Nike Revives Kobe Bryant Advertisements
The NBA superstar, whose endorsement deals suffered when he became embroiled in a very public rape case, has returned to the marketing business: Kobe's Picture Reappears in Nike Magazine Ads (ESPN) Nike is using photos of Kobe Bryant for the first time since his arrest two years ago for an alleged assault on a female employee at a Colorado resort. The ad appears ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 9, 2005 19:15
Spain Speaks Out on 7/7: A Call for UN Action
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose rise to power after 3/11 sparked debate about whether Spaniards bowed to terrorists, has a Financial Times op-ed on the London bombings: A Global Consensus Is Needed to Defeat Terrorism Terrorism can only be defeated by a collective response on the part of the international community. In pursuing their criminal cause, terrorists do not hesitate ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 9, 2005 15:58
A Disney Truce Emerges
Momentarily, it is again "the happiest place on earth": Feud at Disney Ends Quietly (LAT) Walt Disney Co.'s incoming chief executive and its leading rebel shareholder declared a truce Friday, the most dramatic sign yet that the new boss is committed to sweeping aside the ill will that festered under outgoing CEO Michael Eisner. The agreement between Robert A. Iger, the new chief, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 9, 2005 12:40
The American Reaction to 7/7
[Note: My thoughts and prayers extend to the British, whose compassion and resilience I've admired since my days at Oxford.] Tim Naftali makes the rather persuasive case that, in an ideal world, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff would have refrained from raising the terror alert and calmly beefed up police presence instead. But his op-ed closes with a whimper: Chertoff's Bad ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 7, 2005 23:48
Bolton: The First Casualty of the Supreme Court Battle
In preparing for the most heated kind of nomination battle, the Bush administration seems to be distancing itself from yesterday's fight: Bush Backs Away from Recess Appointment of Bolton (FT) President George W. Bush is unlikely to seek a recess appointment for John Bolton in the near future, increasing the sense that his nomination for US ambassador to the United Nations is ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 6, 2005 20:48
Survey: Meth Cited as Top Drug
Is there a new king of the underworld? Meth Abuse Cited as Top Drug Problem for Law Enforcement Agencies (AP) The crippling reach of methamphetamine abuse has become the nation's leading drug problem affecting local law enforcement agencies, according to a survey of 500 sheriff's departments in 45 states. More than half of the sheriffs interviewed for a National Association of Counties survey ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 6, 2005 07:34
GOP Calls for Cooler Heads Regarding Gonzalez
Senior Republican leaders want grassroots conservatives to ease their criticisms of Alberto Gonzalez: G.O.P. Asks Conservative Allies to Cool Rhetoric Over the Court (NYT | RSS) The White House and the Senate Republican leadership are pushing back against pressure from some of their conservative allies about the coming Supreme Court nomination, urging them to stop attacking Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales as ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 6, 2005 00:08
Deep Impact Brings NASA-Style Fireworks
DEEP IMPACT KICKS OFF FOURTH OF JULY WITH DEEP SPACE FIREWORKS (JPL) After 172 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles) of deep space stalking, Deep Impact successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1. The collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT. "What a way to kick off America's Independence Day," said Deep ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 4, 2005 12:08
France Described as Key Intelligence Ally
According to Dana Priest, American and French authorities collaborate on an effective intelligence service: Help From France Key In Covert Operations (WaPo) Funded largely by the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, Alliance Base analyzes the transnational movement of terrorist suspects and develops operations to catch or spy on them. Alliance Base demonstrates how most counterterrorism operations actually take place: through secretive alliances between the CIA ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 3, 2005 21:42
Putin Calls for Vodka Monopoly
Central planning comes to the Russian alcohol industry: Putin Plans Russia Vodka Monopoly (BBC) Russia's President Vladimir Putin has called for a return to a state monopoly on vodka production, to cut the many thousands of alcohol-related deaths. Since the Soviet Union's collapse, hundreds of little-known brands of vodka - Russia's favourite tipple - appeared to meet a $9bn a year market. But analysts ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 2, 2005 23:57
