weekend update

2-7-=2010—To have a healthy culture you have to have stable health care financing and stable arts financing and stable sports financing, and if you don’t have that, your culture beomces a parking lot.—Douglas Coupland—NYTMag 12
Feb. 2-7,2010—A Tailban attack [in Afghanistan] was tied to poor US defenses. WSJ A1
--Gates made a plea to NATO for thousands of troops to train Afghan forces, but France will contribute only 80. Ibid.
--Danish special forces stormed a ship captured by Somali pirates and freed the 25 crew who were on board. Ibid.
--[GOP] Senator Richard Shelby has blocked more than 70 presidential nominees over a long-running feud related to an Air Force refueling-tanker contract and an FBI lab he wants to see built in his home state....WSJ A5
2-6-2010---The Air Force Academy, which recently set up an outdoor worship area for founders of Wicca, Druidism and other Earth-centered religions on its Colorado Springs campus, has come under criticism from some cadets as being too slow to address an incident of vandalism at the area...NYT A12
2-6-2010—While Republican members of the banking committee expressed hope that a deal could still be brokered [on banking reform] several Democratic members said on Friday they were resolved to move on.—NYT B1
--Goldman chief’s $9 million bonus seen by some as show of restraint. –Ibid.