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Go here for more details about Buenos Aries, Argentina, Chile and in depth descriptions of Detours, RB's, speedbumps etc.http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=navclient&hl=en&u=http%3a%2f%2fbladegunsubs.blogspot.com%2f2009%2f06%2famazing-race-latinoamerica-argentina.html
Hello to all our brothers from Latin America! I'm speaking to you from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I can happily say that the competition has made a stop in my city. It's incredible... That's definitely one reason why I'm subtitling this series from the beginning, because you'll get to see the three legs in the capital Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Neuquen and other provinces in my country. It's very emotional! The post this week has been delayed for a day so I could investigate more details about this leg. How nice, now for the report of the week! During the second week of the competition TAR:LA made a visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina: ...Ten teams left from Puerto Iguazu, on the border of Argentina, and travelled all the way to Brazil. At the end of each of the two legs on the east of the continent, a team was eliminated from the competition. Aliances and rivalry formed, while the legs gave a liguistic advantage to the Brazil team, who had no problem in their own country. But this luck would end soon, a new leg means the teams would be headed for Peru. Not only am I going to tell you about the teams, I'll talk about the production, the legs, and you can follow the details of TAR:LA every weekend. And this time, the post is dedicated to the leg in Buenos Aires, which took place early last week.Route Info: Floralis genericaIn the beginning of the leg the teams received instructions telling them to fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they would have to find a place called "Floarlis generica". That's the name of a metal sculpture situated in the Plaza of the United Nations (on Figueroa Alcorta and Austria Avenues). One thing about the flower is that it has an electronic system that opens and closes the petals automatically depending on the hour of the day, and that means the park has hours of operation: it opens its doors every morning at 8am and closes at sunset, at 8pm. It's very important to keep that in mind! Some teams caught up to the rest of the group because of this. [Bunching!]Detour: Jockey Club at San IsidroA Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. The teams would have to choose which task they can complete quicker. The cluebox in this occasion is at the Hippodrome of San Isidro, located in the district of San Isidro.The Hippodrome is ten minutes from Jorge Newbery Intl Airport and 35min from Ezeiza Intl Airport. I don't think the opening hours of the Detour and the Roadblock matter too much, the tasks were well planned, and the opening hours of the flower was the big leveller in this leg. You can be sure that the teams will have trouble with the traffic in the Federal District.Speedbump: Distributing newspapers(Note: This photo is only for illustrative purposes, it was taken last year.)As the leg before Argentina was not an elimination-leg, the last team that came in the previous leg must now complete a Speedbump, an extra task that only this team must perform. In this Speedbump, they must complete the task of distributing stacks of newspapers and orders in the district of Palermo. Only when the team has completed this task will they be able to continue the race, with the hope of making up this valuable lost time.Roadblock: Buenos Aires ZooA Roadblock requires one member from the team to perform a task. In this leg the Roadblock takes place in the heart of Buenos Aires, in the district of Palermo. This was the only place that none of the teams had problems finding. Comprising the Botanic Gardens, the Rose Gardens and the 3 Feb Park, the Buenos Aires Zoo is one of the most important green spaces in our city. Its main entrance looks over Plaza Italia, accessible by land transport or by metro, more specifically Las Heras and Sarmiento Avenues.So far this has been all I could tell you about TAR:LA through the city of Buenos Aires. The next leg also took place in Argentina, in the province of Neuquen; teams must cross the Andes. Here it is! I can confirm that Chile will also host the race, and teams will travel there not by air, but by land.I have more good news! The competition is happening without great problems, and nothing is stopping the race from being run as planned originally. That is to say, I can tell you at last that none of the legs had been cancelled as feared, and that the race will visit the major countries in Latin America. The schedule has been moved a day forward [?] but these changes were due to the frequency of flights and stuff.From Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the 7 of [June], I can confirm that TAR:LA is exactly the mid-point of the production. Less than two weeks to finish the competition! There is so much to tell you, but I'm not sure what else you want to know about... It'd sure be made known during the week, haha! Until then, goodbye to all!
Then, we walked to the oldest church in the Western Hemisphere. Funny story: we went inside to tour the church and there was some weird box next to one of the chapels in the church. Come to find out that it was a clue for the TV show Amazing Race. While we were there, two guys competing together came in to get their clue with a cameraman close on their tail. Some of us helped direct them to where the clue was located. What a random coincidence!
the teams came into Mexico to film the last 2 episodes. they came into Mexico in June 14th. The Last Leg will be filmed in June 18th.
Hi fans, it's been a while! It's been a whole week, how have you been? Very well, I hope! And here from Buenos Aires, Argentina, like all the other weeks before, I bring you the latest news on The Amazing Race: Latin America. Without any further ado, let us move on to the latest news on our favourite reality show. This time, as stated in the title, the post is dedicated to the big question our Mexican brothers have waited anxiously to know. Mexico is the final destination of The Amazing Race: Latin America.As requested I was going to talk mainly about the production, the news of the shooting, or maybe even the curiosities that happen in the reality show... But it's best to leave it for later considering the news of this week! You would hate not to know about this as soon as possible! This post is dedicated to our brothers in Mexico, especially those fans who started the call through Internet forums and blogs to sway the vote on Discovery Channel's official website, to make Mexico a leg of the race.Today, I can happily confirm that TAR:LA will visit the country of Mexico. Not only this, there's more good news! Not only will there be one, but two legs in Mexico! And even more importantly, I can even confirm that this is the final destination of the race!Oh, I need to take a break... I'm too happy, because if I had asked about Mexico two months ago the story would have been completely different, and it would have been a shame, for real... Wait, I have one last piece of news! The principal reason for this post is that the filming ends this week, and now, Sunday 14 June - yes, right now - the Final Four are arriving in the country to complete the penultimate leg of the race. Where? They are in Mexico City, and will be until the afternoon of Tuesday 16 June when they leave for the final leg of the race, for the final destination of The Amazing Race: Latin America!
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Hi friends,
I have a major project coming up for which I have to write a program in Java. The topics of my interest are bank, auction, strategy game, network simulator & election campaign. Can someone tell me which of these have the most scope & does anyone have links of major student projects implemented in Java which I may use for reference thanks.

subset: commoncrawl


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This article or section is a stub. Please help Tolkien Gateway by expanding it.
|"Alqualonde" by Thomas Rouillard
|General Information
|Other names
|The shores of Valinor, beside Belegaer, between the Calacirya and Araman
|Seaside city of pearl and mother-of-pearl
|People and History
|First Kinslaying
|Images of Alqualondë
|By Ardamir. (Help; more articles)
Alqualondë (Q, pron. [ˌalkʷaˈlonde]), the Swanhaven, was the chief city of the Falmari on the shores of Valinor. The city is said to be north and east of Tirion between the Calacirya and Araman in northern Eldamar.
[edit] Description
The city was built in a natural harbour made of rock, and was also walled. Its entrance was a natural arch. Other than the great harbours it also housed the Tower of Olwë. The city was covered with the pearls the Elves had found in the sea and jewels which they obtained from the Noldor. The famed swanships with golden beaks and eyes of jet were moored here.[1]
[edit] History
Alqualondë was built by the Falmari when they came to Aman. Its lord was Olwe.
When Feanor rebelled against the will of the Valar, he went to the shores of Aman seeking for a way to reach Middle-earth and demanded the use of the Telerin ships. The Teleri however refused and resisted when Feanor ordered the Noldor to take them by force. A battle broke out, the First Kinslaying, in which many Teleri were slain, for they were armed with mere hunting bows, against the fully armed Noldor. They also attempted to block the harbor. The battle was joined by Fingon and Fingolfin, only because they thought that the Teleri had attacked the Noldor.
In the later years of the First Age, Alqualonde was visited by Earendil and Elwing who had reached Valinor. Elwing stayed a little there and told stories to the Teleri about the griefs of Beleriand.[2]
[edit] Inhabitants
[edit] Etymology
Alqualondë means "Swanhaven" in Quenya (from alqua = "swan", londë = "harbor, haven").
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"
|The Kinslayings
|First Kinslaying (Alqualondë) · Second Kinslaying (Doriath) · Third Kinslaying (Havens of Sirion)


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8 years ago, today, I sat at the computer and toyed with the idea of starting another blog. I loved cooking and I enjoyed writing. I wasn't quite sure of my reasons. But I was addicted to reading food blogs at the time. And I felt that, given how varied my cooking was, and how much friends enjoyed my food, people would enjoy the blog too. And they did.
Over the years, I've gotten busier with other things. And this blog, like the other, got neglected. I've been cooking a lot. And I've been cooking newer things too. And most of the time I do remember to take pictures. But I find that it is the sitting myself down in front of a computer and typing out these stories that I am unable to do.
Can I find a list of excuses? My laptop conked out. The computer is in my son's room and I can't go in there when I'm done for the day because he's sleeping there. My photographs aren't good enough. And I can find many more such. But I suppose where there's a will, there should be a way. Just that in my case, there seems to be a won't. This blog has seen fewer posts in the last two years than it did on that one day in July 2007. How is that for statistics?
In the last one year, I've cooked and baked with my son, who seems to enjoy cooking more than eating. I wanted to see if there was truth in the fact that when children help make something, they are more eager to try it. I think there is some truth to this. But the day I decide that it should probably work is most likely the day that it doesn't.
However, in all this time that I haven't blogged, I have actually used this blog for its original intended purpose: my personal recipe book. I've gone back countless number of times to check if I have the ingredients right, if I'm missing a step. And often, reading the recipes and the stories behind them makes me nostalgic. I was feeling especially nostalgic one day and thought about the Pal Poli that Amma used to make. For a week, I made it in my head, over and over. It was so simple. And I could almost taste it. Finally, about 3 weeks after I'd made it 12 times a day in my head and I was just dying to taste it, I actually made it.
For the Poli:
1 cup Maida
2 tbsp Semolina
1 tsp Ghee
A pinch of Salt
Oil for frying
Mix the ingredients except the oil into a hard dough using as little water as necessary. Divide the dough into 24 pieces. Roll them out using a little bit of oil into 4-6 inch discs. Keep these covered with a cloth until all the pieces have been rolled out.
Heat the oil and drop the rolled out polis into the oil. Deep fry them like pooris.
For the Masala Milk:
1 Litre (4 cups) Milk
1 400g tin Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used Milkmaid)
A pinch Saffron
1/4 tsp Cardamom, powdered
1 tbsp Milk Masala Powder (I used Everest)
Bring the milk to a slow boil and add the condensed milk, stirring all the while to make sure the condensed milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the vessel. Add the saffron, cardamom and the Milk Masala powder.
Arrange the polis in a dish and pour the masala milk over them. Let the polis soak in the milk.
Enjoy this dish warm or chilled. I was surprised at how easy this dish actually was and it got me thinking about the mental fatigue I seem to associate with so many of my childhood favourites.
I make no promises of what the 9th year holds for The Singing Chef. I shall endeavour to come here as often as I can and blog as much as I can. But for the time being, to those of you who have always been there for me, I want to share a little piece of sweetness, a little piece of my childhood, and say thank you for helping The Singing Chef become what it has. Thank you for being an integral part of my life.


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It's a bit of a perennial favourite, the Golf GTi. Right now, pretty much every one of its competitors offers more power and the promise of greater road thrills, but few can match the all-round talents and general classlessness of the GTi. It's still in with a shout of being top of the class, despite its replacement - in 5-door hatchback form - being due imminently. Given how much we enjoyed the Golf Cabriolet in its regular format, when VW invited us to try the GTi in cabriolet guise, we couldn't help ourselves but say "yes please" and head for the middle-England launch location.
We though that a bit of top-down motoring in the latest GTi would be a lovely way to see out August. Unfortunately, the ever-reliable British weather decided to turn this into a test of the five-layer hood's insulating properties. We toyed with the idea of putting the roof down, we really did, but we suspect VW wouldn't have thanked us for returning it with puddles in the footwell and soaked interior fabrics. We got soaked just shooting a few photos.
Given that, the hood's qualities seem like a good place to start. It's hardly commonplace to find a convertible car that leaks these days, but it's fair to say that this hood did keep us especially "snug as a bug" during some really torrential rain. You do get a little bit more road roar coming in to the cabin at speed than the Golf hatch, but it's not exactly an unrefined place to sit.
Better still, as with the previous Golf convertible we tested, we found that the hood had very little negative effect on the way the GTi drove. The hood structure and bracing add a few kilos in weight which slightly impacts performance, but the GTi convertible isn't a car you'd exactly describe as feeling under-endowed in the power department.
In fact, we're starting to think that VW either deliberately down-plays the output figures of this engine or it makes a good bit more power out of the box than it's supposed to. Because, like the Scirocco we reviewed last month, the 210 horsepower 2.0 Turbo engine used here pulls like a train, right through the rev range, to the point where we can't see a situation where you'd feel the need for more power in this type of car and the high-six seconds figure it takes to sprint to 60mph feel conservative. Certainly, on the flooded back-roads of Northamptonshire, it gave the traction and stability controls a good work out trying to keep everything neat and tidy.
Which is something the Golf GTi does extremely well. The electronic systems are there but they aren't clumsy or intrusive and it's the same story in the convertible. This is a very "neat" driving car, one that's easy to drive fast and yet also a good deal of fun to fling around. Part of the appeal is that the ride's firm but not harsh and you're controlling it all through a lovely, chunky, flat-bottomed and red-stitched steering wheel. You're sitting in the quintessential, tartan-chequer patterned GTi seats which sit you low and hug you tight, and everything you interact with on the inside of car has a lovely, all-of-a-piece feel to it. Sorry if we sound like a stuck record, but if this is the interior of a car that's about to be replaced, then VW's rivals must be crying into their teacups in desperation about how they're supposed to compete.
Our car featured the optional, upgraded satnav-equipped touchscreen radio, which is a carbon copy of the system we used during our week with the Scirocco. That means that while we don't rate it alongside BMW's iDrive, it's definitely one of the better touchscreen systems on the market, with big clear graphics and an intuitive connectivity logic.
There's full iPod and USB connectivity system in the centre bin as standard, while the music that's playing and the satnav turn-by-turn instructions come up on the centre screen of the gauge cluster.
What's not to like? Well, the boot opening's a little tight and when it's up, the hood shape makes the Golf look a little bit dumpy and hunchback in our opinion. It's also not cheap, but then for the completeness of the package, it's rivals – of which there are precious few, it should be noted - don't get close.
The only thing that might stop you is that, while it's taken VW until now to launch this latest Golf GTi cabriolet, the Golf VI, on which its based, is days away from being replaced with a new, ground-up redesigned Golf MK VII. Of course, don't expect a radical new design, but the new car is supposed to be up to 200kg lighter, comes on a new, extremely clever platform and will introduce to the Golf a host of advanced driving aids and collision mitigation devices for the first time.
The new car's actually being unveiled as we write and the GTi version is expected to make its debut in Paris before the end of the month. Don't expect a new open Golf to come along anytime soon though – VW likes to replace the cabriolet only when it's good and ready. So if you're after roof-down thrills in a package that's fun to drive and comes with an iconic nameplate attached, look no further.


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People just don't like being spied upon. If you live in the UK, you're certainly familiar with those autonomous traffic cameras lurking around every corner that catch you speeding or running traffic signals, and then tattle to the police, resulting in a traffic ticket in your mailbox. A group called MAD (Motorists Against Detection) has been smashing those boxes for the past seven years in retailation. In fact, the guerilla group claims to have obliterated 1000 of the cameras, and have big plans to step up their attacks on the eavesdropping gadgets.
Travelling in the UK, we were appalled by such invasion of privacy, but the Brits seem to be getting used to it. But not the MAD group. They plan to increase their camera destruction activities this summer, vowing to take down every one of the things in the entire country. Drivers who are not actively slam-dunking the camera boxes will be encouraged to cover up their license plates on certain days, too, in a mass act of passive-aggressive civil disobedience. There's something sneaky about these cameras that we just don't like, and we wish these disobedient citizens well. Let's just hope nobody gets hurt. [Speedcam]


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MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: The war in Iraq; 1,935 Americans dead, 14,755 wounded and injured. What have we achieved? What is our military strategy? With us, the head of the U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas is indicted, causing him to surrender his majority leader position. What now? With us, the chairmen of the House congressional campaign committees: for the Democrats, Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois; for the Republicans, Congressman Tom Reynolds of New York. Emanuel and Reynolds square off, only on MEET THE PRESS.
And insights and analysis from Dan Balz of The Washington Post and John Harwood of The Wall Street Journal.
But first, Iraq, through the eyes of a man who's overseeing the war, General John Abizaid.
General, welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID: Thank you, sir. Good to be here.
MR. RUSSERT: On Wednesday, the president of the United States was talking about your testimony and that of General Casey before the Congress, and this is what he said to the American people. Let's watch.
(Videotape, Wednesday):
PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: Members of Congress will get the latest information about our strategy, and I want to thank them for taking time out of their schedules to listen to these two--to these two generals. They will hear about the strategy and the progress in increasing the size and capability of the Iraqi security forces.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: "Increasing the size and capability of the Iraqi security forces," that's the central question. Many people, particularly the senators, were surprised. And here's a headline that suggests that your testimony: "Decline in Iraqi Troops' Readiness Cited. The number of Iraqi army battalions that can fight insurgents without U.S. and coalition help has dropped from three to one, top U.S. generals told Congress, adding that the security situation in Iraq is too uncertain to predict large-scale American troop withdrawals anytime soon. ... Officials did not say specifically why two battalions are no longer rated at Level I and thus unable to operate on their own. ... Senators bristled at the disclosure that only one of Iraq's 86 army battalions is ready to fight on its own."
The war is two and a half years old. Why are only 750 Iraqis fully combat-capable, ready?
GEN. ABIZAID: Well, Tim, of course, you can parse the words any way you want. But the war is two and a half years old, and when you think of where we were two and a half years ago, where we essentially didn't have any Iraqi security forces in the field, to where we are now, where we've got close to 200,000 Iraqi security forces in the field, we've come a long way. Moreover, it's very important that people here in the United States understand that Iraqi soldiers are fighting and dying out there for their country. They're standing with American forces in the field. They own certain portions of the battle space that they never had before. And they are making a contribution to the security of their country. They're not fully ready yet across the spectrum, but they will be. I'm optimistic. General Casey is optimistic. And, more important, the commanders in the field are optimistic about the progress that has been made. But building an institution takes time, especially where you think we were before, and we're pretty satisfied that, over time, the Iraqis will be able to take the lead in counterinsurgency operations.
MR. RUSSERT: But if you had three battalions in June that were considered Level I combat ready, why is there only one now?
GEN. ABIZAID: Look, if you were to look at the readiness system of the United States Army and parse it for the American public, you could come to the same conclusion that somehow or other there's a lack of readiness and a loss of capability. But I'm telling you, there's more people in the field fighting and participating in operations than at any time in the past and their casualty rate is double, if not triple that of which ours is, which means they're out there fighting. The operations up in Talifar. The 3rd Iraqi Division did a great job. They were essentially more in charge of that operation than we were.
MR. RUSSERT: But Republican senators, supporters of the war--here's Susan Collins. "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she was discouraged by the lack of readiness by the Iraqi security force. She said that it `contributes to a loss of public confidence in how the war is going,' and that `it doesn't feel like progress when we hear today that we have only one Iraqi battalion that is fully capable.'"
Is there a public relations challenge to you that the American people are losing confidence in the war?
GEN. ABIZAID: Well, there's no doubt that we have got to continue to tell the story of what's happening in Iraq. Iraq is a country in the middle of a counterinsurgency operation, and the Iraqis are more and more taking the lead. It is a difficult thing to start talking about one battalion here or two battalions there or three battalions in another place. The important thing is whether or not the overall movement towards stability and security is falling more and more in the hands of the Iraqis. And the answer is it is, but it's also a difficult road to go on. There are peaks and valleys that you go through, but overall, the trend is good. We're certainly confident. And the most important thing we're confident about is that the Iraqis want to do this. They want to take the fight. They will take the fight. And ultimately, as they become stronger and they become better, we'll be able to reduce our own commitment over there.
MR. RUSSERT: The president has said, and everyone seems to agree, our only exit strategy is when the Iraqi troops stand up, Americans stand down. How long will it be before there are 150,000 Iraqi troops who can stand up, fully combat ready, to replace the Americans who are there now?
GEN. ABIZAID: Already Iraqi forces are taking the fight in key areas. For example, there are parts of downtown Baghdad where Iraqi security forces are in charge of the battle space. There are parts in the south where Iraqi forces are in charge of the battle spaces. Up in the north, there are about four provinces that are contested fairly interestingly, and the war for counterinsurgency operations is tending now to be pushed more and more to the west.
So progress is being made. More and more Iraqi forces are in the fight. More and more Iraqi forces are developing. And, look, Tim, you know better than anybody else that you just don't bring an institution like an armed forces, all of a sudden an armed forces, in particular that used to only the whims of a dictator and now all of a sudden you're going to change it and have it serve the people. I mean, there's a political revolution that goes on in Iraq and is going on in Iraq. And you've got to have armed forces development keep pace with political development. Those two have to work hand in hand.
As far as public relations are concerned, it's very interesting. I go up on the Hill and everybody's wringing their hands and everybody's worried, but when I talk to my commanders in the field, when I talk to Iraqi commanders in the field, people are confident. They don't think it's going to be easy. They know that there's a lot of fighting ahead, but they're confident that they're moving in a good direction. And I'd say we need to have confidence in the people that are fighting.
MR. RUSSERT: In July, however, you--in a classified briefing to senior Pentagon officials, you said that the U.S. could probably reduce its troops by 20,000 to 30,000 in the spring of next year. Now, you seem to be backing off that kind of positive assessment.
GEN. ABIZAID: I don't seem to be backing off of anything. I think that the key points in front of us are really political right now; number one, the referendum in October, number two, the elections for a new government. If a legitimate new government emerges--and there's a lot of "ifs"--but if a legitimate government emerges that is broadly seen as being representative of Sunni, Shia and Kurdish interests, I think that there's no reason to suppose that we can't bring force levels down in the spring.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe the level of U.S. troops now in Iraq is helping to fuel the insurgency?
GEN. ABIZAID: I think that it is an art form getting the level of troops that are fighting any counterinsurgency operation exactly right. And, of course, what we're trying to do not only in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan, is to help the nations in the region help themselves. Let's face it, the problem's just not Iraq. The problem is a broad global insurgency against a very, very ideological threat led by people like bin Laden, Zarwahu and Zarqawi. It's present in Iraq, it's present in Afghanistan, it's present in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia. And the key is how can we help them help themselves? And so over time you've got to bring the U.S. footprint down because people don't like to have large numbers of foreign troops in their region and I think that's understandable. So if you are concentrating on success, over time it's less Americans and more regional capability.
MR. RUSSERT: How many insurgents are there in Iraq?
GEN. ABIZAID: I think there's no more than 20,000 insurgents in Iraq.
MR. RUSSERT: There was a study done, and this is according to the Christian Science Monitor: "Even if the U.S. can seal Iraq's borders, stopping the flow of foreign fighters would do little to eliminate most of the country's insurgents. Only 4 to 10 percent of the country's combatants are foreign fighters, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies."
You agree with that?
GEN. ABIZAID: I think we have to watch out hyping the foreign fighter problem to the point where it becomes unrealistic. The foreign fighters are not the broad majority of fighters that are taking part in the insurgency. But the foreign fighters generally tend to be people that believe in the ideology of al- Qaeda and their associated movements and they tend to be suicide bombers. So while the foreign fighters certainly aren't large in number, they are deadly in their application. They've killed well over 5,000 Iraqis here this year alone in suicide attacks, and these are innocent Iraqis that are minding their own business trying to get through the day. And all of a sudden somebody from Tunisia, Algeria, Libya or some other foreign country shows up and explodes a suicide bomber. Very rarely do they ever hit a target of military value.
MR. RUSSERT: But if there are 20,000 insurgents, and most of them Iraqis, it is largely then a home- grown insurgency that could not exist without the support of the people. Is that fair?
GEN. ABIZAID: It all depends on what you say the support of the people might mean. Insurgency is not endemic throughout Iraq. The north is calm. The south is calm. Essentially there are portions of the Sunni Arab community that are in insurgency. And that's where we've got to concentrate our efforts both militarily and by the way, politically. We need the Sunni Arab community in Iraq to be part of the future of Iraq.
MR. RUSSERT: General Casey said there are about 500 attacks a week. Vice President Cheney said the insurgency was in the final throes. Is the vice president correct?
GEN. ABIZAID: Tim, I knew somehow or other the final throes question would come. I will tell you that the insurgency, as long as politics continues to move in the direction that it appears to moving and the Iraqi security forces continue to move in the direction that they're moving, the insurgency doesn't have a chance for victory.
MR. RUSSERT: But is it alive and well?
GEN. ABIZAID: It's certainly alive and well, and I don't think any of us that are military people have ever said anything other than the fact that we've got fighting on our hands, especially as we go through this political process. The political friction associated with the referendum and with the new government is tremendous. And in Iraq, unfortunately, they've got a long, long record of resorting to violence in order to solve their political problems. This revolutionary change that's taking place is going to require some military effort to suppress it.
Senator Levin, the Democratic senator from Michigan, and General Casey had an exchange in the committee on Thursday about the referendum October 15th. Let's listen.
(Videotape, Thursday):
SEN. CARL LEVIN, (D-MI): If there's a strong majority of Sunnis, which is very possible, that vote against that constitution, could that not possibly lead to a worsening political situation rather than a better one?
GEN. GEORGE CASEY: I think that's entirely possible, Senator. I mean, as we've looked at this, we've looked for the constitution to be a national compact. And the perception now is that it's not, among, particularly among the Sunni.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: So October 15, two-thirds vote against the constitution in three provinces would bring about its defeat. Do you think that would happen?
GEN. ABIZAID: I can't really predict what's going to happen politically in Iraq. It's possible that the constitution could be defeated in the Sunni provinces, but on the other hand, if politics continues, if the Sunni community in particular decides that they're going to participate in the presidential elections to the extent that they can, if politics continues, it's really a victory for all of us and for Iraqis.
MR. RUSSERT: But if the constitution is defeated, it's going to set back the political timetable considerably, which will set back American troop withdrawal considerably.
GEN. ABIZAID: I'm not so sure I would necessarily buy those sorts of points. I think that politics has to continue. If the constitution is defeated and they have to go back to the drawing board, I don't think it's necessarily an unusual or catastrophic event. They have the ability to continue to work through the process. The key point that we want to make sure happens is that they work through the process peacefully.
Now, look, throughout the region, there is a tremendous surge of reform activity taking place in places where you would have never thought, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan. This reform activity is really revolutionary for the region. And every step that it makes is almost certain to cause some form of violence somewhere. And I think the good news is that the vast majority of people in the region are moving towards a form of moderate--a moderate future that the extremists can't dominate. And that's hugely important for us to keep in mind.
MR. RUSSERT: If the Sunnis do not succeed in defeating the constitution but turn out in large numbers, but they're defeated at the polls, if you will, is there a possibility that they will feel disenfranchised, and is there a possibility it could lead to, in effect, a civil war?
GEN. ABIZAID: There's always a possibility that things could deteriorate, but I believe that the signals- -whether or not the constitution is voted up or down, that the signals of Sunni participation, especially against this culture of intimidation that the extremists impose upon them, are pretty good signals. I think the Sunni population coming together and participating is the key. Matter of fact, Sunni participation in Iraq is key to the future of the country, and everybody knows that.
MR. RUSSERT: There's a front-page story in The New York Times today: "Middle Class Sees Daily Life Wither in Iraq." In quotes, "Many people in Baghdad who say that their life in the middle class has gotten worse since the war."
GEN. ABIZAID: I certainly could understand how certain people in certain places in Iraq can have a view that their lives have gotten worse, but I can also understand how a great many other people can think just the opposite. The promise of a better future is absolutely on the horizon, if they can grab ahold of the politics, if they can form legitimate security forces with our help and move towards a political reform that this very, very bright bunch of people is capable of presenting. I'm optimistic. I think many of the Iraqis are optimistic. Can bad things happen? Yes. But if we stay the course, if we have courage and persistence and perseverance, I think Iraq will turn out well. But it won't come without costs, either in Iraqi sacrifice or in American.
MR. RUSSERT: Is there a possibility a year from now, if the political process does not improve, we could be sitting here and you would be saying, "We've lost the war in Iraq"?
GEN. ABIZAID: I think as long as we continue on the path that we're on and we insist that people show the courage and determination necessary to stand by the Iraqis, this will come out well, for Iraq, for the Middle East, for the world. And when it does, it will make a huge difference in our broader fight against al-Qaeda. We've got to stabilize Iraq. We've got to stabilize Afghanistan. We need to help Pakistan help itself. We need to help the Saudis. We need to do those things that bring an environment of moderation to the region, and unfortunately, it won't come without the help of American forces. But, over time, it can become less.
MR. RUSSERT: But the American people should know it's a long-term commitment for American forces in Iraq?
GEN. ABIZAID: I think those of us who have been fighting this war have said time and time again that it's a long war. But it doesn't need to be a war at the same level of 200,000 American forces in the region that we currently have. Months ago--matter of fact, you go back to March of '03, we had well over 350,000 people in the region. Now, we're around 200,000. If people in the region view us as partners as opposed to being occupiers, we certainly will win this war.
MR. RUSSERT: General John Abizaid, we thank you for sharing your views. And be safe in your travels in the Middle East.
GEN. ABIZAID: Thank you, Tim. It's a pleasure to see you.
MR. RUSSERT: Coming next, the future of this man, Tom DeLay: indicted and has now stepped down as majority leader. How will his indictment affect Democrats and Republicans? Democratic Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Republican Congressman Tom Reynolds--they're next, right here on MEET THE PRESS.
MR. RUSSERT: The future of Tom DeLay: the chairmen of the House campaign committees square off after this brief station break.
MR. RUSSERT: And we're back.
Congressman Tom Reynolds, Rahm Emanuel, welcome both.
REP. RAHM EMANUEL, (D-IL): Thank you.
MR. RUSSERT: Congressman Reynolds, let me start with you. The leader of your House Republicans, Tom DeLay, indicted, stepped down as leader. Why shouldn't he resign from Congress?
REP. TOM REYNOLDS, (R-NY): Well, first of all, I think it's one of the most political indictments I've seen in 30 years of politics and I think he has his day in court like everybody else. What's important I think is to realize that the House Republican rules are that a leader that is indicted should step down and that's exactly what Tom DeLay did. We had swift action by the promotion of Roy Blunt as the temporary leader in additional duties for Eric Cantor and David Dreier.
MR. RUSSERT: This is not Mr. DeLay's first encounter with ethical violations. This is only an allegation in court now, but what I want to read now is not an allegation. Here's how USA Today demonstrated and portrayed it. "DeLay has been admonished more by the House Ethics Committee than any sitting member of Congress. Last year, the bipartisan panel--the only House committee with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats--unanimously criticized DeLay for three things. It said a golf fund-raiser with executives of an energy company created the appearance that he was giving donors special access. It said he improperly tried to have the Federal Aviation Administration find Texas legislators who were hiding in Oklahoma to thwart action on his plan to redraw the state's congressional districts. And it said he promised a retiring House Republican he would endorse the man's son to succeed him if he voted for Bush's Medicare drug plan. In 1999, the committee warned DeLay after he threatened the Electronic Industries Alliance, a trade group, for hiring a former Democratic congressman as its president. And it cautioned him in 1997 about creating the impression that campaign contributions would bring `official action or access.'"
Three times unanimous, Democrats, Republicans, admonished Tom DeLay. Isn't there a string of ethical violations here which should bring about his leaving Congress?
REP. REYNOLDS: Well, the Ethics Committee did render a decision of admonishment which isn't even in the House rules. It's I guess the lowest form. It certainly sounds like a tough word, but it's the lowest form of a message the Ethics Committee can give out. The important thing here is, yes, the question on an indictment, should he resign, and I don't believe he should. I think he'll beat that indictment. I think when you look at--even the Houston Chronicle which is DeLay's home paper, the comments were that there was real caution on what this district attorney did in a very political indictment- -or the district attorney rather.
MR. RUSSERT: Rahm Emanuel, Mr. DeLay was on CNN on Thursday, and I want to read this exchange. DeLay: "Ronnie Earle does this to all his political enemies. ...And particularly in my case, he did it in conjunction and working with the Democrat leadership here in Washington, D.C." Question: "Well, that's an explosive charge you make, that there was some sort of collusion or conspiracy between Ronnie Earle and Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders in the Congress. What evidence, if any, do you have to back that up?" DeLay: "It's very good evidence, that they announced this strategy publicly, they put it on their website. And this strategy is in their fund-raising letters." Question: "Who specifically--who announced this?" DeLay: "The DCCC, the Democratic Campaign Committee, run by Chairman Rahm Emanuel. ..." Question: "What evidence is there they consulted with Ronnie Earle, that they talked to him or they had any dealings with him whatsoever." DeLay: "That evidence is coming."
REP. EMANUEL: Tim, let me--this may come as breaking news. Web sites don't indict members of Congress. Grand juries. Web sites don't admonish a member not once, not twice, three times, which is what happened to Tom DeLay. The highest ranking official in the history of the House of Representatives to be indicted. All that Web site does is reflect a culture, in my view, of corruption and cronyism that pervades the political system.
And I find it ironic that here we are on the 11th year anniversary, this week that just passed, of a Contract With America, where the Republicans said, "We're going to clean up Washington and clean up the mess and bring fiscal responsibility to Washington." The House majority leader, indicted. Senate majority leader, under question. Other members of Congress like Congressman "Duke" Cunningham, a Republican from San Diego, is not going to seek re-election because of a company that does business in front of a committee. He sold his house at inflated prices.
There is a culture of cronyism. And what's interesting under one of those admonitions--and I also need to back up a little, on that Contract With America, when you look at it--and this week is one way of--this anniversary--they would be sued for breach of contract for what's happened. But here is...
MR. RUSSERT: But the question is did you...
REP. EMANUEL: No, nobody.
MR. RUSSERT: Did you or anyone on your committee...
REP. EMANUEL: No.
MR. RUSSERT: ...or any member of the House Democratic delegation have any contact involvement with Ronnie Earle?
REP. EMANUEL: Absolutely not.
MR. RUSSERT: None.
REP. EMANUEL: I had none, and Nancy Pelosi--You know what's also interesting? The day before Tom DeLay blamed the Austin paper made Ronnie Earle lose. The day before--the next day he said Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel, the Web site we have up there. The fact is, Web sites don't indict, and there is, as you went through earlier to the question to Tom, there's a history here of patterns from admonitions to this indictment, prior activities. And what happens all the time--take a look at one of these admonitions was for the the bill on the prescription drugs. Because what happened there? That culture, Tom--Tim, rather, what they do here is they have a process that this culture of cronyism and corruption costs the American people money. They told us it was $400 billion, they knew all along it was $800 billion.
MR. RUSSERT: But there is some suspicion about Mr. Earle's political motivation. There's a group called the Texas Values and Action Coalition, a group that was trying to get more Democrats elected to the state Legislature in Texas. Mr. Earle was the featured speaker in May of 2005, raised $100,000. Why can't his motivation be suspect when he's trying to help Democrats replace Republicans in the Legislature which is what Mr. Delay was trying to do on the other side?
REP. EMANUEL: First of all, Ronnie Earle, that's a grand jury that indicted Tom DeLay.
REP. REYNOLDS: A six-member jury.
REP. EMANUEL: And he will have his day in court and we have a process for this, which is where it's going to be, in the courtroom. And he'll have a chance to air his grievances with Ronnie Earle. Ronnie Earle, as you know, there's a history, has indicted more Democrats than Republicans. This is an attempt, in my view, to not deal with the problem we have here in Washington, which is--and there's always an attempt to divert other people and question other people's motivations. We need to deal with lobbying and ethics reform, whether it's Bob Ney, Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Congressman Taylor out of North Carolina, there's a culture here. What we have to do is pass lobby and ethics reform that changes the way the people's business gets done. Because too long, too many times the lobbyists and special interests literally pervade on the system and change what gets done. And you see it through every one of those problems, the same thing happens. A special interest gets priority on the political system and it comes at a cost to the American people. It comes in higher...
MR. RUSSERT: But it's true--Mr. Emanuel, Democrats and Republicans take special interest money.
REP. EMANUEL: But, Tim, my point here is, there is a cloud hanging over this institution and it requires an institutional problem. But you want to know what's interesting--an institutional solution. Not one Republican will sign on to the lobbying and ethics reform legislation, and I would hope today that my good friend Tom would do that and join me and join others in signing on to that legislation and let's bring it to the floor so we do get action on this.
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Reynolds, there is a perception here of the indictment of Tom DeLay, the SEC investigation of the leader of the Republican Senate, Bill Frist, the botched treatment of Hurricane Katrina, the dismissal of FEMA Director Brown, difficulties in the war in Iraq. If the elections were held in November '05, would you as a Republican be petrified to go before the American people?
REP. REYNOLDS: Not for Congress. I can appreciate, I suppose, national elections or statewide elections, but House elections are built from the ground up, especially since Tom Davis and now I have ran them. The last time we did a national air war was in 1998 when I came to Congress; we lost six seats. And Bill Clinton is the only president who has actually gained seats in a second term, mid-term election since 1854. So we're going to stay with the ground game that builds them from the ground up. And when you look at the latest Pew poll of September 15, it clearly outlined that what do you think about the job your congressman's doing, it's 57-25.
MR. RUSSERT: Are you comfortable with what Congressman DeLay did? In fact, the money that was raised, given to Texas legislators who then in turn drew up congressional districts, which brought about four--a gain of four Republican congressman from Texas which added to your majority in Washington. Is that politics as usual?
REP. REYNOLDS: Well, right now we have--Rahm Emanuel's allies are involved in Ohio, Florida and Michigan attempting to do referendums that will change redistricting in those states. But what I see is a conspiracy charge that is pretty murky by anyone's standards. And what I think is, he has his day in court to lay it out.
REP. EMANUEL: Let me go to the question about elections and what does this means politically, given everything that's going on. The American people have rejected the same policies that are giving us the same results and the status quo. They want change. They want big ideas, big reform. This is going to be a big election, a national election because of the challenges this country faces. We can do better than the policies that got us into the position we have right now. And the fact is, the Democrats have an obligation to lay out to the country what those ideas are.
MR. RUSSERT: So, for example, should we withdraw troops from Iraq?
REP. EMANUEL: Well, I--let me--let's take what the general just said. Let's deal with that.
MR. RUSSERT: But what are the Democratic ideas?
REP. EMANUEL: I'm going to lay them out. I here to answer it. You know, what you guys have provided, Tom, is a set of old policies, even in this crisis we have with Katrina, that got us to this result, which is a failed set of policies, where, in fact, we've added up $3 trillion in the nation's debt, more people are losing health care, and poverty's going up. Democrats want to offer big ideas to change the direction of this country because we can do better.
On Iraq, we have a false choice between stay the course and get the same results and just pull up. I think Senator Levin laid out a very good agenda, which is we're going to have measurements. You can't say after two and a half years, like you asked the general before, two and a half years, nearly $400 billion, and we have one Iraqi battalion? We're going to set standards every way and measurements from the political process, economic process and also on the military and national security where Iraq has to stand up.
MR. RUSSERT: OK. So--so...
REP. EMANUEL: Let me go over--let's go...
MR. RUSSERT: No, no, wait. So if the Iraqis do not stand up, if there are not 10 battalions, 15 battalions in place, we withdraw?
REP. EMANUEL: See, Tim, that's the wrong question, in my view.
MR. RUSSERT: Well...
REP. EMANUEL: I'll tell you why, because when we...
MR. RUSSERT: But it's the question I asked.
REP. EMANUEL: But the Congress has an obligation to hold a standard. We have given the president a blank check. It's been a rubber-stamp Congress that sent troops in there without Kevlar vests, without Humvees. We have to have a standard in which Iraq and the administration measure up over the two years, and at that point we'll evaluate where we are.
MR. RUSSERT: So was it a mistake for Democrats in the Senate and House to vote to authorize the war?
REP. EMANUEL: Given the information that we were given them, they made their decision. What has been a mistake is to let this type of administration basically run a policy of incompetence when it comes to Iraq. Let me address, though, the future of this country. I'll give you five quick ideas. One, we make college education as universal for the 21st century that a high school education was in the 20th.
MR. RUSSERT: And who pays for that?
REP. EMANUEL: The American people, because it offers--Let me get to it. Second, we get a summit on the budget to deal with the $3 trillion of debt that's been added up in five years and structural deficits of $400 billion a year. Third, an energy policy that says in 10 years, we cut our dependence on foreign oil in half and make this a hybrid economy. Four, we create an institute on science and technology that builds for America like, the National Institutes has done for health care, we maintain our edge. And five, we have a universal health-care system over the next 10 years where if you work, you have health care. That says fiscal discipline and investing in the American people by reputting people first. The policies that the Republicans have offered have gotten us in the ditch we have today.
MR. RUSSERT: In order to pay for those programs, you'd consider raising taxes?
REP. EMANUEL: I think in this time and age, when we face the challenges we have, everybody has skin in the game. And I think the tax policies we have in place reward the type of culture of cronyism where, in fact, what we're doing is protecting the most well off while we throw middle-class families in front of the train.
MR. RUSSERT: What do you think of that program?
REP. REYNOLDS: Sounds to me like a liberal agenda: bigger government, raise more taxes to pay for it. That's the failed liberal policies. The last 40 years, the Democrats were in control of the Congress.
REP. EMANUEL: Tom, in the last five years the government's gotten bigger...
REP. REYNOLDS: And when we look at this...
REP. EMANUEL: ...under Republican rule...
REP. REYNOLDS: I have not heard...
REP. EMANUEL: ...than anytime in the history.
REP. REYNOLDS: ...any agenda coming out of the Democrats in Congress. It has been all slash and burn, nay. There has been no debate, Tim. This is not the debate of Dole and Moynihan. This is slash and burn, have no new ideas, and attack.
REP. REYNOLDS: There is no solutions on...
REP. EMANUEL: Tom, I just...
REP. REYNOLDS: Those are the first solutions that have come out of anyone's mouth right there...
REP. EMANUEL: I just off...
REP. REYNOLDS: ...that you at least put on the table.
REP. EMANUEL: Well...
REP. REYNOLDS: Your leader doesn't do it. The Democratic leader doesn't do it. It's all slash and burn.
REP. EMANUEL: Tom, first of all, I just want...
REP. REYNOLDS: I welcome the debate. I'm a minority leader of the state Legislature and the county Legislature. I know what the loyal opposition is. And there has been nothing of alternative solutions put on the table till you just did it today.
REP. EMANUEL: But we...
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Reynolds, are you surprised that George Bush is the biggest spender of presidents in American history with the largest deficits in American history? I thought Republicans were supposed to be conservative and fiscally disciplined.
REP. REYNOLDS: You bet it is, but he also faced 9/11, when New York was in need. He's also faced Katrina and he also has the war on terror, all at the same time under his watch.
MR. RUSSERT: So would it be a time, then, not to have tax cuts in order to pay for those?
REP. REYNOLDS: There comes a time that we get on to moving to work on the oversight of Katrina, see if we can develop the offsets. We need to continue working on the appropriations process, reconciliation. He has a goal of reducing the deficit in half over five years. We need to stay on track to get it done.
REP. EMANUEL: Tom, you--over the last five years, we've added $3 trillion to the nation's debt, health-care costs have gone up for middle-class families, uninsured have gone up and poverty's gone up. That's the failed policies of your party. Now, I've offered an agenda and I asked you--I started with political reform. Join Democrats in literally changing the culture of corruption that exists here, that affects all the institutions of the people's House. You know what's happened? When you look at the energy bill, you look at the prescription drug bill, the Congress has gone from the people's House to the auction house...
MR. RUSSERT: Why...
REP. REYNOLDS: Why don't you get your leader to convene the Ethics Committee...
REP. EMANUEL: ...on specific things--I'm...
REP. REYNOLDS: ...which is a 50-50 split...
REP. EMANUEL: Tom...
REP. REYNOLDS: ...between Republican and Democrats? We'd get something noted.
REP. EMANUEL: Now, we can--we...
MR. RUSSERT: All right. I want to ask one last question on Katrina, because this caught my attention. Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said this, according to the Washington Times: that "New Orleans would not reach its pre-Katrina population of `500,000 people for a long time,' and `it's not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again.'"
Then we learned that Craig Romero, the Republican candidate for Congress in the 3rd District of Louisiana, came to Washington and showed this bar graph, where he said it was a 50-50 district, but if you eliminate the parishes that were hit by Katrina, the Republicans would win 57-to-43. In other words, he's saying that the poor blacks are not going to come back to the 3rd district and, therefore, a Republican can win. Isn't that cynical?
REP. REYNOLDS: I hope everyone that wants to come back to New Orleans comes back and those who want to pioneer there for the start of what would be a great rebuilding of that city come.
REP. EMANUEL: That's right. The people of New Orleans and people of Louisiana in Charlie Melancon's district appreciate his leadership during Katrina and what he's done. What you just put up there is a sign of cynical politics. And I have total faith that the people of Louisiana will reject it. And what we should be doing is trying to figure out how to restore lives down there, not trying to figure out political gain from this.
REP. REYNOLDS: Well...
REP. EMANUEL: And that's the failed policies of the past.
REP. REYNOLDS: You...
REP. EMANUEL: We can do better on strengthening America for the future.
REP. REYNOLDS: The Democrats started with politics on Katrina to the extent that many of us in the House leadership had to call them on it. Nancy Pelosi, so many others of the House leadership, Democrats, took on Katrina and made it a political issue when we said, "Let's get these people's lives back in order."
REP. EMANUEL: Now, you...
MR. RUSSERT: The federal government did not botch the response to Katrina?
REP. REYNOLDS: What's that?
MR. RUSSERT: The federal government did not...
REP. REYNOLDS: I think the federal government has exposure, just like the local and state, and I want to see on February 15th...
REP. EMANUEL: Tom...
REP. REYNOLDS: ...the answers as that investigation comes under way.
REP. EMANUEL: Tom, there...
MR. RUSSERT: Before we go...
REP. EMANUEL: Yeah.
MR. RUSSERT: ...do you believe that Tom DeLay will return as majority leader of the House of Representatives?
REP. REYNOLDS: Yes, I do.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you?
REP. EMANUEL: No, I don't. And he shouldn't.
MR. RUSSERT: To be continued. Rahm Emanuel and Tom Reynolds, thanks very much.
Coming up next, Iraq, Katrina, Tom DeLay and the next Supreme Court nominee. Our roundtable is next. Dan Balz of The Washington Post, John Harwood of The Wall Street Journal, right after this.
MR. RUSSERT: And, John Harwood, Dan Balz, welcome both.
Here's the cover of Newsweek magazine. "Power Outage, DeLay: How The Hammer Got Nailed; The GOP: A Mounting Crisis of Competence & Cronyism." A picture of Tom DeLay, recently indicted; Bill Frist, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate who's under investigation by the SEC; Michael Brown, who was dismissed as head of the FEMA; and President George Bush.
Dan Balz, is that legitimate, overstated? What's your sense?
MR. DAN BALZ: I think it's perfectly legitimate, Tim, and maybe a little understated given the conditions in the party. I mean, you have a situation here where the Republican Party is probably in more difficult shape at this moment than at any time maybe since they lost the government shutdown in 1996. I talked to Newt Gingrich earlier this week and he said that the party is at an intersection that's the most important intersection in politics since the 1980 Reagan victory. You have a weak president who's at his all-time low or just slightly above it. You have a Republican-controlled Congress that is at an eight-year low in terms of its approval rating, now made worse by the DeLay indictment. And you have a Republican coalition that you can see has been splintering and is likely to splinter further in the weeks and months ahead.
MR. RUSSERT: And the Democrats take advantage of this, John Harwood. You know, out of the 435 House seats, as you know, there are only about 25 that are truly competitive because most states have made their congressional districts safe for the incumbent.
MR. JOHN HARWOOD: Tim, I think the question is: How much does that roster of 25 competitive seats expand as a result of what's going on right now? The line between a Republican majority, which is real in the country ideologically, but narrow, and the Republican Party falling apart is pretty thin. And when you start getting the party portrayed as sort of ethically challenged stumble-bums, as we saw last night on "Saturday Night Live," which began with a very good Tim Russert imitation, by the way...
MR. RUSSERT: Ouch.
MR. HARWOOD: ...yeah--that's a real problem for them. I talked to a Republican candidate for Congress in the Midwest on Friday who was door-knocking in a Republican primary, said his message was, "I want to go to Washington to change Washington." That's not a positive sign for the Republicans' ability to hold together behind this president and behind the Republican agenda.
MR. RUSSERT: And yet, Dan Balz, Tom DeLay has not been shy. Let me show you what you wrote on Friday. "DeLay has chosen to fight his indictment the way he has waged most of his battles, with certitude in his cause and public expressions of confidence and resolve. If his lawyers have advised DeLay not to talk about the case, he has ignored their counsel, giving interviews on television with the frequency of someone who has just won an election rather than one who has just received legal papers." We did invite Mr. DeLay to be here today. He chose not to come. But he has been out there and now, in fact, saying this morning, Dan Balz, that he believes that Republicans will get even a larger vote because of the travesty of the indictment of Mr. DeLay.
MR. BALZ: Well, I think you have to separate the legal case that Tom DeLay's facing--and there certainly are questions about that. This may be a difficult case to prove. And Ronnie Earle has had a history of bringing indictments that don't stand up once he goes into court. So Tom DeLay may be right that he may be able to beat this. I think the other part of this is whether Republicans will then want to invite Tom DeLay back into the House leadership, even if at some point next year he's successful. I think that's a more dubious proposition.
MR. RUSSERT: George W. Bush, the leader of the Republican Party, the president of the United States, USA Today noted this, John Harwood: "President Bush's response to Hurricane Rita won overwhelming approval in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll, a marked contrast to his low marks on handling Hurricane Katrina. Overall, 71% of those polled said they approve of Bush's response to Rita, which included presidential trips to the region before, during and after the storm. Just 40% said they approved of the president's handling of Katrina, which was marred by a slow federal response after the storm." The president's disapproval is now up to--approval rating's up to 45 percent as it was to 40 right after Katrina. Can a president rebound? Can this president rebound, and it's November of '06 for the elections, not '05?
MR. HARWOOD: Well, they've got some time to recover. I talked to a couple White House officials this morning who noted we're back up a few points as a result of what happened on Rita. But look, the number one priority for this president is the war in Iraq and the Katrina response has hurt that effort in a couple of ways. One, the spending priority squeeze we saw on our Journal-NBC poll that the number one choice for the American people for how to pay for the recovery of Katrina, which is very expensive, is cutting spending on Iraq. And the other this congressional candidate said he was hearing from his voters was the question of competence, and it created the people's minds the idea that maybe this group doesn't know what they're doing. We're now seeing this week a very aggressive White House effort to try to lead up to that vote on the Constitution. We have Cheney out giving a speech. The president will give a speech at the National Endowment for the Democracy this week. They realize they need to get ahead of that effort because that's what really counts when you look at the legacy of this president.
MR. RUSSERT: It was quite interesting listening to General Abizaid, Dan Balz, when I asked him about the vice president's comments about the insurgency being in the final throes, he said you never heard a military man say that. There has been a mixed message, this kind of overt optimism coming from the White House and the Rose Garden and some parts of the Pentagon, but commanders on the field being much more cautious.
MR. BALZ: I think that's right. I think that the White House officials would like to believe that there is now at least a theory and a strategy that in the long run can work. But I think they're quite cognizant of the fact that all of the facts on the ground and certainly the visual images coming out of Iraq work against that. And I think what the president wants to do once again is try to expand this story beyond Iraq into the global war on terrorism. And I think that that, you know, was a successful proposition in 2002 and in 2004 for them politically.
I think the important question, and, you know, we've touched on it, we shouldn't underestimate the difficulties Democrats may have in capitalizing on this, but midterm elections are often a function of which party is more motivated to vote. And I think at this point would you have to say heading into 2006, the Democrats are going to be a more motivated party than the Republicans.
MR. HARWOOD: Tim, one point on Iraq and troops. The president has a pretty good track record so far for not responding politically and pulling troops out. Some Democrats thought he was going to do that in the fall of '04 to try to make himself more popular. But there's going to be a lot of pressure from all those candidates running for Tom Reynolds on the Republican ticket next year for the administration to start seeing the glass a little more half full in terms of the ability to pull some troops back.
MR. RUSSERT: And when we asked people across the country which should be the highest priority, helping the victims of Katrina or the war in Iraq, it was 60-to-5, people looking inward toward domestic concerns. Let me pick up on your...
MR. HARWOOD: Don't forget gas prices, either. That's a huge concern of the American people
MR. RUSSERT: And let's pick up on that. We talk about the motivation of the voters, Dan. We expect perhaps as early as tomorrow the president to nominate someone for the Supreme Court to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Different cross-currents in the Republican Party, some saying, "Mr. President, now's the time for diversity, a woman, a minority, show the compassionate conservatism you talk about." Others say, "Mr. President, you pledged a hard-nosed conservative strict constructionist. Give us that. Let's go to Congress, the Senate, and fight, and if we have to exercise the nuclear option and change the rules against filibuster, we'll do just that." Where does he come down?
MR. BALZ: I don't know where he's going to come down. We were all somewhat wrong on the Roberts nomination.
MR. HARWOOD: I thought were you going to tell us who it was going to be.
MR. BALZ: I thought you were going to tell us. But it will be an interesting and revealing moment, I think, for what the White House thinks their situation is. As you say, he could nominate somebody like Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and split the Democratic coalition. Mr. Gonzales would have support of traditionally Democratic Latino organizations if he were the nominee. It would also set off a revolt on the right. But it would be a nomination that would get through. I don't think it would be as easy certainly as John Roberts was, but it would not be nuclear war up in the Senate. On the other hand, there are people who think that this is a party whose base is so anxious for a fight and they need to motivate that base, and he may want to do it and go in the direction of going farther to the right.
MR. RUSSERT: John Harwood, rather than talk about Katrina and debate Iraq and talk about Tom DeLay or Bill Frist, would the president politically benefit from a battle, a debate about moral values and cultural values by appointing a hard-nosed conservative nominee?
MR. HARWOOD: I'm not sure more fights is what this president needs right now. The one thing I know about--I don't know who he's going to pick. The one thing I know about Alberto Gonzales is the president would have the power by making that pick to make history. He would be picking the first Hispanic justice to the Supreme Court. And I agree with Dan. Alberto Gonzales would be confirmed. The paradigm we have for this administration has been pleasing the base as opposed to moving toward the middle. Is that still the right strategy for them? I talked to a White House official this morning and he said. "Well, how would you categorize John Roberts? Was to that for the base or for the middle?" Obviously that was a grand slam home run that pleased both sides. If they've got another John Roberts in their pocket, this would be a good time to pull it out.
MR. RUSSERT: The first lady has recommended a woman.
MR. HARWOOD: Well, she has, and she recommended a woman the first time, too. That's not a bad bet, either. The president said last week, "I acknowledge that diversity is one of the strengths of the country." We don't know which way he's going to go.
MR. RUSSERT: Speaking of women, a new television show called "Commander in Chief," Geena Davis playing the president of the United States, which received a pretty sizable audience. And I noted this picture in the newspapers: Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Dan Balz, are we seeing a situation where, in 2008, there's a very strong--2008 there's a strong likelihood that there could be one, if not two women for president of the United States?
MR. BALZ: Well, there's certainly a strong likelihood, if Hillary Clinton runs for the Democratic nomination, that she will be the nominee. I mean, she is certain the early front-runner. She has all sorts of reasons why she would be able to win that nomination, not without a fight, but she's in some ways in the same position George W. Bush was in, although a little farther advanced, when he ran for president. She enjoys a star status in the party, she has good ties to the left and to the base, and she has worked pretty hard to try to present herself as a moderate. Republicans will go after that. So I think she would have certainly a good chance to be the nominee.
Whether Condoleezza Rice really wants to make the leap into elected politics, I don't know. I mean, there are a lot of Republicans who would like to do that, including some people who'd been involved in past Bush campaigns would like to see her run, but I don't know whether she wants to do that.
MR. RUSSERT: She could be a logical candidate for vice president for any nominee in the Republican Party.
MR. HARWOOD: Tim, I don't think there's any doubt that a woman could be elected president right now. Whether Hillary Clinton is that woman or not, I don't know. Probably a little bit easier for a Republican woman to be elected because of some of the stereotypes that voters have about the two parties. But Hillary Clinton will definitely be a strong candidate. The question is what sort of opposition she might run up against. John McCain, a maverick Republican, somebody with a more unifying message, would be tough competition for her.
MR. RUSSERT: Dan, but what's the likelihood of a strong anti-war Democrat emerging in the primary process, criticizing Hillary Clinton for supporting the war?
MR. BALZ: Well, I think there's a very good likelihood of that, Tim. I mean, what you have in the Democratic Party, if you could sort of simplify it, is you have MoveOn v. the Clintons, particularly over the Iraq War. And Hillary Clinton has worked to try to prevent herself from being cast as soft on defense, anti-military. There is a real opening on the left over the war for somebody to try to fill it. The question is, who's really going to make that strong argument? It might be John Kerry. It might be Russ Feingold. We haven't seen who exactly it's going to be, but somebody will try to make that argument.
MR. HARWOOD: But of every Democratic politician who's supported the war, there's no one better positioned to hold off the left in their objections than Hillary Clinton is.
MR. BALZ: That's right.
MR. RUSSERT: John Harwood, Dan Balz, thanks very much. We'll be right back.
MR. RUSSERT: That's all for today. We'll be back next week. If it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.
© 2013 NBCNews.com Reprints


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The Creative Destruction of Medicine
29 August 2013, 14:24
What if your cell phone could detect cancer cells circulating in your blood or warn you of an imminent heart attack? Mobile wireless digital devices, including smartphones and tablets with seemingly limitless functionality, have brought about radical changes in our lives, providing hyper-connectivity to social networks and cloud computing. But the digital world has hardly pierced the medical cocoon.
Until now. Beyond reading email and surfing the Web, we will soon be checking our vital signs on our phone. We can already continuously monitor our heart rhythm, blood glucose levels, and brain waves while we sleep. Miniature ultrasound imaging devices are replacing the icon of medicine—the stethoscope. DNA sequencing, Facebook, and the Watson supercomputer have already saved lives. For the first time we can capture all the relevant data from each individual to enable precision therapy, prevent major side effects of medications, and ultimately to prevent many diseases from ever occurring. And yet many of these digital medical innovations lie unused because of the medical community's profound resistance to change.
In The Creative Destruction of Medicine, Eric Topol—one of the nation's top physicians and a leading voice on the digital revolution in medicine—argues that radical innovation and a true democratization of medical care are within reach, but only if we consumers demand it. We can force medicine to undergo its biggest shakeup in history. This book shows us the stakes—and how to win them.
All posts of category «Misc Nonfiction»


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Imagine a ceremony that marks a major life event in a way that is personal, sincere, and honest…
Humanist Ceremonies™ is the growing network of over 450 celebrants qualified and accredited by Humanists UK. We work across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. (In Scotland celebrants are trained by the Humanist Society Scotland.)
Our celebrants create, write and conduct a range of ceremonies to mark the big moments in life, mostly (but not exclusively) baby naming ceremonies, weddings and funerals.
What we do isn't new: we're proud of our history and know that Humanists UK members were conducting humanist funerals as long ago as the 1890s. Humanist ceremonies are not unusual either – we take many thousands each year but perhaps this isn't surprising since half of Britain's population say they are not religious, and indeed only a third of marriages in England are held in a church, for example.
Providing high-quality, personal, non-religious ceremonies is something we take very seriously. Our celebrants are thoroughly trained and quality-assured. They are passionate about their work and providing people with an appropriate way to mark the most important moments in their lives.
From here you can find out what a humanist ceremony is, or read more about our three main types of ceremony: namings, weddings and funerals. You can also find out more about celebrants – the people who write and conduct our ceremonies – and see who is available in your area.


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Find the resources you need.
The following websites offer educational information and assistance in locating services surrounding the issue of HIV/AIDS, homelessness and affordable housing, and health and social welfare.
- A&U Magazine
Collects, archives, publishes and distributes the growing body of art, activism, and current events emanating from the AIDS pandemic
- AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Improves the lives of people affected by the epidemic
- Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC)
Provides prevention and care services to more than 15,000 men, women and families that are living with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS in New York City and beyond
- HIV Health and Human Services Planning Council of New York
Coalition of persons living with HIV/AIDS, care givers, governmental representatives, and community members who strive to ensure quality care to all living with the disease
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Interactive system that helps answer health-related questions about your neighborhood, borough and New York City overall
- New York State AIDS Advisory Council
Advisory council consisting of members from educational communities, local health departments and advocacy and service organizations
- POZ Magazine
Chronicles the HIV epidemic through photographers, writers, designers and doctors
- San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Develops prevention programs and policy initiatives to promote health and create sustainable progress against HIV
- The Body: The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource
Works to demystify HIV/AIDS and its treatments and lowers the barriers between patients and clinicians
Affordable Housing/Homelessness
- Housing Works
Provides quality services for homeless men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS in New York City and beyond
- New York City Department of Homeless Services
Provides safe shelter, outreach services and helps individuals and families transition to permanent housing
- New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance
Supervise programs that provide assistance and support to eligible families and individuals
- The Community Service Society of New York
Supports poor New Yorkers to become participants in the city's civic life
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Provides current information on housing needs, HUD programs, and research on important housing and community development issues
Health/Social Welfare
- Substance Abuse/Mental Health Service Administration
Facilitates recovery for people with or at risk for mental or substance use disorders
- The Community Service Society of New York
Supports poor New Yorkers to become participants in the city's civic life
- The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center
Largest LGBT multi-service organization on the East Coast and second largest LGBT community center in the world
- U.S. National Library of Medicine
Working with National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies to provide extensive information about the latest health news


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Blue Jays - 540 020 040 - 15 18 0 Red Sox - 300 112 000 - 7 9 0Jon Lester (4-9-11-5-2, 94) turned in the worst performance of his seven-year career, allowing 11 runs (including a career-high four home runs) to the Blue Jays. His previous high was nine runs allowed (in only 2+ innings), which happened on August 20, 2010, also at Fenway against Toronto.
The last Red Sox starter to allow 11 earned runs was Doug Bird, back on May 24, 1983. Lester became only the 11th Boston starter since 1918 (and only the third since 1945) to allow 11+ runs in a game.
After the Blue Jays batted around in the first inning - Brett Lawrie swatted Lester's first pitch of the afternoon over the Wall, and five of the next six Jays reached base - Adrian Gonzalez got three runs back by hitting his 9th home run of the year.
But Lester gave those runs back and more, as he walked Lawrie and Edwin Encarnacion and was hit for back-to-back home runs with two outs: J.P. Arencibia's three-run shot and Rajai Davis's solo blast.
Lester kept the Jays off the board in the third and fourth - double plays in both innings helped him out. After he walked Davis and allowed a two-run dong to Travis Snider to start the fifth, Bobby Valentine finally yanked him.
Jaocby Ellsbury hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the fifth. ... Two-out doubles by Ryan Sweeney and Mike Aviles and a single from Nick Punto scored two runs in the sixth.
Boston dropped to 48-48 and is in last place (once again) in the East. The Red Sox begin a road trip against the Rangers and Yankees in Texas Monday night.
Ellsbury, CF
Nava, LF
Pedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, 1B
Ross, DH
Saltalamacchia, C
Sweeney, RF
Aviles, SS
Punto, 3B


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text: I had been saying all week that the Steelers really needed to win these next 3 games against the Titans Jags and Cardinals the next 3 weeks before the Patriots and Ravens come to town at the end of the month and the way the Steelers won this game today with a great offensive performance by Ben and the running game and o line and the way the defense played in this game shutting down Johnson and containing Hasselbeck who had been playing extremely well coming into this game and to do with so many key starters out makes it that much more satisfying of a win. It will now definitely give the Steelers a ton of confidence back as they head into two games the next 2 weeks with the Jags and Cardinals who have been playing terrible as of lately that they both should be able to win. 5-2 going into the Pats and Ravens games after this win today against the Titans is definitely looking alot more doable as we sit here now. Overall the Steelers keep pace with the Ravens who are on their bye week and have a very tough game with Houston next week. The Bengals as well as I had mentioned earlier in the week are not out of this race yet and continue to find ways to win games beating the Jags today on the road. The Bengals have the Colts next week at home and could easily win that game and push their record to 4-2. So as Ive been saying here the Bengals are in this AFC North race for the time being and dont appear to be going away so they are a team the Steelers need to keep pace with and keep winning games at this point as well to either stay tied with them or ahead of them until the play them in about 5 weeks in mid November before their bye week.


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Earth Stove Parts by Model
Find your Earth Stove Pellet Stove model and click on the stove for a parts list and products available for your Earth Stove Pellet Stove. To find your stove's serial number, check the back and sides of your stove for a small metal plate, your stove model and serial number will be contained on the plate. If you have questions please email us at email@example.com.
Please see our selection of Traditions Stoves - found HERE
For Earth Stove Wood Stove parts, please click HERE


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Seibertron.com - The Ultimate Transformers Fansite
Sledge wrote:Finally! Wheelie will get the credit he's due with a set of five Wheelies.
ScottyP wrote:Kid 1 "What did you get for Christmas?"
Kid 2 "Steve.........What did you get?"
Kid 1 "John Cena!"
Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
Henry921 wrote:You can always be counted on to listen to reason, Pryme.
Dead Metal wrote:Have you ever, and i mean ever seen/read/heard something that is completely original and does not copy/homage/pay tribute to something else? Here's a hint: Nope. You never have and you never will.
Erailea wrote:Look cool, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Distribution with this line sucks hardcore.
PrimeStriker wrote:Jet mode? Awesome! Incredible! The ROTF Starscream syndrome has reached him, however. Poor hands, back there.
Robot mode? Could be bulkier in the back, but I still love it. This guy is a total must have.
Jet-Robot hybrid? Haha. That's funny.
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Last Call, First Round! (グランドフェスティバル開幕!炎と氷のアート!! Grand Festival! The Art of Flame and Ice!!) is the 17th episode of Pokémon: DP Sinnoh League Victors.
Episode Plot
Dawn has little time before the Grand Festival; Ash and Brock join her in lunch at a hall. Brock is especially happy, as he can flirt from girl to girl. To cool him down, Croagunk uses Poison Jab on him. As they eat, they notice Nando, who won all five ribbons. Nando plays a tune before the camera of Sinnoh Now staff and gets visited by Dawn, Ash and Brock. Rhonda asks Dawn for few minutes on the camera and before she does, Dawn looks herself in the mirror. Dawn expresses she wants to give the audience the best she can out of her Pokémon. Nando is thankful for them, as he has pursued the path of Contests and Gym Battles. He only needs one ribbon to enter the Sinnoh League, so he and Ash promise to meet again at the League.
Kenny appears and teases Dawn. He is confident his Fusion Move will work, but will reveal at the Festival itself, not before. Kenny is somewhat surprised that Dawn does not feel angry at being called "Dee-Dee" and is told she got past that part of history. Suddenly, Plusle and Minun come and shock her a bit, causing her hair to be shocked and glittered. Those are Ursula's Pokémon, as she also came to the Festival. Kenny now sees something happened between Dawn and Ursula. Suddenly, Zoey appears and remembers Nando and Kenny, as they watched each other's performances on television. Zoey has not forgotten that she will face Dawn in final battle, making Kenny upset, as he thinks he is going to be Top-Coordinator. Ursula thinks they are bunch of children and soon hears Jessilina expressing herself at the camera.
Before they go to bed, Dawn gives a speech to her Pokémon. She displays her mother's ribbon and knows this brought her luck and thanks Ash, Brock and Pikachu, as she couldn't be here without them. Next day, Ash trains his Gible to use Draco Meteor and the move attacks Kenny, who was going to greet Ash. Kenny is fine and asks Ash where Dawn is. Ash responds that she is at her room, being all crazy about her appearance; she cannot accessorize her outfit. Zoey goes to help her and gives her advice; she should think of her Pokémon to get off the nervousness. The Grand Festival begins; Marian displays the judges - Mr. Contesta, Sukizo from the fan club, Nurse Joy from Lilycove, Pastoria, and Jubilife City and lastly, Fantina herself.
The performances will be held on three platforms; each one has two judges to decide whether they should pass. Ursula sends her two Eevee for the performance. Eevee use Iron Tail and follow with Hidden Power. She tosses a Fire and a Water Stone to them, making them evolve into Flareon and Vaporeon. Kenny is impressed by this performance, while Zoey knows she had only one chance of doing that. Nando, however, has Altaria and Kricketot sing. Meanwhile, Jessie's Seviper uses Haze and Yanmega uses Silver Wind on her, revealing a new dress she wears for the Festival. After some performances, it is Zoey's time to shine. Her Lumineon uses Aqua Ring, followed with Gastrodon's Water Pulse, which creates more rings, through which Lumineon jumps through.
Next is Kenny, whose Floatzel uses Aqua Jet and Empoleon uses Hydro Cannon. Floatzel uses this with Razor Wind, which causes the water to be scattered into bubbles. With Metal Claw, the bubbles become glittered. Floatzel uses Whirlpool and uses it to stop Empoleon's Flash Cannon, however, Floatzel becomes hit. Next is Dawn, who sends Buenary and Cyndaquil. Buneary spins and uses Ice Beam to create an ice slide, then Cyndaquil goes downward the slide using Flame Wheel, with Buneary following it. Buneary uses Ice Beam, but Cyndaquil uses SmokeScreen before, so the smoke turns blue. However, this turns out that Buneary encased herself in an ice Poké Ball, with Cyndaquil on it. Ursula was skeptical the SmokeScreen would have worked, which forces Zoey to scold Ursula. Ursula just responds she will not allow Dawn and Zoey to meet in the final fight.
All performances have been made and after some time, the judges decided who will enter in the next round. Dawn, Ursula, Jessilina, Nando and Zoey go towards the next round, but Kenny does not. Later, Kenny decides to leave Lake Valor to prepare for next Grand Festival. Kenny asks of Dawn to defeat Ursula and wishes Ash luck in training Gible.
- Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture: Hitmonlee
- This is the first episode of the four-part Sinnoh Grand Festival arc.
- The names of the three stages of the appeals round are the same as that of the three original games, Red, Green and Blue.
- Despite the fact that a main character and two recurring characters have each owned an Eevee that has gone on to evolve, this episode marks the first time an Eevee is shown evolving on-screen in the anime, with two Eevee undergoing separate evolutions.
- This episode marks the first time a Pokémon is seen to evolve in the middle of a Contest appeal, discounting the illusory Johanna evolving her Feebas in Malice In Wonderland!.
- Background music from Mewtwo Strikes Back, Spell of the Unown, Jirachi: Wish Maker, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and The Rise of Darkrai, as well as the instrumental of By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~, are used.
- The English version of this episode aired on the same day Pokémon Black and White came out in Japan.
- Team Rocket doesn't blast off or recite the motto during the entire arc.
- Nando's Kricketot used Sing in this episode, a move that Kricketot cannot legally learn (although its evolved form can).
- When Zoey's Gastrodon first came out, the top of its head was pink instead of brown.
Dub differences
During the appeals of everyone before Dawn, different pieces of music were used instead of the wild Pokémon theme from the Advanced Generation series and an instrumental from a Pokémon movie.
|Pokémon: Diamond & Pearl
|Other series: Original · Advanced Generation · Best Wishes! · XY · Sun & Moon · Sword & Shield