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(06/19/06 4:26am)
A hunger crisis looms over Bloomington, officials warn.\nFood donations have held constant, but local pantries have seen a surge in demand. Most nonprofits can even claim a tepid increase in giving, but it has failed to keep pace.\n"Our shelves are bare," said Leah Sinn, a caseworker with the Salvation Army. "It's pretty pathetic."\nMany working families stand a single unexpected hospital bill or auto mechanic visit away from an inability to make ends meet. Food pantries lend them a helping hand through rough patches.\nBut donated supplies fall short of a demand that has risen sharply over the past few years.\nSince 2004, Monroe County United Ministries has seen a 72 percent increase in families requesting food assistance, according to internal record-keeping. Mother Hubbard's Cupboard has witnessed a 60 percent spike over the same period.\nUnited Ministries, a secular nonprofit organization, has been forced to take drastic measures. It long provided three meals a day per family member for five days, and it can now muster only three days of assistance.\n"We're afraid of running out or being unable to provide nutritionally complete meals," said Rebecca Stanze, development coordinator of United Ministries. "It's extremely worrisome."\nMany well-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared from Bloomington in recent years with the closing of the Otis Elevator and General Electric refrigerator plants. Production was outsourced to cheaper labor markets in other countries.\n"Unfortunately, with $8- or $9-an-hour service jobs, people can't put a cushion of savings in the bank," said Julio Alonso, executive director of the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. "Working families often face tough choices between utility bills and food and rent."\nA number of other factors contribute to the growing crisis, including an expensive housing market and steep gas prices that throw family budgets off-kilter.\n"Unfortunately, donating is a short-term solution," Alonso said. "In the long term, we need to bring in jobs and create educational opportunities."\nHoosier Hills, which gathers donated food to distribute to local pantries, notched a small victory in May. It brought in 3,000 lbs. more in canned goods than in 2005 during its annual Letter Carrier Food Drive, in which people leave donations for the postal worker to pick up. But it did not make much of a dent in the dramatic upswing of requested assistance.\n"The community has been generous," Alonso said. "But many of our community agencies have come to us and indicated that they're under a tight squeeze."\nAlonso has cause for concern, as donations typically drop off during the summer months. Need inversely rises during the summer, when many children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school are cut loose.\n"Psychologically, people think of giving more when it's cold, particularly during the holidays," he said. "But the summer is often busier. If anything, we need more food, not less."\nHoosier Hills' largest client, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, which services 1,200 clients a week, relies heavily on corporate donors. Supermarkets such as Kroger and Marsh give their overstock, which is channeled to needy families.\nBut they've also felt the pinch. They've been forced to schedule an additional weekly delivery from Hoosier Hills to keep up with demand.\n"There are fewer adequately paying jobs and so much underemployment," Director Libby Yarnelle said. "Without padding, you're often one paycheck away from needing help or worse."\nYarnelle doesn't hesitate to label it a crisis.\n"When anyone is hungry, it's a crisis," she said. "When children go hungry, it's a crisis. It's a basic need -- it doesn't get more basic than food."\nFor more information on donating, contact Hoosier Hills Food Bank at 334-8374 or Monroe County United Ministries at 339-3429.
(05/05/06 2:38am)
WASHINGTON -- A House committee has ask Exxon Mobil Corp. for detailed information about a lucrative retirement package given to its former chairman, Lee Raymond, calling it an "exorbitant payout" when motorists are paying $3 a gallon for gasoline.\nRaymond, who recently retired, was given a total package of nearly $400 million including salary, bonus, stock options and a one-year $1 million consulting arrangement.\nThe request was made as the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to the country's five biggest oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, seeking detailed information about the companies' spending and investment priorities in light of huge profits over the past year as crude prices jumped to a recent high of more than $75 a barrel.\nThe relatively small amount invested in increasing refinery capacity "is cause for concern," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the committee chairman, who opened a hearing into soaring oil and gasoline prices on Thursday.\nIn addition to Exxon Mobil, letters went to ConocoPhillips Inc., Chevron Corp., BP America, Inc., and Shell Oil Co.\nExxon Mobil spokesmen did not immediately return a telephone call for comment on the congressional inquiry.\nIn testimony before the House panel, Guy Caruso, head of the government's Energy Information Administration, said that a shortage of excess production capacity worldwide is the primary factor behind tight markets and upward pressure on crude oil prices. "Today the cushions aren't available," he said.\nEnergy Consultant Daniel Yergin added the sharp run-up on crude prices over the past month stems in large part to concerns about possible supply disruptions because of the nuclear standoff with Iran, which produces 2.5 million barrels a day, and unrest in Nigeria, another major producer.\nOn Wednesday, the House passed legislation that would impose up to $150 million in penalties for energy companies found guilty of price gouging. With lawmakers eager to show they are doing something in response to soaring gasoline prices and huge oil industry profits, the measure breezed through the House , 389-34.\nPrice gouging proposals have been talked about in the Senate, especially among Democrats, but it's not clear when the issue might be brought up for consideration.\nPresident Bush called a bipartisan group of lawmakers to the White House on Wednesday to discuss what energy measures might gain bipartisan support. The proposals all addressed the long-term energy problems, and not ways to try to reduce this summer's $3-plus gasoline prices.\n"The price of gasoline should serve as a wake-up call ... that we've got an energy security problem and a national security problem and now is the time to deal with it in a forceful way," Bush said after the meeting.\nMany lawmakers acknowledged little can be done in the short term.\n"There is not a panacea of short term solutions to the (gasoline) price situation today because it's a demand-driven price," said Barton.\nA proposal pushed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to give people $100 rebate checks was all but abandoned Wednesday, ridiculed by Republicans as well as Democrats as insulting and inadequate.\nA Democratic proposal for a federal gasoline tax holiday also seemed to be losing steam.\nBarton promised a string of hearings in the upcoming weeks to develop energy legislation aimed mostly at the long-run. Barton said he sent letters to the major oil companies asking them for information on how they are using their earnings -- especially how much is being invested in exploration, production and refinery expansions.\n"We would like to be able to do something now, quickly. The truth of the matter is we can't," New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told reporters after the meeting at the White House.\nThe president discussed with the lawmakers a range of proposals aimed at increasing and diversifying energy supplies, an extension of tax credits for the purchase of hybrid cars and ways to encourage alternative fuels.\n"I don't think there were any new proposals that had not been kicked around, tried, talked about before," said Domenici.\nThe House-passed price gouging legislation directs the FTC to define price gouging and calls for penalties of up to $150 million for refiners and other wholesalers and $2 million for retailers who violate the law. It covers marketers of gasoline, diesel fuel, crude oil and heating fuel.\nWholesalers and retail outlets such as corner gas stations and service station chains face civil penalties triple the amount of their unfair profit. Violators also could go to jail.\n"American consumers are demanding protection from price gouging," declared Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y.
(04/20/06 4:08am)
KATMANDU, Nepal -- Security forces fired on thousands of pro-democracy protesters in southeastern Nepal Wednesday, killing at least four, and the government reimposed a curfew in the capital to prevent a massive rally urging the king to loosen his grip on power.\nTwo weeks of bloody opposition protests and a general strike against the rule of King Gyanendra have paralyzed Nepal, leaving the country at its most volatile since the monarch seized power 14 months ago. At least 10 people have been killed during the demonstrations.\nOfficials claimed security forces in Chandragadi, about 310 miles southeast of Katmandu, opened fire after being shot at by protesters, who also hurled bricks and debris. The government has made similar claims during the past two weeks, but those accounts have not been confirmed independently.\nThe region's chief administrator, Bhola Siwakoti, also said the protesters defied a ban in the town and were sacking government and private property.\nThere were conflicting reports of how many were killed. The Defense Ministry said two people were dead, but another Nepali official said four were killed, and a U.N. official said five were killed. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.\nThe latest deaths bring the number of people killed by security forces during the protests to at least 10. Since the opposition campaign began April 6, ordinary Nepalis have joined rallies alongside students and political activists.\nThe royal government has responded harshly, claiming that Nepal's communist insurgents -- who are allied with the political opposition -- had violently infiltrated the rallies. Police have beaten, tear gassed and arrested thousands of protesters.\n"Democratic rights do not exist," said Ian Martin, Nepal-based representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. "The opportunities for peaceful protests have been closed down."\nSo far, he said, close to 4,000 people have been arrested, and about 700 are still detained.\nThe king dismissed an interim government and seized power in February 2005, claiming a need to restore order and crush a communist insurgency that has killed nearly 13,000 people over the past decade.\nMany of Nepal's 27 million people initially welcomed the king's power grab because they were fed up with the corrupt and squabbling political elite. But the worsening communist insurgency and a faltering economy have fueled discontent.\nHours before Wednesday's shootings, the royal government freed two top opposition leaders -- Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Communist Party of Nepal and Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress -- who had been jailed for three months.\nNo reasons were given for their release, and both pledged to join the protests.\n"We will launch the protest (against the king) in an effective way until full sovereignty is returned to the people," Kumar Nepal told reporters.\nMany here saw the releases as attempts by Gyanendra to show flexibility on the day an Indian special envoy arrived to press him to compromise with the opposition.\n"I am always optimistic," said envoy Karan Singh, who began talks with the opposition Wednesday and was to meet Gyanendra on Thursday.\nLater Wednesday, the government imposed an 18-hour curfew in Katmandu and surrounding areas -- an attempt to scuttle opposition plans to bring 100,000 people Thursday onto the ring road skirting the capital. Such a rally would dwarf all earlier ones.\nThe government said the curfew would run from 2 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday in Katmandu, the suburb of Lalitpur and in areas 650 feet beyond both.\nOn Wednesday morning, the government imposed a daylong curfew in the resort town of Pokhara, the scene of daily protests the past two weeks. Security forces were ordered to shoot violators on sight.\nDespite the curfew, some 250 professors took to the streets of Pokhara and were arrested.\nThere also were protests of a few thousand people each in Katmandu.\nThe United States, meanwhile, again urged Gyanendra to restore democracy, with White House press secretary Scott McClellan saying in Washington that the unrest in the country "will only worsen."\n"Arrests and violence accompanying the pro-democracy demonstrations only add to the insecurity and compound the serious problem facing Nepal," he told reporters.\nThe royal government summoned U.S. Ambassador James Moriarty on Tuesday to protest the envoy's remarks that the king could end up fleeing the Himalayan nation if he did not compromise with the opposition.\nAside from the protests, the strike has closed shops and forced vehicles off the streets and highways for 14 straight days, causing shortages of food and other necessities in Katmandu.\nAssociated Press reporter Binaj Gurubacharya contributed to this report.
(04/10/06 4:50am)
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Roadside bombs killed at least three people in Iraq on Sunday, the three-year anniversary of Baghdad's fall to U.S. forces, as security forces bolstered security in the capital to prevent attacks on "Freedom Day."\nThe holiday commemorates U.S. Marines tearing down the statue of Saddam Hussein as Iraqis cheered in Firdous Square on April 9, 2003, marking the collapse of Saddam's regime.\nAmerican troops killed eight suspected insurgents in a pre-dawn raid north of Baghdad. Drivers in the capital were stopped and searched by Iraqi forces at extra checkpoints in the city.\nA militant group threatened in a video posted on the Internet to kill two German hostages unless U.S.-held Iraqi prisoners are freed.\nThe insurgency, militias, rising sectarian violence, electricity shortages and political vacuum have sapped much of the enthusiasm generated by the collapse of Saddam's dictatorship.\n"Iraqis are pleased and displeased," said Qassim Hassan, a soldier. "They are pleased because they got rid of tyranny and dictatorship, but they are displeased because they went from bad to worse. The Iraqi street is seething between sadness and terrorism."\nThe "Freedom Day" holiday appeared to draw little public attention. The Iraqi Islamic Party, a the biggest Sunni party, issued a statement rejecting the day, saying it was "an anniversary of occupying Iraq, not liberating it."\nEven U.S. officials acknowledged the mixed nature of the Iraq war's current stage.\n"Despite much progress, much work remains," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said in a joint statement. "The legitimate security forces must quell sectarian violence. Population centers must be secure to allow Iraq's new institutions to take root and businesses to flourish. Finally, the people must be able to trust their leadership."\nEfforts to form a new government have reached a deadlock over the nomination of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for a new term. Shiite politicians met Sunday to discuss the impasse, but made no decision to replace al-Jaafari as their nominee, \nofficials said.\nSunni and Kurdish leaders blame al-Jaafari for failing to curb rising sectarian violence.\nUntil a new government is in place, the violence is not expected to decrease and the U.S. government is unlikely to begin withdrawing troops.\nClashes erupted during a pre-dawn raid Sunday when U.S. forces surrounded a suspected safehouse and nearby tent on the northern outskirts of Baghdad. After taking fire, troops gunned down five suspected insurgents, and three others were killed in an airstrike.\nBombs and weapons were found inside the house, a U.S. statement said.\nRoadside bombs killed at least two civilians and a policeman Sunday. One targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed a passer-by in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of the capital, and another bomb meant for police killed a civilian when it \nexploded in eastern Baghdad.\nOther bombings around Baghdad killed a policeman and wounded about a dozen others, police said. One of the attacks targeted police near a Sunni mosque in the western neighborhood of Ghazaliyah, wounding at least three people, police said. Another targeted a convoy of American military police, but there were no casualties, the U.S. military said.\nPolice discovered four handcuffed bodies, with at least one shot in the head, in the Dora \ndistrict of southern Baghdad.\nFour men snuck into a wedding celebration in north Baghdad and opened fire Sunday, killing one of the guests, police said.\nThe incident in the garden of a home in Azamiyah, a mostly Sunni Muslim neighborhood, killed a 30-year-old Shiite man, police Lt. Nihad Ibrahim said.\nThe motive was unclear, he said.\nAn Iraqi militant group threatened to kill two German engineers held hostage since January unless prisoners held by U.S. forces are freed. The two Germans were shown pleading for help Sunday in a video \nposted on the Internet.\nThe Germans were shown in front of a black banner emblazoned with the name of the militant group, the Brigade of Supporters of the Sunna and Tawhid. One of them, Thomas Nitzschke, spoke for about 10 seconds.\n"We've been held here as prisoners for more than 60 days now. We're at the end of our nerves. Please help us. We can't take it any more. Please help us," he said in German.\nIn Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, a man allegedly making a bomb was killed when it exploded, police said. Police arrested six others in the house after hearing the explosion, police Maj. Karim al-Tamimi said.\nIn Najaf, officials raised the death toll from last week's car bombing of the Imam Ali mosque to 13. Three Iraqis wounded in the bombing died Saturday, said Dr. Issa Mohammed, director of the morgue at Najaf General Hospital.\nAssociated Press correspondents Sameer N. Yacoub, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Mariam Fam and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.
(02/15/06 5:20am)
WASHINGTON -- Government at all levels took an indifferent stance toward disaster preparations after the 2001 terror attacks, leaving the Gulf Coast vulnerable to Hurricane Katrina and contributing to the death and suffering the storm inflicted, a House inquiry concludes.\nFinding fault with the White House down to local officials, the 520-page report, titled "A Failure of Initiative," determined that authorities failed to move quickly to protect people -- even when faced with warnings days before the catastrophic storm struck last Aug. 29.\n"Passivity did the most damage," concluded the report, which was written by a Republican-dominated special House committee and obtained Tuesday night by The Associated Press. "The failure of initiative cost lives, prolonged suffering, and left all Americans justifiably concerned our government is no better prepared to protect its people than it was before 9/11, even if we are."\nThe hard-hitting report concludes that President Bush could have speeded the response by becoming involved in the crisis earlier. It says he was not receiving guidance from a disaster specialist, who would have understood the scope of the storm's destruction.\n"Earlier presidential involvement might have resulted in a more effective response," the inquiry concluded.\nWhite House spokesman Allen Abney declined to comment. On Monday, White House Homeland Security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend said Bush was "fully involved" in Washington's preparations and response to Katrina.\nThe inquiry into one of the nation's worst natural disasters looked at everything from the evacuation to the military's role to planning for emergency supplies and in each category found much to criticize.\n"The single biggest failure of the federal response was that it failed to recognize the likely consequences of the approaching storm and mobilize federal assets for a post-storm evacuation of the flooded city," the report said. "If it had, then federal assistance would have arrived several days earlier."\nTypical of the report's unsparing tone, it warned, "The preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina should disturb all Americans."\nThe House study is the first to be completed in a series of inquiries by Congress and the Bush administration about the massive failures exposed by Katrina.\nThe storm left more than 1,300 people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama dead, hundreds of thousands homeless and tens of billions of dollars worth of damage in its wake. Despite Bush's accepting full responsibility for the federal government's shortfalls, the storm response continues to generate finger-pointing.\nThe panel, chaired by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., was formally unveiling the final version of the study on Wednesday. Parts of it were released on Sunday.\nHouse Democrats who participated in the inquiry could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night. But in a 59-page response released last Sunday, Reps. Charlie Melancon and William Jefferson of Louisiana said that while they largely agreed with its conclusions, the report falls short of holding "anyone accountable for these failures."\nDespite its accomplishments, the committee "adopted an approach that largely eschews direct accountability," Melancon and Jefferson said in their response. "The majority report rarely assesses how these problems occurred, why they were not corrected sooner, and who in particular was responsible."
(01/26/06 6:02am)
The University Architect's Office announced recently that the University will demolish a historic fraternity house. Some members of the greek community say the demolition of the house formerly used by Kappa Sigma is only part of a larger campus problem -- IU's lack of greek housing.\nWhile many fraternities and sororities have housing on Jordan Avenue or Third Street, others have had trouble finding a home.\n"Over a year ago, we tried to buy a building near the (Indiana Memorial Union) that has been vacant for some time," said Greg McBride, president of Phi Kappa Tau. "We were just told that it was going to be used for education, which is great, but it still hasn't been touched."\nPhi Kappa Tau is one of several greek organizations without houses. Other groups include Kappa Delta Rho and Phi Delta Theta.\nIU-Bloomington Dean of Students Richard McKaig said he believes there is a shortage of Greek housing on campus, but said there isn't any land available.\n"The University has a master plan for development, and under the current plan, there are no properties available," he said.\nIU officials said there are not currently any plans for the land occupied by the former fraternity house at 1503 E. Third St. -- a house Kappa Sigma used from the 1920s through 1964, when the University bought the house.\nThe house is listed on the city's historic survey. It was visited by IU law graduate and jazz icon Hoagy Carmichael, who was a member of Kappa Sigma before the fraternity moved into the house in 1926.\nSome members of the greek community said they believe having more greek housing would be a benefit.\n"There are too many fraternities off-campus right now," said Phi Kappa Tau member Jordan Loeb, "and it would strengthen the greek system to put the houses on campus."\nMcKaig said he also thinks there are advantages to housing greek groups on campus.\n"It puts them in less conflict with other housing in the community, and it gives them the chance to interact with other groups on campus," he said. McKaig added that it also makes it easier for fraternities and sororities to meet together and act as a group if all of the members live in one house.\nHe said there are several empty houses on campus, but said smaller fraternities, like some without houses, don't have the financial support to remodel a house. McKaig said the empty houses on campus are not in any condition to be lived in.\nLoeb added that letting fraternities use on-campus housing would make fraternity life safer. He said living in on-campus fraternity housing can help keep party-goers safer because the Interfraternity Council can keep closer tabs on illegal activity.\nMcBride said he doesn't understand why fraternities can't use existing empty housing on campus.\n"Off the top of my head, there are three abandoned houses around campus that need to be claimed, bought or rebuilt," he said. "The problem is getting the OK from IU to do that"
(01/19/06 5:32am)
Just east of the chemistry building stands Ballantine Hall, used daily by many yet perhaps historically familiar to few. \nNot many are aware of the history behind the nearly fifty-year-old building. Constructed in 1957, Ballantine is home to numerous humanities and social science classes. \nThe building is named for former acting president and professor of mathematics at IU, Elisha Ballantine, who first taught here in 1854. \nAt the time it was built the building increased the amount of classroom space on campus by about 50 percent, according to Indiana Daily Student articles. However, at one point, the financial burden of construction called the building's completion into question. \nThe money necessary to finish it was taken out of University savings intended to be used towards a business building, and total costs for construction eventually reached $6,242,422, according to an IU-Bloomington Physical Plant release. This financial shortage left Ballantine without air conditioning for its first 18 years. \nToday, Ballantine exists to the majority as a place for learning and studying. But its history is marked with some extracurricular, even tragic, events. Among the stories surrounding the building are tales of suicide, including a 28-year-old graduate student who fell nearly six stories in 1970 and another student who survived an eight-story fall in 2004, according IDS articles.\nBallantine Hall is, in part, known for the six-foot geophysical globe donated to the school by two alumni in 1961, and housed in the first floor foyer. Less known, however, is the 1993 sexual scandal in Ballantine that caused an uproar across campus, according to IDS articles. Every Sunday in Ballantine there was "a mess of used condoms, semen and articles of clothing" left for janitors to clean up. After reports made by custodians repeatedly complained of sexual mess, the building increased security.
(10/03/05 4:30am)
Did Rep. Tom DeLay do something legally wrong? I have no idea. My sneaking suspicion is yes, but I also doubt he's the only one doing it; he just got caught. Still, his political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, seems to have been involved in some shady dealing. And it was pretty suspicious when, in April, the House tried to pass a bill to make it more difficult to proceed with an ethics investigation. In short, DeLay hasn't come across as an innocent man.\nIf he really wanted to do himself a favor, he and his Republican cronies would shut up and let the courts do their job. Unfortunately for him, he seems too stubborn to realize that now is not the best time to be slinging mud.\nThere hasn't been a shortage of Republicans willing to stand up and say, as DeLay did, that the case is a result of an "unabashed partisan zealot." However, Ronnie Earle, the prosecutor in DeLay's case and a known Democrat, has indicted four times more Democrats than Republicans, and once indicted himself for missing the campaign finance reporting deadline by one day. I don't know him personally, but right now, his credibility as an honest politician seems a little better than Tom DeLay's.\nTo make matters worse, DeLay called his indictment "one of the weakest and most baseless ... in American history." He should really get over himself. Out of all the miscarriages of justice served in America, throughout all of her history, does DeLay really think his indictment is one of the weakest? \nI'm sure that any one of the more than 150 people from 31 states, who served a total of 1,800 years in prison until they were exonerated by DNA evidence, would disagree. \nIn the past 11 years, DeLay has voted "no" to maintaining the right of habeas corpus in death penalty appeals, "yes" to making federal death penalty appeals harder and "no" to replacing the death penalty with life in prison.\nI guess karma has finally caught up with Mr. DeLay. If he is so convinced the American legal system works, it's time for him to stop being a hypocrite and give it a test run. Even if he's convicted, the maximum he could serve would be two years, a small price to pay for further degenerating American politics from "for the people, by the people" to "for large corporations with deep pockets, by the men (and women) who represent large corporations with deep pockets." \nAnd if he's innocent, at least legally speaking, then his lawyers, unlike those of the aforementioned wrongly convicted, will have the resources to keep him out of jail.\nSo, Tom DeLay, remember the court of public opinion seems to be judging you as an egotistical, untrustworthy man, and your long history of questionable ethics has finally come to bite you in the butt. Fortunately for you, you get a real trial too. But until that comes, for the sake of whatever integrity is left in American politics, just step out of the spotlight for awhile. Few people trust you anyhow.
(09/07/05 4:44am)
his year marks Dr. Adam Herbert's third anniversary as president of the University. Let the Indiana Daily Student be the first to say: Congratulations -- you've made it through the freshman year and avoided the dreaded sophomore slump. You've done some good things in your time here. \nBut we can't help but notice that there are more than a few of your inauguration promises you haven't really addressed. We know that one was to make the satellite campuses stronger. Good goal, but let's get it done. "Mission differentiation" only matters if every campus actually is different. \nWe've also talked a lot about developing the life sciences at IU without sacrificing a liberal arts education, getting more money from the statehouse and expanding and repairing the buildings on campus. These are all fabulous goals -- but they're only goals until actual change is made.\nThe first year, it was understandable if you didn't accomplish much. Everyone knows that a person's freshman year is dedicated to learning the lay of campus. The Bryan House had to be decorated, you had to learn everybody's names and you had to figure out the one-way streets in Bloomington. The second year brought more troubles: administrative shortages, legislative fiascoes and more than your fair share of fiscal woes. Two sluggish years are more than understandable.\nBut now you've named new deans, developed an economic plan and you're planning on naming a new chancellor this fall.\nOnce all this is in place, what's holding you back?\nNothing. \n"It takes a long time to get things done in a University," Gros Louis said in Tuesday's IDS article ("Herbert discusses progress in 3rd year"). "It's a legitimate criticism of the University that we are not very nimble. We cannot react quickly. The president or the chancellor are not like CEOs of a company."\nGros Louis has a point. It's difficult to get things done quickly when a piece of paper has to have twenty different signatures to be made official. We know you inherited a pile of headaches when you took the job. That's why we're excusing you for the last two years. \nBut now we're issuing a challenge: Make this year count, Dr. Herbert. This is your time to shine. \n"In responding to (challenges facing the University), we must remain focused on who we are, even as we engage in the institution-building that will determine what we become," Herbert said in Tuesday's article.\nYou've had two years to figure out who "we are." \nDr. Herbert, you're in your "junior year." You know what you're majoring in, you know where all the buildings are and you know that 8 a.m. classes aren't worth the headache. \nNow that you've addressed the big "gotta deal with this now" problems, it's time to start hitting some of your inauguration goals. Keep in touch, and let us know how you're doing. We believe in you.
(08/24/05 5:16am)
SANUR, West Bank -- Israeli forces armed with riot gear, saws and wire cutters evicted militant holdouts from two Jewish settlements Tuesday, completing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a corner of the West Bank.\nThe relative ease and lack of violence with which Israel pulled out of the 25 settlements in just a week was a setback to Israel's ultra-nationalist movement, which for months had mounted vocal and dramatic resistance.\nPalestinian and Israeli leaders as well as President Bush said the pullout -- the first time Israel has abandoned territory Palestinians claim for their future state -- opened new opportunities for peace negotiations.\nBush said Monday the pullout has cleared the way for the resumption of peacemaking. \n"In the heart of the Middle East a hopeful story is unfolding," he said.\nMobilized for the final push, about 10,000 soldiers and police overwhelmed extremists protesting the pullout in the West Bank settlements of Sanur and Homesh. SWAT teams sprayed a fire hose on dozens of extremists, sliced through steel bars of a shuttered seminary and bulldozed a barbed-wire barricade to storm rioters pelting troops with eggs and tin cans.\nThe settler evacuations concluded the mawjor piece of the unilateral pullout Sharon envisioned 18 months ago, aimed at reducing friction with the Palestinians, easing Israel's military burden, and tightening its hold on the West Bank heartland where most of the 240,000 Jewish settlers live.\nIsrael said homes in the abandoned settlements will be destroyed in 10 days, part of an agreement with the Palestinians.\nSince the evacuation operation began eight days ago, the army said 15,000 people were removed from Gaza and the West Bank settlements -- far more than the 9,000 who actually lived there, an indication of the fierce resistance mounted by hard-liners backing the settlers.\nIn Gaza, the Palestinian Authority plans to build multistory apartments in their place to ease an acute housing shortage. In the West Bank, Israel is destroying homes to prevent Jewish extremists from returning there.\nExplosions were heard late Tuesday in the abandoned settlement of Dugit, where Palestinian officials said Israelis had advised them they would be blowing up buildings and installations. With the civilians gone, Israel must destroy its military bases before staging its own withdrawal -- within a few weeks--and end the 38--year occupation of the coastal strip.\nIsraeli doves, who said little while Sharon battled his own hawkish party to push through the withdrawal plan, were jubilant.\n"This is the beginning of a process we always regarded as necessary. The hope is the state of Israel is coming back to sanity," said Tsali Reshef, a leader of the Peace Now movement.
(08/04/05 1:05am)
Last week, U.S. News & World Report published an exclusive article with details of the Pentagon's new plan for the War On Terrorism. As I read it, I couldn't help but get flashbacks to David Rees' Internet comic strip, "Get Your War On."\n"Oh my God, this War On Terrorism is gonna rule! I can't wait until the war is over and there's no more terrorism," one office worker says.\n"I know," his coworker retorts. "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs any more? It'll be just like that!"\nWhen Rees wrote those words almost four years ago, he pointed out something important: we can win wars against countries -- the places where people live -- but we can't win a war against ideologies or practices -- the things people do.\nTo the Pentagon's credit, the new strategy fixes a couple gaping holes in the War On Terrorism.\nUnder the plan, they will establish a system to measure their progress against terrorism twice yearly. After all, you need some sort of success rate to get funding from the government. Why shouldn't the multi-billion dollar War On Terrorism get the same scrutiny as the K-12 schools that lose funding because they couldn't live up to the standards of the "No Child Left Behind Act?"\nOf course, we can't measure progress against an enemy without knowing what that enemy is: "Extremist Sunni and Shia movements that exploit Islam for political ends."\nRemember, there's a big difference between a Christian extremists in America and an Islamic extremist. America's idea of "Extreme Christianity" entails extreme sports like bungee jumping while listening to bands like the Newsboys at Festival Con Dios.\nTo attack radical Islam around the world, the Pentagon finally acknowledges that America cannot lead this fight alone. After all, there are plenty of extremists out there who aren't interested in targeting us.\nWhat the Pentagon intends to do, then, is equip other nations to lead their own battle against their own terrorists, by attacking eight "pressure points" that any terrorist cell needs.\nAdditionally, the U.S. will turn more to the State Department for ways to help fight the ideological appeal of extremism, such as humanitarian aid provided by the military. This strategy helped turn the tide of Asian public opinion of America in the wake of the tsunami.\nNot that humanitarian aid would have helped to build hundreds of thousands of apartment units needed in Algeria 10 years ago, amid a housing shortage that is partially responsible for a dramatic uprising in Islamic extremism in that country.\nYou should look up the article in the Aug. 1 edition of U.S. News in the library. Many of the details of the plan sound like an improvement over status quo, but there is still one glaring problem: we can't wage war on the things people do. The only success we have in that arena is slavery, but look at prohibition, or the War On Drugs. People do these things because they have a choice, and no war can take that away from anyone.
(06/16/05 1:11am)
Monroe County has endured nearly 200 years of history, and the Monroe County History Center has documentation of almost all of it. \nEstablished a century ago in 1905, the Monroe County Historical Society runs a museum, a gift shop and the Genealogy Library located on the corner of 6th and Washington Streets in a building that itself has quite a history. \nBefore it became the History Center it was the public library, and before that it was the Colored School for the children of African Americans who moved to Bloomington during the 1870s. Museum director Kari Price is the only full-time employee but is supported by a legion of dedicated \nvolunteers. \n"Our mission is to create a sense of place," said Price. "Bloomington has a transient population with the University and we provide a way for people to find out about the place they're living in."\nThat place was settled by pioneers who were attracted not only to the area's abundance of hardwood trees for lumber, but also to the salt preserves they found at Salt Creek. Since refrigeration was not available during the early 1800s, salt was needed to dry and preserve food, and according to Price was at the time almost as expensive as gold pound for pound. The Museum houses a real life-size log cabin on permanent loan from the Mathers Museum that one of those early pioneers lived in; it's one of more than 50,000 artifacts at the center. Price believes that official estimate is too conservative, though, and they really have closer to 70,000 or even 80,000 historical items such as "political buttons, photos, everything, the whole gamut," she said.\nThe History Center is a self-sustaining non-profit organization not officially connected with Monroe County, which was named after President James Monroe. It is sustained through membership donations from approximately 500 members and the time and efforts of volunteers like Liz Knapp, director of the Genealogy Library. Knapp, whose ancestor Joshua O. Howe was one of the founding fathers of Monroe County, and fellow volunteer Randy Richardson are currently busy at work doing data entry into computers and proofreading microfilm, in order to digitize the museum's extensive \ncollection. \nThey are currently seeking additional volunteers for the task. The library includes cemetery, death, census, tax, naturalization and marriage records along with family histories, maps, personal narratives, wills and general reference volumes.\nThrough their work in the Genealogy Library, both Knapp and Richardson have become experts on the history of the county and know many little known facts. For instance, they described how Bloomington nearly lost IU in the mid-1800s due to severe water shortages that led to the eventual creation of man-made Griffy Lake, Twin Lakes and Monroe Reservoir to solve the problem. The state later threatened to remove the University from Bloomington due to a vigilante-type group who partook in "white capping." This activity entailed putting a pile of white sticks and a threatening letter in the yard of anyone who the group believed was behaving inappropriately -- individuals who beat their wives and adulterers for example. It became quite personal and many people were severely beaten by the group until the governor intervened in 1911 to have Silus Adams and Toby Snoddy convicted and sent to jail for their white capping activities, and the University has safely resided in Bloomington ever since.\nKnapp notes that the library is "the ideal place to research people that have lived in Monroe County." Richardson said that they have a file of more than 73,000 clippings from Bloomington newspapers and that "you can find out things about your family that you would never know unless you read those." Those clippings detail everything from births and deaths to train wrecks, kidnappings. \n"Anything we find interesting," Knapp said. "These are things you don't find anywhere else." \nFor those people who do not have relatives from Monroe County but are still interested in genealogy and historical research, the library is where they can come for one-on-one assistance.\nFor a family project, a history research paper or just for fun, the Monroe County History Center is a vault of historical treasures that, as Museum Director Price said, "tell the story."\nIf you are interested in volunteering at the Monroe County History Center, call volunteer coordinator Lisa Simmons at (812) 332-2517. To volunteer at the Genealogy Library please e-mail Liz Knapp at genealogy@monroehistory.org. To learn more about the history of Monroe County or about the Monroe County History Center, visit http://www.monroehistory.org.
(02/08/05 4:28am)
Trust in science and creator require same faith, despite beliefs\nIn his article "Fact, faith and fiction" (Feb. 7), Evan Ross reveals quite clearly his animosity toward "fundamentalist Christians" who have the audacity to choose not to believe in the evolutionary theory. He writes that these people base the ideas on human origin -- creationism -- on "faith," whereas those who believe the evolutionary theory on "scientific evidence." What Ross may be overlooking is the presence of faith in all people whether they believe in God or not, whether they are religious or not. \nAs much as we hate to admit it, as much as we may fear it -- there is an element of mystery in this world. We cannot understand everything, cannot explain everything: Faith in something is a necessary element to human existence. Some people believe, by faith, in a supreme creator and others believe, by faith, that scientists have authority in explaining our world by means of tests and experiments. Many creationists also have this kind of evidence to support their claims. Either way, one believes in something he himself has not seen.\nHeather Miller\nSenior
(01/25/05 5:44am)
IU President Adam Herbert and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels don't exactly see eye to eye on the state's funding for IU.\nHerbert would like $80 million more for the University in the 2005-2007 Indiana state budget.\nDaniels would like IU and other public state universities to hold steady and receive the same amount of state funding they received two years ago.\nA slight difference of opinion, so to speak.\nThe incoming battle over Indiana's two-year state budget, which will fund everything from the Department of Corrections to Medicaid, from social services to transportation, will become a battle over funding for Indiana's public universities. As the state tries to slow spending in an attempt to balance the budget and lacerate the state deficit, IU officials are working to ensure what they consider to be adequate funding for the next few years.\nHerbert has twice asked the Indiana General Assembly to allocate $1 billion for the University, representing an $80 million increase from the current budget in state funds. But such an increase could meet resistance given Daniels' Jan. 18 state of the state address, when he proposed an across-the-board freeze on state finances, including all levels of public education.\n"Education, both K-12 and postsecondary, must play essential roles in fiscal recovery by managing temporarily with current levels of state funding, no less but no more," Daniels said in his address.\nIU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said Herbert will meet with Daniels sometime this week to discuss funding concerns for the University.\n"President Herbert recognizes that the state is facing serious fiscal problems," MacIntyre said, adding Herbert "appreciates that Gov. Daniels is trying to minimize the impact on both K-12 schools and higher education."\nAbout one quarter of IU's $2.1 billion operating budget is provided by state government. Although he is not seeking money for new or expanded programs, Herbert is asking for the additional funding to support continued research activities and repair and renovation projects. \n"IU's research activities, especially in the life sciences, are helping to spark economic growth in Indiana," MacIntyre said. "As for repair and renovation projects ... the longer these projects are delayed, the more critical -- and expensive -- they become."\nJ.T. Forbes, IU's executive director of state relations, said it was his understanding that the IU campuses currently are working to identify options that will allow them to maintain quality in the face of both potential stagnation and marginally higher funding levels.\n"A sluggish state economy, combined with a tight state financial situation, makes for a very difficult environment for higher education," Forbes said. "While universities are recognized as part of the solution to Indiana's economic woes, it will be difficult for elected officials to balance the budget and increase funding for the state's many needs and priorities." \nInterim IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis expressed similarly gloomy expectations.\n"It's a year where, given the state's financial situation, we're hoping we can pull our own because it isn't there," Gros Louis said. "If the state has no money, there's no money."\nWhile not constituting an explicit cut in funds, Daniels' proposed freeze at current levels shakes out weaker buying power. \n"A freeze of university funding really means a cut for the University because energy, health care and other costs are rising and beyond the control of IU," state Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said. "The General Assembly should try harder to better fund higher education because it is one of the keys to Indiana's economic development and long-term prosperity."\nBut House Ways and Means Budget Chairman Larry Buell, R-Indianapolis, previously told the Indiana Daily Student (Jan. 12, 2004) that the state budget is stretched too tight to comply fully with Herbert's request. He said his committee probably will not approve the proposal "to the extent that (Herbert) made the request, but not because of an inadequacy of his proposal, but a shortage of funds at the state level."\nPierce said he believes the University's budget request recognizes the state's difficult fiscal condition and has very modest goals for the next two years, but nonetheless he said the General Assembly should do all it can to meet this budget request.\nAt this point, IU officials are quick to dismiss as premature any talk of tuition increases or additional student fees.\nMacIntyre said it is too early to make any predictions regarding possible student fees or increases in tuition for the next year. \n"First, we must determine the level of state support that will be provided next year," he said.\nGros Louis said he expects the IU board of trustees to vote on tuition and fees for the next academic year in March. \nBut Forbes said a flat-line higher education budget will create a gap between current state-funding levels and the level of resources required to meet increases and other uncontrollable costs.\n"If higher education funding cannot be increased beyond the levels recommended by the governor, we will have to fill the funding gap by cutting our costs, increasing revenues or some combination of these," Forbes said. "It is still too early in the legislative process to predict the final outcome on state funding. The governor's budget gets the conversation started, but it takes months of deliberation and debate to arrive at a state budget."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(01/12/05 6:51am)
IU President Adam Herbert appeared before the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday in Indianapolis to present his request for IU's new budget.\nPresident Herbert asked the committee, a group of 25 state legislators who write the budget presented to the General Assembly, to allocate about $1 billion for the University. The proposal would represent an $80 million increase from the current budget in state funds.\nBut House Ways and Means Budget Chair Larry Buell said though Herbert's presentation was "very good," the state budget is stretched too tight to comply fully with Herbert's request. He said the committee would probably not approve the proposal "to the extent that (Herbert) made the request, but not because of an inadequacy of his proposal, but a shortage of funds at the state level."\nBuell said when presenters appear before the committee rather than just submit a written proposal, "it makes the budget come alive." He also commended Herbert, as president of the University, for showing up in person.\n"I think, of course, it's always best to hear it from the chief officer of any organization," Buell said. "He, after all, is the ultimate spokesperson for the University."\nHerbert's request is the same he made in October to the State Budget Committee. That committee's goal was to make a budget recommendation to the governor, who in turn would make a recommendation to state legislators. \nBut the House Ways and Means Committee will produce an actual budget to present to Indiana's House of Representatives. Once the budget is debated and revised by both houses of the Indiana General Assembly, a final working budget will be in place.\nBut Director of IU Media Relations Larry MacIntyre said he and Herbert's administration are not expecting a final budget until mid-April at the earliest.\n"This is the next step," he said. "But the debate in the legislature is really just getting under way."\nMacIntyre said Tuesday's presentation was Herbert's way of personalizing and outlining IU's future direction.\n"This morning wasn't about numbers," he said. "It was the president spelling out his strategic priorities and how he intends to get there."\nIn a press release, Herbert cited campus repair projects and the support of research as reasons behind the requested $80 million in increased funding.\n"We are developing national and international pre-eminence in a number of areas," Herbert said. "My vision for IU is to become one of the nation's top five centers for cancer research, diagnosis and treatment." \nAccording to the press release, state funding accounts for just 25 percent of the University's annual $2.1 billion budget. Indiana's state budget is apportioned in two-year chunks, corresponding to the term lengths of Representatives.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(12/08/04 4:50am)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- While Ohio has certified a 2 percentage-point election victory for President George W. Bush, scrutiny of the vote is expected to continue for several more days.\nIndependent candidates are prepared to demand recounts in all 88 counties Tuesday, an action that election boards say they are ready for but do not believe is necessary.\n"Our experience with recounts based on our system in Allen County show either no change in our count, or one or two votes possibly," said Keith Cunningham, the county's election board director and incoming president of the Ohio Association of Election Board Directors.\nSecretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certified Bush as the winner Monday based on official results from county election boards, with the final tally of 2.86 million votes for the Republican, or about 51 percent of the vote, and 2.74 million or 49 percent for Democrat John Kerry.\nThe 118,775-vote lead was closer than unofficial election night results but not enough to trigger a mandatory recount. Absentee ballots and provisional votes counted after election night made most of the difference.\n"Elections are human endeavors and, as such, they are never perfect," said Blackwell, a Republican. "But I can say with the fullest of confidence that this election in Ohio was perfectly inspiring."\nThe election hung on Ohio, a battleground state prized for its 20 electoral votes. Not until the morning after the election did Kerry, presented with the state's results, finally concede.\nPresidential candidates for the Green and Libertarian parties raised the $113,600 needed to pay for the recount under Ohio law, and will write individual checks to all 88 counties.\nCounties have 10 days to start those recounts, allowed under state law, following Blackwell's certification.\nThe recount's goal is "to ensure that every citizen's vote is properly counted," said John Bonifaz, general counsel for the Boston-based National Voting Rights Institute, which represents the independent candidates.\nLibertarian candidate Michael Badnarik received 14,695 votes, or 0.26 percent of the overall total. Green Party candidate David Cobb received 186 votes.\nRecount advocates have cited numerous Election Day problems, from long lines, a shortage of voting machines in predominantly minority neighborhoods and suspicious vote totals for candidates in scattered precincts.\nRepublicans said the recount won't change anything.\n"If there's a recount, there's going to be two losers -- John Kerry and the Ohio taxpayer," said Mark Weaver, a lawyer representing the Ohio Republican Party. "It's going to cost more than $1.5 million to find out what we already know."\nThe amount the independent candidates have raised is based on state law calculating the cost of a recount to be $10 a precinct, but Blackwell's office has said a more realistic price tag is $1.5 million.\nA Friday ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus, striking down Delaware County's attempt to stop a recount, ensured the process will go forward.\nThe Rev. Jesse Jackson said Monday the Ohio Supreme Court should investigate Bush's win in Ohio because of "massive problems" with the voting.\nThe required filing with the Supreme Court, planned for Monday, was put off until at least Tuesday because of its complexity, said Cliff Arnebeck, a Columbus attorney representing the voters.\nAbout 20 people protested outside Blackwell's office Monday, demanding Blackwell postpone the Dec. 13 electoral college vote in Ohio until the recount is finished. Blackwell said the vote will take place.\nAnd in San Francisco, about 150 people rallied outside the office of U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, to protest voting irregularities, particularly those in Ohio.
(10/18/04 5:00am)
While the rest of Bloomington was still in bed, people began to line-up at 7:30 a.m., Saturday at the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce Health Fair hoping to receive a flu shot.\nMany of them left disappointed.\nAfter 40 million flu vaccinations from Liverpool, England's Chiron Corp. were ruled contaminated, the distributors around the United States have experienced a drastic shortage in the shot. Health officials must now ration the few available vaccines to only patients who are less than 23 months old or more than 65 years. Those who are vulnerable to the disease or whose occupation puts them in frequent contact with it are also eligible.\n"Don't miss your opportunity to be prepared for this winter's cold and flu season," advertised the Chamber's press release. "Flu shots will be available while supplies last."\nSouthern Indiana Pediatrics came to the Bloomington SportsPlex with 100 flu vaccination shots. Thirty minutes after the fair's 9 a.m. opening, half of them were gone.\n"A lot of people came really early so they didn't miss out on getting the shot," Southern Indiana Pediatric worker Lori Teach said.\nPeople who didn't meet the criteria were turned away, but were understanding of the situation, Promptcare worker Amanda Miller said.\n"No one has been too upset today because they couldn't get a shot," she said. "People see others need it more than them and understand that it's more important for others to get it before them."\nAlthough this season's situation is much worse, vaccine shots were also short last year, when almost 20 patients went to the walk-in clinic at the Bloomington Hospital to be treated for the flu on some days, Miller said.\n"We were slammed with people who needed to be treated for the flu last year in January and February," Southern Indiana Pediatrics worker Susan Mitsos said. \nThe walk-in clinic workers are expecting to continue the pattern.\n"We are going to be even more busy this year than last," Mitsos said. "We are already booked through November with people who need to get the shot."\nA family with three infants all under the age of five met the guidelines for receiving the shot because the three children are very vulnerable to the disease, Mitsos determined.\n"My doctor said it is really important for all of us to get the shot because the kids can get the flu easily, especially my son who's in preschool because it's a germ factory." mother Vicki Streiff said. "Since I am a full-time mother, if I get sick, everyone in the house will."\nAlthough the flu vaccine attracted people to the Health Fair, 39 other booths were set up with everything from "What triggers your asthma" to "How to prevent Alzheimer's." \nThe focus of the fair was to provide health information complimentary of the region's best providers for people of all ages. \nEven though vaccines are in short supply, healthy people can still protect themselves from the flu, Promptcare worker Melanie Shoults said.\n"I don't think it'll be as big of a deal as the media's making it out to be if people follow preventative guidelines," she said. \nThe Center for Disease Control recommends simple tips such as avoiding close contact, hand-washing and getting plenty of sleep.\n-- Contact staff writer Nellie Summerfield at nsummerf@indiana.edu.
(10/12/04 4:09am)
Election Day this year will set the course for job policy, healthcare reforms and school spending -- not to mention taxes. And that's not just in the run for president. Eleven states will pick governors next month, and the contests allow domestic issues to get some attention as money pours into the campaigns and the races heat up.\nExperts see particularly hot contests in Indiana, Missouri, Montana and Washington state.\nDemocrats are defending six seats and Republicans five. Two incumbents have already lost -- bounced by their own parties during primaries. Three chose not to run -- after bruising terms in Montana and Washington, and revelations of an extramarital affair in West Virginia.\n"I don't know where to start to say how important these races are," said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, which expects to spend up to $8 million on the contests. "What happens in states becomes ultimately the model for what happens on the federal level."\nCampaign strategists and party officials see these as the top races:
(09/16/04 4:00am)
It's that time again: lots of new crap on television. But with all your classes, required sleep, occasional homework, flagrant drunkenness and finding time for your significant other, you just don't have time to watch all the new shows. Never fear -- this is what they pay me for.\nFirst up, sitcoms. Everyone thought when "Friends" and "Frasier" took a curtain call in the spring, the sitcom was dead. This fall's television lineup proves, well, everyone was right.\nWe have "Joey," the everyman's "Frasier." He has left Central Perk and moved toward the City of Angels to become a hot shot actor (he's bound to make it if he can act better than Matt LeBlanc). The last few seasons of "Friends" were really stretching it -- and that was spread over six people -- so the natural conclusion is to let this guy go out on his own? Verdict: A fitting start to NBC's new "Must Suck Thursday."\nCBS gives us "Listen Up," in which Jason Alexander tries once more to ride the coattails from "Seinfeld." The show will be based off of the life of Washington Post sports columnist and ESPN commentator Tony Kornheiser. But I'll just read the columns, thanks. Verdict: Sucks.\nIn "Commando Nanny," Mark Burnett stars as a British expatriate whose job includes being a nanny. Verdict: British people are funny, I'll give them that -- but, alas, sucks.\nReturning crap summary: Remember when "Scrubs" and "Will & Grace" used to be funny? Me too. Remember when "Malcolm in the Middle" and "King of Queens" used to be funny? Me neither. \nLook forward to: "The Simpsons," which never gets old.\nOn the more dramatic front, we have ABC's "Lost," about a group of people who become stranded on an island in the Pacific and, I don't know, attempt to prove Darwin right or something. Verdict: It'll be better than "Gilligan's Island" or "Survivor," but look for this to suck and get lost around midseason.\nThe WB's "Jack & Bobby" is a coming-of-age about two brothers, one of which grows up to be president and reflects on his childhood. But -- fooled you! -- they're not the Kennedys. Verdict: Intriguing. It's "Dawson's Creek" meets "The West Wing." Chance of sucking: 50 percent.\nOf course, there will certainly be no shortage of dead people turning up this fall, as criminal and medical investigators take to the airwaves. A short list of sucky crime and hospital shows includes "CSI: New York," as well as the other 80 "CSIs;" "House;" "Hawaii;" "Medical Investigation;" "LAX;" "Law & Order: Trial by Jury," with the other 50 "Law & Orders;" "Third Watch;" "Crossing Jordan;" "E.R.;" "Cold Case;" "JAG;" "Without a Trace;" and surprisingly, "NYPD Blue," which I thought left TV long ago.\nLooking forward to: "Boston Legal," a spinoff of ABC's "The Practice" starring James Spader (who saved "The Practice" from sucking abysmally in its last season). Also, "Dr. Vegas," as the ever-entertaining Rob Lowe plays a physician working at a Las Vegas casino.\nNow we come to the third rail of television, reality programming. Coined the third rail after the high voltage line in subways, reality TV is clearly the bastard child of television, with much less respect from yours truly.\nDonald Trump returns for "The Apprentice 2." I liked last season, and I'm crossing my fingers maybe someone will jump from that penthouse window this season instead of taking that embarrassing elevator ride down to the curb. \n"The Next Great Champ" and "The Contender" are looking for boxing's next all-star. Verdict: I wonder if these shows will be as rigged as boxing already is.\nReality crap summary: "Apprentice" knockoffs; many dating shows, full of meaningless sex and overflowing tears, because people clearly don't get enough of that sort of drama in their real lives they must supplant it with TV; contest shows; many makeover shows (but the real question is, can they make me over to end my boredom with these shows?); and, finally, some new shows which swap families and swap moms.\nGod. My generation is going to be remembered for this.
(09/15/04 5:04pm)
It's that time again: lots of new crap on television. But with all your classes, required sleep, occasional homework, flagrant drunkenness and finding time for your significant other, you just don't have time to watch all the new shows. Never fear -- this is what they pay me for.\nFirst up, sitcoms. Everyone thought when "Friends" and "Frasier" took a curtain call in the spring, the sitcom was dead. This fall's television lineup proves, well, everyone was right.\nWe have "Joey," the everyman's "Frasier." He has left Central Perk and moved toward the City of Angels to become a hot shot actor (he's bound to make it if he can act better than Matt LeBlanc). The last few seasons of "Friends" were really stretching it -- and that was spread over six people -- so the natural conclusion is to let this guy go out on his own? Verdict: A fitting start to NBC's new "Must Suck Thursday."\nCBS gives us "Listen Up," in which Jason Alexander tries once more to ride the coattails from "Seinfeld." The show will be based off of the life of Washington Post sports columnist and ESPN commentator Tony Kornheiser. But I'll just read the columns, thanks. Verdict: Sucks.\nIn "Commando Nanny," Mark Burnett stars as a British expatriate whose job includes being a nanny. Verdict: British people are funny, I'll give them that -- but, alas, sucks.\nReturning crap summary: Remember when "Scrubs" and "Will & Grace" used to be funny? Me too. Remember when "Malcolm in the Middle" and "King of Queens" used to be funny? Me neither. \nLook forward to: "The Simpsons," which never gets old.\nOn the more dramatic front, we have ABC's "Lost," about a group of people who become stranded on an island in the Pacific and, I don't know, attempt to prove Darwin right or something. Verdict: It'll be better than "Gilligan's Island" or "Survivor," but look for this to suck and get lost around midseason.\nThe WB's "Jack & Bobby" is a coming-of-age about two brothers, one of which grows up to be president and reflects on his childhood. But -- fooled you! -- they're not the Kennedys. Verdict: Intriguing. It's "Dawson's Creek" meets "The West Wing." Chance of sucking: 50 percent.\nOf course, there will certainly be no shortage of dead people turning up this fall, as criminal and medical investigators take to the airwaves. A short list of sucky crime and hospital shows includes "CSI: New York," as well as the other 80 "CSIs;" "House;" "Hawaii;" "Medical Investigation;" "LAX;" "Law & Order: Trial by Jury," with the other 50 "Law & Orders;" "Third Watch;" "Crossing Jordan;" "E.R.;" "Cold Case;" "JAG;" "Without a Trace;" and surprisingly, "NYPD Blue," which I thought left TV long ago.\nLooking forward to: "Boston Legal," a spinoff of ABC's "The Practice" starring James Spader (who saved "The Practice" from sucking abysmally in its last season). Also, "Dr. Vegas," as the ever-entertaining Rob Lowe plays a physician working at a Las Vegas casino.\nNow we come to the third rail of television, reality programming. Coined the third rail after the high voltage line in subways, reality TV is clearly the bastard child of television, with much less respect from yours truly.\nDonald Trump returns for "The Apprentice 2." I liked last season, and I'm crossing my fingers maybe someone will jump from that penthouse window this season instead of taking that embarrassing elevator ride down to the curb. \n"The Next Great Champ" and "The Contender" are looking for boxing's next all-star. Verdict: I wonder if these shows will be as rigged as boxing already is.\nReality crap summary: "Apprentice" knockoffs; many dating shows, full of meaningless sex and overflowing tears, because people clearly don't get enough of that sort of drama in their real lives they must supplant it with TV; contest shows; many makeover shows (but the real question is, can they make me over to end my boredom with these shows?); and, finally, some new shows which swap families and swap moms.\nGod. My generation is going to be remembered for this.
