all from the New York TIMES 8/9/2007: 1. ooh, the poor baby!
>First Father: Tough Times on Sidelines > By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG > WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 — There are times in the life of George Herbert Walker > Bush, the 41st president of the United States and father of the 43rd, that > people, perfect strangers, come up to him and say the harshest things — words > intended to comfort but words that wind up only causing pain. > "I love you, sir, but your son's way off base here," they might say, > according to Ron Kaufman, a longtime adviser to Mr. Bush, who has witnessed > any number of such encounters — perhaps at a political fund-raiser, or a > restaurant dinner, a chance meeting on the streets of Houston or > Kennebunkport, Me. They are, he says, just one way the presidency of the son > has taken a toll on the father. >"It wears on his heart," Mr. Kaufman said, "and his soul." >These are distressing days for the Bush family patriarch, only the second former president in American history, after John Adams, to see his son take the White House. At 83, he finds it tough to watch his son get criticized from the sidelines; often, he likens himself to a Little League father whose kid is having a rough game. And like the proud and angry Little League dad who cannot help but yell at the umpire, sometimes he just cannot help getting involved.< 2. global warming, what global warming? >A Sudden Storm Brings New York City to Its Knees > By JAMES BARRON >A brief but fierce storm drenched the New York region just before the morning rush yesterday, paralyzing the transit system, flooding major thoroughfares, cutting off electricity to thousands of homes and causing confusion that lingered through a humid, sweaty day. >The storm, which sent water gushing into subway tunnels and swirling over commuter railroad tracks, also unleashed a tornado that brushed Staten Island, then whipped southwestern Brooklyn with winds of up to 135 miles an hour. >That was perhaps the most ominous part of a deluge that left people wondering if they were waking up to a major catastrophe, with streets blocked by the twisted wreckage of cars with broken-out windows that had been battered by debris. >The deluge overwhelmed storm sewers, and one woman was killed after her car became stuck in a flooded underpass on Staten Island. The police said another car struck hers, starting a fire that burned her so badly that her body could not be immediately identified. < 3. the opportunism, the opportunism! >Johnson & Johnson Sues Red Cross Over Symbol >By STEPHANIE SAUL > The red cross symbol is an icon of relief from disaster. For months, it has > also been the subject of a festering disagreement between major American > institutions: the health care company Johnson & Johnson and the American Red > Cross. >The dispute over rights to the symbol erupted to the surface yesterday in federal court in Manhattan, where J.& J. sued the American Red Cross. >Clearly outraged, the president of the American Red Cross, Mark W. Everson, unleashed his vitriol last night on the company, which makes Band-Aids and Tylenol. In a news release, Mr. Everson said the company's actions were "obscene" and "simply so that J.& J. can make more money." > In a telephone interview, he said, "I'm sort of staggered that they would > take this approach." > The two had shared the symbol amicably for more than 100 years — Johnson & > Johnson on its commercial products and the American Red Cross as a symbol of > its relief efforts on foreign battlefields and in disasters like floods and > tornadoes. > From time to time, the American Red Cross sold products bearing the symbol as > fund-raising efforts. Jeffrey J. Leebaw, a spokesman for Johnson & Johnson, > said the company had no objection to that. > But in 2004, the American Red Cross began licensing the symbol to commercial > partners selling products at retail establishments. According to the lawsuit, > those products include humidifiers, medical examination gloves, nail > clippers, combs and toothbrushes.< -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
