Tuesday, July 05, 2005

NYT: Correction on Dean, NAACP, United Church of Christ, Pentagon "weighs strategy change"

For other entries in this morning's New York Times, we're going to start off by noting this from "Corrections: For the Record:"

An article on June 10 about criticism of Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman, over several derogatory remarks he made about Republicans paraphrased incorrectly from his comment during an appearance in San Francisco. He said that the Republican Party was "pretty much a white, Christian party" - not that it was made up "only" of white Christian conservatives.

Why are we noting it? Did we note the article when it ran? "No" to the second. To the first, corrections have a way of vanishing over time. So from page A2, "Corrections: For the Record," there it is. Remember it in case reporters don't.

We'll note that David E. Sanger has a "Washington Memo" in today's paper. We're not commenting on it, but I will raise the question Ava and I raised two Sundays ago -- why is when the males do this it's a "Washington Memo" and when Elisabeth Bumiller does it, it's a "White House Letter?"

Cedric e-mails to note James Dao's "At N.A.A.C.P. Helm, an Economic Approach to Rights:"


When the N.A.A.C.P. recently announced plans to make Bruce S. Gordon, a retired Verizon executive, its new president, the reaction from some longtime civil rights activists was, "Bruce who?"
But black business leaders cheered, loudly.
"Like the excitement around the election of Barack Obama, Bruce Gordon will generate excitement in corporate America," said Earl G. Graves Sr., the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, referring to the black United States senator from Illinois.
Those conflicting reactions say much about the divergent views many blacks and civil rights leaders have about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group, which is struggling to redefine itself in an era of resurgent political conservatism.


Keesha e-mailed to note Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt's "Pentagon Weighs Strategy Change to Deter Terror:"

The Pentagon's most senior planners are challenging the longstanding strategy that requires the armed forces to be prepared to fight two major wars at a time. Instead, they are weighing whether to shape the military to mount one conventional campaign while devoting more resources to defending American territory and antiterrorism efforts.
The consideration of these profound changes are at the center of the current top-to-bottom review of Pentagon strategy, as ordered by Congress every four years, and will determine the future size of the military as well as the fate of hundreds of billions of dollars in new weapons.

Keesha: This is a topic that should be a national discussion but with chasing down what every young girl has gone missing or breathless reporting on shark 'attacks,' this will get lost. And then something will happen and the media and the public will make their "Never again" remarks like they did after 9-11.

Marcia e-mails to note Shaila Dewan's "United Church of Christ Backs Same-Sex Marriage:"

The United Church of Christ became the first mainline Christian denomination to support same-sex marriage officially when its general synod passed a resolution on Monday affirming "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender."
The resolution was adopted in the face of efforts to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. It was both a theological statement and a protest against discrimination, said the Rev. John H. Thomas, the president and general minister of the denomination, which has 6,000 congregations and 1.3 million members.
"On this July 4, the United Church of Christ has courageously acted to declare freedom, affirming marriage equality, affirming the civil rights of gay - of same-gender - couples to have their relationships recognized as marriages by the state, and encouraging our local churches to celebrate those marriages," Mr. Thomas said at a news conference after the vote by the General Synod.

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