"If it is McCain vs. Obama in the general election, look for something to happen that was unthinkable only a short time ago. The Iraq War will become a Republican plus. The reason is that McCain’s position on the war, as on so many other issues, looks in (at least) two directions. On the one hand, he voted to authorize the invasion. On the other, he consistently disagreed with the administration’s prosecution of the war in general and with the judgment of defense Secretary Rumsfeld in particular. And on the third hand, he advocated for a course of action that was at last implemented in the so-called 'surge,' and with some success.
So, at any moment, he would be able to present himself as a strong patriot, and at another moment as a critic of the hard-line hawks, and at still another as a hard-line hawk with more experience and military knowledge than the others." (NYTimes)
"Kid Rock has pleaded not guilty to a battery charge stemming from an October brawl in an Atlanta Waffle House." (PageSix)
"Clad in a stunning pale ivory organza ruffled dress with a squared, cutaway full skirt, Alessandra Facchinetti, who only earlier that day made a solid debut with her first Valentino collection as its newly minted designer, hosted an intimate dinner Thursday night in the company's Place Vendôme showroom ... Indeed, the sublime affair featured just the right mix of celebrity--Winona Ryder, with fiancé Blake Sennett, Milla Jovovich, Mylène Jampanoï, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Rebecca Romijn--who mingled with editors, retailers, and industry notables, including Franca Sozzani, Marisa Berenson, Ellen von Unwerth, Didier Grumbach, Teri Agins, Vanessa Friedman, Ken Downing, and Linda Fargo. Arriving guests walked up a candlelit footpath to a team of well-suited ushers who guided them into two gilded rooms bursting with pink peonies and set for dinner (one room was in fact the former office of Valentino himself, who, for the record, was in Gstaad skiing during Facchinetti's debut). 'How civilized,' whispered Goodwin to Ryder. 'But where's the caviar?' Romijn was equally awestruck. 'This is truly the life,' she said, throwing herself onto a plush sofa to pose for photos." (Fashionweekdaily)
"If you book her, they will come. The VIPs (Kayne West, Sofia Coppola, Rihanna) showed up in droves on Friday night for Amy Winehouse's not-so-surprise performance at the Fendi store reopening. 'She is terrific, a modern icon,' said Karl Lagerfeld, introducing the young singer ... Rumor has it that Fendi shuttled Winehouse in on a private jet and shelled out a cool million plus clothes for her performance. Yet, according to most, it was worth every euro." (Style)
"Warren Buffett said in an interview with cable network CNBC the reports he gets from the retail businesses his holding company owns show a significant slowdown in purchases. The chairman and CEO of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said millions of people have also lost equity in their homes because home prices have dropped. The technical definition of a recession most economists use is two consecutive quarters of negative growth in the nation's gross domestic product. 'I would say, by any commonsense definition, we are in a recession,' Buffett said on CNBC." (Time)
"Madonna's upcoming single, '4 Minutes,' somehow got leaked to French radio, and the kids on the bitchy site datalounge.com have found the link and taken a listen so they can weigh in on the Material Girl's newest material. Among the choicer comments there: 'Funny how Madonna's latest singles always happen to get 'leaked'.; 'It reminds me of another Madonna and former Mouseketeer song, 'Me Against The Music'.; 'Why oh why won't she go away? She's worse than Cher'; 'LOVE IT!!!'; 'It's a vast improvement over the electronic bullshit she normally does';" (Musto)
"Imad Faiz Mughniyah was the Lebanese Shia group Hizbullah's most notorious operative. Starting with the car bombing of the US embassy in Beirut on 18 April 1983, he has been linked to almost every terrorist operation blamed on either Hizbullah or Iran ... The details of Mughniyah's death remain unclear. A vehicle was destroyed in a powerful explosion in a quiet area of Damascus on the night of 12 February. Then Hizbullah issued a statement announcing Mughniyah's martyrdom. The Syrians subsequently confirmed that he had been killed in the explosion in Damascus, but released few details. Hizbullah predictably blamed Israel for the assassination, but several other theories have been put forward. Some observers think one of Hizbullah's many Lebanese rivals may have been responsible, possibly to avenge the assassination of Rafiq Hariri on 14 February 2004. Others rate Mughniyah's security so highly that they refuse to believe it was possible to kill him without the collusion of someone in Syrian or Iranian intelligence or even his own organisation. Mike McConnell, the director of US National Intelligence, said: 'There is some evidence that it may have been internal Hizbullah. It may have been Syria.'" (Janes)
No comments:
Post a Comment