses and cows and the
dust that’s kicked up when he cuts
and bales hay for the livestock to
eat. But since he’s not the sort who
wishes to be on bad terms, Davis
offered to put up a conventional
fence. He’d pay half the cost if the
neighbors covered the rest. Ah, but
that would block their view, so they
turned him down. Exasperated, he
decided the only way to deal with
the issue was an unconventional
fence, which he’d erect at his own
expense. He happens to have three
battered old cars, and one day he
took a backhoe and dug holes
deep enough to push them into,
nose down. They remain on end in
a row, tail lights high in the air – and
directly in the line of sight between
his property and the subdivision.
“I’m an easygoing guy,” he told
reporters, while admitting the way
he has chosen to make his point “is
kind of in-your-face” even though
it wasn’t done for spite. He just
wants recognition of the fact that
Hooper – for all its new houses – is
still a farming community. And that
since he has lived on the land since
he was 7, he can do as he likes with
it. So far, the neighbors have given
him “only dumbfounded looks.”
But they haven’t aired their opinions in the news media. As for how
long the cars will remain in place,
Davis isn’t telling, although he says,
“I thought about putting Christmas
lights on them.”
Friday, August 8, 2008
4
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
world
US Army microgrants help revive small Iraqi businesses
GRANT RECIPIENTS need to be
held more accountable for
loans, say soldiers.
By TOM A. PETER
STAFF WRITER
When US Army Capt. Nick
Piergallini appeared in Hassam Jabar
Kareem’s appliance shop in Baghdad
and offered him $1,000 to do whatever
he needed to improve his store, the Iraqi
businessman was understandably skeptical. “This is weird. Someone comes into
my store and offers me money,” says Mr.
Kareem, who is considering closing his
shop due to poor sales.
Captain Piergallini is participating in
one of the US Army’s latest reconstruction efforts: microfinancing. Although the
microgrants doled out through program
are turning around a number of businesses across Iraq, many soldiers worry
that the program taxes combat resources
while providing only limited oversight.
“Our end state at the local level is
goods and services for Iraqis, provided
by Iraqis, and these microgrants really
help us accomplish this,” says Maj. John
BAGHDAD –
‘THE OBJECT OF THE MONITOR IS TO INJURE NO
MAN, BUT TO BLESS ALL MANKIND.’
– Mary Baker Eddy
(ISSN 0882-7729 PRINT)
(ISSN 1540-4617 TREELESS)
Published daily except Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays
by The Christian Science Publishing Society,
210 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA, USA, 02115-3195.
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Gossart, executive officer for the
supposed to do follow-ups
3rd Brigade Combat Team (3BCT).
every 30, 60, and 90 days,
Instead of targeting major projbut many commanders
ects like roadways and electric
say just one is acceptable.
pylons, microgrants help small
All this is on top of
businesses. The recipients are not
regular platoon duties –
expected to pay back a single dinar,
patrolling for insurgents,
but if they don’t follow through
setting up checkpoints –
with their plan, the US military can
which is why Piergallini
detain them or force them to pay
usually spends less than
the money back. No one involved
five minutes soliciting
in the program is aware of such an
most grant applications.
incident, though.
“It’s to the point where we
“The markets are cleaner, the
are just trying to throw
electricity is on more, fuel is availmoney into the economy
able.... What the construction
blindly,” says Piergallini.
doesn’t fix is getting people into
“It’s a good program,
TOM A. PETER
those retail shops, so that’s where
but the current implementhe microgrants come in,” explains ECONOMIC UPLIFT: Capt. Nick Piergallini and appliance shop owner
tation is overwhelming,”
Maj. Brain Horine, the 3BCT civil Hassam Jabar Kareem fill out a microgrant application in Baghdad.
adds Lt. Josh Ladner, the
affairs officer from Phoenix, Ariz.
nonlethal targeting offi“[Retailers] may need simple things like months. They estimate that more than $1 cer for the 1-68 CAB. He says that Iraqis
enough money to paint their shop or put million worth of grant applications are who receive the grants are not being held
up some new shelves [and] ... that small pending.
accountable for following through with
infusion of money will enable them to
Though the program has existed for their business plans.
make those upgrades” and increase nearly a year, it has become a major focus
At a gym that received $2,500 for a stebusiness.
for the Army’s nonlethal operations only reo, among other things, the owner tells
Each microgrant also generates an in the last few months. In July, the num- Piergallini that he paid $500 for the new
average of 2.5 jobs, says Major Horine. ber of microgrants each platoon in the sound system. Although the price seems
According to US Army officials, a $2,500 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion, part of the high, Piergallini settles on telling the gym
grant allowed a furniture shop to hire an 3BCT, passed out quadrupled to eight a owner that he got “ripped off.” A price
additional eight people.
week. On average, most microgrants total survey by the Monitor showed comparaSince the 3BCT arrived in Iraq seven $1,500, though many reach the $2,500 ble stereos in Baghdad usually sell for less
months ago, they’ve handed out 147 limit, says Piergallini. Larger grants than $100.
microgrants worth $368,000 throughout require more paperwork and approval
Lt. Col. Michael Pappal, 1-68 CAB’s
their area of operation, which encom- from the brigade or division level.
commander, says that if the program develpasses nearly 40 percent of Baghdad.
Units that conduct patrols are expected ops relations with locals while improving
Under current distribution require- to find businesses during the course of the economy, it will prove a win-win. “It’s
ments, Piergallini’s platoon of nearly their regular missions and help them a way to establish a relationship with a
40 soldiers will pass out an additional fill out grant applications. If the grant is person that’s hopefully positive and ... if
$380,000 or more to more than 250 busi- approved, the unit returns to give the you do some favor for them, they’re likely
nesses before they leave Iraq in eight shopkeeper the money. The unit is also to do something for you,” he adds.
Venezuelan man turns thieves into employees
BUSINESSMAN SETS up model
programs for poor squatters
and young hoodlums.
BY JUAN FORERO
WASHINGTON POST
– Alberto Vollmer is
as blue-blooded as they get – a rakishly
handsome heir of one of Venezuela’s richest families. It is a family that owns the
fabled Santa Teresa sugar-cane hacienda
and rum distillery, the one where 19thcentury independence hero Simón Bolívar
announced an end to slavery.
In Venezuela, where President Hugo
Chávez divides his countrymen into
two groups – the exploited poor and the
malevolent oligarchs – Mr. Vollmer would
seem to fall into the latter category.
But this US-educated businessman
has founded two highly successful programs to provide the poor with land and
job opportunities, and he has found a way
to earn the respect of the Chávez government. The programs have so effectively
defused social tensions that other countries have sought him out for advice.
How did he get started? In 2000, he was
EL CONSEJO, VENEZUELA
faced with what other hacienda owners
here have confronted – poor squatters.
“If you resort to violence or being reactive or defensive, you’re at an enormous
disadvantage,” says Vollmer.
So when 500 poor families invaded a
stretch of Vollmer’s 18,300-acre hacienda,
he did not fight back – he welcomed them.
Vollmer entered into negotiations with
their leader. Then Vollmer pitched an idea
to the state government, which was and
remains solidly behind Chávez.
Vollmer would provide the land and
design houses for 100 of the families; the
rest would receive homes somewhere
else, with the state’s help. Officials would
provide mortgages. The families would
also participate in job-training programs
sponsored by Vollmer’s distillery.
Today, the Royal Way neighborhood,
with its colorful homes and gaggles of
children, is a success. “We fought to have
a home, and thanks to God we have a
dignified home that I can leave for my
children,” said Yumila Aquino, who was
among the first squatters.
Three years later, another problem presented Vollmer with another opportunity.
The shantytowns outside the hacienda
had always bred violence and crime. One
day, local hoods stole a guard’s gun, and
Vollmer’s security staff went out and
nabbed the young criminals.
“They were handcuffed, and I said,
‘Take the handcuffs off them,’ and we
start having a civilized conversation,”
Vollmer recounts. He offered them two
options: get turned over to the police, or
agree to live on the hacienda for three
months. They would earn nothing, but
receive free meals and placement in jobtraining programs.
“We had to be much more ambitious
and think, ‘How are you going to change
the reality of these people, so they’re productive for themselves?’ “ Vollmer said.
“It’s not a handout. It’s to give something
sustainable.”
Vollmer agreed to expand the program,
and was astonished to see 22 show up.
Though some of those who have participated have become victims of the violence in the nearby shantytowns, dozens
of others have hold down jobs. Seventyfive remain in the program, young men
who are required to do schoolwork, learn
job skills, and play organized rugby,
Vollmer’s passion.
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
5
usa
Antigang: L.A. brings light to dark corners of city
Continued from page 1
eight parks it’s targeting over the summer,
but the mayor’s office said “overall crime,
gang-related violence, and homicides are
down” in those parts of Los Angeles.
Anticrime initiatives such as these
are certainly not new. But with a broad
approach that involves both intervention
and outreach, Summer Night Lights could
prove to be a model for battling gang violence. It’s forging cease-fires between
rival groups to ensure that turf battles
don’t punctuate the late-night affairs, and
the Youth Squads] who are right on the
fence of going the wrong way or the right
way. Their family members are associated
with gangs and some have already tried it
out,” says Zepeda, who grew up near Ross
Snyder Park. “We hope this motivates
them to go the right way.”
Many of the young people that night
talked about a shooting just the day
before. It was across from the park. They
say it kept many kids and their parents
away that night. The soccer field was still
full of dozens of youngsters, and smatterings of teenagers hung around inside and
HIP-HOP CLASS: Brizanery Gomez (r). works on audio recordings with Jay Smooth during a
Summer Night Lights class at a park recreation center in Los Angeles.
it’s employing corps of young people in outside the recreation center. But it was a
groups called Youth Squads to promote relatively sparse turnout compared with
and staff the programs.
other Summer Night Light evenings in the
“I hope that it becomes a template for city.
what we need to do across the nation to
“There are shootings [in this area]
address the scourge of gun and gang vio- every day. For the first time, here’s a park
lence,” says Mr. Villaraigosa. “The fact of that’s open. The LAPD is here. People feel
the matter is that you have to do it all. You like they are safe. The reality is that if this
have to have suppression. You have to do wasn’t here, someone would have gotten
prevention and intervention, and you have shot in the park,” says Zepeda.
to make a serious investment in both.”
L.A. has some 39,000 gang members
The mayor’s office raised nearly $1 and, according to the Los Angeles Times,
million from donors to fund the program while serious crimes dropped overall in
that will run through Labor Day
2007, gang-related crimes increased
in its Gang Reduction and Youth
14 percent. In South Los Angeles,
Multimedia the newspaper reported, gang vioDevelopment (GRYD) zones.
“When we started conceptualizlence climbed 25 percent.
ing Summer Night Lights, we wanted to
In the Newton district alone, an esticreate a space that would be a safe neu- mated 47 gangs, many with overlapping
tral zone for young people,” says Tony turf, are active within 9.8 square miles,
Zepeda, GRYD program manager for according to an assessment of the area by
the Newton district, which includes Ross the Advancement Project, a public policy
Snyder Park. “If there’s a gang member group. In a report that was commissioned
who wants to play basketball, soccer, or by the mayor’s office, it says that Newton
box, they are not going to be harassed.”
is “one of the most gang saturated areas
Los Angeles Police Department of the City of Los Angeles.”
(LAPD) officers were nowhere to be
“Community members were asked
seen that night. But Mr. Zepeda says they at what age young people were being
were indeed there and ready to respond recruited to join gangs. The most consisif needed. Officers keep a low profile, he tent answer was around 10 years old or
says, so they don’t frighten off gang mem- fifth grade,” according to the report.
bers who may want to come out and join
Inside the park’s recreation center,
in, which is an important component of Brizanery Gomez says she has had more
the initiative. While the program aims than her fair share of brushes with gang
to steer potential members away from violence. “One of my best friends died in
gangs, organizers also want to show those a car accident doing a drive-by. We were
already initiated a way out.
only in the eighth grade.... It used to be
“We hired young people [to be part of every day, shootings and killings. I guess
I got used to it.”
In an ad hoc recording studio
set up at the recreation center, the
15-year-old keeps the microphone
close to her mouth, tries to hold back
an embarrassed smile, and raps over
a repetition of slow beats. A poster
on the cinderblock wall behind her
reads, “No Haters Here.” Instructors
and others in the poetry and hip hop
class look on as she tests her rhyme.
“It’s cool because they get you
confident and they get you to express
your feelings,” says Brizanery of the
instructors. Later, she darts off to an
improv class.
Alex Alonso, who runs the website streetgangs.com, which chronicles gang activity in L.A., says the
largest gang in the Newton district is
the 38th Street Gang, whose graffiti
is sprayed across a long metal trash
bin at the park. “In an average gang
neighborhood, you have about 15
PHOTOS BY MARY KNOX MERRILL – STAFF
percent of young people joining up,”
says Mr. Alonso. Most “of these guys SAFE HARBOR: Youths skateboard at Ross Snyder
Park, open until midnight to deter gang violence.
are born into it.”
Alonso says Summer Night Lights
needs to be expanded. “We need more of Ross Snyder would have been an “empty
these programs. We’re talking about a few space ... an attractive public nuisance
neighborhoods for only a small duration for guns, gangs, crime, and drugs,” says
in time.” Still, he says, “Once it’s over, Villaraigosa. “Now, it’s a safe haven, a
we’ll be able to look at the data and see magnet for building community, for bringthat it had a positive impact.”
ing people out of the darkness and into
On a Saturday night last summer, the light.”
6
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
world
REPORTERS ON THE JOB
C Hey Buddy, Want a Loan? After hearing that the US military’s program to give
microgrants to promising small business
owners (page 4) was largely being handled
by combat units unaccustomed to civil
affairs work, staff writer Tom Peter was curious to see how the process would work. “I’d
seen some indications that at least a few
soldiers might be handing them out rather
arbitrarily in order to meet new quotas,”
says Tom.
On a recent day, the Army unit he
was with made a stop at a local currency
exchange. And Tom says it certainly
seemed that this platoon leader had yet
to develop a clear system for distributing
microgrants. “He stopped in the exchange
because he needed to get some Iraqi dinars
– soldiers often buy snacks, batteries, and
other basic supplies from local vendors. As
far as I know he hadn’t been thinking about
giving this guy a microgrant,” says Tom.
“After a few minutes of bantering with
the exchange owner, he turned to a few of
his soldiers, who’d followed them in, and
suggested that they give him a microgrant,”
says Tom. “Ultimately, the exchange owner
told them he needed at least $40,000 to
do anything worthwhile, so the patrol
leader decided not to. But that was about
the average level of investigation I saw go
into each microgrant from the soldiers on
patrol. There are a lot of soldiers who put in
time screening grant applicants, but there
are also a lot of incidents like that one.”
C Olympic Cuisine: After staff writer Mark
Sappenfield filed today’s story on the race
for Olympic medals (page 1), he visited the
cafeteria in the media center. As Olympic
food goes, Mark says, it’s good. But he’s
noticed that the Chinese food served at the
media center is worse than what he’s had
in Beijing restaurants. “The same thing was
true at the 2004 Olympics in Athens,” he
says. “The Greek food in the media center
was awful.” So, Mark found an vendor outside the Olympic facilities where he could
get decent souvlaki at 2 a.m.
– David Clark Scott
World editor
C U LT U R A L S N A P S H O T
In France, calls to rethink Africa role
A RWANDAN STUDY this week
changed everything. Rwanda proved to
us that there was absolutely no limit to
charged France with
what people were capable of doing, in
complicity in genocide.
defending their interests.”
The
1998
French
parliamenBy ROBERT MARQUAND
tary investigation into its mission in
STAFF WRITER
Rwanda found that “mistakes were
PARIS – A bombshell of a report by
made,” but that France was not knowRwanda this week implicating highingly involved in or complicit in the
ranking French officials in the arming
crimes committed by military and
and training of Hutu forces that comparamilitary forces. Yet Survie’s study,
mitted genocide in Rwanda – could have
and the Munyo Commission, presented
been issued last November.
compelling evidence that
President Paul Kagame sat on
France trained government
the 500-page study, approved
and paramilitary forces.
by the Rwandan Senate, for
“All roads to the truth
months.
were opened up in the 1998
It was a time of some boninvestigation in France,”
homie with France. President
argues Ms. Courtoux, “but
Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign
they did not go to the end of
Minister Bernard Kouchner,
the road.”
much liked in Kigali, were
Mr.
Wallis,
reporter
working on a new rapprocheChris McGreal, and Survie
ment policy – after Rwanda
accounts
point
particubroke all ties with France in
larly to the French role in
2006 over a French judge’s
instances like “Operation
indictment of Mr. Kagame for
Turquoise” – an attempt to
allegedly ordering an assassicreate a safe haven for the
RICCARDO GANGALE/AP
nation in 1994.
Hutu government and peoKagame, a Tutsi, appears BONHOMIE: The report breaks a spell of warmer ties between ples, which took place in the
to have lost patience with Rwanda and France. In January, President Paul Kagame (r.)
mountains of the south, a
France. He had hoped that hosted French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (l.) in Kigali. place called Bisesero. French
the 2006 indictment would be
soldiers were instructed
renounced and that high-level Hutus relations caused by the emergence of to go into the zone. When they did,
still living in France would be deported an international legal system.... The hundreds of Tutsis who were hiding
to Rwanda to face genocide charges.
very idea that there might be a legal in the hills thought they were comStill, what is likely the last major process ... quite separate from politics ing to save them, according to Wallis.
report on the 1994 Rwandan genocide is causing many people in many coun- The Tutsis came out of the hills, then
that killed more than 800,000, leaves tries to rethink how they approach the French soldiers were instructed
France with an embarrassing problem international relations.”
to withdraw – exposing them to the
– one cutting to the heart of its own
Paris and Kigali have spent years Hutu Interahamwe militia squads
political elite, to a network of French disputing France’s role in the 100-day (who had allegedly received training
unofficial “parallel structures” of com- killing spree that became the last full- from the French). “The Interahamwe
merce and intelligence in Africa, and scale genocide of the 20th century.
just clapped their hands at
to how a major power will deal with Some diplomatic sources in Paris say
that point,” says Wallis.
thorny questions of justice about its the Kagame report, produced by the
“These Tutsis had been
behavior in the postcolonial world.
Munyo Commission, is an effort
AREA OF
“The French know this report is at distracting attention from Tutsi
DETAIL
dynamite and wanted to keep it from crimes that took place after 800,000
UGANDA
TANZANIA
seeing the light of day,” says Andrew Hutu moderates and Tutsis were
Wallis, author of “Silent Accomplice,” slaughtered.
a recounting of alleged French backYet the respected French daily Le
RWANDA
DEMOCRATIC
ing of the Hutu government in Rwanda Monde this week said the evidence
REPUBLIC OF
in the early 1990s. “This creates a new presented in the Rwandan study means
CONGO
chapter and ends an old one. The ques- the issue can no longer be ignored. It
Kigali
tion is, where do the two sides go now? argued that passionate back-and-forth
0 10 30 km
The French tried in every way to unseat charges between France and Rwanda
BURUNDI
0 10 30 mi
Kagame, but now recognize he is here has hidden the truth for more than a
RICH CLABAUGH – STAFF
to stay. But you aren’t going to get an decade, and that “France has to reply
apology from the French.... The Hutus to the accusations.”
were armed and trained by a foreign
Much of the French complicity impossible to route out, and now they
power that walked away and said ‘I cited by the Munyo Commission has were attacked and killed.”
never did it.’ ”
been described or published for years
Mr. McGreal, who was in Rwanda at
by authors, nongovernmental orga- the time, spoke to the French colonel
he details in the Rwandan docu- nizations, journalists, and eyewit- who was giving the orders, who idenment – its naming of French nesses. Survie, a French NGO, has tified himself as Didier Thibault. He
political and military officials, its spent decades following the Rwandan said that he was taking orders from
recounting of French weapons sales, question, investigated the French the “legal organization,” the Hutu
French training, incidents, times, dates, role exhaustively, and brought out government.
and places of specific crimes – have so “L’horreur qui nous prende au visage,”
He was actually Col. Didier Tauzin
far been treated with scorn, and a blan- a 600-page work in French that came – a man who had advised the Rwandan
ket denial in Paris.
out in 2005.
Army and, according to a 2007 report
French defense minister Hervé
“Until Rwanda in 1992, we tried to by McGreal, had “commanded the
Morin told Radio France Internationale work with French political parties to French operation that halted the RPF
Thursday that French investigators in improve French policies in Africa,” [Tutsi] advance on Kigali a year ear1998 found French soldiers in Rwanda says Sharon Courtoux, a cofounder of lier.” That advance had been an effort
were “beyond reproach” and said they Survie. “But the genocide, which was by the Kagame forces to end the killing
saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
clear to see even before it happened, in the Hutu-run capital.
T
SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI/AP
ICE-CREAM PARLOR PANDA: To
capitalize on the Olympics, a Tokyo
department store is selling ice-cream
parfaits that look like Chinese pandas.
LET US HEAR FROM YOU.
210 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA 02115.
E-mail: [email protected]
Whether Kagame, whose profile
in Africa has been rising, will attempt
to push a prosecution at a time when
the West has been touting the arrest
of Balkan leaders accused of war
crimes, as well as an International
Criminal Court indictment of Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir, is unknown.
Tom Cargill, Africa expert with the
London think tank Chatham House,
told Reuters, “I think it all points to a
profound disturbance in international
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
What Asia wants from the next US leader
THE WISH LIST INCLUDES continued
cal stability, with the exception of Afghanistan
and Pakistan, justifies a hands-off approach.
security aid to balance China,
Leaders in Asia are on the alert for any hawkgreater engagement, and trade.
ish speeches on China, whose rise is reshaping
Asia’s balance of power. But recent history sugBy SIMON MONTLAKE
gests that despite Bush’s latest barbs toward
CORRESPONDENT
Beijing, pragmatism may win out over campaign
BEIJING – Completing a final lap of Asia, President rhetoric when it comes to engaging China.
Bush arrived here Thursday for the opening of
“Both Bush and Clinton, when they came in,
the Summer Olympics. Earlier in the day, he tended to be hard-liners vis-à-vis China and critchided the Olympic host for its curbs on reli- ical of the preceding administration for being
gious freedom and human rights, but said the too soft on China. Then they would have a betUnited States and China had built a “construc- ter and more civil relationship,” says Han Sungtive relationship” during his tenure.
Joo, chairman of the Asian Institute for Policy
Many policymakers in the region, however, Studies in Seoul.
are looking ahead to the next White House
One pressing issue that Bush’s successor is
occupant and how his agenda will ripple across certain to inherit is North Korea’s nuclear prothe Pacific Ocean. The winning candidate will grams. Even if the dismantling of Pyongyang’s
become the commander in chief of the domi- main nuclear plant goes smoothly, concerns
nant military power in the Asia-Pacific region over the global proliferation of nuclear technolat a time when US leadership on trade, aid, and ogy will remain, says Mr. Han, a co-chair of the
security is seen as wavering.
Asia Foundation report.
Into the new president’s in-box will go the
US officials have talked up the possibility of
need to juggle complex relations with a newly turning the six-nation forum on North Korea
assertive China, while reassuring allies that the into a permanent security mechanism for the
US security umbrella remains intact, say ana- region, to the chagrin of the Association of
lysts. That includes much of Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian Nations, which hosts an annual
whose sea lanes supply
security summit of
the bulk of oil imports
17 countries, includBush’s speech on Asia policy
to Asia’s largest econoing the US, European
mies, including China.
Union, and China.
“For most counAnalysts say the US
C ‘[O]ver the past seven years, America has
tries in Southeast Asia,
would be seen as more
pursued four broad goals in the region: to
though some say it
cooperative if it supreinvigorate our alliances, to forge new relamore openly than othported this and other
tionships with countries that share our values,
ers, the US is the most
multilateral initiatives,
to seize new opportunities for prosperity and
important
security
despite their fledgling
growth, and to confront shared challenges
partner in the region,
status.
together.
the key balancer in
C ‘A peaceful and successful future for this
the region, and they
US weaker on trade
won’t want to see any
Trade is a key
region requires the strong involvement of both
lessening of that role,”
agenda item in Asia,
China and the United States.’
says Ian Storey, of the
though expectations
Institute of Southeast
for US leadership
Asian Studies in Singapore.
are low. In South Korea, which Bush visited
Wednesday, uproar over US beef imports has put
Asia wants greater US engagement
President Lee Myung Bak on the defensive and
On the region’s wish list, say analysts, is a drawn a cloud over a US-Korea free-trade deal.
deeper commitment from the next US presi- The trade pact would be the largest by potential
dent to exploring global ways of tackling thorny volume signed by the US since NAFTA.
issues, from trade protectionism to energy secuScott Snyder, a Korea expert at the Asia
rity and curbing nuclear proliferation. For Asia, Foundation, argues that failure to cement the
this means a stronger US presence at regional pact could weaken the two countries’ alliance –
forums that the Bush administration has over- at a time when South Korea is seeking a greater
looked as it focuses on Iraq and Afghanistan.
global role, including more foreign aid and mulOpinion leaders in Asia and the US share tilateral peacekeeping missions. That has implicommon ground on this point, says Douglas cations for US allies in Asia that are increasingly
Bereuter, president of the Asia Foundation, drawn into China’s economic orbit.
which canvassed views on US policy toward
“By enhancing mutual economic cooperaAsia for a report due later this month. “There is tion with the United States, South Korea hedges
a general view that American influence in Asia against economic dependency on China ... as
is ... declining, and both sides of the Pacific sug- regional trading arrangements are increasingly
gest that the next administration needs to focus shaped by the centripetal pull of China’s ecoon a strong US presence in Asia and to convey nomic growth,” Mr. Snyder wrote in a unpub[its commitment] clearly” to the region, he says. lished commentary.
Analysts say the next US president may have
Beyond Iraq, neither Sen. John McCain nor
Sen. Barack Obama has laid out detailed for- less clout to push back against protectionism, as
eign-policy goals; nor do policymakers in Asia a weak domestic economy bites hard. Last week,
appear to expect them to at this point. Both can- the Doha round of World Trade Organization
didates can, however, draw on their personal ended without a deal after China and India dug
experiences in the region, under very differ- in their heels over cuts in food import tariffs
ent circumstances. For Senator McCain, it was sought by US and European negotiators.
1960s wartime combat and capture in Vietnam
“Not only have the Doha talks collapsed, but
and diplomatic reconciliation in the 1990s. For for the US, any kind of free-trade deal seems
Senator Obama, it was grade school in Indonesia well nigh impossible. So I see the US room for
from 1967 to 1971, a period that overlaps with maneuver in the international sphere becoming
McCain’s imprisonment in a Hanoi jail.
more and more restricted,” says Christopher
To some extent, say analysts who track the McNally, a research fellow at the East-West
region, Asia’s economic strength and politi- Center in Hawaii.
WORLD NEWS
SHAKIL ADIL/AP
It is “imperative” that President
Pervez Musharraf be impeached,
the leaders of Pakistan’s new
ruling coalition said Thursday.
Speaking for his partners, Asif
Ali Zardari, the widowed husband of former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto, said Musharraf
(above) had conspired to
oppose the transition to a
civilian government. He also
accused the president of reneging on a promise to seek a vote
of confidence in parliament if
his party lost last February’s
election. Zardari said impeachment proceedings would begin
immediately and that “We hope
90 percent of the lawmakers
will support us.”
7
IN
BRIEF
parable to marriage.” Williams
describes his conclusions as
“definitive.” The 77 millionmember Anglican Communion
wound up its conference on
church issues – among them
homosexuality – last Sunday.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim
of Malaysia was free to cam-
paign for a seat in parliament
Thursday after prosecutors
formally charged him with
sodomy. A magistrate in Kuala
Lumpur, the capital, released
him on bail until his next court
appearance, Sept. 10 – two
weeks after the election. But if
he’s convicted at trial, he could
be ordered to prison for up
to 20 years. The charge is the
second of its type against him.
In 1998, he was fired as deputy
prime minister and convicted
of sodomy. He spent six years
behind bars before a court
overturned that verdict.
Muslim rebels in the southern
Philippines were given 24 hours
units and separatists in the
breakaway region of South
Ossetia, reports said Thursday.
In Moscow, the Kremlin
said the clashes showed that
Georgia was preparing for war,
although a Russian envoy was
in the latter’s capital for negotiations aimed at defusing the
growing tensions. Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili
said “confrontation is not in
[our] interests,” adding, “We
should all stop this craziness.”
to withdraw from dozens of
predominantly Christian villages or be attacked. The government’s Interior Ministry
said Thursday it was responding to pleas for help from local
Roman Catholics, who accuse
the rebels of seizing cattle and
torching houses. The government and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front agreed last
month to a deal that would
expand a Muslim autonomous
zone in the region. But earlier
this week the Supreme Court
suspended it on appeal by
Christian legislators.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams appeared to add new
Free and transparent elections
were promised by the lead-
At least 23 people were hurt in
battles between Georgian Army
fuel to the uproar in the
world’s Anglican community
over homosexuality. The Times
(London) reported Thursday
that private letters written by
Williams eight years ago have
come to light. In them, he
said the Bible does not forbid
active same-sex relationships
in which both partners make
a commitment “in a way comKHALIL SENOSI/AP
ers of Wednesday’s military
coup in Mauritania “as soon
as possible.” But they did not
announce a date for the voting
or explain why they toppled
civilian President Sidi Cheikh
Ould Abdallahi. Led by Army
chief Mohamed Ould Abdel
Aziz, members of parliament
rallied in support of the coup,
but the US, the European
Union, and the African Union
all condemned it.
Land and personal property
seized by Nepal’s former com-
THERE IT IS: On the 10th anniversary of the bombings of the
US embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania by Al Qaeda terrorists,
a Nairobi woman finds a
relative’s name on the memorial
to those who were killed.
munist rebels in their quest
to overthrow the monarchy
will be returned to the original owners, the presumed
new prime minister said.
Prachanda, as he chooses to
be called, also said the rebels’
youth wing is being dismantled. Prachanda led the rebel
movement that now is planning to join a government of
national unity.
Compiled from wire service reports
by Robert Kilborn
8
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
EDITOR: John Yemma
MANAGING EDITOR: Marshall Ingwerson
SENIOR EDITOR: David Cook
CHIEF EDITORIAL WRITER: Clayton Jones
MANAGING PUBLISHER: Jonathan Wells
The Christian Science Publishing Society
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Mary Trammell
Founded in 1908
by Mary Baker Eddy
BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Don Adams,
Walter Jones, Judy Wolff
MANAGER: Lyon Osborn
“First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”
THE MONITOR’S VIEW
DO APES HAVE HUMAN RIGHTS?
W
ithin weeks, Spain is likely to go beyond
laws that protect animals and be the first
country to give rights to nonhumans,
specifically great apes – gorillas, chimps,
bonobos, and orangutans. If other governments follow,
a line between mankind and animals will be crossed.
Will such an action be a step up for humans?
Not if it diminishes the essence
of what is a right.
The possibility of such a risk is
why a parliamentary panel in Spain
recommends only a few rights for
these species that are close to humans in evolution and that can display certain humanlike behavior.
One such behavior is a limited
capacity for human language. The famous captive gorilla Koko, for instance, has been taught
– by humans – to communicate in sign language
and can understand more
than 2,000 spoken words.
It’s unlikely, though, any
ape has the potential – as
humans do – to express
“I have constitutional rights.”
Spain’s proposed law might help
bolster rules on humane treatment
of animals. Its action would elevate
great apes in captivity to more than
property. They would have standing
in court, much as children or unconscious patients do. They could
be given a guardian or lawyer.
The law would grant apes a right
to life. No human could kill them
except in self-defense. They would
have a right to be free of abuse.
They couldn’t be used in medical
experiments, circuses, movies, and
TV commercials. And so forth.
Apes would not have many other
rights, such as the right to vote or
to a free press. It is in such impossibilities that the very concept of
animal rights falters. Rights are
inherent to humans and guide the
rules and laws that govern society.
To parcel only a few rights to other
species is to say other species are
different. But humans and their
rights are a whole idea.
In some religions, such rights
are derived from God. To others,
rights are simply a result of consensus within society.
Humans stand out for an ability
to reason, to understand past and
future, to communicate in abstractions. These qualities are unique;
only humans can take on a special stewardship toward
other life – even restricting rights to end brutal
exploitation of animals.
And honoring human
kindness toward animals
includes even such gestures as the late hotelier
Leona Helmsley’s leaving millions of dollars for
the care of her dog.
To grant only a few rights to
only a few animals is to go down a
slippery slope of moral relativism.
If some animals are treated in law
like humans, that gives ammunition to some humans who see some
types of humans as animals. History shows – in the Holocaust and
in African slavery – how that ends.
Because rights are unique and absolute to humans – who have the
potential to grasp their meaning –
they are a protection to humans.
At the least, Spain’s action may
help ignite a useful debate on the
origins and uses of rights. Are
rights independent of human thinking? Do they bestow human responsibility toward all living creatures?
Even as it weighs this law on
ape rights, Spain is not moving to
ban the cruel sport of bullfighting
or the run of the bulls at Pamplona.
There’s a lesson in that: Let human
rights remain in the human realm
while mankind works on improving its treatment of animals. C
Spain may soon
give rights to
great apes. That
may better their
treatment. But
it erodes rights.
What the Confederate flag
means in America
In response to the Aug. 4 article, “New
battle over an old flag”: I was raised in
Louisiana and trained in the strongest of
segregationist beliefs. Then life – primarily
Vietnam – took over my education. I came
to realize that black Americans have been
fighting for the rights given by the Bill of
Rights up to and including now.
The Confederate flag stands for groups
who fight the good fight, but lose because
it is the wrong fight or an unjust
cause. The US flag simply stands
for the group that won. But to
Black America, both flags meant
the same treatment.
Let both flags fly – let all of
us realize that the Constitution
means the same to all, and let
us meld both flags to this meaning: that all
citizens can have equal justice, equal education, equal opportunity, and equal respect.
MILTON BULLOCH
Richardson, Texas
In response to the recent Confederate
flag article: The Confederate flag does not
represent racism to most Southerners. It
represents pride and love for our region of
the country; its history, for better or worse;
its cultures; its people; its geography; and
the brave soldiers who fought for it with
courage unsurpassed.
ROB CROSBY
Nashville, Tenn.
Regarding the recent Confederate flag
article, I question Prof. Jim Farmer’s comment that some Southerners consider themselves under siege. I think we bristle at the
idea that we are racist because we honor our
Confederate ancestors, but that is entirely
different from feeling left out of society, as
Professor Farmer seemed to say.
Few people question if it is proper for
other ethnic groups to honor their heritage
by flying flags of their national or continen-
tal origin, or celebrating holidays such as
Kwanzaa or Cinco de Mayo. To do so would
invite the charge of being a racist.
But those same people who see nothing
wrong with those celebrations of cultural
and ancestral heritage often ignore the
rights of Confederate soldier descendants to
honor their ancestors in the same fashion.
In today’s politically correct environment,
just acknowledging you have Confederate
ancestors is enough to draw scrutiny from
hate-group watchdogs. Since there are millions of Confederate descendants, there are
a lot of us out there to watch.
CLINT JOHNSON Jefferson, N.C.
Regarding the recent article
on the Confederate flag: I think
it is a sad state of affairs when
we accept the Confederate flag
as a meaningless, harmless symbol. This flag is a symbol of the
period of time when men found it acceptable to oppress other human beings physically, spiritually, and mentally.
CYNTHIA MACHNER
Southport, N.C.
Regarding the recent article on the
Confederate flag: The Confederate battle
flag has the same symbol as Scotland’s flag,
Saint Andrew’s Cross, and the Irish flag,
Saint Patrick’s Cross.
E. DABNEY HOWE
Rossmoor, Calif.
The Monitor welcomes your letters and opinion
articles. Because of the volume of mail
we receive, we can neither acknowledge
nor return unpublished submissions. All
submissions are subject to editing. Letters
must be signed and include your mailing
address and telephone number. Any letter
accepted may appear in print or on our
website, www.csmonitor.com.
Mail letters to Readers Write and Opinion
pieces to Opinion Page, 210 Massachusetts
Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.
E-mail letters to [email protected] and
Opinion pieces to [email protected].
Appreciation for John K. Cooley: We’re sorry to report that longtime Monitor correspondent John
K. Cooley has passed on. John distinguished himself in the Middle East, where from the 1950s
onward he reported on virtually every movement and conflict in that region – from Algeria to
Afghanistan, from the rise of Arab nationalism to the Sept. 11 attacks. He later worked for ABC
News and as an opinion writer. He’s the author of several books, including “Green March, Black
September: The Story of the Palestinian Arabs,” and his latest, “Currency Wars.”
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
9
opinion
Fair-trade coffee: not worth a hill of beans
By GENE CALLAHAN
F
AIR-TRADE coffee is everywhere.
Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts –
even Wal-Mart – proudly feature
beans they bought at a higher, “fair” price
that pays growers a living wage. You get
good coffee. Farmers get out of poverty.
Corporations get goodwill. Everyone
wins, right?
Actually, fair trade is a bad
deal. The intention is noble
enough, but the impact on
human lives is tragic. Instead
of lifting exploited farmers out
of debt and poverty, fair trade
tends to diminish their prospects and hurt
overall economic development.
The problem with fair trade is the
problem with just about every so-called
progressive economic policy: it ignores
the laws of supply and demand.
Say you live in Colombia. You know
demand for Colombian coffee is high.
Should you become a coffee farmer? You
might, if other coffee farmers were making a profit. If they weren’t, you’d conclude
there are too many farmers already and
pursue a more promising line of work.
That’s one critical function of prices
and profits: They steer all of us – from
the poorest farmer to the richest CEO –
to pursue the most productive use of our
energy. And that’s what makes fair-trade
coffee so misguided.
If there were just 10 small coffee growers worldwide, the price per pound of
beans would be astronomical, and many
people would rush to become coffee farmers. The current market price is “low” by
comparison because there are already so
many growers competing. By paying more
than the market price for coffee – the
authentically fair price – fair traders send
a signal to people in developing countries
to join an already overcrowded field.
In doing so, they artificially lure them
away from perusing better-paying jobs
that would enrich the diversity of a developing country’s economy. A caffeinated
price means more growers, more land
destruction, more dependency on a single
cash crop. It’s a subsidy that undercuts the
very sustainability fair traders
want to promote.
Yet fair traders evidently
believe that growers who cannot make a profit at the market price ought to be helped
to stay in business anyway.
Advising struggling coffee
farmers simply to abandon their
trade and find another way to
make a living may seem flippant
and heartless. Yet continuing to
operate a money-losing business
in the absence of a scheme that
could reverse its fortunes merely
makes one’s financial predicament worse. People who persist
in a money-losing occupation
are free to do so – but they’re not
entitled to be supported in that
obstinacy by the rest of society.
In a free society and a free
market, all capable adults must
pull their own weight. Why should
coffee growers be exempt?
That doesn’t mean we lack sympathy
for the real hardships that growers would
face if they abandon the one occupation
they know well for the uncertain promise that they can do better elsewhere. But
what’s more compassionate? Using your
funds and energy to help them learn a
new, more viable trade – or using it to support fair trade, thus postponing the harsh
day of reckoning?
It’s a noble cause,
but it’s a bad deal
for coffee growers.
E
By JAN WORTH-NELSON
SAN PEDRO, CALIF.
VERY MORNING in the summer
it’s my job to pad down the outside
steps of our apartment to pick up
the Los Angeles Times in its plastic bag
from the sidewalk.
After retrieving it, I straighten up and
survey the sweep of the L.A. harbor. I
breathe, savoring the salty San Pedro air.
Inside, my husband awaits me with a mug
of tea. It’s our practice to sit at the kitchen
table and read news stories out loud to
each other.
But something has changed. There we
sat one morning but, without even thinking, we had plopped open our yin and
yang MacBooks (mine black, his white).
Clicking away, Ted read me a headline
from CNN, and I remarked on a wacky
forward from a friend.
This went on for about 15 minutes
before I remembered to get the paper.
When I brought it upstairs and guiltily
unsheathed it next to the two sleek laptops, it seemed an awkward suitor.
“Ah, the paper,” my husband said, and
set aside his laptop. But I can’t deny it.
Lifelong addicts to the printed daily paper,
like chocoholics who lose their taste for
the bonbon, we are moving on.
The print version of the L.A. Times is
skinnier every day. And recently the cuts,
Fair traders want to see all coffee
become fair-trade coffee, to ensure that
all growers enjoy the benefits of a higher
price. It’s a hopeless cause, because it
violates the laws of economics. As price
rises, demand drops. So if fair traders succeeded in achieving a universally higher
price of coffee, consumers would drink
less of the beverage and the current glut
of coffee farmers would be exacerbated.
The belief that any group with power
– government officials, economic experts,
or social activists – can establish a price
that’s “fairer” or “more just” than the
actual market price is a fallacy that bedeviled communism for decades and it’s
bedeviling the fair-trade movement today.
The good news? There are some genuinely promising alternatives to fair trade
that support development. One way is to
persuade consumers to purchase “shadegrown” coffee. Such farming is far friendlier to the environment. And consumers
who buy shade-grown coffee at a higher
price than that of coffee grown on a monocultural plantation are not attempting to
I’m torn to see newspapers go
resignations, and layoffs at the Times, in
particular, were featured on CNN and the
News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
The Times Sunday Magazine is only
a monthly now, and the Sunday Opinion
and Books section, a pullout tabloid my
husband and I always fought over, ended
its long run July 27. It has been merged
into other sections. That day the editors
mournfully wrote, “This final issue... is a
regrettable concession to the economics
of the newspaper business and the particular travails of this company.”
My young friends don’t see why we
waste a single moment mourning the
printed newspaper’s probable demise. I
look down at my laptop. It has advantages.
I don’t have to recycle it, carting heaps of
it to the blue bin. Newspapers are cumbersome and environmentally problematic.
But, I think part of the reason we are
saddened by the end of the physical newspaper has to do with the senses. There’s
the sound of pages turning, the feel of the
paper, the smell of the ink.
I don’t expect to give this up casually.
I’m clinging to a 38-year-old love affair.
For me the infatuation hit in the summer
of 1970, between my junior and senior
years of college, when I did an internship
at a little out-of-the-way paper in Iowa.
The newsroom, a dusty high-ceilinged
chamber cluttered with Mississippi River
charm, was on the second floor. On the
first floor were the big, black presses and
the hot linotype machines.
I loved going down there and watching
the typesetters at their machines, flawlessly lining letters up backwards. I loved
the smell and sound of the presses.
In the pressroom, language was
machinery with exciting physicality.
Words were three-dimensional and muscular. To me, the typesetters were heroes
– men who loved the shape of words, the
literal style of a line, the fonts,
the spaces, the ens and ems.
The newspaper of the pressroom was visceral, noisy, oily,
and thrilling.
I remember seeing typesetters pick up the first paper off
the press, snap it open, still warm, and
read it like a lover. You’ve never seen a
reader as avid as a hot-type pressman.
Sometimes they’d tell a reporter they
liked some story or other. Getting praise
from a typesetter was among the highest
supplant the market process with their
own, arbitrary judgments about what
various goods “ought” to cost, but are
acting through that process to express
their preference for a healthier, more vital
environment.
We should remain keenly aware there
is no “silver bullet” with which to slay
the beast named Third World Poverty.
Today, coffee growers must contend with
abundant competitors, market distortions
from government subsidies and other
favoritism, and the legacy of colonialism and theft. That situation is certainly
deplorable.
But consumer action isn’t a promising
way to rectify those inequities.
How can a coffee shopper be
expected to keep track of just
which producers are getting
just what advantages due to
government policies, and correctly calculate just what price
he should pay to offset the
effects of those state-granted
privileges? The only sensible
approach is to fight against
the unfair policies directly,
while letting the free market
steer peasants to the most
productive opportunities.
If those who seek a fairer
society come to recognize that
DEAN ROHRER
moving toward genuinely free
markets will advance, and not hinder, their
goals, then their efforts will achieve much
better results, to the benefit of everyone.
C Gene Callahan is an adjunct scholar
with the Ludwig von Mises Institute and
the author of “Economics for Real People.”
This essay has been adapted from a longer version in the March issue of “The
Freeman.”
compliments.
They all lost their jobs, of course. Soon
after I left, the paper went offset, the first
big shift of my lifetime with print. And
of course that was just the beginning of
ceaseless change.
About once a year I go to the Huntington
Library in Pasadena, one of my favorite
places. The thing I always want to see
– practically a religious icon for me – is
the Huntington’s breathtakingly beautiful
Gutenberg Bible. I feel emotional looking
at those gorgeous golden words, letters
painstakingly crafted into words of enduring import. I revere those pages, recumbent and quiet in the dim protective light.
Of course Gutenberg’s press changed
the world. And that’s how, I’m sure, future
humans will regard the first PC.
I’m not fighting it. I love my MacBook,
I even love the explosion
of shared language that
Bill Gates and other driven
geniuses set in motion. In
fact, I’m using my MacBook
right now and hoping you
read what I’ve written on it,
whoever you are. But there also should be
time for a respectful period of mourning
for the newspapers we’re leaving behind.
I love my laptop,
but I’ll miss the
feel of the paper.
C Jan Worth-Nelson teaches writing at the
University of Michigan-Flint.
10
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
world
Bolivia: Citizens vote Sunday
whether to recall the president
Continued from page 1
In dissent, four provinces
have held nonbinding referSince Mr. Morales took office as endums since May calling
Bolivia’s first indigenous president in for more local autonomy.
January 2006, his efforts to “refound”
Morales, observers say, is
the country with a new Constitution have hoping that a win on Sunday
been stalled by an opposition that favors will embolden his mandate.
the market-friendly status quo.
But it’s likely to lead to
In a bid to end the Andean country’s more of an impasse, says
increasingly tense political stalemate, Roberto Laserna, a political
Morales has called for a recall referendum scientist in Cochabamba,
this Sunday. Citizens will decide whether Bolivia.
he and a group of opposition governors
At least some of the govwill stay in office.
ernors, including the head
The politics of the referendums have of Santa Cruz, which was
the first province to vote on
SAINT
VINCET
ARUBA NETHERLANDS
MARTINIQUE
THE BARBADOS
AND
ANTILLES
SAINT
LUCIA
GRENADINES
autonomy, are expected to
GRENADA
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
win.
Caracas
PANAMA
“I think that the referGUYANA
PHOTOS BY JORGE SILVA/REUTERS
VENEZUELA
SURINAME
endum is a sign of how
COLOMBIA
FRENCH
SPLIT:
Above,
a
woman
protested
Wednesday
with
antigovernment
and
pro-autonomy
groups in Tarija,
democracy has weakened
Quito
GUIANA
in Bolivia, and the event will Bolivia. Below, a woman walks past a wall promoting President Evo Morales ahead of Sunday’s recall vote.
further weaken democracy
ECUADOR
because it is moving the political forces Cardozo, an internaBRAZIL
away from dialogue and compromise, and tional relations protoward radicalization,” says Mr. Laserna. fessor at Metropolitan
PERU
in
“A referendum is a black-or-white situa- University
AREA OF
DETAIL
La Paz
tion, where everyone is expected to take Caracas, Venezuela.
sides. It wipes away the gray, where com- “Institutions take a
BOLIVIA
VIA
0
500 mi
long time.”
promise is possible.”
CHILE
PARAGUAY
0 500 km
But referendums,
For those who have the opportunity
ARGENTINA RICH CLABAUGH – STAFF
when
to vote, however, the referendum can particularly
used for constituembolden their sense of belonging.
been, in some cases, the outcome of a
In Venezuela, which has held four since tional reform, are also
wedge grown larger as Latin America President Hugo Chávez took office in 1999 implemented because
seeks a new direction, away from the and is generally considered at the head of leaders have little
elites who have ruled for centuries.
today’s referendums politics, Fernando choice.
In Bolivia, Sunday’s referendum is the Sangronis, a security guard who supports
The
“outsider”
clearest sign of how irreconcilable differ- Mr. Chávez, says Venezuelans have the status of Chávez,
ences are since Morales has sought a new right to express their opinions directly. Morales,
and
Constitution, which was approved by a “There is no greater democracy than to Ecuador’s leftist presConstituent Assembly in December but give people the authority of decision-mak- ident, Rafael Correa,
has led to clashes and riots and still needs ing,” he says.
helped these leadto be accepted in a national referendum.
Most of the referendums in Ecuador, ers get elected, but
Venezuela, and Bolivia have been linked can pose a problem
Bolivia’s growing rift
directly or indirectly to new constitutions when it comes time to
Morales’s opposition, led by a group that leaders in each country are trying to govern.
of governors in the eastern provinces, has create.
In Ecuador, pubbalked at many of the constitutional meaFrom a historic perspective, such con- lic distrust in politisures, including strengthening the role for stitutional reform is nothing new. Of the cal parties helped
the president and increased state-control 800-some charters written worldwide Mr. Correa coast to
in the economy.
since 1789, nearly half have come from victory in 2006 as an outsider and propo- of his reform program, provide a presithis region, says Mr. Elkins, accord- nent of change. But he took office without dent with a constantly refreshed manallies in Congress.
date that can lead him to conclude he
ing to his own count.
In such cases, coalition-building is not is authorized to implement his entire
Just a tool to consolidate power? always feasible.
agenda without concessions to the
Latin American countries change their
Instead, Correa moved toward a new opposition,” says Shelley McConnell,
Chávez critics, however, say that
constitution every six years, on average.
he is just out to consolidate his own Constitution, which was approved by a visiting assistant professor of governAVERAGE CONSTITUTIONAL LIFESPAN, IN YEARS power. During a referendum attempt Constituent Assembly last month.
ment at Hamilton College in New York.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
in December – which he lost – he
The charter needs to be approved in a “Particularly where the president is a
proposed 69 new amendments to referendum at the end of September.
neopopulist, this can invite a kind of tyrLatin America
the nation’s Constitution, which had
Using the referendum is becoming anny of the voting majority.”
When institutions are strong, however,
most recently been overhauled in more popular in the region, particularly
Sub-Saharan Africa
1999.
among neopopulists who utilize the media many believe referendums can serve to
strengthen democracy.
It would have, among many things, to reach the masses.
South Asia
But the trend has some drawbacks,
“It’s about returning to the people the
abolished term limits for presidents.
ability to reject or approve laws,” says
A modified Constitution, via ref- observers say.
East Asia
Margarita Lopez Maya, a history profeserendum vote, was the chosen route
sor at Central University of Venezuela in
in Venezuela, though many of the Drawbacks of the referendum trend
E. Europe/Post-Soviet
amendments could have been passed
Going directly to the people can elimi- Caracas. “The referendum is a complement
through other mechanisms – likely nate representation of the people – one of to the whole of institutions to improve the
Middle East/N. Africa
quality of democracy, not to substitute it.”
because it’s the fastest route.
democracy’s checks-and-balances.
“Referendums are used in these
“Repeated votes in favor of the presiW. Europe/US/Canada
countries as an instrument of rapid dent, whether they are elections for C Jose Orozco contributed to this report
RICH CLABAUGH – STAFF
SOURCE: Comparative Constitutions Project
refounding of nations,” says Elsa public office or referenda on elements from Caracas, Venezuela.
Short-lived constitutions
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
11
usa
Anthrax: E-mails point to disturbed scientist
Continued from page 1
In e-mails from 2000 released by the
government, Ivins described feeling diswere not pulled until November 2007, associated from himself. He occasionally
according to Justice Department officials. became dizzy, he said, and had a strange
Ivins committed suicide last week as the metallic taste in his mouth.
US government readied charges against
“Other times it’s like I’m not only siting
him.
at my desk doing work, I’m also a few feet
Yet the FBI had requested a sample away watching me do it,” he wrote to an
from a flask of anthrax spores that Ivins unidentified friend on April 3, 2000.
held as early as 2002. In April 2004, after
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, appeared
discovering that the samples Ivins sub- to affect him greatly. In December, 2001,
mitted in fact had not come from the he send a coworker some poetry he had
requested flask, RMR-1029, an FBI agent composed.
accompanied Ivins into a biocontainment
“I’m a little dream-self, short and stout/
suite at Ft. Detrick and seized the flask I’m the other half of Bruce – when he lets
himself.
me out,” one poem began.
Asked at an Aug. 6 press conference
At the time Ivins was in therapy for his
why Ivins was allowed to retain access to problems, according to the FBI. It is not
anthrax, Jeffrey Taylor US Attorney for the clear whether he had been referred to
District of Columbia, said “when the inves- therapy by the Army, or sought treatment
tigation began to focus on Dr. Ivins, the lab on his own.
was notified of our concerns about him.”
Nevertheless, for years the scientist
retained access to the stocks of deadly
microorganisms at Ft. Detrick as he
Portrait of a scientist
According to documents released worked on an anthrax vaccine. He mainAugust 6, Ivins was having personal prob- tained at least a façade of normalcy to
lems long before the FBI zeroed in on him many of his neighbors and co-workers.
The microbiologist, who had worked on
– and even before the anthrax atttacks.
developing an anthrax vaccine,
was respected by fellow scientists and received a top Defense
Department award in 2003 for
his research at Ft Detrick.
Days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, letters contain“It does remind us we need to
ing deadly anthrax spores were mailed to media
be careful about who works on
companies and congressional offices. Five people
this stuff,” says Gerald Epstein,
died; 17 others were sickened. Key events in the case:
a senior fellow in the Homeland
Security Program at the Center
2001
for Strategic and International
Sept. 18: Letters containing anthrax mailed.
Studies.
Oct. 4: Photo editor at tabloid publisher American
At the same time, if Ivins was
Media hospitalized in Boca Raton, Fla.,
seeking out help on his own, that
with inhalation anthrax; dies one day later.
might have been an easy matter
Oct. 8: Anthrax found in offices of American
to conceal from the Army, notes
Media; offices closed.
Mr. Epstein.
“It’s hard to look inside peoOct. 9: More letters with anthrax mailed;
ple’s minds,” he says.
FBI begins investigation.
The anthrax
terror investigation
Oct. 12: Assistant to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw
in New York City tests positive to anthrax
after handling contaminated letter.
Oct. 15: Staff member of Senate majority leader
Tom Daschle opens anthrax-laced letter
mailed from Trenton, N.J.
Oct. 18: CBS employee, N.J. postal worker
test positive for anthrax.
Oct. 23: Authorities say two workers from Washington, D.C., postal facility died of anthrax.
Oct. 31: New York City hospital stockroom worker
dies of inhalation anthrax.
Nov. 21: Elderly woman in Connecticut is
fifth person to die of inhalation anthrax.
2002
June 25: FBI searches home of government scientist
Steven Hatfill, later named a “person of
interest.”
2008
June 27: Hatfill wins $5.8 million settlement in suit
against Department of Justice.
July 29: Government scientist Bruce Ivins, under
investigation for anthrax attacks, commits
suicide.
Aug. 6: Unsealed government documents show
Ivins had anthrax “identical” to what was in
mailed letters.
SOURCES: AP, US Justice Department, NPR, The New York Times
© 2008 MCT
Restricting lab access
An Army fact sheet provided to
a reporter in response to a question about Ivins and his access to
pathogens notes that he would
have been subject to continuous
evaluation from supervisors and
fellow workers.
Medical treatment undertaken
outside the Army as well as the
taking of prescription medication could potentially result in
a worker at the Ft. Detrick labs
being denied access to pathogens, notes the fact sheet.
“If a supervisor observes that
an employee is under a great
deal of stress, seems unusually
distracted, or is exhibiting other
signs of strain, the employee’s
entry privileges can be temporarily suspended until the situation
is resolved,” says the fact sheet.
The Army document notes
only that Ivins’s access to anthrax
and other pathogens was pulled
on Nov. 1, 2007, and does not
explain whether his superiors
had earlier suspicions about him.
Given the secrecy that has surrounded the anthrax investiga-
AP/FILE
DISTURBED: US Army scientist Bruce Ivins, who was allegedly to be behind the
2001 anthrax attacks, at Fort Detrick, Md., in 2003.
tion, it is possible that the whole story in other pathogens],” says Epstein.
regards to Ivins and his continued Army
work has not yet been told, says attorney DNA links anthrax
Mark Riley.
Apart from the e-mail evidence on
“Maybe the FBI did not want to alert Ivins’s behavior, the substantive part of the
him,” he says.
case against Ivins appears to be the prodGenerally speaking the Army does not uct of the rapidly developing science of
wait to take action if a problem is identi- microbial forensics. Harnessing powerful
fied, says Riley. And if they had begun a computers and new genetic knowledge,
separate action to lift his
this tool develops DNA
clearance,
information
fingerprints by looking
about it would be subject
for tiny mutations in the
to privacy regulations,
genetic makeup of othwhich are stringent.
erwise-related strains of
A court proceeding
bacteria.
against Ivins would have
According to the FBI,
– Gerald Epstein, Center for
produced much more Strategic and International Studies Ivins was the sole customaterial about the invesdian of a flask of anthrax
tigation, perhaps answerspores with four genetic
ing the question as to why he maintained a mutations identical to the powdered poisecurity clearance despite years of deterio- son used in the anthrax attacks that shook
rating mental health.
the country in 2001.
But even without such a trial, the
Around the time of the attacks, Dr. Ivins
Defense Department might now want to spent an unusual number of late nights in
revisit its clearance procedures. And that the lab for which FBI agents claimed he
raises yet another issue, according to had no good explanation.
Epstein of CSIS. Even if the FBI convinces
But whether the genetic evidence
most people in the US that Ivins was the would have stood up in a court of law
anthrax killer, the government should not will not now be tested. “Microbial forenrelax about biosecurity in general.
sics has yet to be rigorously challenged in
“I think there is a danger in assum- an adversarial setting,” said Dr. Randall
ing that if this is the guy we’ve solved the Murch, a former FBI agent and microbial
problem [of vulnerability to anthrax and forensic expert, at a January symposium.
‘It does remind us we need
to be careful about who
works on this stuff.’
12
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
world
Games: More nations positioned for high medal counts
Continued from page 1
Project 119
Eight years ago,
China began Project
119, a $744 million bid
to win in Beijing. The
program is founded
on the idea China
can not fully overtake
the US and Russia
until it becomes better at track and field,
swimming, and water
sports such as rowing, canoeing, and
kayaking.
When
Project
119
began,
those
sports
accounted
for
119
of
300
gold medals. Now
they account for 122.
One year ago, however, the vice president of the Chinese
Olympic Committee
– Steven Roush, US Olympic Committee
had to admit that
Project
119
was
the top of the medal table, but the distance not progressing as
WOLFGANG RATTAY/REUTERS
between them and the nations after them planned. “Every way
increasingly diminished. Russia and the you look at it, we are MASTER STROKES: Swimmers attended a practice session at the National Aquatics Center, nicknamed the Water
US will repeat their cold-war roles, with far behind,” said Cui Cub, in Beijing this week. The photo was taken underwater with a fisheye lens.
China standing in for East Germany and Dalin. Hurdler Liu
Xiang and swimmer Wu Peng are notable istic expectations that by throwing money, progressing in a sport is sometimes more
perhaps outstripping them both.
exceptions.
they would instantly be able to progress,” than simply a matter of funding. Christian
But the USOC’s Mr. Roush cautions he says. “In the more developed sports, Bahmann won the white-water kayaking
Home-field advantage
The Chinese assault on the medal table against reading too much into China’s you don’t just shoot through the rankings. World Cup in 2005. When the German
“Project 119’s effectiveness might not failed to make the Beijing Games, the
is overwhelming. Home-field advantage performance in swimming and track and
generally helps the host nation, and in field at these Games: “There were unreal- be seen in 2008, but it will be in 2012, Chinese came calling. He is now a coach
’16, and ’20,” he adds. “My sense here.
recent Olympics, China has
is that China is in it for the long
already been improving its
haul.”
performance. It is winning
Styles of training
GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
“That is what keeps me up at
medals in sports at the marThere have been successes in the proUSA
night,” he says.
gins of the Olympics, and
gram before and since. Last year, China
862
655
581
2,098
USSR
395
319
296
1,010
At the palatial Shunyi Olympic won its first white-water kayaking medals
also among women.
Britain
180
234
233
647
Rowing-Canoeing Park, there is at a World Cup event. But Mr. Bahmann’s
In Athens, where China
France
173
188
200
561
already a hint of what could come. admiration for the work ethic of Chinese
finished second, women won
Italy
172
137
154
463
The facility is an unambiguous kayakers is tempered by frustration.
more than half the nation’s
Germany
163
191
205
559
statement of Project 119’s intent.
gold
medals.
American
“It’s not the quantity of the training, it’s
East Germany
153
129
127
409
“It is the single most costly canoe/ the quality,” he says. “They think that if you
women won one-third of the
Hungary
148
130
155
433
kayaking venue anywhere in the train and train and train, it is enough.”
US total.
Sweden
138
155
170
463
world,” says Chris Hipgrave, a
Olympic historian David
Unlike flat-water racing, “you are dancAustralia
101
106
133
340
coach for the US team, a note of ing with white-water,” says Ben Kvanli, a
Wallechinsky calls events
Finland
100
80
113
293
awe in his voice.
like shooting and women’s
US white-water canoer. Adds Yarborough:
Japan
98
97
103
298
Since the advent of Project “It puts a premium on all the intangibles –
weight-lifting “soft targets,”
China
80
79
64
223
119, the Chinese have gone from on all the things you can’t teach.”
not to demean them but
Romania
74
83
108
265
Netherlands
makeweights in world flat-water
because the amount of talent
Mr. Kvanli suggests the Chinese
61
66
82
209
Russia
59
53
46
158
canoeing to medal contenders, have done an admirable job of choosing
competing in these sports is
Poland
56
72
113
241
hiring top coaches from abroad whitwater athletes. “The athletes have
comparatively less than in
West Germany
56
67
81
204
and building world-class training been more fun-loving than I would have
sports like track and field
Cuba
56
44
39
139
facilities like Shunyi nationwide. expected them to be,” he says. “It’s not
and swimming. That makes
Canada
51
80
98
229
“You go back a few years and the East German look you might have
it easier for new athletes to
they never had a presence in the expected.”
break through and medal.
sport,” says David Yarborough,
Yet this means that the
For Bahmann, it is difficult to get the
executive director of USA athletes to think outside the boat – simply
Olympics’ two great new
Canoe/Kayak. “Now you do see sitting down and watching other racers,
sporting rivals might hardly
them emerging as a federation for example.
see anything of each other
World’s top 10... GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
to be reckoned with.”
“I have no bad word about the athletes
in the fight for medals – the
USA
36
39
27 102
The sport, he believes, is per- here, but it’s not easy for them to have
notable exceptions being
China
32
17
14
63
fectly suited for the strengths of their own opinion,” he says. “This is the
gymnastics and perhaps
Russia
27
27
38
92
the Chinese sports system. “You thing in whitewater: You always have to
women’s volleyball or soccer.
Australia
17
16
16
49
learn the technique, the stroke make your own decisions.”
In America’s best events,
Japan
16
9
12
37
rate – it’s all the measurable,
Still, Kvanli is impressed by the impact
swimming and track and
trainable parts of Olympic sports Project 119 has made. “Back at the world
field, it is possible that China
Germany
13
16
20
49
that you can take from the lab to championships in 2002, they were terrible
might not win a single gold.
France
11
9
13
33
the water,” says Mr. Yarborough. – their athletes were sitting there smoking
What is perhaps most
Italy
10
11
11
32
“You can go out and preselect a cigarettes,” he says. “But they have done
worrying
for
American
South Korea
9
12
9
30
body of athletes.”
what I would have previously though to
Olympic officials is that this
Britain
9
9
12
30
Yet the white-water version be impossible…. They are winning medwill almost certainly not be
SOURCE: International
Olympic Committee
of the sport also suggests how als at the World Cup.”
the case from 2012 onward.
a longstanding trend of great powers
vying for Olympic clout that mirrors their
diplomatic weight.
Add to this the rise of second-tier
nations like Britain, and America will
increasingly be squeezed from both ends.
It suggests an era of unprecedented
equality among Olympic nations. The days
of one nation winning 100 medals – as the
US did four years ago in Athens – “might
be a part of the past,” says Steven Roush,
chief of sport performance for the United
States Olympic Committee (USOC).
The picture he paints is something like
cold-war-lite: Three nations competing at
The days of one nation winning 100
medals – as the US did four years ago
in Athens – “might be a part of the
past.”
Medal counts since 1896
Medals won in the Athens Olympics
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
13
ARTS & CULTURE
Waiting places
architects and their clients would place a
prime value on designing them to comfortAS FRENETIC AS the pace of our lives has ably fit with our ever-evolving needs. Yet
become, we can’t escape the often mad- lobbies and waiting rooms are often treated
dening experience of waiting
superficially by building owners
– for hotel check-ins, dental architecture and architects. Building exteappointments, school registrariors capture public gaze first
tion, job interviews, and more – in public – and glittering iconic facades can easily
lobbies or waiting rooms where time, to become budgetbusters, leaving inadequately
use Shakespeare’s pithy phrase, “goes on
See LOBBY page 15
crutches.” Since lobbies and waiting rooms
DOUBLE DUTY: Two walls act as gigantic video
are places of such concentrated, emotionscreens in the IAC Company lobby in New York.
ally charged experiences, you might believe
By NORMAN WEINSTEIN
CONTRIBUTOR
Rumba
COURTESY OF THOMAS MAYER/HARPER COLLINS
now these kids see he’s cool. I think these
younger Catalan groups want to assert
Barcelona’s musical identity and Peret is
part of that.”
The Spanish music industry and
media often describe fusion music out of
Barcelona as “mestizo,” meaning mixed.
This label makes musicians cringe, averse
as they are to being labeled or put in a
box, and true to Catalonia’s long history
of anarchy, irreverence, and individuality.
Today’s Barcelona-based bands are
not the first to mix rumba Catalana with
modern music; an assortment of congas,
brass, bass, and keyboards have already
been added over the years. Indeed, Peret
and his contemporary El Pescaílla were
responsible for rumba Catalana’s initial explosion in the late 1950s. Pescaílla
is sometimes credited with cocreating
this musical style, although Peret says
Pescaílla’s music is rumba flamenca. In
the 1970s, Los Amaya, two Catalan gypsy
BARCELONA BANDS
WRAP TRADITIONAL
CATALAN RUMBA INTO
NEW URBAN RHYTHMS.
MELANIE STETSON FREEMAN – STAFF
LA TROBA KUNG-FÚ: The Barcelona-based band is one of many in Spain’s Catalan region creating new musical fusions from rumba Catalana.
By NINA ROBERTS
S
CONTRIBUTOR
NEW YORK
poradic “Olés!” erupted from
the boisterous audience at
Lincoln Center’s outdoor stage
one recent summer night. Ten
Spanish musicians rapidly
thumped their instruments, sang, and
rhythmically clapped their hands while
Pere Pubill Calaf, better known as Peret,
the legendary Catalan gypsy singer, dazzled the New York crowd. A half century
of performing had not dulled his ability to
sing, play guitar, and move anyone within
earshot to dance – the main objective of
rumba Catalana.
In recent years this traditional party
music that was born in the gypsy ghettos
of Barcelona has been fused or remixed
with modern, urban musical forms such
as hip hop, rap, electronica, as well as the
old staples of rock, reggae, blues, salsa,
and cumbia.
The most internationally recognized
young band out of Barcelona might be
the hip hop flamenco group, Ojos de
Brujo (Eyes of the Wizard). Their guitarist, Ramon Giménez, is a Catalan gypsy
who expertly strums and bangs out
rumba Catalana along with other rumbas, to meld with the group’s rap, reggae,
electric sound.
“The percussive nature of rumba
Catalana lends itself to pop and rock
music,” says Tom Pryor, editor of
National Geographic’s world music website. “For a long time, Peret, who played
on TV, was considered kind of corny but
brothers, expanded on the music, as did
the Argentine transplant Gato Pérez, who
created a funky South American salsa
version.
“But in the ’80s after the death of
[Spanish dictator General] Franco,
Spaniards all over the country euphorically adopted the international music that
they had limited access to for decades.
They looked to London for their influences and played rock, ska, punk, pop,
and new wave. Most young people were
not focused on anything that could be
considered Spanish folklore,” says Judy
Cantor-Navas, managing editor of the
music website Billboard en Español.
“Starting in the ’90s, a new generation of
Spaniards began to look for their roots,
so the rediscovery of rumba Catalana was
a part of that for Catalans, whether they
were digging out their parents’ old records
or playing the music themselves.”
La Troba Kung-Fú, the popular
Catalan group who opened for Peret at
the Lincoln Center, is an example of a
Barcelona fusion band that embraces
rumba Catalana. “We use the rumba
Catalana like a surfboard, to navigate the
waves of different musical styles that we
See RUMBA page 16
Friday, August 8, 2008
14
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
ARTS & CULTURE
Pineapple Express
Fresh off the Judd Apatow assembly line comes
“Brideshead Revisited.” Oops. Wait. Scratch that.
“Pineapple Express” is what I meant to say. But here’s
one bit of incongruity you might appreciate. This goony,
so-so comedy about two pothead buddies was directed
by David Gordon Green, a filmmaker previously known
for his artsy, low-budget, low-grossing fare about the
sensitivities of young adults. Is Apatow in the business
of anointing starving artists?
Whatever his motives, his product line is becoming
predictable, which may, of course, be the whole point.
It’s not just the actors who are interchangeable but
the plots, too. The omnipresent Seth Rogen is with us
once again. Playing Dale Denton, a chubster who earns
his living as a process server and spends his off-hours
romancing Angie (Amber Heard), who’s still in high
school, Rogen is lucky – or maybe it’s unlucky – to be
paired with James Franco, who livens things up and
steals almost every scene they’re in. Franco’s Saul Silver
is a hippie-dippie dealer whose prize possession is a
high-grade form of marijuana called Pineapple Express.
When the two guys end up pursued by a drug lord
and his goons, they bond. In Apatow movies, bonding
is always a biggie. In fact, there hasn’t been this much
COURTESY OF PHIL CARUSO/WARNER BROTHERS
male bonding since the heyday of the western.
FAST FRIENDS: The lives of Lena (Alexis Bledel), Carmen (America Ferrera), Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), and Bridget (Blake Lively)
As these things go, “Pineapple Express” is fitfully
have scattered them apart, but the magic pants that mysteriously fit each one of them keep them connected.
amusing but not up to the level of, say, Cheech and
Chong’s “Up in Smoke.” But I should point out that this
R-rated movie is replete with shootings, stabbings, and
gougings – all of which are supposed to be blackly comic
but struck me as just black. Gore and yucks are not an
easy combination to pull off and Team Apatow
simply do not have the skills.
The gross-out gore is probably in the movie
forget which stand-up comic once said that he is not to be trusted. No sisterhood for her. No
to connect with the core teen male audience.
would never see a movie that had “traveling pants” pants, either. (She’s more of a skirts person).
But watching a guy being stabbed and sliced
in the title. Whoever it was, I feel his pain. Having
The only one of these criss-crossing plots
doesn’t sit well on the stomach, especially when
recently sat through “The Sisterhood of the with any compelling interest is Carmen’s. This
we’re supposed to be laughing. If Apatow wants
Traveling Pants 2,” I am here to say that it doesn’t is mainly because she ends up winning the
to indulge in this sort of thing, why doesn’t he
measure up to “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” part of Perdita in a production of “The Winter’s
just make a horror-film parody? (Rated R for
Which is sort of like saying “Rocky V” wasn’t as good as Tale” and so we occasionally get to hear
pervasive language, drug use, sexual references,
“Rocky IV.” Sort of.
Shakespeare’s dialogue, which is a full stratoBased, as was the first film, on the “Sisterhood” nov- sphere above the lines supplied by screenwriter
BY PETER RAINER and violence.)
els of Ann Brashares – no, I have not read
Elizabeth Chandler. Also, Ferrera
them – “Pants 2” boasts the same sporty
is charming, as always. She even makes a Elegy
cast from three years ago. It’s nice to see
creditable Perdita.
Based on Philip Roth’s slim novel “The Dying
that sisterhood works in real life, too – no
The only genuine moments of emotion
contract hold-outs. Maybe the specter of
come not from the lead actresses but from Animal,” “Elegy,” directed by Isabel Coixet and writ“Sex and the City” acted as a goad. Why
that great trouper Blythe Danner, playing ten by Nicholas Meyer, is a somewhat lugubrious but
should that movie be the only one to mine
Bridget’s estranged grandmother. It’s only measured attempt to dramatize a situation that, in less
the chick-flick motherlode?
a cameo, but in a few deft strokes she intelligent hands, might have come across as crass. Ben
In case you’re not up on “Pants” lore,
brings this embittered woman to life. I am Kingsley plays David Kepesh, a college professor who
here’s a mini-tutorial. In the first film, the
always in awe of actors who give it their we first see on television promoting his new book on the
four fast friends from childhood found
all even when the giving is not worth the roots of American hedonism. No stranger to the suba pair of dungarees that magically fit
all. I have long maintained that Danner is ject, Kepesh has had his share of serial relationships.
all of them despite their varying shapes and sizes and one of the three or four greatest actresses in America. Nothing, however, prepares him for the one he embarks
diets and binges. As a way of staying in touch, the girls If you don’t feel comfortable seeing her in “Pants 2,” I on with a student, Consuela Castillo, played by Penélope
FedExed the pants back and forth.
must remind you that her movie appearances, alas, are Cruz. Despite their age difference, theirs is a passionate
In “Pants 2,” one of the girls discovers she may be few. Support “Pants 2.” Maybe they’ll bring her back relationship. The film’s point is that Kepesh finds love
pregnant – no alterations, please! – and the FedExing for “Pants 3.” (Rated PG-13 for mature material and when all he was expecting was lust. While this may seem
continues. All four have moved on: Lena (Alexis Bledel) sensuality.)
like an apologia for randy older men, it doesn’t come off
is attending the Rhode Island School of Design, Bridget
that way, and Cruz gives her best performance to date.
(Blake Lively) plays soccer at Brown; Tibby (Amber
It’s a curiosity, by the way, that so few Roth books have
been made into movies. Anybody out there want to take
Tamblyn) is studying at the NYU film school, where, no
a shot at “Sabbath’s Theater” or “Operation Shylock”?
doubt, she is learning to make movies completely unlike
(Rated R for sexuality, nudity, and language.)
“Pants 2.” Carmen (America Ferrera), whose life journey is easily the most interesting among the quartet, is
Red
toiling backstage at the Yale School of Drama. Instead
of lugging costumes around she’d rather be acting. But
Any movie that opens with the killing of a pet dog is
she’s just so shy, a liability in the performing profession.
definitely going to capture your attention. But where do
Carmen tries to engineer a summer reunion, but
you go from there? The Red in “Red” is a 14-year-old
Tibby is in Manhattan for summer school, Bridget is on
ginger-haired pooch that is shotgun-blasted, as a cruel
an archaeological dig in Turkey, and Lena is enrolled in
joke, by a trio of hooligans in the presence of his owner,
a life drawing class, where she falls for the male model
Avery Ludlow (Brian Cox). Avery methodically goes
(Jesse Williams) while still in thrall to her Greek boyabout seeking restitution, then, when every avenue is
friend Kostos (Michael Rady), (who has inopportunely
closed off to him, revenge. As he becomes increasingly
gotten married without informing her).
unbalanced, we are meant to see that, though his cause
With her friends scattered – in more ways than one –
COURTESY OF DALE ROBINETTE/COLUMBIA PICTURES
Carmen accepts an invitation to a Vermont theater camp, ‘PINEAPPLE EXPRESS’: Dale Denton (Seth Rogen, left) and Saul is just, enough is enough. The same is true for “Red,”
which begins promisingly and then swerves into absuraccompanied by a Yale classmate (Rachel Nichols), Silver (James Franco) are lazy stoners running for their lives.
dity. (Rated R for violence and language.)
whose porcelain prettiness is a dead giveaway that she
‘Pants’ in need of alterations
I
onfilm
SISTERHOOD
SEQUEL BOASTS
SAME SPORTY
CAST BUT LITTLE
EMOTIONAL
DEPTH.
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
15
ARTS & CULTURE
Lobby: Designing spaces for times in between
Continued from page 13
COURTESY OF ADAM MORK/HARPER COLLINS
erate’s first floor invites visitors to wait while
sitting on a dramatically sweeping, waveshaped bench. Two walls do double duty as
gigantic video screens, flashing films of IAC’s
global activities. When films are switched
off, these screens revert to walls radiating
high-intensity, solid color fields, tinting the
lobby with a warm painterly glow.
funded lobbies lackluster by comparison.
“I hope this book will be a source of inspiration and help to those of us who have
to spend precious time waiting in these
rooms,” comments Daniela Santos Quartino,
the Barcelona-based writer whose invaluable visual sourcebook,
“New Lobbies & Waiting
Rooms,” was recently published by Collins Design.
Quartino’s text offers little
commentary, but compensates through hundreds of
compelling photographs
of many of the world’s
most inviting and functional spaces for primetime waiting, designed
for hotels, sports centers,
medical clinics, schools,
and museums. Asked
about her favorite design,
Ms.
Quartino
notes,
“There is more than one:
the Copenhagen Opera
COURTESY OF THOMAS MAYER/HARPER COLLINS
... a glass capsule around
the wood auditorium in SEASCAPES: Copenhagen Opera in Denmark (left) and Norveg Coast
the heart of the building; Cultural Center in Norway both play with ocean views and light.
the Norveg Coast Cultural
Center in Norway that
makes you feel like you’re inside a boat ...
“A good lobby is one that hooks you,”
the Qantas first-class lounge in the Sydney, Quartino remarks. Her favorite waitAustralia, airport with its amazing vertical ing spaces catch us through offering lavgarden.... But the one that impressed me ishly changeable sensory stimulation while
the most is the lobby of the IAC Company in inspiring us to fantasize even more involvNew York by Frank Gehry, because it com- ing spaces after we leave these anticipatory
bines visual arts with technology and light.”
rooms behind.
Gehry’s IAC lobby on the media conglom-
Edited by Charles Preston
ARE WE HAVING PUN YET?
By Myles Callum
ACROSS
1 Cut a rug
6 Revue offering
10 Drive-in drink
14 Menotti’s shepherd
boy
15 Science fiction award
16 Poet Khayyam
17 Sweet fruit
18 Rowdy party
19 Motherless calf
20 Love play?
23 Gardeners, as weeders
24 Most domesticated
25 1981 miniseries set in
ancient Israel
28 Golfer’s goal
29 Hockey’s Lindros
30 Sergeants or cpls.
33 Scottish hillsides
38 Beachgoer’s privilege?
41 Island west of Maui
42 “Nick at ___”
43 “Witness” director
44 “There’s fast food and
then there’s ___”
46 Old gold coins
48 Singer Neil
52 Mrs. Gorbachev
54 Chinese cooker al
57
58
59
62
63
64
65
66
67
fresco?
First of a Latin trio
Eat sparingly
Shout at the Met
N.C. college, a university since 2001
Algerian port
Miller’s salesman
Some cameras, briefly
Monument Valley sight
French states
DOWN
1 Timber notch
2 Doc bloc
3 Vintners’ Valley
4 Lively Latin dance
5 Chase’s ___ P. Dowd
6 Smithy, not solely
7 Northern Iranians
8 Rock singer ___ Pop
9 Corolla maker
10 Computer accessory
11 Love, Italian style
12 Nigeria’s capital, once
13 Rendezvous
21 Intended
22 “___ it from me . . . ”:
Samuel 20:20
25 Blackbird
26
27
28
31
32
34
35
36
37
39
40
45
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
55
56
60
61
Met number
Portent
Early test for coll.
Re:
___ Wan Kenobi
Dieter’s snack
Neck of the woods
Release
Armenia and Estonia
once
Rikki-___-Tavi
Immerse again
Buffs, as a group
Available
Rescues
“The Seven-Year Itch”
costar Tom
Philanthropist
Claude, of TV
Ostrichlike birds
Hartford rival
Flag
Largest Volga tributary
Industrial tub
Come ___ : teasers
The solution to this crossword appears on page 16.
16
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
ARTS & CULTURE
sixpicks
Rumba: Old rhythms, new twists
like,” explains singer/accordionist Joan
Garriga. “It can be funky, or cumbia, or boogie
boogie.”
Mr. Garriga squeezed his accordion and
sang his original songs with his bandmates
to the keyed-up audience of Spaniards, Latin
Americans, and a smattering of Englishspeaking New Yorkers. They mixed rumba
Catalana with cumbia, rock, blues, reggae,
and “Pachanga,” Spanish village party music,
changing from song to song.
When it was performance time for Peret,
known in Spain as the king of the rumba
COURTESY OF DAVID BALCELLS/LINCOLN CENTER
THE KING: Known as the king of rumba Catalana,
Peret has embraced the new generation of
musicians experimenting with the gypsy rhythms.
Catalana, the rambunctious audience doubled
in size. Peret was dressed in black, sporting a
trim, white beard. He strolled on stage singing
into a microphone and later peppered his set
with jokes, witty commentaries, even a brief,
modest butt shaking, demonstrating that people should dance as they please.
The rhythmic music had the audience on
their feet, from the balding Studio 54 veteran
in space-age glasses to several women exorcising their inner Flamenca, stomping their feet,
swinging their hips, and rotating their hands
above their heads. Former Talking Heads
band member David Byrne, who has collaborated with Peret, was in the audience and hard
ARE WE HAVING PUN YET?
to miss with his electric-blue auto mechanics
jumpsuit, swaying and singing along to the
songs.
“Um, I don’t remember any more songs,”
Peret said playfully from the stage, making the audience laugh and yell out his classic song titles. The band, a mix of gypsy and
“payo” (nongypsy), then launched into a racing guitar riff, accompanied by drums, electric
bass, rapid hand-clapping, and the cajón – a
wooden box played by beating its side.
“I created rumba Catalana in 1957 when I
recorded a song called ‘Lola,’ ” said Peret earlier that day in the lobby of his hotel across
from Lincoln Center. He explained that rumba
Catalana evolved from mixing foreign musical elements that were seeping into Barcelona
in the late 1950s with his traditional Catalan
gypsy music. “Rumba Catalana is a fusion of
Afro-Cuban, Flamenco, and” – he thumped
out a fast, catchy beat on his chest while tapping the floor and beamed – “Elvis!”
Peret’s lyrics range from simple street stories of late-night cavorting to championing
the rights of the poor and marginalized. One
could draw parallels between it and some of
the American black soul music of the 1960s
and ’70s. Oppressed people created both
genres and both have lyrics about enjoying
life despite hardships, often told in a clever,
witty, yet emotional, voice. The most obvious
similarity is that both kinds of music incite
dancing.
Peret heartily embraces this new generation of musicians who are championing rumba
Catalana. He has recorded and shared stages
with many of them including La Troba Kung-Fú
and Ojos de Brujo. Other Barcelona-based
bands include Macaco (Dani Carbonell), who
is deeply rooted in rumba Catalana despite his
more polished, pop sound, and Muchachito
Bombo Infierno. Peret affectionately refers to
them as his “grandchildren.” He also loves the
fervent reception he’s been getting when he
plays for Spanish youth at rock concerts.
Does he object to the remixing, slicing, and
dicing of rumba Catalana in the more experimental groups? A resounding no. “It is not
pure,” he says of rumba Catalana, acknowledging its hybrid form. There is a natural
evolution in music, Peret observes, similar
to food dishes, as people move around the
world. Fusion and adaptation is inevitable and
exciting.
“Nothing is pure,” he says. “Pure has no
future.”
Sudoku solution
THE MONITOR STAFF RECOMMENDS
1
2
3
4
5
BLOSSOMING CHINESE ARCHITECTS
Positions: Portrait of a New Generation of
Chinese Architects (Actar Books) is a
lively introduction to a rising generation of Chinese architects, offering
biographies and radiant photographs of
40 projects built from 2003 to 2008. By
concentrating on designers intrigued
by their cultural roots and disinterested
in slavishly imitating celebrity Western
architects, this book offers a provocative overview of architects synthesizing
Eastern and Western styles. High points
include the Lake Xiayang cultural center evoking a dragon
rising from a lake and the Yangshuo Shopping Center,
charmingly ancient yet ultramodern.
KEEN ON KEANE
Keane, the British trio renowned for piano pop with clean
lines, has released a statement of bold intent with its new
song, “Spiralling.” Now available as a free download until
Aug. 11 from keanemusic.com, the single is a jaunty blend of
distorted keyboards and playful “oohs.” They’re not exaggerating when they say the upcoming October album, “Perfect
Symmetry,” boasts “an avalanche of experimentation.”
TRANSCENDENT MUSIC
Just for fun, visit your local record store and ask
for a copy of “Með suð í eyrum við spilum
endalaust,” the new Sigur Rós record. The
Icelandic band’s language remains as
inscrutable as ever (the title roughly
translates as “With a Buzz in Our Ears
We Play Endlessly”) but their ethereal
pop has never been more universally
accessible. On this record, Sigur Rós
introduces more varied dynamics
than before. The band’s signature
magisterial epics – swathed in
choirs and orchestras – now sit
alongside shorter pop songs
such as a catchy Icelandic folk
ditty titled, appropriately,
“Gobbledigook.”
ODD ANDERSEN/AP
Continued from page 13
OLYMPIC GOLD MINE
Everything you ever wanted
to know about the Olympics
and probably a whole lot
more is all on nbcolympics.com – sports stats, country stats,
athlete stats, videos, TV schedules, and photos galore. Quick,
how many medals has Morocco won?
NEW! TALK TO HUMANS
Millions of consumers know the frustrations of voice-mail
jail – the synthesized voice, the silent treatment.
Gethuman.com, a website that lists thousands of company customer-service numbers, offers vital shortcuts that skip you
past the electronic maze to reach a real person.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF MARATHON
COURTESY OF PBS
Take a break from Olympic coverage
and wander into the Chinese countryside where you will find anything but
a bucolic, small-town existence. In yet
another reminder of this vast country’s global aspirations, PBS’s “Wide
Angle” documentary series follows a
group of Chinese high school seniors
as they prepare for college entrance
exams. Students live in dorms, attend
classes from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., six
days a week and make United States
SAT prep classes look like amateur
hour. China Prep airs Aug. 12, 9 p.m.
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Friday, August 8, 2008
17
18
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE ON DAILY LIFE
IT’S OFTEN BELIEVED that the stron- an out-of-state school. There were so
gest human bond is between parent many that they filled the tables that
and child. So family celebrations on surrounded hers. As she sat there,
holidays can seem less than happy she thought of all their loving parents
when a parent’s grown children are far who had let them be away to be with
away, for whatever reason.
their teams. She knew she had enough
When those we hold dear are not mother-love in her heart to include
near, it’s consoling to remember that them all because that love, having no
God is. Whatever the occasion, it’s limits, emanates from God, the Mother
helpful to consider that no one person and Father of all life. And she felt ceris the source of good. All good comes tain that God’s love embraced all parfrom God. As no adoring parents would ents and children everywhere. With
make it hard for a child to be con- that realization, all yearning to be sharvinced of their constant affection and ing her table with her son on that day
complete devotion, so it
dissolved.
is with God, the Father
When
her
friend
and Mother of the uni- Anytime you need returned, she asked the
verse. God can always
woman, “What’s that big
to feel loved,
be depended on to prosmile about?” She told her
God has a way
vide proof of His eternal
what she’d been thinking
and uninterrupted love
to fill that need. about, and both women
for His children.
rejoiced in God’s tender
Human
love
is
affection expressed in this
inspired by divine Love,
way. As they left, passing
which is unrestricted by time or place. one of the tables filled with baseball
So whatever the day, wherever we are, players, one of the young men looked
this love that ultimately comes from up at the woman and gave her a smile
God can be activated, recognized, and as warm and welcoming as her own
celebrated by all. God being every- son’s would have been. That was, for
where present, each individual can her, another sweet validation of God’s
feel the comforting presence of divine obvious and tangible love for all.
Love. So we are all always united in
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of
Soul’s tender, consoling embrace. The this newspaper, wrote a poem titled
consciousness of this expression of “Signs of the Heart,” which includes
God’s love helps dispel a feeling of sep- this encouragement:
aration from those we love.
When feeling isolated from loved
O Love divine,
ones, one can ask God, not where can
This heart of Thine
I get more love today, but where can I
Is all I need to comfort mine.
give more? An answer to that prayer
can prove that love never really leaves.
“Poems,” p. 24
Love is available to provide a wonderful and often unexpected form of
While it wasn’t her intention that we
expression.
be isolated from others, she must have
One holiday weekend, a mother was felt certain that anytime you need to
in a quiet restaurant having lunch with feel loved, God will have a way to fill
a friend. While the friend went to the that need. Because God is Love and
ladies’ room, the mom called her son everywhere present, you can never
who lives out of town. He was spending be away from love any more than you
the day with friends, and the conversa- can be away from God. Even if certain
tion was filled with love and laughter. loved ones are not at your side, you
When their phone visit was over, she can still feel the presence of God’s love
wished she were having lunch with her in some way. God can be depended
son. But to her, it was more important upon to preserve that feeling of being
that he was sounding so happy.
companioned because it is the divine
As she sat at the table, silently nature to be all love, always.
thanking God for her son’s happiGod, the divine Father-Mother,
ness, several large vans pulled up and includes all in one affection, conparked outside the restaurant. From stantly, obviously, and impartially. This
them emerged about 20 college base- happy fact is one to be commemorated,
ball players and their coaches from every day.
Weather patterns that
are all in our minds
S
wirling at the edge of a piece
thought shower” sounds uncomfortably
in this space a few weeks
close to “He poured cold water all over
ago, about local government
my suggestion.”
officials’ use of management
The serious pros have the verb to
buzzwords, was a little squall over what
ideate, which means “to form an idea
some would call a misplaced sense of
of; imagine or conceive” or “to conceive
political correctness.
mental images; think.” But it’s not
The town council of Tunbridge Wells
exactly in the vernacular.
in the south of England had
“Two, four, six, eight –
reportedly told its staff to
Let’s take time to ideate!”
avoid using the term “brainHmm, not quite. Another
storming.” For reasons I’ll
“brain” idiom I would chuck
leave to your imagination, the
out in a minute for a good
councilors worried the term
substitute is “to pick somecould offend some people.
one’s brain.” It means, of
“Thought showers” was
course, to ask questions of
offered instead. However, the
someone knowledgeable in a
National Society for Epilepsy
certain subject. The process
reported that it had surveyed
can be very useful to the
its members and no offense
picker and not at all painful
BY RUTH WALKER
was taken. So there!
– and sometimes even flatStill, not everyone is sold
tering – to the pickee.
on “brainstorming” as the best possible
But it’s a ghastly turn of phrase,
metaphor for that pleasurable activity
and whenever I hear it, boom, there I
of generating ideas, either to solve a
am back in ninth-grade biology class
problem or to create something new.
with my specimen frog. Not a happy
Productivity guru Tony Buzan has
moment, either for me or for the frog.
started to use the term “brain bloomAnother body-parts metaphor I
ing,” the idea being evidently that a
wouldn’t miss is brain trust, used to
succession of blossoms makes for a
describe the close advisers who work
happier kind of mental imagery than
to get a candidate elected. Thus Rolling
the concept of a “storm,” complete with
Stone last month had an article titled
lightning bolts and thunderclaps.
“Obama’s Brain Trust.”
The concept of the “bolt out of
Over the centuries, scientists have
the blue” has its place, though, in the
located mental functions in different
vocabulary of invention as well as of
parts of the body. Some of these ideas
love. And my own quibble with “brainlive on in familiar expressions – take
storming” is more about the “brain”
heart, meaning to keep one’s courage
than the “storm.” My concern is that
up, for instance. (Courage derives from
gratuitous use of body-parts metaphors
the Latin word for “heart.”) Others just
can be, well, a little mindless.
sound odd – such as the idea of the kidBrainstorming is a forceful term,
neys as the seat of the affections.
though, and there isn’t an easy alterA friend of mine visiting a church
native. We have plenty of terms for
that uses the English Standard Version
thinking, even for thinking deeply –
of the Bible was a bit surprised to hear
meditate, ponder, reflect, contemplate
the familiar story of King Solomon ask(which has a connection to temple, I’ve
ing God for wisdom (“an understanding
just discovered).
heart” in the King James Version) renBut none of these quite does the job
dered as “an understanding mind.” The
for describing the freewheeling, uninmind understands, but in a very differhibited generating of ideas. “He had a
ent way from the heart.
verbalenergy
Sudoku
Difficulty:
Row
Threeby-three
square
2
9
8
6
6
7
4
2 8 1 6
7
9
2
9
3
8
2
5 9 7 1
6
7
2
4
9
2
1
5
Column
When your grown child
is far away
How to do Sudoku
Fill in the grid so the numbers 1 through 9
appear just once in every column, row, and
three-by-three square. See example above.
For strategies, go to csmonitor.com/sudoku.
By Ben Arnoldy
The Christian Science Monitor
The solution to this Sudoku appears on page 16.
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
19
HOME FORUM
Y
ou might call it ad-liberation. I mean,
why would an actor learn the words
a playwright wrote? Isn’t there a freedom in making up your own?
I must admit that I myself try, at
least, to memorize the playwright’s words – a modest attempt to be a parrot.
Rehearsing our recent (amateur) production
of Oscar Wilde’s “A Woman of No Importance,” I
noticed, as production assistant, that some others
learn differently. We have a new member. She has
acted for decades. And she – I’ll call her Anastasia
– began after a few weeks to worry the director.
She was not learning Wilde’s words. People were
muttering things like “Poor Oscar!” She seemed
blissfully unaware of any problem.
She remembered the gist of her speeches.
Wilde’s exact words, however, didn’t take hold.
The director asked me to go over her lines with
her. She was happy about this, but still came up
with her own revised version.
After one rehearsal of Act I, Anastasia confessed something to me. “The reason,” she
explained, “that I made such a mess of Act I this
afternoon was that I was trying very hard to use
Wilde’s actual words.” This, I felt, might justifiably
go down in the history of amateur dramatics.
About two weeks before opening night, the
director confessed to me he had abandoned his optimism regarding Anastasia’s words. Nevertheless,
he kept on mentioning them to her. Anastasia
would say, “Yes, I know what I did wrong. It won’t
happen again. I promise.” But it did.
The beginnings of her speeches didn’t matter so
very much, perhaps. But the final words, cue lines
for the other actors, mattered.
I somewhat eccentrically formed a sneaking
admiration for Anastasia’s method. It was remarkably inventive. She apparently had a sheaf of synonyms for Wilde’s words on the tip of her tongue.
JOHN KEHE – STAFF
Whose play is this, anyway?
It takes some effort to be an ad-libber extraordinaire.
And, in fact, during an actual performance, the ability to ad-lib
can sometimes be a positive asset.
Which brings me to the Archdeacon.
The Archdeacon is a nice small part, with two entrances and
two exits and a few moments of dialogue in between. He provides
a degree of comic relief, or so the audience laughter hinted. I don’t
know why, but I was given this gift to perform.
My second entrance occurred a number of pages in from
the start of Act III. The scene was set in a picture gallery in Lady
Hunstanton’s stately home. I am meant to come on in the wake of
the said lady (played by Anastasia) and mime looking at pictures on
the wall at the back of the stage while she and the others assembled
carry on their witty talk. Then Lady H. turns to me and says something about how much she likes my sermons. They give her a sense
of security and predictability because she always knows what I am
going to say.
But in Thursday’s performance, when she turned to address
me thus, to her astonishment I was not there. Instead, blissfully
unaware that I was late for my entrance, I was strolling down the
stairs from the dressing rooms. I thought I had plenty of time. The
onstage chess game that precedes this entrance took ages during
rehearsals. But now, it seemed, it had speeded up.
I went through the door backstage to be greeted by a bunch of
actors in the wings in an extreme state of agitation. “You’ve missed
your entrance,” they hissed and propelled me on stage, like an
Archdeacon shot from a gun. This got a laugh, though it was hardly
meant to.
It was only later that I discovered how Anastasia had gallantly –
heroically – saved the day. Not finding me present, she had, I was
told, said “...except for you, dear Archdeacon.... Ah! Er! Archdeacon?
Where are you? I am sure I saw him recently. I think I must have left
him somewhere in the corridor....”
At this point, or not long after, I was propelled onto the stage.
Afterward, some perceptive members of the audience remarked
that they thought this small fiasco was intentional. That they had
not been disconcerted by it, however, was entirely due to the seamless way in which Anastasia moved from the words of the play to
her own. It was almost as if her own words had been written for her
by Wilde himself.
I thanked her with considerable meaning and sincerity for so
quick-wittedly masking my ineptitude. “I have completely changed
my opinion of the art of ad-libbing,” I said humbly.
“It was a pleasure,” she replied, with a knowing dignity, clearly
proud of her particular art. “I am famous for it.”
Christopher Andreae
RATHER THAN
MEMORIZING
OSCAR WILDE’S
WORDS, THE
ACTRESS WAS
AN AD-LIBBER
EXTRAORDINAIRE.
overthehedge
THE COOLEST DAD TO STOP BY DAY CARE
WHEN ONE OF MY home day-care charges, Paul, was 4 years old, another boy’s father came in to drop off his
son on his way to work. The dad was decked out in a full police officer’s uniform with his hat on and accessories
on his belt. Paul was wonder-struck; he couldn’t take his eyes off the other boy’s dad until he was out the door.
Then Paul dropped his head down, looking very dejected. I asked him why he was so sad. He answered softly,
“My dad is not anything – not anything at all. He’s just a lawyer.”
TEMPIE STAHLIN
Dexter, Mich.
C Contribute to this column by telling us about a humorous, touching, or surprising incident that you observed or
participated in. E-mail [email protected]. Please include your name, location, and contact information.
20
Friday, August 8, 2008
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Keep the hair dryer
out of politics
F UNNY FRIDAY
By JEFFREY SHAFFER
WHILE BACKERS of John McCain and Barack Obama
trade accusations about perceived policy flip-flops and
character flaws, we should all be grateful that no controversy has erupted over anyone’s hairstyle.
When historians of the future look back on the
negative tactics used against John Kerry in the 2004
presidential race, it’s almost certain they’ll focus on
the Swift Boat attacks. I, however, was equally flabbergasted by Kerry-bashers who mocked him as the “blowdried candidate.”
With those simple words, an element of personal
hygiene was transformed into a cultural war chant.
“Blow-dried” became an instant euphemism to describe
Americans who were vain, shallow, and narcissistic. It
was highly likely such individuals also used mousse.
Heck, they were probably saluting the French flag
every morning before breakfast.
By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m part of
the blow-dried population, and I refuse to be stigmatized. Those blow-dry critics of 2004 didn’t care about
my feelings. They were political demolition teams, and
©2008 DAVE COVERLY /DIST. BY CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
every time they launched a new salvo, thousands of
guys like me ended up as collateral damage.
My blow-dry lifestyle is not wasteful or hedonistic. I
drive a modest car. The house is not air-conditioned. I
take five-minute showers. And every time I flip on my
blow-dryer, the rush of warm air chases away distant
memories of bad haircuts and oily grooming products.
For many of us who grew
up in the pre-Vidal-Sassoon
era, attitudes about hair drying
were heavily influenced by the
Lennon Sisters. In addition to
pelling them miles ahead of the plane.
their work on “The Lawrence
It seems these days parents wait until
Welk Show,” the sisters
their offspring are barely out of the womb
appeared in TV commercials
before unleashing them on unsuspectsinging a memorable jingle
ing people (like me), who are forced to
(to the tune of “All Around the
fly with, dine with, and sit in $100 theater
Mulberry Bush”):
seats alongside the toddlers who are cry“This is the way we dry our
ing (literally) to watch cartoons at home.
hair, dry our hair, dry our hair.
One solution to this “I’m velcroing the
This is the way we dry our hair, with the Universal
child to my body” generation is to stop letdryer!”
ting parents get away with children’s fares.
The machine came in a small carrying case and
Why should those adorable ones pay less
included a plastic hood with a hole on one side where
money to get into a film we will be unable
you attached a hose. My family owned one, and I used
to hear because they are crying over their
it a few times, with unsatisfactory results. However, I
spilled M&M’s? (Trust me, they always
did discover that using the hose by itself to blow air
spill.) Why should kids under the age of
against my head seemed promising.
2 fly free on airplanes? And if they do,
But the Universal dryer didn’t include multiple
shouldn’t we institute a decibel charge?
speeds. The air came out at a modest rate. It had all the
9:53 a.m. We’re now flying over Terre
power of a chipmunk runHaute, Ind. I can honning on a treadmill.
estly say that I wish I
It was an age of limited
lived there. The cries
options for male hairstyles.
unfortunately
have
Here’s a great story: Over in New Jersey,
My school photos display
not reached the speed
they spotted a 44-pound cat. Did you hear
that reality with embarof sound, thus remainabout this? The cat is so big that he puts
rassing clarity.
ing inside the aircraft.
you out at night.
Thankfully, technology
And, shudder, there
David Letterman
marched on. We sent men
are four long hours to
to the moon. Blow-dryers
go.
Are you all excited for the upcoming
became available to the
I consider asking
summer Olympics? What’s that one sport
general public. For me,
for a parachute and
they do – rhythmic gymnastics – with that
there’s no going back.
try to stuff my ears
ribbon thing? Is this really a sport? Didn’t
If anyone in the McCain
with breath mints.
that used to be called playing with the cat?
or
Obama
camps
is
Nothing works. So, as
Jay Leno
tempted to start a tangle
the sound bounces up
over the use of a houseand down the aisle,
The other day in London, a man protesting
hold appliance, I’d suggest
I close my eyes and
global warming tried to super glue
vacuum cleaners. The bag
dream the dream the
himself to Britain’s prime minister. Police
versus bagless question
miserable child and I
say they’ve had their eye on the man
has plenty of room for
share: that we never
ever since he scotch-taped himself to the
energetic debate.
left home.
You are now free to cry
about the country
By CHUCK COHEN
7:50 a.m. Two apparently nice parents
are attempting to quiet their wailing child.
They have not been successful. This is
unfortunate, not only for me, but for the
other 121 passengers on my “it’s going to
seem much longer than six hours” flight to
San Francisco.
I could try to ignore the caterwauling
darling by squinting at a film on a twoinch screen four rows ahead about a family marooned on a desert island with only
a soufflé-making orangutan to keep them
company. A film that will, I hope, selfdestruct at the end of this flight. But so far
I have chosen not to strain my eyes while
the child continues to be really, really mad.
(Perhaps it’s seen the film already.)
Now, I promise I have nothing against
children. I have one myself, even though
at 6 feet, 5 inches, he’s difficult to burp.
It’s just that I think it’s time to accept that
we are taking our little ones to too many
places they don’t want to go.
No wonder they’re upset. We yank them
out of their playpens and peaceful cribs,
leave their favorite toys behind, and put
them on vacation-bound planes so they
can appreciate the glories of the Musée
d’Orsay or the London theater. (Believe
me, kids love nothing more than a fourhour production of “Coriolanus.”)
We never ask them, even when they can
speak, if they want to be voted the most
sophisticated child in their play group.
Instead we fly them across the continent
to watch a lot of water cascading down
Yosemite’s waterfalls when they would be
far happier splashing water all over the
bathroom.
9:12 a.m. The crying has reached a highdecibel level, leading me to hope the screams
will soon pass the speed of sound, thus pro-
“
“
When I flip on my
blow-dryer, the
rush of air chases
away memories
of bad haircuts
and oily grooming
products.
LAUGH LINES
“
chancellor of Germany.
C Chuck Cohen writes
from Mill Valley, Calif.
Conan O’Brien
C Jeffrey Shaffer writes
humor from Portland, Ore.