If David Stern had the Gilbert Arenas mess to do over, he'd have channeled his inner Clint Eastwood. In such a target-rich environment, smacking everyone would have been considered fair and judicious.
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Ten days ago, this was a simple story of Arenas being a deadbeat. Then it was Arenas being a deadbeat with guns. Then it was Arenas being a deadbeat with guns that the Washington Wizards allegedly let him store in their publicly financed gymnasium. Then it was Arenas being a deadbeat with guns in the locker room with Javaris Crittenton. Then it was Arenas being a bad comedian with guns. Then it was the Wizards' roster laughing with Arenas. Then it was Crittenton having the bullets.

And today? One shudders to think.

Yes, this could be a cautionary tale about guns in the workplace, or guns as props, or guns used as debt mediators. But when did those become open for discussion? Was there a time when that debate had a pro as well as a con?

No, this is about the length of time between when the incident occurred (on a Dec. 21 flight, by the latest account) and when it became a national to-do, and then when it became worthy of Stern's swift sword.

And while we're at it, why Arenas is still the only one carrying weight here.

Arenas was suspended indefinitely without pay for having four unloaded guns in the Wizards' locker room and daring Crittenton to pick one up. But that wasn't really the reason - Arenas got it the day after he made pantomime guns with his fingers and pretended to shoot his laughing teammates during the pregame introductions in Philadelphia.

That's when Stern threw the entire law library at Arenas.

But since then, stories from alleged eyewitnesses told to Mike Wise of the Washington Post indicate Crittenton also had a gun in a subsequent argument in the locker room on Christmas Eve, and in fact loaded it. And, according to Wise's story, there were other players and a non-uniformed employee described as a trainer in the room when it happened.

And still, only Arenas?

This is not to defend him, or to say his punishment isn't warranted as is. But we have a teamwide nudge-nudge, wink-wink through the entire series of events, all the way through to the pregame joke and the photo that showed the players laughing at it.

There's no turning the clock back, to Stern's dismay. But there is the matter of fully punishing the guilty by taking away their right to participate in all the NBA fun and games, or take sizable amounts of money from those who enjoy them.

Starting with the Wizards, who either signed off on Arenas' gun-storage plan or didn't do anything when they learned of the incident. Whoever gave him permission needs either to be fired, fined or suspended, and if permission wasn't given, basketball operations president Ernie Grunfeld needs to be punished for not responding immediately to a clear violation of the 2005 collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players that covers guns in the workplace.

Then there's Crittenton, who if he had his own piece on the grounds should be getting the Arenas Blue Plate Special too. And if he didn't, there's punishment coming for escalating the argument.

Then there are the players who thought the joke was so hilarious. The Wizards reportedly plan to fine the players, but given its own culpability, it's wrong for the team to try to seize any moral ground here, high or otherwise. The fines should be directed to the league while we wait for the team to face its own version of the music.

And then, you let the law go where it needs to go, since laws were clearly broken. No interference or influence brought to beat from the Wizards or the league - the case goes where the case goes, period.

I mean, if the message here is "We act on this stuff. In fact, we overreact, and we're proud of it." If this is simply a public relations exercise, they should do what they're doing now, and if this is simply a way to get out from beneath Arenas' onerous contract, here's hoping a humiliating defeat is on its way.

Given those parameters, Stern needed, and still needs to bring down an indiscriminate hammer that leaves nobody who has touched this event in any way unscathed.

And why can this cannon-fire approach be defended when in most cases it cannot? Because the violations we know about already have been admitted by the parties involved, and because the team's feckless approach to the problem is clear because of the time line. Fining the locker room witnesses for not coming forward (if in fact they didn't) is reasonable as well, and while fining the players for laughing in the huddle isn't, it's a gesture from Stern that says, "We're not playing here. You might get this overturned by an arbitrator, but you might not, and in either event, you'll know how we're going to play this."

Indiscriminately simple? Maybe so - I mean, lawyers are involved. But every once in a rare while, indiscriminate simplicity can be a virtue, especially when the guilt is so easy to find and the message is so important.

But like we said, Stern can't turn the clock back, and the mess will bubble on for weeks. That's what happens when you wait to do the right thing - there's a chance that you'll have to do the wrong thing to make it look like you want to make it right.

source-http://www.sfgate.com

Cape Town — Airline passengers who are citizens of, or fly through, five African nations will undergo more intensive security screening from today before being permitted to board flights to the United States.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced the new "enhanced screening" on Sunday.

According to Monday's editions of the New York Times and the Washington Post, the five African nations affected are Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.

Nine other nations - most of them in Asia or the Middle East - are also covered by the TSA's directive, which applies to "nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest." Sudan is regarded by the U.S. as a "state sponsor of terrorism." The Washington Post named the other African countries affected as "countries of interest to U.S. intelligence agencies."

The Post also reported that in a directive to airlines on the tougher screening measure, the TSA had emphasized a "full body pat-down and physical inspection of property".

The TSA's public statement said the directive applies to "every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world travelling from or through" the affected countries.

The directive follows the arrest of a Nigerian for attempting to set off a bomb on an airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Vanguard

It was issued as former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo made an appeal urging the international community not to judge all Nigerians by the actions of one person.

"Nigerians are law-abiding people and not terrorists," Vanguard newspaper reported him as saying.

"The young man's case should not be used as a standard to judge Nigerians or in fact, to criminalise all Nigerians... The fact that the boy committed a grave offence as a Nigerian does not say that all Nigerians are terrorists or criminals."

The TSA statement said its new directive "also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S.-bound international flights."
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The New York Times reported that the extra scrutiny of passengers and their carry-on bags could include the use of "whole-body scanners" - which can examine people for explosives or weapons beneath their clothing - where they are available.

But the screening of Americans and citizens of nations not affected by Sunday's directive
could be relaxed. The Times reported that civil rights groups had protested the distinction made between passengers on the basis of their country of origin.

It quoted Nawar Shora of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee as saying the directive wrongly implied that all citizens of certain nations are suspect. "...[T]his is extreme and very dangerous," he reportedly said.
source-http://allafrica.com

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The Puritans briefly and unsuccessfully tried to ban the celebration of Christmas, but the New World enthusiastically embraced the holiday in ways both religious and secular ― especially secular.

Economists now scrutinize the mad rush of shopping from Thanksgiving to Christmas for signs pointing to the direction of the greater economy as a whole and to the animal spirits of the consumers who drive 70 percent of that economy.

Even without the blizzard that snowed out two critical days of pre-Christmas shopping in the Mid-Atlantic this has been an economically down year.

There are positive signs at the levels of inventories, producer prices, quarterly GDP figures but not by the yardstick most Americans measure the economy: ``If I lose my job, can I quickly get one that's as good or better?" The answer, sadly, is no, not really.

In a curious way, this has had its beneficial side. Americans are trimming debt, saving more, spending less and paying cash when they do, traits that seemed almost laughably quaint, at least until the heady days of the boom came to a crashing halt at Christmas a year ago.

It's purely an anecdotal and subjective view but the chastened times seem to have lowered the temperature on the pernicious ``War on Christmas," the belief that sinister forces are seeking to do to Christmas what the Puritans couldn't.

You hear less about boycotts of stores where an employee had the bad judgment to greet a customer with a cheery ``Happy holidays" instead of, as the dogma of cultural warriors requires, ``Merry Christmas."

Perhaps there's less of the wrangling of where the town Christmas tree will stand in relation to public buildings when, for economic reasons, the cash-strapped town may not have a Christmas tree.

A reader wrote to the Washington Post objecting that the paper had appropriated the Christian Advent calendar for a secular calendar of ``Holiday Happenings."

Normally this would have elicited a vituperative exchange, but the two published letters took rather scholarly looks at Christmas' origins in Roman celebrations surrounding the solstice. The harshest admonishment was to give Santa a break.

The message of Christmas, as expressed by Luke, is quite simple, ``Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men."

The politically fastidious may quarrel with the reference to the deity and the use of the masculine plural but not with the peace and goodwill part. It's not allowed. It's Christmas.


source:http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/12/137_57801.htl

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WASHINGTON: The crucial Copenhagen climate conference might have failed to arrive at a consensus but President Barack Obama's
leadership at the
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summit and his attempts that brokered a US-BASIC political deal was hailed by Congress leaders here as "commendable".

Top Congressional leaders praised Obama for reaching a "breakthrough" agreement with China, India, Brazil and South Africa but said this is just a beginning to advance climate change objectives.

"The President's personal involvement, and the efforts of Secretary (Hillary) Clinton and her negotiating team, have been extremely focused and commendable," House Majority Leader Steny H Hoyer said.

US brokered a political deal with India and three other emerging economies over non-legally-binding emission cuts which was rejected by an overwhelming number of developing nations which called it one-sided and "suicidal".

However, Congress leaders, in their initial reactions said the "breakthrough," including transparency measures, a mitigation target of two degree Celsius and a financing
mechanism, was "an important step forward that lays a key marker both in the global fight against climate change and in US participation in such efforts".

As consensus for a deal to tackle climate change eluded the 12-day Conference of Parties (COP), Obama pushed for a pact during parleys that went down to the wire.

Terming it as a bold agreement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this will help secure a safer, cleaner and more prosperous future for the world.

"This Copenhagen Accord was made possible by strong US leadership and recent investments in our national energy policies. This agreement was also aided by constructive engagement with the world community - a result of President Obama's leadership," he said.

"This is a significant and historic agreement, but there is more negotiating and trust building to do before there is a treaty for the Senate to review," Reid said.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said: "The agreement... could not have been reached without President Obama's active involvement and leadership".

Senator Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said for the first time, the world's major emitting countries, including China and India, have committed to specific actions to cut emissions.

American leadership, especially Obama's personal engagement, fundamentally changed the dynamic at the global warming talks, she said.

With Obama on his way back from Copenhagen, the American media said the deal falls short of key goals, even though it could be considered as a breakthrough by some.

"The deal falls far short of many countries' expectations for the summit and leaves a comprehensive battle plan for climate change potentially years away," said The Washington Post in its news dispatch from Copenhagen.

The Wall Street Journal
said Obama's very presence made a "significant breakthrough a political imperative, no matter how flimsy".

"The agreement addresses many of the issues that leaders came here to settle. But it has left many of the participants in the climate talks unhappy, from the Europeans, who now have the only binding carbon control regime
in the world, to the delegates from the poorest nations, who objected to being left out of the critical negotiations," The New York Times said.

The Post said, the deal, under which each country needs only to list its current domestic pledges for emissions reductions and to promise to allow monitoring of their progress, sparked a rebellion among vulnerable nations.

"No doubt under the agreement China will continue to get a free climate pass despite its role as the world's No 1 emitter," it said.

The accord, The New York Times, said provides a system for monitoring and reporting progress toward national pollution reduction goals, a compromise on an issue over which China bargained hard.

"But it was an equivocal agreement that was, to many, a disappointing conclusion to a two-year process that had the goal of producing a comprehensive and enforceable action plan for addressing dangerous changes to the global climate," it said.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Obamas-leadership-at-Copenhagen-hailed-back-home/articleshow/5356176.s