Glenbrooks, H-F, Thornwood all stay perfect

When Glenbrook North's Jon Scheyer converted a one-handed,fadeaway, alley-oop layup from Zach Bulwa to extend the visitingSpartans' lead with two minutes left in the third quarter Fridaynight, even the Highland Park fans conceded the obvious.

The Highland Park student body began chanting, "We can't stopthem," en route to Glenbrook North's 66-47 Central Suburban Northvictory over the Giants.

No. 1 Glenbrook North (8-0, 2-0) ran its winning streak to 32games.

"After the Deerfield game [Tuesday], I really refocused," saidScheyer, who scored a game-high 36 points and had five rebounds,three assists and four steals. "The thing I wanted to do was come outwith …

ENGINEERING EDUCATORS LOOK AHEAD AT EDI MEETING

Engineering deans gathered in New Orleans last month for great food and interesting discussions on the changing dimensions of engineering at the 2004 Engineering Deans Institute, Topics included the broadening of the scientific base to include the life sciences, the ability to design at the nanoscale, the expansion of industries to encompass the globe, and the ever-increasing complexity associated with sustainability, Speakers at the three-day meeting came from the National Science …

EasyJet passenger numbers rise 18 percent in Oct

EasyJet PLC, Europe's second largest discount airline, said Thursday it carried 18 percent more passengers this October than it did in the same month last year, helped by acquisitions of rivals in the face of an economic downturn.

The airline's passenger numbers have risen consistently since it took over rival British carrier GB Airways Ltd. earlier this year. The 104 million pound takeover allowed EasyJet to increase flight offerings from its key London Gatwick base.

…

Illinois college exec to take Wisconsin job

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) An Illinois scientist and administratorhas been selected to become the new vice chancellor of the Universityof Wisconsin-Eau Claire, school officials said.

Suzanne M. …

Whitman on Hot Seat Over 9/11 Aftermath

WASHINGTON - Ex-EPA chief Christie Whitman was bombarded by boos and a host of accusations Monday at a hearing into her assurances that it had been safe to breathe the air around the fallen World Trade Center.

The confrontation between the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency and her critics grew heated at times. Some members of the audience shouted in anger, only to be gaveled down by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who chaired the hearing.

For three hours Whitman faced charges from Nadler and others that the Environmental Protection Agency's public statements after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks gave people a false sense of safety.

Whitman maintained …

Heat taking first camp with LeBron on the road

MIAMI (AP) — LeBron James will take his talents to a different beach when the Miami Heat open camp.

He'll get to South Beach eventually. But first — Fort Walton Beach.

The Miami Heat announced Wednesday night that they'll hold their first camp with James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh at Hurlburt Field and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida's Panhandle from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3. Miami has typically held training camp at its home arena, but in an effort to limit distractions going into this much-hyped season, the Heat wanted a different locale.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wanted the camp there after getting presented with the idea by team trainer Jay Sabol. Once military officials …

Air France: Weather woes cost up to $46 million

PARIS (AP) — Intense snowfall and other weather-related disturbances have cost Air France-KLM up to €35 million ($46 million) so far this month, the chief executive said Tuesday.

Though other European carriers have yet to make their own estimates, they have also been hurt by the icy conditions, which have caused thousands of flight cancellations across the continent.

Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon put the cost of last weekend's heavy snowfall at up to €20 million. Speaking on Europe-1 radio, he presented his apologies to stranded passengers but said there would be no refunds.

Thousands of passengers traveling during the holiday season have been stranded by major …

DARK DAYS

DARK DAYS

Looking at the lives of women in a Romanian dictatorship

FOUR MONTHS, THREE WEEKS AND TWO DAYS (NR)

Directed by Cristian Mungiu

Starring Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu

Opens Friday at the Ricks

Nicolae Ceausescu ruled Romania from 1965 until 1989. During those years, Romanians endured a totalitarian government that impoverished them. In his attempt to make Romania completely independent by rapidly paying off the foreign debt, Ceausescu plunged Romania and its people into destitution and sowed the seeds that resulted in his own demise. Perhaps the most horrifying policy of Ceausescu was his plan to increase the population of Romania from …

Ferry with more than 100 people on board capsizes outside Bangladesh capital

The death toll from a ferry sinking outside the Bangladeshi capital rose to 39 when police found nine more bodies inside the boat's hull Friday while rescuers searched for about 20 people still missing, authorities said.

The ferry, carrying more than 100 passengers, capsized Thursday after hitting a cargo vessel on the Buriganga River.

The new bodies were found inside the hull of the wooden ferry MV Saurav after it was pulled out of 13 meters (45 feet) of water early Friday, said A.S.M. Maniruzzaman, a police officer at the scene of the accident.

Most of the 39 dead were women and children who were traveling on the lower deck of the boat, …

Chocs firm is bucking egg trend

Bristol chocolate maker Elizabeth Shaw says its Easter egg salesare on the rise, bucking a downward trend in the market.

The company in Greenbank says its sales are up by 12 per centcompared to last year. That compares with a three per cent dip in theoverall market.

Paul Keith, logistics manager at Elizabeth Shaw, said: "We'regetting a lot of cheap eggs now flooding the market. Everyone seesthese wonderful offers, such as three for GBP5.

"To be honest, for the supplier there is no profit in that marketat all.

"We're not in that market at Elizabeth Shaw - we're at the premiumend of the market, with anything from GBP8 upwards.

"That area, in …

Patrocina "Pinch" exaltacion de peloteros y periodistas al Salon de la Fama

Patrocina "Pinch" Exaltacion de Peloteros y Periodistas al Salon de la Fama

Por Luis David Rodriguez

FUE UNA noche llena de entusiamo, impregnada de gratos recuerdos de glorias pasadas. En el salon Trianon, del hotel Intercontinental, Miami, el whiskey escoces "Pinch" patrocino una recepcion y cena, en la que fueron exaltados al Salon de la Fama de la Federacion de Peloteros Profesionales Cubanos en el Exilio, varios atletas que entre los anos 1940 y 1961 se distinguieron en lo que, en la Cuba de ayer, constituia el deporte nacional, asi como a periodistas de distintos rotativos y estaciones de radio que resenaron sus hazanas.

El programa, muy interesante, se …

Spain aviation chief wants glitch investigated

Spain's top aviation official said that a glitch in an air temperature gauge that forced a Madrid jetliner to abandon its first takeoff attempt an hour before it crashed should be closely examined to see if it contributed to the accident.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Civil Aviation chief Manuel Bautista said a combination of failures _ either technical, human or both _ likely caused Wednesday's crash, which killed 153 people, many of them children and families on vacation. Nineteen people survived.

Aviation experts have described the air gauge problem as a relatively minor thing unlikely to have caused the crash. But Bautista would …

Marilyn Monroe dress is auctioned for $4.6 million

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Marilyn Monroe dress that flirted revealingly with a gust of New York subway air in "The Seven Year Itch" fetched a record $4.6 million at an auction of film memorabilia.

A more sedate outfit worn by Audrey Hepburn in the Ascot race scene of "My Fair Lady" drew a $3.7 million bid at the sale of nearly 600 Hollywood costumes and props collected by film star Debbie Reynolds.

The buyers, who were not identified, also paid a sum to the auction house and other fees, according to auction publicity firm Nancy Seltzer & Associates. That brought the total price to more than $5.6 million for the Monroe costume and $4.5 million for the black-and-white gown worn by Hepburn.

The total was $22.8 million, according to auction house Profiles in History.

"I'm thrilled beyond words. This first auction shows that our great stars were loved by the world," Reynolds said. She plans to part with more with items later this year.

In filmmaker Billy Wilder's "The Seven Year Itch," Monroe's character cooled off by standing over a subway grate to catch the breeze as a train sped underneath — which sent her dress north and exposed a shocking amount of leg and undergarment for a 1955 movie.

The costume's price set two records, according to Profiles in History: It surpassed the $1.26 million paid for the dress Monroe wore when she sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy, and it became the most expensive film costume sold.

That honor had belonged to Hepburn's black dress from "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which sold for $923,000, the auction house said.

More modest but still impressive bids at Saturday's auction in Beverly Hills and online included $540,000 for a Grace Kelly costume from Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief," $140,000 for a guitar used by Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music" and $100,000 for a "Cleopatra" headdress that adorned Elizabeth Taylor.

Reynolds, 79, started collecting four decades ago at auctions held by major film studios, including MGM and Fox, and eventually acquired 3,500-plus items.

The auction meant the end of a dream for Reynolds, who starred as a teenager with Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain" and was an Oscar nominee for "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."

Reynolds' combined casino-hotel and memorabilia museum in Las Vegas closed and she had planned to relocate the museum to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Last year, Reynolds' son, Todd Fisher, said the project had to file for bankruptcy protection and the collection would be sold to satisfy creditors.

Reynolds, who still performs in nightclubs and theaters and remains the petite, pretty blonde who captured Kelly's heart in their 1952 musical, expressed regret in an interview last week. But she looked on the bright side as well.

"I won't have so many children to take care of," she said, "so I won't have quite so much responsibility and I can rest a little more."

More items are to be auctioned in December.

Lebanese militant group issues statement

An al-Qaida-linked Lebanese group said its fugitive leader may have been detained or killed in Syria, according to a statement posted on an Islamic militant Web site Tuesday.

In the statement purportedly by Fatah Islam, the group said its leader, Shaker al-Absi, fled Lebanon in 2007 and went to Syria.

He was later ambushed by Syrian security forces in Jermana, a small town south of Damascus, according to the statement.

It said al-Absi may have been detained, but most likely, he was killed.

"We don't know his fate but we believe he probably was martyred, but we don't have solid evidence," said the written statement, which could not be independently verified.

The statement was posted on a Web site commonly used by militant groups including al-Qaida and didn't provide further details or say when the ambush took place.

Al-Absi has been on the run since Fatah Islam battled the Lebanese army last year in the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr el-Bared in northern Lebanon.

The more than three-month siege that ended in September 2007. The Lebanese government says about 220 militants and 168 Lebanese soldiers were killed, while Palestinian officials say 47 Palestinian civilians died in the fighting.

Syria also recently blamed Fatah Islam for a Damascus car bombing in September that killed 17 people.

Authorities say Fatah Islam, which set up base in Nahr el-Bared in late 2006, is made up of Muslim militants of various nationalities.

They say al-Absi is a Palestinian linked to the late leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for his involvement in the 2002 murder of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman.

In the Web statement, the group said it elected Abu Mohammed Awad as its leader. It was not immediately clear who Awad was, and the statement provided no further details.

Man held in SC over Maine topless coffee shop fire

A man suspected of burning down a Maine coffee shop that featured topless waitresses has been arrested in South Carolina.

Prosecutors say Raymond Bellavance Jr. was arrested Wednesday in a rural part of Spartanburg County.

Bellavance is from Augusta, Maine, just south of the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro. He's a former boyfriend of a waitress at the shop. He's accused of burning down the shop last June.

The Portland Press Herald says Bellavance had been missing since he was released from jail in Augusta on April 2 after being held on an unrelated charge.

The Spartanburg County Detention Facility wouldn't let Bellavance speak to a reporter by telephone Wednesday.

Coffee shop owner Donald Crabtree has reopened his coffee shop in a trailer.

___

Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com

Sen. Barack Obama does support local chambers of commerce

The article, This caught us by surprise, by Harry C. Alford, co-founder, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, came as a surprise.

The article infers that Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL, does not share our hope and commitment to redevelop cooperative economics in the Black community.

To the contrary, in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, Sen. Obama has exercised a commitment to support economic development efforts of local chambers of commerce.

Let the record reflect that Alford's claim that Sen. Obama "refuses to meet with any and all Black chambers of commerce" is not accurate.

The Austin Chamber of Commerce (ACC) lies within the community of Austin, which is the largest neighborhood in the city of Chicago. Its residents number over 117,000 and its demographics show it to be predominantly Black. If Austin was a city, it would be the second largest city in the state.

The Austin Chamber of Commerce is committed to the economic and social development of the community. Our success and growth relies on valuable relationships with residents, communitybased organizations, local businesses, corporate partners, government agencies, and elected officials, including Sen. Barack Obama.

In 2006, Sen. Obama hosted three business summits on the Greater West Side of Chicago that provided residents and businesses with resources, tools and opportunities toward economic vitality.

At the Summit, held at the Austin Town Hall, Sen. Obama addressed close to 150 local business owners interested in Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) for neighborhood development; bringing needed business development services to the community; and an anti-litter campaign - a real economic development concern.

Camille Y. Lilly, Volunteer Executive Director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, affirmed that "After listening to Sen. Obama at the 2006 Town Hall Business meeting, I was impressed and encouraged that he understood the economic concerns of the community. Moreover, that he was willing to sit at the table with us to address the hard questions and committed to answer community needs."

We understand the tremendous demands on Sen. Barack Obama's schedule. However, in the face of that, he has continued to make himself, or a staff member, available to meet with the community to plan economic development initiatives.

For example, Sen. Obama's Illinois State Director, Ken Bennett, was appointed to assist in putting together a community roundtable to discuss bringing a Small Business Administration (SBA) office to the Austin community to better serve area business development needs.

Senator Obama also made available a staff member to participate on the 2006 ACC Economic Development Tour. The Tour travels through the Austin community showcasing commercial and residential development opportunities.

The objective of the Economic Development Tour is to increase and attract new investors in the Austin community. The Tour is designed to obtain valuable feedback from government officials, commercial/residential developers, local business professionals and residents. Information gained from the Tour is compiled to construct economic development initiatives for the Austin community.

The ACC has also had the benefit to receive the support of the Senator's Outreach Coordinator, LaDarius Curtis, at its 2007 ACC Board Retreat.

The Retreat was an opportunity for Board members and other community representatives to plan economic development initiatives for the Austin community.

[Author Affiliation]

Donovan Taylor is a member of the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Officials See Danger In Gang's PR Blitz

Over a short period of time, what was once referred to as a"gang" has become known as "street organizations," or "nations offamilies."

This simple change in rhetoric is more than a stab at cleaningup word usage. It is at the heart of how the Black GangsterDisciples, the organization that Larry Hoover leads even from hisprison cell, mustered support from mainstream community activists.

"I think all of this has given them legitimacy," said ElceRedmond, founder of the Northwest Austin Council, a communityorganization. "In the end it is going to hurt the neighborhoods.Nothing has changed in terms of the drugs and violence."

Beyond words, the Black Gangster Disciples, who now say the Gand D stand for Growth and Development, have waged a campaign toclean up their image.

Wallace "Gator" Bradley, a spokesman for Hoover, is quick topoint out that the "GD" is an organized effort with political andsocial clout.

When a serial killer rained terror on the Chatham community lastyear, it was word from Hoover, delivered through Bradley, that putpressure on police officials to step up efforts to find the criminal,Bradley said.

"We couldn't get nobody to come into that community," Bradleysaid. "Word came from Hoover to do everything we could to get rid ofthe serial killer, and no more senior citizens got stuck up orkilled." However, no suspect has been apprehended.

The GD also have been at the center of arranging what they claimis a gang truce after the shooting of young Dantrell Davis atCabrini-Green last year. They also have organized largedemonstrations to protest the lack of affirmative action clauses inthe city's contract with a police union.

Yet, law enforcement officials cringe at the credibility thatsuch action bestows on groups that authorities say are involved indrug trafficking and violence. Prosecutors see a rerun of the JeffFort scenario.

Fort, who led the Black P Stone Nation, changed that gang'sname to the El Rukns and claimed to have turned it away from crime.He then received millions of dollars from foundations and governmentagencies to start youth programs. However, the El Rukns continued indrug dealing and violence. Fort, along with many of his lieutenants,ended up in jail.

"When these guys claim to be going into the mainstreampopulation, what they are really doing is trying to get the heat offthemselves in order to give them legitimacy," said Thomas Hennelly,deputy supervisor with the state's attorney's gang prosecution unit.

"In the last year they have orchestrated a media campaign forsuch legitimacy."

Jenin II

The Gaza flotilla clash is another chapter in the propaganda war

LITTLE DID WE THINK IN WRITING THE headlines for our last issue that what we recognized might possibly come true actually would come true.

Our main front page story in that issue was about the possible outcome of the confrontation between the "Free Gaza" flotilla and the Israeli navy. When we sent those pages to press, days before the confrontation, we headlined our main story "Gaza flotilla flap1'. The "flap", of course, unfortunately turned into a "fiasco".

The international condemnation of Israel which followed from nearly all corners was remarkable in-and-of itself.

Yes, the deaths of the flotilla activists were regrettable, even if they were the result of what was characterized as a "brutal ambush [of Israeli commandos] at sea".

But beyond that - why, without waiting ilardly a moment after the first details of the confrontation became known, was there such an immediate, explosive, and self-righteous international condemnation of Israel?

And why the demand for a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation" (thus the United Nations), and the expectation that Israel will "conduct a full and credible investigation" (thus State Department spokesman RJ. Crowley on June 1)?

One expects such absurdities from the Halls of Shame at the United Nations, but from the United States? Is there a scintilla of doubt in the Obama administration that the Israeli judicial system is not only capable of undertaking such a task, but - more notably - that it has done so timeand-again, under the most difficult of circumstances, in the most exemplary and dispassionate manner, displaying admirable and outstanding integrity?

THOSE WHO RUSHED TO JUDGMENT, condemning Israel without a moment's thought, are not friends of Israel. They certainly are not fair-minded.

But what is the Gaza Flotilla Flap except another "Jenin Massacre" of 2002?

Remember yesterday's "war crimes"?

How PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat claimed that "more than 500 people" were slaughtered by Israel and buried in mass graves? How the UN's Terje Roed-Larsen found a tour of Jenin "horrifying beyond belief? How The New York Times reported on "refugees" who "hope to find survivors" (April 18, 2002)? How Amnesty International called for an "international investigation"? How, within three weeks after that operation, there were 360 antiJewish incidents in France alone? And how, in the end, it turned out that there were 53 Palestinians, and 23 Israeli soldiers, who died in the Jenin confrontation? (Jewish Star, May 24, 2002).

And what, after all, was Jenin but Lebanon 1982? And what was that but Deir Yassin of 1948?

The names and places change. The propaganda war continues.

American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle-Class Culture

American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle-Class Culture. By Brian Roberts. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. xii + 328 pp. Illustrations, notes, and index. Cloth, $49.95; paper, $19.95. ISBN: Cloth 0-807-82543-3; paper 0-8078-4856-5.

Reviewed by John L. Brooke

Does Brian Roberts's American Alchemy fit within the traditional rubric of "business history"? Probably not. Will his book be of interest to anyone thinking about the inner tensions in the culture and psyche of the American middle class? Absolutely.

The history of the rise of middle-class culture has become inseparable from that of respectability. From provincial England in the 1740s to Rochester, New York, in the 1830s, the emergence of the middle class has been seen through a cultural as well as an economic lens. As much as levels and sources of wealth, middle-class identity has been seen as bound up in adherence to rules of politeness, decorum, cleanliness, temperance, and predictability. These qualities of respectability, rather than inherited property and station, or sheer physical labor, marked men as suitable for clerkships or credit in the new urban capitalist economies of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Indeed, the massive Dunn and Bradstreet volumes housed deep in the bowels of Baker Library at Harvard Business School were efforts to assess the relation between respectability and creditworthiness of individual American businessmen, beginning in the 1840s. Here, we might suggest that David Riesman had it only half right in The Lonely Crowd: middle-class culture certainly was grounded in the self-adjusting gyroscopes of "inner direction"-but the interpersonal communication of these qualities was as important as they were in themselves.

Brian Roberts's central theme is that middle-class respectability had reached a breaking point in the mid-nineteenth century and that the Gold Rush provided a psychic and emotional outlet and touchstone for an entire class in formation. First and foremost, Roberts stresses that the real "Forty-Niners" were not the legendary wild men of the West, but men of some means, drawn primarily from the cities and towns of the American Northeast. Emerging from the depressed 1840s, California seemingly offered a quick and easy prosperity. It also offered, without any question, an escape from the rigid boundaries of respectable culture.

Roberts describes the Gold Rush as a sudden enthusiasm striking the industrial Northeast, impelling young married men to organize mining companies, and negotiate their separation from wives and families. The gender dynamics of the Forty-Niners' migration is probably the most consistently developed strand of his analysis, both in the ambivalence of men toward the restrictions of Victorian marriage and in women's abilities in the face of abandonment by their husbands. In perhaps the most surprising part of his book, Roberts carefully explores Yankee encounters with Latin America, on the Isthmus and in Mexico, in light of how understandings of the "ethnic other" contributed to defining American respectability. Against this tableau of gender and ethnic relations, his account of culture in San Francisco and the gold fields-stressing an aggressive individualistic ethos in the struggle for gold, a growing sense of disillusionment, failure, and sporadic violenceis almost anticlimactic.

There have been similar treatments of the emergence of middleclass culture in nineteenth-century America. Roberts's book bears comparison with Karen Halttunen's Confidence Men and Painted Women (1982), on the perils and seductions of the urban life, T J. Jackson Lears's No Place of Grace (1981), which describes a crisis of cultural confidence in the culture of respectability leading to "the rise of the therapeutic," and Mark Carnes's Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America (1989), which posits exotic Masonic and fraternal theater as a cathartic ritual outlet. Behind all these analyses, if often unacknowledged, lies Sigmund Freud's Civilization and its Discontents (1930), situating neurosis in the growing constraints of modernity. Freud would have found Roberts's Gold Rush California grist for his mill, as middle-class men cast off the constraints of civilization for an explosive riot of self-interest, violence, and plain old dirt. The contribution of Roberts's book is to argue that the Gold Rush was a conceptual, cultural event, as much as it was an extractive one. He argues that it represents a rebellion against the constraints of the culture of respectability, which was perhaps essential in its contributions to the ethos of American capitalism. The "forty-niners were slumming" (p. 219); they were experimenting with a life free of civilized constraint in every sense before they returned to the traces of American business. And if too many of them found no monetary profit, they went through a collective "alchemical" transmutation: the Gold Rush experience opened the doors "to future market pathways" (p. 210), where "the competitive world of business required a heavy touch of the savage within" (pp. 265-6). Domesticated by supportive and capable wives, the Gold Rush experience generated "a bourgeois utopia, a space in which respectability and the elevation of carnal desires necessary to run market capitalism blended perfectly together" (p. 249).

One does walk away from Roberts's book with questions. Some of the Forty-Niners must have turned a monetary profit from their ventures in the gold fields; the national economy certainly did. One also has to wonder about the other collective masculine experiences that bracketed the Gold Rush. The explosive organization of mining companies at the news of California gold had qualities of a religious revival, but, more important, it resembled mobilization for war. The Mexican War, which set off the Gold Rush, and the Civil War, which can be seen as a not-so-distant consequence, are barely mentioned. However, many of the Forty-Niners would have served in one of these wars, and some in both. The ways in which military service provided an escape from familial respectability might have provided Roberts with some useful comparative material. And Carnes's Secret Ritual and Manhood also makes one wonder about the role of fraternal organizations in the culture of the gold fields, since they were ubiquitous in the army camps. A comparison with the mid-century wartime experience also would have provided an interesting frame of reference for his gender analysis by examining the experience of men's absence from home for self- and family interest in California against the experience of their absence, for grander national purposes, in the Civil War.

Despite these necessary quibbles, Brian Roberts's American Alchemy is an important book, convincingly relocating the opening cultural crisis of the American middle class from the turn of the century back to the late 1840s.

[Author Affiliation]

John L. Brooke is Stern Professor of American History at Tufts University. He is the author of The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 (1993) and is presently drafting a manuscript on civil society and the public sphere in postrevolutionary New York State from 1776 to 1846.

The benefits of garlic: Letting the research speak for itself

In a 1985 issue of Scientific American, in an article entitled "The Chemistry of Garlic and Onions," Eric Block, Ph.D., wrote: "The world has always been divided into two camps: those who love garlic and onions" and those who don't.

Among today's garlic researchers there are at least two camps, as well, the garlic-extract people and the powdered-garlic people:

The garlic-extract school-of-thought. These scientists believe that aged garlic extract contains a variety of organosulfur compounds, other than alliin/allicin, that are the most important and medicinally beneficial garlic-based components.

The powdered-garlic school-of-thought. On the other hand, these scientists believe that alliin/allicin, and other sulfur compounds, are the key ingredients present in powdered-garlic preparations, components which account for most of the beneficial effects associated with garlic and garlic supplements.

Let's begin a dialogue in which we let the research speak for itself:

Garlic-extract research.

Prostate cancer. In a study which appeared in a recent 1997 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, New York City's Memorial Sloan-Kettering's John T. Pinto, Ph.D., and colleagues, looked at the effects of major water-soluble compounds derived from aged garlic extract (S-allylcysteine and S-allylmercaptocysteine) on cultured (test-tube) human prostate cancer cells.

The study found: 1) "Within 30 minutes of exposure" to either of the compounds, proteins that are usually "hopped up" (present at heightened levels) as prostate tumors grow were suppressed; 2) intracellular levels of the reduced (antioxidant) form of glutathione were increased; and 3) a special enzyme (ornithine decarboxylase) which helps produce those "bad-guy" proteins was blocked.

Breast cancer. A series of studies by Pennsylvania State University's J.A. Milner, and colleagues (Carcinogenesis, 1992 & 1993 and Journal of Nutrition, 1996) reported that aged garlic extract significantly prevented [blocked] breast cancer in both the beginning (initiation) and later (promotion) stages. The compound, S-allylcysteine (SAC), by itself, also reduced the initiation of breast cancer.

Bladder cancer. In a recent experimental study by Donald L. Lamm, M.D., and colleagues (Cancer, May 15, 1997) at West Virginia University, mice with bladder cancer were given either aged garlic extract or a salt-water placebo solution. The resuits were positive, leading the authors to conclude: "the significant antitumor [effectiveness] of [aged garlic extract] warrants further investigation and suggests that [this compound] may provide a new and effective form of therapy for transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder."

Other cancer studies. Including the above three studies, there are a total of 49 studies (since 1983) pointing to the anti-cancer effects of aged garlic extract and its constituents. Among these are 17 breast cancer studies, seven on colon cancer, and five on bladder cancer.

Powdered-garlic research.

Anti-cancer results have also been suggested, as early as 1957, in a report in Science by Austin Weisberger and Jack Pensky, which indicated that "[a compound similar to allicin] may have tumor-inhibiting effects when malignant cells are placed directly in contact with this compound prior to inoculation."

Much more recently, a 1991 study by Michael J. Wargovich presented at the Second International Garlic Symposium looked at organosulphur compounds derived from garlic, such as diallylsulfide (DAS) and S-allylcysteine (SAC) [also found by Pinto in aged garlic extract] and gastrointesinal cancer - colorectal and esophageal.

In this rat study, both compounds successfully prevented colorectal cancer, and DAS specifically "protected rats from developing esophageal cancer." Wargovich concluded that these compounds seem to block cancer at the early initiation stage.

Stomach/urinary cancer. In 1997, K. Polasa and K. Krishnaswamy published a powdered-garlic study in Cancer Letters, in which rats exposed to urinary cancer-causing chemicals (mutagens) were given powdered garlic.

The results were positive, with the authors reporting that "`there was a significant reduction in the excretion of [cancer-causing agents, suggesting a cancer-protective effect] by carcinogen-exposed rats fed [powdered] garlic."

Population-based garlic research. Several population-based studies on people in China, Italy, Iowa, and California have shown that adding garlic to the daily diet can reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, such as stomach and colon cancer.

So there is the briefest of samples as to the studies that are out there, and thus begins our dialogue on research that's on the "frontiers of science." BN

Meet the Masters

Cooks who want a taste of what Brian Whitmer and his colleaguesare creating can attend the seventh annual Masters of Food and Wine,one of the nation's premier food events, to be held Feb. 23-28 at theHighlands Inn in Carmel, Calif.

Whitmer will be joined by Jacques Pepin, well-known cookbookauthor and teacher; Ekhart Witzigmann of Restaurant Aubergine, aMichelin three-star restaurant in Germany; Joachim Splichal of PatinaRestaurant in Los Angeles; Larry Forgione of An American Place in NewYork City; Mark Militello of Mark's Place in Miami, and pastry chefand author Jim Dodge. Australian chef Greg Brown will also join theprogram.

The event includes a banquet, luncheons, dinners, cookingclasses and vineyard tour. People can buy tickets for individualevents and meals.

For information, call (408) 624-3801.

Bulls Veto Bullets' Bid // Win Ends Road Loss Streak at 3

BULLS 107 BULLETS 99

LANDOVER, Md. The spirit of political change sweeping throughWashington, D.C. appears to have spread to the local NBA franchise.The new-look Washington Bullets have shown flashes of a promisingfuture.

But the Bulls came to town concerned only with the present and anasty little three-game road losing streak.

Both teams went home happy Thursday - the Bullets with a solidperformance from their rookies and the Bulls with a 107-99 victory atthe Capital Centre.

"It was really on our minds," said Bulls coach Phil Jackson ofthe losing streak. "We are a team that takes a lot of pride inwinning on the road and stepping up. We know we never play wellhere. At least one or two times a year we have a hard time playingin this arena."

Washington (7-15) stayed in the game thanks to brilliant playfrom vaunted rookie Tom Gugliotta, who showed such a versatileall-around game that Jordan followed the lead of many NBA observersand compared him to Larry Bird. Gugliotta finished with 25 points on11-of-19 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds.

The victory was the eighth in a row for the Bulls (15-6) overWashington and fourth straight at the Capitol Centre, where they havestruggled in past seasons. Problems in the past used to have littleto do with the Bullets; the lighting in the arena is poor, there is aloudmouth fan seated behind the visiting bench screaming throughoutthe game, and Jordan often has poor shooting nights.

Jordan struggled from the field Thursday, shooting 41 percent(12-of-29). But the Bulls star did connect when it mattered most,scoring 12 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter. He added eightassists and seven rebounds.

"I was getting great shots," Jordan said. "I was just veryflat and din't have the legs. I couldn't stop shooting because Iwas in great position. I had to continue to shoot and somehow Ifound some rhythm in the fourth quarter."

The Bulls took the lead for good with four minutes left in thesecond quarter when Horace Grant made a 10-foot jumper that sparked a7-0 run and broke a tie at 46.

Washington trailed 58-54 early in the third period when ScottiePippen scored on a tip-in to spark a 14-4 run that featured sevenpoints from B.J. Armstrong. Armstrong made a three-pointer in thatstretch and Jordan added a three-point play after a roundhouse scooparound two defenders.

"Michael, when he's not shooting well or he's getting doubleteamed, he always, for whatever reason, looks to me because he knowsif I can get the shot that's a one-on-one opportunity," Armstrongsaid. "He does a good job of finding us when he has to because he'ssuch a great offensive weapon that he can split the double-team orshoot right over guys."

The Bullets stayed close, narrowing the Bulls' lead to fourpoints with less than six minutes to play and moving to within fivewith 2:34 left.

But Jordan made a pair of free throws, Bill Cartwright added anine-foot baseline jumper and Jordan followed with an 11-footer with44 seconds left that gave the Bulls a 107-96 lead.

Scottie Pippen had 24 points and 13 rebounds and scored sixstraight points for the Bulls in the fourth quarter. Armstrongscored 13 points and added five assists, and Grant scored 12 pointson 6-of-9 shooting.

Washington's Michael Adams scored 10 of his 20 points in thefourth quarter, but the story for Washington was its first-yearplayers. With Harvey Grant out because of shin splints, Gugliottaand fellow rookie Don MacLean (18 points) were the go-to players.

GOP's calling Gulf spill Obama's Katrina is bogus

The GOPs political attack plan is crude and transparent: Compare the Gulf spill to Bush's Katrina bumble, liken Obama to Bush and heap the same blame on him.

It won't fly. Before Katrina hit, government tracking systems, weather satellites, and countless news reports warned that the hurricane potentially posed a grave threat to New Orleans and the Gulf. Bush administration officials well knew this. They also knew that the sea walls there were in terrible shape and could give way. When the storm hit. Bush hesitated, dithered, and minimized the immediate impact of the storm, and made no effort to counter the wild, sensational and thoroughly false reports of looting, rape and vandalism. The colossal loss of property, the thousands dead and injured, the horrendous displacement of residents were the direct result of government ineptitude. Five years later thousands remain uprooted, and whole neighborhoods remain gutted. New Orleans and the Gulf are still paying the high price for Bush's abysmal delay, After an international army of volunteers and donors sped aid and relief to the area. Bush eventually recovered and kicked relief efforts into high gear.

Obama's response to the Gulf spill stands in stark contrast. He sent cabinet secretaries, and an armada of homeland security. Environmental Protection Agency, FEMA and Coast Guard personnel, engineers, scientists, technicians and clean-up workers to the Gulf; more than 20.000 responden; in all. There are multiple staging areas, and ships in the area involved in the clean-up. Nearly 2 million feet of containment boom, and a million gallons of chemical dispersant have been used to fight the spill. Obama has asked Congress for $130 million for cleanup operations. The White House has churned out reams of releases, statements, and reports to keep the public updated on the progress and problems in containing the spill.

Obama correctly points the blame finger at BP and oil executives for their duck and dodge of full responsibility for the spill, and their inability to successfully contain it. They deserve the blame. But as environmental disasters go, off shore drilling spills are rare. The industry's forty year safety record on drilling has been fairly good. But the BP mess shows that all it takes is one drill disaster to cancel out the industry's record and paint the industry as a greedy, safety plagued, environmentally irresponsible menace.

The spill should be a wake-up call on the potential and real hazards of ultra deep water oil drilling, and the urgent need to devise new and better safety and equipment standards and controls. The Obama administration has been hands on in supervising BFs efforts to stop the spill. This provides it with terrible but needed teaching moment on the need for the government to ramp up oversight and monitoring of the industry. And beyond that for the Obama administration to rethink and reexamine the potentially devastating environmental hazards and drawbacks of expanded off shore drilling as well as its potential to dent America's energy dependent shackle.

The public's heightened jitters over the spill are understandable given the nightmare environmental messes that the oil industry has at times made in the past. The public is also right to be deeply suspicious and outraged over the far too lax and cozy relationship between government regulatory agencies and the oil industry.

The Gulf spill, though, is not solely an environmental catastrophe to Palin and the GOP or even a matter to them of government officials in bed with an industry. If that was there real concern they'd point the same blame finger at themselves as they do at Obama for their sweetheart relation with the oil industry. According to the Sunlight Foundation, BP has dumped six million in campaign contributions to congresspersons in past years. Seven of the top ten recipients of BP contributions have been GOP senators and congress persons, and one of the principal recipients has been GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But the facts are irrelevant. The Gulf spill is simply too juicy a political opportunity for the GOP to pass up to ream President Obama for a disaster that he could not foresee, did not make, and has made a best effort to solve. What better way to drive the political nail in the box than to call the Gulf spill the politically loaded Obama's Katrina It's a bogus call.

[Author Affiliation]

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst.

Postseason NHL Schedule

N.Y. Rangers 4, Washington 3

Saturday, April 18

N.Y. Rangers 1, Washington 0

Monday, April 20

Washington 4, N.Y. Rangers 0

Wednesday, April 22

N.Y. Rangers 2, Washington 1

Friday, April 24

Washington 4, N.Y. Rangers 0

Sunday, April 26

Washington 5, N.Y. Rangers 3

Tuesday, April 28

Washington 2, N.Y. Rangers 1, Washington wins series 4-3

___

New Jersey vs. Carolina

Wednesday, April 15

New Jersey 4, Carolina 1

Friday, April 17

Carolina 2, New Jersey 1, OT

Sunday, April 19

New Jersey 3, Carolina 2, OT

Tuesday, April 21

Carolina 4, New Jersey 3

Thursday, April 23

New Jersey 1, Carolina 0

Sunday, April 26

Carolina 4, New Jersey 0

Tuesday, April 28

Carolina 4, New Jersey 3, Carolina wins series 4-3

___

Boston vs. Montreal

Thursday, April 16

Boston 4, Montreal 2

Saturday, April 18

Boston 5, Montreal 1

Monday, April 20

Boston 4, Montreal 2

Wednesday, April 22

Boston 4, Montreal 1, Boston wins series 4-0

___

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia

Wednesday, April 15

Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 1

Friday, April 17

Pittsburgh 3, Philadelphia 2, OT

Sunday, April 19

Philadelphia 6, Pittsburgh 3

Tuesday, April 21

Pittsburgh 3, Philadelphia 1

Thursday, April 23

Philadelphia 3, Pittsburgh 0

Saturday, April 25

Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 3, Pittsburgh wins series 4-2

___

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Chicago vs. Calgary

Thursday, April 16

Chicago 3, Calgary 2, OT

Saturday, April 18

Chicago 3, Calgary 2

Monday, April 20

Calgary 4, Chicago 2

Wednesday, April 22

Calgary 6, Chicago 4

Saturday, April 25

Chicago 5, Calgary 1

Monday, April 27

Chicago 4, Calgary 1, Chicago wins series 4-2

___

San Jose vs. Anaheim

Thursday, April 16

Anaheim 2, San Jose 0

Sunday, April 19

Anaheim 3, San Jose 2

Tuesday, April 21

San Jose 4, Anaheim 3

Thursday, April 23

Anaheim 4, San Jose 0

Saturday, April 25

San Jose 3, Anaheim 2, OT

Monday, April 27

Anaheim 4, San Jose 1, Anaheim wins series 4-2

___

Vancouver vs. St. Louis

Wednesday, April 15

Vancouver 2, St. Louis 1

Friday, April 17

Vancouver 3, St. Louis 0

Sunday, April 19

Vancouver 3, St. Louis 2

Tuesday, April 21

Vancouver 3, St. Louis 2, OT, Vancouver wins series 4-0

___

Detroit vs. Columbus

Thursday, April 16

Detroit 4, Columbus 1

Saturday, April 18

Detroit 4, Columbus 0

Tuesday, April 21

Detroit 4, Columbus 1

Thursday, April 23

Detroit 6, Columbus 5, Detroit wins series 4-0

___

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(Best-of-7)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Boston vs. Carolina

Friday, May 1

Boston 4, Carolina 1

Sunday, May 3

Carolina 3, Boston 0

Wednesday, May 6

Carolina 3, Boston 2, OT

Friday, May 8

Carolina 4, Boston 1

Sunday, May 10

Boston 4, Carolina 0, Carolina leads series 3-2

Tuesday, May 12

Boston at Carolina, 7 p.m.

Thursday, May 14

Carolina at Boston, TBA, if necessary

___

Washington vs. Pittsburgh

Saturday, May 2

Washington 3, Pittsburgh 2

Monday, May 4

Washington 4, Pittsburgh 3

Wednesday, May 6

Pittsburgh 3, Washington 2, OT

Friday, May 8

Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3

Saturday, May 9

Pittsburgh 4, Washington 3, OT

Monday, May 11

Washington 5, Pittsburgh 4, OT, series tied 3-3

Wednesday, May 13

Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m.

___

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Detroit vs. Anaheim

Friday, May 1

Detroit 3, Anaheim 2

Sunday, May 3

Anaheim 4, Detroit 3, 3OT

Tuesday, May 5

Anaheim 2, Detroit 1

Thursday, May 7

Detroit 6, Anaheim 3

Sunday, May 10

Detroit 4, Anaheim 1, Detroit leads series 3-2

Tuesday, May 12

Detroit at Anaheim, 10 p.m.

Thursday, May 14

Anaheim at Detroit, TBA, if necessary

___

Vancouver vs. Chicago

Thursday, April 30

Vancouver 5, Chicago 3

Saturday, May 2

Chicago 6, Vancouver 3

Tuesday, May 5

Vancouver 3, Chicago 1

Thursday, May 7

Chicago 2, Vancouver 1, OT

Saturday, May 9

Chicago 4, Vancouver 2

Monday, May 11

Chicago 7, Vancouver 5, Chicago wins conference semifinals 4-2

Tacoma Explosion Caused by Tanker Blast

TACOMA, Wash. - An explosion at a foundry was caused when a propane tanker burst into flames, touching off a series of other blasts, authorities said.

The Saturday blast sent a massive fireball into the sky that could be seen miles from the Atlast Castings and Technology foundry.

The truck driver, who was seriously injured, was in critical condition at a hospital Sunday. Three others injured in the blast were released from hospitals, authorities said.

A highway that was shut down after the blasts reopened Sunday morning. Though the fire subsided by late Saturday, Transportation Department engineers had to wait until fire officials determined they could safely inspect bridge piers.

An electrical substation was damaged in the explosions, knocking out power to about 13,000 customers, said utility spokeswoman Chris Gleason. About 200 homes and businesses in the area remained without power Sunday.

The cause of the initial blast was still under investigation.

Pakistan tests missile // India takes news of volley in stride

Pakistan on Wednesday tested a new missile that could reachanywhere in India.

"The whole nation has reason to be proud," Pakistan PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif said.

The test of Pakistan's Ghauri II missile followed by three daysIndia's test of a new missile that can hit any target in Pakistan.Last year, both India and Pakistan - which have fought threewars in the last 52 years - tested nuclear weapons, sparkinginternational concern that another confrontation could escalate intoan all-out nuclear war.Both nations played down fears of a missile buildup."Pakistan does not want a nuclear and missile race in SouthAsia," the foreign ministry said after the test.India's Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, said, "There is no armsrace in South Asia.""We all knew that our neighbor would also test their defensecapability after we tested ours," said George Fernandes, India'sdefense minister.The Pakistani Ghauri II was launched from Dina, 37 miles east ofthe capital, Islamabad, and it landed in the southwesternBaluchistan province, Sharif said.The longest-range missile in Pakistan's arsenal, with a range of1,240 miles, the Ghauri II can carry a payload of 2,200 pounds ofeither conventional or nuclear explosives, Sharif said.India's Agni missile has around the same range and payloadcapabilities. It also could reach targets in China, with which Indiafought a territorial war in 1962.The U.S. on Wednesday expressed regret over Pakistan's test,about which it was informed a day in advance.The Japanese foreign ministry said both countries' tests "couldbe detrimental to peace and stability in the region."Russia said Pakistan's missile test could "trigger a race ofnuclear missile armaments in Asia."

Pat-down not that bad, Bears fans say

The die-hards didn't mind getting a little rubbin' on the way intothe Bears' frigid showdown with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night.

Before the season's last home game, security guards frisked fansoutside Soldier Field for the first time this season.

For the NFL, it was a matter of security, and Chicago was the onlytown not patting down fans before every football game.

While the women-to-the-right and men-to-the-left security searchat Gate "O" on the stadium's southern end did create a bit of alonger line, most fans said they'd rather be safe than sorry.

"It's a good idea. Everybody wants to be safe and everybody wantsto have fun," said Bears fan Patrick Parker. "That's how it is."

Giant signs and the regular public address system outside thestadium warned fans of the pat-down policy. But Jeff Lawson said theteam should have provided their best customers -- season ticketholders -- with more notice.

"Why the last game of the season?" Lawson said. "It doesn't makesense."

The delay in implementing the searches stemmed from a disagreementbetween Bears brass and officials from the Chicago Park District,which owns the stadium. The two sides couldn't agree on who shouldpay for the searches and be liable in the event of a lawsuit.

Before Sunday's game, the Bears decided to pick up the tab and anyliability this year.

Next year an arbitrator will decide whether the team or parkdistrict will pay for the added security measure.

BUZZ KILL

NFL vice president of security Milt Ahlerich said the pat-downpolicy was working as planned, with no one refusing a search. Stadiumsecurity, he said, was instructed to be on the lookout for largeexplosives, not small items.

Still, those restrictions had fans unzipping their coats andunraveling blankets in longer than normal lines.

The security line was a bit of a buzz kill for fans like KristieStojek, who had to cough up her bottle of peach schnapps on the wayinside.

"I don't mind unzipping my coat. My alcohol got taken, so thatticked me off, but it's OK," she said. "Before the pat-down, I couldsneak in anything as long as it wasn't as big as my boob."

Marc Bodner, who last week sneaked six beers into the game, saidhe'll now have to bring in a flask "hidden where they're not going tocheck.

"They did some searches after Sept. 11 but then stopped," he said."It makes sense to pat people down. It's just going to cost me a bitmore [for beers]."

Longtime fan Steve Zook, a season ticket holder since 1964, saidthe pat down is just part of professional sports these days.

"It wasn't too bad. It's a good thing, they should do it," Zooksaid. "We've got a lot of nuts out there."

Once inside, all the fans' focus was on the field.

That held true even at halftime when James Lord of West Dundee wona $300,000 house that will be built for him by Town and CountryHomes, a Lombard-based builder.

mkonkol@suntimes.com

Tiger's opponent sees a big opportunity

Australia's Brendon Jones felt chills up his spine when he heard of Tiger Woods' decision to make his return to golf at this week's Accenture Match Play Championship.

Jones, the last man to qualify for the 64-man field, was home with his family when he heard the news. He knew the No. 64 seed plays the No. 1 seed in the opening round, and he knew who was No. 1.

"I got a few chills up the back of my neck," Jones said.

The trick will be getting them to go away when he meets Woods on the first tee of The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain on Wednesday.

Jones has played in five majors and three World Golf Championships. He spent two years on the PGA Tour without much success, but has won eight times on the Japan Golf Tour.

He was quite the celebrity on Monday.

He was stopped twice for pictures with fans as he walked off the 18th green. When he stepped into the media center, he found 30 reporters staring at him, along with eight television cameras at the back of the room.

Jones is curious, like everyone else, about how Woods will perform in his first tournament since winning the U.S. Open on one good leg. Wood had season-ending surgery a week later to reconstruct the ligaments in his left knee.

Jones is being realistic about his opening match.

"I've come a long way," he said. "If I get beat by anybody, I would like to get beat by Tiger."

Historically, he is aware that three of Woods' six losses in this fickle tournament have come at the hands of Australians _ by Peter O'Malley in the first round, by Nick O'Hern in the second round twice.

"I'm an Australian, so I got some sort of chance," he said.

And then there is the unconventional plan to beat the world's No. 1 player, which friends in Australia have recommended.

"Pretty much everybody has said, 'If things don't go your way, just take out his knee,'" Jones said. "I hope it doesn't get to that."

Woods was not expected to play the Jack Nicklaus-designed course until Tuesday, and he might be in for a surprise. It is nothing like The Gallery course a few miles down Dove Mountain, which allowed for plenty of birdies and had par 5s _ even a par 4 _ that most of the players could reach in two.

This course measures 7,849 yards from the tips, with the shortest par 5 at a mere 574 yards. As for the greens, most of them have so many slopes they resemble potato chips.

Woods' caddie, Steve Williams, walked the course with a yardage book in hand. The boss was practicing out of state.

Woods was to play a practice round Tuesday morning, followed by a press conference that the PGA Tour is making available live via satellite and through the phone lines.

The question is how long Woods will stay.

Even he is curious about an eight-month layoff, for while his game might be sharp on the range, it is different when every shot counts. He is a three-time winner of this volatile format, but even last year, when he was in the middle of a winning streak that would reach seven events around the world, he needed a ferocious rally simply to escape the first round.

A big advantage for Woods is the circus-like atmosphere his return is sure to bring. This is what Woods sees all the time.

For Jones, it will be an experience like no other.

"One of the most anticipated comebacks in any sport, really," he said. "And to have a front row seat to all of it ... it's a great honor."

Jones was asked where he would put his money if he were a betting man.

"I would probably put the house on Tiger," he said with a laugh. "But I didn't fly all this way to try to lose. I'm here to try to beat him. And there's been some funny things happen in sport. I'm up against it, but I'm hoping that I'll put in a good effort."

Prop 8's slow crawl to the U.S. Supreme Court

Sometimes I wish lawsuits in real life were more like they are on TV. They'd wrap up in days rather than years, and they wouldn't spend most of that time in the mindnumbing quagmire known as legal procedure. Such is the case with California's Prop 8 trial, Perry v. Brown.

A quick refresher: Prop 8 is unique among state same- sex marriage bans for a number of reasons, perhaps the biggest being that it was found unconstitutional in federal trial court and is now moving, very slowly, through the appeals process. It's poised to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. No other LGBT marriage law has made it this far. This means that California's 2008 law could determine the fate of same-sex marriage for the whole country.

On Nov. 17, 2011 we all awoke to the cacophonous news that the California Supreme Court had issued a decision that will take Prop 8 to the next critical phase.

Wait, it wasn' t at the top of your newsfeed? CNN didn' t interrupt programming to tell you? OK, so maybe it was just me trawling the LGBT law-wonk websites and an email from Lambda Legal. Still, I can tell you that this is big news for us all.

Perhaps the reason you might have missed it is that for the last year Perry v. Brown has been stalled on a somewhat theoretical question of legal procedure. At issue is not any of the arguments about the fairness of Prop 8's samesex marriage ban, but rather who should defend it during appeal. Normally, when someone challenges state law, the Governor and the Attorney General (AG) automatically step in to defend it. But in Perry, Governor (and defendant) Jerry Brown and AG Kamala Harris have offered what I'll call the "limp noodle" defense. In other words, they're totally fine with Prop 8 going down in flames on their watch. I think a thank you note to both of them is in order.

ProtectMarriage.com, the people who put Prop 8 on the ballot, desperately want to step in since the state won't - because if no one's there to defend the law, the marriage ban automatically ends with Judge Vaughn Walker's 2010 ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Same-sex marriage would resume in California.

And they got their wish last week. Without going into the weird hot-potato specifics of how it came down, the gist is that ProtectMarriage. com gets to defend Prop 8 in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Same-sex marriage will remain unlawful in California at least until it all gets worked out, maybe two years or more.

If I seem happy about this, there's a reason. As a married lesbian in California I would have been thrilled to see Prop 8 off the books, and our state once again a model of equality. But then we'd have to start all over again somewhere else to tackle marriage equality nationwide, once and for all. I don't want to wait.

There's an old lawyer adage about Supreme Court cases: good cases make good law. And Perry is definitely a good case. Defense attorneys Olson and Boies built a thorough and nuanced record of exactly why Prop 8 is morally and legally wrong, while the other side looked ignorant and petty. My God, someone even turned the trial transcript into a play, it so beautifully illuminated the ideal of justice.

That perfectly crafted trial record of Perry v. Brown is what the U. S. Supreme Court would be looking at closely to make their ruling. It's hard to imagine a better foundation for a U.S. Supreme Court victory.

Yes, our High Court has never been so far to the right and there is a chance we will lose - a loss that will reverberate for perhaps generations. But two things are painfully clear: First, the Court will only continue to keep moving right; and second, the traditional strategy of fighting for marriage equality in the states is failing us as voters continue to enshrine bigotry into their state constitutions. I don't believe there will be a better time than now to make our next bold move toward equality.

[Sidebar]

Last week's quiet ruling on California's Prop 8 moves us closer to marriage equality for the entire country.

Culture runs at high standard across spectrum

Today's play-list is a mixed bag of local culture.

I had planned to write about keepsakes. But some pretty darnedfine events demanded attention first. (So, Gentle Reader, you stillhave time to tell me of your collections.)

- A recent Saturday night found folks marveling: "This is justlike being somewhere!" Salem's Mill Mountain Coffee scene could'vebeen plopped down into a trendy New York setting.

OK, diligent So Salem readers might recognize some namesrepeated. Guilty! But sometimes characters keep doing cool stuff.Like, I don't mind reading more stories of Salem High School'sacademic and athletic triumphs -- or even of pet antics and WestMain St.'s painted-pig-of-the-week.

So again here's SHS teacher extraordinaire/media darling/musician Fred Campbell. He and Jason Bailey teamed up for a freemusical performance both very cool AND hot -- the kind that had itsaudience-of-all-ages whooping, clapping and demanding more.

"Fifty Pounds Tall" brought it, man! And I don't mean they just"brought" family members -- although Fred joked that Jason's bigfamily and instant audience was a plus. The notion for teaming upwas hatched during Floyd Fest -- where Fred and a happy Salemcontingent camp yearly.

What the duo brought was high energy, plus deep respect for themusic. Acoustic guitars and vocals intertwined nicely.

All this on a play-list that could've come from my files. Thestrong opening number foreshadowed both a coffeehouse-caffeine anda powerful musical "buzz."

Fred and Jason shared solo-duty, and journeyed listeners throughan emotional landscape of the old and the new -- ranging fromwrench-your-heart songs to a rollicking rave-up trilogy.

Encore? For sure! They called JP Powell of "My Radio" over tosing his own "Turn Up the Radio." (Recently this paper noted theband's success; the gifted SHS grad was also featured in September2003 and October 2008 columns.) Charming "My Radio" drummer HunterJohnson stood among folks lining the wall; he's moving frommanaging the coffee-shop to opening his own Roanoke bar/restaurant.

"One night only," the flyer had proclaimed. Let's hope that Jasonand Fred change their minds on that. Heck -- and I don't say thislightly -- next time we might even pay 'em.

- A tip of my artsy bonnet to the Salem Fine Arts Commission forputting on the next day's Juried Art Show at the Salem Farmers'Market.

Folks strolled among creations from the tried-and-true (say,Harriett Stokes, Julie Hamilton and Pam Ogden) to the up-and-coming (SHS art students). Paintings, woodblock prints,photography, jewelry, stained glass, pottery and sculpture wereoffered for sale.

Jazz noodled from the stage on this quiet Sunday. And Salem againseemed a pretty cool place to be.

- But wait; there's more culture to come! Salem potter JessieRusinko reminds us that the Blue Ridge Potters Guild Show &Sale is Oct. 30-31 and Nov. 1 at Cave Spring High School. It'salways excellent -- and free!

Culture runs at high standard across spectrum

Today's play-list is a mixed bag of local culture.

I had planned to write about keepsakes. But some pretty darnedfine events demanded attention first. (So, Gentle Reader, you stillhave time to tell me of your collections.)

- A recent Saturday night found folks marveling: "This is justlike being somewhere!" Salem's Mill Mountain Coffee scene could'vebeen plopped down into a trendy New York setting.

OK, diligent So Salem readers might recognize some namesrepeated. Guilty! But sometimes characters keep doing cool stuff.Like, I don't mind reading more stories of Salem High School'sacademic and athletic triumphs -- or even of pet antics and WestMain St.'s painted-pig-of-the-week.

So again here's SHS teacher extraordinaire/media darling/musician Fred Campbell. He and Jason Bailey teamed up for a freemusical performance both very cool AND hot -- the kind that had itsaudience-of-all-ages whooping, clapping and demanding more.

"Fifty Pounds Tall" brought it, man! And I don't mean they just"brought" family members -- although Fred joked that Jason's bigfamily and instant audience was a plus. The notion for teaming upwas hatched during Floyd Fest -- where Fred and a happy Salemcontingent camp yearly.

What the duo brought was high energy, plus deep respect for themusic. Acoustic guitars and vocals intertwined nicely.

All this on a play-list that could've come from my files. Thestrong opening number foreshadowed both a coffeehouse-caffeine anda powerful musical "buzz."

Fred and Jason shared solo-duty, and journeyed listeners throughan emotional landscape of the old and the new -- ranging fromwrench-your-heart songs to a rollicking rave-up trilogy.

Encore? For sure! They called JP Powell of "My Radio" over tosing his own "Turn Up the Radio." (Recently this paper noted theband's success; the gifted SHS grad was also featured in September2003 and October 2008 columns.) Charming "My Radio" drummer HunterJohnson stood among folks lining the wall; he's moving frommanaging the coffee-shop to opening his own Roanoke bar/restaurant.

"One night only," the flyer had proclaimed. Let's hope that Jasonand Fred change their minds on that. Heck -- and I don't say thislightly -- next time we might even pay 'em.

- A tip of my artsy bonnet to the Salem Fine Arts Commission forputting on the next day's Juried Art Show at the Salem Farmers'Market.

Folks strolled among creations from the tried-and-true (say,Harriett Stokes, Julie Hamilton and Pam Ogden) to the up-and-coming (SHS art students). Paintings, woodblock prints,photography, jewelry, stained glass, pottery and sculpture wereoffered for sale.

Jazz noodled from the stage on this quiet Sunday. And Salem againseemed a pretty cool place to be.

- But wait; there's more culture to come! Salem potter JessieRusinko reminds us that the Blue Ridge Potters Guild Show &Sale is Oct. 30-31 and Nov. 1 at Cave Spring High School. It'salways excellent -- and free!

Matthews ends up on target

If this was Shane Matthews' last game as a Bear, he left them withsomething to remember him by.

Matthews, who expects to yield the starting quarterback job toCade McNown for the final two games of the season, set a team recordwith 15 consecutive pass completions in the Bears' 24-17 victory overthe New England Patriots Sunday at Soldier Field.

He was 17-of-17 for 178 yards on the Bears' four scoring drives.He finished 22-of-27 for 239 yards, two touchdowns and nointerceptions.

What a way to go.

"I think they'll play Cade next week," said Matthews, who brokethe record of 14 consecutive completions by Steve Walsh againstMinnesota on Dec. 1, 1994. "They know I'm probably not going to behere next year and he will. He's the future."

Bears coach Dick Jauron said he would decide Wednesday whetherMcNown will start next Sunday against San Francisco. McNown hasmissed the last six games while recovering from a separated shoulder.He was cleared to play last week, but Jauron decided against itbecause he didn't feel McNown was ready after just two weeks ofpractice.

"Shane played such a strong game, controlling the clock, but we'llhave to wait," Jauron said. "Cade made a lot of progress last week interms of getting into the scheme."

Matthews said he was not worried about being benched.

"I just want to enjoy this win," he said. "It's been a long, roughyear."

"It's good to have records, but records are made to be broken,"Matthews said. "So I'm sure somebody along the line here will breakit. I didn't realize (it was a record). But I guess it feels prettygood."

At the very least, Matthews probably improved his marketability infree agency. In spot starts, he beat Tampa Bay and New England thisyear.

"Even if I wouldn't have played well today, I don't think it wouldhave made a difference for next year," Matthews said.

Even so, Sunday's game might have earned him a raise over theminimum salary ($440,000) he's earning this year.

"I don't worry about the money," Matthews said. "I haven't beenpaid much since I've been in this league (seven years). Anything'sbetter than what I'm making now."

But there's no doubt he'd rather have Sunday's game on his resumethan last week's game against Green Bay, when he was 22-of-43 for 233yards and two interceptions.

"Shane played super," quarterbacks coach John Shoop said. "He didthings that don't necessarily show up in the box scores-milking theclock. When I made a bad call he sure picked me up and found thecheck-down guy. He really made me look good."

Boycotts: still blacks' best weapon

Guess what I discovered about myself en route to the forum onthe PUSH boycott of Nike, the wonder shoe manufacturer.

I am indeed a penny-pincher and an aging square.

This week I was stunned to learn that those puffy shoes thatpresumably can make you leap into the stratosphere may cost from $125to $150 a pair.

It is unbelievable to me that anybody other than a professionalathlete or somebody with a unique foot ailment would spend that kindof money on two gym shoes.

But I learned something more significant during the daily forumon Nike vs. PUSH. It is that the brilliant heads ofmultimillion-dollar corporations can err in everyday human relations. Specifically, Nike committed a public relations error in opting fora public confrontation over the proposed PUSH covenant.

Regardless of what newspaper reports say, very few sensibleblack adults will encourage young African-Americans - particularlythe disadvantaged - to spend $100 on a pair of gym shoes. Prior tothe current debate, few of us knew about the price tag. Such gymshoe sales will be discouraged in black communities, even after theNike debate is ended. Here's why:

The argument from those black supporters of Nike is not onlyimpractical, but cuts against the very grain of black history. Notonly are some of the black defenders of Nike unworthy of carryingPUSH's sneakers, their logic runs counter to the use of the majordefensive and offensive weapon available to blacks.

The greatest single tangible instrument that African-Americanshave at this moment is the weight of their numbers. Blacks are 12percent of the nation's population, but in certain key cities theyrange from 15 percent to 60 percent.

Only through strategic use of their numbers have they been ableto win concessions that flow normally to other races.

In this century, the bloc vote in politics, Supreme Courtappeals, "selective purchasing" (a euphemism for the boycott) in themarketplace, and mass demonstrations have been blacks' only weaponsin the quest for education and modest equity.

And today the importance of the offensive and defensive use ofblacks' numbers, including the boycott, looms greater as a negativereshaping of the U.S. Supreme Court is visible on the horizon.

To urge blacks to rely totally on themselves - the old bootstrapbusiness - instead of making demands on those who profit from theirpurchases and ballots, is like telling Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon, MartinLuther King Jr. and all the heroes and heroines of the 1955Montgomery Improvement Association they should have started their ownbus company instead of protesting Jim Crow transportation in Alabama.

Vernon Jarrett is a member of the Chicago Sun-Times editorialboard.

Philip White, 66, award-winning painter

During his career, Philip White was often approached by people whowanted him to paint a portrait.

He would have done a wonderful job because, at first glance, hisworks looked like photographs. But a closer look at his painting ofchildren and nature displayed an extra emotional element that wouldbe difficult for a photo to capture.

Mr. White turned down those portrait requests, said his son,David. "Even though it might have been very profitable, that's notwhat he was interested in," David White said.

Mr. White, 66, died Thursday in the River Forest house where hewas raised. He was diagnosed with hepatitis C several years ago andlater developed liver …

$100 million for public housing.(HONDURAS)

$100 MILLION FOR PUBLIC HOUSING. The government signed a $100 million agreement with builder Inter-Mac to build 35 housing projects, reports Laprensahn.com (Aug. 5, 2010). Inter-Mac president Javier Arguello …

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Byline: LARRY ROY FIBER Clifton Park

William Raspberry's commentary, ``Nader to Kerry: Here's how to win,'' is a contradiction in logic. First, he admonishes Nader for his decision to seek the presidency. Then he recommends that Kerry adopt …

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Official: No evidence Spain behind cucumber scare

MADRID (AP) — Spain said Friday there is no evidence its farms are to blame for a bacterial outbreak suspected of leaving five dead and nearly 300 sickened in Germany.

The Spanish agriculture minister said she had spoken to her German counterpart and an investigations is under way. Officials are probing whether the cucumbers were contaminated with E. coli when they were shipped from southern Spain, or if they went bad during shipment or while being handled in Germany, Rosa Aguilar said.

There are different strains of E. coli and the one detected in Germany is extremely rare in Spain, she said. She added, "as of right now, we have to say that there is no evidence that leads one …