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(01/23/07 3:40am)
GARY -- A school board member faces criticism for using $422 in school money to buy meals for teenage voters on the day they cast absentee ballots in primary races that included the district in which he was seeking re-election.\nTwo state officials question whether Michael Scott might have used the taxpayer funds to influence political votes by buying the meals at a Ponderosa restaurant.\nScott has characterized the lunches as part of a Lew Wallace High School field trip during which the teens were taken to the Lake County Government Center to cast ballots for the May primary.\nOnly students in the district where he was running for re-election got the lunches.\n"It raises red flags" said Bruce Hartman, state examiner for the Indiana State Board of Accounts. "The political insinuations are enough to say, 'Wait a minute. Is this a way that someone was influencing students to vote for them in the election?'"\nScott originally paid cash for the lunches and then requested reimbursement from district funds. On June 28, he received a school check for $422.36 records show.\nReceipts show he treated 25 Lew Wallace High School students on April 25 and 36 students on April 26 to the meals during special voting days in advance of the primary.\nWhen asked about the trip last spring, Scott said he had asked Lew Wallace administrators to coordinate the trip but had no further involvement.\n"I would not use kids in that way," Scott said at that time.\nThe Post-Tribune of Merrillville said Scott agreed last week to an interview but later backed out.\nScott did not immediately return a phone message left Monday by The Associated Press.\nLast April, Scott said his son, then the Wallace student council president, came up with the idea for the trip so students could have their first voting experience.
(01/17/07 3:46am)
WASHINGTON -- Following up on an election-year promise, House Democrats said Friday they plan quick action to lower interest rates for student loans.\nTheir proposal, scheduled for a vote Wednesday, would cut interest rates on some student loans in half. However, the college-tuition plan has been scaled back since it was first touted on the campaign trail last year.\nThe interest-rate relief would apply only to need-based loans and doesn't help people who take out unsubsidized student loans -- a distinction not made in the campaign literature Democrats handed out before winning control of Congress last fall. The measure also abandons a pledge to reduce rates for parents who take out loans to help with their kids' college costs.\nThe rate cut for subsidized student loans -- from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent -- would be phased in over five years.\nThe measure would cost just under $6 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.\n"This legislation will be a vital first step toward helping lower college costs for millions of low- and middle-income students, while keeping our promises to taxpayers to maintain responsible spending," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the committee overseeing education issues. He introduced the bill and said the House would vote on it Wednesday.\nTo avoid increasing the deficit, the bill's cost would be offset by trimming subsidies the government gives lenders and reducing the guaranteed return that banks get when students default. Banks also would have to pay more in fees.\nTom Joyce, a spokesman for lending giant Sallie Mae, said such cuts could impact the services and benefits students receive.\n"We do not oppose an interest-rate reduction," Joyce said. "But if the goal is to try to get a low-income or middle-income student into a seat, we'd better be careful of the law of unintended consequences."\nEducation Secretary Margaret Spellings said in an Associated Press interview this week she would prefer that Congress increase Pell grants, which go to the poorest students and do not have to be paid back.\nAnother Democratic campaign promise was to raise the maximum Pell award from $4,050 to $5,100. Miller said lawmakers will get to that.\nAn estimated 5.5 million students receive subsidized loans.\nA typical borrower with a $13,800 subsidized student loan debt would pay about $22,100 in interest and principal over 15 years at the existing rate. When cut to 3.4 percent, that same borrower would pay $17,700 -- or about $4,400 less -- over the same period, according to Luke Swarthout, who lobbies on higher-education issues for U.S. Public Interest Research Group.\nRepublican leaders pushed a budget bill through Congress last session that cut $12 billion from the student-loan programs. Democrats and student groups argued the money should have been preserved to help cover college costs rather than redirected toward other priorities.\nCalifornia Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, the top Republican on the House Committee on Education and Labor, criticized Democrats for moving the interest-rate bill without first holding hearings to see if it is the best approach.\n"This bill, impacting the largest entitlement program within our committee's jurisdiction, has not been vetted by a single committee hearing, has not been part of a bipartisan conversation of any sort," McKeon said.\nIn the Senate, Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy heads the committee overseeing education issues. He said he wants broad legislation addressing the interest-rate cut and other proposals.
(01/09/07 2:06am)
FORT WAYNE -- A pastor who formed a charity to build group homes for HIV-positive substance abusers raided its accounts for personal expenses, according to a report released Sunday.\nAn investigation by The Journal Gazette found that the governing board of the Archey AIDS Foundation is essentially nonexistent and that the founder, the Rev. Donald Archey, acknowledged forging the signature of its treasurer to open a bank account.\nArchey began holding fundraisers in July 2002 to raise money to build two group homes, one for men and one for women. However, last September Archey notified the Internal Revenue Service that the charity had raised just $43,500 and had less than $2,000 in its bank account. Archey said the charity would direct all its proceeds to a children-oriented program.\nArchey, who is listed as executive director and board president of the foundation, said accusations raised by people involved with the group are not true.\n"Yes, some i's weren't dotted, some t's weren't crossed," Archey said. "But all money has been accounted for. ... There's been nothing misappropriated."\nHe said donors should not worry about the financial questions being raised about the group and that new policies were being put in place to prevent further problems.\nIt is unclear who approved the new policies or how they will be enforced because Archey is one of only two board members.\nIndiana Attorney General Steve Carter said his office was reviewing material related to the foundation.\n"If it's a small board that's essentially controlled by one person, and if the information hasn't been shared with the other board member, that's obviously a concern," Carter said. "When you don't have any outsider that has the ability to see what's going on and address it by virtue of a leadership position, then there isn't any effective oversight"
(01/08/07 3:25am)
CENTER POINT, Ind. -- A cougar scaled a 14-foot fence to escape a western Indiana preserve and remained at large Sunday, apparently leaving behind the remains of two raccoons it had killed, a conservation officer said Sunday.\nThe 8- or 9-year-old wildcat, which is tan in color and weighs about 80 pounds, escaped the Exotic Feline Rescue Center on Friday and eluded a tracker over the weekend, Max Winchell of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said Sunday.\nThe cat might pose a threat to anyone who approaches it because although it has been in captivity and may not fear humans, it was born in the wild, Winchell said.\nLaw-enforcement officials asked the public to not go to the area attempting to view or locate the animal, Winchell said.\n"It's very elusive," he said.\nThe wildcat was believed to still be on the grounds of the preserve, which sprawls across more than 100 acres and holds nearly 200 exotic cats under a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It's located about 50 miles west of Indianapolis.\nA retired USDA employee, Bryce Finny of Indianapolis, was trying to track and tranquilize the cougar, Winchell said. Finny reported finding the remains of a raccoon that the mountain lion killed and ate as well as a second raccoon that was killed.\nState conservation officers and Clay County sheriff's deputies patrolled the perimeter of the property and did not see the wildcat, Winchell said.\nThe USDA, while not responsible for the recapture of the cougar, might send additional personnel this week, Winchell said.\nWhile it is illegal to kill protected exotic animals, people have the right to protect themselves and their property if they feel threatened, Winchell said.\nState conservation officers have received numerous reports of sightings of exotic cats over the past two months in Clay, Vigo and Putnam counties, although there have been no other reports of escapes, Winchell said.\n"This is the first one," he said.\nEven though the cougar escaped its roofless pen on Friday afternoon, operator Joe Taft did not contact authorities until Saturday morning, when he told an employee of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources who in turn alerted conservation officers, Winchell said.\nThe rescue center, which also houses lions, tigers and leopards, says its mission is to provide homes for exotic felines that have been abused, abandoned or have no where to live out their lives, while also educating the public about them.
(01/08/07 3:22am)
LEBANON, Ind. -- A Boone County woman who had been shot in the head was found dead in her van along a highway. Police said they are seeking her estranged husband in connection with the crime.\nThe body of Beth Mullendore, 47, was found at about 6:30 p.m. Friday after her van had drifted off eastbound lanes of Interstate 865 north of Indianapolis, the Boone County Sheriff's Department said.\nInvestigators later determined Mullendore had been shot in the head, and early Saturday they issued search warrants for the Lebanon home of her estranged husband, Dennis Mullendore, and his mother. Dennis Mullendore is considered a person of interest in the case, deputies said.\nInvestigators also said they wanted to talk to any motorists who may have seen unusual activity near the three-mile marker of I-865 about 6:30 p.m. Friday. Those having information should contact the Boone County Sheriff's Department at (765) 482-1412.\nEastbound traffic was closed for about three hours on I-865, a spur connecting Interstate 65 with Interstate 465.
(01/08/07 3:21am)
UPLAND, Ind. -- A volunteer firefighter who was injured when a floor collapsed beneath him in a burning home died Friday, fire officials said.\nSidney Hall, a member of the Upland Volunteer Fire Department, became trapped in the basement of the burning house on Wednesday. Seven other firefighters suffered lesser injuries rescuing him, authorities said.\nState Fire Marshal Roger Johnson said it was difficult to take the loss.\n"It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life to be there today with the family as this moment approached and we knew the end was near," Johnson said. "My heart just went out."\nHall was taken to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne in critical condition after the fire.\n"Sid was a valuable member of our family and department and will be greatly missed," the Upland Fire Department said in a statement.\nHall's wife and two sons, along with members from the fire department, had been with Hall at the hospital Thursday, the department said.\nHall was an Indiana certified first-class firefighter who was trained in arson investigation, the department said. He had been part of the Upland department for about 10 years as secretary and training coordinator.\nHall worked as a maintenance worker for Taylor University from 1977 to 1997 and was working with Building Control Systems in Fort Wayne before he died. Scott Bragg, a maintenance supervisor at Taylor, said Hall was always ready to help others.\n"He would just bend over backward to help you out," Bragg said.\nThe fire was at a rural home in Grant County, about midway between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. The home belonged to Eddy Miller, a Marion firefighter. Miller was on his way to the hospital to visit Hall on Friday when he learned of his death.\n"It's definitely a terrible day for the fire departments of the county," Miller said.\nFred Sumpter, assistant chief of investigation for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, said the fire started in the basement with bad wiring in a light socket near the ceiling.\nAuthorities said Hall was the first one to enter the home, which was owned by a Marion firefighter.
(12/01/06 4:21am)
TERRE HAUTE -- A murder defendant handed out a statement to media members in the courtroom that said he was dissatisfied with his attorney's handling of the case and wanted someone else to represent him.\nKevin Hampton, 43, of Terre Haute is on trial in Vigo Superior Court for the May 19, 2000, slaying of 18-year-old Dianna Lehman. He is also charged with rape and criminal deviate conduct.\nHe said in the statement Wednesday that he had asked for a change of venue because of the publicity of the case in Vigo County, but his attorney, Dan Weber, would not request the move. Hampton also said he has tried to have Weber dismissed for ineffective assistance of counsel, but his requests have been denied.\nThe court shows no record of any motions filed. Weber would not comment on his client's statement.\nIn the statement, Hampton wrote, "We are not going to talk about in court things that I no (sic) can help my case like where I was living at the time all this took place, where I was that day, the people that was at the house next door the night all this took place."\nHampton also is charged with the 2004 murders of Tanette Dickison, 18, and Cassie Harris, 48, of Terre Haute. His trial in those deaths is scheduled for Jan. 22.\nA document filed with the court Wednesday morning from Weber states the defense "intends to call no witnesses" other than those listed by the prosecution.\nHowever, Hampton wrote in the statement, "(Weber) is telling me not to take the stan (sic) and I was feeling it was the best thing to do."\nWhen Weber learned Hampton handed out the statement, he warned him not to talk to the media.\n"I'm about to go crazy sitting here," Hampton replied. "(Weber's) not asking the right questions. It's easier to speak now than try to win on appeal."\nHampton is accused of raping and strangling Lehman in her bedroom. The prosecution's case is based largely on DNA evidence yet to be presented.\nWeber said in opening statements that five to 20 people could have had a motive to kill Lehman and directed his questions Wednesday to Lehman's estranged boyfriend, Bradley Akers, the father of her now-8-year-old son.\nAkers, 25, and Lehman had been living together, but Akers said he moved out about a week before her murder because she "was partying all the time, leaving me at the house with the baby and no diapers, no formula."\nAkers told the jury he went back to the house two days before Lehman was killed to retrieve his son's clothing. He entered through an already-damaged window because he did not have a key, he said. For spite, he took the battery out of a cordless phone in the living room.\nAkers admitted during testimony that initially he lied to investigators about entering the home through the window and about taking the battery. He said he was scared because he knew he was probably a suspect in the murder.
(12/01/06 3:58am)
CHICAGO -- A T-Rex skull, two stuffed elephants and a meteorite from Australia are among the more than 20 popular exhibits included in an adopt-an-artifact program started this month by Chicago's Field Museum.\nMoney raised by individuals or corporations participating in the program will go toward the museum's endowment fund, now around $290 million, said Sheila Cawley, the museum's official in charge of the new sponsorship program.\nDonors get their names placed near the exhibit, a meeting with a scientist linked to it, an original work of art and mention on the museum's Web site, Cawley said.\nThe sponsorships start at $25,000 and run as high as $2.5 million for exclusive association with the two African elephants acquired by the museum in 1909.\nSponsoring Bushman the gorilla will cost $1 million. The now-stuffed animal was a big draw at Lincoln Park Zoo until his death in 1951. The body of the 550-pound lowland gorilla was donated to the museum and became a permanent exhibit in 1952.\nThe skull of Sue the T-Rex, one of the Field Museum's best known pieces, and two man-eating Tsavo lions will also cost sponsors $1 million.\nLess expensive sponsorships include the Gladstone meteorite from Australia and a Tibetan statue with multiple arms, which each cost $25,000.\nThe values are roughly linked to an object's fame and size, Cawley said.\nThe Field Museum has more than 23 million artifacts, and the museum could expand the sponsorship program later to include more objects, Cawley said.
(11/15/06 4:24am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Conservation officers who entered the home of a man who sought treatment for a poisonous snake bite found 15 venomous vipers, including cobras and rattlesnakes.\nMichael Fillenwarth, 47, was taken into custody but later released after Monday night's raid on his home due to medical issues related to his snake bite, officials said.\nAuthorities learned of the snakes after Fillenwarth sought treatment over the weekend for a bite from the highly venomous green mamba, native to Africa.\nSgt. Dean Shadley, an Indiana Conservation Officer, said Fillenwarth did not have the proper permits to keep the snakes, which Shadley described as "extremely poisonous." Fillenwarth is charged with possession of a dangerous reptile without a permit.\nShadley said investigators plan to present information to the Marion County prosecutor that could lead to criminal charges in the case.\nOfficers confiscated five types of rattlesnakes, three types of cobras, along with gaboon vipers, copperheads, a puff adder and two green mambas from Fillenwarth's home on Indianapolis' east side. They also seized caged quail Fillenwarth was using as food for the reptiles.\nJim Harrison of the Kentucky Reptile Zoo was contacted to positively identify the snakes, which were taken to a facility run by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.\nBecause of medical issues related to his snakebite, Fillenwarth was not jailed Monday night. A summons for his court appearance was to be issued when the investigation is complete and the charges are filed.
(11/15/06 4:23am)
ROLLING PRAIRIE, Ind. -- Federal and local authorities worked Tuesday to recover the remains of four employees of an Iowa marketing company and a pilot killed in a small plane crash in a rural area of northern Indiana, officials said.\nJeff White, spokesman for Two Rivers Marketing in Des Moines, Iowa, said the company chartered the plane to go from Ankeny, Iowa, to South Bend on Monday. The flight plan listed four males and one female on the plane, LaPorte County Chief Deputy Coroner John Sullivan said.\nInitial reports from the Federal Aviation Administration said four died in the crash that happened shortly after takeoff from the South Bend Regional Airport at about 8 p.m. Monday. The twin-engine Cessna 303 crashed in a cornfield about 10 miles southwest of South Bend in eastern LaPorte County and was found about an hour later, the FAA said.\n"I can confirm four individuals from Two Rivers Marketing on board in addition to the pilot," White said. "I cannot confirm, unfortunately, those individuals' names because we're not sure the families have received official word from the authorities."\nSullivan said some of the remains were recovered Monday night, but the search was suspended until morning because of darkness. He said a dozen deputy coroners will be scouring the crash site in an area that was about the size of a football field. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were also investigating.\nAll five died on impact, said Sullivan, who hoped to identify them Tuesday.\n"We will go with tattoos, possible body piercings and obviously there should be some identification at the scene, some wallets, some driver's licenses," he said. "We may have to go with DNA testing. In a deal like this you have to do the best you can."\nThe cause of the crash has yet to be determined, but officials were considering fog as a factor, Sullivan said.\nThere were no indications of trouble before the plane vanished from radar, officials said.\nPolice said those living near the crash site heard a noise that rattled windows but that no one had reported witnessing the crash.
(11/15/06 4:01am)
Iran's president boasted that his country will soon have mastered the production of nuclear fuel, but he added the country was far from producing enough fuel to power its Russian-built reactor. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed the world had finally accepted that Iran has the complete cycle of fuel production -- from mining uranium to enriching it to the level required for consumption in a nuclear power plant.
(09/14/06 4:00am)
LOS ANGELES - Television's iron man continues to forge on.\nBob Barker will start his 35th season as the host of "The Price Is Right" on Sept. 18.\nJohnny Carson once held the record for continuous tenure with the same show: 29 years. Barker broke it in 2002. And Merv Griffin's game-show classics "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" are years behind "Price," the longest-running game show in TV history.\nBarker's approach, like the show's set, has remained essentially unchanged since he arrived Sept. 4, 1972 to host what was then called "The New Price Is Right": wholesome, playful and family friendly.\nHe's weathered some challenges along the way, including the death of his wife (and producer), Dorothy Jo, in 1981 and a sexual harassment lawsuit filed (and later dropped) by one of the show's models in 1994.\nBut even in this era of endless channel choices and increasing fascination with the shocking and salacious, Barker and "Price" maintain an upbeat, timeless charm.\nThe 82-year-old talked with The Associated Press about the secrets of his lasting appeal and what he's got planned for the next 35 years.
(09/14/06 3:41am)
LOS ANGELES - Television's iron man continues to forge on.\nBob Barker will start his 35th season as the host of "The Price Is Right" on Sept. 18.\nJohnny Carson once held the record for continuous tenure with the same show: 29 years. Barker broke it in 2002. And Merv Griffin's game-show classics "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" are years behind "Price," the longest-running game show in TV history.\nBarker's approach, like the show's set, has remained essentially unchanged since he arrived Sept. 4, 1972 to host what was then called "The New Price Is Right": wholesome, playful and family friendly.\nHe's weathered some challenges along the way, including the death of his wife (and producer), Dorothy Jo, in 1981 and a sexual harassment lawsuit filed (and later dropped) by one of the show's models in 1994.\nBut even in this era of endless channel choices and increasing fascination with the shocking and salacious, Barker and "Price" maintain an upbeat, timeless charm.\nThe 82-year-old talked with The Associated Press about the secrets of his lasting appeal and what he's got planned for the next 35 years.
(10/13/05 4:00am)
NEW YORK -- ABC's "Commander in Chief" would seem to be a pretty straightforward drama.\nThe president dies. The vice president (played by Geena Davis) succeeds him in the Oval Office. And, omigosh, she's a woman!\nBut there's more going on here, suspicious minds are thinking: "Commander in Chief" isn't just this fall's most-watched new series -- it's a sinister scheme by Hollywood lefties to hype Hillary Clinton for the White House.\nCould "Commander in Chief" (9 p.m. EDT Tuesdays) really be a weekly infomercial for Hillary?\n"Keeping with the modern liberal tradition of subliminal socialist indoctrination (through U.S. television), 'Commander in Chief' seeks to accomplish more than prime-time entertainment," warned a writer named J.B. Williams on the National Ledger Web site, while the blogger Colossus pronounced the show "a nefarious plot to advance the notion of a Hillary Clinton presidency."\nA warmup act for Hillary? Best-selling feminist author Naomi Wolf applauds it. In London's The Guardian, she hailed "Commander in Chief" as not only well-timed for Clinton's widely anticipated 2008 run, but also as "truly addictive, political pornography." (Are the rest of the show's nearly 17 million viewers that aroused?)\nGranted, Hillary Clinton and Mackenzie Allen (the show's presumed stalkinghorse for Hillary) do share the same gender. Other parallels, however, seem more of a reach.\n-- "Mac" is a U.S. congresswoman-turned-university official and a Republican-turned-Independent. On the other hand, Hillary is a lifelong politico and Democrat; a former first lady who is now a U.S. senator.\n-- Mac's road to the White House began as a vice presidential candidate chosen to boost the women's vote for her Republican running mate, who then, after just two years in office, obligingly expired. Hillary can't count on that measure of support.\n-- Mac is 6 feet tall and isn't married to former President Clinton. Hillary isn't, and is.\n-- Mac, lest we forget, is make-believe, and idealized -- maybe to a fault, from Hillary's perspective. Noting that President Allen is "smart, beautiful, dressed to the nines, completely competent," Boston Herald columnist Virginia Buckingham wrote: "If I were Hillary Clinton, I'd be running scared. Perfect is not the bar she ought to want set for her."\nDid "Commander in Chief" creator Rod Lurie really set out to be Hillary's advance man?\n"This is not a You-Go-Hillary show, this is a You-Go-Girl show," Lurie said last week. "I just want to see women in the process, whether they be Democrats or Republicans or Independents. If there's any social agenda to the show, it's to be enthusiastic about the idea of a woman president -- and an Independent president. She's an Independent, which is sort of a big deal."\nTrying to change the subject? Not so fast!\nSome conservatives are in a lather over Mackenzie Allen's nemesis, the Republican speaker of the House (Donald Sutherland). The RedState Web site complained that this underhanded power broker was designed to bash all Republicans as "manipulative, back-stabbing, power-hungry politicians."\nBut Lurie pointed out that President Allen's own chief of staff -- a man of solid character -- is a Republican.\nHe added that "Commander in Chief" has its roots not in Hillary's campaign strategy but in "The Contender," a film he wrote and directed in 2000 about a vice presidential aspirant. (It starred Joan Allen ... for whom he named Mackenzie Allen.)\nBut what about "Commander in Chief" writer Steven Cohen, who worked for Hillary Clinton as the then first lady's deputy communications director?\nSure, said Lurie, who mentioned another of the show's writers, Crystal Nix Hines, who previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Yet another, Stuart Stevens, ran the 2000 and 2004 media campaigns for President Bush (and has ridden bikes with him).\n"I promise that if there was no Hillary Clinton, there would still be a 'Commander in Chief' -- I want to have a hit show that people enjoy, and really, that's it," explained Lurie, whose surprising exit from his top 10-ranked series was announced a couple of days later.\nNow, what will conspiracy theorists read into that turn of events? The official explanation: Under a two-year deal with Touchstone Television, Lurie has given up his job running "Commander in Chief" to concentrate on developing new series, while TV veteran Steven Bochco ("NYPD Blue" and "L.A. Law") takes the production reins of a show that had fallen dangerously behind schedule.\nJust another shakeup in the TV biz? Or is there (hmmmm) more to the story? Try and stop suspicious minds from hashing over what it might be.
(10/13/05 3:17am)
NEW YORK -- ABC's "Commander in Chief" would seem to be a pretty straightforward drama.\nThe president dies. The vice president (played by Geena Davis) succeeds him in the Oval Office. And, omigosh, she's a woman!\nBut there's more going on here, suspicious minds are thinking: "Commander in Chief" isn't just this fall's most-watched new series -- it's a sinister scheme by Hollywood lefties to hype Hillary Clinton for the White House.\nCould "Commander in Chief" (9 p.m. EDT Tuesdays) really be a weekly infomercial for Hillary?\n"Keeping with the modern liberal tradition of subliminal socialist indoctrination (through U.S. television), 'Commander in Chief' seeks to accomplish more than prime-time entertainment," warned a writer named J.B. Williams on the National Ledger Web site, while the blogger Colossus pronounced the show "a nefarious plot to advance the notion of a Hillary Clinton presidency."\nA warmup act for Hillary? Best-selling feminist author Naomi Wolf applauds it. In London's The Guardian, she hailed "Commander in Chief" as not only well-timed for Clinton's widely anticipated 2008 run, but also as "truly addictive, political pornography." (Are the rest of the show's nearly 17 million viewers that aroused?)\nGranted, Hillary Clinton and Mackenzie Allen (the show's presumed stalkinghorse for Hillary) do share the same gender. Other parallels, however, seem more of a reach.\n-- "Mac" is a U.S. congresswoman-turned-university official and a Republican-turned-Independent. On the other hand, Hillary is a lifelong politico and Democrat; a former first lady who is now a U.S. senator.\n-- Mac's road to the White House began as a vice presidential candidate chosen to boost the women's vote for her Republican running mate, who then, after just two years in office, obligingly expired. Hillary can't count on that measure of support.\n-- Mac is 6 feet tall and isn't married to former President Clinton. Hillary isn't, and is.\n-- Mac, lest we forget, is make-believe, and idealized -- maybe to a fault, from Hillary's perspective. Noting that President Allen is "smart, beautiful, dressed to the nines, completely competent," Boston Herald columnist Virginia Buckingham wrote: "If I were Hillary Clinton, I'd be running scared. Perfect is not the bar she ought to want set for her."\nDid "Commander in Chief" creator Rod Lurie really set out to be Hillary's advance man?\n"This is not a You-Go-Hillary show, this is a You-Go-Girl show," Lurie said last week. "I just want to see women in the process, whether they be Democrats or Republicans or Independents. If there's any social agenda to the show, it's to be enthusiastic about the idea of a woman president -- and an Independent president. She's an Independent, which is sort of a big deal."\nTrying to change the subject? Not so fast!\nSome conservatives are in a lather over Mackenzie Allen's nemesis, the Republican speaker of the House (Donald Sutherland). The RedState Web site complained that this underhanded power broker was designed to bash all Republicans as "manipulative, back-stabbing, power-hungry politicians."\nBut Lurie pointed out that President Allen's own chief of staff -- a man of solid character -- is a Republican.\nHe added that "Commander in Chief" has its roots not in Hillary's campaign strategy but in "The Contender," a film he wrote and directed in 2000 about a vice presidential aspirant. (It starred Joan Allen ... for whom he named Mackenzie Allen.)\nBut what about "Commander in Chief" writer Steven Cohen, who worked for Hillary Clinton as the then first lady's deputy communications director?\nSure, said Lurie, who mentioned another of the show's writers, Crystal Nix Hines, who previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Yet another, Stuart Stevens, ran the 2000 and 2004 media campaigns for President Bush (and has ridden bikes with him).\n"I promise that if there was no Hillary Clinton, there would still be a 'Commander in Chief' -- I want to have a hit show that people enjoy, and really, that's it," explained Lurie, whose surprising exit from his top 10-ranked series was announced a couple of days later.\nNow, what will conspiracy theorists read into that turn of events? The official explanation: Under a two-year deal with Touchstone Television, Lurie has given up his job running "Commander in Chief" to concentrate on developing new series, while TV veteran Steven Bochco ("NYPD Blue" and "L.A. Law") takes the production reins of a show that had fallen dangerously behind schedule.\nJust another shakeup in the TV biz? Or is there (hmmmm) more to the story? Try and stop suspicious minds from hashing over what it might be.
(09/13/05 4:52am)
New backpack turns \nenergy into electricity