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The South Ain’t Just Whistlin’ Dixie

2011-09-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

By KAREN L. COX

Published: September 17, 2011

Karen L. Cox is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and the author of “Dreaming of Dixie: How the South Was Created in American Popular Culture.”

Warner Bros., via Everett Collection (1979)

The South as seen through TV, then and now. Cast members from “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

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Skip Bolen/Getty Images

“Sweet Home Alabama”

Charlotte, N.C.

IF you go by the sheer number of programs and casting calls, reality television has become thoroughly Dixiefied. Whether it’s Lifetime’s “Glamour Belles,” truTV’s “Lizard Lick Towing” or CMT’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” series purporting to show a slice of Southern life are huge, and getting bigger: more than a dozen new programs have been introduced so far this year, while others have been renewed for second or even third seasons.

Such shows promise new insight into Southern culture, but what they really represent is a typecast South: a mythically rural, white, poorly educated and thickly accented region that has yet to join the 21st century. If you listen closely, you may even hear banjos.

These stereotypical depictions are insulting to those who live in the region and know that a more diverse South exists. Even worse, they deny the existence of a progressive South, or even progressive Southerners.

Southern reality TV programs fall into a few subcategories. Sometimes, producers seek to portray the South as culturally foreign to the rest of America, and they choose characters or remote locations that reinforce this image.

The History channel’s “Swamp People,” for example, focuses on alligator-hunting season in southern Louisiana by showcasing individuals who live and work in the Atchafalaya Swamp, thereby preserving their “ancient way of life.” The show uses subtitles to emphasize the cultural differences between the bayou and the rest of the country, even though the “stars” speak plain English.

Other shows focus on those Southerners that Americans feel as if they already know, like Southern belles and hillbillies. In its own bid to buy into the trend, Animal Planet has given us “Hillbilly Handfishin’,” in which two Oklahomans, Skipper Bivins and his pal Trent Jackson, teach people, generally big-city Northerners, how to catch catfish by using their own limbs as bait.

Then there’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” a Dixiefied version of “The Bachelorette,” only in this setting she is choosing between city slickers and Southern boys. It’s not unlike the show with the catfish duo: both feature a competition between country and city or, put more pointedly, North and South. The message is reduced to a Hank Williams Jr. song: a country boy can survive.

THESE stereotypes have a long history — we’ve been here before, with “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “Green Acres” — and it’s no surprise that more than one production company wants to take us back there. Alongside “Hillbilly Handfishin’ ” is “Redneck Riviera,” a show still in development that trumpets itself as the Southern “Jersey Shore” and that has selected the racially insensitive Confederate battle flag for its logo.

The show is casting for type by seeking “guys and gals” who answer “yes” to the loaded question, “Do you drink sweet tea, talk endlessly about Nascar, sport a rebel flag (on your bikini or jacked-up pickup truck), listen to loud country and/or Southern rock, or enjoy walking around shirtless or in Daisy Dukes?”

There’s no doubt that more than a few people would answer yes, especially when money and potential fame are involved. But millions of Southerners would say no — including the Indian communities of Mississippi, the Latinos who are now the largest minority in towns across the region and the thousands of white suburbanites who feel more of a connection with exurban Chicago or Denver than Lizard Lick, N.C.

In fact, the last decade has brought dramatic demographic changes to the region. The South’s population is more ethnically and racially diverse than it ever has been. Hispanics are the fasting-growing ethnic group in the country and, according to census statistics, most of that growth has been concentrated in the South.

The region is increasingly urban and cosmopolitan, and has become more economically and politically powerful. Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics, and Charlotte, N.C., will be home to the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

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Katherine Bomboy/Lifetime

“Glamour Belles”

Therefore, you might expect better programming from the History channel. But don’t hold your breath. It recently introduced the show “You Don’t Know Dixie,” which promises to educate people about the South. But evidence to the contrary is right there in the opening credits: the term “Dixie” (instead of “South”), and the use of the Confederate battle flag to illustrate the “X,” tell us the show is more concerned with simplistic mythmaking than piecing apart contemporary cultural complexities.

Indeed, the program is heavy on regional trivia and relies on “well-known Southerners” like Ty Pennington and Jeff Foxworthy (and a hillbilly moonshiner whose speech, like that of the folks on “Swamp People,” required subtitles) to tell us “hidden truths” about the region. These “truths” rarely involve women, and they reduce African-Americans to cooking and singing the blues.

And in “You Don’t Know Dixie,” as in all these shows, “Southern” almost always means “white,” regardless of the central role that blacks play in the region’s culture.

It’s not that other reality TV shows don’t trade in stereotypes of other places, too — say, New Jersey or Los Angeles. But those shows never pretend to show the entirety of Jersey or Southern California life, just a clichéd corner of it. Many of the Southern reality TV programs, on the other hand, trade in age-old stereotypes that indict the entire region.

Of course, one could ask why all the fuss about what is, ultimately, mindless entertainment? But there are two big problems. First, it gives non-Southerners license to point their fingers at a supposedly culturally deficient region, while ignoring their own shortcomings.

And second, it reinforces a message to Southerners themselves, particularly whites, that they are in fact benighted and backward — so why change?

To present the full scale of the South’s diversity would do more than just undermine negative popular perceptions of the region. It would also ruin the stock in trade that has long been used by the dominant media to represent the South as a place that is culturally different from the rest of the country. Although of course, it wouldn’t be as entertaining.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/opinion/sunday/the-south-aint-just-whistlin-dixie.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

New Orleans Saints cult hero Steve Gleason battling ALS

2011-09-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

09/25/11 8:00AM

Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

Today is the five-year anniversary of the highlight of Steve Gleason's football career -- his epic blocked punt against the Atlanta Falcons in the official reopening of the post-Katrina Superdome. It was a seminal moment in his life, the exclamation point to an inspirational eight-year career that saw him rise from relative obscurity to cult hero status in the city he would eventually call home.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune archiveNew Orleans Saints special teams ace Steve Gleason blocks a punt by the Atlanta Falcons' Michael Koenen in the opening minutes of the team's Superdome homecoming game after Hurricane Katrina.

The New Orleans Saintsinvited him to serve as a ceremonial team captain for today's game against the Houston Texans at the Superdome. He'll handle the coin toss and initiate the ceremonial Who Dat chant before kickoff.

He'll undoubtedly receive a thunderous ovation from the sellout crowd of 73,000 but many fans won't understand why Gleason is moving so slowly on the field.

Gleason has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a rare terminal disease that damages the nerves that control voluntary muscle movement.

ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a devastatingly cruel disease. Gradually, motor neurons shut down. As they do, muscles atrophy. Although Gleason's brain remains sharp, he is steadily losing his ability to walk, talk and swallow. The powerful legs he once used to race downfield on kickoffs are now withering and unstable. The arms he famously extended to block Michael Koenen's punt are weak and frail.

Although he disclosed his condition to friends and family after his diagnosis in January, he decided for personal reasons not to go public until now. He believes that through his newly formed Team Gleason organization he'll be able to inspire just as many, if not more, people than he did on the football field. He sees his condition not as a death sentence but as yet another adventure in life.

"It's easy to start questioning whether God has this plan and why the plan would include me getting diagnosed with this disease," Gleason said. "And that's when you can start why-ing yourself to death. More than that, I've thought, what does this mean, how does this help me fulfill my purpose in life? If we have a purpose in life beyond being a cog in the human machine, mine is to help inspire people and that's pretty cool. I would like to motivate the world."

No one who knows Gleason doubts his ability to do just that.

Guts and grace

Undersized and relatively slow of foot, Gleason excelled on guts and guile in a sport of goliaths and gazelles.

Football earned him a four-year scholarship to Washington State and a lucrative living in the NFL.

Sean Gardner/The Times-Picayune archiveHairstylist William Edge cuts Steve Gleason's hair in 2003 so the Saints special teams member could donate it to Locks of Love. Gleason had grown his locks long for the sake of the charity.

Gleason started only one game for the Saints, but he made his mark on special teams. He blocked four punts and annually ranked among the team leaders in tackles on punts and kickoffs. Just as he had in high school and college, he became a team captain.

"From the very first minute I got to know him, he had that kind of aura around him," said Jim Salters, a former teammate of Gleason's.

His fearless play and free-spirited personality captured the fancy of the team's eclectic and loyal fans. He became the ultimate counterculture hero in a counterculture town.

He grew his hair long to support the Locks of Love charity.

He bought a diesel pickup truck and launched a recycling program at the Saints' practice facility.

His fashion sense tended toward T-shirts and flip-flops, except on chartered team flights when he leaned toward bow ties and seersucker.

He wrote poetry, played the guitar and studied Eastern philosophy.

While his teammates lived in suburban enclaves, he rented a one-bedroom apartment in the heart of Uptown.

While they lifted weights in the offseason conditioning program, he would retreat to the indoor practice facility for a solo yoga routine.

"Steve always marched to the beat of his own drum," former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita said.

Yet, Gleason quickly figured out that football would never satisfy his intellectual curiosity. What it did do was provide an outlet to channel his adrenaline addiction and a lifestyle to explore the world. Every offseason was a different adventure, often with his younger brother, Kyle, at his side. He surfed in Nicaragua, hiked the Andes and free-dived in the Galapagos Islands.

Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneSteve Gleason and his wife, Michel Varisco, walk Monday on the Magnolia Bridge near their Faubourg St. John home. The couple's first post-diagnosis decision was a major one: Michel became pregnant in February. 'There was no hesitation â none,' she said.

"Football was something he did; it's not who he was," said Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson, whose relationship with Gleason dates to his tenure as athletic director at Washington State from 1994 to 2000. "There are just so many levels to Steve Gleason. He always had that indomitable spirit to him that said, 'You know what, world, I haven't seen all of you yet, but I will.' "

Gleason was eager for more adventure when he retired from the NFL in 2008. He married local girl Michel Varisco in May of that year and the couple chose to make New Orleans their home after an epic six-month honeymoon to Greece, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia.

The couple immersed themselves in the local culture. Gleason embraced the city's thriving arts scene and famed joie de vivre. He landed an executive job with the Shaw Group in Baton Rouge, moonlighted as a weekend Saints analyst for local TV and was two-thirds of the way toward his degree in Tulane's executive MBA program. He and Michel had plans to start a family.

This is where Gleason was in life late last summer when he started to notice an odd twitching in the muscles of his upper arm and chest.

Another puzzling sign reared its head during a Labor Day weekend vacation to Point Clear, Ala. While clowning around with brothers-in-law Paul and Vinnie, he struggled to complete three pull-ups on a low-hanging tree branch.

He chalked up the weakness to a 35-mile charity bike ride he'd taken that morning and went on with life. But as the twitches increased, he sought medical help. He took a leave of absence from Shaw, withdrew from classes at Tulane and crisscrossed the country to take a battery of medical tests.

"My doctor told me it could be a wide spectrum of things, with the worst-case scenario being ALS," Gleason said.

Tests gradually eliminated molecular and mechanical causes. One by one, dozens of pathological conditions were dismissed.

By this time, Gleason was starting to have trouble lifting his fingers and toes, one of the most common early symptoms of ALS.

In early January, he traveled to San Francisco for a diagnosis by Dr. Robert Miller, the medical director of the Forbes Norris ALS/MDA Research Center, at California Pacific Medical Center.

On the eve of his appointment, the gravity of the situation finally confronted him. In their room at the Panama Hotel, he curled up in Michel's lap and wept.

"I don't want to have this," he said. "I don't want this to be that. I don't want to have a death sentence. I don't want to die yet."

Cause, cure elusive

ALS attacks the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. The motor neurons that transmit impulses between the brain and muscles slowly wither and die. No one knows the cause. There is no cure.

Ninety percent of people stricken with ALS have no family history of the disease. It strikes one to three people out of every 100,000. Approximately 14 new cases are diagnosed daily.

ALS eventually shuts down the muscles of the chest wall and diaphragm. Suffocation and pneumonia are the most common causes of death.According to the ALS Association, as many as 30,000 people in the United States currently have ALS, which primarily strikes 40- to 70-year-old men. Gleason is 34. New York Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig was its first prominent victim, dying at age 37 just two years after his 1939 diagnosis.

Survival can also be extended, in some cases indefinitely, if a patient chooses mechanical ventilation intervention. Notably, British physicist Stephen Hawking has lived for decades with a motor neuron disease related to ALS, but he is an outlier. Most patients live only two to five years after diagnosis.

Eventually most people with ALS are not able to stand or walk, use their hands or arms, or communicate. In later stages of the disease, individuals struggle to breathe, as the muscles of the respiratory system weaken.

"It is unbelievable how devastating this disease can be to patients and their families," said Steve Perrin, the CEO and chief scientific officer of ALS Therapy Development Institute. "This is one of the nastiest diseases there is."

ALS affects each person differently. The rate of progression and areas of the body affected vary from case to case. In Gleason's case, the disease has attacked the muscles on his right side first.

The disease doesn't affect the parts of the brain that control thought or memory. Eye and bladder muscles, along with sexual function and drive, are rarely affected. It does not affect the function of any organs, including the heart, or impair the nerves that carry sensation. Gleason can still feel the pain of a good yoga stretch or the cold water when he swims in his in-laws' pool.

Athletics, ALS are linked

Six months before Gleason's diagnosis a team of researchers from Boston University reported a link between an ALS-type disease and the repetitive head trauma suffered by some athletes.

Some peers say the study's sample size -- two former football players and a former boxer -- is insufficient to draw accurate conclusions, but evidence shows ALS strikes athletes in far greater numbers than the general population.

Scott Threlkeld/The Times-Picayune archiveSteve Gleason, center, and Colby Bockwoldt and chase down the Dallas Cowboys Skylar Green on a second-quarter punt return in August 2006. The powerful legs Gleason once used to race downfield on kickoffs have now become withering and unstable with the ALS.

A 2005 paper found that Italian professional soccer players had developed the disease at rates about six times higher than normal.

The disease strikes about two in 100,000 people, which means only two or three NFL players since 1970 should have been afflicted. BU researchers identified 14 former NFL players since 1960 as having been diagnosed with ALS, a total about eight times more than what would be expected among U.S. men of similar ages. Perrin said his research shows Gleason would be the 27th former NFL player identified with the disease.

Most experts believe brain trauma is not solely responsible for diseases like ALS or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as CTE. Those afflicted probably have genetic factors leading to susceptibility, with concussions serving as a catalyst.

"You have people in both camps," Gleason said. "But it's getting harder and harder to say that there are no repercussions from head trauma in the NFL or in football. You can't say that anymore."

Last October, the NFL added ALS to the "88 Plan," a medical plan named for Hall of Famer John Mackey that sets aside $50,000 to $88,000 for medical expenses for former players suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Players with ALS and other traumatic brain injuries are also eligible for full disability benefits under new provisions in the league's collective-bargaining agreement, which was ratified in August.

"We still have so far to go," said Fujita, who along with Sean Morey led the NFL players union's push for improved disability benefits for current and former players in the new CBA. "But the fact that the conversation is being had is a huge step in the right direction."

Gleason made his living as a kamikaze hitter. His special teams role put him at risk to the game's most violent collisions, including one in 2004 that bruised his left lung and caused him to cough up several mouthfuls of blood on the sideline.

He said he suffered two concussions in his NFL career. In both cases, he was temporarily knocked out and did not return to the game. He doesn't recall any concussions in college or high school but said the number of times he was "dinged" or had his "bell rung" in his playing career was countless.

"I have questioned sometimes, man, was this caused by the NFL?" Gleason said. "And the thing is, we just don't know. Nobody knows.

"In the end for me, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that we learn from this. We learn about ourselves. We learn to live the life that we love, no matter what your circumstances are, no matter what hand that you've been dealt. It's important that we learn to share our love with one another. And it's important to learn how to cure this disease."

Life doesn't stop

Dr. Miller delivered the bad news to Gleason on Jan. 5.

Gleason suspected the diagnosis was coming. Still he was incredulous.

Gleason familyDuring a 2011 trip that stretched from Alaska to Argentina, Steven Gleason catches a sockeye salmon in the Kenai River outside Hope, Alaska. The salmon is so big he need help from fishing guide Jason Skaaren to hold it. 'I'm not going to say it was a miracle, but his (casting) range was 8 feet and he somehow caught this giant salmon,' said his brother, Kyle Gleason. 'It was a gift from Alaska.'

How could he have ALS? He seemingly had done everything right in life. He religiously practiced yoga and obsessed over his diet. He'd lived his life as a prayer, helping and inspiring as many people as he could along the way. Now this?

"I thought maybe you're so addicted to overcoming fear (in life) that you popped this on yourself -- the ultimate fear joke," Gleason said.

In an email to his inner circle a day later, he admitted his emotions were running the gamut from depression and fear to anger and frustration. Yet, he promised "to fight and believe and expect the extraordinary and smile and laugh and cry and love our lives for every breath that remains in my body."

Gleason returned to New Orleans and set about fulfilling that promise.

His first post-diagnosis decision was a major one. After two years of trying, Steve and Michel elected to try in-vitro fertilization. To their delight, Michel became pregnant in February.

"There was no hesitation -- none," Michel said. "I know that I wanted him to be the father of my kids, no matter what would happen. And if, God forbid, I leave Steve, it will be something selfishly that he created that I will always have."

More motivated than ever to beat the odds, Gleason began exploring alternative healing methods. He visited a Chinese Wu Tang monk, a Russian massage therapist, a Christian faith healer and a Native American medicine man, who treated Gleason to a ceremonial sauna in his backyard sweat lodge. He even talked to Dr. Daniel Amen of "Oprah Winfrey Show" fame.

During the course of his exploration, a comment from the child of an ALS victim resonated with him.

"My father spent four years chasing his tail trying to find a cure," Gleason recalled the child saying. "But he didn't wake up and watch the sunrise."

Gleason re-enrolled at Tulane and completed his MBA coursework.

"I knew he would; there was no reason not to," said Kyle Brechtel, 30, one of the Tulane classmates who have become some of Gleason's closest friends. "He's a brilliant, incredibly smart guy."

Gleason began compiling a library of first-person video journals for his child. He and filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, who produced the ESPN documentary "Run, Ricky, Run," started recording a chronicle of his life. And he and Michel hatched a plan to take a cross-country trip to the West Coast, Alaska and Canada.

The trip was classic Gleason. The odyssey would be similar to their honeymoon to the Far East except this time, instead of yurts and hostels, they'd be traveling and sleeping in a customized 4-wheel-drive van dubbed "The Iron Horse" in a nod to Lou Gehrig. It was the ultimate off-road camping machine, equipped with a sink, microwave, refrigerator, exterior shower and ventilated pop-up top. "The perfect vehicle," Gleason gushed.

As they did in 2008, they chronicled every stop in an online blog called "The Shunpike Experiment," in honor of Harry Potter wizard Stanley Shunpike.

Ted Jackson/The Times-Picayune archiveSteve Gleason watches Topher Mira cook up a batch of biodiesel in 2007 at New Orleans Biodiesel Initiative, a backyard refinery that turns restaurant cooking oil into fuel.

The three-month sojourn wasn't easy for either Steve or Michel, but the couple knew this would be their final chance at adventure before the baby arrived.

Even by Gleason's standards of high adventure, the trip was a rousing success. Backstage passes to a Foo Fighters show at the Sasquatch Music Festival. A helicopter ride to the peak of Mount McKinley, where the clouds cleared miraculously just as they reached the summit. Grizzly bears clawing salmon out of the Katmai River. A two-week sidetrack to Argentina, Uruguay and Costa Rica to complete Gleason's Tulane MBA program. And the highlight: Steve pulling a keeper rainbow trout and 17-pound sockeye salmon from the Kenai River in Alaska.

"I'm not going to say it was a miracle, but his (casting) range was 8 feet and he somehow caught this giant salmon," said Kyle Gleason, who organized the excursion. "It was a gift from Alaska."

The 14,000-mile trek ended in equally epic fashion at Pearl Jam's 20th anniversary show in East Troy, Wis., where Mike McCready invited him on stage to play tambourine during the encore.

The trip taxed the Gleasons physically and mentally. But both deemed it an overwhelming success.

"It doesn't surprise me," Salters said. "The alternative is somehow to pull back or retreat or play it safe or give up. If anything they've done the opposite. They're saying, we're going to live this life the best way we know how as long as we've got it. None of us knows what's going to happen tomorrow or the next day. We're just going to go for it, take risks and not worry about what people think. That's Steve and Michel."

'I want to be the hero'

Before Gleason embarked on his trip in May, his declining physical condition was largely unnoticeable to outsiders. But each day he could feel it closing in.

He'd long ago abandoned running and yoga. But on the trip, he started to struggle with basic physical movements. He ceded driving duties to family and friends. Hikes became difficult without a walking stick.

His condition has worsened since his return to town two weeks ago. Physical activities he once accomplished with ease are now difficult or impossible.

He walks with a staggered limp and needs help to eat, dress and bathe. The muscles of the soft palate have weakened, making his speech thick and swallowing difficult.

He and his family have gone from lamenting the things he can no longer do to cherishing the things he can. And they have learned to adapt: large spoons for meals; straws for drinks; an electric toothbrush for dental hygiene.

His biggest fear is he won't have the upper body strength to hold his newborn baby next month.

"Every day, every moment I have to re-assess what has been lost, acknowledge that I'm afraid to lose more and keep on going," Gleason said.

Michel has left her job as a manager at Juan's Flying Burrito to focus on the myriad tasks at hand. She fills her days applying for a handicapped license tag, filing disability paperwork, researching medical equipment and technology, studying handicapped building design or potential activities for paralyzed athletes. Her due date is Oct. 28.

"It's important for me to spend all my time with Steve," she said. "It could be that it would feel like a burden, but it's not. It's so cool that I love him, and it's like this is what we do. We have to make some changes, but I'm happy doing it."

Faithfully by his side every step of the way, Michel seamlessly switches hats from wise-cracker and cheerleader to caretaker and confidante.

And throughout, both she and Steve have maintained their trademark wit and irony. They laughed hysterically the other night when Steve tangled himself while trying to remove his T-shirt. Jokes about Michel having to soon "clean two butts" are common.

"They really, truly are meant to be with each other," mother-in-law Jill Varisco said. "It's beautiful."

Gleason is doing everything he can to slow the process. He takes Rilutek, the only FDA-approved drug available to prolong some patients' lives. He's also enrolled in a clinical trial for Dexpramipexole at the Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research Institute in San Francisco. He regularly dips in the his neighbor's or in-laws' pool to work his muscles and revitalize his nerves.

While he continues to try to heal, the pragmatic side of him understands he could be in a wheelchair and on a ventilator in the future. He realizes he might never have a normal conversation with his child.

"It's hard to see your older brother, who's kind of been a rock in your life, a super hero to you, it's hard to see him vulnerable," Kyle Gleason said. "ALS makes you more than vulnerable. It makes you pathetic."

Learning to accept pity and sympathy is one of the most difficult challenges for ALS patients, experts say. It's even harder for someone wired like Gleason. Not long ago he was on the other side, visiting terminal patients at Children's Hospital for the Saints.

Now he's learning to live with the awkward looks he gets in public, the uncomfortable reactions he receives from friends and the helping hands wherever he goes. It's not easy, as a poem he recently penned expresses:

I want to be the hero,

I'm not used to being saved.

I want to throw the life boat at you,

You struggle with the wave.

"People ask all of the time, 'How does it feel?' " Gleason said. "I think about Pearl Jam. I know Mike (McCready). We kind of go back a little bit, but if I wasn't diagnosed with this, he probably wouldn't say, 'Hey come on stage.' Part of me was like, 'This is sweet.' And then another part of me is like, 'Well, that kind of sucked.' "

Facing the fear

Gleason's down moments are fleeting. His plate is too full to waste time in reflection.

He recently launched Team Gleason, a broad group of family, friends, colleagues and former teammates dedicated to helping further his three-pronged mission: heal, provide for his family and continue to live the life he loves.

Team Gleason hopes to recruit supporters, raise funds and increase awareness of ALS. The goal is to help Gleason maintain a quality lifestyle and continue to participate in adventurous activities.

The diverse background of the members of Team Gleason reflects Gleason's varied interests. Their reach extends from Washington and California to Ohio and Louisiana.

Among the members are Fujita, Jefferson Parish Assessor Tom Capella and Stephen Rehage, founder of the VooDoo Experience.

In its initial stages, the project already has a website, a Facebook page and Twitter account. Local shirt-maker Dirty Coast has created a T-shirt -- "Better Now Than Never" -- to kick-start the fundraising.

He hopes the website will cultivate an online community of like-minded individuals. As it evolves, he wants to use the site to communicate directly to fellow members and provide an outlet for his art, music, poetry and journals.

"We all need to thrash about to express ourselves," Gleason said. "I thrashed about physically. Now I have to find a new way to thrash about."

Eventually he wants to organize large fundraising projects and activities for others with similar life-challenging conditions. Most of all, he wants to do what he considers his purpose in life: to encourage and inspire others.

In a short period of time, he's already managed to do that.

"If anybody can beat this it's Steve," said Vinnie Varisco, 38, who, like his brother, is a partner at investment firm Johnson Rice & Co. "From the beginning, he's said I'm not going to let this disease define my life, I'm going to define what my life is going to be with this disease. Not once has he complained."

"He's so strong," said mother-in-law Jill Varisco. "We're amazed at the courage."

"There might be a point down the road where we have to push him, but so far we haven't," Paul Varisco Sr. said. "He pushes himself."

In many ways, Gleason sees comparisons between his football career and his new challenge. The inner strength he tapped to forge an NFL career against long odds are now being mined daily, sometimes hourly. The aggressiveness of the disease and its withering effects test his resolve. The fears he felt of being beaten or de-cleated on the football field are being confronted again. If you're Steve Gleason, this is where things get exciting.

"And am I afraid now? Yeah, I'm afraid," he said. "I'm afraid to walk in public, because people look at me. But I'm not going to stop. I'm afraid because if I want to commune with my friend Shad (Meier), I have to ask him to cut my chicken for me. But I did it. And I'm afraid to go back and see my teammates and coaches because I know that I'll feel envy. But I'm going to do it anyway. Because fear is just a feeling, and if you can acknowledge that fear, digest that fear and overcome it, the rewards are incredible."

Jeff Duncan can be reached at jduncan@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3404.

source: http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2011/09/new_orleans_saints_cult_hero_s.html

Recap: Philadelphia vs. NY Giants

2011-09-25T15:01:00.001-07:00

By Sports Network
The Sports Network

Published: Sunday, Sep. 25, 2011 - 1:24 pm

Last Modified: Sunday, Sep. 25, 2011 - 2:24 pm

A maligned Giants defense peppered Michael Vick with hits, knocking him out with a broken hand, and Eli Manning threw four touchdown passes Sunday to lead New York to a 29-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

After what happened last time these teams played, you might say the Giants owed their NFC East rivals one.

Manning passed for 254 yards, including two touchdown throws to Victor Cruz and one each to running backs Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Cruz and Bradshaw reached the end zone in the fourth quarter as the Giants (2-1) scored 15 unanswered points to end the game.

The Eagles (1-2) scored 16 straight points to take the lead after trailing 14-0 in the first quarter, but Vick was knocked out of a game for the second week in a row with a fractured right non-throwing hand.

The quarterback left last Sunday's game against the Falcons because of a concussion, but passed his tests during the week and was cleared to start against New York.

Although he suffered several hits in a bruising first half against the Giants, Vick broke his hand on a hard hit by Chris Canty later in the game.

The quarterback held his hands against both sides of his helmet as he was falling backwards to the ground, protecting his head, but needed to put at least one hand down to break his fall.

Eagles head coach Andy Reid said Vick would undergo a CT scan on Monday to further evaluate the hand.

"It doesn't look like it's displaced," Reid said, which would be a good sign for Vick.

He came out of the tunnel and went back into the game after getting x-rays, but was taken out a short time later and replaced by Mike Kafka for the second week in a row.

Kafka entered the game with 8:07 remaining and threw an interception on his first pass, a deep throw down the right sideline. The Eagles trailed 22-16 at the time after Manning had hooked up with Cruz for a second time on a 28-yard touchdown.

The Giants were lined up for a field goal after Aaron Ross' interception, but an encroachment penalty on the Eagles gave them a first down and Bradshaw eventually scored on an 18-yard catch and run on the left side to make it 29-16.

Kafka threw another interception before the game was over and went 4-of-7 for 35 yards in his relief appearance. Vick was 16-of-23 for 176 yards and an interception before leaving. He also fumbled three times, but the Eagles recovered each one.

LeSean McCoy carried much of the offensive load, rushing 24 times for 128 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles.

It was the first meeting between the NFC East rivals since DeSean Jackson's game-winning 65-yard punt return for the Eagles last December 19 in East Rutherford, which all but knocked the Giants out of playoff contention.

Vick sustained a hard hit by lineman Rocky Bernard in the first half that knocked him backwards and slammed his helmet on the turf. He was also knocked down after throwing an interception, and Jason Pierre-Paul delivered another hard hit.

At the end of the half, Vick's teammates had to push him toward the sideline when he seemed not to know that the field goal team was coming on the field.

Earlier, Vick drove the Eagles inside the red zone on their first possession of the game, but was intercepted by Ross on third down. Ross took it back 19 yards, and Vick took a hit near the end of the play.

The Giants converted the pick into a touchdown when rookie Eagles linebacker Casey Matthews bit badly on a play fake near the line of scrimmage, leaving Jacobs all alone on the left side for a 40-yard touchdown catch. Matthews recovered, but couldn't catch up to the running back.

Cruz, who sparkled in last year's preseason but didn't catch a pass until this season, broke through an initial hit by safety Kurt Coleman, then escaped Nnamdi Asomugha and Coleman again on a 74-yard reception down the left sideline to make it 14-0.

The Eagles ran the ball on eight straight plays during a 15-play, 77-yard drive that ended in Alex Henery's 21-yard field goal for their first points.

Philadelphia stopped the Giants on 4th-and-3, and McCoy went around the left side of the line on a slashing 11-yard run to end a seven-play drive and get the Eagles within 14-10.

The Eagles scrambled to get Henery and the field goal team on the field as time wound down in the first half, but the rookie kicker was good on a 38-yard try to make it 14-13 at the break.

Philadelphia was stopped three times on 1st-and-goal and settled for Henery's 21-yard field goal for a 16-14 lead in the third quarter. Later, Manning found Cruz working against Asomugha and safety Jarrad Page for a 28-yard touchdown.

The Giants converted the two-point conversion after a pass interference penalty negated the first failed try.

Game Notes

Loss diminishes Wes Welker's record-setting day

2011-09-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

Posted by Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff September 25, 2011 05:26 PM

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

Wes Welker has had many tremendous games for the Patriots, but he was at his best in today’s 34-31 loss to the Bills.

Because it was a loss, his 16 catches for 217 yards and two touchdowns will probably be overlooked, but the receptions and yards were both single-game Patriots records.

Welker was particularly sharp in the fourth quarter, when the Patriots drove 71 yards in 15 players to tie the score. Welker had four catches on the drive, including two fourth-down grabs. The first fourth-down reception was a leaping grab just a yard past the first-round marker at the Bills 36.

Then, when the Patriots were faced with a fourth-and-goal at the Bills’ 6-yard line, quarterback Tom Brady whipped a pass to Welker at the 1-yard line, and Welker powered his way into the end zone for the tying score. That was the end of Welker’s day because the Patriots never got the ball back.

Welker’s previous high for receptions was 15 for 192 yards against the Jets in 2007. Welker has caught 10 or more passes in 12 games, which is also a team record.

“I think the turnovers really killed us in the end,’’ said Welker. “We were able to do some good things out there, we moved the ball pretty well and things like that but when we get in key positions, we can't turn the ball over and make some of those mistakes. ... We didn't play very good complementary football with each other and the Bills came out there and played hard, kept fighting and they were definitely a tougher team than us today."

The loss also ruined the personal accomplishments.

"I mean, it detracts everything,’’ he said. “We lost the game. What should be a great, fun day of breaking records and all of those things is totally opposite. I think it shows we have a long way to go and we have to step up across the board and make plays and understand that we just can't play like this."

source: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extra_points/2011/09/loss_dimishes_w.html

Buffalo Bills shock New England Patriots

2011-09-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

4:32 PM, Sep. 25, 2011

ORCHARD PARK — Guess what? The Buffalo Bills are for real.

Despite spotting Tom Brady and the New England Patriots a 21-0 lead in the first 24 minutes, the Bills rallied for a hard-to-believe 34-31 victory in front of 68,174 fans this afternoon at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Rian Lindell’s 28-yard field goal with :02 seconds to play broke the tie.

Not only did the Bills pull the shocker, they made Brady, the All-World quarterback, look ordinary by intercepting him four times. He threw four interceptions in all of 2010, and had thrown only one in the first two games this season.

And so ends Buffalo’s 15-game losing streak to New England. The Bills, headed to Cincinnati next Sunday, improved to 3-0 while the Patriots fell to 2-1.

The Bills tied the score, 24-24, on a Fred Jackson 1-yard run with 10:36 to play, then took their first lead, 31-24, when cornerback Drayton Florence intercepted a deflected Brady pass and returned it 27 yards untouched to the end zone 15 seconds later.

The Patriots came right back to score as Brady hit Wes Welker with a 6-yard TD pass. Welker caught 16 passes for 217 yards — in a loss.

That’s because the Bills marched 70 yards in 8 plays to set up the winning field goal. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick passed to running back Fred Jackson at the 30 and he sprinted down to the 1, a 38-yard play.

With just 1:43 remaining, and because New England had just one timeout left, the Bills then played stall ball until just :03 remained. Lindell then kicked the field goal.

A week ago the Bills trailed 21-3 at halftime but came back to defeat the Oakland Raiders 38-35.

The Bills won the coin toss but deferred their choice to the second half. Apparently they were telling Brady to show them what he’s got.

He did. He needed nine plays, and 5:15 of clock time, to direct the Patriots to the end zone. Welker scored on a 14-yard pass. Cornerback Drayton Florence slipped, leaving the Pats’ wide receiver alone in the left flat.

The Patriots got the ball right back when, on Buffalo’s second offensive play, a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass skipped off the hands of Donald Jones and was intercepted by Kyle Arrington.

Starting at the Bills’ 35, Brady needed six plays to reach the end zone. He threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski in the back of the end zone.

Just 8:58 into the game, the Patriots led 14-0.

The lead became 21-0 with 6:01 left in the second quarter. The Pats drove 65 yards in just five plays, the last 26 covered by a pass from Brady to Gronkowski. Cornerback Aaron Williams attempted to provide coverage, but Gronkowski ran right past him.

Fitzpatrick threw a strike to Stevie Johnson in the right corner of the end zone, capping a 91-yard drive 1:56 before halftime, to pull the Bills within 21-7.

Interceptions of Brady passes on back-to-back possessions — by Bryan Scott late in the first half and by Leodis

McKelvin early in the third quarter — led to 10 points for the Bills.

Rian Lindell kicked a 42-yard field goal just before the half, then McKelvin’s interception set up a 39-yard Bills TD drive, with Fitzpatrick hitting a wide-open Scott Chandler for the final 3 yards.

The Bills defense allowed New England to drive from its 14 to the Buffalo 5, but the drive stalled and the Patriots settled for a 22-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowkski.

KEVINO@DemocratandChronicle.com

source: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110925/SPORTS03/110925007/Buffalo-Bills-shock-New-England-Patriots?odyssey=nav|head

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110925/SPORTS03/110925007/Buffalo-Bills-shock-New-England-Patriots?odyssey=nav|head

Why I Love Facebook Timeline [OPINION]

2011-09-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

Facebook has announced big changes in the past few days, and one of them is Timeline, a new way of looking at your personal data that will change the way you use Facebook — and even the way you look at yourself. I love it, and here’s why.

When CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated Facebook‘s newTimeline profiles at Thursday’s event, it all seemed abstract to me at first. But as his own personal timeline scrolled on the big screen behind him, racing from his birth to the present, I began to understand the significance of presenting personal data this way.

The next day, we found a way to enable the Facebook Timeline prior to its official rollout on Sept. 29. It was only then that I realized its full impact, as it loaded and displayed my own personal photos, Facebook comments, posts and life events into its long-scrolling tableau. Only then did I realize why Zuckerberg seemed to become slightly choked up on stage when he was describing Timeline’s features as he showed off his own personal data.

Those of you who have already gone through the (slightly difficult) process of converting your Facebook profile into this new Timeline will understand what I mean: It’s an eerie feeling — some have even called it creepy — to go back in time and see all your data compiled as a chronological scrapbook, recounting how many friends you made during a particular year, steps you’ve taken in your career, personal victories and defeats, and myriad things lost and gained. It’s a time machine.

Digging deeper, I noticed you can go back and add events from the distant past to round out your timeline. You can tell the story of your entire life here — something you could do in a resume-like way before, but never with this sort of clarity. Therein lies the brilliance of Timeline: It takes advantage of something computers do well — they can instantly sort and group things, find patterns and visualize data in different ways that can take on entirely different meanings.

With Timeline, you can even add points in time when loved ones have died, and accompany those dates with pictures, text and video. To me, that further demonstrated how Timeline really is capable of profound emotional impact. I’m going to go back and add pics of my late mother and father, along with writings of my own personal remembrances. I’ll scan lots of pictures — finally Dad’s old shoeboxes full of photos will become useful — and show what life was like back then. I’ll make it private, just for me. And it’ll add something to my life that was missing before.

Think about it — perhaps this Timeline format will be an iconic beginning to a new way to remember people. Think of the long-term implications of careful Timeline curation. When you die, everyone will be able re-live your Timeline as if it’s the Book of Life, displaying what mattered to you, things you did, and things you experienced, right there for all to see. Who were you? Look at the Timeline.

Scrapbooks have been around for a long time; timelines have been here, too. Now the two are combined, and coupled with Facebook’s unprecedented reach and convenience, a new medium has been born. Just think of all that can be done with this blank slate. Even in its infancy, it’s already abundantly customizable. Extrapolate that to the future where it’s further refined, its privacy capabilities are more effective, airtight and transparent, making it possible to document entire lives with ease. This could be a format that lives on, telling your story when you no longer can, documenting lifetimes from the cradle to the grave, functioning as the electronic epitaphs of the future.

I foresee an entire cottage industry springing up around Timeline. Companies can display their long-standing traditions, illustrating their meager beginnings and their growth to their current state. A couple can chronicle its relationship from first meeting to marriage, exhibiting a Timeline at a wedding reception, just as videos are shown today. Political candidates can tell their life stories (or spin them just the way they want), and make them available for all to see. Like every new medium that came before it, people will create things we can’t even imagine with Timeline.

Timeline might seem like just an application on the web, but it goes beyond that — once you populate it withyour own personal data. Try it before you pass judgment. Think long-term. If your experience is anything like mine, it will help you see yourself in a whole new way, and for me, that was profound. For some users, it might even serve as a personal demonstration of why life is worth living.

I love it. Bravo, Facebook.

source: http://mashable.com/2011/09/25/i-love-the-facebook-timeline/

Packers lead Bears 7-0

2011-09-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

MARK POTASH ON THE BEARS September 24, 2011 5:08PM

Updated: September 25, 2011 3:45PM

Do the Green Bay Packers have the Bears’ number?

The historic rivalry peaked last season when the teams played three games that weren’t decided until the final minute, capped by the Packers’ 21-14 victory in the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field in January. But as close as the teams were on the scoreboard, the Packers looked to be on the rise, with the Bears struggling to keep up.

The Bears (1-1) have a chance to refute that theory when they play the defending Super Bowl champion Packers (2-0) on Sunday at Soldier Field. It will be their first meeting since that game in January, when Jay Cutler missed most of the second half and the Bears still had a chance to tie until undrafted rookie safety Sam Shields intercepted a Caleb Hanie pass at the Packers’ 12-yard line with 37 seconds left

That game and that play typified the Bears-Packers series in 2010. When it really counted, it was the Packers who got the job done. The Bears had a chance to eliminate the Packers from playoff contention in the final game of the regular season but failed to land the knockout blow when Cutler, who had been sacked four times in the previous three games, was sacked six times by the Packers. Linebacker Erik Walden, who had been signed off the street eight weeks earlier, had three of them.

The Bears still feel the sting of that loss, but it’s not like vengeance has been a rallying cry this week at Halas Hall.

Rodgers among best in league

‘‘It was a long time ago, and we try to put that behind us and build off it at the same time,’’ linebacker Brian Urlacher said. ‘‘We feel we played good enough to win that game on defense. We didn’t make enough plays. It’s frustrating. You get [close] to your goal, and you don’t accomplish it. So congrats to them. They got it done, and we didn’t.

‘‘We have a chance to make up for it this weekend. It won’t be near the magnitude of that game, but it’s a start in the right direction.’’

The Packers have won five of seven games against the Bears with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. And the two Bears victories have had an above-normal fluke quotient: a 20-17 overtime victory in 2008 at Soldier Field, in which special-teams plays set up both Bears touchdowns and a blocked field goal by Alex Brown sent the game into overtime; and a 20-17 victory last season at Soldier Field, in which Devin Hester returned a punt for a touchdown and the Packers were called for 18 penalties, including one that wiped out a touchdown and two that nullified interceptions by Cutler.

The Bears won both those games fair and square. But as football games go, winning with punt returns, blocked kicks and turnovers doesn’t portend to future success as much as winning because Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks in football.

That’s one critical area where the Packers trump the Bears. Rodgers might struggle against the Bears’ defense Sunday, throw a few more incompletions than normal and maybe even an interception, but he’s great against everybody else.

Making it look easy

Cutler is a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback with the wind at his back, but he’s a hit-or-miss proposition in almost any other situation. Every quarterback in Mike Martz’s offense has had a completion percentage of 62 percent or higher except J.T. O’Sullivan, who completed 58.2 percent in eight starts with the San Francisco 49ers in 2008.

In 19 games in Martz’s offense, Cutler is at 56.8 percent and falling. In his last eight games, his completion percentage is 52.4. He’s in a tough spot with a makeshift offensive line and average receivers, but not everybody has to be in a comfort zone to put a team on his back. Rodgers was sacked 50 times in 2009 (up from 34 the previous season), and his completion percentage, passing yards, touchdowns and passer rating went up. So did the Packers’ victory total — from six to 11.

That’s not all the Packers have going for them. Coach Mike McCarthy. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers. A state-of-the-art natural-grass turf at Lambeau Field. And, most of all, a player-personnel department headed by general manager Ted Thompson.

Fifteen of the Packers’ 22 starters in the Super Bowl and 31 of the 45 players on their active roster were drafted or signed as rookie free agents by the team since Thompson arrived from the Seattle Seahawks in 2005. They drafted Bryan Bulaga late in the first round in 2010, put him at right tackle five games into his rookie season and won the Super Bowl. It can’t be that easy.

It isn’t. But the Packers make it look that way. No matter what happens Sunday at Soldier Field, the Bears likely will have some catching up to do.

source: http://www.suntimes.com/7800426-417/packers-lead-bears-7-0.html

VIDEO: Blaine Gabbert, Mike Thomas Connect For Touchdown To End First Half

2011-09-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

by Brian Floyd

As far as first touchdown passes go, it doesn't get much better than this. As time expired in the first half of Sunday's Jaguars-Panthers game, Blaine Gabbert stepped up and foundMike Thomas deep down the middle of the field. It wasn't quite a Hail Mary, but Thomas did find the end zone, sauntering through a hole in the Panthers' defense and diving into the end zone for the score.

And they did it all in the midst of a torrential downpour. Check out the video.

Via SportsGrid

Gabbert has been hit-or-miss in his first NFL start, completing seven of 13 passes for 84 yards, and interception and the aforementioned touchdown. It's been a low-scoring affair in Carolina, but Gabbert's end-of-the-half touchdown pass put the Jags on top of the Panthers, 10-5.

On the other side of the ball, Cam Newton has just 71 yards through the air, completing 12 of the 23 passes he's thrown.

For more on the Jaguars head over to Big Cat Country. For more on the Panthers, check out Cat Scratch Reader. Follow the rest of Week 3 of the regular season at SB Nation NFL.

source: http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2011/9/25/2448555/blaine-gabbert-mike-thomas-touchdown-video-panthers-vs-jaguars

The lavish "Pan Am" is nostalgic bonbons for the mind

2011-09-25T14:44:00.001-07:00

SUNDAY, SEP 25, 2011 13:26 ET

ABC's period epic is as light as prime-time drama can get without becoming bubble-headed

BY MATT ZOLLER SEITZ

ABC

Come fly with them: Christina Ricci and Margot Robbie in "Pan Am."

If production values equalled artistic quality, "Pan Am" (Sundays 10 PM/9 central) would win a Nobel prize.

This new series about Pan American airlines flight attendants -- oh, wait a second, it's set in 1963; I'll use the word "stewardesses"! -- is a triumph of retro atmosphere. Unlike NBC's dreadful "The Playboy Club," the series doesn't feel like a good-enough-for-government-work re-creation of another era, with contemporary attitudes, hairstyles and music inadvertently creeping in. Almost every touch is just right: the orange Tourister suitcases displayed in the opening airport sequence; the green-shelled manual typewriter that a young man uses to type a paper on Karl Marx; the crinkly chiffon dresses and 8mm camera in a wedding flashback; the way the stewardesses' blouses and skirts wrap their tummies and hips, thanks to the girdles that the company makes them wear. The opening section, which revolves around the inaugural flight of Pan Am's Clipper Majestic, has a couple of images whose scale is breathtaking: a shot of a yellow Checker cab racing up Park Avenue toward the Pan Am building, the street lined with vintage automobiles and signage; and an aerial shot of a chopper approaching the same skyscraper, every building in the 1963 Manhattan skyline lovingly re-created.

As for the drama, well ... Let's just say that for all its busy plotting, Pan Am is not a terribly intense show, and judging from the tone of the premiere, it isn't trying to be. The core cast of young female characters all have intriguing back stories that are touched on in this episode, and will be explored at length in future installments. The French Collette (Karine Varnasse) is rattled when a handsome man she had a one-night-stand with in Paris shows up on the Clipper with his wife and young son. The beatnik Maggie (Christina Ricci) looks askance at the conspicuous consuption she sees in her job, but she loves being a stewardess because it gives her so much freedom to travel (a huge incentive for young women from all walks of life). Laura (Margo Robbie) becomes a stew to avoid a wedding she decided wasn't for her; there's a marvelous comedy scene with Laura and her sister Kate (Kelli Garner, "My Generation"), who also works for Pan Am, escaping the event in a fishtailed sedan. When we first meet Laura, she's a quasi-celebrity just three weeks into her job, thanks to a candid photograph of her in her stewardess outfit that somehow ended up on the cover of Life magazine. ("With a face like that you'll find a husband in a couple of months!" she's told. )

Big sister Kate has connections to the American espionage community and is engaged in Cold War-type subterfuge, such as replacing a diplomat's passport with a nearly identical but expired one. Did the CIA or some foreign spy service have something to do with the mysterious disappearance of a fourth character, Bridget Pierce (Annabelle Wallis)? We'll find out eventually.There are also handsome pilots and copilots (Mike Vogel and Michael Mosley, respectively) whose stories are secondary to the ladies'; Moseley's character, Ted Vanderway, is connected with the disappeared Bridget via the Bay of Pigs invasion, and had a "Casablanca" moment with her on Havana tarmac.

That last bit probably makes "Pan Am" -- which was created by "ER" coproducer Jack Orman -- sound like a spy thiller in globe-trotting romantic comedy drag. It's not. The series isn't a comedy, either; nor for that matter is it a somewhat introverted psychological drama with flashes of corporate satire, the go-to mode of its partial inspiration, "Mad Men." It's really more of a cinematic time machine, and quite happy to be that -- a non-morose "Mad Men," more interested in surfaces than emotional interiors.

Because Pan Am folded 20 years ago, and thus has no branding stake in this program as Playboy does in "The Playboy Club", the producers were free to make a more satirical, cynical or bleak statement, but they opted instead for an immersive experience that's about as cheery as a prime time drama can get without being bubble-headed. "Pan Am" isn't blind to the social realities of the era, but it doesn't feel compelled to stare at them accusingly. On first glance it suggests a program founded on retro-sexist fantasies. The working world that we see is almost completely white; men fly the planes (and run the world); the women are by definition subservient -- mainly stewardesses catering to the needs of their passengers and having romantic and personal adventures during their off-hours. But although the show isn't making any overt feminist statements, it isn't anti-feminist, either. It's aware of the stewardesses' problematic but significant place within the story of gender equality, and acknowledges the downsides of the job without underselling its real benefits.

I've met a number of women over the years who worked as Pan Am stewardesses in the 1960s and '70s. Each one looked back fondly on the experience, but with clear eyes rather than rose-tinted glasses; each was grateful to have been able to do that job during an exciting time for women, and for the world generally. The show captures the curiosity and spirit of adventure that I associate with them. Laura, for instance, isn't sitting around before her wedding composing a speech about how marriage equals sexual bondage and submission to paternalism, but you don't need to hear something like that to know that she feels suffocated by constricted expectations, and wants to get out; all you have to do is look at her panicked eyes before she makes her escape and her rapturous expression after. What she finds in the air is a fantasy of liberation, but it's her fantasy; she made it happen. And whenever she forgets about reality, that damned girdle is there to remind her. "Pan Am" is nostalgic bonbons for the mind, made with the finest ingredients.

Matt Zoller Seitz is Salon's staff television critic. More: Matt Zoller Seitz
source: http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/09/25/pan_am_premiere_abc/

Peyton Hillis Out: Browns Running Back To Miss Week 3 Due To Illness

2011-09-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

By TOM WITHERS 09/25/11 11:52 AM ET

CLEVELAND -- Browns running back Peyton Hillis has strep throat and will not play against Miami.

Hillis was sent home sick with a high fever before practice on Friday. He came to the stadium Sunday before leaving a few hours before kickoff against the Dolphins. Hillis, who rushed for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns last season, will be replaced in the starting lineup Sunday by Montario Hardesty.

Hardesty missed all of last season following knee surgery. He has eight carries for just 19 yards this season. Last week, he had just one yard on three carries and fumbled once.

Hillis scored two touchdowns last week in a win at Indianapolis. He is currently in negotiations with the Browns on a contract extension.

Also, Browns right tackle Tony Pashos is sitting out his third game with a foot injury. Artis Hicks is making his second straight start and Oneil Cousins will likely rotate in on some plays.

Dolphins starting cornerback Vontae Davis is inactive and will be replaced by Nolan Carroll, who will make his second career start. This is the first game Davis has missed in his three NFL seasons.

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/25/peyton-hillis-out-browns-nfl_n_979956.html

Game updates: Patriots at Bills

2011-09-25T14:35:00.001-07:00

Posted by Zuri Berry, Boston.com Staff September 25, 2011 03:30 PM
Post-game: Bills 34, Patriots 31:
The quarterback comparison:

Tom Brady 30 of 45 for 387 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions.
Ryan Fitzpatrick 27 of 40 for 369 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

For the Patriots, Wes Welker caught 16 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns. The receptions and yardage at single-game, team records. Rob Gronkowski had seven catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns.

For the Bills, Stevie Johnson had eight catches for 94 yards and one touchdown.

Team stats:
The Bills rushed for 109 yards, the Patriots 79.
The Bills won time of possession, 31:15 to 28:45.

Post game: Bills 34, Patriots 31: The Bills fans cheered wildly as soon as the game ended and the Bills players came to the edge of the field to celebrate with them. The victory ended a 15-game losing streak to the Patriots. Ryan Fitzpatrick was interviewed on the field by network TV and then got a huge ovation as he left the field. "Sweet Caroline'' was played over the PA system in mocking fashion. The Bills fans have a long way to go to match Red Sox fans.

:00 4th quarter Bills 34, Patriots 31: The Bills took another knee, the Patriots were penalized for unnessary roughness. The Bills had a false start the moved the ball back to the eight. Another knee on three down, put the ball on the 10 and the Bills ran the clock down to three seconds. Then Rian Lindell kicked the winning field goal.

3:25 4th quarter Bills 31, Patriots 31 Wes Welker caught a six-yard touchdown pass on a fourth and goal to scoring the tying touchdown.
Welker was incredible on a 71-yard drive, catching four passes including a leaping catch on a fourth and four to keep things going earlier in the drive. His 16 catches for 216 yards area both Patriots single game records.

-- Tom Brady's pass was tipped by Marcel Darius and returned by Drayton Florence 27 yards for a Bills touchdown.

Fred Jackson had just tied the game on a 1-yard TD run for the Bills before Brady's interception.

14:51 4th quarter: Patriots 24, Bills 17 -- Jairus Byrd broke up a Tom Brady pass, forcing the Patriots to punt early in the fourth quarter.

End of the third quarter: Patriots 24, Bills 17 -- Bills CB Aaron Williams suffered a chest injury and is out for the game. He was carted off the field.

2:20 3rd quarter: Patriots 24, Bills 17 -- The Bills' Aaron Williams was seriously injured and had to be carted off the field.

3:50 3rd quarter: Patriots 24, Bills 17 -- A three-and-out for the Bills. A bad pass by Ryan Fitzpatrick to Donald Jones and then a good play by Leigh Bodden on Stevie Johnson, followed up with a go-nowhere six-yard pass to Fred Jackson.

4:51 3rd quarter: Patriots 24, Bills 17 -- The Patriots went back to their hurry-up offense, culminating in a 23-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski.

Rob Gronkowski came up with another big catch, this one a 28-yarder. He now has six catches for 100 yards.

9:34 3rd quarter: Patriots 21, Bills 17 -- Standing in the end zone all alone, Scott Chandler caught a 3-yard TD from Ryan Fitzpatrick pulling the Bills within four.

The Bills were in an empty set, spreading the Patriots around. They had drove 39 yards in seven plays, keyed by a Fred Jackson 18-yard run. The elusive running back shook loose of three tackles on the run. Fitzpatrick also hit Stevie Johnson for a 24-yard gain on the drive.

13:10 3rd quarter: Patriots 21, Bills 10 -- Looking for Chad Ochocinco over the middle, Tom Brady threw an interception to the Bills' Leodis McKelvin. That's interception No. 2 for Brady.

15:00 3rd quarter: Patriots 21, Bills 10 -- Second half is getting underway.

To recap, Tom Brady is 16 of 22 for 222 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite receivers have been Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski. Welker has seven catches for 119 yards and a touchdown. Gronkowski has five for 71 and two scores.

The Bills' Ryan Fitzpatrick has been pretty on point today. He's completed 20 of 28 passes for 224 yards and one touchdown. Stevie Johnson has seven catches for 85 yards and one score.

0:03 2nd quarter: Patriots 21, Bills 10 -- Rian Lindell kicked a 42-yard field goal for the Bills after Buffalo drove 66 yards in 1:02. The Bills' Fred Jackson caught a 27-yard screen pass and broke two tackles to get Buffalo into field goal range.

1:05 2nd quarter: Patriots 21, Bills 7 -- A Tom Brady pass intended for Danny Woodhead was intercepted by Bills safety Bryan Scott.

The ball bounced out of Woodhead's hands and was caught by a diving Scott.

Also on the play, Patriots guard Logan Mankins got into a scuffle with the Bills' Dwan Edwards. Mankins looked pretty upset, going after Edwards and pointedly yelling toward the Bills' sideline.

1:56 2nd quarter: Patriots 21, Bills 7 -- Ryan Fitzpatrick hit Stevie Johnson for an 11-yard TD on a fade route to get the Bills on the board.

The Bills drove 94 yards on the drive in nine plays. There were big plays from the Bills' David Nelson, who caught a 26-yard pass and tight-roped the sideline and a 15-yarder that was part of a 30-yard play after a roughing the passer call on Patriots LB Rob Ninkovich.

6:01 2nd quarter: Patriots 21, Bills 0 -- Tom Brady hit tight end Rob Gronkowski twice for large gains, first for 21 yards and second for a 25-yard touchdown.

The drive was 5 plays, 65 yards in 1:32. The Patriots were again in their no-huddle offense.

07:33 2nd quarter: Patriots 14, Bills 0 -- Rob Ninkovich got a good chip on Bills running back Fred Jackson and the Bills offense sputtered again with another penalty on center Eric Wood.

10:07 2nd quarter: Patriots 14, Bills 0 -- A big penalty on Patriots offensive lineman Nate Solder offset a huge gain by Rob Gronkowski. Solder was flagged for illegal use of hands to the face, negating a 30-yard pickup by Gronkowski who Tom Brady had found in the seam.

12:27 2nd quarter: Patriots 14, Bills 0 -- The Patriots defense came right back and forced the Bills to three-and-out.

14:41 2nd quarter: Patriots 14, Bills 0 -- The Bills held the Patriots to a three-and-out. Tom Brady led Deion Branch too much toward the sideline on third down. Brady threw two incomplete passes on the drive.

End of the first quarter: Patriots 14, Bills 0 -- So far, the Patriots vs. Bills looks like the Patriots vs. Bills for the last 15 times these two teams played.

0:14 1st quarter: Patriots 14, Bills 0 -- Kyle Arrington got his second interception of the day, this one coming on a fourth and long for the Bills as Ryan Fitzpatrick was throwing over the middle of the field.

The Bills' drive was stumped before that though with a 15-yard penalty on center Eric Wood for a chop block.

6:01 1st quarter: Patriots 14, Bills 0 -- Tom Brady found tight end Rob Gronkowski over the middle for a 1-yard TD as the Patriots took a 14-0 lead. The Patriots capitalized on a Bills turnover after Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was intercepted by Kyle Arrington.

Brady hit Wes Welker for a 24-yard completion to get the Patriots into the red zone.

The drive was six plays, 35 yards in 2:35.

8:46 1st quarter: Patriots 7, Bills 0 -- A Ryan Fitzpatrick pass that went off Bills receiver Donald Jones hands, was picked out of the air by Kyle Arrington and returned 22 yards on the interception.

9:45 1st quarter: Patriots 7, Bills 0 -- Tom Brady hooked up with Wes Welker for four catches for 67 yards on the opening drive, including a 14-yarder for a touchdown as the Patriots stormed the field.

The opening drive was nine plays, 80 yards in 5:15. The key play was a play-action pass to Welker for 33 yards.

15:00 1st quarter -- The Bills won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Patriots will receive. Game on.

source: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extra_points/2011/09/game_updates_pa_1.html

The Moneyball Kids

2011-09-23T21:19:00.001-07:00

Author Michael Lewis Plans to Revisit the 2002 Draftees He Came to Know So Well

By DANIEL BARBARISI

Even as minor leaguers, the so-called Moneyball Kids knew they were different.

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Oakland general manager Billy Beane talks to Nick Swisher in the clubhouse in 2007.

"Everybody else was signing baseballs, and we were signing books," recalls Nick Swisher, the first member of the Oakland A's 2002 draft class, which is featured in "Moneyball," Michael Lewis's best seller.

What the fans pressing those books into the players' hands probably didn't realize was that the book's author may have been right nearby, watching and taking notes.

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Swisher and another draftee, Joe Blanton, in 2006

The relationship between author and subjects sometimes runs deep, and continues for a lifetime; other times, it evaporates as soon as the book is published.

In the case of Lewis and the Moneyball draftees of 2002, the publication of the book was only the beginning. Lewis felt a connection with the college-age draftees of "Moneyball," who are secondary characters in the book, though nonexistent in the movie that opened this weekend.

The Moneyball draftees are shown in the book as examples of Oakland GM Billy Beane's new approach: drafting odd-duck players with then-underappreciated talents whom traditional scouts contended would not make the majors.

Lewis realized he wanted to tell their story, as well, not as a sequel to "Moneyball," per se, but a companion volume. So while his book was turning baseball upside down, Lewis was running around the minor leagues following Swisher, Joe Blanton, Mark Teahen, John Baker, et al, as they took buses through Texas cities like Midland, Frisco and Corpus Cristi.

"I spent '02, '03, '04, and some of '05 running around the minor leagues and watching their careers start," Lewis said. "Then I put it to one side, because I realized I couldn't write this book until their careers were done."

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Swisher's fellow 2002 draftee John Baker in 2005

Now most of the draftees in the book have retired, while a few—Swisher and Blanton in particular—have carved out solid major league careers. Lewis feels the time may finally be right to tell their story, and could start on his new book next month.

"I may get back to it very soon. In the next month or two. I may re-enter all these people's lives," Lewis said. "If I was handicapping it, I'd say there was a 90% chance I'm going to do it. But there's still a sliver of a chance I won't."

Lewis still talks with many of draftees once or twice a year. Swisher had dinner at his house. Teahen invited Lewis to his wedding. The Moneyballers came to trust Lewis, pulling down the wall that exists between baseball players and the reporters who cover them daily. One day, Lewis donned a Double-A Midland uniform, shagged flies in the outfield, and watched the game from the dugout—in uniform. Lewis excitedly told them about his next project—it would become "The Blind Side." The players became friendly with Lewis and his wife, former MTV News anchor Tabitha Soren.

"He was around a lot," said Baker, now a catcher with the Florida Marlins. "We spent a lot of time with Tabitha as well, which was fun for us because we all remember her from MTV.

"She wants to talk about photography and baseball, and I'm sitting there going, 'Tell me about Tupac. Is he really dead?'"

Some of the Moneyballers have actually read the book, while others (ahem, Swisher) still have not, but all say they'll see the movie, even though their characters aren't in it.

"I didn't read the book—I always said I'll wait for the movie, and I guess that worked out," Blanton laughed.

Even as they came to trust Lewis, they became more wary about others in the media. As the test-tube babies of the OBP movement, the Moneyball Kids were forced to grow up fast. Unlike the thousands of other 20-somethings in the low minors, the baseball establishment cared about their success or failure, as Teahen, now with the Toronto Blue Jays, recalled.

"I think it was weird coming up, because the A's wanted us to succeed and wanted us to make it," Teahen said. "But I think there might have been a lot of other people who took offense to the book, and wanted us to fail."

Minor league ballplayers are under a certain stress anyway— they make it or they don't. But few, as a group, have ever been under a microscope like the Moneyball draft class, picked apart even as they tried to develop in the low minors.

"I remember Swisher pulling these articles out from Baseball America, and saying, 'Who the hell are these people? Why are they writing this stuff?'" Lewis said. "Some of the backlash at the book, from inside the game was directed at them, and none of it was any fault of theirs."

By virtue of being in "Moneyball," they were unwitting flag-bearers for the Billy Beane argument that baseball was incorrectly valuing players—that walks were more important than many appreciated, that a young man didn't need to look like a prototypical baseball player to have success on the field.

"They talked very openly about this. The one I was most worried about was Jeremy Brown. The book helped and it hurt," Lewis said.

In a "Moneyball" chapter entitled "The Jeremy Brown Blue Plate Special, Brown is described as "the fat catcher from Hueytown, Alabama that the Oakland A's had made the least likely first round draft choice in recent memory." As a "bad body," high OBP player, Brown was the poster child for the Moneyball system, and suffered the most outside scrutiny as a result.

Within the organization, however, some felt that players like Brown actually got preferential treatment because of their position in the book.

Baker, now a catcher with the Florida Marlins, was one of Brown's competitors in the minors. His minor league numbers exceeded Brown's. But Brown was a prominent player in the book and Baker felt that meant preferential treatment for Brown, who retired in 2008 after a brief stint in the majors.

"I would say that, as much as I like the book, it probably had a negative effect on my career," Baker said. "If you look at the history of our numbers, and how I performed, I consistently played a little bit better. He got called up to the big leagues in 2006, when I made the All Star team in the PCL."

He saw the benefits of the "Moneyball" publicity as well—Baker also felt his entire draft class had an easier road when compared with the 2001 draftees, who Baker said felt like they were shunted aside.

"They'd written this book about Billy Beane's new philosophy and how he's going to draft players, and [2001 draftees] weren't part of that group. They were drafted by Grady Fuson. Those guys resented us a little bit," Baker said.

Baker says he's never talked to Lewis about these reflections, but that he'd like to—and that's what Lewis wants, too: to find out what has happened since 2002, what they feel about it, and to tell the stories of the Moneyball kids, now that they're long past baseball adolescence.

"At some point, I'm going to basically hop in a car, drive around the country, and spend time with all of these people, and find out what happened to them," Lewis said.

source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903703604576589231922329812.html

The Chris Christie Dream Won't Die

2011-09-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

ELSPETH REEVESEP 23, 2011

The Republican primary race was marked by fake candidates (Donald Trump), non-candidates (Mitch Daniels), and fringe candidates (Gary Johnson, Ron Paul) before Rick Perry got into the race. Conservatives were excited after his announcement in August; the conservative blog Hot Air declared he was the "real deal" who could forcefully attack President Obama. The American Spectator said he was "far better positioned than Romney to debate the President." They must not have ever seen Perry debate. After his Texas swag could not carry him through Thursday's event, some conservatives are back to pining for their fantasy candidates. Chief among them: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Perry's halting, stumbling performance, National Review editor Rich Lowry writes at Fox News, "will stoke more speculation about... Christie possibly entering the race." It sure did.

The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin writes, "I thought there was some possibility that if the stars aligned that [Christie] might get in.... In the wake of last night's debate, that possibility increased by a factor of 10. (Yeah, yeah, 10 times zero is zero, but it was never zero.)" The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, too, was inspired by the Orlando debate to think again about Christie. Kristole says he got an email from a "bright young conservative" saying, "I'm watching my first GOP debate...and WE SOUND LIKE CRAZY PEOPLE!!!!" Kristol says he's left asking "with a month left before filing deadlines: Is that all there is?"

Likewise, on Thursday night, Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot again urged Christie to step up. Gigot seems to be in a teeny bit of denial -- Christie has said a million times he's not running, most recently on Thursday -- arguing, "For a man who says he's not running for president, Chris Christie isn't keeping a low profile. [He'll] give presidential tea-leaf readers another chance to speculate about his intentions when he delivers a speech next Tuesday at the Reagan Presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif."

NBC News' Chuck Todd and Mark Murray note that "Gigot is about as close to being a potential pied piper for what's left of the GOP donor establishment community as there is right now." If so, that establishment thinks the nomination is Christie's if he wants it. Gigot concludes, "Christie may decide for personal and political reasons not to run. But one of those reasons should not be his electoral prospects. The GOP nomination is eminently winnable, and on current economic trends so is the presidency."

But those pulling for Christie to run might want to listen to former presidential candidate Lamar Alexander, the senator from Tennessee. Talking to ABC News' Jonathan Karl, Alexander explained Perry's problems: "There's a big difference between being governor and being president, even if you're from a big state... Going from governor to presidential primaries is like going from eighth grade basketball to the NBA finals and you have to be careful. People expect something of a president." That's something Christie, if no one else, is surely keeping in mind.

source: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/09/chris-christie-dream-wont-die/42877/

BYU football report card: Cougars dig deep to earn comeback win

2011-09-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

By Dan Rasmussen, Deseret News Published: Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 9:44 p.m. MDT

A week removed from one of the most disappointing performances in BYU football history, the Cougars hardly looked like they were capable of bouncing back throughout the first half of their home contest with Central Florida.
But to their immense credit, BYU’s players found ways to get a victory. A host of guys in blue jerseys made plays in the second half, and the Cougars managed to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and ultimately emerge with a 24-17 win on Friday inside LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Here’s how BYU graded:
OFFENSE: BYU’s offense struggled and struggled and struggled some more during the first half on Friday — par for the 2011 BYU football course — before showing some signs of life in the second half. The credit for that goes to veteran running backs Bryan Kariya and JJ Di Luigi. They simply stood up and took ownership of the offense, making plays when BYU badly needed them. Both scored a touchdown and helped BYU capitalize when it had opportunities after halftime. On the negative side, BYU sophomore QB Jake Heaps continues to make lots of poor decisions and lots of poor throws. He was just 16 of 34 for 133 yards. He had no TDs and a costly INT in the first half. It didn’t help, it should be noted, that BYU’s wide receivers dropped lots of passes against Central Florida. GRADE: C.
DEFENSE: BYU’s defensive performance was hardly perfect — its secondary gave up a bunch of big plays and the entire unit seemingly couldn’t tackle — but this side of the ball came up big when it was required. A bunch of BYU defenders made big plays — Uona Kaveinga, Kyle Van Noy and Joe Sampson, just to name a few — and did what they needed to ensure the Cougars didn’t lose their third consecutive game. Van Noy, in particular, continues to be a rising star. Against Central Florida, he tipped a pass that led to an interception and had a sack in the closing stages of the contest. GRADE: B.
SPECIAL TEAMS: BYU’s special teams players had struggled mightily early on this season, but they were simply terrific against the Knights. Cody Hoffman returned a kickoff for a touchdown (the first BYU TD off a kickoff return in 13 years), Michael Alisa was Johnny on the spot to recover a muffed punt return after a fantastic punt by Riley Stephenson and kicker Justin Sorensen boomed kickoff after kickoff into the endzone. GRADE: A.

COACHING: BYU’s defensive coaches — on the evidence of tonight — haven’t done a good enough job of practicing tackling. BYU defenders, while consistently displaying fanatical effort, almost always put their heads down and left their feet when attempting to take down Central Florida players. The result was a whole bunch of broken tackles and big plays for the Knights. Going forward, BYU coaches must clean that up. On the plus side, brand-new offensive coordinator Brandon Doman enjoyed a much better second half. His decision to keep the ball on the ground proved to be very wise, and he had some nifty play calls along the way. GRADE: B.
OVERALL: The Cougars will be delighted to have gotten back on the winning track, and they should be. After such a disastrous performance last week — and after a disappointing first half — BYU’s players dug deep and pulled out a much-needed victory. GRADE: B.

source:http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705391390/BYU-football-report-card-Cougars-dig-deep-to-earn-comeback-win.html?pg=2

Republican debate #pollwatch: State of the GOP race

2011-09-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

By Scott Clement

1. Perry leads all major national polls heading into debate –Ahead of tonight’s debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry continues to hold a modest lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican nomination, clocking in most recently at 31 percent in a poll by USA Today and Gallup. Romney is steady in the mid-to-low 20s.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) breaks double digits in most polls with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who saw a sharp drop in support among conservatives after Perry’s entry, following close behind. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich. businessman Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and former ambassador to China Jon Huntsman all stand in single digits, and former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson – appearing in his first debate of the cycle – stands at 1 percent or below in almost every poll to date.

2. Florida’s GOP primary contest appears to be a two man race – Perry holds a slight 28-22 edge over Romney among Florida Republicans, with all other candidates in single digits, according to aQuinnipiac poll released Thursday. Perry’s support peaks at 36 percent among strong tea party supporters.

But the new GOP frontrunner doesn’t run quite as strong against President Obama as Romney. Perry splits 42-44 percent with Obama among all Florida voters in a general election matchup, while Romney edges 47-40 percent over the incumbent. It’s too early to say whether Perry’s Social Security remarks are having an impact, but there’s potential. Almost six in 10 voters say calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” is unfair.

3. Huntsman rising in New Hampshire? The news media and Twitter lit up this morning over a newly released Siena College poll showing Huntsman earning 10 percent support, tripling his 3 percent mark in June (Romney still holds a commanding 41 percent of the vote). But the poll skews much older than primary electorates in recent cycles, a factor that seems to boost Huntsman’s support.

Fully 35 percent of poll respondents were age 65 and older, more than double the proportions in 2008, 2000 or 1996 exit polls, eclipsing the percent of seniors in any GOP primary in 2008, including Florida. Huntsman earns 18 percent support among likely voters over 65, compared with 8 percent among 45-64 year olds and a scant 2 percent of younger voters. Adjusting the poll to match the 2008 exit poll’s age distribution, Huntsman’s support goes to 7 rather than 10 percent. Seven and 10 percent aren’t much different, but “double digits” and “3rd place” wins more media coverage than “7 percent” and “4th place”

Siena College pollster Doug Paleologos notes that the median age has bumped up in the past few years, from 40.2 in 2008 to 41.1 in 2010, and that young voters don’t seem to be energized by the Republican candidates in his state.

Discuss poll results and analysis at #pollwatch hashtag on twitter.

By Scott Clement | 05:51 PM ET, 09/22/2011

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/behind-the-numbers/post/republican-debate-pollwatch-state-of-the-gop-race/2011/09/07/gIQAmclboK_blog.html

Breakthrough for Bryan Stow - he's speaking

2011-09-22T17:34:00.000-07:00

Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, September 22, 2011

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/22/BAQ91L84Q2.DTL#ixzz1YjPABo6t
(09-22) 14:42 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- In a breakthrough in his recovery from being beaten nearly to death in March, Giants fan Bryan Stow was able to speak several words this week for the first time and carry on a conversation, according to his family's website.
The website, "Support4BryanStow.com," said Wednesday that Stow was able to say the names of his daughter and son. Soon afterward, he was able to say his birth date and tell his sister he loved her. And when he was shown pictures of his children, Tyler and Tabitha, he said, "I would like to see them."
The progress happened about a week after Stow had a shunt installed, the family said. The device drains fluid from the brain. Until now, he apparently had been able only to mouth his name and a few other words on occasion.
Stow, a 42-year-old paramedic from Santa Cruz, was attacked outside Dodger Stadium on March 31 after an opening day game between the Giants and Dodgers. During the beating his head was punched, kicked and slammed onto concrete, causing a traumatic brain injury.
Two men from San Bernardino County, Louie Sanchez, 29, and Marvin Norwood, 30, pleaded not guilty last month to the assault.
Stow is at San Francisco General Hospital, where he has undergone a series of operations and is receiving rehabilitative therapy.
"We are encouraged by Bryan Stow's continued neurological improvement and can report that he is beginning to talk again," Dr. Geoff Manley, the hospital's chief of neurosurgery, wrote in a statement confirming the progress. "However, he remains seriously injured and has several ongoing medical issues that we are currently managing.
"It is premature to predict where his long journey will end, and he is not out of the woods yet," Manley said. "We are monitoring him closely and treating him aggressively."
Stow's family could not be reached, but was clearly encouraged by the development.
"We are blown away with all of this," the family wrote on its website. "Literally one day we got some facial responses and the next, he's talking.
"His voice is gravelly and you have to be close to hear him, but he is talking."

source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/22/BAQ91L84Q2.DTL

Space junk to hit Earth, but where?

2011-09-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

NASA can't predict time or location of satellite plunge

By Ryan Haggerty, Tribune reporter

12:17 p.m. CDT, September 22, 2011

NASA officials know exactly what to expect when a defunct science satellite falls to Earth on Friday, except for the most important information — precisely where and when its scattered pieces will land.

Predicting the exact trajectory for a hunk of space junk that will crash into the planet is an inexact science, even for the experts at America's space agency, said Geza Gyuk, director of astronomy at Adler Planetarium.

"There are a lot of different things that go into this," Gyuk said. "It's a fairly complicated thing because it's not a controlled entry (into the Earth's atmosphere)."

NASA's 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite collected measurements of ozone and other chemicals from 1991 to 2005, when it was decommissioned and positioned in a lower orbit where gravity would pull it back to Earth more quickly, according to NASA.

The satellite's orbit passes over most of the planet, from northern Canada to the southern part of South America. NASA said Wednesday that it expects UARS to re-enter the atmosphere sometime Friday afternoonbut that the satellite will not be passing over North America at that time.

NASA has been forced to rely on estimates because of the wide range of variables that affect the satellite as it nears its plunge to Earth, Gyuk said.

The satellite encounters increasing friction as it comes closer to Earth, which can cause it to begin tumbling, Gyuk said. The drag on the satellite changes as it tumbles, making it difficult to predict how the satellite will respond, he said.

The satellite will eventually begin to break apart, and many chunks will burn up as they fall to Earth. But NASA expects that up to 26 pieces of the satellite will survive re-entry and land in a 500-mile stretch somewhere on Earth.

Despite the uncertainty, NASA officials said Earth's residents shouldn't fear being squished by space junk.

NASA said there is a 1-in-3,200 chance that one of those objects will strike a person somewhere on the planet. The odds that it will strike you in particular are far less — about 1-in-22 trillion.

An average of one piece of space debris tracked by space agencies has fallen to Earth each day over the last 50 years, but there are no confirmed reports of injuries or property damage caused by falling space junk, according to NASA.

The largest NASA spacecraft to experience uncontrolled re-entry was Skylab, the 83-ton abandoned space station that fell from orbit in 1979 and scattered debris into the Indian Ocean and in a remote section of western Australia.

rhaggerty@tribune.com

source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-talk-falling-satellite-0922-20110922,0,1278485.story

Hot Read: Ndamukong Suh and some Seger

2011-09-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

By Kevin Seifert

ESPN.com feature writer Elizabeth Merrill spent some time recently in Detroit and producedThursday's Hot Read on defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Merrill painted a particularly vivid scene of the postgame celebration after Sunday's 48-3 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, one complete with teary-eyed rocker Bob Seger in the locker room. An excerpt:

Just after 4 o'clock that day, when the final score read 48-3, a football-forlorn city was brimming with hope. A crowd gathered outside the Lions' locker room. Celebrities lingered, long after the boys dumped Gatorade on their defensive coordinator. Something had changed, and Kid Rock and Bob Seger felt it as they stood outside the locker room like the groupies that follow them. The double doors opened, a security guard whisked them in, and 10 minutes later, Seger emerged with an autographed football and what appeared to be a tear streaming down his face.

"We're on our way now!" the aging rocker said.

"It's great, isn't it?"

No, it is never too early to get excited about an undefeated start in Detroit, even after Week 2. Suh stood in the corner of the locker room and quietly dressed into a plaid shirt and jeans, taking some of it in. Then he left, with rap music thumping in the background and the city eagerly waiting for what's next.

As you might recall, Seger helped ignite Lions Fever this spring by dedicating a song to Lions coach Jim Schwartz during a Detroit-area concert and then declaring: "The Lions are going to the playoffs!"

source: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/31591/hot-read-ndamukong-suh-and-some-seger

"Person of Interest" just may deserve yours

2011-09-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

By Fred Schruers

Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:59pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The pedigree for CBS's new "Person of Interest" sets it up for some high expectations: Creator Jonathan Nolan wrote "The Dark Knight," executive producer JJ Abrams and star Michael Emerson are drawn from the world of "Lost," and Jim Caviezel used to be Jesus.

You can see how it would be hard to measure up. But the show does, for the most part, by injecting unusual wit into what could have been a series of crime-show cliches.

While it can't be expected to boast Batman-style production values, it does set a cinematic tone that recalls "The Dark Knight," the "Bourne" movies, and "Dirty Harry."

At least, I think it's Clint Eastwood that Jim Caviezel is gamely channeling when he grumblingly explains to various bad guys that "I don't have any friends," breaks the occasional nose, and shoots people in the legs.

The set-up is that Caviezel's dark but not overly stolid John Reese is an embittered ex-solider trained to kill and snoop by the C.I.A. But after losing his girlfriend (seen in flashbacks during a strainingly romantic Mexican hotel idyll) to unnamed bad guys, he's basically a drunk headed for the streets. In the opening scenes, a group of wanna-be-bad boys accost him on a subway and try to grab his hooch.

How do you suppose that works out for them?

We quickly meet Henson's detective character in the station house, where she snorts contemptuously at the battered hoods and says, "I'll need a statement from the bum." It's a bit worrying, at first, to see the lovely Henson playing what could be a stereotypical "dese" and "dose" Gotham cop. But in a few sentences she earns respect from Reese and our eagerness to watch the two play cat and mouse more soon.

Reese is quickly sprung by the cryptic Mr. Finch, played by the skilled Michael Emerson with all the snoot of that head waiter who implies that a 40-minute wait for your table is somehow your own fault. The former Benjamin Linus is a master of delivering intriguing but vaguely menacing statements, and doesn't disappoint.

"You need a purpose," he rightly tells Reese. "More specifically, you need a job."

Finch has a computer program that allows him to predict persons of interest in upcoming problems -- but he can't tell whether they are victims, criminals, or witnesses. So Reese is enlisted to figure it out.

Seemingly minutes and one very large shipment from L.L. Bean later, Reese is on the street snuffin' creeps, albeit with a faint air of regret.

All the proper tropes for an ex-special forces antihero are in place, including the torturous flashbacks, the never-miss head shots, and the defiant wit when someone is about to hit him with a rifle butt. Asked who he is, he asks back, "A concerned third party?"

It's a callback of a line used by Finch, but, more importantly, reminds us that this is a show able to tweak cliches - especially those of gritty TV procedurals.

Reese surveils not from the usual drab rooftops but from architectural marvels, and it's all shot with a desaturated look.

Joining in the dese- and dose-ing is Kevin Chapman as Lionel Fusco, the schleppy but good-hearted cop who clearly is going to be regularly schooled by his ad hoc boss, Reese. When he asks if a certain character is in witness protection, Reese says, "No Lionel, he's in the trunk." It's funny because it's true.

source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/22/us-television-personofinterest-idUSTRE78L6BX20110922

Meg Whitman Is Named Hewlett-Packard Chief

2011-09-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

By QUENTIN HARDY and NICK WINGFIELD

Published: September 22, 2011

She replaces Léo Apotheker, the company’s chief executive, after only 11 months on the job. He is also stepping down as a director.

But Mr. Apotheker’s strategy, including consideration of spinning off H.P.’s personal computer business from other parts of the company, will most likely remain in place.

The company also said it was naming Ray Lane, who serves as nonexecutive chairman, as executive chairman. The company said it would appoint a lead independent director.

“We are at a critical moment and we need renewed leadership to successfully implement our strategy and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead,” Mr. Lanesaid in a statement. “Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution. She is a strong communicator who is customer-focused with deep leadership capabilities. Furthermore, as a member of H.P.’s board of directors for the past eight months, Meg has a solid understanding of our products and markets.”

Ms. Whitman is also a member of the H.P. board. According to a person with knowledge of the board’s decision, she was chosen for her track record of successfully managing a large, complex business, her communications skills both internally and with Wall Street and her ability to lead senior executives through corporate transitions.

All of these were seen as Mr. Apotheker’s shortcomings. While the board liked his plan to move H.P. to a business with more software and services, H.P.’s poor earnings and unhappiness with Mr. Apotheker by some members of the company’s powerful executive committee ultimately spelled his downfall, the person close to the board said. Hewlett-Packard’s stock has declined more than 50 percent from its 52-week high, but rose almost 7 percent on Wednesday on reports that Mr. Apotheker faced dismissal. The shares were down almost 5 percent Thursday in a general sell-off on Wall Street.

Ms. Whitman might not unwind much of Mr. Apotheker’s strategy of moving Hewlett-Packard toward becoming more of a software services company in the mold of I.B.M. or SAP. Although H.P.’s board is comfortable with the strategy laid out last month by Mr. Apotheker, its members questioned his ability to communicate that strategy within the company and to outsiders, especially investors.

Although Ms. Whitman lacks experience running a complex technology company that sells to consumers as well as corporate customers, the company’s board considers her communications skills and understanding of customers to be her strongest qualifications for the job, according to a person with knowledge of discussions among directors, but who is not authorized to speak for the board.

Ms. Whitman, who ran eBay as it grew from a start-up to a major online retailer, left the company just as growth began to stall. She unsuccessfully ran for governor of California and was hired in March by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, as a strategic adviser. She has been a member of the H.P. board since January.

One of the other directors who had been recently appointed to the board and who was considered an ally of Mr. Apotheker resigned from the board earlier this month. The company did not announce it, but reported it on Page 93 of a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that on Sept. 8, Dominique Senequier, chief executive of AXA Private Equity, stepped down because of “other professional commitments.”

She joined the board in January, with four other new members including Ms. Whitman. At the time, some corporate governance groups criticized the appointments as an attempt by Mr. Apotheker to add allies to the board.

The company said in its filing that Ms. Senequier was expected to continue to serve as a director of H.P. until its next annual meeting of stockholders, in March.

H.P.’s board has for some time wondered whether businesses like PCs should even coexist alongside those like large-scale corporate computing. Mr. Apotheker’s response was to take the company into higher-value software and services.

Mr. Apotheker’s goals for H.P. were clear from the start, but in almost a year his strategy never quite took shape. He was named to head H.P. on Sept. 30, and the next day declared that software was the “glue” that held H.P. together, a comment that surprised observers because it suggested that H.P. might start to resemble SAP. In the most recent quarter, software accounted for just 2 percent of Hewlett-Packard’s total revenue.

Mr. Apotheker made a series of announcements last month that had the board’s blessing, but surprised and upset investors. He said H.P. was paying $11.7 billion in cash for Autonomy, a British software company, in a deal that analysts immediately branded as overpriced. He announced the discontinuation of its TouchPad tablet that had been introduced only weeks earlier. He also said the company was considering the possible sale or spinoff of H.P.’s mainstay PC business. The stock lost about a quarter of its value on the news.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 22, 2011

An earlier version of the capsule summary for this article misstated Ms. Whitman's given name as Angela. As the article and picture caption correctly note, it is Meg.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/technology/whitman-expected-to-be-named-at-hp.html

Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard to appear in "Wife Swap"

2011-09-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

(Reuters) - Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard and actor Gary Busey will trade partners in an upcoming episode of "Celebrity Wife Swap," a spokeswoman for the show said on Thursday.

Haggard's participation in the episode comes five years after a stunning fall from grace for the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

He was exiled from the Colorado-based New Life mega-church he founded after admitting "sexual immorality" and buying methamphetamines from a male masseur.

The air date for the episode on ABC starring Haggard and Busey has not been determined, but the two men will swap partners, said Brooke Fisher, a spokeswoman for the show.

Haggard's wife Gayle has written a book about her husband's gay sex scandal titled "Why I Stayed." Busey's longtime girlfriend is actress Steffanie Sampson, and while the two are not married they have a son together who was born last year.

Busey is best known for starring in 1978 film "The Buddy Holly Story" and he also recently had a recurring role on the HBO television show "Entourage."

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/22/us-tedhaggard-idUSTRE78L6LZ20110922

Facebook F8: Spotify, Hulu, Netflix get deeper Facebook integration

2011-09-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

After unveiling the Timeline profile redesign at Facebook's F8 conference on Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a "new class of apps" that will make use of Timeline.

The central idea here is that users will be able to share what they're doing in Facebook-connected apps as they're doing it. If your Spotify account is connected to Facebook, a message will show up in your Timeline and in the Ticker stating the song you're listening to. If a friend wants to listen to the same song, he or she just hovers over the song in the Timeline or Ticker, and if they want, they can launch that song in Spotify too.

Spotify doesn't launch inside of Facebook, but rather the Spotify desktop app launches, and a new message will pop up in that user's Timeline and Ticker as well.

Photos: The many faces of Facebook

Zuckerberg said these changes were made to get rid of the pop-up boxes that ask users if they want to share to their walls what they're doing on Facebook.

"People have things they want to sharek but they don't want to annoy their friends by putting stuff in their friends' news feeds," he said. "Ticker is a lightweight stream of everything that's going on around you. ... We think that this is going to make it so that people can express on an order of magnitude more things than they could before."

Until Timeline, and the upcoming apps that take advantage of Timeline, this sort of "open graph" sharing wasn't possible on Facebook, Zuckerberg said.

"We believe that eventually all apps that you use will be social," he said. "Facebook's mission is to make the world more open and connected, and the way that we do this is to map out all of the things that you're connected to."

More changes will come with this new class of apps that will change the language of sharing, Zuckerberg said.

"You can connect to anything by liking it," he said. "This year, were taking the next step; we're going to make it so you can connect to anything you want, the way you want."

"You don't have to like a book, you can read a book," Zuckerberg said. "You don't have to like a movie, but you can watch a movie. You can just eat a meal, you can hike a trail, you can listen to a song."

Zuckerberg did say that "building this language is pretty important , so were doing it carefully and slowly," he said, not yet revealing when the Timeline or these new apps would roll out to users.

The CEO also said that the two categories of apps will be especially able to take advantage of the new Facebook media apps (music, movies, TV, news, books) and lifestyle apps (exercise, food, fashion, travel and more).

"The new class of apps will help you post stuff to your Timeline but also find new things you might like," he said. "It's a frictionless experience. If your goal is to just add lightweight activity, you'll never have to see one of these prompts ever again. So to make this work, we completely redesigned the permissions dialogue so that the entire reason you're adding an app, you're doing so to get that activity on your wall."

Mog, Vevo, Rhapsody, Turntable.fm, Songza, Spotify, DirecTV, IMDb, DailyMotion, Metacafe, Hulu, Netflix and other apps will make use of this new, more open sharing permissions change, Zuckerberg said.

Hulu and Netflix will be among apps that will make use of what he called a "canvas app" that will allow users to watch movies and TV from Hulu or Netflix right on top of Facebook itself, popping up in a video player in the same way that the prompt boxes -- which Facebook wants to get rid of -- do now.

Reed Hastings then took the stage to talk about what Netflix was doing with Facebook's "open graph." He said he hadn't started watching "Breaking Bad" even though the TV show had been recommended to him by both Netflix itself and friends. Once he saw on Facebook's new Timeline feature that a friend of his was watching "Breaking Bad" too, he finally got to watching it after more than a year of recommendations.

"Watching content my friend did really trumped watching content because of an algorithm," Hastings said.

However, Netflix will be one of the few apps that won't be able to list on Facebook in the U.S. what a person is watching in Timeline or Ticker. That's because the U.S. has a law, which Hastings described as outdated, that forbids the disclosing video rental information. Companies that violate the law are liable up to $2,500 for each infraction. Netflix is looking to get the law overturned, and Hastings promised Netflix would publish a blog post about the issue later in the day.

News agencies will launch canvas apps as well, such as News Corp.'s the Daily (which launched as an iPad-only news magazine), as well as the Washington Post. Games will also take advantage of canvas apps.

source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/09/facebook-f8-music-movies.html

Is Elizabeth Warren the "Un"-Candidate?

2011-09-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

On MNSBC's Morning Joe, sidekick Willie Geist was making a run at grilling consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren about her newly-minted campaign for Senate. He tried hard to stump her and paint her as being in over her pretty little head on the rough and tumble campaign trail, but by now talking heads should know better than to take on Warren in that way.

In questioning her about U.S./China relations, Geist interrupted her because he wrongly assumed she hadn't understood his question about the Chinese economy. Warren very calmly assured Willie she knew exactly what she was talking about, the tone of her response clearly signalling -- I understand your question, Willie, I'm just trying to explain why your premise (that China's economy and military aren't connected) is wrong.

Warren politely, but firmly, tried to steer herMorning Joe conversation toward how much she's enjoying the campaign trail, when Geist chimed with another attempt to show he's smarter than the Harvard professor and creator of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by wondering how in the world she'd ever have the energy to keep up a campaign when she'd never run for office before. Was that a back-handed insinuation that a woman who's never run for office is unqualified to run at all? Because I don't remember anyone ever asking that of pizza entrepreneur Herman Cain or any other male candidates on their first attempt at running for office.

All I can say for Geist is that it's a good thing Warren wasn't in the same room during that interview, because even as well-mannered as she is on television, I'm pretty sure she would have slapped his hand or tossed that cup of joe at him across the table for suggesting such a ridiculous idea.

I'll give Geist and others a little benefit of the doubt when figuring out how to approach an interview with Warren. I suppose it is a little odd to talk with a candidate who doesn't parse every sentence to make sure it's not going to effect their poll numbers or alienate the wrong group. It must seem a little strange to have someone running for the U.S. Senate who seems completely comfortable with the idea of saying exactly what she believes is the right thing for struggling American families simply for the reason that she believes what she's saying, regardless of what the ultimate political consequences are for her.

The aspect of Elizabeth Warren's candidacy that some observers can't get their head around is this -- Warren is more concerned about using her Senate race as an opportunity to keep a focus on what's happened to the economy and what we should be doing to make things better for families who are finding out that there's no security anymore in being middle-class than she is about actually being elected senator. If she happens to win, that's just icing on the cake for her.

Some Massachusetts observers are worried that voters won't be interested in Warren because she's not a "real" politician. But that's exactly why they will want her as their next senator. People LIKEthat she tried to stand up to Wall Street. Americans LIKE that she took Washington to task for bailing out investment bankers while allowing families to lose their homes. They LIKE that she doesn't back down when she thinks she's right, even when she's pressured by those of the same political party.

She's already taken a stand in Washington, D.C. that was so unpopular that the financial industry mounted an all-out campaign to keep her from running the watchdog agency she created. While I have no doubt that her personal feelings were probably hurt about that, Elizabeth Warren seems like a woman whose single-minded task is to do whatever she is capable of to turn the economic ship around for Americans who aren't wealthy and who aren't corporations. If she can't do it as head of the CFPB, then maybe she can do it as a senator from Massachusetts. If she doesn't get elected in Massachusetts, she'll do it in another way.

Warren is the "un"-candidate -- willing to speak her mind and say what she believes to be the truth, regardless of the political consequences. As she said on Morning Joe, one voice speaking the truth can turn into three voices, then five, and voices will keep growing, until enough of them are speaking the truth so that things will change.

Yup. She did.

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-bamberger/is-elizabeth-warren-the-u_b_976208.html

‘Modern Family’ Season 3, Episode 1, Premiere: TV Recap

2011-09-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

By Shira Ovide

: Associated Press

The “City Slickers” sets and costumes may have been reused 20 years later for the season premiere of “Modern Family,” which was set on — yup — a dude ranch. It’s called recycling, people.

Last season, a similar three-family vacation in Hawaii didn’t go so smoothly. Jay stared down his own mortality. Haley got horribly drunk. Mitchell and Cameron had a serious philosophical disagreement about the nature of vacation (manic sightseeing vs. zen). And they lost Lily. Luke and Manny shared a room and bickered like Oscar and Felix. It all ended completely normally, with a beach-side wedding ceremony for Claire and Phil, set to the dulcet tones of an island-infused rendition of “Eye of the Tiger.” So what could go wrong on this vacation? Well, a lot.

This time, a dude ranch was a fitting scene for tonight’s hour-long episode, which centered around the theme of not feeling enough like a man.

Phil is forever feeling emasculated by his man’s man father-in-law, and this time he tries to prove his mettle by riding horses and skeet shooting. Even on the plane, Phil was wearing a cowboy hat. (So did Cameron, who also donned a fringe-accented leather jacket.) Phil confessed that leading up to the vacation, he practiced shooting, roping and pancake eating — all the core cowboy skills.

The man-proving exercise works surprisingly well for the walking disaster that is Phil. That man can ride a horse. Hank, the uber-man cowboy guide, dubs him “Buffalo Phil,” a name he says he’s been waiting for all his life. Meanwhile, Jay’s horse lists to the left. Alone in the mountains, Phil for the 1,482nd time confronts Jay about not treating him with enough respect. Yeah, we get it.

Meanwhile, Cameron and Mitchell have decided they want to adopt a second child, a boy, and Mitchell is worried he doesn’t have enough testosterone for the task. The series opened with Cameron and Mitchell taking baby Lily home from Vietnam, so this is the first time we’ve seen them go through the tedious adoption process. They made a book to show off their brood to prospective moms. It’s a pop-up book. In Wyoming, Cameron takes a photo of Mitchell wielding a rifle in a skeet-shooting session. This works about as well as you’d expect. Mitchell nearly kills them all.

Mitchell worries openly about being a father to a son. “I don’t get boys,” Mitchell tells Luke, who wants to blow up stuff with a firecracker. Mitchell agrees to do a “boy thing” with Luke: blow up a birdhouse with the firecracker. Mitchell likes it. And now he’s confident he can have a son now, thanks to the wonderful magic of blowing up stuff.

Sidebar: That summer hiatus must have been extra long, because baby Lily is now really big. And…different (Ok, the twins who played Lily were replaced by a new child actor. Out with the old…)

We have to wonder if the network sensors got a load of this: Gloria riding a horse. Gasp. Might this be the current generation’s version of Bo Derek oozing from the surf in “10”? Yeah, probably not. Gloria, with her ears still clogged from the plane flight — is at her un-sexy sexy best as she talks IN INAPPROPRIATELY LOUD LEVELS and as she screeches out songs by the campfire. Nevertheless, the cow-poke guide Hank comes onto her when they’re alone by the mountainside. She nearly kills him. Jay rides up on a horse — ok, on the back of Phil’s horse — and stops Hank. Sidebar: Sofia Vergara has a fashion line at Kmart. Really. There was an ad during the episode.

Haley’s doofus boyfriend Dylan tags along for the vacation, and Claire is not pleased. At all. “Where is a cliff when you need one,” Claire says after a doofus uttering from the doofus. Claire promises Phil she’ll make an effort to be nice to Dylan. Then Dylan, moved by the campfire and the big sky, tries to propose to Haley, but Claire stops them. Dylan goes back to his room to cry, and then disappears into the woods. After a search, Dylan is found, but, it turns out he’s been hired as a ranch hand by a woman(?) named Jake.

Alex meets a boy that she hates, and who splashes her at the pool while she’s reading — “Freakonomics,” natch. For some reason, this boy talks like a character for ‘50s gangster movie. He kisses Alex. Several times. And Alex likes it. Even though she calls him a Mario Brother. Which he is.

PART II OF THE OPENER IS COMING:

Readers, tell us what you thought of the “Modern Family” season premiere. More Phil? Not a fan of Manny? Either way, shower us with comments.

source: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/09/21/modern-family-season-3-episode-1-premiere-tv-recap/?mod=google_news_blog

U.S. Supreme Court rejects Troy Davis' request for stay

2011-09-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

AJC reporters are inside and outside the prison, in Savannah and with Mark Allen MacPhail's family members as the hour approaches for the execution of his convicted killer Troy Anthony Davis. We will provide continuous updates here as they happen.

10:31 About 150 remaining Davis supporters were still in prayer outside the state Capitol 10 minutes after hearing the stay had been denied.

10:27 "I'd like to have some peace now that it's over," Anneliese MacPhail mother of murdered officer Mark Allen MacPhail to CNN.

10:18 Davis' attorneys say the U.S. Supreme Court has denied the stay.

10:08 State Attorney Generals office notifies MacPhail's mother Anneliese they have received an email from the U.S. Supreme Court to expect word in another 10 to 20 minutes.

10 pm The number of Davis supporters outside the prison has dwindled from hundreds to about 50, who appear to be outnumbered by armed security in riot gear.

9:30 The last of the roughly 50 Davis supporters who had gathered outside of the Savannah City Hall were gone. The last to leave was Sister Jackie Griffith, a nun who had begun her day at a rally outside of the Chatham County Courthouse in support of Davis.

8:51 A convoy of troopers in at least 15 cars arrived to join their colleagues at the site. Meanwhile, officials from the Atlanta University Center and Savannah State University asked their students at the protest to return to their buses to return to their respective campuses. The departure of at least three busloads of students appeared to reduce the crowd by about a third or more.

8:38 As prison officials, family members, and other interested people awaited word from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the execution of Davis should proceed tonight, more than a dozen Georgia state troopers in riot gear marched in military formation to place themselves between the protesters and other officers in paramilitary gear outside the prison. They were met by choruses of "Shame on you" from the protesters.

8:10 Amnesty International representative tells Davis supporters outside state Capitol they are expecting an update from the U.S. Supreme Court at 8:30.

7:40 MacPhail's mother Anneliese, surrounded by friends and relatives at her home, was leafing through photos of her son, and in her words "smoking like a steam engine" as she awaited word on whether the execution would proceed tonight.

7:21 Sara Totonchi of the Southern Center for Human Rights confirms the prison has temporarily delayed the execution while awaiting word from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether they can proceed with the execution tonight.

7:12 The crowd of supporters outside of the prison began singing "We Shall Overcome" after receiving unofficial word the prison has temporarily delayed the execution pending possible U.S. Supreme Court review of tonight's filing for a stay.

6:25 Troy Davis' attorneys have filed a request for a stay of execution with the U.S. Supreme Court. It is his last chance to avoid execution.

Davis awaits U.S. Supreme Court for final chance

Troy Anthony Davis declined to make a recorded statement this afternoon as the clock ticked down toward his execution tonight, a prison official said.

Davis will be given one last chance to say his final words once he is strapped to the lethal injection gurney. He is set to be put to death by lethal injection at 7 p.m.

Davis' chance to be spared execution suffered a blow this afternoon as first Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson declined to issue a stay and then the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously rejected Davis' final bid. Davis' lawyers will now appeal to the the U.S. Supreme Court, his last chance for relief.

Davis, 42, has been here before. On three prior occasions, the state of Georgia set his execution date and on each occasion -- once with just about two hours to go -- he was granted stays. But Davis and his lawyers had pinned their hopes this week on the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, which has the sole authority in Georgia to commute a death sentence. On Tuesday, the board rejected their bid.

At 4 p.m., Davis was given a last meal of a cheeseburger, potatoes and slaw -- the same as what was served other inmates today -- but he has not eaten it, a prison spokeswoman said.

The scene outside the state prison in Jackson, where Davis' execution is to take place, is unlike any other previous execution in past years.

Television satellite trucks and media cars are parked bumper to bumper. Scores of death penalty opponents gathered in the area set aside for them, while one woman stands in an area cordoned off the those who support the death penalty. Security was tighter than at previous executions with numerous state patrol cars parked across from the prison.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church who has visited Davis in the past, was denied a chance to see the condemned inmate this afternoon.

"We did not get a chance to see Troy," Warnock said. "We reached out to the warden and the [Corrections] commissioner to no avail. We didn't get an explanation [why it was denied]. We wanted to do a pastoral visit, to offer comfort and last rights if you will, to pray. It's another insult to this injustice."

Davis' final chance to be spared execution now rests with the state's highest court or the nation's highest court. Today's court filing in the Superior Court of Butts County, home to Georgia's death row, says ballistics evidence used to convict Davis during the 1991 trial has been discredited as has testimony from a woman who said she was an eyewitness to the murder and a jailhouse informant who testified at trial that Davis told him he was the killer.

"We are going to give the justice system one more chance to avoid a legal, constitutional and moral disaster," Brian Kammer, one of Davis' lawyers, said.

Davis sits on death row for the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, a 27-year-old former Army Ranger and father of two who was shot three times before he could draw his weapon. Since the trial, a number of key prosecution witnesses have recanted or backed off their testimony and Davis' innocence claims have generated worldwide attention.

Early this morning, his lawyers tried to gain access to the state prison in Jackson where Davis resides so he could be administered a polygraph test to try and show he is not a cop killer. But his lawyers were rebuffed.

"We came here to try and prove Mr. Davis is innocent and unfortunately we were denied that opportunity by the Department of Corrections," Stephen Marsh, one of Davis' lawyers, said shortly after being turned away from the prison.

Prosecutors steadfastly maintain that Davis is guilty and MacPhail's family members say they have no doubt in Davis' guilt and want his execution to be carried out.

"There is no doubt in my mind," MacPhail's mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said when asked if she thought Davis was guilty. If Davis' execution is carried out as planned, "I guess justice will be done and that's what we were fighting for," she said.

About 100 bused-in protestors sought relief from the heat under the pines outside Jackson prison. There were occasional chants from anti-death penalty protestors in the early afternoon sun by men and women wearing “I am Troy Davis” Amnesty International t-shirts. But in the pro-execution section a single 55-year-old woman sat alone. She had the prison-supplied water cooler all to herself.

She was from Decatur and her daughter is a police officer. Her surprise was that there wasn’t one cop or a mother of a cop or a grandfather of a cop sitting there with her.

“I would hope that if I need support, police officers would be there,” said Janet Reisenwitz. “I was hoping the family of the murdered police officer would be here so I could embrace them.”

Not 100 feet away were Troy Davis supporters, many of them bused in by Al Sharpton and his National Action Network from Atlanta. Among them A. C. Dumas, wearing a red polo shirt and an NAACP freedom fighter cap, said he came all the way from Flint, Mich., to support Davis.

Sharpton contended that the Davis case was full of reasonable doubt, the legal threshold for acquittal. He said he had a meeting scheduled with the Justice Department this Friday in which he said he intended to push for a national law prohibiting the death penalty in cases base solely on often flawed eye-witness testimony. Physical evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, or ballistic testing should be mandatory, he said.

“You got to have more than people saying ‘I saw him’ and 10 years later saying ‘I was wrong’ or ‘I was coerced,’ “ Sharpton said. He said he wasn’t surprised that the case that has brought so much international condemnation would draw so few Davis supporters to the gates of the prison. He bused in most of them he said adding, “People got to work.”

A little after 3 p.m. at Towaligia County Line Baptist Church, near the jail, Sharpton attended press conference organized by Amnesty International and the NAACP. It took on the flavor of a tent revival meeting.

Among the speakers were Big Boi of musical group Outkast; Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International; and Martina Correia, the eldest sibling of Davis.

“This is a gross violation of human rights,” Cox told the AJC before the press conference. “In the whole world of Amnesty International, members have their eyes on Jackson.”

“Even if you support the death penalty, you can’t justify it in this case,” he added.

“I’m not here to say who is innocent or who is guilty, but if you’re going to execute a man you need to make sure he is 100 percent guilty,” said Big Boi, who’s real name is Antwan Patton. “There is too much doubt.”

Patton grew up in Savannah before moving to Atlanta as a youth.

But it was Correia who uses a wheel chair to get around who made the most poignant points. She deeply believes in her brother’s innocence and she said his execution should be used as a metaphor for why the death penalty should be abolished.

“Troy said this movement did not begin with him and will not end with him,” she said as she promised to take the fight to the gold dome in Atlanta.

“The parole board had once promised it would not allow an execution to go forward if there was doubt,” she said “and the Davis case is riddled with doubt.”

“It seems like this state wants to remain defiant,” she said. She added that she had been moved that the slogan she wrote on a T-shirt some years ago was now worn around the world. She motioned to her wheel chair that she had been battling cancer for 10 years and was suffering from some of its effects. And then in her own strong defiant voice, as her family helped her rise, she said. “I couldn’t get out of this chair, but I’m here to tell you I’m going to stand for my brother today.” As she faced the crowd upright.

“I am Troy Davis, you are Troy Davis.” The small church crowd then stood and began to chant. The voices finally reaching unison, “We are Troy Davis.”

As the afternoon wore on another 200 supporters showed up at the church readying to march to the prison gates.

Davis has mounted repeated court challenges to his conviction and sentence but has been rebuffed every step of the way. The U.S. Supreme Court stepped in at one point, issuing an extraordinary order directing a federal judge in Savannah to determine if Davis could clearly establish his innocence. But the judge discredited six of the seven witnesses who recanted or backed off their testimony and found Davis had not cleared that difficult legal threshold, denying his challenge.

Still, a host of dignitaries have called for Davis to be spared execution out of concern an innocent man could be put to death. These include former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, former FBI Director Williams Sessions, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr and former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher.

On Tuesday, Davis' lawyers asked the parole board to reconsider its rejection of clemency. The Innocence Project and the Innocence Network also asked the board to reconsider. "The identification procedures used to convict Davis would never pass muster today," Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, said.

Six retired corrections officials, including Allen Ault, the former director of the prison system, also asked the board to reconsider its decision. "We write to you today with the overwhelming concern that an innocent person could be executed in Georgia tonight," they wrote in a letter.

But the parole board, in a brief statement released this morning, said it would not reconsider its decision to deny clemency.

Today's last-ditch court filing by Davis' lawyers says that new evidence "exposes key elements of the state's case against Mr. Davis at trial to be egregiously false and misleading."

The court filing says that GBI ballistics testimony at the 1991 trial is no longer reliable. At the trial, a GBI expert said there were enough similarities between shell casings found at the scene of MacPhail's murder and shell casings found at the scene of another shooting earlier in the evening to show the casings could have come from the same handgun.

Prosecutors said Davis first fired shots at a pool party in Savannah's Cloverdale neighborhood, hitting a man in the face, and then later shot and killed MacPhail. But forensics experts have now shown that the ballistics testimony is no longer reliable, the filing said.

The filing also says that jailhouse informant Kevin McQueen's testimony at trial that Davis confessed to him he killed MacPhail can no longer be relied upon. The filing notes that a federal judge who heard recantation testimony from McQueen found McQueen's trial testimony to be "patently false."

At trial, McQueen provided the state with a motive for Davis, saying Davis told him he killed MacPhail because Davis didn't want to be tied to the Cloverdale shooting. "Now it is clear that Mr. Davis never should have had to confront this evidence as it was completely false," the court filing says.

The order signed by Judge Wilson today said that claims being pursued by Davis had previously been raised and rejected. As for the ballistics evidence, the order said, a federal court judge had previously found that there was never a definitive contention at trial that the bullets matched and that the munitions evidence was not relevant to Davis' guilt of the MacPhail murder.

But Davis' appeal filed this afternoon to the Georgia Supreme Court said that the Constitution forbids the imposition of a death sentence that is based on "materially inaccurate" information, such as what was presented to the jury that sentenced Davis to death.

A judge now having denied the motion, Davis' lawyers' final avenues for relief are the Georgia Supreme Court and then the U.S. Supreme Court.

Marsh, a member of Davis' legal team from the Washington law firm Arnold & Porter, said there is too much doubt about the eyewitness testimony at the 1991 trial to let Davis be convicted.

Marsh said in a telephone interview today that the eyewitnesses included an man who initially said he could not recognize the shooter except for the clothes he was wearing; a woman who initially said she could not put a face with the shooter; a woman who said she recognized Davis in the dark from more than 120 feet away; and a man who was looking through his car's tinted windows and said he was only 60 percent sure he could identify Davis.

"You can't execute someone based on that kind of testimony," Marsh said. "It's unconscionable."

Jennifer Dysart, an eyewitness expert, said she had planned to testify at Monday's clemency hearing, but the parole board ended Davis' presentation before she could give her presentation.

In an interview today, Dysart said numerous studies show that eyewitness testimony is unreliable and the procedures used by Savannah police in the Davis investigation would not be allowed today.

"Even if the parole board didn't believe the recantations, there were significant problems with all the eyewitness testimony," she said "Nothing reliable should come from that testimony. ... I wish the board had heard my presentation."

In Savannah this morning, about 18 supporters gathered outside Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm’s office to present 240,000 signatures of people asking for clemency. Organizer Sister Jackie Griffith said the group hopes Chisolm can use any influence he may have to urge Chatham Superior Court Judge Penny Freesemann to halt the execution.

“We believe anyone who has power should use it for justice,” said Griffith, a Catholic nun who has worked to stop Davis’ execution since 1998. She said she was drawn to the case because she believes all life is sacred, “whether it’s a guilty life or an innocent life.”

“We’re very prayerful and dogged in our efforts…we’re always hopeful, but hope comes with reality,” she added.

Holding a sign that read “Justice for Troy Davis, Too Much Doubt," supporters Denise Chaney and Valdara Wall chatted about the case, referencing the man who was with Davis around the time of the shooting, Sylvester “Redd” Coles, who is rumored to have admitted in recent years to have murdered Officer Mark Allen MacPhail.

“When Redd finally comes forth and admits it, how are they going to bring Troy back?” Wall asked.

Supporter Sharon Burrell said she has worked on behalf of Troy Davis since 2009. She said she hopes the MacPhail family can have some peace, but that it can’t be achieved through Davis’ death.

“I sure know it won’t bring closure for the family. They say it will, but it won’t because it’s taking another a life,” she said.

Chisolm did not meet with the group, but the supporters delivered the boxes of signatures to a representative before ending their rally with prayer. Moments later, the group boarded a bus bound for Jackson, where they plan to hold vigil in Davis’ final hours.

Tuesday evening, Marsh had expressed hope that prison officials would allow Davis to take a polygraph test.

But Davis also wanted some assurance from the parole board that it will take his test into consideration, Marsh said, adding that Davis was not going to spend hours away from his family on what could be the last day of his life if taking the test was not going to make any difference.

Staff writers John Spink, Katie Leslie, Daniel Malloy, Steve Visser and Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.

source: http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/u-s-supreme-court-1185593.html