Lawmakers want bipartisan panel to address Virginia redistricting
By William C. Flook
D.C. Examiner Staff Writer 12/2/08
Supporters of creating a bipartisan panel to redraw Virginia’s legislative districts are reviving their perennial effort before lawmakers return to Richmond next month, hoping to reform a process long left up to party leadership.
Virginia’s congressional and General Assembly district lines are set to be shifted in 2011 based upon population data from the 2010 census. Critics say the current system of allowing the majority party in each house to redraw their own lines has created plentiful safe seats for incumbents and few truly contested districts.
Bills that instead would put redistricting in the hands of an independent panel have been killed for years. Last session, such a bill from Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, met its end in a House subcommittee.
Deeds, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, has filed another bill for the upcoming legislative session in January that would set up the panel.
“The problem with the process now is the people are not the first consideration,” Deeds said Monday. “The first consideration is the protection of incumbents and the protection of partisanship. We can do better.”
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Choosing Team Obama... continued
Obama’s team of stars: Can he manage it?
Some inner-circle conflict can be of help to a president, but building a sense of teamwork will be key.
By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer / December 2, 2008 edition
Christian Science Monitor
Washington
President-elect Barack Obama has earned accolades from Democrats and Republicans alike for the high-powered national security and economic teams he has unveiled.
As a young and relatively inexperienced chief executive, Mr. Obama has assembled a group of advisers known more for their sterling credentials than for their loyalty to him. That alone speaks to a certain confidence on Obama’s part, a self-possession that was on regular display during the long presidential campaign. The selection of this team also shows a willingness to take risks, particularly his choice for secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, his bitter rival for the Democratic nomination. And it speaks to the grave nature of the times, with the US fighting two wars and mired in what economists predict will be a long, deep recession.
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Some inner-circle conflict can be of help to a president, but building a sense of teamwork will be key.
By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer / December 2, 2008 edition
Christian Science Monitor
Washington
President-elect Barack Obama has earned accolades from Democrats and Republicans alike for the high-powered national security and economic teams he has unveiled.
As a young and relatively inexperienced chief executive, Mr. Obama has assembled a group of advisers known more for their sterling credentials than for their loyalty to him. That alone speaks to a certain confidence on Obama’s part, a self-possession that was on regular display during the long presidential campaign. The selection of this team also shows a willingness to take risks, particularly his choice for secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, his bitter rival for the Democratic nomination. And it speaks to the grave nature of the times, with the US fighting two wars and mired in what economists predict will be a long, deep recession.
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Well, How Was This Question Answered?
From September 17, 2001...
Global Empathy, Will it last?
From Paris to Pakistan, a new perspective on the lone superpower.
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BEIJING - Knocking the "lone superpower," rightly or wrongly, was a post-cold-war sport until last week. America was caricatured as a giant Disneyland, a naive society, lead by "insensitive" hypocrites who tout democracy and human rights with little understanding of the world.
But that stereotype discourse has been largely silenced - at least for now. The scale of the New York and Washington attacks showed a country vulnerable, confused, hurt - and the world responded.In Iran, 60,000 soccer fans and players held a minute of silence. In Germany 200,000 expressed sorrow at the Brandenburg Gate - where the Germans came together after the Berlin Wall fell. In Nairobi, site of a 1998 bombing of the American Embassy, the word pole (Swahili for "sorry") is on the lips of many Kenyans.
It's too soon to say whether the attacks will bring an enduring global common resolve, put evils at home and abroad into sharper focus, or permanently alter the image of a people more complex and traditionally "decent" than critics allow. Much depends on how America responds now, say analysts and people interviewed in various cities worldwide.
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Global Empathy, Will it last?
From Paris to Pakistan, a new perspective on the lone superpower.
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BEIJING - Knocking the "lone superpower," rightly or wrongly, was a post-cold-war sport until last week. America was caricatured as a giant Disneyland, a naive society, lead by "insensitive" hypocrites who tout democracy and human rights with little understanding of the world.
But that stereotype discourse has been largely silenced - at least for now. The scale of the New York and Washington attacks showed a country vulnerable, confused, hurt - and the world responded.In Iran, 60,000 soccer fans and players held a minute of silence. In Germany 200,000 expressed sorrow at the Brandenburg Gate - where the Germans came together after the Berlin Wall fell. In Nairobi, site of a 1998 bombing of the American Embassy, the word pole (Swahili for "sorry") is on the lips of many Kenyans.
It's too soon to say whether the attacks will bring an enduring global common resolve, put evils at home and abroad into sharper focus, or permanently alter the image of a people more complex and traditionally "decent" than critics allow. Much depends on how America responds now, say analysts and people interviewed in various cities worldwide.
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Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Haunting...
I wish I could talk to my Dad about this
But I cannot, so I will talk to my children...
But I cannot, so I will talk to my children...
We don't reflect enough as a people.
Robot U.S. Combat Troops?
The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing machine that murders indiscriminately.
By 2010 the US will have invested $4 billion in a research programme into "autonomous systems", the military jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers.
Credit Card Contraction?
The U.S. credit-card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said.
The credit card is the second key source of consumer liquidity, the first being jobs, the Oppenheimer & Co analyst noted.
"In other words, we expect available consumer liquidity in the form of credit-card lines to decline by 45 percent."
Monday, December 1, 2008
Choosing Team Obama...
The president-elect says he wants to recruit "Americans of great intellect, broad experience and good character." He's fleshing out his White House and administration with men and women who reflect his racial heritage, cultural background and intelligence. Obama said during his presidential campaign that "one of the things that sets this country apart is that there is no one who looks like a typical American."
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