AND THEY WONDER WHY THEY HAVE COOTIES?:

Girls play less energetically than boys 'because they prefer to chat' (Kate Devlin, 05 Jan 2009, Daily Telegraph)

Girls tend to play less energetically than boys, because they are more interested in chatting, a new study shows.

Even at the age of 10, girls are more likely to stand around gossiping than playing games or sports like their male classmates, the research found.

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NO ONE WHO KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT HIM...:

Biden on economy: 'We're at war' (JONATHAN MARTIN | 1/5/09, Politico)

“We’re at war,” Biden told congressional leaders of both parties during their sit-down with Barack Obama in the Capitol, according to two sources familiar with the exchange.

...that it took Joe Biden 7 years to realize we're at war.
...will be surprised that it took Joe Biden seven years to figure that out.

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SECOND AMENDMENT SAILORS:

Danish warship rescues cargo ship and pirates: Danish navy (AFP, 1/02/09)

The Absalon warship received a call for help from a Netherlands Antilles-registered cargo ship that was being attacked by five pirates in a speedboat Friday morning. [...]

"The Dutch trade ship fired emergency flares at the pirate ship, which caught fire. The pirates jumped into the water and were rescued by Absalon crew members," it added.

These clowns can't even withstand a flare gun?

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CREEPING CARTERISM:

Feinstein not thrilled with Obama’s CIA pick (Dena Bunis, 1/05/09, OC Register)

Sometimes less is more and that’s certainly the case when reading Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s terse and clearly not pleased reaction to word that President-elect Barack Obama wants Leon Panetta to head the CIA.

““I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,” Feinstein said in a statement. Oops. Feinstein isn’t just any senator when it comes to this post. The California Democrat will this year become the first woman to chair the Intelligence Committee, which among other things would need to confirm Panetta. Might have been politic to check with her on this. No?

“My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time,” is the other sentence of Feinstein’s terse statement. Doesn’t take much to read between those lines.

It was always said that Jimmy Carter's awful relations with Hill Democrats were a function of his outsider status and his open contempt for them. What's the UR's excuse going to be?

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PUTTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER:

George Bush to award John Howard the US freedom medal (Samantha Maiden, January 06, 2009, The Australian)

JOHN Howard will be awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in Washington next week, in one of George W Bush's final acts as president.

Mr Bush, who described the former Prime Minister as "a man of steel" during their warm relationship and cooperation through the Coalition of Willing in Iraq, said today through a spokeswoman that Mr Howard was being honoured for his efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad.

The award is the highest civilian decoration of the United States and was first established by former US President Harry S Truman in 1945 and largely focused on wartime service.

It was re-established by John F. Kennedy and the criteria for the award was broadened to include meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the US, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavours.

Blair to accept top US medal in Bush's last week in office (Stephen Bates, 1/06/09, The Guardian)

Blair will find himself among others he will recognise. Donald Rumsfeld received the medal in 1977 for his original period in administration service; vice-president Dick Cheney got his in 1991; and President Bush has previously awarded other prominent figures involved in the Iraq campaign - Paul Bremer, the US's former director in Baghdad, General Tommy Franks, and George Tenet, former director of the CIA.

Blair was previously also awarded the US's other highest civilian honour, the Congressional Gold Medal, in 2003, for his support of the US invasion of Iraq, though he has never collected it.

He will receive next week's award alongside John Howard, the former Australian prime minister, and Álvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia. A White House spokeswoman said the three were being honoured by the president "for their efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad".

What about Aznar?

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THE RECRUITING DRIVE:

EBay Ex-Chief Spurs Political Speculation (ELLEN BYRON and STU WOO, 1/05/09, Wall Street Journal)

Former eBay Inc. Chief Executive Meg Whitman has stepped down from the boards of eBay, Procter & Gamble Co. and Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc., in what political observers say is a signal that she likely will throw her hat in the ring for the 2010 California governor's race.

A person close to the Silicon Valley executive said she could announce her candidacy in the next four to six weeks. A Republican Party official in California said she will have a team assembled by the end of the month and is bringing on people from the campaign of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who lost to John McCain in the Republican presidential primary. Ms. Whitman at first supported Mr. Romney but went on to back Mr. McCain.

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PAGING DANIEL MERRIMAN:

Daniel, if you're reading this, an old friend has tracked you down via the blog and would like to be put in touch with you. But I can't find your email address in my chaotic records. Please email me and I'll forward the email I received to you.

Thanks,
O

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DIFFERENCES:

Hamas looks to Hezbollah's inspiration (Sami Moubayed , 1/06/09, Asia Times)

Hezbollah performed with flying military colors in 2006, surprising everyone with its strength, even the IDF. Arabs around the globe were enchanted when Hezbollah downed an Israeli warship - live during one of Nasrallah's speeches, or when he lived up to his promise and struck at Haifa, in the heart of Israel, for the first time since 1948.

Hezbollah projects itself as a resistance group that can deliver, psychologically through the media, and militarily in ground combat. It has a well-trained and professional army, with sophisticated missiles, radars and weapons. When its al-Manar TV was hit by Israel, the station stopped broadcasting for no more than a few minutes and was immediately back on air, beaming images of dead Israeli soldiers and victorious warriors from Hezbollah, along with talk-shows of Hezbollah's might, with subtitles in Hebrew.

Hamas also has none of Hezbollah's media machine to promote itself. During its heyday in the Palestinian uprising that started in 2000 (known in Arabic as intifada), it excelled at surprise explosions in crowded places within Israel, and target assassinations, not in professional warfare like Hezbollah. Hamas cannot duplicate Hezbollah's performance, it is that simple, and its targets are easy to strike at, within Gaza.

In South Lebanon, there are no military bases for Hezbollah, no visible training camps, or arms warehouses. No Hezbollah flags flying at official Hezbollah buildings, forcing Israel instead to strike at everyone and everything in Lebanon, hoping that in the mayhem they would succeed at hitting Hezbollah targets. As one journalist put it back then, "One walks through South Lebanon and feels Hezbollah, but one does not see Hezbollah."

The situation in Gaza is different. Hamas is everywhere. Caught by the trappings of state after it took control of Gaza in 2007, Hamas placed its name and hallmarks on all buildings it controls, making them easy targets for Israel.

Had Israel and the US just recognized Palestinian statehood and the legitimacy of the elected Hamas government the whole place would be a valid target so long as attacks continued from its sovereign territory.

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THE KEY TO MAKING CHOICE WORK IS MAKING MOST OF THE CHOICES FOR THEM:

Under the Hood: Retirement Engine Rebuilt (Paul Gleason, Harvard Magazine)

Just about everybody needs to plan for retirement. Unfortunately, mixing domestic and international stocks with traditional and inflation-protected bonds and hoping they deliver the right payoff decades in the future is a daunting task, even for professionals. And what’s really absurd, says Robert Merton, McArthur University Professor at Harvard Business School and 1997 Nobel laureate in economics, is that most self-directed retirement plans expect everyone from professors to doctors to assembly-line workers to do that mixing themselves. “Imagine being wheeled in for surgery,” he says. “I’m kind of going under from the anesthetic, when suddenly my hand-picked surgeon says, ‘Mr. Merton, do you want 17 or 12 sutures?’ But that’s what they’re asking!”

Throughout the past decade, Merton explains, companies in general have moved from plans with defined benefits (pensions) to plans with defined contributions, such as 401(k)s. Pension plans guaranteed a certain standard of living but, Merton says, they have proved far more costly to employers than expected. Defined-contribution plans are more focused on the means of making money than on the end of having enough, and transfer the risk of accumulating sufficient savings to the prospective retiree. In future retirement plans, Merton believes, the buyers will set a goal and, aside from a few important questions (how much will you save each month?), it will be the provider’s job to reach it. [...]

The trouble with asking employees to pick among investment categories within defined-contribution plans, says Merton, is that the choices aren’t meaningful. What you want to know is how much you should be saving, how much you’ll be living on if you do, and whether or not you’ll be able to retire early. Instead, your 401(k) asks you whether you’d like more mid-cap stocks. What, he asks, does that have to do with the goal of “having the standard of living in retirement that I want”? Car buyers, he points out, don’t need to know the number of cubic centimeters in their engines in order to drive off the lot.

Merton’s solution, SmartNest (already installed at a European electronics firm), gives plan-holders a few simple choices, available as a computer program. The program asks users for both minimum and ideal retirement incomes (a floor and a ceiling). Users also tell the program how much they would be willing to save each month and their preferred retirement age. Based on these inputs, the program then calculates the odds of reaching the upper goal. The investment strategy remains under the hood, where Merton or other financial mechanics can give it periodic tune-ups.

The Right will moan about reducing people's freedom, but people don't want as much as the Right wants them to want. They want a healthy dose of security.

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AIM HIGHER, RUDY:

What New York needs in a senator (Rudy Giuliani, 1/05/09, CNN)

As the nation's biggest city, New York City needs an advocate with the toughness to fight for everything to which we are entitled. That means winning the internal battles in the Senate, as well as standing up to the rest of Congress and the White House and administrative agencies.

The mayor of New York City -- or of any big city -- has to be able to picture his state's U.S. senator standing up to legislators from other parts of the country advocating for their own region's needs.

For example, one of the first things Sen. Moynihan did after being elected in 1976 was to initiate a yearly survey that compared how much a state's residents sent to Washington compared to how much the state received back in federal aid.

While many Americans assumed New York received a lot more than it gave, Sen. Moynihan proved the reverse was true, and used that fact to advocate for New York.

A senator also needs a deep understanding of the many formulas that are used to calculate federally distributed aid. Some of these formulas are structured in a way that benefits less-populated areas.

Medicaid, for example, has been based on a state's per capita income, regardless of that state's number of recipients or healthcare costs. So a state like New York, which has high per capita income but large numbers of recipients and high health care costs, might receive from Medicaid as little as 50 percent of its costs. Other states get more than 70 percent of their costs covered by the federal program.

That's the sort of thorny policy issue that requires a senator to possess deep knowledge of an obscure distribution formula. But a senator should also bring a point of view -- a set of principles and beliefs that allows a consistent message to be articulated.

Run for governor--don't settle for the Senate.

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ALMOST A GREAT PICK:

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-obama-cia-panetta-2009jan06,0,6030511.story?track=rssObama picks Panetta for CIA director (Associated Press, January 5, 2009)

Two Democratic officials say President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to run the CIA.

Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world.

Mr. Panetta, besides his fundamental decency, brings as much executive experience to his post as anyone in the Administration, considerably more than the President, Vice President and Chief of Staff. Indeed, one wishes he were running the whole show. Nor is his being an outsider to the profession at all a negative. But it would have been nice to get someone in there who is as skeptical of the Agency as it deserves and was an advocate for open intelligence reforms and market mechanisms for analysis.

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HERE'S THE QUESTION THOUGH...:

Overcoming ethnicity (Spengler, 1/06/09, Asia Times)

Today the existential threat to most of the world's peoples comes not from without, but from within. A majority of Earth's cultures is at risk of demographic death.

Half of the world's languages will disappear by the end of the 21st century, and up to 90% by the end of the 22nd. The majority of these are spoken by a few hundred people each in the New Guinea highlands, and the rest scattered around the pockets of humanity left behind by the global economy. A small army of ethnologists is trying to record and analyze the thousands of languages that will fall silent forever during the next two or three generations.

It is not only the languages of primitive peoples that are endangered. Countries in which communism extirpated religion face catastrophic rates of population decline. A century from now, a geriatric remnant may be the only speakers of Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Georgian and other secondary but significant Western languages. Several countries that once formed part of the Soviet Union are projected to lose almost half of their total population by the middle of the present century, including Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and the Baltic states - and Russia itself is not far behind. For that matter, half of Japan's population will be older than 60 by mid-century.

The prospective extinction of nations, cultures and languages has become the leading source of instability for the 21st century. Never before in human history have so many people held their lives so cheap. Among other things, this explains why suicide has become a widespread technique of war-fighting for the first time. The phenomenon has become so widespread that it begs for a neologism. For lack of a better word we shall call it "ethno-suicide".

Europe is at peace for the first time in its history, such that the bestselling book on current European history is James Sheehan's, Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? A better question is: "Where have all the Europeans gone?" Europe is at peace but not secure, for most European nations have birthrates so low that they will lose economic viability within the next 50 to 100 years.

Wealthy Europe stands on the same side of a global divide with the endangered peoples of the New Guinea highlands and the disappearing languages of the Siberian taiga. Europe is ill at ease over the attenuation of its culture in the face of mass immigration from the Middle East and Africa, an immigration that the Old World requires to replace its own declining ranks, but that threatens to destroy its identity. Radical Islam would be a minor footnote if not for the possibility that Europe may be ruled by a Muslim majority a century hence, and that the Islamicization of Europe may give new impulse to a religion that elsewhere is immured in economic backwardness.

Why have so many branches of the human family lost the will to live? And what does the despair of Stone Age peoples in New Guinea have in common with the despair of modern peoples who choose not to reproduce? The answer, I believe, is that mortality becomes unbearable in the face of modernity. Sentience of morality distinguishes us from lower animals. From the sentience of mortality arises culture - the capacity to order our behavior consciously rather than by instinct.

Unlike animals, human beings require more than progeny: they require progeny who remember them. To overcome mortality we create culture, a dialogue among generations that links the dead with the yet unborn. Even the Neanderthals buried their dead with grave-gifts, a token of belief of life beyond the grave. Whether or not we pray to a personal god or confess a particular religion, the existential question remains the same. Without the hope of immortality we cannot bear mortality. Cultures that have lost the hope of immortality also lose the will to live.

Culture is the stuff out of which we weave the perception of immortality. With sad frequency, ethnic groups will die rather than abandon their way of life. Historic tragedy occurs on the grand scale when economic or strategic circumstances undercut the material conditions of the life of a people, which nonetheless cannot accept assimilation into another culture. That is when entire peoples fight to the death.

We cannot make a future for ourselves without our past. All cultures worship at the shrine of their ancestors. They exist to ward off the presentiment of death. Breaking continuity with the past implies that our lives have no meaning past our own physical existence. If we do not continue the lives of those who preceded us, nor prepare the lives of those who will follow us, then we are defined by our physical existence and nothing more. In that case we will seek to maximize our pleasure. It is perfectly possible for entire peoples to live only for their own pleasure and feel nothing for their prospective obliteration. How else should we explain fertility rates in Europe and Japan at barely half of replacement?

...given that secular Europe has no culture, who will mourn the passing of the mere individuals into oblivion?

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W'S REFORMATION JUST KEEPS ROLLING:

South Asia gets a makeover (M K Bhadrakumar, 1/06/09, Asia Times)

In sheer drama, however, the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, which put an end to two-year army-backed rule, must take the cake. While the J&K election did not hold major surprises as such, the results of the Bangladesh elections have come as a political tsunami. Political space in Bangladesh was supposed to have been neatly carved into two halves, which gave the military a handle to manipulate from behind the scenes.

Thus, New Delhi is plainly delighted that the electoral alliance led by the Awami League, which has been traditionally friendly towards India, scored a stunning victory by securing 263 seats in the 299-seat parliament. The mandate is widely regarded as signifying the people's desire for democratic governance and a clean, corruption-free government.

But there are strong undercurrents that hold enormous significance for South Asian security. The results have shown that the people have given a near-fatal blow to the Islamic political parties. The militant Jamaat-e-Islami, which was considered to be a powerful force in Bangladeshi politics, has been literally trounced, securing only two seats, with its chief Motiur Rahman Nizami being defeated. Plainly put, this is an overwhelming mandate against religious fundamentalism. The people have strongly reacted to the perception of a creeping "Talibanization" in Bangladesh. This assertion of the secular temper will come as a great relief to New Delhi.

Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina has been a victim of the wrath of the Islamists, being staunchly secular. A wily politician, she will realize that a great opportunity has come her way to exorcise the extremist elements from Bangladesh's body polity. The best thing to happen, of course, will be if a self-cleansing movement within the Islamist ranks surfaces in the coming period in response to the people's verdict, and Hasina were to become a rallying point. Hasina no doubt holds a strong hand. Her opponents tried to garner votes with their campaign to "save Islam", whereas she promised to counter militancy and religious extremism and establish a liberal democratic society. The Bangladeshi electorate, with a voter turnout exceeding 70%, has left no one in doubt what their choice is.

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BUSH/ARMSTRONG '12:

Lance for Senate?: As Lance Armstrong prepares for an eighth Tour de France victory this summer, he opens up to The Daily Beast’s Mark McKinnon about a future in politics, who inspires him, and why his comeback will roll on past 2009. (Mark McKinnon, 1/05/09, Daily Beast)

Is there a future for Lance Armstrong in politics?

If you feel like you can do the job better than people who are doing it now, and you can really make a difference, then that’s a real calling to serve, and I think you have to do that. I felt a strong desire to come back and race right now because I felt we had a place and I could have a real impact and that’s why I’m doing it. I don’t think you want to enter political life unless you really think you can really have an impact. Don’t do it for a bet, or a dare or for your ego. Or for any other competitive desire you have. Do it because you can get in there and change people’s lives. That’s why you do it. So, there will come a time, or not, that I say to myself, “You know what, I can help affect change.” And if that day comes, then absolutely.

Your life these days is really about leveraging talent on the broadest stage possible, right?

Yeah, but it can also be on a small stage. Being a parent is important. Not that that’s a small stage, but it’s micro level. You can help raise your children. You can lead the state of Texas. You can be mayor of a city. You can run for the Senate. You can lead a cycling team. You can run a non-profit.

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FIRST THE CLAMPDOWN, THEN THE COSMETICS:

Wire ban lures thieves, critics say: Burglaries rise as city tries to clean image (AP, 1/05/09)

Some business owners in this crime-plagued city say recent enforcement of a decades-old ordinance prohibiting some types of barbed wire and razor wire is making Newark more attractive - to thieves.

Burglaries are up 17 percent from 2007 through November in Newark, which has a young, charismatic mayor who has vowed to help the city rebound from decades of official inaction, incompetence and outright criminality.

The city is aggressively courting new investment and development, but people who have been ordered to downgrade their fences say officials are worried more about aesthetics than security.

Once some considerable portion of the population is behind prison wire then you can relax the amount of wire that surrounds decent folk.

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YOU CAN TELL A FOREIGN POLICY EXPERT...:

The Making of George W. Obama: The 2008 U.S. election was all about change. But that’s not what we’re going to get on foreign policy, says the longtime speechwriter for Condoleezza Rice. Instead of a radical departure from Bush, we’re likely to end up with a lot more of the same. And that may be just what we need. (Christian Brose, January/February 2009, Foreign Policy)

[O]bama will find a changing Middle East where freedom, opportunity, and the longing for dignity are bubbling up in ways that no one can control, Washington included. Something tells me that the leader of the Democratic Party isn’t going to give up on supporting democracy, both in terms of institutions and elections. Obama may rebrand Bush’s poorly named “freedom agenda”—he may expand it, as some of his advisors suggest, into a “dignity agenda”—but the basic approach will likely continue.

So, too, will there be little change on issues of global grand strategy. A refrain from the campaign was rebuilding damaged ties with America’s allies. But those ties have largely been rebuilt already—in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Obama can certainly improve these relations further, especially with real action on climate change. But another challenge may be managing the bubbles of overinflated expectations for his presidency that will soon begin bursting in allied capitals.

Bush will also bequeath to Obama a realistic strategy for managing the rise of great powers. By pushing China, India, Japan, Brazil, and others to be responsible stakeholders in the international order, the Bush administration showed that “the rise of the rest” need not be synonymous with America’s decline. In fact, it might actually enhance U.S. influence. In Asia, the most geopolitically dynamic part of the world, the United States now has better relations with each major power than they do with one another. Every state wants to hedge against the others, and the partner of choice is Washington. Obama’s task will be to continue inducing these emerging powers to share a greater burden of managing a new set of global challenges that no country, including the United States, can manage alone.

The asterisk here is less a rising China (though the question is still open) than a resurgent Russia. And with Russia, too, Obama will inherit a strategy that he’s likely to continue, simply because it’s better than the alternatives. It seeks neither to isolate Russia (which is impossible) nor to give Russia the blank check it wants in its old imperial stomping grounds (which is irresponsible). Rather, this policy seeks to balance cooperation with Russia on many shared interests with competition when interests diverge. Maybe this balance could have been struck better on issues such as Kosovo or missile defense, but that doesn’t signal the need for a new policy, just a recalibration of the current one. And if anything, the Georgia war showed that, if the United States wants Russia to be a responsible stakeholder, encouragement won’t be enough.

There will even likely be a great deal of continuity in the fight against al Qaeda. There’s a consensus now that preemption is necessary to fight terrorism; Obama himself has advocated for it. But in Bush’s second term, the administration basically converged on a new mantra: “We can’t kill our way to victory,” a key tenet of counterinsurgency strategy. The focus became not just fighting terrorists but building conditions of security, opportunity, and justice for the societies that terrorists seek to radicalize. It was even accepted that the United States might have to reconcile with some terrorists, as it did in Iraq and as some now support doing in Afghanistan. Obama most likely—and correctly—will not refer to a “war on terror” as the organizing principle of U.S. foreign policy, but that doesn’t mean he won’t approach terrorism in much the same way.

Such a strategy depends, as the Bush administration eventually conceded, on embracing nation-building as a national interest. There is now a consensus that the United States is threatened as much by failing and poorly governed states as strong, aggressive ones.

...because they believe the imploding former Soviet Union is resurgent, but between the lines he's right that W made universal liberalization into the core of even the pragmatist approach.

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BETTER READ THAN DEAD:

Foreign Policy

Yes, it looks different.

Starting today, the main site is transforming into a vibrant, daily online magazine of global politics, economics, and ideas. You'll be able to read the entire January/February issue -- with contributions from Nouriel Roubini, Gen. David Petraeus, and others. We'll continue to bring you popular items like The List each week, but we'll now have daily opinion and commentary at The Argument and a regular, online version of our provocative "Think Again" feature -- plus more to come over the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, Passport will be joined by a host of new blogs. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and Fiasco author Tom Ricks will comment on military matters at The Best Defense. Harvard's Stephen Walt, coauthor of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, will inject a dose of realism into the online political debate. Superclass author David Rothkopf will give readers an inside look at the global powerbrokers who really run the world. FP senior editor Carolyn O'Hara and a crack team of Clinton-watchers will be obsessively following all things Hillary at Madam Secretary. And a coterie of conservative foreign-policy heavyweights, including Peter Feaver, Philip Zelikow, and FP's newest editor -- and Condoleeza Rice's longtime speechwriter -- Christian Brose, will be on hand to critique the Obama presidency at Shadow Government: Notes from the loyal opposition.

Some blogging veterans are also adding their names to our digital masthead. Daniel Drezner's readers already know that he has brought his must-read blog on foreign policy, international economics (and occasionally the Red Sox) over to FP. Marc Lynch's essential Middle East politics blog Abu Aardvark has also come aboard. And investigative journalist Laura Rozen will be writing The Cable, featuring original coverage, scoops, and behind-the-scenes reporting about the making of Washington's foreign policy in the age of Obama.

We'll also feature partnerships with the Small Wars Journal and a new column, The Call, with political forecasting by Ian Bremmer and the political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group.

So where does Passport fit in with this illustrious company? In a better position than ever to bring you the latest news and opinion from around the world. We'll continue posting every day on topics both serious and absurd. And we're looking forward to having the chance to interact with our new blog-mates.

We expect to learn a lot about what works and what doesn't during this transition. As always, we invite feedback from you. We can't imagine a better time to launch a project like this and hope that all of you will help us make the new ForeignPolicy.com a must-read.

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TAKE BACK THE MOVIES:

A million stories to tell (Andrew Breitbart, January 5, 2009, Washington Times)

On Tuesday, I launch Big Hollywood (bighollywood.breitbart.com), a big group blog that will feature hundreds of the big minds from the fields of politics, journalism, entertainment and culture.

Big Hollywood is not a "celebrity" gabfest or a gossip outpost - it is a continuous politics and culture posting board for those who think something has gone drastically wrong and that Hollywood should return to its patriotic roots.

Big Hollywood's modest objective: to change the entertainment industry. To make Hollywood something we can believe in - again. In order to give millions of Americans hope.

Until conservatives, libertarians and Republicans - who will be the lion's share of Big Hollywood's contributors - recognize that (pop) culture is the big prize and that politics is secondary, there will be no victory in this important battle.

Hollywood is no longer an American industry.

If you've never read Mr. Breitbart's Tinseltown expose, Hollywood Interrupted, it's a blistering hoot.

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THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE:

Goodwill can wait, I feel the tug of war (Stephen Matchett, January 05, 2009, The Australian)

[T]he US National Park Service does an extraordinary job in explaining the history of the fighting on battlefields mainly preserved as vast parkland, almost all of which in the eastern theatre are within an easy day's drive from Washington, DC.

In fact, there are only two must-sees that are off the beaten track, the battlefield of Shiloh on the Tennessee-Mississippi border and the superbly preserved historic precinct in Lincoln's home town, Springfield, three hours south of Chicago. (While buffs hate its popular approach, the new presidential museum there is also well worth a visit.)

The NPS also makes an excellent effort at putting into perspective the way the war affected civilians and slaves. The restored Ford Theatre in Washington (where Lincoln was murdered) provides a fascinating insight into how city folk were entertained in the 19th century.

The new visitors centre on the battlefield at Gettysburg emphasises history beyond the battlefield. Inevitably, there are times when scholarship is overwhelmed by storytelling. There is a memorial at Shiloh to a drummer boy who never existed, but because he is the subject of a poem Americans used to learn at school, visitors expect to see him there and so the NPS sensibly decided to give the customers what they wanted.

Yet even without the fiction, the story of the Civil War is an extraordinary story, and one that resonates with Australians interested in the way democracies develop as much as stories of slaughter.

For anybody interested in straightforward military history, it marks the end of Napoleonic styles of combat and the beginning of war as a profession where managerial skill mattered more than a mastery of mayhem in battle.

But there is a bigger reason for Australian interest in the conflict: it was also that rare thing, a war between democracies (at least for white men) fought by citizen soldiers. Both sides held elections during the war and public opinion shaped strategy.

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THEY'LL MISS HIM TOO:

For Israel, Chance to Strike Before an Ally Departs (SCOTT SHANE, 1/05/09, NY Times)

For nine days, as European and United Nations officials have called urgently for a cease-fire in Gaza, the Bush administration has squarely blamed the rocket attacks of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for Israel’s assault, maintaining to the end its eight-year record of stalwart support for Israel.

Mr. Bush, in his weekly radio address on Saturday, said the United States did not want a “one-way cease-fire” that allowed Hamas to keep up its rocket fire, and Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday echoed the point, declaring that only a “sustainable, durable” peace would be acceptable.

Many Middle East experts say Israel timed its move against Hamas, which began with airstrikes on Dec. 27, 24 days before Mr. Bush leaves office, with the expectation of such backing in Washington. Israeli officials could not be certain that President-elect Barack Obama, despite past statements of sympathy for Israel’s right of self-defense, would match the Bush administration’s unconditional endorsement.

“Obviously Bush, even by comparison with past U.S. presidents, has been very, very pro-Israel,” said Sami G. Hajjar, a longtime scholar of Middle East politics and a visiting professor at the National Defense University.

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THE BACK IS ALSO GOOD FOR FOLKS WITH ANNOYING CHILDREN:

The people on the bus are ... of diverse personalities: Where you sit on a bus can define your personality, according to a psychologist. (Stephen Adams, 04 Jan 2009, Daily Telegraph)

Forward-minded people tend to sit at the front of the top deck, according to Dr Tom Fawcett of Salford University] concluded that bus passengers fell into seven distinct groups.

Those at the front on the top deck are generally forward thinkers and those at the back are rebellious types who do not like their personal space being invaded, he found.

Sitting in the middle are independent thinkers - usually younger to middle-aged passengers more likely to read a newspaper or listen to a personal music player.

On the bottom deck at the front tend to be gregarious meeters-and-greeters while those in the middle are "strong communicators". Travellers who automatically head for the rear downstairs are said to be risk-takers who like to sit on elevated seats because it makes them feel important.

He defined a final group as chameleons - travellers who do not care where they sit because they feel they can fit in anywhere.

He did not say what happened to forward thinkers on a single-decker bus - presumably they wait for a double-decker.

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THOSE WITHOUT SKILL ASSEMBLE PARTS:

England's only master cooper predicts demise of barrel making: England's last remaining master cooper Alastair Simms has predicted that the nation's barrel-making trade will go to the grave with him. (Daily Telegraph, 1/05/09)

Mr Simms, a father-of-two who lives in Devizes, Wilts., said his "only regret" is that no one will carry on the trade when he retires.

He said: "Coopering is not just a dying trade it's already dead. There are only four breweries left who employ coopers in the country and I'm the only master.

"It's a proper old-fashioned, historic trade and if you don't have a natural ability for woodworking and skill with your hands then you can't learn it.

"I'm going to keep working as a master cooper until I'm dead but I'm very keen to pass on my knowledge to another generation."

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THE U.R. VS THE DEMOCRATS:

Hill leaders say no stimulus by Jan. 20 (MIKE ALLEN, 1/4/09, Politico)

House leaders had hoped for a vote the week of Jan. 12 on a stimulus bill that’s likely to total $800 billion or so.

That way, the House could send the bill over to the Senate — or even get it to the new president’s desk — in time for the Inauguration on Jan. 20. But House Democratic sources now tell Politico a vote the week of Jan. 19, or even later, is more likely.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said on “Fox News Sunday” that he doubts such a large bill can pass in time for the Inauguration.

"[I]t's going to be very difficult to get the package put together that early so that it can have sufficient time to be reviewed, and then sufficient time to be debated and passed," Hoyer said. "But we certainly want to see this package passed through the House of Representatives no later than the end of this month, get it over to the Senate, and have it to the president before we break for the [Presidents Day] break [in] early February. ...

"We're going to move quickly. We're going to move as quickly as possible, given our responsibilities to make sure that we're passing a package that will work."

Hoyer added: "I'm for public hearings and I hope we're going to have public hearings."

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IN THE ABSENCE OF COHERENT GOVERNMENT:

How Israel, Hamas define victory in Gaza: Israel has hit at hundreds of targets across Gaza but has not seriously damaged Hamas's fighting force, which continued to fire rockets on southern Israel on Sunday. (Joshua Mitnick, 1/05/09, The Christian Science Monitor)

In the 2006 Lebanon war, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah showed the world it could not only survive Israel's superior firepower but that it could confront them on the battlefield. Israel withdrew from the 34-day war with Hezbollah claiming a "divine victory."

So far, Hamas has succeeded in stirring up regional and domestic sympathy under the Israeli pummeling during the first week in the war. But as the fighting continues, the militant group risks seeing its fighting force quickly degraded.

"There may be a push to unseat its hold on Gaza," says Nicolas Pelham, a regional analyst for the International Crisis Group. "It still appears to have retained authority and control in Gaza. There's no internal forces seeking to challenge Hamas."

Israel is a state without a government, so it lashes out at Hamas in order to help Israelis feel things haven't slipped totally out of control. Hamas is a government without a state--war is an acceptable substitute. Both sides are getting just what they think they need.

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MAN, ARE WE GOING TO MISS HIM:

Sudan president's main rival in talks with Bush: Ex-rebel leader's meeting will unnerve Khartoum (Simon Tisdall, 1/05/09, The Guardian)

A leading political rival of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's embattled president, is to hold talks with President George Bush in Washington today, in what will be seen by ruling circles in Khartoum as further evidence of US attempts to foment regime change in Sudan.

Salva Kiir, a former rebel leader in the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) who is now president of semi-autonomous southern Sudan, will discuss implementation of the 2005 north-south Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and other issues during a White House meeting, officials said.

Kiir, who also serves as vice-president in Khartoum's national unity government, is widely expected to run against Bashir for the presidency in CPA-mandated national elections scheduled for later this year.

The White House meeting comes shortly before the international criminal court is expected to issue a warrant for Bashir's arrest over genocide in Darfur.

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BUSH LITE:

Obama plans to unveil big tax cuts (MIKE ALLEN | 1/4/09, Politico)

Aiming to foster bipartisan support for his record-setting economic stimulus, President-elect Obama plans to propose huge tax cuts for businesses and middle-class workers that will total about 40 percent of the package.

Aiming to foster bipartisan support for his record-setting economic stimulus, President-elect Obama plans to propose huge tax cuts for businesses and middle-class workers that will total about 40 percent of the package, or up to $310 billion, congressional officials said.

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AMEN:

Former President Bush says he would like to see another son _ Jeb _ run for president someday (BEN FELLER, 1/04/09, Associated Press)

Asked in a broadcast interview about Jeb Bush's consideration of the Senate seat, Bush 41 said: "I'd like to see him run. I'd like to see him be president someday."

When asked if he was serious, he said: "Or maybe senator. Whatever. Yes, I would. I mean, right now is probably a bad time, because we've had enough Bushes in there. But no, I would. And I think he's as qualified and able as anyone I know on the political scene."

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WHO KNEW MEN EVEN HAD THEM?:

Man stabbed in Placentia (The Orange County Register, 1/04/09)

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IS HIS INFLUENCE REALLY WORTH THAT LITTLE?:

Bill Richardson withdraws as Commerce pick: The New Mexico governor cites an ongoing investigation. It's a blow for Obama's Cabinet. The president-elect accepts the withdrawal with 'deep regret.' (Mike Dorning, January 4, 2009, LA Times)

President-elect Barack Obama suffered the first blow to his Cabinet today as Commerce Secretary-designate Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew from consideration, citing an investigation of a company's business dealings with the state government he leads.

The New Mexico governor said in a statement released this afternoon that he was withdrawing because the investigation would have "forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process." [...]

A federal grand jury in Albuquerque has been investigating how Beverly Hills, Calif.-based CDR Financial Products won state contracts that generated more than $1.5 million in fees after donating $100,000 to political organizations affiliated with Richardson.

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• Bill Richardson Donor Probed By Grand Jury Over Financing Fee

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NOT TO SAY THAT YOU OUGHTN'T...:

Forget the bungalow, retire to Mars (Times of India, 4 Jan 2009)

"The goal is to make it affordable enough and reliable enough to move life from Earth to other planets," according to Elon Musk of rocket company SpaceX that's mulling a supersonic spacecraft to ferry people to Mars.

Musk, who prefers to distance himself from tycoon Sir Richard Branson's space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic, has his own plans for humanity's future beyond the atmosphere. His scientists are now working hard to make his "utopian road map" to space a success.
"We're looking at the commercialization of space and the realization of a permanent presence up there. If we could lower the cost of moving to Mars below a certain threshold say USD two million, I could see that being a huge business.

"It's not like a lot of people would have to go, just 10,000 to 20,000 people out of the six billion on Earth. People could save up all their lives and instead of buying a big house or moving to Florida, they could go to Mars," he told

...but before you decide to retire to Mars you really ought to read Dr. Robert Zubrin's informative and very funny new book, How to Live on Mars. Written from the perspective of a Robert Zubrin who was born on Mars in 2071, it's a chatty, snarky sort of pamphlet, that's equal parts encouragement for new settlers, score-settling with various technologies and strategies that Mr. Zubrin disfavors, space science made comprehensible for laymen, and patriotic boosterism for the socio-econo-political system that the author envisions arising on Mars--nakedly capitalistic and generally libertarian.

Had I realized just how scatalogical the humor is I might not have let him, but our 11-year old grabbed the book as soon as it came into the house and read it cover to cover. He's now eager to move to the Red Planet, if for no other reason than, "to get as far away from you as possible." At any rate, it'll encourage many to want to make the move, but ensure that they're making an informed decision. That it amuses in the meantime makes it worth anyone's time and attention.

Mr. Zubrin's Middle East satire, Holy Land is also, unfortunately, timely at the moment.

MORE:
-ESSAY: The Case for Colonizing Mars (Robert Zubrin, July/August 1996, Ad Astra)
-INTERVIEW: A Conversation With Robert Zubrin: Popular Science talks to the author of How to Live on Mars about the prospects for a move to the red planet (Laurie J. Schmidt, 12.02.2008, Popular Science)
-INTERVIEW: Zubrin on Terraforming Mars (Fraser Cain, 7/12/04, Universe Today)

Why did you write How to Live on Mars and why now?

I wrote it to excite a new and younger generation. I grew up in the Apollo era, and there needs to be literature to capture the imagination of the new younger generation. In the book there's a vision of a future civilization living and growing on Mars -- it's about creating a new branch of human civilization. As I see it, that new branch will have many of the positive and some of the negative aspects of America when it was young -- a place where the rules haven't been written yet. I think that when humans get around to exploring and building cities and towns on Mars, it will be viewed as one of the great times of humanity, a time when people set foot on another world and had the freedom to make their own world.

There are many different approaches you could have taken to writing a book about living on Mars. You chose to take a lighthearted, humorous approach -- can you tell me why?

It was a new way to reach an additional audience. I told it straight in The Case for Mars, then I told it in the form of an adventure story in First Landing. So this time I decided to try science humor.

-INTERIEW: Q&A: Robert Zubrin, Mars Pathfinder (National Geographic Adventure)
-PROFILE: Mars Explorers Call for Opening the 'New World' (Leonard David, 24 August 2001, Space.com)
-ARTICLE: Sign Up for a Mission to 'Mars' (Robert Lemos, 09.08.06 , Wired)
-REVIEW: of How to Live on Mars by Robert Zubrin (Brian L. Enke, Mars Society)

I'm not even sure if one should call How To Live On Mars a "novel," a "satire," or a "reference manual." To be safe, I'll continue to call it simply a "book." No doubt, this small dose of common sense and simplicity would appeal to Zubrin's protagonist, a desert-smart 22nd century Mars settler who happens to also be named Robert Zubrin.

In How To Live On Mars, the future Robert Zubrin tells you, a new Martian settler lured to the frontier by promises of Great Wealth and Fame, everything you need to know to actually achieve Great Wealth and Fame. His step-by-step recipe includes everything from how to reach Mars (in case you were smart and bought the guidebook back on Earth before purchasing your cycler ticket), what spacesuit to buy, where to live, how to earn your Great Wealth and Fame, how to enjoy your Great Wealth and Fame, and most importantly, how to avoid distractions and mistakes along road to Great Wealth and Fame.

Simply put, if you're interested in space exploration, How To Live On Mars should be on your "must-read" list. The science behind the fictional backstory is rock-solid, as one would expect from the author of The Case For Mars and Entering Space. Humorous prose delights the reader throughout most of the book, setting a lively pace that slows a step or two in the more technical sections (usually accompanied by adequate warnings). But don't be fooled by the rolling-on-the-floor-laughing parts...this book contains nearly as much useful technical detail as The Case For Mars.

-REVIEW: A New Land of Opportunity: One way to recapture the frontier spirit and relearn the value of hard work, self-reliance and risk-taking: a review of How to Live on Mars (GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS, Wall Street Journal)

If "How to Live on Mars" is in the vein of 19th- century guides to the New World, it is also in the tradition of futuristic fiction -- using a hypothetical future society as a way of pointing up trends and problems in our own. There seems little question that Mr. Zubrin views the values of a frontier as superior to those of a closed civilization. He begins with a quotation from the historian Frederick Jackson Turner: "To the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics. That coarseness of strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things." Mr. Zubrin has written elsewhere that he believes the outlet and example of a frontier is necessary for the long-term survival of freedom for those who remain behind.

Such frontier values are perhaps unfashionable in the age of Hope and Change, but they are widely held among Americans nonetheless. If "How to Live on Mars" inspires a greater enthusiasm for opening frontiers in space, it will have served a good purpose. But it will have done as much if it merely succeeds in reminding people of the importance of things like enterprise, hard work and self-reliance.

-REVIEW: of How to Live on Mars (Taylor Dinerman, The Space Review)
-ARCHIVES: Contributing Editor, Robert Zubrin (The New Atlantis)

MARS:
-ESSAY: Mars: An Adventurer's Guide: The discovery that there may be water on Mars gives us more reason than ever to go. And NASA's got plans for doing just that. It all begs the question: What are we waiting for? (Laurence Gonzales, National Geographic Adventure)

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