Bomb plot thrusts Obama into political storm

President Barack Obama is weathering a political storm over last month’s suspected al Qaeda plot to bomb a Detroit-bound plane, particularly from Republicans who say he dropped the ball on security while pursuing healthcare and climate reforms. But how much substance there is behind the allegations may depend on who’s talking.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina told NBC’s Today show that he believes Obama just woke up to the gravity of the al Qaeda threat.

“A lot of us have been concerned over the last year that the president did seem to downplay the threat of terror. He doesn’t use the word anymore. He hesitates to say that there is a war on terror,” DeMint said.

“But in the last few days, he seems to have come around to the idea that there are people in Yemen and other places who are intent on hurting Americans,” the lawmaker added.

A completely different picture comes from Bob Woodward, the Pulitzer-winning journalist who chronicled Republican George W. Bush’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The new administration is taking a very aggressive stance on these matters and perhaps even more than the Bush administration, doing more about the al Qaeda sanctuaries in places like Yemen,” Woodward told ABC’s Good Morning America. That view comes from reporting Woodward says he is doing for a new book on the Obama White House.

Meanwhile, DeMint says he wants to eliminate politics from the security debate. That means not blaming Obama or members of the president’s team for security lapses, at least not for now. It also means retaining his hold on the Senate confirmation of Erroll Southers, Obama’s nominee for the Transportation Security Administration. DeMint blocked that nomination out of concern that Southers would unionize the TSA.

“What I’ve asked for is just some debate and a recorded vote,” he told NBC. “This is all about politics and not security. What I want is a few hours of debate on Mr. Southers to help focus the nation back on security and get this politics, particularly union politics, out of our security apparatus.”

TSA’s job is to protect all modes of transportation, not just air travel. That breadth of responsibility could be important now that the Detroit bomb plot has put all the focus on airport security.

“Al Qaeda has capabilities to do other things. How about trains? How about buses?” Woodward said. “You can’t fight the last terrorist attack.”

Photo Credit: Reuters/Hugh Gentry (Obama)

Source:blogs.reuters.com

News Corp, Time Warner Play to DC Not The Viewers

Was there ever any doubt that News Corp. and Time Warner would come to an agreement that would allow Time Warner’s cable unit to continue showing News Corp’s cable or broadcast properties on its system? The announcement on Jan. 1 that the two sides had averted a showdown that would have kept the BCS football game on the sidelines for 11 million folks is, well, a yawner.

It’s become almost an annual kabuki dance among cable or satellite operators and content providers to show which side – content or distribution – has the most muscle when it comes to such talks. Guess what fellas? Neither of you really have what it takes any longer to force your will on the other.

The last time we had a showdown anywhere near this size was back in 2000, when Time Warner, in the midst of a similar showdown with ABC, allowed Regis Philbin and his then-hit show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” to go dark for some 3.5 million homes. The cries from Washington were deafening. Hearings were held, fingers slapped.

So when the chorus started again in Washington on Dec. 30 on the current impasse you knew that Fox and Time Warner were destined to do whatever they could to avoid having DC on their backs. First, Sen. John Kerry urged the sides toward arbitration, and then FCC commissioners started encouraging peace. If there is anything that a media company wants less than a shutdown in the ad markets, it’s to have the feds on their backs. So Time Warner and News Corp. wisely extended the Dec. 30 deadline, then scurried to cut a deal that you know is less than the monthly $1 per subscriber fee that News Corp. had all but insisted was their right to get from cable operators.

One thing News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, who owns TV stations, newspapers and internet sites, understands is that he sure as heck doesn’t want an angry FCC looking over his shoulder. In the past, he’s done back flips to keep them happy, whether it was striking a deal that allowed him to own the New York Post and New York area TV stations, or to get his deal to buy DirecTV passed a few years back. As for Time Warner, do you think they want the feds thinking bad thoughts about them when the FCC is still contemplating rules on such things as “net neutrality” – that is, whether Time Warner’s online offerings are to be regulated? Uh, no.

Sure, it was good theater. News Corp. told America that it might not get the NFL, American Idol or Glee. Time Warner said it was fighting to keep consumer prices from zooming if Fox high jacked higher fees from them. Yeah, yeah. A good show boys. It sure played in Washington.


Source:businessweek.com/

Oh, Brother

Philadelphia — Marcus and Markieff Morris completed a brief on-court interview with ESPN2’s Len Elmore Saturday night in Liacouras Center, then raced over to their own 50-person cheering section behind the Kansas University basketball bench.

The KU sophomores — who combined for 18 points and seven rebounds in the Jayhawks’ 84-52 rout of Temple — planted kisses on their mom, Thomasine, who lives in Lawrence, and bear-hugs on grandmother Shirley, granddad Thomas and brother, Blake, who all reside in Philly, before finally heading through the tunnel to the showers.

All that was missing was the soundtrack from “Rocky” to make more perfect the Morris twins’ triumphant return to the place they were born and reared.

“You can’t ask for a better homecoming than that,” Markieff Morris said after the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks slaughtered a No. 18-ranked Temple team that had allowed an average of 54.2 points a game. “We played really good defense, even better than we played on offense.”

The Jayhawks performed so well on both ends that they ended this one early. KU used a 21-6 run to turn a narrow 19-17 lead into a 40-23 halftime advantage.

“They came to beat up Temple, I hate to say,” grandmom Shirley Morris said with a smile. “They wanted to play well with their family here. All this is our family. Everybody here is from (Washington) D.C. and Philly,” she added, asking all the Morrises to wave to a Journal-World reporter.

“I’m ecstatic for them. They are my cornbread babies,” Shirley added of her grandsons.

The twins returned to the court 15 minutes later to visit with all of their relatives and those of New Jersey native Tyshawn Taylor (eight points, two assists) and Washington, D.C., product Thomas Robinson (two points, three boards).

Markieff Morris held teammate Robinson’s 6-year-old sister, Jayla Paris, high in the air, while preparing to chat with reporters.

“It was great to come home and get a victory,” Marcus Morris said after scoring 13 points off 6-of-12 shooting. “I wouldn’t say I was nervous. It was exciting. I missed a couple bunnies in the beginning, but then I got going.”

It was easy for the Jayhawks to become motivated for this one. Temple’s fans, who chanted “We Want Kansas” after a recent victory over No. 3-ranked Villanova, taunted KU’s players with chants of “overrated” during warmups.

“It is what it is,” Markieff said of the chants. “I know they heard our fans chant, ‘You got what you asked for.’’’

More than 2,000 of the 10,206 fans were cheering for the Jayhawks and rocked the arena with the Rock Chalk chant the final 2 1/2 minutes.

“I was a little surprised how many (KU) people were there. The great thing is we have Jayhawk fans all over the country,” Cole Aldrich said after scoring 10 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks. “We played far west at UCLA and had great fan support. Now we’re in Philly and have another great fan base. It’s fun to have Crimson and Blue in the crowd when we are on the road.”

Morris family members, of course, helped hike the crowd total in KU’s favor.

“They got all the tickets,” senior Sherron Collins said with a laugh after scoring 14 points with four assists and three steals. He set the tone early with a steal and layup and also scored KU’s first seven points.

Coach Bill Self noticed that at least one of the twins didn’t fare so well early.

“Marcus missed two bunnies to start the game. You could tell he and Kieff were tight,” Self said. “I was especially happy for those two to come home and leave here with a win.”

It was a historic win of sorts: the biggest margin of victory by a KU team in a road game in the seven-year Self era.

That made for one happy twin homecoming.

“To finally get to play at home ... that felt good, and it felt good to be in this building,” said Markieff, who noted he had the best game of his life in the same building in a city championship game at Philly’s Prep Charter High, when he collected 23 points and 21 boards.

Marcus provided the highlight-reel play between the twins, cupping the basketball for a vicious one-handed jam in the second half, following his steal.

“I do it ’cause my hand is small. I can’t palm the ball,” said Marcus, who always seems to come up with something new to tell the media in postgame chats. “It’s like my trademark (to cup the ball).”

Of getting the last laugh on Temple’s fans, Marcus said: “I didn’t hear the ‘overrated’ chant. I think Temple has great fans. I don’t think you can call us overrated after that. I think we were the better team, the more aggressive team.”

KU sure seemed to play like the No. 1 team in the land.

“They are playing great. They are No. 1 and are going to stay No. 1. That’s how it should be,” the twins’ older brother, Blake, said proudly.

Of his brothers, Blake Morris said, “They’ve improved. It’s how it should be their sophomore year. You break out.”

“They are at least 50 percent better than last year,” grandpa Thomas Morris added. “I’ve noticed a big improvement this year.”

As far as all the chit-chatting, Saturday’s Morris family reunion had to end sometime.

“Goodbye, KU,” one of the Morrises said, waving as the Jayhawks were finally herded out to the team bus.

“I’m staying,” Thomas Robinson told staff members Kurtis Townsend and Brett Ballard, looking lovingly at his mom and sister.

“Tell coach I’m going back to D.C.” he added with a big smile on his face.

For the record, he departed with the rest of his teammates and will be ready for the next test: Wednesday’s 7 p.m. home battle against Cornell.

Source:kusports.com/

George Michael: The man who was must-see TV

Through word of mouth in the community of people that revolved around and adored George Michael, I'd come to know in recent days that he was sicker than he would ever let on. And anyway, when the phone rang one recent Sunday morning George was in vintage form. He was having a good day and was in full voice, which is to say very loud, jumping from one topic to another. The Redskins stunk, the Wizards stunk, he hated a column I'd written a few days earlier. It was George unplugged, George wanting to know the latest, the same old George who'd just gotten off the phone with The Squire or Abe or Dan, George who hadn't slept because he'd been watching some NBA game on the West Coast until 1:30 in the morning.

After the conversation ended, my wife asked how George was doing, how he really and truly was. And I told her I had no idea. Like typical men, I didn't ask and he didn't tell me. In this case, I didn't have the courage to ask. He was fabulous in those 30 minutes, like it was 10:50 p.m. and he was minutes from a newscast. And if that was going to be the last conversation we'd ever have -- and it was -- then that's the way I wanted to remember George Michael: funny, informed, irreverent, a little profane, always engaged.

I spent Thursdays with George for 13 years, 40 Thursdays a year for nearly a dozen of those years. "Redskins Report" with Sonny and Riggo during football season, "Full Court Press" with Tony Kornheiser and David DuPree during basketball season. My professional life has been greatly influenced by two indomitable men named George. Solomon, who brilliantly ran The Washington Post sports section for a quarter-century and Michael who became the only sportscaster in America to develop a dominant national profile while working a local gig nightly for a quarter-century.

Before cable TV was in millions of homes George Michael brought us the world weekly, with a tiny little band of men and women who worked on Nebraska Avenue and produced an unthinkable volume of award-winning work. Every other sportscaster worked in a confined space; George worked wherever he wanted and did it all: football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, tennis, 'rasslin', rodeo, racin', here, there, everywhere. You think there was anybody else who could comfortably engage Wayne Gretzky, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Cal Ripken, and tell them on-camera they were full of it? There wasn't.

George Michael left us as Wednesday night turned into Thursday morning.

Those closest to him, starting with his saintly wife Pat, were relieved because the suffering had become too great. In the 70 years before that he was an American original. He outworked just about everybody, never conceded stories to newspapers like just about every other TV sportscaster, was at times an insufferable perfectionist and commanded a room no matter who else was in it. Twenty-five years ago, before I began spending Thursdays with George, I walked into a room -- I don't recall the occasion -- and there stood Joe Gibbs, John Thompson and Sonny Jurgensen all being hassled in full voice by George Michael. It took awhile before I realized he could do it not because his personality was so outsized, which it was, but because they found him outside of all the showmanship to be credible. They respected him. Even better, they trusted him.

Just about everybody did.

By will and force of personality as much as anything, George Michael made himself must-see TV in Washington. When the Redskins stunk you wanted to know what George thought. When Abe Pollin decided to build a downtown arena you wanted to know what George was going to say.

Didn't mean he was the sweetest man in the world. God, George had a temper.

Source:washingtonpost.com

Government Gamers: McKenna, Dorn plugged into video games that help kids zap online threats

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna and Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn, in partnership with the Entertainment Software Association Foundation and Web Wise Kids, today announced the launch of a statewide program that uses video games to help students, teachers, and parents better understand safe use of the Internet and other technology.

“The devices that kids love, from smartphones to computers, are also being used to subject them to cyberbullying, scams and online stalkers,” McKenna said. “This program deploys a technology that’s very familiar to kids – video games – to teach important lessons about staying safe in cyberspace.”

Today’s event announced the training of over 70 educators on how to use the Web Wise Kids program, which will be used in local school districts across Washington this fall. McKenna and Dorn were joined by Judi Westburg Warren, president of Web Wise Kids, and Michael D. Gallagher, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which funded the effort and represents the U.S. computer and video game industry.

“The Internet has become a vital tool in students’ education,” Dorn said. “But like all tools, kids need a rule book, one that helps them understand potential dangers. The Web Wise Kids program will give them valuable lessons on using the Internet safely.”

The safety program includes a series of three customized video games – Missing, Mirror Image, and Air Dogs – all of which teach students how to be safe and responsible online. Missing is a detective style game that challenges students to find a boy who spent hours in chat rooms and then disappeared. Mirror Image addresses issues like modeling scams, online romances, cyber stalking, chat rooms and Trojan horses. Air Dogs addresses the issues of cyber crimes, piracy, illegal downloading, intellectual property rights and other challenges facing students today.

The games teach kids to recognize and deal with online predators, modeling scams, cyberbullying, and other digital dangers. The games also provide warnings about the consequences of illegal downloading.

“The ESA Foundation is proud to provide the resources to launch this cutting-edge initiative,” Gallagher said. “With the industry presence of Microsoft, Nintendo and other leading video game companies, Washington is a natural fit for launching this program. Working together, we believe the Web Wise Kids program will help educators teach Washington’s youth how to stay safe online. We applaud Attorney General McKenna’s and Superintendent Dorn’s leadership on this issue and appreciate the opportunity to help protect Washington’s children.”

“We are excited to be part of this important initiative that will help to educate and empower students with the knowledge and programs to safely navigate the Internet,” Westberg said. “Our goal is to create a safer, friendlier online experience for millions of young people, and Attorney General McKenna and Superintendent Dorn are taking us all one step further to accomplishing that shared goal for Washington.”

AG McKenna formed the Youth Internet Safety Task Force in August 2007 and charged it with increasing Internet safety awareness in Washington state. In addition, the task force reviews laws related to child pornography and unlawful communications with minors. Among other Internet safety-related accomplishments, McKenna worked with other state AGs to reach agreements with social networking giants MySpace and Facebook to better protect kids online, and to create an industry-wide task force to develop better tools to verify the age and identity of their users. The AGO also maintains a comprehensive online guide to Internet Safety called WebWiseWashington.com.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction has been an active member of the Youth Internet Safety Task Force and provides a variety of Internet safety resources to educators statewide.

The ESA, which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers, and its foundation began working with Web Wise Kids in 2001, and since then, has worked to bring internet safety initiatives to several states including Utah, Massachusetts, Florida, Virginia and Arizona.