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Mapping Hell From the Stratosphere
Tweet Share on Facebook November 26, 2006 Comment (23)Business is booming at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the government's chief mapmaker, which relies on imagery from spy satellites. Over the past year, we hear, the NGA printed 10.3 million maps and charts and delivered 12 million images to military and intel agencies. The NGA has also been on a buying spree for commercial imagery, purchasing 126,439 gigabytes since early last year. The images show battlefields in Iraq and nuke sites in North Korea, along with hurricane damage in the Gulf and refugees in Darfur, Sudan.
–Dan Gilgoff
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Cartoon
Tweet Share on Facebook November 26, 2006 Comment -
Two Onetime Arkansans for '08?
Tweet Share on Facebook November 26, 2006 Comment (25)Clintonites are whispering about a new dream ticket: Hillary Rodham Clinton/Wes Clark. The way they see it, Clinton is the celeb fundraiser who needs national security credentials. The former NATO commander has been promoting a federal "Department of Failed States" or "Department of Preventive Diplomacy" to head off "impending conflict" around the globe and make friends abroad. "Respect is the starting point for all human interaction," he says.
–Dan Gilgoff
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Outloud
Tweet Share on Facebook November 26, 2006 Comment"This was an ill-considered project."
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, upon scrapping plans for a book and TV special in which O. J. Simpson hypothesized on how he would have murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman"I am not running for president...If the American people say I have to be president, it will happen."
Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich"His songs were full of the notes of facts, but he knew to make the most of music you have to improvise."
Former President Bill Clinton, speaking at a memorial service for CBS correspondent Ed Bradley"I am not a racist. That's what's so insane about this."
Former Seinfeld star Michael Richards, explaining an "N"-word-laced rant against African-American patrons at a comedy clubSources: New York Times, Fortune, CBS News, ABC News
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Picking Up Where Brown Left Off
Tweet Share on Facebook November 19, 2006 Comment
One was a snazzy dresser, a major African-American force who thrived on the Washington
social circuit. The other is a buttoneddown
white Vermonter, an excitable but nerdy
med school kind of guy. But there's something
about the similarities between the late Democratic National
Committee Chairman Ron Brown and current DNC
boss, Howard Dean, that has folks talking--even Dean. "My
model is Ron Brown," he says flatly. Don't laugh. Sure,
their personalities and styles are radically different, but
party insiders and friends of both say Dean has attacked
his job of reforming the party just as Brown did--with
similarly winning results. -
Why Not Impeach Bush? Dick Cheney
Tweet Share on Facebook November 19, 2006 Comment (21)The degree to which the new Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill despises Vice President Dick Cheney is a big plus for President Bush. Consider why incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scrapped an idea to impeach Bush: "Two words: Dick Cheney," he says, joking that it would vault the veep into the Oval Office.
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Globe-trotting to Iraq Hot Spots
Tweet Share on Facebook November 19, 2006 Comment (29)The troops in Iraq are about to get their hoops fix, thanks to the storied Harlem Globetrotters. The team of roundball magicians departs November 25, visiting Iraq as part of a 21-day trip to 12 bases in the Middle East. And, yes, owner Mannie Jackson and his 10 stars will return in time for the 193-city U.S.-Canada "Nothing Like It" tour opening December 26.
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These Marines Forgive and Forget
Tweet Share on Facebook November 19, 2006 CommentIt was party time for Sen. John Kerry's staff and alumni from his 2004 presidential campaign last week at the Democrat's favorite Capitol Hill hangout across from the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks and HQ when a group of marines approached him. But they didn't scold him for recently suggesting that the military attracts mediocre students. Instead, they yukked it up and even bought the vet a shot of tequila--which he downed.
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Score One for the Airport Ziploc Rule
Tweet Share on Facebook November 19, 2006 CommentKip Hawley is a rarity among federal execs: He relishes the chance to experience their own onerous security rules. While traveling, the head of the Transportation Security Administration has been looking to see if the new rule requiring that small amounts of liquids be put in zip-top bags is a good one. With stops in St. Louis, Orlando, and even Brussels, he finds it A-OK. "It's great to see [our screeners] doing such a top-notch job," says Hawley.
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MSNBC, CNN Hop Democratic Wave
Tweet Share on Facebook November 19, 2006 Comment (23)There's lots of buzz in the cable TV world that having Democrats running Congress will hurt Fox and help MSNBC and CNN. It certainly looked like that election night when CNN won the key viewership demographic of 25-to-54-year-olds. "We're clearly the place to go for information," CNN boss Jon Klein tells us. "Maybe the trick is that you have to actually cover politics. The public seems to be in the mood for facts and information-- not cheerleading." MSNBC, No. 3 but surging, also crowed: "MSNBC is the place for politics." So what about Fox? It simply turned to the numbers. And they show that Fox is still No. 1, with its audience growing. "We'll let the two cable news alsorans battle for second place, and we wish Jon and [MSNBC] well on their quest for relevancy," says an amused Foxie.
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