November 23rd, 2008 by admin

Elton John, Lindsay Lohan, and 50 Cent unite to free a killer whale — meet the man who brought them together

By Sarah van Schagen

Hollywood producer Raul Julia-Levy’s current project involves an impressive cast ranging from Johnny Depp, Lindsay Lohan, and Harrison Ford to Elton John, 50 Cent, and Plácido Domingo. He’s attracted high-powered producers including Cameron Crowe, Ed Elbert, and Ron Howard. It’s a veritable A-list role call, and he’s still recruiting.

But the brightest star in Julia-Levy’s lineup — and no doubt the biggest, at 7,000 pounds — is Lolita, a 40-year-old killer whale living in a 20-foot-deep tank at the Miami Seaquarium.

Taken from her family while still a juvenile, Lolita has been performing for sunburnt tourists twice a day over the last 37 years. The tank she lives in is just four times her size at its widest; she’d have to circle it more than 600 times to travel the same distance her still-wild family members might in an average day. Her only companion — another killer whale from her pod, or family group — died 20-some years ago after repeatedly bashing his own head against the enclosure walls. In her native Pacific Northwest waters, whales like Lolita have lifespans similar to humans; in a tank, that life expectancy is cut in half.

Raul Julia-Levy

Courtesy Raul Julia-Levy

“The conditions that she lives in are barbaric,” Julia-Levy shouts to me over the phone, unable to contain his anger. He decided to get involved in the campaign to free Lolita last year, when he learned that it was in need of star power. But as spokesperson for the glittery troops he’s amassed, Julia-Levy — the son of Addams Family actor Raul Julia — emphasizes that he and the other Lolita-loving producers and celebrities are involved as regular citizens, not activists.

“We are people who have consciences,” he says, “and everyone in this campaign from Hollywood has a mind of their own, and we believe that what we’re doing is the right thing simply because animals should live in their normal habitat.”

Their fight is not a new one. In fact, activists have been trying for years to convince the Seaquarium to retire Lolita — at times, offering up to $1 million for her release. She made national television in 1995 when Dateline NBC played a recording of her pod’s vocalizations and viewers watched the whale cozy up to the speaker and listen. In 2003, a documentary about Lolita, Slave to Entertainment, hit film festivals across the country, garnering more attention for the cause. But only in the last few months has the campaign begun to gain momentum again, making news as more and more big names join up.

Julia-Levy’s passion for this campaign was evident just a few moments into our conversation — and his fervor shows no signs of waning. When asked what’s next, he hinted at a plan “involving a ‘big stick,’” but said he couldn’t elaborate just yet. No doubt when he does, he’ll have plenty of star power behind him.

How did you first hear about Lolita and get involved in the campaign?

I knew about Lolita for a long time, but it was probably about a year ago when I really got involved with the campaign. I was actually a little depressed because my little dog had just died — he was 9 years old. It was a very tough time for me, and I was looking at pictures of my dog on the internet and then I came across … [a video] of Lolita and the conditions of where she lives. And I got even more depressed.

Who all is on board so far?

The latest one to join the campaign is Elton John. We have some of the most powerful producers on board: Jonathan Sanger, Ed Elbert, Richard Donner (who was behind the Keiko campaign and was extremely instrumental in the release of Keiko), David Permut, Steve Longi. We have a wide range of celebrities, too, including Johnny Depp, 50 Cent, [Hayden Panettiere, Lindsay Lohan, Plácido Domingo, Janet Jackson, Ringo Starr], Harrison Ford … the list is pretty extensive.

What does it say about our culture that it wasn’t until these famous faces got attached to the campaign that people started to pay attention?

Unfortunately, in our society nobody listens to your next-door neighbor when he raises his voice. … When celebrities speak loud and stand up, it seems like everybody listens, it seems like everybody takes it more seriously, and I don’t understand why normal people do not do the same thing … This is work that we all have to do as citizens. We all have to raise our voices when something is not right. Why do we have to wait for celebrities to raise their voices first?

Is it the responsibility of celebrities then — because they are influencing the public this way — to research these organizations and get involved?

I think it’s everybody’s issue … every citizen in this country has the same responsibility as any celebrity in Hollywood. Everybody should be responsible for taking care of our environment, our water, our animals. This responsibility belongs to everyone.

What do you say to the argument that Lolita shouldn’t be moved?

Lolita in nets during her capture.

Courtesy Raul Julia-Levy

Those who oppose this are extremely arrogant. Who are they to say that animals cannot be relocated? If you put a person in a cage for 30 years and you ask him to choose — “Do you want to get out of that cage or do you want to stay there?” — what do you think he’s going to say? He’s gonna say he wants to get out of that cage. Unfortunately, animals cannot speak. That’s why we need to speak for those animals who cannot speak for themselves.

Speaking of raising voices — tell me about the benefit concert. Is that still in the works?

It’s part of our plans to put on a benefit concert — absolutely. We want to do it in Miami, a couple of blocks from the Seaquarium. We’re planning a series of events.

So that’s the first step … and if that doesn’t work?

Then the campaign goes to a whole new level …

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November 23rd, 2008 by admin

VICTORIA, B.C. — The answer is no.

No to a million dollars, no to pressure from celebrities and no to the romantics who believe a fairy-tale ending is possible.

Answers from Miami Seaquarium and SeaWorld San Diego to groups pressing for release of the only two surviving captured killer whales from waters in B.C. and Washington state are unequivocal, despite a high-profile campaign that lists supporters such as actors Johnny Depp and Harrison Ford. The campaign to free Lolita, which is at Miami Seaquarium, is led by actor and producer Raul Julia-Levy and the Washington-based Orca Network, while the campaign to free Corky, in San Diego, is led by Paul Spong of OrcaLab on Hanson Island, near Port McNeill, B.C., at the north end of Vancouver Island.

“It’s really painful to see that beautiful animal contained in that stinky little tank,” said Julia-Levy, who promises to lobby the U.S. Senate and use movie-industry contacts to get exposure on TV programs such as Oprah.

The tale started almost four decades ago.

Lolita, a member of the southern residents - now classified as endangered in Canada and the U.S. - was captured near Whidbey Island, Wash., in 1970, as a three-year-old. About 85 whales were driven into the cove, with boats, explosives and aircraft.

Four baby whales and a female drowned, and seven young whales were captured and sold to aquariums.

Between 1967 and 1975, more than 60 whales were captured in B.C. and Washington waters, including 40-year-old Corky, a member of the threatened northern residents. Between 11 and 13 died during the captures and most of the others died in captivity.

As the two surviving whales approach old age, groups are making a last-ditch attempt to bring them back to their home waters.

Orca Network has a net pen for Lolita in the area - near the southern end of Vancouver Island - where her family hangs out in summer.

“We would do it in the most conservative and professional way,” said Howard Garrett of Orca Network, who has worked for Lolita’s freedom since 1995.

Garrett hopes an offer of $1 million might sway Anheuser-Busch, owner of the Seaquarium. “We have a billionaire lined up,” said Julia-Levy.

Spong wants to see an ocean net pen on northern Vancouver Island and is begging for Corky’s retirement.

“If they looked at Corky as an employee who has put in years of incredible service, they could give her the equivalent of a gold watch. Make her a generous offer and let her hear the natural sounds of the ocean again,” he said.

“I think it would be long-term care in the ocean, but, my sense is, if she did come back to an ocean halfway house where she could hear the sounds of her relatives, it would be a transforming experience.”

But the aquariums say there is no chance either whale will be released.

There is no scientific evidence that Lolita could survive in the ocean, said Andrew Hertz, Miami Seaquarium general manager.

“It would be irresponsible for us to treat her life as an experiment and jeopardize her health and safety,” he said.

“Lolita will remain at Miami Seaquarium, surrounded by people who love and protect her.”

Fred Jacobs, SeaWorld spokesman, said the aquarium will not consider the proposal.

“We would consider it an act of cruelty,” he said.

“She has spent virtually her entire life being cared for by humans and has none of the fear and natural suspicion she would need to survive in the wild. She’s never had to hunt for food.”

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November 19th, 2008 by admin

After running a campaign known for its almost military-like cool and discipline, the president-elect is now assembling a staff whose members are known for their combativeness.

His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is a take-no-prisoners politician known for his willingness to butt heads with adversaries. Mr. Obama’s top liaison to Congress, Phil Schiliro, is a skilled political infighter. His press secretary, Robert Gibbs, is no shrinking violet, as one of the few people who can boast of shouting down Sean Hannity of Fox News on Mr. Hannity’s own show.

And then there’s the consideration that Mr. Obama is giving to Lawrence H. Summers, the outspoken former Harvard president, as Treasury secretary, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state, a move so explosively bold that it has sent the Washington press corps into overdrive.

Some kind of shift was inevitable in the transition from politics to governing, political experts say. But by surrounding himself with forceful personalities, Mr. Obama may also be preparing himself and his administration for real battles.

Aides to Mr. Obama say that he intends to run a tight ship, and that an Obama administration would not be a return to the factional fighting of the Clinton White House. They say that his choices of Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Mr. Emanuel — and potentially of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Summers as well — reflect a self-confidence and a willingness to tolerate internal dissent.

“ ‘No-Drama Obama’ during the campaign meant that if you had something to say, you said it,” one Obama campaign aide said. “You didn’t go around people, or try to undermine people, you said what you thought. That’s how he’s going to run his administration.”

Added Stephanie Cutter, Mr. Obama’s transition spokeswoman: “He doesn’t put up with drama, but he encourages strong opinions and advice. In that environment of mutual respect, there tends to be little drama.”

Mr. Obama sought to put aside some of the vitriol of the campaign on Monday by meeting with Senator John McCain at his offices in Chicago. The two men joked stiffly in front of reporters, with Mr. McCain needling Mr. Obama about the thrashing the Chicago Bears sustained on Sunday from Green Bay.

An Obama aide said the 45-minute meeting signaled a willingness to work together but said Mr. Obama did not offer Mr. McCain a formal role.

Back in Washington, the day’s main event was a visit to Georgetown Day School by Mr. Obama’s children, Sasha and Malia. They were accompanied by their mother, Michelle, who had visited the school last week. They plan to visit another school, Sidwell Friends, on Tuesday.

The tense history between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton could still pose an obstacle to a close partnership. Aaron David Miller, a Middle East negotiator at the State Department under the last three presidents, said: “He needs to trust her implicitly; she needs to operate in a way that makes it unmistakably clear that his interests are her top priority. She must be the White House’s woman at the State Department.”

But some described both Mr. Emanuel and Mrs. Clinton as having the ability to be good team players.

Dan Gerstein, a Democratic communications consultant, said that while Mr. Emanuel had a reputation for clashing with others, he also got things done. “He wasn’t able to round up votes for Nafta by being a bullying, hyperpartisan ideologue,” Mr. Gerstein said of Mr. Emanuel’s role at the Clinton White House, where he helped secure passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Mr. Summers has drawn fire from liberal bloggers who are hoping to sink his chances of becoming Treasury secretary by recalling the turbulent five years that Mr. Summers spent as president of Harvard, where he angered many women and blacks before resigning in 2006.

“The problem with Larry is that he often shoots off his mouth without thinking first,” said a former Clinton Treasury Department staff member who worked with Mr. Summers. But, that person said, Mr. Summers was also respected by his underlings, who viewed him as high-handed but highly intelligent and willing to cede a point when proven wrong.

“Barack Obama is bringing in all of the pit bulls and attack dogs and spear hunters into his administration,” said Steve Clemons, a fellow at the New America Foundation who also writes a blog called The Washington Note. “We all thought he was going to be a ‘tending the fields’ type.”

Indeed, Mr. Obama bypassed Tom Daschle, the mild-mannered former Senator from South Dakota, in choosing Mr. Emanuel as chief of staff job. Asked to comment, Mr. Emanuel quipped, “Since the election was about change, I’m taking it to heart.”

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November 19th, 2008 by admin

The all-but-public process of vetting Hillary Rodham Clinton as a potential secretary of state is, by all evidence, now focusing on how to keep her husband’s sprawling global network of charitable and private activities from becoming an ethical or national security problem.

Since he left office in 2000, former President Bill Clinton’s presidential library and foundation and his philanthropic Clinton Global Initiative have grown into a multibillion-dollar web of relationships extending through some of the world’s richest and poorest countries - not all of them democratic.

Sen. Clinton has engaged three prominent lawyers to help President-elect Barack Obama vet her candidacy, The Associated Press reported last night, even as some insiders criticized the pick and advisers to the former first lady said she was weighing whether to take the job if Obama offered it.

“He [Obama] is trying to figure out how to handle Bill, and quite frankly she’s trying to figure out how to handle Bill,” said a source familiar with the confirmation process. “You can’t have foreign dictators financing the pet projects of a husband of a secretary of state.”

Attorneys Cheryl Mills, David Kendall and Robert Barnett are working with the Obama transition team to review information about the Clintons’ background and finances. All three represented the Clintons on legal matters in the White House, including Bill Clinton’s dalliance with intern Monica Lewinsky that led to his impeachment in 1998.

Officials knowledgeable about the vetting said it has gone smoothly and that both Clintons were cooperating fully. Bill Clinton already has suggested he would step away from day-to-day responsibility for his charitable foundation while his wife served and would alert the State Department to his speaking schedule and any new sources of income, they said.

Since he left office, former President George H.W. Bush has made millions of dollars from speeches and kept up ties with the Saudi royal family. Jimmy Carter has monitored elections in multiple countries and met with Hamas.

But Bill Clinton is in a class by himself, experts in nonprofit conflicts of interest say.

“The size of Clinton’s operation is a factor that dwarfs the other folks,” said Pablo Eisenberg, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute. “It’s both a national security and a diplomatic issue. . . . Clinton has got to agree up front should Hillary be named that he will disclose his donors.”

Manhattan attorney William Josephson, former counsel to the Peace Corps and head of the state attorney general’s Charities Bureau, said he believes the former president will have to step away for now from the philanthropy he has built. ” . . . I would think that he would need to stop raising money from foreign sources - at a minimum,” Josephson said. “. . . People give money for many reasons, and one is to exercise influence. . . . If he believes the work that’s being done is valued and should continue, then it should be carried on by someone else.”

Eisenberg and others also point to Bill Clinton’s 2005 trip to Kazakhstan with Canadian mining executive Frank Giustra, who received preferential access to state-controlled uranium after Clinton gave a speech extolling reforms planned by the president of a country his own wife had sharply criticized for its human rights record. Giustra later made a $31.3-million donation to Clinton’s foundation, The New York Times reported.

Paul Light, professor of public service at New York University, said he believes Bill Clinton’s reputation for undisciplined remarks could be a particular problem.

“Because they are husband and wife . . . it’s natural to assume that he may be speaking for the administration at any point in time . . . ” Light said. “The world will say, well, is there an extra meaning to what the former president is saying?”

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November 19th, 2008 by admin

President-elect Barack Obama, in strongly-worded remarks to a gathering of governors and foreign officials on Tuesday, said he had no intention of softening or delaying his aggressive targets for reducing emissions that cause the warming of the planet.

Speaking by video to a climate conference in Los Angeles, Mr. Obama repeated his campaign vow to reduce climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050, and invest $150 billion in new energy-saving technologies.

“Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,” Mr. Obama said. “Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”

Some industry leaders and members of Congress have suggested that Mr. Obama’s climate proposal would impose too great a cost on an already-stressed economy — having the same effects as a tax on coal, oil and natural gas — and should await the end of the current downturn. A bill similar to Mr. Obama’s plan failed to clear the Senate earlier this year, largely because of concerns about its impact on the economy.

Mr. Obama rejected that view, saying that his plan would reduce oil imports, create jobs in energy conservation and renewable sources of energy, and reverse the warming of the atmosphere.

“My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process,” Mr. Obama said.

State officials and environmental advocates were cheered that Mr. Obama choose to address climate change as only the second major policy area he has discussed as president-elect. In a press conference and television interview last week he said that his first priority as president will be to revitalize the economy.

The bipartisan summit meeting was convened by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California, who has been a leader in state efforts to regulate greenhouse gases, even when it meant confronting the Bush administration over its more hesitant approach. Attendees included the governors of Illinois, Florida, Wisconsin and Kansas, who have also been in the forefront of actions at the state level to act in the absence of a national climate change plan. Officials from 22 other states, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Brazil, China, India and Indonesia, as well as United Nations aides and environmentalists, also are taking part in the two-day meeting.

Mr. Schwarzenegger announced the meeting in September in part to signal to Washington and the two presidential candidates that the states were serious about moving forward with climate legislation with or without Washington’s blessing.

California enacted a sweeping climate bill in 2007 that would have, among other things, imposed strict mileage and emissions standards on all cars and trucks sold in the state. More than a dozen other states adopted the standards, but they were struck down by the Bush administration last December on the ground that the states did not have the legal authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

“When California passed its global warming law two years ago, we were out there on an island,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said in opening the conference, “so we started forming partnerships everywhere we could.”

Mr. Obama said that although he would not attend a U.N.-sponsored meeting on climate change next month, he has asked members of Congress who are going to report back to him on what the United States can do to reassert leadership on global climate policy.

He also told the state officials: “When I am president, any governor who’s willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that’s willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that’s willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America.”

Governor Jim Doyle, Democrat of Wisconsin, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles that he had been frustrated by what he said was the Bush administration’s timid approach to climate issues. And he said that despite the current economic crisis, it was important to begin long-term efforts to address global warming.

“I think we all wish the economy was a lot better, but I feel very strongly that we can’t back away from progress we’ve made on really important things like climate change,” Mr. Doyle said. “I’m looking forward to having a federal government and a president who will provide real leadership and bring the United States into the world on this issue.”

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November 19th, 2008 by admin

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team has signaled to Eric H. Holder Jr., a senior official in the Justice Department in the Clinton administration, that he will be chosen as attorney general, but no final decision has been made, people involved in the process said Tuesday.

 

Susan Walsh/Associated Press

Eric H. Holder Jr., a former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, was a legal adviser to the Obama campaign.

Related

Times Topics: Eric H. Holder Jr.

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

Virdia McGee showed passers-by a photograph she had taken of President-elect Barack Obama’s motorcade on Tuesday.

Mr. Holder would be the first African-American to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement official.

As a top adviser to Mr. Obama, he has long been considered the front-runner for the job of attorney general because of his extensive record as a prosecutor and a judge and a well-honed reputation inside Washington. Mr. Obama’s advisers appear to have overcome concerns that Mr. Holder’s involvement in a presidential pardon scandal as President Bill Clinton left office in 2001 might cloud his nomination for the job.

Word that Mr. Holder was likely to be nominated as attorney general leaked out as Mr. Obama also began settling on other members of his team and signaling his policy priorities upon taking office.

Mr. Obama is set to hire Peter R. Orszag, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, as the White House budget director, people involved in the transition said. They said the leading candidate at this point for another top post on the economic team, director of the National Economic Council, is Jacob Lew, who was Mr. Clinton’s budget director.

While Mr. Obama has yet to name any of his cabinet secretaries, his early choices for White House staff positions and the names currently at the top of the list for staff and cabinet jobs suggest that his administration could be heavily stocked with Democrats who served under Mr. Clinton. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, under consideration to be secretary of state, was said by an adviser to be torn about giving up her Senate seat.

In his only public appearance on Tuesday, Mr. Obama indicated that he intended to move rapidly on one of the most ambitious items on his agenda, tackling climate change. Speaking to a bipartisan group of governors by video, the president-elect said that despite the weakening economy, he had no intention of softening or delaying his ambitious goals for reducing emissions that cause the warming of the planet.

“Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,” Mr. Obama said. “Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”

He repeated his campaign promise to reduce climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and invest $150 billion in new energy-saving technologies.

Some industry leaders and members of Congress have suggested that Mr. Obama’s climate proposal would impose too great a cost on an already-stressed economy — having the same effects as a tax on coal, oil and natural gas — and should await the end of the current downturn. A bill similar to Mr. Obama’s plan failed to clear the Senate this year, largely because of concerns about its impact on the economy.

Mr. Obama rejected that view, saying that his plan would reduce oil imports, create jobs in energy conservation and renewable sources of energy, and reverse the warming of the atmosphere.

“My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process,” he said.

Mr. Obama said that although he would not attend a meeting on climate change sponsored next month by the United Nations, he had asked members of Congress who would be attending to report back to him on what the United States could do to reassert leadership on global climate policy.

Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, who has been a consistent skeptic on global warming science and legislation, said Tuesday that Mr. Obama might be getting out ahead of his own party on climate change. Mr. Inhofe noted that nearly a third of Senate Democrats had opposed the similar climate change bill that came to a vote this year.

“President-elect Obama will face an even tougher sell in the years ahead, with economic concerns remaining front and center,” Mr. Inhofe said.

In Washington, Michelle Obama and her two daughters, Malia and Sasha, visited the White House on Tuesday, the final day of a two-day trip devoted to scouting out private schools for the young girls. Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Obama, said Laura Bush had invited Mrs. Obama for her second visit to the White House — she and Mr. Obama visited last week — so the girls could get a feel for their new home-to-be.

During their trip to Washington, Mrs. Obama and her daughters also toured Sidwell Friends School and Georgetown Day School, two private schools they are considering.

Members of Mr. Obama’s transition team said Tuesday that no decision had been made on the attorney general spot and denied reports that Mr. Holder, 57, had already been selected.

People involved in the transition process said, however, that the decision appeared all but certain once the process of vetting of Mr. Holder was completed. If Mr. Holder is selected as attorney general and confirmed by the Senate, his biggest challenge, legal observers agree, will be to restore the credibility of a department that was badly battered by political scandal during the Bush administration. The dismissal of eight United States attorneys in 2007 and other controversies opened up the Justice Department to accusations that it had routinely let politics trump legal considerations.

Mr. Holder first met Mr. Obama at a small dinner party in 2004 welcoming him to Washington. The two lawyers, each the son of immigrant fathers, were seated next to each other at the dinner, and Mr. Holder said he was immediately impressed by the new senator.

Mr. Holder went on to serve as an adviser to Mr. Obama’s campaign on legal issues and served on the two-member vice-presidential selection team that led to the choice of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. as Mr. Obama’s running mate.

Now in private practice as a partner at the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling, Mr. Holder served as a federal prosecutor, a trial court judge, and United States attorney for the District of Columbia before becoming the top-ranking aide to Attorney General Janet Reno in 1997. He was regarded as a strong ally for federal prosecutors and helped shape Mr. Clinton’s program to put 100,000 police officers on the street.

His last days at the Justice Department in 2001 were marred by his peripheral involvement in Mr. Clinton’s pardon of the fugitive financier Marc Rich, as Republicans sharply criticized Mr. Holder as failing to oppose the pardon and allowing the White House to bypass the normal pardon review process at the Justice Department.

Mr. Holder told the Clinton White House at the time that he was “neutral, leaning toward favorable” on the idea of pardoning Mr. Rich, whose former wife, Denise Rich, had contributed heavily to Mr. Clinton’s presidential library.

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which reviews nominees for attorney general, told reporters on Tuesday that while he had not taken any position on the prospect of Mr. Holder as attorney general, his role in the pardon of Mr. Rich should be “a factor to consider” in any confirmation.

With the battered economy the most immediate problem facing him when he takes office in January, Mr. Obama interviewed Mr. Orszag in Chicago last week for the cabinet-level job of director of the Office of Management and Budget, people familiar with the transition said.

Mr. Obama’s budget director will have to scramble to draft a proposed budget to be ready soon after the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration, and to help with the economic stimulus proposals that Mr. Obama has said he will offer after taking office.

Like several other candidates for top posts, Mr. Orszag is a protégé of Robert E. Rubin, former Treasury secretary to Mr. Clinton, and shares Mr. Rubin’s centrist approach to fiscal policies and concern about big deficits.

Mr. Orszag was also considered for the job of director of the White House National Economic Council, which coordinates the work of the president’s principal economic and fiscal advisers. That post is expected to go to Mr. Lew, another Clinton White House veteran who is now chief operating officer of Citi Alternative Investments, a unit of Citigroup, where Mr. Rubin is a director.

While the economic crisis has forced Mr. Orszag to focus on the $700 billion bailout program and various stimulus proposals before Congress, his emphasis has otherwise been on health policies. He has sought to draw attention to the growing costs for Medicare and other federal programs that are driving the projections of unsustainable budget deficits. Recently, for example, he gave a speech highlighting studies on potential cost savings from preventive medicine and more cost-efficient treatments.

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November 17th, 2008 by admin

Jacob Straw at Scrufts with his lurcher/whippet cross

Elsa Poutler with her Fern Collie cross Photo: Philip Hollis

Copper, a Beagle/Jack Russell cross, with Shannon Weekly Photo: Philip Hollis

Gregory Short with Sally, a Yorkidoodle

Fifty-six dogs wait to go into the ring at Earls Court in an atmosphere rich with doggy shampoo. Short ones, tall ones, miniature fuzzballs with arching tails, soppy eyes and lean, mean, hunting machines; the only common feature in this canine melting pot is beautifully groomed Dennis Healey eyebrows.

Scruffts is the antidote to dog shows: a wet-nosed waggy-tailed celebration of mutt power. While Crufts draws the cream of the 209 breeds registered by the Kennel Club, its almost-namesake is open only to cross-breeds and mongrels. They are judged on good looks, good health and good manners, just as a pedigree dog would be, but without the rigid breed specifications.

It is these that have got the Kennel Club into hot water, after a BBC exposé of the health horrors caused by breeding – and inbreeding – dogs for showing. The club is reviewing its standards in time for Crufts next year, but it hasn’t stopped the RSPCA and Pedigree, show sponsor for 44 years, boycotting the biggest date in the canine calendar.

Scruffts is small fry by comparison: four classes shoe-horned into an hour and 20 minutes at the annual Discover Dogs event. Instead of an expert, celebrity dog nut Summer Strallen, the ex-Hollyoaks actress starring as Maria in Andrew Lloyd- Webber’s The Sound of Music, is doing the judging. Fourteen hundred dogs entered the regional heats this year (for £1 each).

There are many mixes on show. There is a goldendoodle, pictured above, and Daisy a labrador/terrier cross who won the golden oldie category.

Gregory Short and Sally, pictured in panel above far right, are finalists in the child’s best friend class and prettiest bitch, an amazing feat since neither dog, a one-year-old Yorkiedoodle, nor owner (aged nine) had done anything like this before their local Scruffts in Co Durham. Gregory explains Sally’s pre-show beauty routine. “She’ll have a bath and get her teeth done. I had a Doctor Who toothbrush but I’ve got one now that fits onto the end of my finger.”

Small boy and small bundle of fluff with black button eyes march into the ring like pros. “Gregory didn’t strike me as a confident child but he loves it,” says his mother Wendy.

There are oodles of poodle crosses like Sally at Scruffts, some with rough coats, others sporting 1980s bubble perms. Labradoodles were first on the scene. Intelligent and even hypoallergenic, they have become super-fashionable and can fetch over £1,000 (surely the perfect puppy for the Obama girls?). “In the late 1990s we used to get calls from people wanting wolf hybrids,” says Liz Colley of the Crossbreed and Mongrel Club, founded in 1994. “Now it’s Goldendoodles, Jackadoodles and Cockadoodles.”

Holly Ralph, 12, is a member of the Young Kennel Club and is showing her skateboarding labradoodle, a roguish dusty-black creature with highlights in her beard. “Scruffts is the most serious thing we’ve done,” says Holly. Roxy’s vet bills are lower than for the family’s two pedigree dogs, which is true generally of mongrels and crossbreds. “It’s called hybrid vigour in the world of genetics,” says Life pet adviser Dr Roger Mugford, the owner of a vigorous rangoon terrier. “Statistically mongrels are marginally healthier.”

They’re also brighter than many of their overbred cousins, or so scientists at Aberdeen University concluded earlier this year after testing both for spatial awareness and problem-solving abilities.

• The Scruffts 2009 heats begin in February and the final will be at Discover Dogs on Nov 15 (0870 606 6750; www.thekennelclub.org.uk ).

DOGGY DIRECTORY

• Crossbreed and mongrel puppies are much harder to find than pedigrees, particularly in southern England, because of campaigns to encourage responsible dog ownership. Many of the Scruffts finalists were rescue dogs. Try Dogs Trust, which has 17 re-homing centres nationwide (020 7837 0006; www.dogstrust.org.uk ).
• Dogpages.org.uk has links to more than 1000 rescue centres.
• Fashionable dogs are abandoned too; contact Labradoodle Rescue (01933 443007; www.labradoodlerescue.com ). To find a puppy, try the UK Labradoodle Association (0208123 8156; www.labradoodle.org.uk ) or the Labradoodle Club of Great Britain (www.labradoodleclub.co.uk ).
• The Crossbreed & Mongrel Club website has excellent advice on how to choose the right dog. It also runs its own competition, Scamps, with the grand final on Sept 20, 2009 (01522 751576; www.crossbreedandmongrel-club.org.uk).

CANINE GLOSSARY… A WHATADOODLE?

GOLDENDOODLE: golden retrieverand poodle

COCKAPOO: cocker spaniel and poodle

YORKIEDOODLE: (or Porkie): Yorkshire terrier and poodle

JACKADOODLE: Jack Russell and poodle

SPOODLE: springer spaniel and poodle

DOODLE: dachshund and poodle

CHI-POO: chihuahua and poodle

PEEKAPOO: pekinese and poodle

PEEK-A-POM: pekinese and Pomeranian

DORGI: dachshund and corgi

CHORKIE: chihuahua and Yorkshire terrier

PUGGLE: pug and beagle

DOLLIES: dalmation and border collie

WEIRDIE: West Highland terrier and bearded collie

SPANADOR: spaniel and labrador

SPRINGBATT: bassett and springer spaniel

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November 17th, 2008 by admin

Sims 2 Apartment Pets is a cross between The Sims and Nintendogs - except it’s not as much fun as either of them.

This is the second Sims Pets to appear on the Nintendo DS and this time you live in an apartment that belongs to your uncle who is away, but because he’s got a nice landlord he lets you keep pets, which range from dogs and cats to birds.

Through mini-games you bond with your pet and learn the skills you’ll need to put to good use in your animal spa – which just happens to be located underneath the apartment.

At the spa, you have to treat pet ailments.

First you have to diagnose which one of three ailments the animal has, then use the stylus and buttons to treat the problem.

You’ll do things like spray dirt off with a water gun, or brush them.

If you manage to sort the problem out, you’ll receive a good payment from the owner which you can then use to upgrade your spa.

Interacting with your pets was quite cool: playing fetch with the dog really reminded me of Nintendogs, as the puppy had the same bouncy, playful movement.

Graphically it looks better than the last Sims Pets game, but the game just gets repetitive quickly.

Your Sim can’t go anywhere other than the apartment or spa, either, so it’s a fairly limited game play area.

Also, the camera doesn’t follow your Sim automatically so you have to pan the camera using the D-pad. It just gets a little fiddly.

Cutesy animal factor aside, the game play is just too boring to really be worth your while. If you really want a DS game that has pets in it, hunt down Nintendogs, it’s much more satisfying.

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November 17th, 2008 by admin

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Eight of Britain’s most overweight pets are to embark on a 100-day diet and fitness regime in a bid to be crowned this year’s pet fit club champion.

The seven dogs and one cat, who are all more than 30 percent overweight and weigh a combined total of 191 kg (421 lb), were picked by veterinary charity PDSA who are running the slimming contest.

The animals, who need to lose a total of 74 kg to reach their ideal weight, will be put on specially tailored diet and exercise programs.

The pet who achieves the biggest percentage weight loss and best follows their new regime will be crowned champion, winning their owner a pet-friendly holiday.

PDSA statistics show around 30 percent of Britain’s dogs are overweight or obese, amounting to around 1.95 million fat dogs.

“Alongside their daily portions of pet food, owners often show their affection by giving unhealthy human treats such as cheese, buttered toast and biscuits. They don’t realize they are actually killing their pets with kindness,” said Sean Wensley, a veterinary surgeon at PDSA.

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November 17th, 2008 by admin

In fire disasters, the issue of how to safeguard family pets, horses and other animals invariably arises. Below, Patrick Franks, 11, hugs his dog, Scamp, while taking a break from digging for salvageable items in the ruins of his family’s Yorba Linda home. “He’s the first thing I rescued,” said Patrick, recounting how his family evacuated as flames shot up the back side of their house.

Here are some tips from “When pets must evacuate” at latimes.com:

Disaster officials recommend that you put together an emergency preparedness plan specifically for your pets. Various organizations such as Homeland Security, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the American Red Cross recommend the following:

Prepare a pet emergency supply kit. In watertight containers, pack at least three days of food and water for each pet and include medicine and veterinary records, first aid kit, collars with ID tags, a harness or leash, a crate or a pet carrier, and sanitation supplies such as plastic bags, disinfectants and paper towels.

Preselect shelter sites and resources. Prepare a list of phone numbers of local animal shelters and hotels and motels that take pets. Include the names and numbers of friends or family who can temporarily care for the pets. Have a buddy system with a good neighbor who would be willing to check on your animals in case you’re not home.

At first warning of an evacuation, act quickly. Bring pets into the house so you don’t have to look for them if you must leave quickly. Try to call ahead to arrange emergency shelter for your pet. Make sure your dog or cat has current identification.

If pets must be left behind … alert local animal control and, if necessary, give animal control officers permission — and keys — to enter your home to rescue the pets.

For a list of items to include in a horse evacuation kit, go to the Horse Review. More information on disaster preparedness for horses is available from the Humane Society.

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