I missed it because I went to see the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s production of “Barefoot in the Park.” Anway, here’s the summary from The Fix. To no one’s surprise, Edwards and Obama took shots at Senator Clinton who now leads in all three early primary states. Here’s the transcript and video from The New York Times.
Democrats
Republicans
Source: American Research Group
Lots of interesting things happening among some of major league baseball’s most storied franchises. The New York Yankees parted ways with long time manager Joe Torre and opted to hire former Florida Marlins skipper Joe Girardi. Today, The New York Times is reporting that the Dodgers are set to replace Grady Little with Torre who would bring Don Mattingly with him. But the biggest news seems to be where soon-to-be-named AL MVP Alex Rodriguez will land. Early lines are on the Angels, Tigers, Giants or Red Sox. The Red Sox, seriously? In baseball, anything can happen.
Forbes.com has a story about two couples that left their careers and took a year sabbatical traveling the world. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? “Yes, you can take a year off without ruining your career (or your bank account). Kevin [Rettig] was able to return to his job because he made all the right moves before, during and after his trip, including top performance reviews, keeping in touch with his boss while abroad and taking a freelance gig with them upon return. That freelance work turned into a full-time position.” But as Forbes notes, “Since most companies won’t fund a year off, money is a major roadblock. Although the Rettigs had a healthy nest egg from stock options, they still needed a budget. They settled on the target number of $100,000 and sold many of their belongings, including their house and cars, to achieve it. The Rettigs brought a laptop equipped with Quicken to lay out a framework for what they could spend on a weekly basis.”
As one of the other people interviewed for the story admits, “”Saving is such a lost art,” he says. “When you’re 24, you should think about the fact that when you’re 34, you might leave a job and want to travel or do something else.”
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Send“The 56-year-old CEO was negotiating the terms of his forced departure yesterday afternoon in the wake of a multibillion-dollar write-off he announced last week, according to a person briefed on the negotiations. Merrill’s board is expected to consider external candidates and current Merrill executives in its search for a successor. Mr. [Stanley] O’Neal’s resignation is expected to be announced as early as today,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
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The Boston Red Sox completed a sweep of the Colorado Rockies last night with a 4-3 victory at Coors Field. “Frustrated for the final eight decades of the 20th century, the Sox have emerged as hardball monsters of the new millennium,” writes Dan Shaughnessey of the Boston Globe. “2004 was an exorcism. 2007 is an exclamation point. Red Sox rule! Go ahead. Call up the Yankee fan in your life. Be as obnoxious as you want to be. Otherwise, what’s the point?” opines Globe columnist Bob Ryan.
I’m watching “Meet the Press” right now and columnist William Safire predicted that Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel would be Senator Hillary Clinton’s running mate if she were to capture the nomination. If Barack Obama wins, Safire predicted he’d take California Senator Dianne Feinstein. If Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination, the prediction is that Fred Thompson will be the pick. If Mitt Romney wins, Safire predicted he’d take General David Petraeus.
The Boston Red Sox dominated game 3 at Coors Field, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the World Series. Game 4 is tonight at 7:00 p.m. on FOX.
“With last night’s 10-5 conquest of the Colorado Rockies, the Red Sox are up, three games to none, in the World Series, and unless you think there will be some sort of Divine Payback for their historic comeback from a 3-0 deficit three years ago, they’re going to win their second world championship in four years. If they don’t do it tonight behind Jon Lester, then you can start making plans for the parade because Josh Beckett’s pitching tomorrow night,” writes Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe.
Go Sox!
“The Federal Communications Commission on Friday approved the merger of Alltel Corp. of Little Rock and TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners.
Alltel expects the merger, worth $26 billion, to close before Thanksgiving.
When the deal is complete, stockholders will receive $71.50 a share,” reports Arkansas Business.
No Comments | SendKatie Lee Joel writes about the fate of the dinner party in today’s society. “Someone asked me the other day if I thought dinner parties were a lost art. My first instinct was to say yes. After all, we live in a fast-paced society. Everything is now, now, now, gimme, gimme, gimme. We drink our coffee on our way to work, while talking on our cell phone, and simultaneously writing an email on our Blackberry. Do people really take the time, or more importantly have the time, to plan and coordinate a dinner party? I think the answer is in fact yes,” she writes on her Huffington Post blog.
“Meet the Press” - - Senator Christopher Dodd(D-CT)
“Face the Nation” - - Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
“This Week with George Stephanopolous” - - Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
“Late Edition” - - Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
Fox News Sunday - - First Lady Laura Bush and Lousiana Governor-elect Bobby Jindal
No Comments | SendDavid Kirkpatrick has an in-depth article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine about the transition of the evangelical Christian movement from the days of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and Paul Weyrich. Interestingly, there has been a backlash among Christian conservates over the war in Iraq. ”Today the president’s support among evangelicals, still among his most loyal constituents, has crumbled. Once close to 90 percent, the president’s approval rating among white evangelicals has fallen to a recent low below 45 percent, according to polls by the Pew Research Center. White evangelicals under 30 — the future of the church — were once Bush’s biggest fans; now they are less supportive than their elders. And the dissatisfaction extends beyond Bush. For the first time in many years, white evangelical identification with the Republican Party has dipped below 50 percent, with the sharpest falloff again among the young, according to John C. Green, a senior fellow at Pew and an expert on religion and politics. (The defectors by and large say they’ve become independents, not Democrats, according to the polls),” writes Kirkpatrick.
“Even in evangelical circles, we are tired of the war, tired of the body bags,” the Rev. David Welsh, who took over late last year as senior pastor of Wichita’s large Central Christian Church, told me. “I think it is to the point where they are saying: ‘O.K., we have done as much good as we can. Now let’s just get out of there.’ ”
No Comments | SendI’m not a big NBA guy. I suppose that’s for a lot of reasons. No more MJ, Magic and Bird (also known as the guys who could actually win a gold medal in Olympic play). No hometown team (I cheer for the Lakers, and I always have). No big Arkansas connections other than Joe Johnson (and sadly, who can watch the Hawks consistently? Not since the days of Spud and Dominique has that happened). Today, the Detroit News is reporting that Rasheed Wallace is equating the NBA to the WWE. “This game ain’t basketball anymore, it’s entertainment,” Wallace said. “It’s starting to get like the WWF. There ain’t no real wrestling anymore either. It’s all fake.” Rasheed’s still steaming from the Pistons loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. “I still don’t think they (Cavaliers) beat us, we beat ourselves,” Wallace said. “And I think we also fell victim to that personal NBA thing where they are trying to make it a world game and get (television) ratings. They wanted to put their darling in there (the NBA Finals) and they did, and look what ended up happening,” he is quoted as saying.
The Nature Conservancy of Illinois has launched (with the help of Stone Ward) an impressive public awareness campaign about mounting global environmental concerns. The project is known as “Start One Conversation” and according to the website “We are asking people to start conversations with their friends, colleagues and family members about something very important: Life. Conservation today is about conserving lands and waters for nature and people. The future of the human species, and all of Earth’s other species, is dependent on a healthy planet and the life-sustaining systems that provide clean air, water, food and shelter that both people and wildlife need to thrive.”
Bravo, TNC. Check out the website, and start a conversation.
“Apple no longer accepts cash for iPhone purchases and now limits sales of the cellphone to two per person in a move to stop people from reselling them. The new policy started Thursday, said Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman. Before then, there was no cash restriction and the purchase limit was five per person,” reports the Associated Press.
