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Student arrests, marches, and overnight vigils? Sounds like the '60s, but no, that would be anti-abortion students protesting President Obama’s commencement speech and honorary law degree Sunday at Notre Dame. The president’s pro-choice politics—he supports the right to choose, though has said he would like to minimize abortions—has caused immense controversy at the Catholic university. Still, the president was greeted with cheers and a prolonged ovation when he arrived at the commencement. He addressed abortion head-on during his speech (which was interrupted by a few hecklers), saying: “I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. No matter how much we may want to fudge it—indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory—the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable.” But he added: “Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.”
House Republicans are not going to let the Pelosi-CIA-torture furor die down: Speaking to CNN's John King Sunday, Minority Leader John Boehner said the speaker should provide evidence the agency misled her over waterboarding—or apologize to the intelligence community. “Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime,” he said. “And if the speaker is accusing the CIA and other intelligence officials of lying or misleading the Congress, then she should come forward with evidence and turn that over to the Justice Department [for possible prosecution]...And if that’s not the case, I think she ought to apologize to our intelligence professionals around the world.” Boehner also said he didn't think former Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and radio host Rush Limbaugh as party spokesmen hurt the Republican Party. “Having these voices out there, it doesn’t hurt us, it helps us,” he said.
Might Donald Rumsfeld be left off the guest list for Bush administration reunions? In a piece for GQ, Robert Draper interviews former officials and discovers “intense feelings of ill will toward Donald Rumsfeld.” In interviewing these officials, Draper writes, it “becomes evident that Rumsfeld impaired administration performance on a host of matters extending well beyond Iraq to impact America’s relations with other nations, the safety of our troops, and the response to Hurricane Katrina.” Rumsfeld sought to please Bush by playing to his religiosity—Draper's most shocking find is Defense Department intelligence-briefing covers featuring biblical quotes. One person said, if leaked, the covers “would be as bad as Abu Ghraib.” Rumsfeld also apparently convinced Bush to not award Ted Kennedy a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels have put down their weapons after 26 years of fighting for an ethnic homeland—though not without a final flurry of suicide attacks on government forces. “This battle has reached its bitter end,” said the group's leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, who is thought to be hiding outside the country. “We have decided to silence our guns. Our only regrets are for the lives lost and that we could not hold out for longer." The army recently freed all 50,000 civilians who were being held hostage by the Tigers in a small coconut grove on the northeastern coast. The rebels once controlled about a third of the country; they have threatened to continue their struggle underground by tapping into their network in the 73 million-strong Tamil diaspora.
As conservative groups prepare research detailing the records of David Souter’s possible replacement, President Obama has proceeded by arming himself with his own guide. On Sunday, his administration said Stephanie Cutter, current aide to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, will coordinate the search for the next Supreme Court nominee. No stranger to the swift division between parties, Cutter managed the Senate Democratic opposition during President Bush’s appointments of Chief Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, Jr. and was deputy communications director under President Clinton. Politico notes Cutter was also a top adviser to Sen. Edward Kennedy and will have to balance coordination with Capitol Hill, the chosen nominee, the White House counsel’s office and outside groups. Officials say the soonest a nominee will be named is the week of Memorial Day.
It was an eerie morning for passersby who were near the World Trade Center site in New York today, as police officers and emergency medical responders staged the largest disaster drill since September 11. Nearly 800 police officers, firefighters, and volunteer “victims” wearing makeup simulating injuries were involved in the drill designed to test communication between responders. The volunteers boarded a New Jersey bound train whose power was cut off and response teams were told of a fake explosion and treated the “victims.” The chief of counter terrorism for the FDNY said, “We have a better system now. Things are very different today than on 9/11.”
Nancy Pelosi has caught heat from critics on both the left and the right after news emerged that she was briefed on the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques in 2002. In a new profile, Tina Brown examines the complicated web the Speaker finds herself in now—and how she’s fighting her way out of it. While critics like Porter Goss (who was briefed with Pelosi in 2002) and John McCain are sure Pelosi is lying, Pelosi, tough as nails, is angry she’s catching the heat for torture practices that came out of the Bush administration, and she's open to prosecutions for those who authorized the practices, something President Obama has said he wants to avoid. Explaining her position on the issue of torture, Pelosi said, "You can't take prosecution off the table. The president has been very clear. He wants to move forward. Me and the Congress want to be told the truth. The more things get released, the more we want a full commission. He wants to give immunity. I want to be more selective." Reflecting on his controversial colleague, Democratic House leader Richard Gephardt said admiringly, "If you look at the lion family, it's the female of the species that's the killer."
Here are a few numbers that renowned symbologist Robert Langdon could easily interpret. Tom Hanks’ starring turn in Angels & Demons, the critically scorned follow-up to the wildly successful The Da Vinci Code took in a respectable $48 million this weekend, sidestepping studio fears that the film would be dead on arrival. Even better news for director Ron Howard is the $104.3 million the film took in overseas. Star Trek fared well during its second weekend, taking in $43 million, and the Wolverine-centered X-Men flick rounded out the box office. The air-conditioned enclaves remain recession-proof—the box office’s summer record is up seven percent over last year’s tally.
Amazing news from the Persian Gulf: Kuwait's parliament is welcoming its first female members. Four women won parliamentary seats in general elections Saturday in the conservative state, whose parliament has been ruled by men for almost 50 years. Although women were granted the right to vote and run for office four years ago, they failed to gain a seat in two previous elections. U.S.-educated university instructor Aseel al-Awadhi and economist Rola Dashti, chair of the Kuwait Economists Society, were among four women who won seats.
In a new interview with Newsweek, President Obama speaks about the toughest policy choices he’s had to make so far—as well as his love of Star Trek. He says ordering 17,000 additional troops in Afghanistan was the hardest decision he’s had to make, as “the task is extraordinarily difficult and there are no guarantees.” Obama also shuts down former Vice President Dick Cheney and spoke of the “mess” of trying terror detainees who’ve been held for years without charges. The president shares personal details, as well—saying his daughters aren’t yet suffering “fishbowl effects” but joking that it will be tough for them to date “because I have men with guns surrounding them at all times, which I’m perfectly happy with.” And sorry, Bill O’Reilly, Obama says he watches no cable news. But he has seen the new Star Trek: “Everybody was saying I was Spock, so I figured I should check it out and—[the president makes the Vulcan salute with his hand].”
It is a scary thought, but the pair of pilots flying your plane may be struggling to stay awake while in the air. The tragic plane crash in Buffalo that killed 50 people has turned a spotlight on the harsh existence of many pilots, who endure long hours and low pay. The New York Times reports that the life of a commuter pilot is especially difficult, as many must fly multiple flights, sneaking in a nap whenever the opportunity presents itself. Some are so pressed for time they don't even have time to eat, literally spending all day in their plane. Pilots flying shorter routes, who have less experience, often fly at lower altitudes, making navigation more of a challenge due to harsh weather. Some businesses have even taken advantage of the underpaid and exhausted pilots by renting "crash pads:" A bare-bones apartment near major airports.
First Lady Michelle Obama spoke to more than 12,000 at UC Merced in the sweltering, 90-degree heat on Saturday, encouraging them to "dream big" and give back to their communities. Her speech is seen as a coming of age party for the small school, which just opened four years ago and is seeking funding to expand—but it also came with hassles. The school plunked down $700,000 for Jumbotrons and extra security, and attendees had to show up hours before her speech and wait in the shade-less amphitheater for security reasons. Eight people were hospitalized due to the heat and 80 others were treated on campus.
Madonna’s new 22-year-old model boyfriend is more than just a pretty face—the Brazilian is an intensely spiritual devotee of Kabbalah, the mystical outgrowth of Judaism that Madonna’s been following since the late 1990s. Jesus Luz grew up in a gritty part of Rio de Janeiro until he was offered $100 to join a two-day photo shoot with Madonna for W Magazine in December. He quickly dumped his girlfriend and was whisked off to New York, where he recently shot a Dolce & Gabbana menswear campaign as a Ford model. In addition to Kabbalah, Luz eats macrobiotic cuisine. And are there wedding bells in the future? "People speak about the difference in their ages but this is nonsense,” Luz’s father said. “I was 23 and his mother was 14 when Jesus was born."
Cosmic justice would seem to require that former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld spend the rest of eternity scrubbing floors, but alas, he is now working for the hedge fund Matrix Advisors. “I can’t get over just how flawlessly bankers bounce,” Eduardo Porter writes in The New York Times. Charles Prince, who helped drive Citigroup off a cliff, is now a vice chairman at Stonebridge, a consultancy firm. Stanley O’Neal who led Merrill Lynch’s binge on toxic assets is now on the board of American Beacon Advisors, a financial advisory company. "Given the raw feelings,” Prince writes, “it wouldn’t hurt if one or two of the current crop of jobless bankers went off to distribute malaria nets in Africa or teach math in an inner-city high school. They could even use some of their money.”
After a strong start, female racehorse Rachel Alexandra clung to her lead and won the Preakness, the heralded second jewel of the Triple Crown. However, due to a harsh crackdown on booze by organizers of the event, attendance dropped by 30 percent, according to the Washington Post. The event had become such a wild party that the race had earned the name, "The Freakeness." Fans that decided not to attend missed Rachel Alexandra, the only filly in the race, win in a thrilling finish. Though the Kentucky Derby's underdog winner, Mine That Bird, gave chase, the powerhouse filly moved to the front of the pack at the No. 13 post and won with a long lead, at one minute and fifty five seconds. The last time a filly won the Preakness was 1924.
The same day that nearly 9 million people watched Farrah Fawcett's video diary about her struggle with cancer, the former Charlie's Angels star was spending time with her son who was granted temporary release from prison. The Daily News reports that the brief reunion may very likely be their last goodbye. Her son, Redmond O'Neal, is behind bars for drug possession on jail property and was kept in shackles during the visit. Fawcett's husband, Ryan O'Neal, has said that the cancer-stricken star is in extraordinary pain and that he at times "wishes she would go peacefully to sleep and not wake up."
There was once a time when The Baltimore Sun had foreign bureaus in London, Beijing and Moscow. Now, the paper only has one correspondent stationed in Washington D.C., a mere 45 minutes away. Coverage of state politics has been thrown out the window too, as the Sun has no bureau in the capital, Annapolis. Now, with the latest round of cutbacks trimming the newsroom to only 140 people, some well-known readers of the paper are bemoaning the loss of the once-revered paper. Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland tells Politico that opening the Sun everyday is "somewhat painful," as he recognizes that the people of Maryland are "missing something." David Simon, creator of The Wire and an outspoken critic of the media, all but read the Sun's last rites at a hearing on the future of journalism on Capitol Hill. The remaining editors at the Sun say they're making a shift which emphasizes news content online, but they have a daunting task ahead of them.
On Saturday astronauts completed the third and riskiest spacewalk in their mission to upgrade and fix the Hubble Space Telescope. The Washington Post calls intergalactic repairmen John Grunsfeld's and Andrew Feustel's work "a wild success" after removing "a refrigerator-sized, mirror-packed instrument." The most harrowing of the repairs required Grunsfeld to remove 32 screws from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveying unit, which was not designed to be opened or fixed -- much less opened and fixed in outerspace. The procedure was considered risky because Grunsfeld had to reach into the unit, where sharp edges could have poked a life-endangering hole in his space suit, and physically remove an electric circuit card. With Feustel standing behind him and assisting, Grunsfeld shook and pulled for some time at the card with needle-nosed pliers, then panted via radio: "I think we'll get it." The spacewalk's plan required six and a half hours; Grunsfeld and Feustel took an extra six minutes to complete the task, considered a great success after other spacewalks met hitches earlier in the week.
Portland might have an unemployment rate much higher than the national average (11.8 percent) and be covered in clouds most days of the year, but that’s not stopping young, college-educated people from moving there. Though the recession is upending migration patterns across the country, certain “youth magnet” cities, like Austin, Seattle, and Portland, are still attracting large numbers of highly-educated workers who end up glutting the oversaturated employment ranks, taking jobs they are overqualified for or burning through savings while unemployed. But the city’s not chasing the hipsters away—the education level of a city’s workforce is one of the most important factors to its economic success. When the economy bounces back, the hipster havens hope to be at the front of the pack.
With the field of potential replacements for Supreme Court Justice David Souter narrowed, conservative groups are pooling resources to weaken the nominees they most oppose. The New York Times reported on Saturday night on a set of 10 memos summarizing research that a series of religious, legal, and socially conservative groups collaborated on: Judge Kathleen Sullivan would be denounced as a "prominent supporter of homosexual marriage," Judge Sonia Sotomayor for being "willing to expand constitutional rights beyond the text of the Constitution," and Judge Diane Wood for being an "outspoken" supporter of "abortion, including partial-birth abortion." The memos are said to analyze potential nominees' records, primarily with regards to their stances on socially conservative issues. Many note that a heated court battle could be a fundraising boon for flailing right-wingers. Liberal groups are also said to have set up shared research groups and are confident in their ability to support any Obama nominee. Leaders of both the left- and right-wing groups agree that the appointment will likely be a woman.
