obama vs cops

Cop in Gates controversy: We agree to

disagree

President Barack Obama, Sgt. James Crowley, professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Vice President Joe Biden drink beers at the White House. / July 30, 2009/ MCT Photo

With mugs of beer and calming words, President Barack Obama and the professor and policeman engulfed in a national uproar over race pledged Thursday to move on and try to pull country with them.

There was no acrimony — nor apology — from any of the three: black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., white Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley who had arrested him for disorderly conduct, and Obama who declared on national TV that the police had “acted stupidly.” But neither Gates nor Crowley backtracked either, agreeing they still had differences.

Said Obama after the highly anticipated, 40-minute chat at a picnic table on the White House South Lawn: “I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart.” “I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode,” said the nation’s first black president.

Under the canopy of a magnolia tree in the early evening, Obama joined the other players in a story that had knocked the White House off stride. Vice President Joe Biden joined them for drinks and snacks.

The policeman and the professor both expressed respect for each other after their dispute had unleashed a furor over racial profiling in America.

It all began when Crowley was called to investigate a potential burglary at Gates’ house and ended up arresting the protesting professor for disorderly conduct. The matter mushroomed when Obama made his comment in a prime-time news conference. He later expressed regret.

“We agreed to move forward,” Crowley said Thursday night when asked if anything was solved in the meeting. “I think what you had today was two gentlemen agreeing to disagree on a particular issue. I don’t think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. We spent a lot of time discussing the future.”

For his part, Gates said he and Crowley had been caught up as characters in a much larger narrative about race over which they had no control.

“It is incumbent upon Sgt. Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us,” Gates said in a statement. He said their task must be to foster sympathy among Americans about “the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.” Although Obama had invited Crowley and Gates as part of what he called a “teachable moment,” it wasn’t quite reachable for the masses. The coverage allowed the public to get the we’ve-come-together photos and video footage that the White House wanted, while keeping the discussion private among the men.

They were seen chatting with each other, each with a mug of beer — except Biden, who had a nonalcoholic drink. The media were stationed far away, out of earshot, and ushered away quickly.

In Massachusetts, meanwhile, a black sergeant who was with Crowley at Gates’ home said he’s been maligned as an “Uncle Tom” for supporting the actions of his white colleague, according to an e-mail that CNN said it received from the sergeant.

The officer, Leon Lashley, said he “spoke the truth” about the arrest, and he said Gates should consider whether he “may have caused grave and potentially irreparable harm to the struggle for racial harmony.”

Jordin Sparks talks about her new album 'Battlefield'

Jordin Sparks talks about her new album

'Battlefield'

Jordin Sparks is living a high-decibel life. She's traveling across the country as a special guest on the Jonas Brothers' tour, performing at arenas packed with girls who, as Sparks puts it, "scream way up here, and they just hold it for four hours straight." And even away from the stage, resting in her downtown Chicago hotel room on a weekend afternoon, the 2007 "American Idol" winner is met with the shrill yelps of yet another fan. This time, it's her dog, Maggie. These days, Maggie serves as Sparks' main companion on the road.

Now 19, Sparks has grown up a bit, and she says you can tell from listening to her sophomore CD, "Battlefield." She spoke recently with Melanie Sims of The Associated Press.

How do you compare "Battlefield" with your 2007 debut?

There's a lot more growth, so my voice sounds a little bit more mature. I wanted to pick songs that I related to on some sort of level and that I wouldn't mind singing for the rest of my life. . . . Then, there's four songs that I actually wrote and I'm really, really excited about.

If you could choose one song from the album for someone to listen to, which would it be?

One of the songs that is really, really important to me - and it's one that I wrote - it's called "Faith." We wrote that four days before the [presidential] inauguration, and it was one of those things. And we were thinking about everything going on in the world and our economy and how there's a sense of hopelessness around for a lot of people. And I was thinking about one of my best friends who passed away two years ago - thinking, [what] if I was the person to tell her, "It's going to be OK," and keep her head up, and that she's got people that love her - if she would still be here?

With everything going on around you in the music world, how do you stay connected with what's happening in the real world?

It's when you detach from the real world that your head starts to get bigger, and you're like, "Hey, the world revolves around me." So I definitely try to keep my inner circle really tight, and I keep my friends really close. I need people who are going to tell me exactly how it is - tell me if my outfit looks bad or . . . if my performance is horrible.

You're a big fan of Michael Jackson. How did you take the news of his death?

The crazy thing is, the day before - literally, the day before - I sang "P.Y.T." in my set. And I've been doing that a lot. I love singing his [songs]. So I did "P.Y.T." and "The Way You Make Me Feel" last year on tour and all these different things. Then, all of a sudden he passed away, and [I said], "I totally did his song yesterday." And we were doing "A-B-C, as easy as . . ." and doing the dance and everything, and all of a sudden he was gone. And we were just like, "This is insane."

Michael was always in the public eye. How do you deal with protecting yourself when it comes to the media?

I'm open to an extent. I give them just enough to where they're satisfied, but I don't go too in-depth. . . . Because of "American Idol," you get to know people a lot. There's a lot of people who think I'm like their best friend. And they'll come up and want to hug me . . . I don't think I'll ever get used to it. But it's still really cool I have that kind of relationship with my fans.

human killer in ocean

Watching Discovery Channel's annual "Shark Week" specials makes one wonder if the station is in cahoots with a swimming pool company.

The 22nd annual festival of dorsal-finned predators could keep the hardiest surfer on land. Stunning photography makes viewers feel as if they're there, which is terrifying, especially because this year's films are especially bloody. Yet for those who can't get enough of sharks, it's the place to be.

The week launches Sunday at 9 p.m. with an excellent docudrama, "Blood in the Water," which carries a viewer discretion warning. The first known shark attacks in the United States occurred off New Jersey during a heat wave and polio epidemic in the summer of 1916. Swimming in the ocean was still a relatively novel concept, and no one knew of sharks attacking humans.

It's against this backdrop that the film - hewing closely to period fashion, settings and language - unfolds. As the film repeats throughout, these attacks inspired the story of "Jaws." In 12 days, five people were attacked, four killed.

As a lifeguard watches, a man flails in the waters off Beach Haven. A lifeguard rescues him, and the victim is brought into a hotel, where his physician father couldn't save him. Most doctors were not yet trained in administering transfusions, and the 25-year-old man bled to death.

Soon others would be attacked. The film weaves facts into the narrative. For instance, an extremely strong swimmer can cover five miles per hour.

"Even Michael Phelps cannot outswim a shark," says Andy Dehart, a shark specialist with the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C., in an interview.

Dehart says questions linger over what type of sharks attacked in the summer of 1916. After the young man bled to death, an athlete was the next victim. The lifeguard who pulled him from the water says, "I remember thinking he was very light for a big man, then I saw his lower legs were completely gone."

Don't swim erratically . . .

Dehart, fascinated by sharks since he first saw one at 5, offers the following advice should anyone find himself close to a shark: "In most places in the world, if you are out swimming or snorkeling, you are extremely safe, in most cases," Dehart says. "If you are in the Keys or off the coast, they are most likely small, extremely nonaggressive species that have rarely been implicated in any attacks. If you are in water where you can see 30 feet away, these are great circumstances. You are pretty safe. My personal advice is observe sharks' behavior and consider yourself lucky and enjoy the experience just as you would viewing a mountain lion from a distance."

However, he and survivalist Les Stroud, who is in the Monday special "Deadly Waters," advise if a shark is circling, it's considering you as food. Maintain eye contact and head to shore, but not erratically.

Stroud took to the Bahamas, South Africa, South Australia, Fiji and Miami to discover why sharks attack most often in those locales. The common factor, he says, is "people in the water."

A 'taste test'

Some sharks, Stroud says, are accidental predators. "Even though they generally live on another form of prey, they are big and opportunists and have sharp teeth. If they are not sure about it, they do a taste test," he says. "Problem is, when a big shark does that, you lose an arm. When we are in those areas and a couple of the top sharks that are opportunistic like the great white and tigers, then we are in the line of fire same as when we encroach on polar-bear territory or tigers and black bears."

After much swimming with sharks, Stroud says he's learned "it still hurts when you get bit. Every year I seem to get a new scar. This year I took a bite on my right hand, and the shark had my whole hand in its mouth. I have been bitten three times by sharks. Being bitten by Caribbean reef sharks is like being bitten by a Rottweiler. They bite you, but it's not going to kill you. They're gentle unless you do what I did - feed them fish for a while, then jump in the middle."

Monday also has "Day of the Shark 2," in which a great white breaks through a shark cage, trapping the divers. Tuesday brings the gory "Sharkbite Summer," a clip show of ugly incidents from the summer of 2001 that chronicles accounts of people being bitten. News footage and interviews with survivors and victims' families fill out the show.

Wednesday's "Great White Appetite" features the shark everyone fears. Thursday's "Shark After Dark" focuses on what sharks do at night, which is pretty much what they do during the day.

"It's so darn true we know so little about them," Stroud says. "They live in a place we can't. They go to a place we can't. We will die in an hour and 10 minutes; we get in and get out. They're beautiful and benign and ferocious and terrifying. What's not to be fascinated about sharks?"

Red sox in trouble

Red Sox stars tested positive in 2003

It’s the news Red Sox fans have probably been dreading. And Yankees fans have probably been waiting for.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are both among the 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a 2003 survey test. The Times cited lawyers with knowledge of the names on the list.

Ramirez’s inclusion is not a huge surprise, since he recently finished serving a 50-game suspension for using a banned substance.

But Ortiz? There could hardly be a bigger blow to the Boston sports fan.

Boston’s beloved “Big Papi” led the Red Sox to their stunning 2004 ALCS defeat of the Yankees and the end of the 86-year-old “Curse of the Bambino.” Boston won World Series titles in 2004 and 2007 with Ortiz and Ramirez manning the middle of the batting order in one of the most fearsome duos since Ruth and Gehrig or Mantle and Maris.

More than any other Red Sox from 2004, Ortiz is the symbol of Yankee-slaying. As more and more big names have trickled out from the 2003 list –- Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa -– Yankees fans have long wondered “what about Oritz?” because of the huge explosion in his offensive numbers during the Red Sox’s ascendancy and his equally fast decline once baseball instituted a testing program with penalties.

Results from the 2003 tests were supposed to remain anonymous, but they later were seized by federal agents.

Ortiz told a Times reporter on Thursday that he had no comment on the report. The Red Sox were playing an afternoon game against the Oakland A’s.

mazda 6

Introduction

If there's a moral to the fully redesigned 2009 Mazda 6's story, it's that there's more to life than "zoom-zoom." The previous-generation Mazda 6 had plenty of it, yet Mazda had a devil of a time getting the buying public to notice. That's because American drivers typically don't care so much about how their family sedans behave on winding country roads. What they want is space, safety, reliability, power and style -- and while the old 6 looked nice enough, its tight dimensions and lackluster acceleration prevented it from succeeding in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The new 6 demonstrates that Mazda wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Want room to relax? It offers one of the most accommodating cabins of any midsize sedan, with Texas-sized front seats and a backseat fit for 6-footers. Got luggage, or perhaps four sets of golf clubs? The midsize Mazda now features an impressively large 16.6 cubic feet of trunk space. Need power? Mazda's got you covered with the largest and most powerful V6 in this price bracket, though its fuel economy is disappointing. Want to make a fashion statement? Then you shouldn't be buying a family sedan in the first place. But as such cars go, we think the new 6 manages to be tautly attractive, particularly from the front, despite its additional 6.1 inches of length and 2.3 inches of width. Unlike the previous model, the 2009 Mazda 6 was engineered specifically for the North American market -- and it shows.

It also means added weight, as the enlarged 6 is roughly 150 pounds heavier than its predecessor. Yet you'll still notice the sporty reflexes that consumers have come to expect from this performance-oriented brand. Body roll is minimal by family-sedan standards, and the steering is light but responsive. The 6 never lets you forget its considerable size, but its well-sorted chassis and light-on-its-feet character at speed puts it second only to the Nissan Altima in the fun-to-drive category.

Wait a minute, you're saying -- how could the "zoom-zoom" family sedan fail to be the sportiest car in its class? Three reasons: The Altima's considerably lighter, its body motions are better controlled and its steering is tighter and more communicative. But so what? As the previous 6 demonstrated (and the Toyota Camry continues to demonstrate), top-notch driving dynamics do not a best-selling family sedan make. What the new 6 offers is the coveted combination of American-style size and power, along with above-average handling for those who care about that sort of thing. True enthusiasts may not find the 6 to their liking -- but hey, that's what the Mazdaspeed 3 is for.

In short, the 2009 Mazda 6 is at or near the head of its class in most respects. As usual, though, we recommend test-driving as many rival models as possible before making your decision, including the Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy and Toyota Camry. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, but few can match the 6's all-around competence and appeal.

.Body Styles, Trim Levels, and Options

The 2009 Mazda 6 is a front-wheel-drive midsize sedan. There are seven trim levels: i SV, i Sport, i Touring, i Grand Touring, s Sport, s Touring and s Grand Touring. Models with the i prefix come with the four-cylinder engine, while models with the s prefix come with the V6.

The value leader i SV comes standard with 16-inch steel wheels, a manually height-adjustable driver seat, full power accessories, a six-speaker CD stereo system with steering-wheel-mounted audio controls, air-conditioning and a tilt/telescoping steering column. The i Sport adds cruise control, an auxiliary input jack and keyless entry. The i Touring model steps up the feature content with 17-inch alloy wheels, foglights, a trip computer, a power driver seat, keyless ignition/entry, electroluminescent gauges, black patterned accent pieces and a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob. The i Grand Touring model adds xenon headlights, heated leather seats with a memory function for the driver seat, Bluetooth connectivity, dual-zone automatic climate control, auto-dimming mirrors and an auditory blind-spot monitoring system.

The s models feature the corresponding i models' standard equipment along with a few enhancements -- the s Sport comes with 17-inch alloy wheels and dual exhaust outlets, and the s Touring and s Grand Touring add 18-inch alloy wheels.

A Convenience Package for Touring models tacks on most of the Grand Touring's standard luxuries, while the Moonroof and Bose Package adds a sunroof and an upgraded audio system to Touring and Grand Touring models. A navigation system is available only on the Grand Touring. Other options include remote start, an in-dash six-CD changer and satellite radio.

Powertrains and Performance

The front-wheel-drive 2009 Mazda 6 is powered by either a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine or a 3.7-liter V6. The four generates 170 horsepower and 167 pound-feet of torque, while the V6 pumps out 272 hp and 269 lb-ft. A six-speed manual transmission is standard on four-cylinder models, with a five-speed automatic optional on all but the i SV. A six-speed automatic is mandatory on V6-powered models.

Fuel-economy estimates stand at 20 mpg city/29 highway and 23 combined for four-cylinder models with the manual transmission, while the five-speed auto improves the four's numbers to 21 mpg city/30 highway and 24 combined. These are class-competitive numbers. However, if you opt for the V6, estimates drop to 17 mpg city/25 highway and 20 combined, which is about as bad as it gets in this segment.

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Safety

Antilock disc brakes, stability control, front-seat side airbags and full-length side curtain airbags are all standard on the 2009 Mazda 6..

Interior Design and Special Features

The 2009 Mazda 6's control layout is generally intuitive, with all major knobs and buttons clearly labeled and easily manipulated. It's attractive, too, with red backlighting for the gauges and a sleek center stack sweeping forward toward the windshield, although the odd black-and-silver patterned plastic trim in Touring models and above won't strike everyone's fancy. Materials quality is hit-or-miss, as the rich-feeling soft-touch material on the passenger side of the dashboard contrasts with cheap hard stuff on the driver side. The emergency brake also feels a bit chintzy for this price point. The generously proportioned seats are quite comfortable, however, with ample leg- and headroom all around. On the downside, power-adjustable lumbar support is unavailable, and the optional manually adjustable driver-side lumbar support operates via a labor-intensive knob.

In the audio department, the 6's standard stereo is just adequate, and while the optional Bose system sounds markedly better, it lacks the clarity and rich bass response of the best stereos in this class. There's better news on the cargo-carrying front, where the 16.6-cubic-foot trunk sets a new standard for family sedans. Moreover, it's enhanced by upscale strut supports that don't impinge on the cargo area, and the 60/40-split-folding rear seats add to the 6's impressive hauling capabilities.

.Driving Impressions

A notable amount of road noise filters into the 6's cabin at speed. Pavement imperfections barely ruffle the 6's composure, though, even when it's equipped with the optional 18-inch wheels. The base 2.5-liter engine produces wheezy noises and tepid acceleration, though the slick-shifting six-speed manual shifter livens things up a bit. The five-speed automatic is less engaging but provides remarkably refined shifts. The big 3.7-liter V6 feels and sounds muscular, yet it's a smooth operator, even at higher engine speeds. Sadly, the six-speed automatic isn't tuned for enthusiastic driving -- downshifts are delayed, even in manual mode. Handling is impressive for a big family sedan, but the 6 doesn't feel as tossable in corners as the Altima, and its steering is lighter and looser than the nimble Nissan's. There's probably enough zoom in this chassis to placate those who like to drive, while the average shopper will appreciate the 6's reasonably compliant ride.