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(10/21/11 3:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Investigators still do not know the exact cause of an apartment fire that lead to the death of freshman Renee Ohrn, but the apartment where her body was found had no operable smoke detectors, according to a Bloomington Fire Department report.A resident of unit D9 had removed the smoke detector the day before the Oct. 1 fire at Terra Trace apartments “because it had been going off and was annoying.”“Smoke detectors (or remains of) were found in each apartment except apartment D9,” investigator Tim Clapp said in the report. “(The) D11 detector was not found but had a large amount of damage, and the ceiling had fallen.”The report listed the fire as accidental and found the area of origin to be near a ceiling light in apartment D8, a floor below the apartment where Ohrn was found.The report said apartment D8 was heavily damaged by fire. One wall in the living room and the bathroom had been “mostly destroyed by direct flame.” Near the ceiling light, the fire had burnt a hole through the ceiling and through the floor of the apartment above. Closed doors in the apartments kept most of the fire from the bedrooms, but “the bathroom was consumed by the fire.”Clapp said in the report that in an initial inspection on the morning after the fire, he found a padlocked electrical panel with two breakers labeled “fire alarm” in the off position.According to interview notes in the report, a woman who lived on the third floor where Ohrn was found said she pulled the fire alarm, but nothing happened and no alarms sounded.One woman said she had seen smoke coming out from behind the door of apartment D8. She felt the door and could tell it was hot, so she went to get her boyfriend. As she was leaving, another boy came and opened the door with a credit card, filling the hallway and staircase with smoke. The woman ran upstairs to get her boyfriend and they escaped through heavy, black smoke.The fire then most likely spread to the stairway, where fire officials say they found a “heavy volume of fire” when they arrived at the scene. Firefighters began in the front of the apartment, fighting fire to help two residents trapped on a third-floor balcony. Those individuals climbed down from the balcony and to safety.Rescue efforts then began in the rear of the structure, where the building was more accessible. Emergency personnel found and removed three victims, including Ohrn, and transported them to IU Health Bloomington Hospital.A private insurance investigation will continue to determine a more specific cause of the fire. According to the documents, Terra Trace management has also hired a private fire investigator from Indianapolis to assist in the insurance investigation.
(10/19/11 10:15pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A good remake should not only respect the quality of the original but also add something new. Why else would you make one? Watching the new “Footloose” makes you feel like you’re watching the same old movie. This means that if you like the old movie, you’ll like this. It also means it’s a shoddy remake. Some dialogue is taken directly from the old film, and a handful of the music sequences are shot-for-shot. Other parts are just poor attempts at throwback references from the original that end up falling flat. This is a good date movie, especially if you liked the old one, but you can also wait for it to be available on Netflix and be no worse off.
(10/13/11 2:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 10th floor ballroom of the Columbia Club in Indianapolis was full of Indiana republicans on Wednesday.The topic of conversation among most of them was the latest outlook of the ever-unstable GOP field. Many were talking about how well Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney fit their expectations for a candidate. Some were talking about Tuesday’s economic debate at Dartmouth. A few talked about the guest of honor.Then Eric Holcomb, chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, took the stage and introduced presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry.“Let’s give him a hearty Hoosier welcome,” Holcomb said as country music played.The reception was less than hearty. The crowd of approximately 100 applauded but did not cheer. They did not appear energized for the candidate.The Texan smiled. Deep furrows under his eyes reflected the signs of a slowing campaign. Since he announced his candidacy in August, Perry’s campaign has slowly run out of steam. With debate performances that critics said left something lacking and poll numbers slipping, the campaign has been trying to give the candidate more sleep and debate prep, which Perry admitted was “not my strong suit.”In Indianapolis, however, Perry concentrated on one goal: trying to win the support of a room full of Hoosiers.He started by talking about his small-town roots.“I say I graduated in the top 10 in my high school class, which is great until people ask me how many there were in the class,” Perry joked. “You know, it was a lot like that movie ‘Hoosiers’. And I’ll tell ya, if I’d had the jump shot of Jimmy Chitwood I wouldn’t be in this field of work.”For the rest of his 45-minute speech, Perry talked about how his free-market platforms would be good for America. He talked about why allowing the market to create competition is a better way to encourage American business rather than enforcing overly stringent regulations.“My bet is that the Colts don’t mind beating everyone on their schedule, ’cause that’s how competition works.” said Perry.His analogy was met with laughs and members of the crowd whispering about the Colts’ current 0-5 record. Perry bowed his head and kept on speaking, his tanned hands gripping the sides of the podium.He was met with strong support when he complimented Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and criticized Obama’s healthcare plan.Then the Texan took a breath and his voice become quiet. He spoke more slowly and punctuated his words, like a preacher addressing a small-town congregation.“To paraphrase both Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, America remains the last, best hope of mankind,” Perry said. “Like a lighthouse on the shore, we can still be a beacon of hope. We can remain the freest people on the planet if we remember that we are one nation under God.”After finishing the event, Perry shook hands with Indiana Republicans, posed for pictures and signed autographs as Toby Keith’s “American Ride” played on repeat. Most of the attendees talked about the latest outlook of the ever-unstable GOP field. Many talked about how well Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney fit their expectations for a candidate. A few talked about the guest of honor. “He was off to a slow start, but overall it was good,” said one man who brought his two young children. “Romney, though, he’s our guy.”
(10/07/11 2:13pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On the 6 bus on Tenth Street, the air was full of the buzzing and beating of bass lines and melodies leaking from a dozen little white earbuds.On campus, students walked to class with iPods connected to their ears and iPhones in their hands. In the Herman B Wells Library, students sat in the lobby, checking email on their MacBook Pros and flipping through class readings on their iPads.The influence of Apple on campus is undeniable. Computer labs are full of Macs, and stores in the Indiana Memorial Union sell Apple products. Taking a walk through the arboretum during a peak time of day will yield dozens of sightings of i-products and other Apple inventions.Late Wednesday night, it was announced that Apple’s former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs had died after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer, though the cause of death has not been officially released. Yet on campus, Jobs’s influence on the personal computing industry is still felt after his death.“It’s definitely sad. He was certainly an innovator. He definitely left his mark on the world,” senior Nick Beauchot said. “I have immense respect for their products.”Beauchot was studying outside the Union Thursday on his MacBook, an iPhone at his side. He said he is a big Mac fan and doesn’t doubt the company will continue to succeed without Jobs.“You know, him and Bill Gates worked really closely in the early years. Then Bill Gates just went the route of computing power and raw practicality, while Jobs said he’d make some of the coolest products the world has ever seen,” Beauchot said. “He’ll be missed.”Jobs founded Apple in 1977 with Steve Wozniak and Roland Wayne in his parents’ garage. Their first computer was Apple I, a computer advertised with the phrase ‘byte into an Apple.’ In 1984, the first Macintosh was released. In 2001, Apple, with Jobs at the helm, introduced the iPod. In 2007, the iPhone. In 2010, the iPad.Dustin Abnet is a Ph.D. candidate in the history department specializing in the cultural history of technology.“Their entire marketing strategy, their entire corporate image, was bound up in Jobs in a way no other company has been,” Abnet said. “He was probably the man most responsible for bringing computers into the lives of regular Americans.”Abnet suggested that Jobs’s legacy will be his transformation of the abstract world of computers for the average American. He compared Jobs’s influence on technology and computing to the changes rendered in society by Henry Ford and J. Robert Oppenheimer. “What Jobs did with computers was to transform what a lot of Americans didn’t know a lot about into a tool for individual liberation,” Abnet said. “He transformed this scary, gigantic machine into something used to free individual human beings.”
(10/06/11 2:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Cindy Sheehan sat Wednesday on the side of the sanctuary at First United Church on East Third Street. The peace advocate kept quiet as the crowd took their seats. She flipped through a small notebook as Timothy Baer of the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition introduced her. When it was her turn, she shuffled up to the podium, arranged her materials and cleared her throat. Cindy Sheehan had a cough.“Do you need a cough drop?” said one woman in the front row.“Yes, I do,” Sheehan said.“Here,” said the woman, extending a cough drop to Sheehan. “It tastes nasty, but it works.”“Does anyone have one that doesn’t taste nasty?” Sheehan laughed. Another woman in the same row raised her hand and took out her purse.“It’s medicinal,” said the other woman. Sheehan took the cough drop and went back to the podium.Through the coughing, Sheehan delivered a speech commemorating the 10th anniversary of the start of the United States’ war in Afghanistan. She spoke on the topic of “The War Economy and You” and discussed rebutting traditional forms of governmental control as though she were chatting with a group of old friends.“I just need this back. You guys look trustworthy though,” Sheehan said when passing around an email sign-up list. “The pen’s not that important.”Her speaking style was one of tangential passion. She would often get distracted by the cough drop in her mouth, another thought or a joke to tell the audience and would spend time talking in a wild direction with the passion of a preacher.“I have the Cindy Sheehan way of talking,” she said.Sheehan argued that federal politics influence the economy in a way that hurts average Americans. She said the real problem is that there are only two classes: a robbing class of the governing elite and a robbed class, made up of Americans across the country. “One of the biggest myths in our country is that there’s a middle class,” Sheehan said. The 54-year-old activist received fame in 2005 for protesting outside President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Tex., after her son Casey Sheehan died in Iraq. Sheehan has since been known for protesting not only the Bush administration, but also the continued campaign in Afghanistan.Sheehan continues to protest and speak on the cause for peace. She said the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City are a step in the right direction and compared them to the protests in Egypt during the spring.“There are occupations happening all over the country that are really exciting,” Sheehan said. “I don’t know how successful that would be in making systemic change.”Sheehan advocated for more local engagement and rejection of federal politics. She said communities that participate in community gardens, local healthcare solutions and even local currency are on the right track to fixing national problems.“The only responsible globalization is localization,” Sheehan said. “It’s our power. It doesn’t belong to Wall Street or D.C. It belongs to us.”
(10/03/11 11:24pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Building management maintained smoke alarms were operable in building D of Terra Trace Apartments before it was engulfed in a fire that killed an IU freshman Saturday.Fire officials said they heard the alarms when they arrived at the scene around 3:42 a.m. and began helping people down from ladders at the complex.Some residents say they didn’t hear a thing as they ran to safety Saturday morning.At a press conference Monday, owner of Terra Trace apartments Mary Beth Coller said smoke detectors were in every apartment but could not confirm if there were sprinklers or smoke detectors in the hallway and staircase where witnesses said the fire was at its worst.“There are some (smoke detectors) in each apartment and in the bedrooms according to the regulations on where they’re supposed to be placed,” Coller said. “Those are checked when all new residents move in, and we have the regular fire extinguisher-type inspections and all those types of things.”Many in the crowd were residents of building D who expressed frustration with Terra Trace management, saying they had not seen the smoke detectors checked in more than a year, and they did not sound the night of the fire. Resident Meredith Dover said the complex had posted notifications to residents that the alarms would be tested, but she did not hear those either.“I could have just not been home at the time, but I didn’t hear any alarms,” Dover said. “Something’s not right here.”Dover and her mother, Julie Dover, said they were meeting with a lawyer Monday afternoon about the fire but had arranged alternate living arrangements in the meantime.“She’s staying with a friend now,” Julie said. “We’ve already got a new apartment.”“No,” Dover interrupted. “It’s not an apartment, it’s a house. I’m never living in an apartment again.”Chief of the Bloomington Fire Department Roger Kerr said Monday that the fire began in unit D8 on the second floor. Smoke filled the apartment above, D9, where 19-year-old IU freshman Renee Ohrn died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning, Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer said.Meyer said Ohrn had signs of alcohol in her system but did not have any indication of drugs.The source of the fire is still under investigation, but Kerr did say the residents of apartment D8 were not at home when the fire began.“With the amount of heavy damage in that apartment, it may take quite a while to figure out what we think might be the cause,” Kerr said.At this time, the cause does not appear to be criminal, Lt. Faron Lake of the Bloomington Police Department said Sunday.Kerr said Ohrn was one of six people transferred to IU Health Bloomington Hospital as a result of the fire. Among the injured were Bloomington police Sgt. James Batcho and Bloomington fire Capt. Woodrow Hueston. Batcho suffered smoke inhalation after helping a resident down from a balcony, Lake said. Kerr said eight people were rescued by the BFD from the building, including one other individual from apartment D9, where Ohrn was found on the floor inside near a sliding glass door.A fund has been set up through the German-American Bank Corps and the Monroe County Apartment Association to help residents displaced by the fire. Donations can be taken to any German-American Bank.
(09/29/11 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>1. “Raging Bull” (1980)Jake LaMotta would take a beating in the boxing ring to combat his devastating inner turmoil of jealousy, anxiety and an unbridled craving for abuse and conflict. Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” is the most elegant, visceral, brutal and stylish sports movie ever made, and it’s all to depict the tragic beauty of a self-beaten soul.2. “Hoosiers” (1986)Although no one is sure what a Hoosier is, this movie embodies everything good about our state. From Gene Hackman speeches to last-second shots, “Hoosiers” will forever be a favorite son to those of us that call Indiana home.3. “Field of Dreams” (1989)The tagline should actually be “If you watch it, tears will come.” Perhaps the greatest baseball movie ever made, “Field of Dreams” will leave you thinking about much more than just a game.4. “Rocky” (1976)In many ways the forerunner to the modern sports underdog film, the timeless story of a low-level Philadelphia boxer who gets a shot at the championship remains powerful and heartwarming, thanks to Sylvester Stallone’s all-in portrayal of a simple man trying to seize the opportunity of a lifetime.5. “Remember the Titans” (2000)Denzel Washington plays the perfect tough-love coach in this heartwarming story of integration and a high school football team in Virginia in 1971.6. “Million Dollar Baby” (2004)The simple message of being able to find a champion in anyone with real heart speaks to how a film can overcome, with grace and tenderness, even the worst melodrama. Clint Eastwood’s marvelously acted boxing movie “Million Dollar Baby” does just that and becomes a lovely and touching masterpiece.7. “Breaking Away” (1979)Putting “Breaking Away” on a list of top sports movies to Bloomington viewers could be considered pandering, but even without the local connection, it’s one of the top cycling movies out there. Complete with us versus them rivalries, a stunning last-minute comeback and even Dennis Quaid in jorts, it should not be ignored by sports fans.8. “The Wrestler” (2008)Randy “The Ram” Robinson puts himself through so much abuse in the wrestling ring, but outside it is where he feels most hurt. Darren Aronofsky’s gritty, yet tender drama “The Wrestler” finds both pain and love through the violence of the sport, and Mickey Rourke’s tortured performance is utterly heartwarming. 9. “Chariots of Fire” (1981)Running on the beach to the operatic, electronic score by Vangelis is now a cliche, but it fits this British period piece’s victorious feel. “Chariots of Fire” is the best, if one of the few, movies about running ever made, and there’s something riveting about a sprint through the Cambridge courtyard.10. “Space Jam” (1996)How could a movie with Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, Bill Murray and the Looney Tunes not be a rollicking good time? Tailor-made to be nostalgic for all generations, “Space Jam” is a goofy, quintessential ’90s retelling of Jordan’s return from retirement.11. “Moneyball” (2011)This Brad Pitt-starring film from “Capote” director Bennett Miller is only a baseball movie inasmuch as “The Social Network” is a Facebook movie. The story of Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane’s unorthodox approach to scouting players is an essential look inside a brilliant, iconoclastic mind.12. “Caddyshack” (1980)Basically an excuse to put Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield on screen together that happens to be set at a golf course, “Caddyshack” mercilessly roasts country-club culture through a combination of one-liners, gopher puppets and general ridiculousness.13. “Rudy” (1993)How can you not root for the little guy who once proclaimed, “Goonies never say die”? As far as unlikely hero stories go, “Rudy” is as good as it gets. Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!14. “The Pride of the Yankees” (1942)This film about the life and career of Lou Gehrig could be the very definition of the word “melodrama.” That’s no strike against it, though. Gary Cooper’s poignant depiction of a common man who rose to the highest level of America’s pastime only to have it stripped away early by a terminal illness is heart-wrenching and brilliant, and his recreation of Gehrig’s “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech is one of the finest monologues in classic cinema.15. “Hoop Dreams” (1994)When Steve James began gathering footage of Chicago high school basketball stars William Gates and Arthur Agee for a half-hour PBS special, he had no idea it would result in a 171-minute documentary. It’s a good thing it did — the film was hailed by Roger Ebert as “the great American documentary” and has been accepted into the National Film Registry.16. “Slap Shot” (1977)Paul Newman is the most lovable actor-turned-salad-dressing-peddler of all time, so it’s no wonder his turn as a rough-and-tumble player-coach for a minor league hockey team in this classic comedy is as endearing as it is enduring.17. “Friday Night Lights” (2004)More so than the TV show it spawned, this adaptation of H.G. Bissinger’s classic book offers the most genuine depiction of Texas high school football seen on film as it chronicles the 1988 Odessa Permian Panthers and the undersized underdog team’s struggles to raise the spirits of their downtrodden, football-obsessed town.18. “A League of Their Own” (1992)Madonna, the ultimate girl power symbol, takes on the world of professional baseball in this classic American tale of the struggle for the first female league.19. “Cinderella Man” (2005)This is the story of Great Depression-era boxer James J. Braddock and how the supposedly washed-up fighter lifted America’s spirits with his surprise run to the heavyweight title. Russell Crowe is solid as Braddock but outshined by Paul Giamatti’s timeless performance as Joe Gould, the boxer’s manager.20. “The Sandlot” (1993)This all-time favorite epitomized the tradition of backyard baseball. “You’re killin’ me, Smalls” will forever be ingrained in our daily lexicon, and we will always “fear The Beast.”
(09/09/11 2:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pat Riley was out of his element.A stonecutter from southern Indiana, Riley was climbing over broken stone and piles of debris to measure blocks of limestone strewn across the grounds of the damaged Pentagon in Arlington, Va.It was only weeks after the 9/11 attacks, and Riley said the scene was one of confusion. Security was tight and military personnel were everywhere; tanks covered in camouflage netting surrounded the site. Construction equipment was moved in. Dumpsters full of debris were moved out.“As we got to the Pentagon, it was chaos,” he said. “Flying into Reagan airport, I’d been there a few times before and it was always full of people. But this time it was dead. Almost no one was in there.”Riley is the drafting supervisor of Bybee Stone Company, based in Ellettsville, Ind., the company that was hired to rebuild the portion of the Pentagon damaged in the attacks.The company’s records call it “Job 306,” but those who worked on it call the effort the “Phoenix Project.”“We’re all proud to have the job,” Riley said. “We all understood the importance.”Riley said he found out about the attacks while with his co-workers.The morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, business was as usual in Ellettsville. Loud saws whirred as they cut into stone, dust floated in the air from the workers’ machines. Then, one worker heard a news bulletin on the radio over the noisy mill. A plane had crashed in New York.Riley said work stopped as everyone piled into an upstairs conference room, which happened to have a TV. There they watched the day’s events unfold.The Bybee Stone Company sent representatives to Arlington only days after the attacks, Riley said. Jeff Chitwood, the chief estimator for the company, visited the site early to survey how extensive the job would be. A couple of other companies were competing for the job, but after visits from Riley, Chitwood and others in the mill, Bybee Stone Company got the official contract in late October 2001. Riley’s job at the site was to make sketches and notes about the size of the stones and the finish used on the original building. He said the finish and accuracy to the original stone were what helped Bybee Stone Company get the contract. Their mill is one of few that have the capability to produce a shot-sawn finish. This is made by placing buckshot-like metal in the saw to cut randomly carved grooves in the side of the stone, which was popular among historic buildings built around the same time as the Pentagon.The original Pentagon structure had ties to southern Indiana, as well.In 1941, 460,000 cubic feet of limestone were pulled from the ground by Indiana Limestone Company in Bedford, Ind. It was loaded on rail trucks bound for Arlington for a new office building for the growing U.S. War Department. Ground was broken on the new Pentagon on Sept. 11, 1941. Sixty years to the day after ground was broken in Arlington, American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the western side of the building, killing 189 people, including five hijackers.The quality of limestone found in the ground of southern Indiana brought immediate attention to the area for the rebuilding effort.“They immediately started the ball rolling,” Riley said. “Indiana limestone is historically the choice for a lot of government buildings. Just about any prominent building in D.C. has Indiana limestone on it.”Independent Limestone Company in southwestern Monroe County pulled the 18,000 cubic feet of raw stone needed to rebuild the Pentagon from the quarry, but Bybee Stone Company cut the stone to size and oversaw the placement of the blocks at the site.On Dec. 19, 2001, the first batch of cut stone was loaded onto trucks and sent to Virginia. Before they left Ellettsville, those who worked for the project, along with other members of the community, signed one stone inscribed with a quote from President George W. Bush’s address to the nation on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001.“Terrorist acts can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but cannot touch the foundation of America,” the stone read. Shortly after the attacks, Riley said Bush put a deadline on the “Phoenix Project.” He wanted the job to be completed by the one-year anniversary of the attacks. Riley said the pressure forced the company to pour all of its resources into the project.Ultimately, the limestone was in place two months ahead of schedule, and the Pentagon was back to normal by Sept. 11, 2002.“As we look back, we feel most proud that we were able to keep that schedule,” Riley said. “We made that statement that you may’ve bruised us up a little bit, but we’re not gonna stay knocked down forever.”
(09/08/11 9:20pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, he made sure to tell the American people that the War on Terror was not yet finished.“His death does not mark the end of our effort,” Obama said. “There’s no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must — and we will — remain vigilant at home and abroad.”Sure enough, a little more than a month after American Special Forces destroyed al-Qaida’s founder, the terrorist network announced a new leader, a doctor and Sunni extremist from Cairo by the name of Ayman al-Zawahiri.During college at Cairo University, al-Zawahiri started a jihad organization while still earning a medical degree. Later, friends and family would say they never knew he was a jihadist commander at the time.In 1986, he fled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after a failed coup attempt in Egypt. It was there that he met bin Laden and worked with him to form and grow al-Qaida. The public face of the organization was bin Laden, but al-Zawahiri worked behind the scenes and was part of the brains of al-Qaida.It was al-Zawahiri who wrote the fatwa that he and bin Laden released with the title “World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders,” which subsequently led to the 1998 attacks at the U.S. embassy and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. One belief is that al-Zawahiri was the one who had the authority to organize the 9/11 attacks. He not only served as bin Laden’s second-in-command, but as his personal doctor, as well. The last known word about his whereabouts was a raid in September 2008 in which Pakistani Army officials said they “almost” captured al-Zawahiri and his wife in northwest Pakistan.On June 16, al-Qaida made two announcements. They renewed their vows to not accept any compromise on Palestine’s statehood and announced al-Zawahiri as the new, active head of the network. Three days later he celebrated his 60th birthday.“Hereby the General Command of the Qaida al-Jihad … we declare that Sheikh Dr. Abu Muhammad Ayman al-Zawahiri — may God bless him — will take over the responsibility of command of the group,” according to the statement released by al-Qaida.Today, al-Zawahiri tops the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists. But al-Zawahiri remains in control of the vast network that bin Laden once ruled. Al-Qaida’s war with the West has by no means ended, but neither has America’s war with international terrorism.— Charles ScudderIllustration by Chris Ware | MCT Campus
(09/08/11 9:19pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At his trial for crimes against humanity in 2006, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein took to the stand as an elderly tyrant. He ranted about his supremacy and shouted at the judge , denying his position as an ousted leader.When the judge called him the former president of Iraq, Hussein shouted back with fury.“I didn’t say ‘former president,’ I said ‘president,’” Hussein shouted. “And I have rights, according to the Constitution, among them immunity from prosecution.”Hussein was the second-most-wanted man in the War on Terror, and his capture was one of the first major successes in the war. The fight against his regime became one of the most hotly contested issues in the post-9/11 world. On the stand, Hussein wore a disheveled suit. His beard was lined with gray on his wrinkled, tired face. He wore thick-rimmed glasses that made him look more like an Arab Mr. Magoo than a terrifying dictator. On his wrist were three blue dots, a tattoo he received as a child. It’s a traditional marking for children in poor, rural families, but most Iraqis had the tattoo removed before adulthood. Hussein wore the mark with pride.Hussein was born into poverty in a small village outside of Tikrit, Iraq, to a family of tribal shepherds. He never met his father, and his step-father treated him poorly. The young Hussein was then raised by an uncle, a devout Sunni and a supporter of the pan-Arab Ba’ath Party. As a young man, Hussein joined the Ba’ath Party and started to raise through the ranks. When the party overthrew the Iraqi government in 1963, Saddam was there to lead. He took control of the country in 1979. In 1990, Hussein’s forces invaded Kuwait, prompting international outrage. After no response from the dictator, U.S. President George H. W. Bush sent troops into the region, starting the first Gulf War. Hussein was forced back to Iraq, where he remained a tyrannical dictator with terse relations with the United States. It stayed this way until 2003, when the second Bush administration invaded Iraq under the presumption that Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. In April 2003, Americans took Baghdad and the Iraqi people took to the streets, and statues of the leader toppled downed. Hussein was found by American forces at a farmhouse near Tikrit. When American forces pulled the disheveled, filthy dictator from an eight-foot hole, he sputtered a half-confession in broken English.“I am Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, and I am willing to negotiate,” he said.“President Bush sends his regards,” one soldier said to him.— Charles ScudderIllustration by Chris Ware | MCT Campus
(09/08/11 9:02pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Soon after 9/11, the son of a wealthy Saudi businessman sat against a rock wall with a microphone in hand and an AK-47 by his side. On his head, a white turban. On his wrist, a digital timepiece.His characteristic beard was starting to show touches of gray, but he maintained the confidence and swagger of an idealistic leader blessed with favor from his dutiful followers.Looking into the camera, Osama bin Laden stared into American living rooms and promised unending violence against the West.“America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that,” he said.In 1979, Bin Laden participated in the American-funded fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. There, he founded a new organization called al-Qaida, or “the base,” with other fundamentalists. Starting in 1992, the group bombed hotels and cafes, embassies and battleships. Al-Qaida gained popularity among young Muslims with the group’s powerful rhetoric and passionate proclamations of righteousness.On a sunny Tuesday in 2001, al-Qaida’s attacks reached their pinnacle. Bin Laden originally denied credit for the attack, but claimed in 2006 that he was “the one in charge of the nineteen brothers” who hijacked the planes on Sept. 11, 2001. Bin Laden then went into hiding, only to be heard from through carefully crafted statements. Fear and hate rippled through the American public at the very mention of his name. The search for him became the No.-1 priority for American forces across the globe.But the terrorist leader had become a recluse, spending his days pacing inside a compound in northeastern Pakistan, watching television, obsessing about his own public image.Ten days after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush addressed a joint session of Congress. He called for troops to be sent to fight al-Qaida and predicted bin Laden would become one of the most hated men in history. “By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism,” Bush said. “And they follow that path all the way to where it ends: in history’s unmarked grave of discarded lies.”On May 1, 2011, American Special Forces stormed the compound and killed bin Laden. Within 24 hours of his death, bin Laden’s body was prepared in accordance with Islamic burial rites and dropped into the sea.— Charles Scudder Illustration by Chris Ware | MCT Campus
(09/08/11 8:58pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When then-Major General David Petraeus commanded the 101st Airborne Division in Mosul, Iraq, the goal wasn’t simply to win classic battlefield victories but to win the “hearts and minds” of the Iraqi people.Instead of seeking military targets, Petraeus and his men helped rebuild the city, promote local and free elections and install public works projects. Instead of ordering air strikes on hostile areas, he spent money to restore the University of Mosul, one of the largest research institutions in the Middle East.It’s a strategy called counter-insurgency, and Petraeus quite literally wrote the book on it.He developed the basis behind counter-insurgency while a doctoral student at Princeton University. He studied the failures of the United States in the Vietnam War and took a different perspective than many of his colleagues and military teachers at the time. While the army tended to blame citizen leaders and the press, Petraeus believed a “hearts and minds” campaign was needed to win in an environment like Vietnam or even in Iraq.Needless to say, this point of view was unpopular with many of his supervisors, who were trying to fight a more traditional war against Saddam Hussein’s regime. In 2005, they sent Petraeus to Kansas to serve as the commanding general of Fort Leavenworth. There, he helped write U.S. Army Field Manual 3-24, a guide to implementing counter-insurgency techniques in battle. The Bush administration took his ideas and ran with them, implementing counter-insurgency across Iraq and promoting Petraeus to commanding general of the Multi-National Force.In the first months of his command, American casualties skyrocketed under what became known as “the surge”. Sending troops into unfriendly neighborhoods in attempts to win their support put Americans in danger. Petraeus gained enemies on the battlefield and in Congress. In 2008, Senators Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton all interrogated the General in a congressional hearing about the all-time high casualty rates in Iraq.But things gradually got better. Even at the darkest times, Petraeus kept hope for success in Iraq, and slowly but surely, the situation improved to a point where combat troops were removed from the country in 2010. “I remember when I was the commander in Baghdad in the first summer of the surge,” Petraeus said in an interview in 2010. “An old mentor of mine came over there, and it was really, really tough. We have forgotten how bad Iraq was, what it was like, in December of 2006, to have 53 — on average — 53 dead bodies every 24 hours just in Baghdad, just from sectarian violence. Here we were in the late spring, early summer, of 2007, and my old mentor put his arm around me and said, ‘Dave, you know, you have a message problem over here.’ And I said, ‘Sir, with respect, we have a results problem here.’”Petraeus kept the message intact and the results soon followed. Last month passed without a single casualty in Iraq, the first time since the invasion.Counter-insurgency techniques are still in place in the country and have been implemented in Afghanistan and other places of conflict around the globe.On Sept. 6, Petraeus started a new job by order of President Obama. He is now the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.— Charles Scudder Illustration by Chris Ware | MCT Campus
(09/08/11 8:56pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Three days after his country was struck by religious extremism, the president of the United States clambered on top of a buried fire truck and put his arm around a volunteer who had come to Manhattan to search for survivors.President Bush was surrounded by fireman and rescue workers, twisted metal and broken glass, smoldering fires and piles of ash.“I want you all to know that America today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn,” Bush said into a small megaphone.“George, we can’t hear you!” shouted one fireman in the crowd.The president turned and raised the bullhorn to his lips. “I can hear you!” he shouted. “I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”The 43rd president led one of the most controversial administrations of modern generations’ memories — one that ended with two wars, a mounting deficit and numerous other troubles at home and abroad.But one undeniable fact is that Bush led the country through mourning during September 2001 and into battle to track down al-Qaida in October of that year. The president had a calm resolve and a desire for swift vengeance. Even before the dust had settled in New York, Bush was calling for immediate action.“Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature, and we responded with the best of America,” he said to the nation on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001. “America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time.”Late in the evening, as the president went to bed in the White House, he pulled out his personal journal — a collection of thoughts from the day — much like the one his father had kept while in office.“The Pearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today,” Bush wrote. “We think it’s Osama bin Laden. We think there are other targets in the United States, but I have urged the country to go back to normal. We cannot allow a terrorist thug to hold us hostage. My hope is that this will provide an opportunity for us to rally the world against terrorism.”— Charles ScudderIllustration by Chris Ware | MCT Campus
(09/08/11 8:53pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____> On a chilly November night in 2008, a young politician took a flag-flanked podium in Chicago. Barack Obama was surrounded by thousands of his supporters celebrating the campaign’s victory, those who helped elect him president of the United States.“I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to,” the then president-elect said. “It belongs to you. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy, who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.”Obama’s victory was one that many said symbolized the youthful vitality he brought to the White House.Eighteen percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted in 2008, and it was the first time the 9/11 generation actively participated in choosing the next president.It was the first time the youth of America was able to discover its power in its own government. The promise of hope and change was sufficient for young people who had become weary of war and economic struggles. For many, the victory symbolized a success for youthful ideals and positivity in the fight against a generation’s fears.Late on a May night in 2011, Obama once again took to a flag-flanked podium, this time in the White House. There were no supporters at his side, but crowds of young people were already gathering outside the gates on Pennsylvania Avenue. The news had already been broken online, and the 9/11 generation had turned out to hear what the president had to say.“Good evening,” the president said. “Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children.”Outside, the crowds chanted, cheered and waved flags late into the night, just like in Chicago almost three years earlier. Their hero had destroyed their villain. Good had triumphed over evil, and for that, they were grateful.— Charles ScudderIllustration by Chris Ware | MCT Campus
(05/03/11 4:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Shortly before President Barack Obama took to the podium in the East Room of the White House, junior Daniel Haddad was watching Celebrity Apprentice on NBC. The broadcast was interrupted by a news bulletin. Haddad’s first reaction was of frustration.“I just thought, ‘Well dammit, who’s going to be voted off the Celebrity Apprentice?’” Haddad said.Soon, however, he realized the real news was bigger than Donald Trump’s reality show.Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces in northern Pakistan.Haddad said he turned 21 years old just a few days before and immediately knew where to go after he heard the news.“Something told me to be at Kilroy’s,” he said.Haddad grabbed a Michael Jordan Toon Squad jersey, because it was red, white and blue, and borrowed an Uncle Sam vest from a friend before heading to Kirkwood. When he arrived at about 12:30 a.m. he said he was surrounded by patriotism and patriotic gear. He said he saw people “decked out in red, white and blue, decked out in flags, decked out in hats.”Haddad said Kilroy’s was filled with cheers and chants exulting America. The crowds sang along to “It’s America” by Rodney Atkins, “Proud to be an American” and other patriotic songs.“I was there with friends. I was there with students. I was there with Americans,” Haddad said. “It was one of the coolest acts of patriotism I’ve ever been a part of.”This was a much different atmosphere from what Haddad remembers of Sept. 11, 2001. Sitting in a sixth-grade classroom in Arlington Heights, Ill., Haddad was convinced his father had died. His father was on a business trip to New York and had a meeting scheduled high in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Late in the day, neither Haddad nor his family had heard from his father since he had left a frantic voice message in the morning as the towers fell. “That’s the first time I really felt like I grew up,” Haddad said. “I just immediately started thinking, what am I going to do? I’m the oldest of three boys. Am I going to run this family now?”Later that evening, Haddad finally heard that his father was safe and sound, but Haddad still carries the memories of that day. He still gets choked up talking about it nearly 10 years later.“Sometimes I’ll fight with my dad,” he said. “I just think about how I’m glad I’ve got a dad to fight with.”Sunday night, however, was a time to celebrate, not to mourn. He was excited to be out, “both as someone who was personally affected by 9/11 and as a citizen of America.”“This is something the college generation will remember forever,” he said. “Where they were on Sept. 11 and 10 years later when we got the man responsible.”Haddad said he stayed at Kilroy’s until 2:15 in the morning. He posted on Facebook that, “there is no place more patriotic tonight than Kilroy’s On Kirkwood.”“I’m proud to be here. I’m proud to be an American. I’m proud to be an IU Hoosier,” he said. “Last night it didn’t matter if you were a greek, a GDI, in-state student, out-of-state student. Last night we were all Americans.”
(04/27/11 11:51pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Throughout the city of London the faces of the happy royal couple smile out at passersby. The image of William, prince of Wales, and his bride-to-be, Kate Middleton, are inescapable. They are on memorabilia in shop windows, photographs on magazine covers, even on posters and flags at the post office.Shopkeepers say they have been stocked up for the wedding — which is April 29 at Westminster Abbey — since early March, and the commemorative souvenirs have been selling like hotcakes. At Cool Britannia, a two-level gift shop at Piccadilly Circus, workers manned the aisle set aside for the prince and his fiancé fully stocked with thimbles, teaspoons, magnets, postcards, coasters, shot glasses, mugs, posters, flags and more.Television commercials feature replicas of the royal engagement ring and commemorative coins. “Now you can celebrate the marriage of our future king and queen with the exclusive full-color royal wedding ring,” one commercial advertised. Special attention is brought to the fact that today Kate Middleton wears the late Princess Diana’s engagement ring. The people’s love for Diana is still strong. There are hardly any items with Prince Charles alone, and Diana is a star of the gift shop. When the two couples are pictured together, the emphasis is on “William and his late mother.” In commemorative photo books such as those published in Us Weekly, the baby prince is pictured with his mother, not his father.Wedding gifts are selling well and are found throughout London, but the market seems to be dominated by tourist sales. There is just something appealing to Americans and other tourists about a royal wedding. So much so that when Britain gets ready for a royal event, we produce such a demand for royal junk that we create a substantial market in London’s tourist areas. There’s also some tongue-in-cheek British humor with the commercial cashbox of the upcoming nuptials. On the shelf next to the gaudy gifts for the wedding next month at Cool Britannia, you can buy posters styled after the famous U.K. poster from the World War II that reads “KEEP CALM IT’S ONLY A WEDDING.”— cscudder@indiana.edu
(04/15/11 3:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Just before 8 a.m. Thursday, graduate student Erik Bohman seemed alone on campus. Outside of Ballantine Hall, he stood with a stack of books and a small sign he had made the night before.“IU ENGLISH PRESENTS A MARATHON READING OF JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES,” read the sign. The morning was still chilly, and Bohman wore a jacket as he waited to begin. A few friends walked by, saying hello before heading inside to Ballantine.“Hey there,” said one passer-by in a blue button-up. “I heard about this yesterday — looks good. Are you going to finish it?”“We’re going to try,” Bohman said.Bohman, along with graduate student Elise Lonich, organized the public reading of “Ulysses” as part of a program to help graduate and undergraduate English students. They have also organized weekly social hours at the PourHouse Café on Friday afternoons, and this was the final event of the year.“We wanted to foster a community between the graduate students and the undergrads. We’ve been having activities all year, and this is the culmination of that,” Lonich said. “Day-long readings of ‘Ulysses’ are common. First of all, because it’s such a long book that everyone has heard of but nobody has actually read.” Bohman said the novel, written by James Joyce in 1922, has been called the greatest English novel of the 20th century. The plot follows Leopold Bloom on an average day in Dublin in June of 1904.“It’s a really fun text to read out loud. It’s also one you can appreciate without necessarily having to sit through the whole thing,” Bohman said. The reading lasted from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Throughout the morning, people meandered by, stopping only slightly to hear a passage before moving on.One young man came out of Ballantine, putting headphones in his ears. Then he saw the readers and stopped.“Nice!” he said. He listened for a few moments, then put his headphones back in and walked off.By 1:30 p.m., a small crowd had gathered. The stack of books Bohman had earlier were passed out to the 10 to 15 people in the courtyard as they followed along with the public speaker. The group was always changing, and as readers left, they passed their copy of “Ulysses” to the newcomers.After every half-hour, the readers switched.“Well this isn’t the nerdiest thing I’ve ever seen,” said one passer-by to Lonich with a laugh. “Keep the strength.”“We’re persevering,” Lonich said.
(03/30/11 1:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>James DeanMarionBefore starring in movies such as “East of Eden,” “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant,” the King of Cool was born and raised in Marion. Dean died in a car accident Sept. 30, 1955, at the age of 24 in California.(1) Michael JacksonGaryMichael, along with the rest of the Jackson family, grew up in Gary. The Jackson 5 got its start by touring the Midwest in the early days of Motown.(2) David LettermanIndianapolisLate night talk show king David Letterman grew up on the north side of Indianapolis and attended Broad Ripple High School before going to Ball State in Muncie. The David Letterman Communication and Media Building on the Ball State campus has a dedication plaque signed by Letterman that reads “Dedicated to all ‘C’ students before and after me!”Orville RedenbacherBrazil, Ind.Redenbacher grew up on a farm in Brazil, Ind., where he would sell popcorn by the side of the road. He went to Purdue but became famous for selling popcorn with his unusual name and wholesome likeness.Abraham LincolnIll., Ind., Ky.Many places in the Midwest claim our 16th president. Indiana has the Lincoln Boyhood Home just off U.S. 231, Kentucky has the Lincoln birthplace about 45 miles south of Louisville and Illinois has his home and law offices in Springfield. Ronald ReaganTampico, Ill.Reagan was born and raised in rural Illinois. He attended Eureka College outside of Peoria, Ill. The 40th president started his career as an announcer for the University of Iowa football team, a radio station in Des Moines, Iowa, and eventually the Chicago Cubs.(3) John WayneWinterset, Iowa Born Marion Robert Morrison in 1907, The Duke’s family moved to California when he was very young. As a teenager he shod horses for Hollywood movies.Ringling Bros.Baraboo, Wis.Albert, August, Otto, Alfred, Charles, John and Henry Ringling founded a circus in 1884 in Barbaboo, Wis. They began traveling around the country by the late 1880s and soon became known as “The Greatest Show on Earth.”(4) Bob SegerDearborn, Mich.Bob Seger grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he became a local favorite both in the Ann Arbor and Detroit music scenes. Seger still lives in the suburbs of Detroit.(5) Jerry SpringerCincinnatiDaytime TV host Jerry Springer was born in England but moved to New York after World War II. He worked for a law firm in Cincinnati after graduating from Northwestern University and served one year as mayor of Cincinnati in 1977.Amelia EarhartAtchison, Kan.The famed female pilot was born and raised in Kansas but went to school at Columbia University in New York City. Earhart became a member of the Purdue University aviation department in 1935, where she planned her fateful round-the-world attempt of 1937.Rush LimbaughCape Girardeau, Mo.Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh hails from southeastern Missouri. He attended Southeastern Missouri State University and got his start on local radio in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
(03/20/11 9:24pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Planning on spending a day at the IU Art Museum? Make sure to check out these works.SWING LANDSCAPE – STUART DAVISWhen you walk into the western art gallery on the fi rst fl oor, you won’t miss this mural-sized work made for the Works Progress Administration. It has been called the “most important American painting of the 1930s” by art historian William Agee. It was the fi rst painting acquired by the University for the art collection in 1942.THE IU ART MUSEUM – I.M. PEIThe building itself is a work of art. Designed by I.M. Pei in 1978, the museum features no right angles. For a relaxing study spot, sit in the atrium on a sunny day and watch the triangle shadows move across the fl oors and walls.BARBER CUTTING A MAN’S HAIRThis terracotta sculpture is only six inches tall, but dates back to 470 B.C. It is rare because it depicts daily life in ancient Greece and still maintains its original paint.FOUNTAIN – MARCEL DUCHAMPThe IU Art Museum owns a complete set of the 1964 edition of Marcel Duchamp’s “Readymade” Dada pieces. This includes “Fountain,” which is simply a urinal turned on its side.
(03/03/11 12:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Chadd Powell goes to get a cold one after a long day, he has a few choices. He can pick a mass-produced brew like Budweiser, Coors or Samuel Adams. He can browse through the craft beer selections of Upland Brewing Company or Dogfish Head. Or he can pick something entirely different. Powell, a graduate student in criminal justice, brews his own beer at home. “Once you move past the undergraduate drink-’til-you-drop mentality and start getting into real taste,” he said, “that’s when things like this really matter.” Powell is the president of the Bloomington HopJockeys, a local brewing club that opens its doors to anyone older than 21 who wishes to learn the art of making beer. He said it was nice to have a community of brewers when first learning instead of jumping in alone. “I’ve never had any other hobby where you get to meet so many different kinds of people,” he said. Bloomington resident Joshua Krieger is the vice president of the HopJockeys and said learning about and sharing beer is the main point of the monthly meetings. “Typically we’ll talk about a certain beer style or some aspect of brewing. We’ll share brews and get feedback,” he said. The other part of the HopJockeys, Krieger said, is a competition club. Beer competitions take place across the country, and those homebrewers who are dedicated to producing quality beers compete on local, state and national levels for recognition on their brew’s aroma, appearance, flavor and other standards as set by the American Homebrewers Association. “It’s a hobby that can take you fairly deep,” Krieger said. Brewing in its simplest form, Powell said, takes four steps: boil, ferment, bottle, enjoy. Before starting to brew, homebrewers must sanitize everything completely to avoid infection during the brewing process. “Sanitation is the most important,” he said. “Even if you do all the stuff right, there’s still a chance something could get in there, and it’s off.”Next, a grain, usually wheat or barley, is boiled with malt and hops. This is the main “brewing” stage of making beer. Brewers must then rapidly cool the mixture, called wort, without getting it contaminated. “I’m really low-tech because I have to physically pour the hot wort into a cooling tank,” Powell said. “Some of the guys have pipes and a system set up where the beer never touches air until you bottle it.” Once the wort is cooled, it sits and ferments for anywhere from two weeks to multiple months depending on the type of beer and the desired alcohol content. About two weeks before it is ready to drink, brewers bottle the beer with a little extra sugar to carbonate the beer in the bottle. Then it’s a simple matter of refrigerate, pop open and enjoy. Krieger said drinking his homebrewed beer is all part of the fun, but it has not taken the place of buying and enjoying commercial beer and learning about new ways to brew. “Those of us who homebrew, it is not a replacement for going down to SaharaMart and trying new beers,” he said. “You’ll have what you brew and you’ll drink it and enjoy it, but it’s really about trying new beers and appreciating new breweries.”