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Adios, Spain! Chile knocks out World Cup champs in shocker
Every great story must come to an end.
The tale of one of the greatest national teams in history ended on the pitch Wednesday at Maracana Stadium.
If the World Cup in Brazil had ended with a Spanish victory, there would be little argument. Spain would, for many, be the greatest national soccer team in history.
Instead, the defending World Cup champion and two-time European champion made an ignominious exit from this tournament, falling 2-0 to Chile.
In its first two games, Spain was outscored 7-1. They will play a meaningless game against Australia to finish off their trip to Brazil. Holland and Chile will play to see who wins the group.
There may be a tendency to write off this Spanish team based on its woeful performance in Brazil. But even this early exit cannot tarnish what has been one of the most amazing runs in international soccer history.
From their win at Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria to their 2010 World Cup win in South Africa and their repeat at Euro in 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine, Spain has been an unstoppable power.
The Spanish dominance has spawned a slew of impersonators who have adopted Spain's tiki-taka style, the ultimate in short passes, ball control and movement away from the ball.
But no one could do it like the Spanish.
They will forever be in the discussion about the best the world has seen.
But age and competition stresses catch up to even the greatest teams.
One day you are the top of your game. You play every international, all your league games and Champions' League games, as well as exhibitions, because everyone wants to see the top players in the world.
Then, suddenly, you begin to feel the weight of all those minutes, tackles and travel.
It all caught up to La Furia Roja in Rio.
It is difficult to admit that it's time to change a lineup that has brought so much success to a country. Vincente del Bosque hoped his boys had one more magical moment in them.
He would be let down by those he wanted along for one more ride — not only goalkeeper Iker Casillas but Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos and even Andres Iniesta was not his usual gifted self. It will likely be the last international appearance for some of them.
Even del Bosque's normally marble-like features reflected the emotion and frustration of the failure throughout the Chile game.
Chile established itself as a player in this World Cup. The Chileans responded to the moment in a primetime players way. They weren't intimidated by reputation.
They made Spain suffer with their quickness and pressure.
The fight went out of Spain early when Eduardo Vargas finished off a four-pass move, finding the back of the net against Casillas in the 27th minute.
Spain was still within shouting distance but could do little to trouble Chile 'keeper Claudio Bravo. The Chile defence, led by centreback Gary Medel, choked off virtually every attack.
One could almost hear the air go out of the Spanish.
It went out permanently in the 43rd minute, when the Spanish defence was again caught flat-footed and sluggish. They allowed a rebound to get back to Charles Aranguiz and he beat Casillas easily.
Casillas will be the player most critics will focus on when the team returns home. If David De Gea had been healthy, he might have been the starter against Chile.
No doubt Casillas had a nightmarish tournament. But the Spanish defence was almost as inept.
Spain pushed forward in the second half, desperation taking hold, and managed to create some chances but this tournament was never going to be kind to them.
As for Chile, they reveled in the moment. The country has huge support in Brazil, with thousands of fans making the trip. The stadium rocked with the chants of "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Chi–le, Chi–le," throughout the match and long after on the streets of Rio.
Chile is feeling strong. The Chileans have watched other South American teams like Argentina and Brazil get off to less than impressive starts. Chile may begin to believe it has a chance at this tournament, especially with Spain gone.
Yes, the King is dead but won't ever be forgotten.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Along with the Somme, the name 'Passchendaele' perhaps captures more than anything the horrific legacy of the Second World War. Properly known as the Third Battle of Ypres, the big offensive of 1917 has gone down in history as Passchendaele. Even though the fighting for Passchendaele itself only encompassed a small part of the battle in the Autumn. Millions of men were fed, sausage-factory style, into the Ypres Salient between July and October 1917. This was Haig's second attempt at the 'big push' after the slaughter on the Somme the previous year.
There are some harrowing accounts here – indeed, it almost feels trivial to call them fascinating. Stories of thousands of men drowning in mud – can there be a more horrific way to die? One shocking story even relates how a man became trapped in the Flanders mud, and sinking up to his neck, begged his comrades to shoot him and put him out of his misery.
And not only does McDonald focus on the British Tommy – Aussies, Canucks and Kiwis all fought in the battle too, and some of their stories are included here. The Western Front – and, indeed, Passchendale – were truly Allied operations. And the accounts are carefully and sensibly selected, to give an impression not only of the fighting itself, but also of the human cost of war, and of the social history – letters home, leave, rations, wounds and treatment and officer-men relations.
One review of this book on Amazon refers to Lyn McDonald as the 'recording Angel' of the common soldier, in particular the Great War Tommy. When this book was published, Oral History was very much in its infancy. It was still a completely new concept that the experiences of the ordinary, common soldier might be anything as interesting as the deliberations of those much higher up the food chain. 30 years on however, this book shows its age somewhat. Nowadays historians might be more inclinded to weave Oral History in with conventional writing in a more complementary manner.
Presenting the Great War through the eyes of the millions of men who fought in it changed the way that military history was approached. For too long the study of armed conflict – in particular that of 1914 to 1918 – was far too focussed on Haig, French, Lloyd-George and the like. The men in McDonald's book, however, lived and died on the strength (or weakness) of those mens egos and decision making. McDonald does not get too bogged down in the age-old 'Lions vs. Donkeys' debate, thankfully. Instead she gives us the barest details of the grand strategy, whilst letting the stories of the common men shine as only they can.


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Photo by Gregory Bojorquez
"Reyes!" barked the planning supervisor. "In my office! Right now!"
The young urbanists hands shook as he entered the City Hall planning office. His teeth were clenched, his mind filled with the image of the pregnant woman, beaten and bloodied, he had spotted an hour before as his city car rounded a corner in South Los Angeles. He now walked past the "zombies" his term who pushed paper through a Planning Department that seemed to be sleepwalking instead of remaking the future of Los Angeles. His partner, who didnt want to stop the car and help the beaten woman, didnt want to wait for the police to arrive he was already a city zombie. It made Ed Reyes mad.
"Reyes!" his supervisor repeated. "What the hell were you thinking?"
Also in this issue:
Welcome to Planning 101: The ins and outs of IZ by Robert Greene
The story tumbles out from Los Angeles City Councilman Ed Reyes as though it happened yesterday, and not some 16 years ago. The frustration feels fresh. The quiet ex-planner starts his standard speech. "L.A. today is a tale of two cities, with the haves protected by City Hall, the have-nots left to fend for themselves." But this time the conversation veers from Reyes plans to remake the city, and the Planning Departments reluctance to sign on, to the sharp recollection of that day in the late 1980s when he knew he had to get out of there. His supervisor a man who still works there was yelling at him for getting involved.
"Dude was Captain Bligh!" Reyes says, flashing a half smile. "How can I say this? He gave importance to all the wrong things. He tells me I could have undermined the department for getting involved. That I shouldnt have stopped. That I shouldnt have helped this woman. I shouldnt have argued with the dude who was beating her. I could have jeopardized the budget."
Back then, though, Reyes was too hot, or too dumb, to back down. Jeopardized the budget? How, exactly? If it were another part of the city, he demanded, would you respond the same way? If it were a white woman in the San Fernando Valley instead of a Latina south of the Santa Monica Freeway, what then? He was reminded that he was on probation. Still, he kept arguing.
And in the young urban planners anger the memories coalesced of other incidents that had been gnawing at him since he started working at the Los Angeles City Planning Department. The mocking of the new Latina councilwoman, Gloria Molina. His own desk, stuck in a closet. This place is racist, Reyes concluded. Racist in office politics, racist in planning policy. But what could he do? He could sulk, or become a zombie. Or he could plan.
And there was so much to plan. It was 1988, and Los Angeles was painting itself into a corner. After a decade of incredible commercial growth, a coalition of wealthy and middle-class homeowners and anti-sprawl environmentalists saw an L.A. lifestyle being swallowed up by rapacious developers. This city still was, as the name of a leading activist group put it, "Not Yet New York," and a Valley-and-Westside coalition led the charge to pass the stringent slow-growth Proposition U to keep it that way. Manhattanization had been put at bay.
But to Reyes, slow growth meant too few houses and apartments, which meant an inevitable jump in housing prices. Laborers and civil servants working here would have to drive for hours from more-affordable homes out in the desert or in San Bernardino County. Their rush-hour commutes would clog freeways and streets. The smog would get thicker. And the Valley and the Westside, once again, would win special protections for their neighborhoods, while South L.A., Pico-Union and Northeast communities like Reyes own Cypress Park would once again get the packed apartment houses and overburdened sewer lines and streets.
Reyes thought then and talks now about another way. Smart growth. Block sprawl by actually making housing denser. Put apartments on top of stores and gardens on top of apartments. Make historic preservation as available to struggling Highland Park as it is to tony Hancock Park, as long as it doesnt keep housing prices out of reach of working people. Declare that environmentalism is not just a Westside NIMBY sport, and claim the L.A. River and adjacent industrial yards as greenspace where Latino families can play soccer. Divert part of the river to form parks in rundown neighborhoods. Like Cypress Park.
Instead of piling even more restrictions on developers, Reyes thought, maybe loosen up a bit, to encourage them to build. Perhaps require only one parking space per unit instead of two, as long as the new apartment building is on a major public-transit thoroughfare. Let developers build more as long as they devote a portion of every project to below-market affordable housing, and as long as those affordable units appear equally throughout the city, and are not just plunked in low-rent minority areas. Other cities are doing that. Inclusionary zoning, they call it.
If I were ever in charge, Reyes inner voice repeated to himself back then, things would be different. Development protections only in the rich areas? No more. The river binding the city together instead of serving as a storm-water trench. Inclusionary zoning on the books. These backward Planning Department supervisors gone.
But he wasnt in charge. He was in a Planning Department of zombies, protecting the status quo. And rather than by any planning initiative or personnel slight, the point was driven into his gut by that searing image of the woman being beaten, the little girl seeing the city seal on his car and running out to plead for his help, the womans cry "¡Ayúdame!" Help me! By his zombie partners insistence that they not get involved, and now, by his supervisors shouts, chewing him out for putting a womans life and safety above the departments standoffish worldview.
And now it is 2004, and unlikely as it may seem, Ed Reyes quiet Eastside kid who wrapped up his bookishness, his vision and his anger into a career as a city planner is a city councilman and chairs the powerful Planning and Land Use Management Committee, with oversight of the Planning Department.
What should he do with this power? Is it vision, or an old grudge, or both, that drives him to re-create the citys approach to planning?
Once or twice, he has exploded on the council floor, challenging his reluctant colleagues to accept affordable housing in their neighborhoods. More often he tones it down, mindful that he needs the backing of the wary development community and Mayor James Hahn. In the background lurk the March elections not so much his as the one that will pit Hahn against two of his council colleagues (and two others). In the foreground looms the Planning Department, the source of his anger, the target of his reformist zeal. And at the top of the agenda stands inclusionary zoning, a policy simultaneously mind-numbing and politically hot, stirring up enough raw emotion to make homeowners, developers and affordable-housing advocates ready to go to war.
It is a pivotal and defining moment not just for the planner-turned-councilman, but for the entire city of Los Angeles. Perhaps all of California.
With or without Reyes and smart-growth programs, huge numbers of new arrivals (at least as many through births, the demographers say, as through immigration) will crowd the region over the next three decades. An entire population the size of Chicago will move in and demand a place to live. For the people already here, no amount of resistance or denial will obscure a simple fact: One version of the L.A. dream is slipping away.
Sheer numbers and urban density already make the wide-open freeway a fading memory. The 45-minute jaunt from the surf to the ski slopes? Once a birthright, today a rarity. A quiet cul-de-sac, plenty of street parking for your party guests, a low-rise landscape, everyones shot at a front lawn, an orange tree, a swimming pool and a barbecue vanishing.
Angry homeowners who invested in that dream are working to fight off new laws that encourage denser housing. Many Southern Californians have begun to blame unchecked immigration and, more particularly, Latinos. The Sierra Club this year fended off a challenge from an anti-immigration slate of candidates, while anti-sprawl environmentalists find themselves labeled elitist.
A three-way battle is brewing, and in its wake may come a sweeping political and social realignment on a scale not seen since voters sent liberal pro-growth Governor Pat Brown packing and replaced him with Ronald Reagan in 1966.
The ties that bind key partners in the Democratic majority wealthy liberals, environmental activists, urban progressives and the burgeoning Latino majority are stretching, and are about to snap. The political dancers are peering over their partners shoulders and ogling some exotic strangers on the floor. Affordable housing, in the topsy-turvy world at hand, may throw Latinos and blacks into the arms of once-hated realtors, bigtime developers and the Republican business lobby. Less regulation, more building is their mantra. Liberal environmentalists and homeowners, labeled NIMBYs for a "not in my back yard" opposition to taller and more densely packed apartment blocks, may find themselves in an uncomfortable embrace with anti-immigrant groups. The assault on the Sierra Club is but one example. Progressives, trying to stay faithful to labor, may find themselves and their social-policy agendas abandoned by unions, who will be lured by big financiers, realtors, developers and thousands of new construction jobs.
Or not. The final shape of the realignment is unpredictable, because affordable housing and smart growth are emotional touchstones at least as much as they are policy issues. They press the hot buttons that the people of Los Angeles famously, and scrupulously, avoid discussing: race, class, immigration, and the right to a patch of ground and an open stretch of freeway.
Ed Reyes understands that, and is trying to craft a strong-enough consensus among all the parties to win new affordable housing and gain a measure of equity among L.A.s neighborhoods, while giving life to a new breed of urban environmentalism. His goal is nothing short of re-defining the L.A. dream: a green city with recreation space for young people on the Eastside as well as the Westside, in South L.A. as well as the Valley, with efficient transit, ample opportunity and a social conscience.
But as developers see the affordable-housing crisis as a rare chance to advance against so-called NIMBY homeowners and L.A.s fabled red tape, and as affordable-housing advocates try to squeeze concessions from developers, and as all parties try to extract assurances from City Hall, Reyes and his backers may not be enough to control the future.
Standing above the MacArthur Park Red Line station, Ed Reyes points out spots where derelict structures have given way to new mixed-use projects under programs he started in his district that have now gone citywide: adaptive reuse, to turn old commercial buildings into housing; density bonuses, allowing increased floor-area ratio; and relief from mandatory parking requirements. With a sweep of his arm, Reyes shows where he wants to put flags of Central American nations and a market area for an Olvera Streettype experience. This is drug-dealer central, or at least it was. But with new attention from City Hall, its no longer inconceivable that MacArthur Park could be a family destination.
Critics call many of his proposals social engineering, because besides making affordable places for families to live, they expressly aim to put people of all economic classes in any given neighborhood.
Reyes turns around to point eastward toward the skyscrapers of Bunker Hill, and he lets loose.
"It wasnt social engineering when we spent millions of tax dollars to build these towers," he snaps. "We did this because L.A. wanted a central city. We wanted a skyline. And look who works there. Who benefits from that expenditure of tax dollars?"
The answer, of course, is that wealthy lawyers, accountants, real estate brokers and business leaders work in those towers. So do secretaries, bookkeepers, custodians and security guards, but Reyes says most of them commute by car or bus from miles away and have to hit the road before sunup for the privilege.
Dont the rich have long commutes downtown too? Ah, theres the irony. More and more downtown young professionals who can afford the high mortgages and rents are abandoning their suburban condos and giving up on L.A. dreams of the ranch house, the pool and the barbecue for a new urban vision: downtown living. The Spring Street loft boom may have played out, but developers of new projects, like Geoff Palmers Medici, Orsini and the like, command top dollar. Most make no room for below-market units.
Many Latinos, meanwhile, move out of downtown and Northeast L.A. as soon as they can and make their way to the suburbs to claim the older L.A. dream of the ranch house or the bungalow. Just how strong this trend is, and what it means to Los Angeles, is yet to be seen.
As a young planning associate working in City Hall, Reyes began studying where in the city all the building permits were being pulled, and where all the specific plans overlays that imposed special building restrictions were granted. Time and again, his research showed, the city handed out permits like candy to anyone who wanted to build in Boyle Heights, Cypress Park, Pico-Union, South L.A. No specific plans there. The protections against overdevelopment went instead to the West Valley, West L.A., Hancock Park.
Affordable-housing advocates note a shocking symmetry between the maps Reyes created that mark the still-unprotected areas of the city and the older maps from the prewar era that show where black, Latino and Asian families could buy or rent without worrying about restrictive racial covenants.
The advocates message is clear: Housing discrimination is alive and well. Minority areas get saddled with the big ugly boxes while the white areas are sheltered. The approval process has institutionalized NIMBYism, giving wealthier homeowners the power, through their City Council representatives, to send undesirable development to the east or south ends of town.
If that was the case in the slow-growth era, its even truer now, because of economics.
"It is the return of de facto segregation," contends Robert Gnaizda.
As general counsel of the Greenlining Institute, a Berkeley-based study and advocacy organization that plots strategies for affordable housing, Gnaizda notes that the national homeownership rate is 69 percent, but only 58 percent for California, much lower for Los Angeles, even lower for blacks and Latinos. Fifty years ago, he asserts, most blacks could get a high-paying job in L.A. without a high school diploma and could afford a median-priced home. Today, though, the median price of a home in Los Angeles County is between $400,000 and a half-million dollars. By most accounts, it would take an annual salary of close to six figures for a buyer to be able to afford it.
Adding irony to injury, the property-tax system often compels first-time buyers of tiny condos or ramshackle houses with astonishing sales prices to subsidize some of the very same wealthy homeowners who organize against new development. The owner of a five-bedroom house south of Ventura Boulevard, for example, may have paid $300,000 in 1978 but today enjoys a value of $1.5 million, a five-fold increase. But the tax will be calculated on the 1978 value, plus another 1 percent per year less than a one-third increase in property taxes paid for ever-more-costly city services like police and fire protection. The new buyer of a four-bedroom house in Silver Lake will pay $1.5 million this year and will pay property tax on the full market value.
Gnaizda and other housing advocates support modifying Proposition 13, and he criticizes business groups that rally to block such a move.
But, in an example of the political realignment taking place over affordable housing, the Greenlining Institute is staunchly pro-business when it comes to development. The group which includes representatives of big banks and builders says there is too much red tape. Its time to return to the free market.
"California is legendary for government regulations," Gnaizda complains. "It costs $100,000 more to build a home here than in Arizona."
Then there are the environmentalists.
"Im in favor of environmental protections," Gnaizda insists. "But not for the salamander or the fairy shrimp. Not at the expense of people."
Reyes, joined by Councilman Eric Garcetti, is trying to support a new environmental paradigm to appeal to the Latinos who live by the river or in areas in which the urban forestry group Northeast Trees is active. Its a hard sell, though. "Latinos arent tree huggers," one frustrated activist confides.
As for the free market, Reyes and his supporters dont believe it alone can solve the L.A. housing crisis.
On the council floor, Reyes has wavered between impatience and outrage at his colleagues as they express reservations over mandatory inclusionary zoning. At one point a year ago, he appeared to have brokered a deal to bring hearings on "IZ" and other affordable-housing strategies to every council district, and Tom LaBonges mostly wealthy 4th District was to be first. But LaBonge later demurred, and the agreement collapsed. So did activists hopes to bring IZ to an early vote.
"Guys like Tom LaBonge, if they could, they would be riding around here on their horses with their cowboy hats on," Reyes mused later. "You know, old school, White is right and well take care of our little brothers."
That comment aside, Reyes insists he no longer is motivated by anger, but by his vision of a city serving all its people.
"My anger days, my chip-on-my-shoulder days, faded away a long time ago," he says. "I dont walk around contemplating the injustices to people in our community. Because I just wouldnt be able to get up in the morning."
In 1988, Reyes was a fledgling assistant planner who had just returned home from Northern California to sign on with the department. For a young Latino urbanist from Cypress Park with a UCLA masters degree, it was an era of excitement and possibility, brought on in part by the remade 1st District and his new City Council representative, Gloria Molina.
Reyes was Cypress Park all the way. Even today, he lets drop, as he passes by a particular street corner, "We used to hang out here." Or, in fact, "I was hit by a car in this intersection," and "My brother was shot here."
Cypress Park was high-crime and high-neglect, but Reyes believed he was coming home to make a difference through urban planning.
Then there came one particular staff meeting at which the manager started mimicking Molina. "He imitated her, how she would posture herself and walk back and forth," Reyes recalls. "I think there was a level of ridiculing her, that was for sure. It was just a mockery of her directives."
Reyes was shocked. Is this what we do? he asked his colleagues. Is this how we operate? Whats going on here? He complained to his supervisor, but he didnt have much standing. He was already assigned to a desk that was stuffed in a closet.
"No, really," Reyes says. "I kid you not. In a closet. The closet door was here" Reyes reaches in front of him to illustrate the complicated arrangement "and when they closed it, I could get in and out. When they opened it, I would be stuck in there."
An assistant planner who was hired later "an Anglo guy," Reyes points out got a real cubicle, with a real desk. Reyes asked about it. He was branded a troublemaker, and before long he lost his spot in City Hall and was assigned to the field, where his job was to count mailboxes.
"Theyre pretty mean people," Reyes says of his supervisors at the time, noting that most of them are still there.
He avoids naming names. But two of the top three deputies to Planning Director Con Howe Franklin P. Eberhard and Robert H. Sutton were there in Reyes time. In fact, Eberhard has retired, but continues to help lead the department, drawing both a pension and contract pay.
Problems in the Planning Department predated Howe, who was still in New York during Reyes tenure. But Reyes already knew he had to get out.
"I had been doing so much work, it got to the point where I started getting other peoples binders, because they were taking off," Reyes says. "In the middle of the day. Going to the movies. Bragging about how they could be at home. Taking care of their business. The guy that ragged about it the most, I ended up doing his work. And when I saw that, that really pissed me off. Because the accountability wasnt there."
Reyes stewed over what had become of him in the Planning Department as he rode in that city car, counting mailboxes, in South L.A. Then he saw an old Victorian house, with a huge picture window, through which he could plainly see a man beating a woman in the face. Despite his partners protests, Reyes went to the front door. The first-floor tenant tried to tell him it was no big deal, the couple upstairs always fought. But Reyes went around back to find the door for the upstairs unit, and there he saw the beaten woman crawling on the floor in a trail of blood. "¡Ayúdame!" she said.
"So I went back there, I saw the dude," Reyes recounts. "Dude had no shirt on. He was like in a rage. And I started yelling at him. Whats wrong with you, you dont treat animals that way, how can you treat a human being that way? And I saw there was a baby on the floor. And he grabbed the baby. I was yelling, what are you doing, leave the baby alone. You can get arrested for this!"
When the police arrived, Reyes says, he told his partner, "Man, dont tell anybody this happened. Man, Im going to get shafted for this."
Because, he explains, "I already knew the environment I was in. I already knew the hostility that was there. I could feel the racism. Ive been in places like this. You feel it. You know it. And sure enough, man, the first thing this dude does is he goes to a person and he tells."
Reyes felt doomed. But he was fortunate enough to be taken under the wing of a woman who was trying to make changes in the department. She assigned him to the department director, Ken Topping, to do special projects like tracking down every motion that came out of the department.
"Thats where you started seeing where the resources were being driven," Reyes said. "Thats where you started seeing the specific plans that were being designed or built. What areas of the city were being taken care of. And when I realized what we had done, what we had learned, it made me even angrier. Man, this is not only on an individual level. This is on an institutional level. And that we were driving our resources. And its so skewed. You can see it on the map."
At about this time, complaints about racism and unfairness in the Planning Department trickled out to the City Council, which demanded an accounting of practices there. A 1991 document called the Zucker Report recounted low morale and a culture of racism. Topping was saddled with the blame and was fired. In his place Mayor Tom Bradley tapped Howe, executive director of the Planning Department in New York.
But Reyes had had it. He heard from an old Cathedral High School classmate, then working at the City Attorneys Office, that there was a guy running in the 1st District to succeed Gloria Molina who could use his help.
It was Mike Hernandez. Reyes called him up, and the two men interviewed each other for five nights straight. "Because I didnt know him," Reyes explained, "I didnt trust him. Because he was very showy. He was like a big peacock. A lot of feathers."
But Reyes read up on Hernandez, asked around, and decided he was the real deal. He helped Hernandez get elected, then became his planning deputy and introduced the concepts that had been rolling around in his mind for years.
Hernandez helped get the ball rolling, but drug and
alcohol problems, and finally his well-publicized arrest, slowed the pace. While he was in rehab, many of Hernandezs staffers moved on. Not Reyes. He stayed and became chief of staff. He sat with his boss, keeping him abreast of the goings-on at City Hall, encouraging him to stick with it. With Hernandez out of action, it was Mike Feuer and Jackie Goldberg who first introduced a motion in 2000 calling for a study of inclusionary zoning.
As Hernandezs term neared its end, Reyes started to think that perhaps he could run for the job himself. To most political insiders the idea was laughable. The job clearly belonged to Richard Polanco, the Eastside boss who was being termed out of the state Senate. Reyes asked Hernandez for his support, but the councilman, now back at work, said he was backing Polanco. Reyes felt betrayed.
Then Polanco shocked everyone by dropping out of the race amid rumors of family problems. Did Reyes have anything to do with the rumors? He denies it. Some Polanco backers in Cypress Park insist to this day that Reyes played dirty.
He barely avoided a runoff. But it was a done deal. Ed Reyes, a city planner, was elected to the City Council.
In office, Reyes pressed forward on his planning initiatives, but ran headlong into some familiar problems. Resources in his old department, he said, were focused on specific plans and preservation zones on the Westside and in the Valley. There werent enough planners to create an "all-star team" of expedited processing for developers who commit to building affordable housing.
There was a letter from Dwayne Wyatt, a planning associate who worked with Reyes, urging his former colleague earlier this year to put pressure on Mayor Hahn to oust Howe and his top deputies, for his own benefit, and that of other minority planners who he said failed to advance because of discrimination. Wyatt said it was also for the benefit of poor and minority areas of the city, which must bear the burden of development without the protections enjoyed by wealthier areas, like historic-preservation zones and strategic plans that limit density and impose tough strictures on new projects.
Wyatt requested a meeting to discuss "a number of long-standing concerns many of the minority planners have" about personnel practices, including "manipulation, favoritism and racism."
Reyes understood. He had been there.
Meanwhile, Con Howe missed a couple of key meetings on the topic of inclusionary zoning, and Reyes staffers were incensed. They tried to push their boss to get tough with Howe. And the only way to do that was to get tough with the mayor.
To them, its clear that Howes priorities have little to do with affordable housing. In some sections of town, Howe is widely credited for using Planning Department programs and policies to make preservation of historic buildings a reality in Los Angeles. The city already had Historic Preservation Overlay Zones, or HPOZs, when Howe came in. But he gave them greater resources and rapt attention, and helped launch new HPOZs in many districts, including Reyes'.
"Con Howe has done a lot for historic preservation in this city," says Murray Burns of Angelino Heights, a neighborhood of restored Victorians and Queen Annes surrounded by the tiny bungalows and densely packed apartments of Echo Park. "I think his view is that theres a possibility of Los Angeles being held in better regard by many people who dont live in L.A. if we can preserve the truly wonderful architecture we have."
But to some political activists, thats just the problem. Resources go to historic homes instead of new housing for the thousands who must commute for hours, or live in their vans, or pay more than half their wages for rent.
"The city needs an affordable-housing policy," says Assistant Professor David Diaz of California State University Northridge, "and the elected [officials] are not going to deliver it. Im totally disillusioned with most of the minorities in city government, and the, quote, liberal mayor. Sometimes the bureaucracy has to take some flak, show some courage."
Diaz, whose field is urban studies and planning, labels Howe "an absolute wimp" who has failed to take account of the rapid increase in L.A. population. He says a good planning director would offer cowardly elected officials a certain measure of political cover, shielding them from necessary, but unpopular, decisions.
Howes image doesnt help. A handsome man with a shock of white hair, he has a bearing that can come off as aristocratic. His wife was president of the board of the Los Angeles Conservancy, the Wests largest historic-preservation group. She is a principal project specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute. Both organizations symbolize, to minority activists, a white liberal elite.
Howe declines comment on efforts to oust him, except to acknowledge that he has long had a handful of unhappy employees among the many planners in his department. But he expresses pride in his efforts to encourage affordable housing in the city.
"Ive spent a lot of time in my career working with and trying to build affordable housing," Howe says.
As for inclusionary zoning, Howe says he has "no point of view that this is a bad thing." He points out that he worked with Reyes to increase the number of affordable-housing units that can be built near transit corridors.
"I really admire many of the things Ed Reyes has done," Howe says.
Its not an easy call for Reyes to make to Mayor Hahn. Reyes has endorsed his re-election bid, but hes also recently expressed dissatisfaction with the mayor's lack of support for inclusionary zoning. As Wyatt and others have argued that it is retirement time for Howe and several of his top lieutenants, Reyes struggles over whether to put his foot down and demand Howes ouster, or simply be the quiet staffer who finds different ways to get things done.
Theres another issue: Hahn opposes mandatory inclusionary zoning. That means the proposal must be sufficiently watered down to get the mayors signature, or council support must be significantly higher to overcome his veto. That last scenario is extremely unlikely.
Even among the proponents, there is little in the way of zeal for IZ beyond Reyes, Garcetti and, perhaps, council President Alex Padilla.
Cindy Miscikowski is onboard, although quietly. And, of course, there is Antonio Villaraigosa. Isnt there?
Villaraigosa joined Reyes and Garcetti a year and a half ago at a City Hall news event with ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, to jump-start the drive for inclusionary zoning. He combined the gravitas of Reyes with the cheerful charisma of Garcetti, and added the cachet of his own name and reputation for consensus building. Since then, though and especially since last spring, when he began contemplating another run against Hahn Villaraigosa has been very quiet on inclusionary zoning.
"Antonio was only into it as long as he thought it was going to win, and he wasnt going to take any heat for it," said one frustrated IZ proponent. "But hes running for mayor now and he needs business [support]."
In fact, Villaraigosas progressive credentials often obscure his alliances with some of the same business leaders who oppose mandatory IZ. An uncompromising Villaraigosa demand for inclusionary zoning is unlikely through at least March, the mayoral primary, and probably the May runoff, as the challenger and Hahn court the same business campaign donors.
That puts Reyes in an especially uncomfortable spot, if he wants to get IZ through the council anytime soon. As a declared Hahn man, he has very little sway right now over Villaraigosa or, for that matter, any council member trying to decide whom to endorse.
"I support inclusionary zoning," Villaraigosa said at a recent community forum. "Not necessarily the proposal thats on the table now."
Villaraigosa did tell The Eagle Rock Association that he was disappointed with the Planning Department, and that the problems start at the top. But thats all he would say.
So has Reyes pressed Hahn to fire Howe, and with him the top deputies who tormented him a decade and a half ago?
He responds with a typical Reyes-ism he stops, looks upward, closes his eyes briefly, flashes a fleeting grin. "How can I say this?" Reyes asks aloud. People who know him look out for that phrase. It means something insightful, and controversial, but perhaps less than straightforward, is coming.
"There are a few heroes in there that are carrying a lot of weight," Reyes finally says. "I just need the leadership. Senior management has gotten comfortable and detached from reality."
Sources inside City Hall said Hahn would stick with Howe at least until the plan for revamping Los Angeles International Airport is approved. Approval came in October. Howe is still there.
Earlier this year, Reyes stood on his own turf, near the tough Cypress Park streets where he grew up, and prepared to tell his constituents about inclusionary zoning. More housing for you and your families, Reyes tells neighborhood groups, because any developer who ever again hopes to build a house or apartment in Los Angeles must devote 12 percent to 15 percent of the project to affordable housing. He talks up more housing equity, and how new affordable units will be distributed evenly around the city.
But at this forum at the River Center, half of his constituents were stalking out the door. As a panel of business-suited downtowners began delving into the controversial initiative, some of the events English-speaking organizers complained that the Spanish interpreter and her equipment, which arrived late, were causing a "disruption." They told their neighbors, in essence, to shut up.
Now, as the interpreter leaned silently against a wall and the insulted Spanish speakers stormed out of the elegant meeting hall, a flustered Ed Reyes was left standing at the front of the room to give his standard stump speech about a tale of two cities, one privileged and protected, the other dumped on and abused. And this meeting, he later admitted thinking to himself, is the perfect example.
Some weeks later, he spoke to the Empowerment Congress North Area Neighborhood Development Council, and it didnt go much better. Reyes told the story of how half of his constituents were disrespected at the River Center. But the black residents here were unimpressed.
"Why," one African-American man demanded, "do we want to allow more density on our street? Theres already not enough parking for us, and we live here, weve been putting money and work into our homes. Why should we pack more people in and reverse everything weve been trying to do?"
It didnt go much better at the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council, at least not according to Louise Clark Stone.
"He referred to his Spanish-speaking constituents and his Asian-American constituents as being disenfranchised by neighborhood councils," Stone said. "I told him quite plainly I was offended by his reference to disenfranchisement. He backed off slightly, but he didnt apologize."
Besides, Stone said, there was a reason that she and her neighbors moved years ago to places like Shadow Hills and Sunland-Tujunga.
"When people move to an area like this, we do so because of the open space," she said. "We put up with the inconveniences like long freeway commutes because we like this way of life. Tell me how this is not telling us how we will live. I thought we were turning more towards environmentally sound things."
The same complaint is heard in places like Chatsworth and Sylmar. Dont pave over our horse trails.
Thats not what IZ would do, Reyes protests. But, neighbors demand, wouldnt you require new multifamily housing in our neighborhood? Its coming anyway, Reyes invariably responds. Lets channel it. But the horse communities are generally unimpressed.
Its gone better in some neighborhoods, especially the ones that know what it is like to be built out. The Venice Neighborhood Council signed on to inclusionary zoning. Silver Lakes council did too, with some suggestions and important observations. For example, if you want people to feel invested in their neighborhoods, shouldnt you let people who buy submarket units sell for the full price if they stick around for 20 years or so? Let them build equity, like everyone else, and a stake in the community.
But its not just affordable-housing skeptics in the Valley who arent Reyes fans. Some of his most vocal Cypress Park neighbors are unhappy with him.
Art Pulido, for example, who has known Reyes and his family since childhood, thinks the councilman has his head in the clouds.
"You know what we got from Ed Reyes?" Pulido asks. Supplying his own answer, he forms a circle with his thumb and forefinger and holds it up to his eye. Zero.
"Thats a powerful position. Why doesnt he hustle for us? Violence, drugs, dropouts he doesnt want to deal with that. He wants to deal with the river. With development."
He scoffs at the notion that Reyes is Cypress Park all the way. Even as a child, Pulido says, Reyes was aloof. Went to Sacred Heart, and then Cathedral High School. Went to school, came straight home.
"When he was 13, 14 years old, his mom didnt allow him outside," Pulido claims.
This March, Pulido says, he will be casting his vote for "anybody but Ed Reyes."
John Edwards, a relative newcomer to Cypress Park, comes from a different perspective. But he ends up in the same place.
"Hes obsessed with the L.A. River," says Edwards, who runs a computer learning center. "Look what hes ignored in the process!"
Edwards also notes that Reyes tends to lecture people on the citys long history of neglecting the Latino Eastside and historically black South L.A.
"So is he trying to make up for the past discrimination," Edwards asks, "or is he against white people? I personally think hes a racist."
Reyes own supporters and staffers bristle, or laugh, at the notion that Reyes is a racist. Still, they acknowledge that the councilmans vision includes an environmentalism thats embraced by working-class Latinos, and that groups that traditionally steward the river and the trees are, well, not Latino. Anglo. Elitist?
Ask the man himself, and he assumes a familiar stance. Eyes up, then closed, fleeting smile. "How can I say this?" he asks aloud. A pause. This time, there is no answer.
While some of Reyes City Council colleagues will glide to re-election this March -unopposed, Reyes drew seven challengers. None is considered a serious threat. But just over four years ago, Reyes, too, was considered a long shot.
The difficulty Reyes sometimes has in articulating his vision is underscored by the very different image presented by his chief ally on inclusionary zoning, and a host of other progressive measures, Councilman Eric Garcetti. Garcetti is everything Reyes is not charismatic, confident, at ease with a crowd, comfortable with attention, smooth-tongued in both English and Spanish.
Reyes, pressing his point on why developers should subsidize affordable-housing construction, often asks community groups, "How much is enough?" It is from the heart. And it usually clunks on the floor.
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Garcetti puts it differently. "We all have to sacrifice," he told a housing forum recently. "Communities have to give a little bit on density. Builders have to give a little bit on profits. Affordable-housing advocates have to give a little bit on their goals."
Theres something in there for everyone to hate. But Garcettis delivery, as always, was perfect, and he drew a warm round of applause.
Why cant Reyes do that? But Garcetti says Reyes doesnt need to. He brings the vision, but also much more. The guts. The guts to be unpopular, for a program he fervently believes is right.
"Ed Reyes is one of the most courageous people I have ever met," Garcetti says. "This is a very hard thing to do. But he will keep fighting for it. And were lucky because of that."


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The failure of AO-40 was not a problem of "rocket science". It was caused by human stupidity ... not writing down what had to be removed before flight so if the only person who knew that info could not be available their backup would. Les At 12:25 PM 12/13/2007, you wrote: >Les, > >Yes, they are aware of the fate of AO-40. They have had their own problems >over the years and they understand that this is rocket science. > >Rick >W2GPS >AMSAT LM2232 > >-----Original Message----- >From: firstname.lastname@example.com [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com] >Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 12:15 PM >To: Rick Hambly (W2GPS) >Cc: amsat-BB >Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] Re: Phase 4 versus Eagle > > >after AO-40 blew I would find it hard to believe that they would >trust the success of their mission with another AO40 type sat >onboard. Are they aware of our past track record? > >Good if they let us. > >Les > >At 10:08 AM 12/13/2007, you wrote: > >Les, > > > >Intelsat has already told me that it is OK to attach a satellite with >motor, > >tank and fuel. In fact, they offered to fuel our satellite with the excess > >fuel from filling their own tanks. > > > >Rick > >W2GPS > >AMSAT LM2232 > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: firstname.lastname@example.com [mailto:email@example.com] On > >Behalf Of email@example.com > >Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 12:28 AM > >To: Andrew Glasbrenner > >Cc: amsat-BB > >Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Phase 4 versus Eagle > > > > > >I doubt that would ever happen. If I was the CEO of the launch sat i > >would never let an "amateur" rocket motor hitch a ride on my multi > >million dollar bird. Just like NASA won't let us do it. > > > >If you can think of a way for us to get from GTO without a motor and > >fuel then it might happen. > > > >Les W4SCO > >www.scoincsoftware.com > > > > > >At 10:08 PM 12/12/2007, you wrote: > > >One of the possibilities I have not seen relayed well from the meetings >to > > >general knowledge is that it may be possible for Intelsat to attach Eagle > >to > > >one of their satellites, and drop us off in GTO on their way to GEO. This > > >possibility alone is worth working this opportunity out to it's >conclusion. > > > > > >It has become very apparent to me that we will not fund a HEO solely on >our > > >current membership donations. Ever. We have to go for the outside funding > > >Tom mentioned, and the best way to do that is a simple, tool-like > > >application like a GEO, geared heavily towards EMCOMM. Too many of us >have > > >taken the wait and see approach when it comes to supporting a HEO >project. > > >The money has to come first, then the satellite gets built and launched, > >not > > >the other way around. > > > > > >73, Drew KO4MA > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Sent via email@example.com. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > >Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > >Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via email@example.com. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
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Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo has vowed his side will attack Juventus when the two sides meet in the Champions League - but has remained silent on his team selection.
The Blues have been praised for their dogged defensive displays in Europe, a feat which saw them overcome Barcelona and Bayern Munich on the way to winning the trophy last season.
The Stamford Bridge side have been in poor form domestically - taking just two points from a possible 12 - but the Italian manager insists his side will take the game to their hosts.
"It will be a difficult game, but Juventus are under pressure as well," he told reporters.
"Our intention is to cause Juventus problems, so certainly we will attack as well as defend.
"There was frustration on Saturday and we owe ourselves a good performance. In the past the players showed they can be counted on."
The former Chelsea player revealed Ashley Cole will be available after recovering from a hamstring injury, but refused to reveal any further information on his starting XI.
"Ashley Cole is available to play," he continued.
"The defensive focus of the team will be very important tomorrow," he added. "I feel confident. I have a good team and we know we have to play a big game tomorrow.
"I will see how the players are in training and then I will make my final selection decisions."
The Blues currently sit second in Group E, currently one point ahead of the Bianconeri.


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Insight Client Manager
Always looking for exciting new challenges? Able to use your quantitative and qualitative knowledge in an insightful and consultative manner?
If the answer is yes, then this is the role for you!
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After nearly a century, we're more focused and skilled than ever at providing the complete view of what consumers watch and buy through powerful insights that clarify the relationship between content and commerce. We take pride in knowing that our expansive data and measurement capabilities provide market context and confidence through our long history of innovation and integrity.
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We are currently looking for a Senior Insight Client Manger to help the biggest names in retail and FMCG to understand their customers and enhance their brand performance. You will be looking after both new and existing blue-chip clients and tasked with delivering strategic insights that will help your clients grow their categories and brands.
Through analysing and utilising data on what consumers buy (retail measurement and consumer panel data) the Insight Client Manager will be leveraging insights around what consumers watch & buy. Throughout the process you will constantly be developing strong relationships with key stakeholders at the client and within Nielsen.
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- Strong attention to detail.
- Excellent numerical and analytical skills.
- Astute commercial acumen


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Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt: Cinema for Peace Gala!
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt hit the red carpet at the Cinema for Peace Gala at the Konzerthaus Am Gendarmenmarkt during the Berlin International Film Festival on Monday (February 13) in Berlin, Germany.
The 36-year-old actress chose a light grey silk cashmere herringbone tailored pencil gown with pleated neckline and matching belt by Ralph & Russo.
Over the weekend, Brad attended the BAFTAs, where he was nominated for the award for Best Actor for his work on Moneyball.
10+ pictures inside of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the Cinema for Peace Gala…


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This Hersey girls basketball win, 52-38 over Prospect, was for Patti Kennedy.
As she stood at half court before the game, Kennedy was remembered for her 19 seasons as Herseys girls athletic director.
After assistant principal of student activities John Novak and Hersey girls basketball coach Mary Fendley spoke, the retiring Kennedy took the microphone on Friday night in the Hersey Carter Gymnasium.
She said how much she enjoyed dealing with all the ups and downs in the business.
But mostly ups, she said.
Then she looked toward the Hersey players.
And right there, she said, pointing their way, are the ups.
Those Huskies (13-9, 5-3) then got up 8-0 on the visitors and never trailed.
Hersey players wore orange T-shirts that read Kennedy Basketball on the front.
We played the game for the person on the front of our T-shirt, said Hersey senior guard Casey Weyhrich. She does so much that goes unnoticed so we wanted to make sure we noticed her. We are going to miss her so much.
If you walked into the game three minutes late, you missed the 8-0 run by Hersey, with all the points coming from junior guard Morgan Harris (on a rebound layup and back-to-back 3-pointers).
Prospect (11-12, 2-6) battled back to within 11-10 but Hersey closed the first half with a 10-2 run to lead 28-17.
Senior Michele Molinis 3-pointer got the Knights to within 36-32 with 6:15 left in the game but the Huskies finished strong, getting 8 points in the final 5:15 tifrom junior Renee Poulos (14 points, 8 rebounds).
Harris led the Huskies with a game-high 18 points while Erica Hill chipped in 8. Meg Cerniglia pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds.
It got a little closer at the end but we were able to pull it out, said Weyhrich, who handed out 6 assist with 5 points.
Molini led Prospect with 14 points, followed Catherine Sherwood (10) and Trisha Benson (8).
Weve got to come out to win these games, not just hang around and hope to win, said Knights coach Ashley Graham, who said senior guard Adriane Falagario will be out for the season with a knee injury. We have to expect to win.
We cant let doubt creep in when we are heading into the state playoffs. We are not going to beat teams rebounding and turning the ball over like we did.
Kennedy sat with close friends and family, including her husband Bob and stepdaughter Caitlin. Many current and past Hersey coaches were in attendance, including former athletic director Ken Carter for whom the gym is named.
Fendley remembered being the visiting team when Prospect hosted Jean Walker Night for it retiring Hall of Fame girls athletic director and girls basketball coach.
That was a very cool experience that night so for our girls tonight and hopefully the Prospect girls, too, they were able to see how much of an impact Patti had for girls sports in the whole area.


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Hey all,
I am currently in Local 638 as a 4 year tech. Looking for a 638 shop with more Long Island work. The company I currently work for has become 100% Manhatttan making it difficult to get home in time to pick up my son up. I would love to hook up with Trane Long Island but they aren't hiring as of now. If anyone knows of any i would appreciate the info. I have already sent my resume to most of the postings on Indeed and MEP websites. Thanks in advance


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To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Of course. OpenSolaris only came about because Sun wanted to try and tell people Solaris was open source when competing against Linux suppliers, whilst secretly not relinquishing any control whatsoever. So yes, OpenSolaris was always an inferior subset of Solaris.
That strategy obviously hasn't worked (Sun went bust) so Oracle and Ellison are going in the opposite direction - make Solaris, and SPARC on the hardware side, high end premium platforms to satisfy Ellison's ego trip of competing against IBM, so they're the equivalents to AIX and Power. Solaris on x86 is all but dead again once the dust settles.
It's a somewhat better strategy than the doomed one that Sun had for ten years in all honesty, which was to try and pretend that PCs, cheaper and more powerful x86 hardware and an open source 'Unix' in Linux would all disappear when they woke up in the morning.


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Former LACUNA COIL Guitarist CLAUDIO LEO Dies
According to Italy's Soundsblog.it, CAYNE/ex-LACUNA COIL guitarist Claudio Leo died this morning after struggling with an undisclosed "serious disease." The exact cause of death has not yet been revealed.
A message at Cayne's Facebook page simply states: "Goodbye Claudio. Rest in peace, brother."
LACUNA COIL vocalist Cristina Scabbia said in an online posting: "It's with deep sadness that I inform you all that our dear friend and ex-guitar player Claudio Leo left us. My deepest condolences to his family, close friends and the band CAYNE. You will always be remembered for your strength and positivity. We love you, Claudio."
Claudio played with LACUNA COIL from 1994 to 1998 and appeared on the band's demo tape when they were still called ETHEREAL and the 1998 self-titled EP.
Leo was a founding member of gothic rock act CAYNE, which will release its self-titled sophomore album on February 14.


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Dave White Profile
Dave White
Your Movies.com Man at the Multiplex
Dave White's first movie review was of the animated feature Snoopy Come Home. He was seven years old...Read full profile
Your Movies.com Man at the Multiplex
Dave White's first movie review was of the animated feature Snoopy Come Home. He was seven years old...Read full profile
Still a pest. Read full review
Jen Yamato Profile
Jen Yamato
A movie fiend on a mission
Jen Yamato is a walking, popcorn-eating contradiction: she loves all kinds of cinema, from art films to schlocky B-movies...Read full profile
A movie fiend on a mission
Jen Yamato is a walking, popcorn-eating contradiction: she loves all kinds of cinema, from art films to schlocky B-movies...Read full profile
Sweet, clever family fun. Read full review
Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.
out of 100
Metascore®Mixed or average reviewsbased on a weighted average of allcritic review scores.
While its cast delivers uniformly breezy performances, most everything else about Ramona's move to the multiplex feels unremarkable.
Read Full Review
Ramona and Beezus are undeniably cute, and the movie that bears their names tries to inject some timeliness, but what many of us will walk away from this movie thinking about are the hot father figures.
On the other hand, this proud graduate of the School of Cleary Classics wishes that, like the young heroine herself, Ramona and Beezus dared more often to color outside the lines.
This is a featherweight G-rated comedy of no consequence, except undoubtedly to kids about Ramona's age.
See all Ramona and Beezus reviews at Metacritic.com
OK for kids 6+
Beloved book girl comes to life in sweet, kid-friendly tale.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this adaptation of Beverly Cleary's classic children's books about impulsive, imaginative Ramona Quimby and her older sister Beezus (played by tween favorite Selena Gomez) is a sweet, age-appropriate story about family and friendship. The plot revolves around Ramona's father losing his job, which may resonate all too well for some families in today's economy, but the tone is light overall, and the ultimate message is that believing in yourself and the people you love can help overcome any obstacle. There are a few sad moments relating to a pet's death, as well as some mild flirting and kissing between both adult couples and a pair of teenagers. Ramona gets into her share of mischief, but she always intends well, and she apologizes when she makes mistakes.
Educational value: The movie is intended to entertain rather than educate, but kids will take away important lessons about friendship, family, and self-confidence.
Messages: The movie is full of positive messages about the importance of family, believing in yourself, and being true to who you are. It embraces individuality and imagination and suggests that it's never too late to do what you love or be a better version of yourself.
Role models: Sure, she's unpredictable and impetuous, but Ramona Quimby is also loyal, imaginative, hardworking, passionate, creative, and enthusiastic. Her family and friends are ultimately supportive and loving, even if they do get frustrated with her sometimes. Ramona's parents -- especially her dad -- stay upbeat despite tough circumstances; her dad offers an example of someone finding a silver lining within what seems like a pretty dark cloud.
Violence and scariness: Some slapstick falls, bumps, and bruises. A few scenes in which Ramona imagines scary things happening (thanks mostly to her sister's suggestions...). A brief kitchen fire. A pet's death is sad but handled gently.
Sexy stuff: A few kisses and embraces between adult couples. One teenage kiss (as well as some tentative flirting). A rekindled romance is one of the movie's key subplots.
Language: A few insults like "stupid" and "jerk." When Ramona wants to say a bad word, she chooses "guts."
Consumerism: Not an issue
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Adults toast with champagne.
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Documentary released by Obama campaign recounts first term
WASHINGTON (AP) ' An upcoming documentary released by President Barack Obama's re-election campaign seeks to portray the president as a determined figure who took on a series of difficult challenges during his first term.
Obama's campaign has released a trailer to "The Road We've Traveled," narrated by actor Tom Hanks.
The trailer includes interviews with Vice President Joe Biden, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and others who describe Obama's response to the economic downturn, health care reform, the bailout of the auto industry and the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Republicans are panning the film, saying Obama's policies led to high unemployment and record debt.
The 17-minute documentary was directed by Davis Guggenheim and will be released on March 15 at campaign field offices across the nation.


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MPAA: Ripping DVDs Shouldn't Be Allowed Because It Takes Away Our Ability To Charge You Multiple Times For The Same Content
from the um,-wow dept
Effectively, the MPAA is arguing that there is no evidence that ripping a DVD itself is legal, and since anti-circumvention exemptions are only supposed to be for legal purposes, this exemption should not apply. Leaving aside the sheer ridiculousness of the fact that we need to apply for exemptions to make legal acts legal (I know, I know...), this is quite a statement by the MPAA. While it's true that there hasn't been an official ruling on the legality of ripping a DVD, the fact that CD ripping is considered legal seems to suggest that movie ripping is comparable.
But the bigger point is that the MPAA is arguing that because they offer limited, expensive and annoying ways for you to watch movies elsewhere, you shouldn't have the right to place shift on your own:
Copyright owners include with many DVD and Blu- Ray disc purchases digital copies of motion pictures that may be reproduced to mobile devices and computers pursuant to licenses. Blu-Ray disc purchasers can also take advantage of "Managed Copy" services that are scheduled to launch in the U.S. later this year. Movie distributors and technology companies are also making available services such as UltraViolet, which enables consumers to access motion pictures on a variety of devices through streaming and downloading. Many movies and television shows are also available online through services such as Comcast Xfinity, Hulu and Netflix, or websites operated by broadcasters or cable channels, which consumers can enjoy from any U.S. location with internet access. With all of these marketplace solutions to the alleged problem PK points to, it is unlikely that the presence of CSS on DVDs is going to have a substantial adverse impact on the ability of consumers to space shift in the coming three years.Notice that almost all of these "market solutions" mean you have to pay multiple times for the same content -- and they ignore the fact that these offerings are all very limited and may not have the content on the DVDs people have. Public Knowledge has a quick summary of how these "solutions" are not solutions at all:
The MPAA had two specific suggestions. First, consumers could re-purchase access to a subscription service such as Netflix of Hulu. They did not dwell on the fact that 1) this would require you to pay again to access a movie you already own; 2) these services require a high speed internet connection in order to work; 3) There is a reasonable chance that the movie you own is not available on any of those services at any given time; and 4) MPAA member studios regularly pull videos that were once available on those services off of those same services.When you think about it, this is really quite crazy. They're saying because they offer you an option to pay for a way too expensive, very limited option that might not really exist, you shouldn't have the right to rip your DVDs. This would be like the recording industry claiming you can no longer rip CDs because they offer a limited locked down selection of music in an online store. People would revolt at such a claim, and they should find the MPAA's ridiculous claims here equally as revolting.
The MPAA's second suggestion was even less helpful. In their comments, they pointed to Warner Brothers' DVD2Blu program. This program allows people to use their existing DVDs as a coupon towards the purchase of a handful of Warner Blu-Ray disks. They did not dwell on the fact that 1) this program is limited to Warner Brothers films; 2) the program is limited to 25 exchanges per household; 3) while some Blu-Ray disks include digital copies that can be moved to other devices, it is unclear how many of the disks in the DVD2Blu program include that option; 4) only 100 movies are included in the entire program; and 5) each exchange costs at least $4.95 plus shipping (which, for the record, is about as much as it would cost to buy the digital file from Amazon.).
If the MPAA stopped there, it would be crazy enough... but no, in the mind of Hollywood, they have to take it even further. They claim that because the ability to rip your DVD might take away their ability to keep charging you for the same content over and over again, that it goes against the purpose of copyright law. Seriously. They're actually claiming that their ridiculous "windows" are "new business models" that copyright law is designed to encourage:
In fact, granting PK's proposed exemption would be directly counter to the purpose of this rulemaking. It would undermine emerging business models that increase access to creative works in precisely the manner Congress intended the DMCA to promote.But that's pure bullcrap. The business models in question do not "increase access." They increase the ways in which you can pay. If they want to increase access, they would let you rip your damn movie.
It is clear that access controls have increased consumers' options with respect to motion pictures in digital formats. The Register should not interfere with that progress. Instead, she should endorse it.Up is down, black is white, day is night. Controls have increased consumer options? No freaking way. Controls have limited options... but have allowed the MPAA studios to set up tollbooths and charge people multiple times for content they legally had purchased the rights to.


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It is the morning after and the Mets will hopefully know more about Jon Niese's injured right ankle. Niese was knocked from Tuesday night's 7-2 loss to the Dodgers in the third inning after being struck by a hard comebacker off the bat of Mark Ellis.
Niese fell to the ground and had to be helped off the field. X-Rays were negative and he was diagnosed with a bruise.
"It felt kind of like a stinger, like it hit a nerve,'' Niese told reporters. "It obviously was painful. But then it kind of locked up down there. I couldn't move my toes. It was kind of scary at first. But then, coming in here, letting it settle down, it's just a bruise.
"What are the odds that ball hits my ankle? It's one of those things where I'm glad it's not as bad as what it could have been. I'll just move on, shake it off and get ready for my next start.''
Niese did not say where he earned his medical degree, but knows he won't be sure until he tests it on his throw day Thursday.
The right ankle is Niese's landing foot and if he feels any sharp bursts on pain then, he will likely be scratched from his scheduled start Sunday against Philadelphia.
"Certainly the fear was as soon as he couldn't move his foot … [it] was a bad sign for us,'' manager Terry Collins said. "Obviously, he's fine. He's walking around. He's getting better as the night goes along. So he'll be OK. He shouldn't miss a start.''
Not known is the number of times Collins has said after an injury that a pitcher won't miss a start or throw day, but he did.
Whatever the number, bet the over. Also, bet the worse when it comes to Mets' pitching injuries.
Thinking along those lines, the Mets will have to scramble to find a starter to replace Niese if he can't go. Aaron Laffey, who was designated for assignment to make room for Robert Carson, was signed by Toronto.
The Mets are adamant about not going to Zack Wheeler, saying he's not ready, and his control supports their worries.
Next up from Triple-A Las Vegas will be Collin McHugh, who was 0-4 with a 7.59 ERA in eight appearances. However, his Vegas numbers of 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts indicate he's pitching better.
Chris Schwinden at 2-2 is also available and pitched for the Mets last season.
The Mets could also decide to dip down to Double-A Binghamton for Rafael Montero, who is 3-0 with a 1.59 in four starts.
Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos


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Somewhere east of the Continental Divide, past Dillon and the Beaverhead River, we encountered the vast prairie of Montana along Interstate 15, accompanied only by flat, desolate, snow-covered terrain as far as the eye could see.
Somewhere east of the Continental Divide, past Dillon and the Beaverhead River, we encountered the vast prairie of Montana along Interstate 15, accompanied only by flat, desolate, snow-covered terrain as far as the eye could see.
Not a house, not a tree, nothing but a frozen white landscape.
The highway was covered in ice, with patches of dirty sludge, making for poor visibility and hazardous driving. Cars and even semi-trucks were scattered like match sticks across the divided road and into ditches and fields. Was this supposed to be fun?
When we had departed Stockton bound for Conrad - an 1,100-mile trek - to hunt deer, it seemed all too easy. Our destination, set about 120 miles below Lethridge, Alberta, enjoyed an Indian summer, with highs in the upper 60s. That was before the temperature plummeted 50 degrees in a day's time, after we were on the road.
As we pulled into town, my wife, Alexandra, and Labrador, Meeghan, knew we weren't near home with our Mediterranean climate. This was Montana in October - harsh, unpredictable and unforgiving to those who come here unprepared.
During the final leg of a 2 1/2-day trip, our truck had accumulated so much ice on the doors and running board we were hopelessly trapped inside the cab until a Samaritan pulled on the handle while I pushed, breaking the ice with an ear-splitting crack. It was so cold even a pan of water brought from a nearby restroom froze solid when I tried to clean the windshield. Forget about the wipers or old-fashioned elbow grease. Nothing worked.
Meeghan didn't seem to care, tiptoeing over the ice and nibbling on the snow, as if it were an exotic frozen dessert.
The following morning the mule deer hunt began, in 7-degree weather and 12 inches of snow. Tromping around far-flung plateaus and ridges quickly rendered so-called waterproof boots and gloves anything but dry. Five layers of goose-down clothing were no match for the elements. But we persevered walking ridges and ravines that dipped toward the Marias River, once mistaken by the Lewis and Clark expedition for the Missouri River.
I sprayed extra oil on the 30.06 so the bolt wouldn't freeze, but then came a reality check. My box of shells contained mostly spent cartridges, leaving me with four live rounds. Going back to the base camp would have taken hours, so making a shot required finding a buck at a reasonable range.
An overcast sky squelched any chances of warming and after miles of searching in vain for that "deer of a lifetime." And shivering violently, it was almost time to quit. There was just one more ridge to trudge.
It seemed like a waste of time but small cuts in the earth can hide deer that tend to hunker in the shady side of an outcropping, regardless if the sun is out. A walk to the point that overlooked a steep ravine was fruitless, but the return angle offered a glimpse of a big deer, with four points on either side, situated on a ledge, just 400 feet below the rim rock.
At 175 yards away, I sized up the challenge. Kill it in its tracks and there would be no problem. If it leaped and fell, packing it out would be herculean.
Tired and cold, I took a lean, aimed at its neck, fired and missed, the bullet going high. If the projectile had gone low, the buck would have jumped and run off. In this case, it stood still, as if frozen in the ice. A second shot hit its mark and the 240-pound animal fell dead on the side of the hill, mercifully not sliding to the bottom.
Suddenly, it didn't seem quite so cold. Perhaps, euphoria kicked in. Even the dreaded ice proved beneficial as we dragged the animal uphill as smoothly as a hockey puck. We quickly eviscerated the buck with the thought of deer liver and onions, and a good cabernet.
Meeghan earned her keep the next days, retrieving ducks and pheasants in snowdrifts so deep, at times only her head and neck protruded with a bird in her mouth. She appeared remarkably impervious to the cold but reveled in being toweled dry following the romp.
On the trip home we caught a break. A heat wave that soared to 37 degrees allowed ice to melt from road surfaces and afforded us the chance of traveling the northern-most east-west route in the U.S. - Highway 2 - to awe-inspiring Glacier National Park, then a small road south along the famous Bitterroot River and exquisite fall foliage to Missoula.
Our fortune continued with above-freezing temperatures, so we chose Highway 93 that serpentines along the Salmon River through Challis and Stanley, Idaho, past Sawtooth National Recreation Area and down to Sun Valley, where chichi homes seemed out of place with the immense natural beauty of the surrounding wilderness. On the main street a sign proclaimed, "no hunting in the city."
What lay ahead was a 12-hour drive and even greater contrasts, leaving high mountain towns of Idaho for the sparse desert of Nevada, before crossing the snow-covered Sierra through Donner Pass for our ascent into the Central Valley. We felt like pioneer explorers in a modern age.
When it comes to natural wonders and the immense beauty of the spacious outdoors, no places in the world surpass the western states. Our trip to Montana, through ice and snow, left us yearning for another adventure to Big Sky country and a hearty venison stew, something we'll delve into tonight.
Contact outdoors correspondent Peter Ottesen at email@example.com.