Arrivals and Departures

There's something about Debat

2007-09-16T00:02:00.000-07:00

"Alexis Debat is a strange character, with a resume that changes depending on who he is talking to."

"For six years Alexis Debat, who falsely claimed to have earned a PhD at the Sorbonne and worked as an adviser to the French defence ministry, operated as an expert on national security in the world of Washington thinktanks, US network television and French intellectual journals."

Sen. Barack Obama explores the inevitable

2007-01-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Sen. Barack Obama announced today that his exploratory committee is fueled up and ready to roll. The rumor mill was churning with news that Obama would announce his decision to run for president on the Oprah Winfrey show later this week.

Fortunately, Obama took his message directly to the people with a videotaped message posted on his Web site. The Washington Post reports that Obama is in Washington today and has no public appearances planned.

True to Obama form, it appears that the Senator will let his Internet statement speak for itself and allow the media to carry his message and wring their hands for a while. Obama says he will say more on Feb. 10 in Illinois.

His strategy is PR gold. Obama's less-is-more style is sure to resonate with voters who are accustomed to having even their spin spun. If he paces himself properly and continues to state the obvious, I would advise the GOP and even old-school Dems to stand clear.

The Bush administration's misteps and the people's lack of faith may result in a powerful shift that will have re-invigorated voters telling masters of the status quo, "don't let the pendulum hit you in the ass on your way out."

-Casey Cavalier, Arrivals & Departures

Barack Obama,U.S. President, Oprah Winfrey, U.S. Senate, Politics

English: I wish I knew how to quit you! - - - - - - - French: Si seulement je pouvais te quitter

2006-02-16T16:21:00.000-08:00

Translating English into French can be tricky. Turning the vernacular (especially cowboy speech) into French must have been quite a challenge for the people working to dub Brokeback Mountain. Follow this link to see the French language preview for Le Secret De Brokeback Mountain."

Follow along with this guide to three famous Brokeback quotes:

"If you can't fix it, you got to stand it."
Si tu ne peaux rien y changer, fault t'y faire.

"I wish I knew how to quit you!"
Si seulement je pouvais te quitter!

"It's nobody's business but ours."
Ce ne regarde que nous

cinema, France, French, Brokeback Mountain, Le Secret De Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger, gai, Oscar, cinema

Madison: "I Hate Valentine's Day"

2006-02-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

Bennett Madison, who says Valentine's Day causes stress, poses in New York on Friday, February 10, 2006. Madison has spent a lot of time thinking about this. In fact, he's written a book, too. It's called 'I Hate Valentine's Day.' (AP Photo/Jim Cooper)

Everything is Beautiful to Designer John Galliano

2006-01-28T00:33:00.000-08:00

I am not fashionable and don't attend many fashion shows. But, if I were such a chap I would have sold my soul to have seen John Galliano's spring/summer 2006 collection presented in Paris last October.

I ran into some photos and video of the show on British Vogue's Web site. For all of the grief people give models and the fashion industry this was a show that asserted "Everything is Beautiful." Contrasting pairs of real people in all shapes and sizes made this an interesting concept. It seems the show was well received and I doubt that anything quite like it will ever happen again. It had an Argentinian-Old Cinema-Cirque du Fellini sort of vibe. Clever!

(Check the photos and if you want to watch the video keep in mind that you can advance it if you want to skip to the actual show.)

Wal-Mart benefits formula drains Medicaid funds

2006-01-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

Maryland's Senate voted Thursday to enact a first-in-the-nation requirement that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spend more on employee health care despite the governor's veto of the legislation. The measure, touted as a money-saver for Medicaid, now goes to the House for a vote. At least 30 state legislatures are considering similar bills.

Larry King and Andy Rooney on Katie Couric (figuratively)

2006-01-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

Should this woman deliver the news? (right)

LARRY KING interviewed ANDY ROONEY recently. They discussed, among other things, CBS executives' dream to plant KATIE COURIC at the CBS News anchor desk (you know, the desk that WALTER CRONKITE sat behind for 19 years?) As the CNN transcript proves, Rooney had a much better idea.

KING: No, OK. Who is going to replace Schieffer?

ROONEY: Well, maybe Schieffer, you know, he's embarrassing the hell out of CBS.

KING: He's doing good.

ROONEY: The ratings keep going up. And they keep talking about replacing him for somebody. I mean, you know, they're talking about giving Katie Couric $20 million. I say take that $20 million you could buy 40 reporters, 40 new reporters. You could give them each $250,000.

I mean, there are hundreds of reporters who would jump at getting $250,000. So take that $20 million don't give to it Katie. Give it to a bunch of reporters and make CBS news the best news report in the world.

KING: Have them everywhere.

ROONEY: Have them everywhere. Open up the bureaus we used to have in Buenos Aires and Warsaw, Poland. We used to have them everywhere. Open those up again with that $20 million. Katie will be all right without it.

KING: And keep Schieffer?

ROONEY: Keep Schieffer, of course.

Bush calls great political minds to WH...and listens to them for 5 to 10 minutes?

2006-01-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

"But if it was a bipartisan consultation, as advertised by the White House, it was a brief one. Mr. Bush allowed 5 to 10 minutes for interchange with the group - which included three veterans of the Vietnam era...before herding the whole group into the Oval Office for what he called a 'family picture.'

But a lot of bitterness remains, and several of the former cabinet members invited on Thursday observed that Mr. Bush had waited more than 1,000 days into the war in Iraq - and after many mistakes had been made - to gather together the men and one woman who once held their own skull sessions in that room, and who once used the West Wing as a backdrop for arguments over Vietnam and Somalia, the Balkans and the 1991 Gulf war."

-- New York Times (photo: New York Times)

DOLPHINS: A threat to heterosexual marriage?

2006-01-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

My friend Karin has a short list of (known) peeves. She does not like musicals or any situations where people spontaneously break out in song, she does not like Renaissance Faires, she does not like it when my dog slobbers in or on her car, she does not like it when the food on her plate blends together and she definitely does not like swimming with the dolphins or anybody who swims - or swam - with the dolphins. When I saw the story below, I just had to forward it to Karin.

"British tourist Sharon Tendler has finally made her dream match - by "marrying" a dolphin she has been visiting for 15 years in the Israeli resort of Eilat, the mass-circulation Yediot Ahronot daily reported. Tendler, 41, has been visiting the city on the Gulf of Aqaba two or three times a year to spend time with her 35-year-old underwater sweetheart."
-- Sydney Morning Herald

(full story)
(slideshow & video)

Lose weight on the WaPo diet

2006-01-04T14:18:00.000-08:00

Give yourself a fright. Try the Washington Post's
Fast Food calorie and fat counter
You'll be sad you did!

Best Sex Writing of 2005: Bah Humpbug

2006-01-02T02:17:00.000-08:00

End of the year journalism can be routine and predicatable. I complain about assignments that involve the assembly of "best of" lists and end-of-year "roundups." My lists and round-ups usually involve movies and the looming awards season.

Thank heavens I don't have to compile an anthology of sex writing. I can think of nothing worse. It is a sad fact that "best of" lists involve wading through the "worst of" and the "so-so."

I can't complain, but still do. When it comes to cinema, I can almost always find something valuable in a film. Even the worst of films can have excellent lighting or a lone character worthy of attention.

Paramount buys DreamWorks for $1.6 billion

2005-12-11T23:56:00.000-08:00

Q: What'd ya do this weekend?
A: I bought some new shoes and a CD. What'd you do?
Q: I bought Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg...and a pair of sunglasses.

"We couldn't be more excited about having Steven Spielberg and David Geffen and the amazing roster of talent at DreamWorks join the Paramount family, and we look forward to our new partnership with Jeffrey Katzenberg and DreamWorks Animation," said Tom Freston, co-President and co-Chief Operating Officer of Viacom. "This is a major milestone in our efforts to re-establish Paramount as an industry leader."

Sixty journalists killed in Iraq since March 2003

2005-12-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

"Sixty journalists have been killed covering the Iraq war since the March 2003 invasion, including at least 13 killed by U.S. forces, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Another 22 media workers such as drivers and translators also have been killed, the group says."

"Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican, pressed Rumsfeld in September to address concerns about the increased detentions and shootings by U.S. forces of reporters in Iraq." -- Will Dunham, Reuters

Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF)cites similar figures saying 75 journalists and media assistants have been killed in the same 33-month time frame.

"A ce jour, au moins 75 journalistes et collaborateurs des médias ont été tués en Irak depuis le déclenchement de la guerre en mars 2003." -- Reporters Without Borders

2005-11-30T23:25:00.000-08:00

2005plusdexcuses.org

Le commerce peut être facteur de développement. Il peut aussi détruire toute chance pour les pays de Sud, d’assurer à leurs populations un revenu minimum leur permettant de subvenir à leurs besoins fondamentaux.

makepovertyhistory.org

The kiss of death

2005-11-28T17:14:00.000-08:00

A 15-year-old girl with a peanut allergy died after kissing her boyfriend, who had just eaten a peanut butter snack, hospital officials said Monday. Christina Desforges died in a Quebec hospital Wednesday after doctors were unable to treat her allergic reaction to the kiss the previous weekend.
-- AP

1:38 p.m. - the beginning of the end

2005-11-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

11.22.63

Bush v. Bush

2005-11-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

HuffPo: ExxonMobil begrudges fishermen

2005-11-10T06:29:00.000-08:00

"After sixteen years, ExxonMobil has still not compensated Alaska fishermen five billion dollars for damages caused by the eleven million gallons of crude oil dumped in Prince William Sound during the 1989 tanker spill.

ExxonMobil was ordered to pay the five billion dollars in a 1994 lawsuit. Since then, the company has been appealing the case in the Ninth Court Of Appeals.

More than 700 miles of coastline, used as the primary source of income for Alaska’s fishing and boating industries, were affected by the spill. Greenpeace sent out press releases yesterday to call on Exxon to compensate the fishermen.

ExxonMobil reported record high 75 per cent profit growth to almost ten billion dollars in the latest earnings quarter."

-- The Huffington Post

2005-11-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

Martin Short as Nathan Thurm (left)

Paul Waldman is a bright chap who knows The District and frequently contributed to "The Gadflyer." Waldman invented The Nathan Thurm Memorial Mendacity Medal. He has probably considered bestowing the honor on WH Press Secretary Scott McClellan as the P-Sec performs some amusing bob & weave footwork while trying to deny saying something that a room full of cameras, tape recorders and reporters-with-pens clearly observed and recorded.

"As you might remember, Nathan Thurm was a character played by Martin Short in a 1980s Saturday Night Live parody of 60 Minutes, a sleazy lawyer defending corporate criminals. Sweating profusely and chain-smoking, Thurm would respond to questions with a defensive "I knew that," then make a ridiculous assertion and immediately deny he had said anything of the sort."
--- Paul Waldman, The Gadflyer, Feb. 10, 2004

CAFTA: If you build it, they will come...to protest globalism and burn stuff

2005-11-04T18:33:00.000-08:00

"Free trade means big U.S. and European corporations gobbling up our companies and national interests," said Pedro Moreira, a 69-year-old unemployed Argentine who carried a sign reading "Get out Bush. Another world is possible." -- Reuters

Rule 21: Desperate times, desperate measures

2005-11-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Something had to give. With multiple scandals jockying for media position and years of curiosity about claims used to sell a war, the house of cards at 1600 Penn. Ave. appears to be teetering.

Exasperation must have caught up with senate Democrats today. Their Tuesday Surprise invoking Rule 21 called attention to a report that should have reached the light of day more than a year ago. Today's coup, albeit dramatic, will get information out of a Republican senator's bottom drawer and into the public record. The Washington Post reports...

"With no warning in the mid-afternoon, the Senate's top Democrat invoked the little-used Rule 21, which forced aides to turn off the chamber's cameras and close its massive doors after evicting all visitors, reporters and most staffers....Friday's indictment of top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on perjury and obstruction charges gave Democrats a new opening to demand that more light be shed on these issues, including administration efforts to discredit a key critic of the prewar claims of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction...within two hours, Republicans appointed a bipartisan panel to report on the progress of a Senate intelligence committee report on prewar intelligence, which Democrats say has been delayed for nearly a year." -- Washington Post (photo:AFP)

Minority Leader Harry Reid wins the day

2005-11-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

Democratic Senator Harry Reid (pictured with his constituents who've served in Iraq and Kuwait) turned the tables on the Republican senate this afternoon. An investigation into misleading claims leading up to the Iraq war had been stalled by Republicans for more than a year. Today the stalled investigation and report came off the back burner as a result of Reid's actions.

You can post a message for Sen. Reid on his senate Web site.

U.S. loses big fish before prison abuse testimony

2005-11-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

Four months after it happened, the mysterious loss of key player is revealed in Pentagon leak.

"A man once considered a top al-Qaida operative escaped from a U.S.-run detention facility in Afghanistan and cannot testify against the soldier who allegedly mistreated him, a defense lawyer involved in a prison abuse case said Tuesday...A Pentagon official in Washington confirmed Tuesday evening that al-Farouq escaped from a U.S. detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, on July 10. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information." -- AP

Wal-Mart prepares for documentary with Washington-style war room and a team of politicos

2005-10-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

"Wal-Mart has quietly recruited former presidential advisers, including Michael Deaver, who was Ronald Reagan's image-meister, and one of Bill Clinton's media consultants, Leslie Dach, to set up a rapid-response public relations team in Arkansas...The group works out of an old conference room on the second floor, christened Action Alley...The first big challenge of the strategy will come Nov. 1 with the premiere of an unflattering documentary. 'Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.'" -- New York Times

"Driving Mister Libby"

2005-10-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

Leaking the names of CIA agents is not politics; it is a crime. Lying to congress about evidence for a war is not politics; it is a crime. Failing to tell a grand jury that you met with a reporter and talked about the CIA agent is not forgetfullness; it is a crime. Deceiving your entire nation and frightening children and adults with images of nuclear explosions in order to get them to support a bloody invasion of another country is not politics; it is a crime. Anyone other than Karl Rove and Lewis Libby and Tom Delay who does not get this, please raise your hand. The three of you will need to stay after class for further instruction in civics.
-- James Moore (journalist/author)