Some of the news that is fit to print

THE vote

So they came and they voted... in larger numbers than expected. As one who has little good to say about this war, clearly Sunday was a proud day for Iraq and for the Bush administration. Slate.com's Today's Papers rounds it up this way:

According to the Post's ambitious lead—which wraps together reporting from several staffers and 12 Iraqi stringers in eight cities—the battle-weary country "took on the veneer of a festival, as crowds danced, chanted and played soccer in streets secured by thousands of Iraqi and American forces." Everyone notes that many voters ventured to the polls in their best clothes, often accompanied by their children, and returned proudly brandishing their indigo-stained fingers. In a Baghdad scene piece, the NYT's John Burns writes, "Foreigners who have been visiting Iraq for 15 years and knew the tension that crackled under Mr. Hussein could remember no other day when the city, in wide areas, seemed so much at ease."

Slate also notes that the editorial pages come out in favor of democracy, while attempting to weave yesterday's events into their respective master narratives.
" The WSJ clucks at liberals who it says opposed the election. The NYT rejoices in Iraqis' courage but reserves "grave doubts about the overall direction of American strategy." Meanwhile the WP distills a welcome moral to the story:

Yesterday, however, Americans finally got a good look at who they are fighting for: millions of average people who have suffered for years under dictatorship and who now desperately want to live in a free and peaceful country. Their votes were an act of courage and faith—and an answer to the question of whether the mission in Iraq remains a just cause.

My hope is that this will represent a turning point for that country. My gut tells me something else, however. And even if Iraq proves successful, I don't think the way justifies the means. In the end, not unlike in ones personal life, one has to take responsibility for themselves. And I still believe there is a long way to go. I'm sure we will all be staying tuned.

Feb. 4 is Red Dress Day

This coming Friday -- Feb. 4 -- is Red Dress Day, as Poynter's Al Tompkins notes.

It is part of what is called "The Heart Truth" campaign, aimed at highlighting the problem of heart disease in women. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has some useful press materials to get you started. I suspect your local heart surgery hospital could help you find ways to localize the story. The campaign is especially aimed at women ages 40 to 60, the time when a woman's risk of heart disease starts to rise.

Here are some stats:

           o Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of American women.

           o One in every three women dies of heart disease. One in 30 dies of breast cancer.

           o Women's heart disease risk starts to rise in middle age.

           o About 3 million American women have had a heart attack.

           o Two-thirds of American women who have had a heart attack don't make a full recovery.

           o Nearly two-thirds of American women who die suddenly of a heart attack had no prior symptoms.

           o Americans can lower their risk of heart disease by as much as 82 percent just by leading a healthy lifestyle.

           o Awareness of heart disease as the leading cause of death has increased from 30 percent in 1997 to 46 percent in 2003.

           o Only 13 percent of women consider heart disease to be their own greatest health risk.

I assume guys can wear red that day too, right... bonus points if you wear a red dress?

Troubled times

The last few weeks have been difficult. One of my employees suddenly went missing. She left for a business trip to California in mid-December and then was scheduled to be on vacation just before the holiday. But then she was due back the week after Christmas. She sent in a note saying she was not feeling well. Fast forward a week -- the first week of the new year -- and we get an overnight call on Monday night/Tuesday morning saying that she is still sick. Then again no word for the rest of the week. Week three and we again get a overnight call on Sunday night/Monday morning saying that her time is all messed up.

Throughout this period, we are very worried. Our initial concern is that she was hurt. Then after we would get the calls, we would just be angry that we had spent this much time worrying. We called family. We spent time with the company's employee assistance program. After all, I'm not expert in how to deal with these situations.

Finally, we had a friend who just went to her place. (We had been advised not to do that ourselves precisely because we are not trained to deal with such situations. Therefore, it could result in some kind of liability to the company or ourselves... and it isn't a good situation to put either us or her in.) They found her making herself a sandwich. We eventually met with her and, in my untrained opinion, she is deeply depressed. If you look at the symptoms of depression, it is something of a checklist description of her situation.

All of that being said, my own therapist, Patrick Gleason, has what I call "Patrick's rules." Among them:

* Healthy people have healthy boundaries, which help them define who they are but also helps keeps your issues separate from others.

* Healthy people live in the present.

* Healthy people are integrated.

Also, healthy people must be responsible for their own health. I have become a strong believer in that. In a way, many of these problems -- like depression and alcoholism -- are somewhat similar. A critical and important first step is that people recognize their own situation and only when they ask for help can it be offered.

Regardless, it is very difficult to see somebody you know and care about wallow. And having been there before, I know how painful it can be. Yet, for me, that pain was a powerful motivator. Those feelings drove my long path to becoming more healthy.

If my now former employee ever reads this, I again offer to help however I can.

Related but unrelated... I had one of those horrible 'it could have been anybody' moments this week -- Rusty Asher, who was a spokesman for the Office of Personnel Management, was found murdered in his DC apartment. I fully understand that people die every day, but I have dealt with Rusty a lot and he was a pro. Sympathies to his family and we hope the authorities find out who did this and why.

Philip Johnson, 1906-2005

Johnny Carson died over the weekend, of course.
Today, Philip Johnson, the American architect, passed away at the age of 98.

Queer eye for the cartoon guy...

I know "they" keep saying that this whole "moral values" question is overrated, yet one continues to see these issues pop up over and over again. This one is my favorite, however.

Conservatives Pick Soft Target: A Cartoon Sponge [NYT, 1.20.2005]
Some influential conservative Christian groups are turning their attention to a new target: the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.

How does one get so upset about a cartoon sponge, one might ask? Apparently he is pro-gay!

Dr. James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, told people at a black-tie dinner Tuesday that the sponge's creators were using him in a "pro-homosexual video," in which he appeared alongside children's television colleagues like Barney and Jimmy Neutron, among many others. The makers of the video, he said, planned to mail it to thousands of elementary schools to promote a "tolerance pledge" that includes tolerance for differences of "sexual identity."

HORROR!

It is going to be a long day and a long couple years.

Inaugration jam!

So January 20, we celebrate democracy with the second inauguration of President George W. Bush and the newspapers have been keen to point out that this is the first post-9/11 inauguration. Unfortunately that has left the nation's capital in a state of siege. That became personal Tuesday night when I was returning from Capitol Hill was hindered by some crazy person threatening to blow himself up held police at bay for hours Tuesday blocks from the White House.

Then Wednesday night, the siege arrived literally at our doorstep when the Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball -- tickets cost $1,495 each -- was held in our neighbored and traffic has just about reached gridlock.

It is always fun for our city to be in the spotlight, but...
Of course, the city's first snowfall of the year did not help the situation at all.

The CBS Evening News with...

CBS officials announced yesterday that they will be seeking to replace Dan Rather with what the Washington Post TV reporter called a "hipper" news team for the CBS Evening News, possibly including Jon Stewart from Comedy Central's Daily Show. Yes, you heard that right.

Here is how AP reported the story.

Asked twice, Moonves wouldn't rule out a role on the evening news for Comedy Central's Jon Steward, whose "The Daily Show" skewers politicians and the news media each night. Moonves is co-chief executive of Viacom, which owns both CBS and Comedy Central.

Radio personality Don Imus noted this morning that it was fake news that got CBS News in trouble in the first place.

Cohen: Don't Ask, Don't Think

Richard Cohen on don't ask, don't tell.

In one of those itsy-bitsy items you're likely to miss, the New York Times reported last week that, since 1998, the military has discharged 20 service personnel who spoke or had studied Arabic, six from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif. They all had, in some way, been caught being gay. Try translating that into common sense.

AI '05 baby!

Yes, it is American Idol 2005 starting tonight... with auditions from Washington, D.C.

American Idol
08:00 PM ET -FOX-
"American Idol," the big daddy of all talent-search reality series, returns for a fourth season on FOX. Poor Ryan Seacrest's syndicated talk show was cancelled last year, but at least he's got "AI" to fall back on. Soon, my esteemed coworker/recapper Dan Fienberg will be up to his ears in saccharine karaoke performances and bizarre critiques from Everyone's Favorite Judges -- Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell. But until then, we get six full hours of Audition City Madness, starting with tonight's two-hour special. Performers like Gene "KISS" Simmons, Brandy, Kenny Loggins and LL Cool J will be among the audition round's guest judges.

Update: There are some new rules this year. I'm not totally clear how it is going to work. I just hope they don't streach out the show to three nights a week. I love Idol, but that is just TOO much!

Movie updates...

No, I'm not up on all the movies out. In fact, I was watching the Golden Globes last night and I had seen a pitiful number of the top movies. But here is an update of what I have seen...
Friday Night Lights: This is the football movie based on the wonderful book. It tells the story of football in Texas... too much football. B+
Alfie: This is the remake of the 1966 original this time starring Jude Law. Although Law is quite good, the movie is just horrible mostly because you don't care about this person at all. In fact, you want to get away from him -- much like everybody else in his life. You certainly don't want to spend two hours with him. D
Previously seen but seen again...
The Manchurian Candidate: Again, a remake of the 1962 classic. Well done, but not as good as the original. But Meryl Streep looks just fantastic in this movie. I don't know who did her clothes, but... Ya Baby! C+
Wimbledon: This romantic comedy from the same people who brought you Notting Hill among others did not get very good reviews. We really enjoyed it, however. But we are a sucker for romantic comedies, so... What the hell -- it's fun! B

And the countdown has started for the newest Star Wars movie -- 121 days as of this counting. Of course, episode II sucked so badly, I have little hope for episode III.