Article & Journal Resources

Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia



An isolated group of islands in French Polynesia provides balm for Craig Tansley's soul.

"Hurrah my lads, it's a settled thing, we shape our course to them: the Marquesas! What strange visions of outlandish things does the very name spirit up! ... Cannibal banquets - groves of cocoa-nut - coral reefs - tattooed chiefs and bamboo temples ... carved canoes dancing on the flashing blue waters - savage woodlands guarded by horrible idols - heathenish rites and human sacrifices ..."From Herman Melville's novel Typee, 1846.

In the Marquesas Islands, it's more auspicious to be born male because the choicest cut of meat on the body is said to be the female forearm; it's juicy and tender and is mostly devoid of fat and sinew. The victim is baked like pork, rolled up in banana leaves between hot stones in an earth oven, called an umu pae. The flesh tastes sweet, apparently; like sweet potato. The Marquesans I've met so far seem far more partial to pork, fish, even corn chips - the last known practising cannibal died about 60 years ago - yet I don't find it difficult at all to imagine lost tribes of cannibals living somewhere deep in these largely inaccessible islands. Here, where chunky Polynesians with full facial tattoos still fish the seas and work the land, where forests are full of ancient stone walls, altar-like structures, tikis, carvings and petroglyphs, beside ancient banyan trees filled with human skulls, anything seems possible.

The Marquesas seem the ultimate adventurer's paradise; an archipelago that so inspired some of history's great creative minds that they chose to live, and some to die, here. Characters such as Herman Melville (author of Moby-Dick ), who absconded from his whaling boat to live with cannibals in the forests of Nuku Hiva, and Robert Louis Stevenson, who decided upon seeing the majestic Anaho Bay on the island of Nuku Hiva that he must live out his days in Polynesia. The grave of the troubled French artist Paul Gauguin can be found on the tiny island of Hiva Oa, next to the Belgian singer Jacques Brel. The writer Jack London came here and the adventurer Thor Heyerdahl came to live in the forests of Fatu Hiva in 1936 with his 20-year-old Norwegian bride. "There we could make our experience. Go back to the forests. Abandon modern times. The culture. The civil. Leap thousands of years into the past. To the way of life of early man. To life itself in its fullest and simplest form," he wrote in Fatu Hiva: Back To Nature.

Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia




The kidnapped kiln workers may have been freed, but John Garnaut and Maya Li meet parents still searching.

Hu Jiyong should be celebrating his epic escape from China's "black" brick kilns, where he and hundreds of other kidnapped children were forced to work up to 20 hours a day in subhuman conditions. Instead, the 18-year-old is too frightened to talk to outsiders or leave his mother's home.

The timing of his escape was all wrong. Hu climbed up a human ladder and slipped past the thugs and guard dogs in September - a month after police declared the black kiln children had all been rescued and this sordid chapter in Chinese history was officially closed.

Hu had been kidnapped as a 15-year-old while walking on a street in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, and was bundled into a van and driven to a brick kiln in Linxian, across the border in Shanxi.

Then, in May this year, investigators were closing in. Chinese journalists and parents of missing children had ignited a media firestorm that was shaking all levels of Chinese society and government, particularly in Shanxi. So the boy's mouth was gagged and his filthy, emaciated body was stuffed into a sack and sold to another brick kiln - this time back in Henan.

The President, Hu Jintao, and the Premier, Wen Jiabao, mobilised 40,000 police to search 8760 brick kilns and other suspect enterprises and rescue 359 children. It was a shining example of how media exposure can lead to government accountability and better policy.

But those rescued did not include Hu Jiyong, who was still being forced to work from well before dawn to late at night, living on just two meals of watery rice gruel a day. His mother, Zhang Aihua, says six of Hu's teenage co-workers were caught trying to escape in June and he was forced to watch as each of them was beaten to death, one by one.

Distraught parents believe hundreds of other children are still working in kilns after being sold from Shanxi to neighbouring provinces including Henan, Shandong and Hebei.

"Almost 500 parents are still searching for their children," says Yuan Chen, who devotes his life to walking the country roads of Henan and Shanxi with a picture of his 18-year-old son, who disappeared last year from a Zhengzhou worksite. "Two-thirds of the children have not been found." Yuan knows his son was working at a black brick kiln because an escaped child worker recognised his photo.

The state security apparatus that swung to help parents and children in May and June has now reverted to ensuring that various layers of government are not embarrassed by more bad news. Efforts to stop parents searching and communicating seem to extend to the top of the Shanxi and Henan hierarchies.

By FRED WOODCOCK
Stuff.co.nz - Wellington,New Zealand

History is against Team Wellington but form firmly suggests tonight's NZFC clash with Auckland City will live up to its billing as the match of the season.

The competition's two top teams face off at Newtown Park this evening with Wellington, who had a bye last week after their perfect five from five start to the season, able to reclaim the league lead with a win.

Standing in their way, however, is a City side which has not lost this season (five wins and a draw). During their three consecutive NZFC premierships, City have never lost to Wellington, recording nine successive victories.

Stu Jacobs has quickly settled in as coach and found the winning formula, though his side gets an opportunity to set a benchmark against the deserved favourites.

He is promising to throw everything at Auckland as they set about redressing the gross imbalance in results during recent years.

"We've got ourselves in a unique position where we can really afford to go out and try and win the game - we can afford to be more expansive and take them to task."

Accordingly, Jacobs has tinkered with the starting lineup, bringing Lower Hutt City's Costa Rican striker Luis Corrales in to partner Graham Little in a small but quick forward line.

"We think if that we can get their back two stretched into wide areas, one of Luis' biggest assets is his pace, so we could use that as a weapon and he's a good finisher, too. If we just play things long and play things in the air that will suit [Ben] Sigmund and [Greg] Uhlmann."

At the back, Karl Whalen comes in to partner Sean Douglas in the middle, with Mike Wilson reverting to a holding midfield role, allowing fellow former All White Raf de Gregorio to play in behind the strikers.

"We've been pretty free-flowing going forward ourselves, so we're not going to change that in any way.

"But certainly we need to be aware of their front players, they're very, very good, and we've made some changes hopefully to solidify things."

Striker Daniel Ellensohn returns to the bench after an injury layoff, but Jamie Farrington, Andy Barron and Darren Cheriton are all still at least a week away.

Meanwhile, former Knights defender Cole Tinkler, who has returned from playing in Singapore, will be available for next Sunday's match against Waitakere United with his four-week stand-down period finishing next Saturday.

In other Team Wellington news, import Chris Gores has been called into the Puerto Rico national squad and leaves at Christmas. Jacobs said it had yet to be determined whether he would return to Wellington for the latter half of the season.

In today's other match, Waitakere United should be too strong for struggling Otago United, while tomorrow Waikato FC host Hawke's Bay United and YoungHeart Manawatu return home to play Canterbury United.

THE LINEUPS:

Wellington: Phil Imray, Sam Peters, Sean Douglas, Karl Whalen, Peter Howe, Adam Birch, Michael Wilson, Luis Corrales, Graham Little, Raf de Gregorio, Wiremu Patrick. Substitutes: Peter Halstead, Dylan Hall, Steve Gulley, Daniel Ellensohn, George Barbarouses.

Auckland: Ross Nicholson, Ben Sigmund, Ki-Hyung Lee, James Pritchett, Chad Coombes, Paul Urlovic, Grant Young, Luiz Del Monte, Tamati Williams, Keryn Jordan, Jeff Campbell, Bryan Little, Henry Fa'arodo, Greg Uhlmann, Eliezer Anello, Rupesh Puna.

Referee: Matthew Conger

Kick off: 6pm today

TAB odds: Wellington $2.85, Auckland $2.25, draw $3.25

Joseph Di Prisco
San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA

The National Do Not Call Registry ( www.donotcall.gov) has been a boon to someone like me who treasures domestic tranquillity. I can honestly say my world has lately become much more civil, now that those telemarketers who targeted my number are on the run and my dinner hours are liberated from once-in-a-lifetime offers of prime vacation real estate in the Everglades. In fact, Do Not Call has worked so marvelously for me that I signed up for other, less well-known national registries that help control the intrusions into our daily lives.

Speaking of intrusions, my ex and I would be invited to a dinner party by one of her tribe, and when we accepted: "Great, can't wait to see you guys. Say, would you mind bringing the Muscovy duck or your famous deviled eggs?" Am I crazy? People ask us to dinner and tell us to bring, umm, the dinner? But those days are over for me, in more ways than one. Go to www.donotpotluck.gov and follow instructions. Your car seats will never again be pesto-stained and your casserole dishes can be reclaimed.

By the way, when I use the terms "dinner" and "hours" in the paragraph above, I am using them what you might call loosely. If you mean by "dinner" food of the sort found, for instance, in grocery stores and heated on, for instance, a stove, I don't cook "dinner" much these days, and I really don't enjoy a dinner "hour," if you know what I mean. My social calendar is generally open, which is good, because my book should be coming together before you know it.

Also available in time for your nosy neighbor's imminent return from Florence or the Grand Canyon, there is a site ( www.nopix.gov) that enables you to rule yourself off-limits to snapshot marathons, like the kind available on photo-sharing sites, of tourist photographs of the David, clever cloud formations and the adorable drool on a pre-toddler's chin.

One registry is especially useful for those who travel in the literary set. If you're like me, everybody you know (especially your two-faced ex) is writing a tell-all and begging you to peruse drafts of a single-spaced manuscript. List yourself on www.nomemoir.gov and your e-mail box will be devoid of those pesky attachments.

It may come as a shock to some of my former so-called friends, but there are people who do not adore Willie the Weimaraner or Samantha the Siamese. (This does not apply to me, honest. I loved those pets of hers, when we used to live together.) If you happen to be picky, go to www.keep youranimaloffme.gov.

Can't stand turncoat acquaintances' relating spoiler plot summaries of "The Sopranos" or doing impersonations of Tony or Carmela, Paulie Walnuts or Christahphah? Whoa, I got your registry right here: www.fuggettaboudit.gov. Incidentally, now I can watch to my heart's content reruns of the show ("It's so VI-oh-lent," she would whine), as soon as I put together the money to sign up again for HBO. (Or she'd say, "It's so ethnically in-SEN-sitive." She was so sensitive that after the Cal game - go, Bears - she intentionally washed my best white shirt with her red Stanford sweats.)

I am finding particularly helpful this site for the recently unmarried: www.myexis gettingre-marriedandjustpublishedabestseller.gov. Your once-significant others will not be free to share the joyous news of their pending nuptials and you won't lament wasting precious therapy sessions savaging their suddenly movie-optioned books. (Who knew she had a commercial success in her when she was screaming at me? I was just taking a shower, and I was only humming "Hunk of Burning Love." She should have signed up on www.needmyownspace.gov and maybe we would have had a chance.)

I'm sure it was a great movie, but www.tellsome onewhocares.gov. I'm happy you found your soul mate, too. I had a soul mate once; we'll see what she does with my alleged "character" in the book based on my (uncredited) idea. She stole my agent, too, who won't return my calls. Moving right along. About the book you want to recommend, OK? I'm positive that was a book that changed your life. Unless I wrote it, however, I don't want to hear about it.

I also believe you when you testify that your diet - excuse me, your food program - has given you abundant energy for sex and meditation and lots more sex. But you will leave me alone now that I have taken advantage of www.justshutup.gov.

Tired of celebrity news because you're no celebrity yourself? Nobody is reporting that you are fresh out of rehab? Not saying that rehab wouldn't be a good idea, though, for some people I could readily name. The solution lies in signing up on www.whoislindsaylohananyway.gov.

This next one cuts close to the bone, but in the interests of full disclosure, I reluctantly share information as to how you can never again be badgered to attend an obscure, under-appreciated colleague's reading: www.shootmeinstead.gov. In a related development, I plan to be making appearances in bookstores around town soon. See you there?

By the way, if anybody runs into my ex, tell her I'm not bitter, that we are two adults who know better, people who can behave civilly. At least that's what I learned at www.donotgetmestarted.gov. I promise to stop calling her every day, too, so you might mention in passing that there's no need for her to register on www.exblock.gov.

Joe DiPrisco is the Berkeley author of six books. His Web site is www.diprisco.com.

By BRITTON BROUN

Stuff.co.nz - Wellington,New Zealand

Christmas may be ruined but Tony Haydock does not care - he is just happy his twin daughters are alive.

Mr Haydock and his wife Kim were woken about 2am yesterday by what they thought was their burglar alarm, but they soon discovered the roof of their Palmerston North home was in flames.

Mr Haydock's first thought was to check on daughters Paige and Demi, 9, who were asleep in their upstairs bedrooms.

"You could see flames through the down lights and the girls' rooms were very smoky. There was a layer of smoke sitting just above Paige's head; it was terrifying seeing that. I grabbed the girls and ran out.

"If it wasn't for the smoke alarm they would be dead. I'll be preaching about those alarms for the rest of my life."

Sifting through their waterlogged home yesterday, Mr Haydock said it could have been a lot worse.

"I don't feel anything for the house - six months from now it will be back up to scratch. I'm just so relieved the girls are all right."

Once the family were safely down the driveway, Mr Haydock returned to get a photo album and, at Paige's insistence, his mother-in-law's ashes.

Mrs Haydock - who lost her mother suddenly in December 2005 - was still recoiling from the shock of the fire.

"It couldn't have come at a worse time. It's my mother's second anniversary and we're still getting over that," she said.

Paige and Demi were "pretty scared" but uninjured and still eagerly awaiting Christmas Day.

Their tree and presents had been saved by firefighters, and though Christmas would not be at home this year, the girls had a summer holiday at Foxton Beach to look forward to.

Twenty firefighters battled the blaze for more than 90 minutes to bring it under control.

Palmerston North fire chief Rodger Calder said the fire alarm had saved the family's lives.

Sofia Echo - Bulgaria

You’re not alone. Christmas gift shopping vexes most people. That’s why we’re here – to help, and to do the research for you. All you have to do, then, is put your leva to good use.

For food gifts and party assistance, Dar ot bogovete (Gift from the Gods) is heaven. In addition to gourmet deli sandwiches and catering, you can also buy... cheeses; French pates; Italian olive oils, Balsamic vinegars and pasta sauces; fresh and dry Italian pastas; French and Italian wines; specialty deli meats and other goodies, and food accessories (17 Cherni Vruh Blvd, tel: 866 20 04; 102 Bulgaria Blvd, Business Centre Bellissimo, tel: 854 86 86).

Also of interest, particularly for fans of la dolce vita, is I Sensi (12 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd, tel: 980 85 04), open 9am to 9pm every day, with possibly shorter hours on Sundays. It’s like walking into a high-class market in Italy.

For wines, liquors, cigars, accessories and expert staff, try Cheers, which has three locations in Sofia (59 Vassil Levski Blvd, tel: 987 12 72; 14 Tsar Osvoboditel, tel: 986 18 56; 116 GS Rakovski, tel: 981 27 29).

There are also La Cave, which specialises in French wine imports, (59 Dimitar Hadjikotsev, tel: 866 05 06, www.lacave-bg.com); and Delli (6 Golo Burdo, tel: 868 39 72). And there is a new wine shop off of Dondoukov Boulevard, called Vinopolis (8 Bacho Kiro Str, open every day 10am to 9pm; tel: 987 77 96).

Because life in Bulgaria is like a box of chocolates, such make a desirable gift to give. The Jeff de Bruges shop in Mall of Sofia probably has the best chocolates in the country, though the Jodier chocolatiers (www.chocolatehouse-bg.com; in Sofia: Lozenets, 27 Nikola Vaptsarov Blvd, tel: 962 20 82; 15 Khan Kroum near Malkite Pette Kyusheta; SkyCity Shopping Centre; in Bourgas: 36 Vuzrazhdane Str /Kiril i Metodii Square/, tel: 089/ 892 52 95; in Rousse: 21 Raiko Daskalov Str, tel: 088/ 971 47 39) come a close second.

For chocolates and some French-inspired pastries, stores in the 100 Grama Sladki family hit the spot (100gr-sladki.com; in Sofia: 34 Maragidik Str, tel: 846 72 12; 18a Angel Kunchev Str, tel: 088/ 622 62 66; 459 Atanas Moskov Blvd /Business Park Sofia/; 30 Vassil Levski Blvd, tel: 987 66 77; 2 Malyovitsa Str, tel: 986 52 42; Radisson Hotel, 4 Narodno Subranie Sq, tel: 980 18 17). There is also a Leonidas shop at 107 Rakovski Str, open Monday to Friday 10.30am to 7.30pm.

For remarks like “Where did you ever find that? It’s spiffy!”, check out some of the unique, arty stores on Tsar Shishman Street (the one behind the Radisson Hotel) and around Doctors’ Garden (streets/shops here to particularly note: Gri Gri on Assen Zlatarov Street, two random shops on Shipka Street, a few more on San Stefano and on the lower part of Krakra). Note that the stores tend to open later, about 11am, and don’t always keep consistent hours.

Malls do keep consistent hours: City Center Sofia (10am to 10pm every day), Mall of Sofia (December 17 to 23, 10am to 11pm; December 24, 10am to 6pm), SkyCity Shopping Centre (10am to 10pm every day).

But, of course, Traditzia remains one of the best locations for quality, hand-made traditional Bulgarian crafts, and your leva go to a good cause (36 Vassil Levski Blvd, tel: 981 77 65, www.traditzia.bg).

Irina Sardareva makes absolutely fabulous, one-of-a-kind knitwear – ponchos, sweaters, gloves… and designer hats (Sofia, 44 Vladaiska Str, tel: 852 66 20).

Original street art-inspired graphic designs find homes on alternative lifestyle clothing at Antistar (at Angel Kunchev and Parchevich streets, www.antistar.biz). Most of what is there is from Bulgarian artists. The skate/snow-inspired shop Park (46 Gurko, tel: 980 09 99) would give any male under 30 a rush. Right across from it is the somewhat eccentric-style French women’s clothing store Cop.Copine (tel: 980 24 61). Awesome. For vinyl, DJ equipment and music, Electrika at 16 Pirotska Str has a fabulous selection. There’s also 38, another vinyl/LP store (38 Ivan Vazov Str). A body piercing shop called Dark Moon (33 Han Asparuh, tel: 980 26 82) offers something alternative as well.

Outlet shopping seems the latest buzz, and the side streets around Vitosha Boulevard are full of shops selling designer labels at reduced prices. Most of them are obviously last year’s items or older, which, in the States, you can pick up for a fraction of what people are trying to sell them at here... Still, if the articles are genuine, one has a certain guarantee of quality. We particularly like MeRci designer outlet (35 Solounska Str). They have a (albeit limited) selection of ladies’, men’s and children’s wear as well as accessories and home decor from the US.

Further down Solounska, towards Slaveikov Square is a small square, Raiko Daskalov Square, that hides a couple of shops worth visiting especially if looking for presents. SSG – Sea of Silver & Gold, as the name suggests, is a jewellery shop that features the work of several Bulgarian designers and has a reputation for quality diamonds.

Just next door is Carousel, which is basically a shop for collectors of figurines: Harry Potter, the Simpsons, Disney characters and more. Definitely worth a browse if looking for something for older children.

A bit of eclecticism, traditional woollen blankets, imitation designer labels and home-made rakiya can be found at Zhenski Pazar (Ladies’ Market), located in the centre of Sofia on Boulevard Stefan Stambolov (between Ekzarh Yosif Street and Slivnitsa Boulevard, off of Maria Louisa Boulevard). It tends to kick off at about 10am, and turn in for the night around sundown, or 5pm; the stall holders set their own hours. Around this area are a number of Arabic shops, selling Arabic food products (spices, sweets, pita bread, canned things, dried beans, real couscous) and, for a very nice gift, houka pipes, aka nargiles, and tobacco.

To actually make those New Year’s resolution happen, consider subscriptions to places like Maleevi Tennis Club, which offers much more than just racket and ball (Nikola Vaptsarov Boulevard, tel: 962 22 88, www.maleevaclub.com).

And, gift certificates to a spa centre or membership to a cultural institute’s library would be appreciated by anybody. Sometimes, it’s nice to relax.

By Charlie Sorrel

We've seen a few combination DVD players and projectors, but Google tells me that so far there aren't any computers with built in projectors.

Enter the Portable PC Theater, one of the more plausible concepts we've seen at Yanko Design. The unit has a fold out keyboard, a removable projector, and retractable speakers. We don't know why the size is specified: it's a concept after all, so dimensions are meaningless.

Otherwise, though, a very smart idea, and so obvious it really should be for sale. I could have done with one of these back in the Summer: It would have been much easier than dragging a projector, stereo and laptop out onto the terraza.

Gravity Action, a Queenstown-based activity business, is being sold as a going concern through Stephen McElrea, of Link Business Broking, for $320,000 plus GST and stock at valuation.

The tourism-based business was established in 1993 and is the oldest mountain biking company in New Zealand.

"The business has changed hands twice," says McElrea.

The summer business has two major arms in the form of guided mountain biking and guided trekking.

Gravity Action's summer business comprises a selection of activities based around guided downhill mountain biking in Central Otago's famous and scenic Skippers Canyon.

"Gravity Action has sole rights to use Skippers Canyon `Pack Track' with a Department of Conservation concession and leases from two landowners," says McElrea.

"There is a choice of tracks depending upon the abilities of the participants and options of exiting the canyon by helicopter, white-water raft or by four-wheel drive vehicle."

Gravity Action offers its clients full suspension mountain bikes with disc brakes, helmets and gloves with tours ranging from $109 to $295.

The company also has Crown permits and sole rights to operate guided walks from the saddle between Walter Peak and Cecil Peak down the valley to Walter Peak high country farm.

A helicopter provides the transport to Cecil Peak and the journey back to Queenstown is undertaken on the historic steamer TSS Earnslaw.

Guided walks can also be offered through Skippers Canyon, with transport out by helicopter or four-wheel-drive vehicles, although this option was not exercised by the company last season.

The winter business constitutes a ski and snowboard retail and rental business, with Gravity Action carrying a large stock of winter sports rental equipment and clothing.

Gravity Action has a long-term lease expiring in March 2015 on a 144 sq m street level shop at 19 Shotover St in the heart of Queenstown's shopping district.

McElrea says the asking price for the business includes tangible assets comprising plant, equipment and vehicles with a net book value of $106,000.

The intangible assets include the lease on the shop building, DoC concessions and leases, Crown sole permits and the business branding.

The business produced a net average income over the last two years of $146,000.

McElrea says the two current owners alternate the role of driver and shop administrator, and employ a guide on an as-needed basis.

"Gravity Action offers an outdoor orientated entrepreneur the opportunity to buy a well-established and profitable business within the heart of New Zealand's tourism capital," says McElrea.

"The business has the benefit of both a summer and a winter component spreading the risks of seasonality and ensuring an even cash flow. Fresh talent injected into the business would see it grow and expand while the new owners would enjoy living and working in one of the world's most beautiful locations."

The owners would consider the sale of the summer component only of the business for $150,000 plus GST plus stock at valuation.

This would include the plant, equipment and vehicles associated with the mountain biking and trekking, along with the associated concessions and leases and the lease on the building. A condition of sale would be a commitment to sublease the shop back to the vendors each winter, from June to September inclusive, for the remainder of the lease term.

By Phil Kloer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


Have you ever delved into a novel you could tell was amazing, but it was so challenging you didn’t know if you could finish it?

I felt that way about “Ulysses,” and “Gravity’s Rainbow,” and I’m currently feeling that way midway through the new book “Omega Minor,” by Georgia Tech professor Paul Verhaeghen.

It’s really good. And really hard. Verhaeghen is a cognitive psychology teacher at Ga. Tech, and originally from Belgium. He wrote “Omega Minor” in Dutch, then translated it himself into English. It just came out, and Time magazine gave it a huge rave. Read it here.

Verhaeghen will do an appearance and signing at 7 p.m. Monday Dec. 17 at A Cappella Books in Little Five Points, and he was more than willing to indulge me with an interview. The whole Q&A is scheduled to run in Saturday’s paper, and a free-lance review will run in Sunday’s Arts & Books section. I asked Verhaeghen how he would tell someone what “Omega Minor” is about, just because it’s about so much, and this is what he answered.

“It’s the story of two Jewish boys growing up in the 1920s, one escapes just in time, goes to the United States, becomes a physicist, works in the Manhattan Project, and starts having serious doubts about what is happening there with the nuclear bomb. And the second boy stays in Berlin and ends up in the Resistance and in Auschwitz and escapes. And it all comes together in 1995. … So it deals with the Holocaust, it deals with physics, it deals with the nature of the universe. If I have to sum it up in seven words, I say that it’s about the things that make life really interesting: war, love, sex, death, pigeons, food and blasphemy.

Yes, pigeons. But trust me, you’ll remember the Holocaust scenes and the sex scenes a lot more. Verhaeghen can really write, and some of his scenes are just searing.

I’m about 300 pages into “Omega Minor,” less than half way, and it’s a very engaging read in some ways, and a very tough one in other ways. I doubt if anyone here will have had much chance yet to get into it, as it’s just out, but I would encourage you to:

a. Go get a copy and dive in.

b. Talk about your own experience with tackling a challenging book that you worried might end up being too much for you. (To circle back to the beginning, and in the interest of full disclosure, I never finished “Ulysses” or “Rainbow.”) I hope I can finish “Omega Minor.”

The latest hot spot in Juhu — Bombay 72 East was the venue for cosmetic dentist Dr Rashika Vijan’s party for her husband Hitesh.

Representing the crème de la crème from all walks of celebrityhood were a galaxy of personalities.

Priya and Chintan Shah, Bonito Chhabria and Anu and Sunny Dewan were seen enjoying their drinks and the company.

Bollywood hottie Vivek Oberoi too was spotted chilling here. Owners Tony Singh and AB Singh ensured the guests were well looked after.

The bubbly flowed at the bar counter and in fact, there was a separate counter just for the martinis!

Guests could feast themselves on the delectable authentic Punjabi spread and mouth-watering prawns and lobsters.

Documentary. Directed by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht. (Not rated. 70 minutes. Opening today at the Roxie in San Francisco and the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. Starts Sunday at the Cerrito Theater in El Cerrito.)

If you walked into the middle of Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht's exquisite little documentary and saw Marin's David Lee Hoffman bending forward to inhale the aroma of the green leaves piled in his cupped hands, you could be forgiven for thinking this is a film about weed. But, clearly, these green leaves are much more addictive than marijuana, and, in some cases, much more expensive as well.

"All in This Tea" is a short film, but it's packed as tightly as a brick of the aged black tea called pu-erh that tea connoisseurs prize and store for years in special cellars, like the one Hoffman maintains on his property. Years ago, political turmoil in the Untied States sent Hoffman packing off to Asia, where he lived for a decade or more, met the Dalai Lama and acquired an informed taste for rare, handmade teas. He began to seek out the best of them in China and Tibet, along the way gaining the ability to stick his nose into a bag of the stuff and know in an instant if it was grown with chemical fertilizers or if it was picked correctly or, in some cases, what part of the mountain it was from. He started bringing the tea back to the United States for friends, which, in turn, led to the creation of his own tea import business, which he has since sold.

For centuries, Chinese farmers grew and harvested fine teas. Green tea leaves are picked by hand in the morning, spread out through the day to wilt in the sun, then processed in woks to "kill the green," which means the farmers sifted, rolled and rubbed the leaves to bruise them and bring out their full flavor and aroma. Once China became Communist, though, the emphasis was on quantity, which meant the introduction of chemical fertilizers that not only impaired the flavor of the tea but, over time, virtually killed the soil, whose qualities help define the individual character of the tea itself.

During his many trips to China, Hoffman's first challenge was finding the best teas. A much bigger challenge at first was cutting through the government red tape (pun intended) to get the tea out of China.

The film is both delightful and informative at every turn. We see Hoffman trying to explain to Chinese officials the value of earthworms to growing soil and finding that the word "poop" doesn't translate easily. We learn that most of the black tea the world is used to comes from the Assam area of India and that its discovery, growing on a Himalayan hillside, broke the long Chinese monopoly on tea. And we learn that while the United States may be a Starbucks nation, coffee drinking is actually decreasing while tea drinking is on the rise, in part because of its health benefits.

Blank, whose previous films include "Burden of Dreams," which won a British Academy Award in 1982, and Leibrecht, who has collaborated with Blank for nearly 10 years, have done a masterful job of assembling this film. Of course, it brims with fascinating information about the process of growing fine tea, but the film rises to perfection as the tea becomes a kind of lens for us to consider, yet again, the fragility of our environment. It's encouraging to be told that, despite the environmental damage caused by years of chemical fertilizers, China's boutique tea industry is thriving again, and that includes the making of organic teas as well.

- David Wiegand
'Protagonist'

Commissioner Bud Selig, who was criticized for doing little to push mandatory drug testing, indicated he might take disciplinary action.

By BILL PENNINGTON

The way an old, reliable relative never misses a family function, Bud Selig has always been there for baseball. As a longtime fan of the game, a team owner and, eventually, as the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Selig has shown his plain, Midwestern face at every notable low and high moment of the game for several decades.

It has brought him scorn when he was blamed for caustic work stoppages and ridicule when he halted an All-Star Game. And it has brought him satisfaction as he presided over baseball’s unforeseen turn-of-the-century renaissance.

But there was no moment quite like Thursday, when the 73-year-old Selig stepped to the rostrum at a Manhattan hotel amid one of baseball’s most troublesome days. He was there to confront a situation that in every estimation he had set in motion.

There may be much disagreement over whether Selig and baseball’s owners could have done more to prevent the steroids era that was so forcefully depicted in the report released Thursday by George J. Mitchell, the former federal prosecutor and United States senator. But there is no question the report would not have occurred unless Selig had ordered Mitchell to investigate baseball’s steroid problem 20 months ago.

On Thursday, the man who sought that outside investigation against the advice of his confidants appeared saddened, proud and perhaps most strangely, invigorated.

Although he began speaking in soft, grandfatherly tones as he talked of mistakes made and the game’s integrity, Selig quickly went into an almost prosecutorial mode.

“This report is a call to action,” he said, raising his right index finger. “And I will act.”

Selig was widely criticized for doing little to push for mandatory drug testing 10 years ago and was mildly chided for it by Mitchell on Thursday. He not only accepted the findings and recommendations of Mitchell’s report, but also said he wanted to go beyond them.

While Mitchell recommended against punishment for players linked to performance-enhancing drugs, Selig mentioned disciplinary actions and pledged swift action. When it came to Mitchell’s proposed changes, Selig announced that he would immediately enact every one that did not require approval from the players’ union. For example, Selig said, teams would no longer be given 24 hours’ notice of a drug test.

Selig vowed to fight to find an easier way to detect human growth hormone, calling for a summit of doctors and researchers to discuss the subject.

“So long as there might be potential cheaters in the game, we have to constantly update what we do to catch them,” he said. “And that’s exactly what I intend to do. We will not rest.”

Selig was, as usual, dressed conservatively, wearing a drab sport coat, white shirt and solid tie, but much of the rest of him seemed refashioned.

For more than a year, he said he was not worried about what the Mitchell report would reveal. He conceded Thursday that he wished he was not discussing the use of performance-enhancing drugs by dozens of players, although he did not seem overly distressed by it. He was busy looking forward, promising to strengthen baseball’s diligence and vigorously calling for the players’ union to cooperate with him.

It was as if the kindly old relative we all knew for decades stood up during Thanksgiving dinner and announced that he never did like turkey and was leading a revolt to cook a ham next year. Selig would not even refer to the day as disappointing.

“Do I believe it’s a setback?” he asked. “No. The sport will be better off.”

Selig stayed true to form in some ways. He did not fall on his sword, but he did not pick it up and renew the fight. His foremost skill as a baseball administrator has always been a kind of coy, homespun conciliation. Selig did not quarrel when asked if he believed baseball’s leaders might have been able to avert the wrongdoing described in Mitchell’s report had they been more focused on it, instead of on economic issues, as was alleged by Mitchell.

“People have different ideas about what happened a decade or two decades ago,” he said. “Hindsight is wonderful. But George Mitchell is right: it’s time to move on.”

And so, one of baseball’s most recognizable faces appeared again and survived Day 1 of a new and ugly chapter for the game. Whether Bud Selig has taken the first step toward redrafting his legacy may depend on how the baseball community responds to his bold call to action.

“Anybody who knows me well has to know that this is not something I wish had happened, but it has,” Selig said. “And I have to do something about it. I cannot say it any more plainly. I have to do something.”

Los Angeles (dpa) - Kevin Garnett, who has taken the Boston Celtics to the top of the NBA standings, leads all players in the 2008 All-Star Game voting, after the first returns were announced on Thursday.

The 57th NBA All-Star Game - the league's mid-season centerpiece - will be played in New Orleans on Sunday, February 17.

Garnett, who has led Celtics to an impressive 18-2 record since being acquired in the off-season, received 735,664 votes at one of the two forward spots on the Eastern Conference squad.

The 10-time All-Star selection is joined by Cleveland's LeBron James - last year's top vote-getter and All-Star Game Most Valuable Player - with 597,768.

Orlando's Dwight Howard (596,187) leads the centres, while Miami's Dwyane Wade (470,921) and New Jersey's Jason Kidd (342,468) top the guards.

In the Western Conference, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles is the top vote-getter with 569,302. The defending two-time league scoring champ is joined in the backcourt by Houston's Tracy McGrady (388,959).

Denver's Carmelo Anthony (482,127) and reigning league MVP Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas (443,117) lead at the forwards spots, while China's Yao Ming of Houston's is tops in the middle with 439,125 votes.

The balloting will continue through January 20, in which fans can vote from a list of 120 players - 60 from each conference - leading up to the announcement of the starters four days later.

After the starting lineup is named, head coaches will vote to determine the remaining All-Stars in their respective conference, which will be announced Thursday, January. 31.

This article is by Raymond Bonner, Jane Perlez and Eric Schmitt.

LONDON — Investigators examining the bungled terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow six months ago believe the plotters had a link to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, which would make the attacks the first that the group has been involved in outside of the Middle East, according to senior officials from three countries who have been briefed on the inquiry.

The evidence pointing to the involvement of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia includes phone numbers of members of the Iraqi group found on the plotters’ cellphones recovered in Britain, a senior American intelligence official said.

British authorities have said that the plotters, Bilal Abdulla, a British-born doctor of Iraqi descent, and Kafeel Ahmed, an Indian aeronautical engineer, parked two vehicles laden with gas canisters and explosives near a popular nightclub in central London at the end of June. The cars, apparently positioned to strike people leaving the nightclub, failed to ignite.

The next day, the two men rammed a Jeep Cherokee loaded with gas canisters into the Glasgow airport. It erupted in flames, and the driver, Mr. Ahmed, was severely burned and died several weeks later.

British intelligence agencies have feared a blowback from Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war, and after the events in London and Glasgow officials and terrorism experts speculated that Iraq-based groups could have been involved. More recently, as the investigation progressed, British intelligence officials told foreign diplomats that they believed the attacks were the first sign of such a reaction, said a senior diplomat of a country allied with Britain.

Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is a homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence officials say is led by foreigners.

The American intelligence official noted several similarities between the events in Britain and attacks in Iraq attributed to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, including the use of vehicle-borne explosives aimed at multiple targets. The officials agreed to talk about the attack only on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing secret intelligence information.

While officials stopped short of saying that the plot originated with Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, or was directed by the group, they did say it was the closest collaboration they knew of between the Iraq group and plotters outside the Middle East. The American official who noted the evidence found on the recovered cellphones was unable to provide details about how often the accused plotters called Iraq or how soon before the bungled attacks calls were made.

Two other American counterterrorism officials generally concurred with this assessment of the link to the Iraqi group, but one of them cautioned against overstating the role of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, also known as Al Qaeda in Iraq, or A.Q.I., saying, “The event is best viewed as A.Q.I.-related, rather than A.Q.I.-directed.”

However, none of the officials would divulge the exact nature of the group’s involvement in the operation.

Recent terrorist attacks in Britain, including the July 2005 bombing of London’s transit system that killed 52 commuters, and several foiled plots appeared to have some connection to Pakistan. They have been conducted mostly by Britons of Pakistani origin, and some of the suspects trained in Pakistan.

Yet before the failed attacks in London and Glasgow, the British intelligence services suggested in a quarterly review on the terrorist threat that an attack against Britain was possible from Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

“While networks linked to A.Q. (Al Qaeda) Core pose the greatest threat to the U.K., the intelligence during this quarter has highlighted the potential threat from other areas, particularly A.Q.-I (Al Qaeda in Iraq),” said the report by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center based at the headquarters of MI5, the domestic intelligence service. Parts of the report were published in The Sunday Times in April. According to the newspaper’s account of the intelligence report, British intelligence officers wrote that “we are aware that A.Q.-I networks are active in the U.K.”

According to officials who have been briefed on the inquiry, investigators suspect that Dr. Abdulla, the British-born doctor reared in Baghdad, was the connection to the Iraq-based network, although it is not clear what they see as the nature of the link.

Dr. Abdulla was working at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Scotland, after qualifying for a limited registration in the diabetes department at the time of the attacks. After his arrest, colleagues told Scottish newspapers that Dr. Abdulla was hard to motivate to do medical rounds because he seemed preoccupied by following Islamic affairs on his computer.

Dr. Abdulla has been charged with conspiracy to use explosives, and the trial is expected to begin next year. Six people were initially detained in Britain in connection with the attack. Three have been released; two others in addition to Dr. Abdulla have been charged.

Martin Rackstraw, a lawyer for Dr. Abdulla, said he was unable to comment on the case under British law.

The son of a prominent doctor, Dr. Abdulla returned to Britain in 2004 with his new Iraqi medical degree, said Shiraz Maher, a British Muslim who knew him when they both lived in Cambridge. Before joining the hospital, Dr. Abdulla worked part time at a Staples store in Cambridge, while studying for the exams he needed to pass to practice medicine here, Mr. Maher said in an interview.

Mr. Maher, who at the time was a member of the radical Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, said he remembered Dr. Abdulla from that period as being obsessed by the war in Iraq, and as someone who practiced an intense and “austere” form of Wahhabism, a conservative strain of Islam. He was outraged, Mr. Maher said, by the American attack on Falluja, Iraq, in November 2004. Dr. Abdulla was not a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, Mr. Maher said.

He was with Dr. Abdulla on almost a daily basis for prayers, he said. Mr. Maher, who left Hizb ut-Tahrir in mid-2005, said he did not see Dr. Abdulla again after that.

Mr. Maher described Dr. Abdulla as “defiant” and said that Mr. Ahmed, the man who died of burns suffered in the Glasgow attack, was more passive. “They had a close relationship,” Mr. Maher said.

Whatever the extent of assistance or inspiration the plotters may have gotten from Iraq, counterterrorism officials and experts said they were struck by the amateurish nature of the attacks. The cars parked at the London nightclub were packed with propane gas tanks, but they failed to explode because the plotters did not leave the windows open enough to allow air in to ignite the fuel in the gas tanks, said two terrorism experts with knowledge of the case.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert and professor of international relations at Georgetown University, said the plotters appeared to be relatively efficient at organizational planning but had failed to pay enough attention to making the bombs. “Technical expertise is different from operational sophistication,” Mr. Hoffman said.

Anyone who knows a Kiwi knows they hate losing to Australia.

At anything.

So imagine how they will feel if the Wallabies win the 2011 Rugby World Cup on New Zealand soil - with a Kiwi coach.

A former All Black no less.

Just imagine it: the very man most New Zealanders wanted as All Blacks coach - and indeed who seemed certain to be the next All Blacks coach just a fortnight ago - coaching the All Blacks' greatest rivals.

This is the deeply distressing, once-unthinkable scenario facing New Zealand sports fans after Friday's confirmation that 48-year-old Robbie Deans has been appointed - amid much ado - to succeed John Connolly as Wallabies coach.

In a watershed moment for Australian sport, the ARU has snaffled Deans for four years, giving the Wallabies their first foreign coach in more than a century of Test-match rugby.

One hundred and eight years, in fact, since Australia's first Test in 1899 against England.

And we thought Richie McCaw could pilfer.

This is one of the great steals, one that has left rugby fanatics across New Zealand appalled, bitter and ... well, more than a wee bit worried.

While Deans might not be every Australian's first choice to coach the national team, including the patriotic Connolly and World Cup-winning captain Nick Farr Jones, ARU chief John O'Neill must be positively laughing.

Probably not all the way to the bank given the speculated $1 million a season the ARU is forking out of its leaking coffers, but laughing nevertheless.

We've stolen Phar Lap, we've claimed Russell Crowe, adopted Split Enz and pummelled New Zealand in just about every other sport that matters.

Now we've nabbed the very man who most Kiwis would dearly love to have been entrusted with the only portfolio in New Zealand more important than the Prime Ministership.

In deciding to retain the much-maligned Graham Henry, despite the All Blacks' latest World Cup failure, the NZRU virtually served up Deans to Australia on a platter.

What will they give us next? The Bledisloe Cup, the Tri Nations Trophy, the World Cup ... oops, that's right, they haven't got that have they?

Haven't had it for 20 years.

And if Robbie Deans has his way, they won't have it for at least another eight.

Jay Mohr


I don't see why everyone is so surprised Roger Clemens took steroids. Have you seen the size of his butt? The Rocket looks like he warms up for his workouts by squatting the local Applebee's. No grown man with a strong, natural physique has a butt the size of one of the Klumps.

None of the names on the Mitchell Report surprises me. In fact, I can give you a telltale sign of how I was tipped off to each man's drug use.

First, I must point out that different types of steroids activate different parts of the human body. No two supplements are alike. For example, while Roger Clemens may have taken andro(butt)stene, it's pretty obvious he shared some of that with Andy Pettitte. Pettitte isn't a guy you want to be standing next to on the subway. Your arm would be holding the bar above you, but Pettitte's behind would box your body out and into a different car.

Pettitte took many different types of supplements. Obviously, he has had extensive Botox. How else would you explain those big, juicy, delicious, kissable lips of his? I don't know any man with lips fuller than Lisa Rinna's or Angelina Jolie's.

There is a reason we all watch the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry so closely. Secretly, all guys are turned on by Andy's juicy lips. If you don't believe me, ask one of the guys at your gym, hopefully when you are both naked in the steam room.

Pettitte also allegedly (had to work that word in here somehow) took a giant, lifetime dose of NoDoz. That is why the FOX cameras always do super close-ups on his eyes and explain his fire and his intensity.

In actuality, all of the producers out in the truck have had a running bet for years as to when Pettitte might actually blink. So far David Hill has the no-blink pool won with his answer of never.

One of my heroes in this business, Jim Rome, once made a salient point regarding Barry Bonds. He said, "The best player in baseball shouldn't be 40 years old."

That is correct. The best player in baseball (Bonds) is something like 50 now. He, along with Clemens, will probably parlay all this steroid hype into spots on the Dominican national little league team, where no one ever asks your age.

As I said earlier, different steroids work in different ways on different people. Eric Gagne jammed his body full of needles since the day he received his green card, and all it got him was a French accent and a stupid-looking beard. Poor guy. Imagine taking Deca cycle after Deca cyle for years and one day bursting into the clubhouse to exclaim, "Guys! Ze Steroids, zey are working! Take zee look at my ree-diculous beard!"

Dodgers fans should have known their star closer was on drugs of some sort. The only grown-ups I have ever seen with facial hair that foul looking are guys I bought from. I bet Gagne is mean with a hackey sack.

There is creatine and then there is creep-a-tine. This is a hard-to-hide supplement when you're on it, mostly because it turns you into a giant a-hole. This drug was invented by Kevin Brown, but was also taken by Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jose Guillen, to name a few. These guys took their entire young adulthood of acting like complete jerks and rolled the dice on a drug that could take it up a notch. I say that they are the true brave ones. If you keep acting like a jerk long enough, you run out of people to shoot you up. Eventually, you fake back pain and retire.

The saddest names on the Mitchell report were the Paul Byrds and the Randy Velardes out there. These poor guys loaded up on HGH, steroids, the clear and flaxseed oil and it turned them into monsters of mediocrity. What is the point of taking steroids if your fastball is going to top out at 84 miles per hour?

Why would Ron Villone risk his life (and his testicles) to get tossed around the major leagues like Tara Reid at a frat party? If you ask me, Byrd, Villone, Velarde, Mike Stanton, Scott Schoeneweis and Jerry Hairston Jr. should get all of their steroid money back.

Finally, if anyone questions whether or not Benito Santiago took steroids, look at his rookie card. He is standing next to Methuselah. He is wearing Air Jesus cleats. The man hit .267 against Satchel Paige.

Bobby bail-out

Bobby Petrino? More like Bobby QUIT-trino. What a bum. What a complete, classless jerk. But I don't blame him one bit. Who wouldn't run for the hog calls of Fayetteville, Ark., after their star quarterback just got served?

My biggest question to Bobby Petrino would be, why did he make so many wacky personnel moves if he knew he was going to leave anyway? Benching Joey Harrington after a modest two-game win streak. Cutting Grady Jackson for no foreseeable good reason. Starting Chris Redman?!!?

Atlanta hasn't been burned this bad since General Sherman.

Like we need another college coach that isn't successful in the NFL. Jenna Jameson will not get tabbed to star on Broadway, and for good reason. Her "talents" in one medium do not translate into another. Just like Lou Holtz, Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino was a man that had it all at the college level (41-9 at Louisville). It seems these men feel not like the big man on campus, but rather the guy who is too big for campus. So they jet to the pros.

Unfortunately when they arrive there, they find a bunch of spoiled millionaires and malcontents that could give a rat's ass as to what "coach" has to say. In the NFL, they are all blue-chippers. The fourth-string linebacker that only plays on special teams was the greatest athlete his hometown had ever seen. He was recruited in a living room by a guy just like Petrino, except this time around he has a check with two commas in it that makes his eyes glaze over when given the rah-rah speech from the new guy.

I can understand the sexy allure of Arkansas in November, so I don't fault Quit-rino for leaving. Who doesn't want to coach just four hours from Little Rock? Who wouldn't trade in the call of "The Dirty Bird" for the sound of obese men and women screaming "Suey!"

Why couldn't Bobby Petrino wait until the season ended before he quit?

Why did a woman name her son Alge?

Why does Arthur Blank look like Mr. Weed from Family Guy?

So many questions left in the wake of such a stunning exit. Let this be the death knell for all future college coaches being hired to coach in the NFL.

Unless Greg Schiano wants to leave Rutgers in a few years to coach the Jets.

What a mess, best of lucky,
jay mohr

Tune in this weekend for discussions of Congress's accomplishments, Mrs. Clinton's attacks on Obama, and the high cost of Harvard.

Friday, December 14, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST

So what has the 110th Congress accomplished in its first year? Plus, the Clinton machine takes on Barack Obama, and what Harvard's tuition cut says about the cost of higher education.

The program airs on FOX News Channel Saturday at 11 p.m. Eastern Time and again Sunday at 6 a.m. Here's a complete list of airtimes for the contiguous U.S.:

* Eastern: 11 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday
* Central: 10 p.m. Saturday and 5 a.m. Sunday
* Mountain: 9 p.m. Saturday and 4 a.m. Sunday
* Pacific: 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday

He has some kooky ideas, but he also has lessons for the GOP contenders.

BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL


Ron Paul is no compassionate conservative. His supporters love him for it.

If there's been a phenomenon in this Republican presidential race, it's been the strength of a fiery doctor from Texas and his message of limited government. As the GOP front-runners address crowds of dispirited primary voters, Mr. Paul has been tearing across the country, leaving a trail of passionate devotees in his wake.

Paul rallies heave with voters waving placards and shouting "Liberty! Liberty!" Money is pouring in from tens of thousands of individual donors--so much cash that the 10-term congressman recently admitted he wasn't sure he could spend it all. A fund-raising event on Guy Fawkes Day (in tribute to Mr. Paul's rebel persona) netted his campaign $4 million, the biggest one-day haul of any GOP candidate, ever. He continues to inch up in the early primary polls, and even bests Fred Thompson in New Hampshire.

Mr. Paul isn't going to be president. He trails in national polls, in no small part because his lack of a proactive foreign policy makes him an unserious candidate in today's terror world. But his success still holds lessons for the leading Republican candidates, as well as those pundits falling for the argument that the future of the GOP rests in a "heroic conservatism" that embraces big government. Mr. Paul shows that the way to many Republican voters' hearts is still through a spirited belief in lower taxes and smaller government, with more state and individual rights.

It helps, too, if voters know you mean it. In nearly 20 years in the House, Mr. Paul can boast he never voted for a tax hike. Nicknamed "Dr. No," he spent much of the time Republicans held a majority voting against his own party, on the grounds that the legislation his colleagues were trying to pass--Sarbanes-Oxley, new auto mileage standards, a ban on Internet gambling--wasn't expressly authorized by the Constitution. He returns a portion of his annual congressional budget to the U.S. Treasury--on principle.

On the stump, Mr. Paul whips up crowds with his libertarian talk of "less taxation, less regulation, a better economic system." While Mitt Romney explains his support of No Child Left Behind, Mr. Paul gets standing ovations by promising to eliminate the Department of Education. Rudy Giuliani toys with reducing marginal rates; Mr. Paul gets whoops with his dream to ax the income tax (and by extension the IRS). Mike Huckabee lectures on the need for more government-subsidized clean energy; Mr. Paul brings cheers with his motto that environmental problems are best solved with stronger property rights. His rhetoric is based on first principles--carefully connecting his policies to the goals of liberty and freedom--and it fires up the base.

Yes, the Paul campaign--with its call to bring the troops home--is also profiting as the one landing pad in the GOP race for those Republicans and independents unhappy with the Iraq war. Mr. Paul's insistence that he isn't an "isolationist" so much as a "non-interventionist" who rejects nation-building has also won him voters who might otherwise have been wary of his passive foreign policy.

Still, it's Mr. Paul's small-government message that has defined him over the years, winning him election after election in Texas--well before Iraq was a question. His appeal has only grown, too, over seven years of a Bush presidency that has moved the party away from its limited-government roots.

"Compassionate conservatism" was a smart move on George W. Bush's part, maybe even necessary to win. The GOP was dogged by a reputation as the heartless party, amplified by the 1995 government shutdown and the clunky Dole campaign. And it had learned from the success of welfare reform that message matters. Many Republican voters believed Mr. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" was just that: a way of selling conservative reforms. Tax cuts would help the working poor. Vouchers would help minority kids. Charities would fare better getting people off drugs than government bureaucrats.

Mr. Bush got his tax cuts, but voters found out too late that he was no small-government believer. School vouchers were traded away for more education dollars. A new Medicare drug entitlement has added trillions to the burden on future taxpayers. Government-directed energy policy is larded with handouts to political patrons in the corn and ethanol lobbies. A lack of budget discipline encouraged a Republican Congress to go spend-crazy, stuffing bills with porky earmarks. Much of this was simply a Republican majority that had lost its way. But at least some of it was promoted by Bush advisers who specifically argued that "compassionate conservatism" was in fact a license to embrace government--so long as government was promoting Republican ideals.

That idea has become even more vogue, with a wing of the party now arguing that the small-government libertarianism that has defined the Republican Party since Goldwater is not only immoral, but an election-loser. Former Bush speechwriter Michael's Gerson's new book, "Heroic Conservatism," calls on Republicans to give in to big government and co-opt the tools of state for their own purposes. "If Republicans run in future elections with a simplistic, anti-government message, ignoring the poor, the addicted, and children at risk, they will lose, and they will deserve to lose," he writes. Then again, Republicans have already been losing, and losing big, in no small part because they've taken Mr. Gerson's advice.

The men vying to lead the Republican Party might instead make a study of Mr. Paul. One shame of this race is that for all the enthusiasm the Texan has generated among voters, he hasn't managed to pressure the front-runners toward his positions. His more kooky views (say, his belief in a conspiracy to create a "North American Union") and his violent antiwar talk have allowed the other aspirants to dismiss him.

They shouldn't dismiss the passion he's tapped. If Mr. Paul has shown anything, it's that many conservative voters continue to doubt there's anything "heroic" or "compassionate" in a ballooning government that sucks up their dollars to aid a dysfunctional state. When Mr. Paul gracefully exits this race, his followers will be looking for an alternative to take up that cause. Any takers?

Ms. Strassel is a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, based in Washington. Her column appears Fridays.

Our task under the News Corp.-Dow Jones merger agreement.


Shareholders of Dow Jones & Co. have voted to approve the acquisition of Dow Jones by News Corp. As a condition of the sale, Dow Jones and News Corp. entered into a contract establishing a five-person committee charged with safeguarding Dow Jones' editorial independence and integrity.

Permit us to briefly introduce ourselves and outline our mission to readers as well as to an interested public. The committee members are:

• Louis Boccardi, president and chief executive officer of the Associated Press, the world's largest news organization, from 1985 until 2003 and its executive editor for a decade before. Mr. Boccardi was a member of the Pulitzer Prize board from 1994 to 2003, and served as chairman in 2002.

• Thomas J. Bray, editorial page editor of The Detroit News between 1983 and 2000, and subsequently a columnist for the News. Between 1964 and 1983, Mr. Bray served as a reporter and bureau chief in The Wall Street Journal news department, and also as associate editor of its editorial page. He will serve as chairman of the committee.

• Jack Fuller, retired president of the Tribune Publishing Co., the newspaper division of Tribune Co. Mr. Fuller was awarded a Pultizer Prize in 1986 for editorials on constitutional issues. Later he served as editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune and in 2000 as chairman of the Pulitzer Prize board. He is the author of "News Values: Ideas for an Information Age" (University of Chicago Press, 1996).

• Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the author of "Being Digital" (First Vintage Books, 1995). He is currently on leave from MIT to lead One Laptop Per Child, a not-for-profit organization he also founded to provide affordable computers to the youth of developing nations.

• Susan M. Phillips, dean of the George Washington University School of Business, where she is also a professor of finance. Ms. Phillips served as a governor of the Federal Reserve System from 1991 to 1998 and chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1983 to 1987.

To assure its independence, the committee (formally known, with lawyerly infelicity, as the "Special Committee") will choose its own successors, subject to the approval of News Corp., which, according to the contract, shall not be unreasonably withheld. The committee has the right to hire, at News Corp. expense, such expert help as it feels it may require, and will have guaranteed access to company records and documents of News Corp. and Dow Jones.

We will meet at least four times a year, and more often as required. The committee intends to conduct its deliberations in strict confidence. But unlike some protective arrangements elsewhere, the provisions of the contract give the committee the right to publish its findings and decisions in The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones publications. It also has the right to seek legal enforcement of its decisions.

The committee's charge is fairly specific (the full agreement can be found on the Dow Jones investor relations Web site as part of the proxy materials filed with the SEC): It "shall have rights of approval" over the hiring or removal of three key editors--the managing editor and the editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, and the managing editor of Dow Jones Newswires under its current structure.

Under the agreement, these editors in turn have the sole power to hire and fire subordinates, control the allocation of resources within departmental budgets set by News Corp., and make all news and editorial decisions. The editors also have the right to appeal disputes over these matters to the Special Committee. The same holds for issues arising from the Dow Jones Code of Conduct and a set of five principles adopted by News Corp. that require, among other things, that "there are no hidden agendas in any journalistic undertakings" and that opinions "represent only the applicable publication's own editorial philosophies centered around the core principle of 'free people and free markets.'"

The committee does not see itself as an ombudsman, riding daily herd on individual stories, newsroom practices and the news or editorial decisions of the editors themselves. Nor do we see ourselves as a barrier to change. The contract of which we are stewards also gives News Corp. the right, inherent in ownership, to make business decisions, as well as set the broad policies governing content and makeup of the individual publications.

The central challenge to the committee will be to distinguish between change and practices that might threaten Dow Jones' well-earned reputation for calling things as it sees them. We are impressed by News Corp.'s willingness to enter into such a contract and place considerable resources behind it. We take News Corp. officials at their word that they see no gain in placing Dow Jones' integrity at risk.

We are prepared to carry out our responsibilities. But we are hopeful that the mutual stake in the success of the publications of Dow Jones will make that unnecessary.

Would Reagan survive in today's GOP? And is Mrs. Clinton in for a fall this winter?



What is happening in Iowa is no longer boring but big, and may prove huge.

The Republican race looks--at the moment--to be determined primarily by one thing, the question of religious faith. In my lifetime faith has been a significant issue in presidential politics, but not the sole determinative one. Is that changing? If it is, it is not progress.

Mike Huckabee is in the lead due, it appears, to voter approval of the depth and sincerity of his religious beliefs as lived out in his ministry as an ordained Southern Baptist. He flashes "Christian leader" over his picture in commercials; he asserts his faith is "mainstream"; his surrogates speak of Mormonism as "strange" and "definitely a factor." Mr. Huckabee said this summer that a candidate's faith is "subject to question," "part of the game."

He tells the New York Times that he doesn't know a lot about Mitt Romney's faith, but isn't it the one in which Jesus and the devil are brothers? This made me miss the old days of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man," in which a candidate started a whispering campaign that his opponent's wife was a thespian.

Mr. Huckabee has of course announced that he apologizes to Mr. Romney, which allowed him to elaborate on his graciousness and keep the story alive. He should have looked abashed. Instead he betrayed the purring pleasure of "a Christian with four aces," in Mark Twain's words.

Christian conservatives have been rising, most recently, for 30 years in national politics, since they helped elect Jimmy Carter. They care about the religious faith of their leaders, and their interest is legitimate. Faith is a shaping force. Lincoln got grilled on it. But there is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive ability, professional history, temperament, character, political philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary.

But they are not, and cannot be. They are central. Things seem to be getting out of kilter, with the emphasis shifting too far.

The great question: Does it make Mr. Huckabee, does it seal his rise, that he has acted in such a manner? Or does it damage him? Republicans on the ground in Iowa and elsewhere will decide that. And in the deciding they may be deciding more than one man's future. They may be deciding if Republicans are becoming a different kind of party.

I wonder if our old friend Ronald Reagan could rise in this party, this environment. Not a regular churchgoer, said he experienced God riding his horse at the ranch, divorced, relaxed about the faiths of his friends and aides, or about its absence. He was a believing Christian, but he spent his adulthood in relativist Hollywood, and had a father who belonged to what some saw, and even see, as the Catholic cult. I'm just not sure he'd be pure enough to make it in this party. I'm not sure he'd be considered good enough.

This thought occurs that Hillary Clinton's entire campaign is, and always was, a Potemkin village, a giant head fake, a haughty facade hollow at the core. That she is disorganized on the ground in Iowa, taken aback by a challenge to her invincibility, that she doesn't actually have an A team, that her advisers have always been chosen more for proven loyalty than talent, that her supporters don't feel deep affection for her. That she's scrambling chaotically to catch up, with surrogates saying scuzzy things about Barack Obama and drug use, and her following up with apologies that will, as always, keep the story alive. That her guru-pollster, the almost universally disliked Mark Penn, has, according to Newsday, become the focus of charges that he has "mistakenly run Clinton as a de facto incumbent" and that the top officials on the campaign have never had a real understanding of Iowa.

This is true of Mrs. Clinton and her Iowa campaign: They thought it was a queenly procession, not a brawl. Now they're reduced to spinning the idea that expectations are on Mr. Obama, that he'd better win big or it's a loss. They've been reduced too to worrying about the weather. If there's a blizzard on caucus day, her supporters, who skew old, may not turn out. The defining picture of the caucuses may be a 78-year-old woman being dragged from her home by young volunteers in a tinted-window SUV.

This is, still, an amazing thing to see. It is a delight of democracy that now and then assumptions are confounded, that all the conventional wisdom of the past year is compressed and about to blow. It takes a Potemkin village.

A thought on the presence of Bill Clinton. He is showing up all over in Iowa and New Hampshire, speaking, shaking hands, drawing crowds. But when he speaks, he has a tendency to speak about himself. It's all, always, me-me-me in his gigantic bullying neediness. Still, he's there, and he's a draw, and the plan was that his presence would boost his wife's fortunes. The way it was supposed to work, the logic, was this: People miss Bill. They miss the '90s. They miss the pre-9/11 world. So they'll love seeing him back in the White House. So they'll vote for Hillary. Because she'll bring him. "Two for the price of one."

It appears not to be working. Might it be that they don't miss Bill as much as everyone thought? That they don't actually want Bill back in the White House?

Maybe. But maybe it's this. Maybe they'd love to have him back in the White House. Maybe they just don't want him to bring her. Maybe they miss the Cuckoo's Nest and they'd love having Jack Nicholson's McMurphy running through the halls. Maybe they just don't miss Nurse Ratched. Does she have to come?

It is clear in Iowa that immigration is the great issue that won't go away. Members of the American elite, including U.S. senators, continue to do damage to the public debate on immigration. They do not view it as a crucial question of America's continuance. They view it as an onerous issue that might upset their personal plans, an issue dominated by pro-immigration groups and power centers on the one hand, and the pesky American people, with their limited and quasi-racist concerns, on the other.

Because politicians see immigration as just another issue in "the game," they feel compelled to speak of it not with honest indifference but with hot words and images. With a lack of sympathy. This is in contrast to normal Americans, who do not use hot words, and just want the problem handled and the rule of law returned to the borders.

Politicians, that is, distort the debate, not because they care so much but because they care so little.

Hillary Clinton is not up at night worrying about the national-security implications of open borders in the age of terror. She's up at night worrying about whether to use Mr. Obama's position on driver's licenses for illegals against him in ads or push polls.

A real and felt concern among the candidates about immigration is a rare thing. And people can tell. They can tell with both parties. This is the real source of bitterness in this debate. It's not regnant racism. It's knowing the political class is incapable of caring, and so repairing.

Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father" (Penguin, 2005), which you can order from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Fridays on OpinionJournal.com.

The politics of futile gestures.

In the movie "Animal House," the fraternity brother known as Otter reacts to the Delta House's closure with the classic line, "I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part." To which Bluto, played by John Belushi, replies, "We're just the guys to do it." The movie ends by noting that Bluto becomes a Senator, so perhaps this explains the meltdown among Democrats on Capitol Hill.

As they careen toward the end of their first year in charge, Congressional leaders seem capable of nothing but futile gestures. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid failed once again to get enough votes for an energy bill, having refused to remove a $21.8 billion tax increase on energy that President Bush has promised to veto in any case. Mr. Reid was vowing to try again as we went to press.

Meanwhile, in Nancy Pelosi's House of self-inflicted pain, the Blutarsky strategy played out yesterday in one more hopeless attempt to pass a tax increase to "pay for" Alternative Minimum Tax relief. The Senate has already voted 88-5 against any such tax hike, so this House bill is dead before arrival. But Ms. Pelosi's troops are just the guys to do it anyway.

Say what you will about Tom DeLay, at least he knew how to run the joint. Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid are letting their left-wing troops and interest groups run all over them, with the result that their signal achievement this year is a higher minimum wage. Considering most of their policy goals, this failure is good for the country. But the dysfunction amply shows that Democrats are attempting to govern with an agenda that is too far left even for many in their own party, never mind the country.

Start with trying to end the war in Iraq, which Democrats claimed was their mandate from voters last November. That was a misinterpretation of their victory, which had as much to do with GOP corruption and overspending. But Democratic leaders nonetheless wasted weeks and no fewer than 63 votes trying to impose withdrawal deadlines, strategy changes, and other war-fighting micromanagement on Mr. Bush. Their only achievement has been to reinforce their image of national-security weakness for opposing the Baghdad "surge" that has been such a success. Recall Mr. Reid's memorable declaration in April that "This war is lost."

Even today, Democrats are caught between their antiwar left, which wants more futile gestures, and Members from swing districts who want to fund the troops. Democrats have delayed funding for so long that the Pentagon is issuing furlough notices to 100,000 civilian employees so it can shuffle operations funding to keep the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in ammunition.

Then there's the AMT fiasco. Without action by Congress, that hated second tax system will engulf 22 million middle-class Americans next year, most of them in high-tax, largely Democratic states. Congress has already been so dilatory that the IRS has said it may have to delay tax-return processing that is supposed to start in January. But so determined are House Democrats to raise taxes on somebody, anybody, to "pay for" this relief that they are holding out for Senate Democrats to walk the tax plank with them. In the end the House will surely back down, but not before Ms. Pelosi has put her moderate Members on record as tax raisers. Bluto strikes again.

And don't forget the warrantless wiretap program against al Qaeda that expires early next year if Congress fails to act. The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is hardly dominated by hawks, passed a bipartisan bill in October. But it is now bogged down because Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy refuses to provide retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that cooperated with the U.S. government in the uncertain days after 9/11. The House bill is a similar bow to the ACLU, MoveOn.org and the party's antiwar left. If Republicans wanted to design a political battle that made Democrats look weak on security, they couldn't do it any better.

We could keep calling this roll: farm subsidies that are as egregious as anything the DeLay Republicans passed, the Schip health-care bill and its budget gimmicks, eliminating secret ballots for union organizing, spending bills that keep courting vetoes because they exceed Mr. Bush's targets. On nearly every issue, Democrats have been intent not on getting something done but on making a stupid, futile gesture to please their base.

As for Mr. Bush, one lesson is that his veto strategy has been a political and policy success. Though widely called a lame duck, he continues to dominate the debate on security and defense. He is also on the cusp of controlling spending growth far better than he ever did when Republicans controlled Congress.

We hope GOP leaders on Capitol Hill don't give Democrats a last minute reprieve on spending in order to be able to collect their own "earmarks." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell looked shaky on that score earlier this week. The best GOP strategy is to put the responsibility to govern squarely on the Democratic majority, and support Mr. Bush's vetoes as a tool for improving policy. If Democrats keep following Delta House rules, Republicans will be back in the majority sooner than they ever imagined.

By Mark N. Grant

Monday, December 10, 2007, 11:28:15 AM

This column is an open letter addressed to whichever young composition students may chance to read it: A colleague of mine who teaches at a leading conservatory (this is not about him but about observed trends) recently lamented to me that his composition students tend to express little curiosity in any musical repertoire predating World War II(!). But, he added, while most of them will not take the initiative to learn/listen on their own about/to Bartók, a few of them do respond with enthusiasm when prodded to "check them out." Oh, and yeah, they do know Ives. This floored me. And not because it was only yesterday that Bartók was hardly "the past."

How could any student enrolled in a reputable conservatory need to be persuaded to be interested in the great legacy of past composers? I personally recall brochure material from one of the major conservatories in the 1970s addressed to parents that advised (I'm paraphrasing only slightly): if your son/daughter has to be persuaded to seek out and listen to canonical classical music for pleasure, then what the hell is he/she doing enrolled in a conservatory?

Imagine a graduate seminar for creative writers who read only Don DeLillo and Richard Ford and don't even investigate Tolstoy, Dickens, or Keats. We already have a president who has no evident intellectual curiosity beyond his pre-established worldview. Now we're going to found a new composer movement of musical "Dubyaism"?

Curiosity about history and intellectual curiosity are indissoluble. You don't have the option of separating them, although you may think you do. Definition of intellectual curiosity: the investigation of phenomena that are beyond your immediate familiar experience. Without such curiosity about the power of music of the past, there is an impoverishment of aesthetic perceptions, and a malnourishment of the ear and the brain, that precludes the creation of great music. There is only infantile solipsism and, too often, the faux elevation of trivia. For true learning, history is not an option, it's an obligation: it means you get up off your mental behind and make it your business to learn what went on before. If you are an aspiring composer, you have a duty—not to school or teachers, but to yourself—to do that. You can dislike the past, you can ultimately choose not to use the found past, but you cannot pretend it isn't there and still consider yourself educated. Music history didn't start with John Cage, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Radiohead, the Velvet Underground, or whatever your post-1945 tastes and fancies.

For centuries the cornerstone of learnedness in the Western world was the classics: the study of the Greek and Roman civilizations and languages, even though they were millennia behind the "real time" present. For a few centuries aspiring composers had to write canons, fugues, practice species counterpoint, and learn solfege…until now. I recall reading an interview by the late Donald Martino expressing outrage at his young composition students' insouciant, cavalier rejection of doing these classical things. Sure, it's a lot easier to lay down and overdub audio tracks than to write a fugue. Hey, Berlioz and Wagner had no KontaktGold or other soundbanks to help them orchestrate, but they figured it out with their own low-tech tools: their brains and ears. Sometimes I think the bare fact that there was no electricity, and no recording, available before about 1880 is the most salient thing people should remember about music composed before 1880. And that thousands of hours of music composed before then still are regularly performed today.

So to the history-averse in the 21st-century young composing community, I say: You wouldn't have made the cut a mere thirty years ago in conservatory admissions. Try to wake up and smell the Proustian "madeleine" of the pre-1945 canon, before your brains become ossified tissue for an Oliver Sacks study.

(Next week I'll go back to being nice.)

hursday, December 13, 2007
By Major Garrett


JOHNSTON, Iowa — Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe wants everyone to know: all is well in camp Clinton.

Despite sliding poll numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire, despite Bill Clinton's stepped up involvement in his wife's campaign and despite a rogue adviser's comment to a reporter that rival Barack Obama needs to be wary about his admissions of past drug use, McAuliffe says there's no reason to be concerned.

"You know, you hear this in campaigns all the time," McAuliffe said, referring to persistent reports of turmoil, panic and back-biting in Clinton land. McAuliffe spoke with FOX News Wednesday, on the eve of the final Democratic presidential primary candidates debate before the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3.

"We are the frontrunner, everybody's been going after us. We feel very good about where we are," McAuliffe said. "I'm chairman of the campaign and I can tell you we are happy. Everybody's working together. We're all focused to get people to the polls on Election Day and getting them to vote for Hillary Clinton, the candidate of choice and the candidate who can bring change."

A poll released Wednesday showed Clinton losing her footing in New Hampshire, compounding the losses she's sustained to Obama in the polls in Iowa.

The WMUR/CNN poll showed the New York senator's lead — which as recently as a month-and-a-half ago was at 20 points in New Hampshire — fading to a statistical tie with Obama. The poll put her at 31 percent and Obama at 30 percent.

Clinton's campaign was hoping to use New Hampshire as a potential fallback if things turn sour in Iowa. The Granite State's first-in-the-nation primary is to be held Jan.

But Clinton still leads by double digits in national polls, and McAuliffe said too much is being made of a handful of state polls.

"There could be five or six polls out on a day and Hillary could be up in four, but if we're down in one, that one gets played," he said. "And then all of a sudden the campaign is in trouble. Everyone outside the campaign likes to make circular firing squads ... People on the outside like to chatter, but you know that's not going to get us off our mission of getting Hillary Clinton elected."

He said the campaign is not worried about New Hampshire either: "We have great roots there. The president was just there. Hillary's been there many, many times. Obviously it's a very important state for us, we're going to do very well there."
As for Iowa, where Clinton climbed into a hard-fought lead this summer but has seen her rise plateau and begin to erode, McAuliffe began the all-important task of managing expectations.

"You do the best you can, you lay it out. You can't look at one state as being determinate on who's going to be the nominee," McAuliffe said. "Iowa — great state — but if you remember, Bill Clinton did not campaign there in 1992 because Sen. Tom Harkin from Iowa was in the race. So with Hillary out there it's actually the first time the Clinton operation actually is out there campaigning."

The Clinton campaign was in a scramble late Wednesday after The Washington Post reported that Clinton adviser Bill Shaheen said Obama's past drug use could be a problem for him if he is the Democratic nominee. He said Republicans would dig hard to find the details of his youth, and that Democrats should consider this before they pick their nominee.

The Clinton campaign immediately said those comments were not authorized and Shaheen later apologized.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe called the Shaheen comments "desperate."
McAuliffe didn't hesitate, though, when asked if Clinton would run negative or "comparative" television ads against Obama in New Hampshire on the issue of universal health care.

"We're clearly going to talk about Hillary's plan versus the other Democrats, absolutely. Because health care — you know the Iraq war obviously is a top issue for folks — but on the domestic front I believe it's health care and probably disposable income and the economy," he said. "On health care, no one knows more about health care than Hillary Clinton ... Everybody gets covered under Hillary Clinton's plan. That is a debate that you know we'll engage in, gladly engage in that debate."

Stephen Howell
December 14, 2007

FROM the stands, Nathan Jawai is every centimetre (all 208 of them) and every kilogram (all 130) a man mountain; talk to him and he is a man child — just turned 21, still a learner and with a soft, high-pitched voice more suited to a jockey than to the National Basketball League's biggest man.
Like hundreds of young males, Jawai has elite ambitions, for his country and himself. Unlike the others, he has the talent to get there. There refers to Beijing, for the Olympics, and the US, to play in the world's premier league, the NBA.
If Jawai's performances in the NBL in his debut season and this week in the All-Star game are guideposts, he is well on the road, because he is long odds-on to be rookie of the year as the Cairns Taipans' centre and he was All-Star most valuable player.
The latest performance increased the praise already heaped on the North Queenslander, which he accepted with grace and feet firmly planted on the floor, admitting that standing out in an exhibition match when fun is had and almost no defence is played is much different to the intense competition on the world stage.
Boomers coach Brian Goorjian, in charge of the Aussie All-Stars as they beat the World team 146-141, said of the indigenous big man expected to stand alongside the indigenous little man, Patrick Mills, in Boomers singlets in Beijing: "He's shown me all year that he's a tremendous talent, somebody we're really looking forward to having in (the Olympic selection) camp.
"He's unique … his power around the basket, his court savvy. He's definitely somebody to have a real strong look at, and he's somebody with a bright, bright future."
That future is almost certain to be in the NBA, perhaps as early as the June draft for next season.
Asked if Jawai was ready to go to the NBA, Goorjian said: "Players go though the process of developing as NBA players while they're in the NBA. That's not my (area of) expertise, but I think he's the best talent that has come into our league in a long, long time and I don't think we've had anybody like him in that position.
"The guys in the NBA from Australia that make it are usually bigs … whether he's ready or not ready I think the sky's the limit for him and I think he could play in the NBA at some point in time."
Asked to compare him with another Boomer, Andrew Bogut, taken No. 1 by Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA draft in June 2005, Goorjian said: "They're different players, but I think if Nathan was a senior in university playing somewhere (in the US) he would be a first-round draft pick."
Jawai said his focus was on playing with Cairns and making the Olympic team. "I'm going to try my hardest to try to get in the team," he said. "I haven't really thought about it (the NBA) … if I have a chance to go I'll probably head over there … I think I'm ready, yeah."
Corey Williams, one of the best Americans in the All-Star game, said Jawai had the size, agility and athleticism to be a first-round pick, "but it's all in how hungry he is".
The Age asked Jawai: "How hungry are you?" "Very hungry," he said.
"Starving," said Goorjian. "Starving," agreed Jawai.
That's a good start.