
##4060857 A few months ago , as her family 's income fell , Laura French Spada , a real estate agent in Glen Rock , N.J. , began dyeing her hair at home and washing the family cars herself . Her husband , Mark , started learning how to do electrical repairs . <p> Susan Todoroff , a personal trainer in Ann Arbor , Mich. , has begun brewing espressos at home and cutting her hair and cleaning her house herself . And Tamar A. Zaidenweber , a health care market researcher in Astoria , Queens , is spending more time walking her dog instead of taking it to day care each week . <p> All of these consumers could praise themselves for their newfound frugality in the midst of an economic downturn . But every step they take toward self-reliance -- each shrub they prune themselves , each cupcake they bake from scratch -- hurts the people and small businesses that have long provided these services professionally . <p> These small , service-oriented businesses are run in storefronts on urban streets and in suburban strip malls , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 18 million jobs nationwide , according to 2006 Census Bureau data , these companies have long been seen as engines of America 's economic growth . Yet after years of explosive expansion , many beauty salons , dry cleaners , landscapers , dog walkers , nanny services and restaurants experienced slower sales growth or even decline in the final months of 2008 . <p> Their services are suddenly , and painfully , being perceived as nonessential . <p> The question now for these businesses is whether demand will stabilize or , eventually , drop enough to force them to close . And the answer may depend on whether consumers new penchant for self-service is temporary or permanent . <p> After all , as incomes rose and gender roles changed over the last 50 years , families have become accustomed to outsourcing more and more of their household chores . No longer was it just the very rich who had ' ' servants , ' said Jan de Vries , an economic historian at the University of California , Berkeley . <p> ' ' Household members , particularly women , have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vries . ' ' They have had less time and higher money income , and they have been spending a lot of that money income on services they once provided themselves . ' <p> Still , he said , even before the recession , some families had already cited moral reasons for reverting to domestic self-sufficiency , to those good old days when families grew their own food and burped their own babies . <p> ' ' Families have been creating a discussion over the past decade about value-driven concerns that are now being reinforced by forces in the economy , ' he said . As a result of this confluence of moral and financial incentives , ' ' The way households function 20 years from now will probably be sort of surprising to us . ' <p> Indeed , after decades of spendthrift subcontracting , many consumers now say they view such specialist services as indulgences rather than necessities . <p> ' ' A lot of the way we 'd been living was all an illusion , a fantasy , ' said Ms. Spada , who has also been cooking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the groomer . ' ' We 've been asking ourselves : Can we replicate some of those specialized services , which normally we would outsource , ourselves ? ' <p> Even as Americans cut back on restaurant dining , pet care services , professional hair and nail services , house cleaners and landscapers , companies producing some of the do-it-yourself products are seeing higher sales . <p> According to Information Resources Inc. , a market research firm in Chicago , sales of products used in home manicures , home cooking and home medical treatments , among others , have experienced healthy growth in the last year . Dollar sales of cold-allergy-sinus tablets , for example , increased 17.2 percent in 2008 . Meanwhile , according to Sageworks , a company that tracks sales at privately held businesses , revenue at physicians offices fell by 0.06 percent . <p> ' ' They 're reducing doctor visits , and trying to treat themselves at home , ' says Thom Blischok , president of global innovation and consulting at Information Resources . <p> Big-box stores that sell these products have been capitalizing on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , recently began its ' ' New Day ' marketing campaign , which glorifies the family-friendly , do-it-yourself alternatives to activities households used to outsource . Against upbeat lyrics about how things are ' ' getting better every single day , ' the ads show dismal economic headlines , followed by scenes of a father buzzing the hair of his smiling sons ( ' ' the new barber shop ' ' ) and a child eagerly eyeing his mother 's cookie-filled oven ( ' ' the new bakery ' ' ) . <p> At the same time , the service providers have been hurting . <p> ' ' From the moment that the stock market collapsed and the TARP was being talked about , in September , it was like someone turned the switch off for nanny demand , ' said Steve Lampert , the president of eNannySource.com , making a reference to the Troubled Asset Relief Program . Family subscriptions to eNannySource.com , a national nanny placement company based in West Hills , Calif. , are down to 150,000 , about a third of the site 's peak in 2007 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Puppy Love & Kitty Kat in Manhattan , said , ' ' Business is definitely down , about 25 or 50 percent down . ' He has been offering steep discounts on grooming to attract customers who might bathe their pets at home . <p> Similarly , Rhonda Coop-Piraino , a hair stylist in Dallas , said about 10 percent of her clients had started coloring their hair at home to save money . Many of these clients , she said , return to her salon for color correction when their home kits disappoint . <p> ' ' They do come in sometimes with some pretty orange hair , ' she said . ' ' I have a hard time charging the same amount I once charged for color correction , though . I have clients who have been with me for so many years , and it 's hard for me to charge them $200 in this economy . ' <p> Like Ms. Coop-Piraino 's clients , some consumers say that doing things for themselves has not been as easy as they thought . <p> After letting their maid go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Chris Toland , realized they had a lot to learn about keeping their Manhattan apartment tidy . Their biggest challenge has been laundry . <p> ' ' No mishaps yet , ' said Mr. DeCarlo , a Web site designer , ' ' but my partner is proud to report that somebody in our laundry room who was watching him struggle felt the need to intervene and show him the proper way to fold a fitted sheet . ' <p> And there are some services that consumers now have trouble duplicating themselves because of technological advances . <p> When it comes to cars , for example , consumers might be able to refresh their memories about how to change a car 's oil -- and some mechanics report a rise in such self-service . Faisal Akram , the owner of service stations in Irvington , Tarrytown and Cortlandt Manor , all in New York , said that for the first time in recent memory customers were bringing in waste oil from home . <p> But beyond oil changes , there is little most car owners can do themselves because automobiles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ owner of C & C Automotive and host of a car-repair radio show in Augusta , Ga. , said that in recent months twice as many customers had been calling and asking for advice on how to service their cars themselves . But usually , once they learn what equipment , training and effort would be necessary for self-service , he said , they opt to take the car to a shop . <p> ' ' Two cars ago , I was able to rebuild the entire engine , ' said Vicki Robin , the co-author of ' ' Your Money or Your Life , ' a book praising the financial virtues of self-service . ' ' But back then a car was a car . Now a car is a computer with wheels . ' <p> As their former nannies , stylists , landscapers , dry cleaners and maids languish , consumers report mixed feelings . They say they sometimes feel guilty about the ripple effects their penny-pinching is having on the livelihoods of others , but at the same time they feel unexpectedly empowered by their rediscovered self-reliance . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they will probably remain self-service converts . <p> ' ' After doing it yourself , it 's like , ' Why was I ever spending $200 to pay someone else to do it for me ? ' said Ms. Zaidenweber , who recently dyed her hair for the first time from an $8 home coloring kit . ' ' It was kind of fun , even if it did n't turn out exactly as I expected , and even it took a couple tries to get it done right . ' <p> 
##4060858 The rookie Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie 's road to the N.F.L. contained enough bumps to cause permanent bruising . His parents divorced when he was young and he spent his childhood bouncing between the homes of his mother , Melissa Rodgers , and his father , Stan Cromartie . <p> On his way to becoming a playmaking cornerback with the Arizona Cardinals , Rodgers-Cromartie attended a handful of high schools and played only one full season of varsity football . Opposing quarterbacks had a hard time tracking him , but so did college recruiters . He received one scholarship offer , to Tennessee State . <p> Blessed with an abundance of natural speed and spring , Rodgers-Cromartie won the 60-yard dash , the long jump and the high jump at the Ohio Valley Conference indoor track and field championships . He is confident he could have been a 2008 Olympian in track if he had set his mind to it . But his immense physical gifts were countered by one potentially serious physical liability . <p> When he was 5 , one of his kidneys ceased working and had to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kidney and so can a football player , but only as long as the organ does not absorb a damaging hit . Rodgers-Cromartie , 22 , does not dwell on what he is missing because his family history has imbued him with an unspoken sense of urgency , of getting the most out of today because tomorrow is not promised . <p> ' ' I just pray a lot and hope that I 'll stay safe , ' he said this week after a practice , adding , ' ' I really try not to think about it when I 'm playing because things like that can distract you and throw you off your game . ' <p> No opponent has recently been able to sidetrack Rodgers-Cromartie , whose play has propelled the Cardinals into the National Football Conference championship game Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles . He has intercepted one pass in each of his last three games while shutting down the other team 's biggest downfield threat . <p> The Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald , one of the best receivers in the league , said , ' ' Dominique 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 'm really happy to have him here because he 's going to make me elevate my game to the next level . ' <p> About going up against him in practice , Fitzgerald said , ' ' I think he 's one of the better guys I 've already faced in the league . ' <p> To the quarterbacks Rodgers-Cromartie has tormented and the receivers he has shadowed this season , it must seem as if he came out of nowhere . Back in Bradenton , Fla. , his hometown , people know better . They look at Rodgers-Cromartie , a 6-foot-2 beanpole with a beaming smile and blazing speed , and it is as if they are seeing a ghost . From his wide smile to his winged feet , he is a carbon copy of his uncle Charlie Cromartie , a Bradenton schoolboy legend who died before he could fulfill his promise . <p> ' ' My dad is always saying , ' I see so much of Charlie in you , ' Rodgers-Cromartie said . <p> Rodgers-Cromartie 's father was 7 when his brother , still in high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stan Cromartie said in an interview this week that his brother was on his way to an after-school job when he struck a truck that had broken down . <p> His son 's resemblance to Charlie ' ' is amazing , ' Cromartie said . He added , ' ' God has a way of re-creating things . ' <p> The Bradenton community 's dreams for Charlie were passed like a baton to Rodgers-Cromartie . On Sunday he can run with them all the way to the Super Bowl in Tampa , a wind sprint from Dominique and Charlie 's hometown . <p> ' ' This season 's already been good , ' Rodgers-Cromartie said , ' ' but to play in the Super Bowl in Tampa would be the greatest thing ever . ' <p> Better than running in the Olympics ? ' ' Yes , ma'am , ' Rodgers-Cromartie said . ' ' Track was always something I just did after football . I never really practiced it . I 'd just go out there and compete . It was going to be my backup plan , but then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kidney was removed , Rodgers-Cromartie was cleared by his doctor to participate in youth football . He signed a medical waiver before playing at Tennessee State and with the Cardinals . Rodgers-Cromartie 's single kidney was a hot topic of conversation at the N.F.L. scouting combine last winter , as was his time of 4.33 seconds in the 40 . On draft day , speed ran circles around risk . The Cardinals selected him with the 16th pick . <p> The Cardinals plan was to bring Rodgers-Cromartie along slowly . He started the season playing about a dozen snaps a game as part of the nickel package . In November he replaced Eric Green in the starting lineup . In 11 starts since , Rodgers-Cromartie has had six interceptions , including one in December against St. Louis that he returned 99 yards for a touchdown to help the Cardinals clinch their first division title since 1975 . <p> Stan Cromartie and his friend Herb Gainer , a former football player at Florida State , were championing Rogers-Cromartie 's cause when no one else was . <p> ' ' Now everybody 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from his home in Tallahassee , Fla . <p> One of the first to come around was Deion Sanders , the former star defensive back . After Rodgers-Cromartie ran the 40 at the combine , Gainer received a text message from Sanders , a college teammate , who wrote , ' ' He has stolen the show . ' <p> Rodgers-Cromartie will not be the first player with one kidney to start in an N.F.L. conference title game . In January 1995 , San Diego receiver Mark Seay caught the winning touchdown in the American Football Conference championship to send the Chargers to the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers . <p> Seay had a kidney removed in 1986 after he was shot in a drive-by attack while attending Long Beach State . He played three seasons in San Diego and two in Philadelphia . His last year in the N.F.L. was 1997 , his career cut short , he believes , because of publicity he received as a result of his condition . <p> ' ' It was a great human-interest story , ' he said this week in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about it and that always kept the thought alive in the organization 's mind . ' <p> Seay said the Chargers required him to wear a flak jacket and provide urine samples after every game . He said the only hits that scared him in his five seasons were three to the head that caused his shoulders to go numb for several seconds . <p> Rodgers-Cromartie is fortunate , Seay said , because by playing defense , he is the arrow , not the bull's-eye . ' ' He 's in a much better situation than I was being a receiver going over the middle , ' he said . Even so , Seay added , ' ' It does take a little bit more courage to do what he 's doing . ' <p> Randy Fuller , a former N.F.L. defensive back who was Rodgers-Cromartie 's position coach at Tennessee State , said that in the pros , especially , ' ' I thought we were all one hit away from calamity . ' <p> The death of his brother taught Stan Cromartie about the precariousness of life before he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ across a pile of newspaper articles about Charlie , including one containing a photograph in which he was wearing his youth football Sarasota Ringling Redskins jersey . The story was about a coming game against the Philadelphia Quakers . ' ' I 'm going to have these articles laminated and present them to Dominique before the game , ' Cromartie said . ' ' I want him to read them before he steps on the field . ' ' <p> 
##4060859 Hours after receiving another government lifeline , Bank of America posted a fourth-quarter loss of $1.79 billion on Friday , down from net income of $268 million a year earlier , in a reversal caused largely by growing consumer loan losses . <p> And bigger troubles came from Merrill Lynch , which Bank of America hastily snapped up in September for $50 billion . A fresh round of write-downs at Merrill pushed that firm into a $15.3 billion loss for the fourth quarter . That was the firm 's sixth troubled quarter since the credit crisis began . Merrill was among the most aggressive -- and most harmed -- by mortgage investments . <p> Merrill 's results for the fourth quarter are not a part of Bank of America ' s . The merger of the two banks closed on Jan. 1 . <p> In a conference call Friday morning , analysts asked Kenneth D. Lewis , the bank 's chairman , whether he had regrets that he had agreed to purchase Merrill . <p> Mr. Lewis said that as Merrill 's fourth-quarter losses mounted , he did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could renegotiate the price for Merrill . But , he said , regulators implored him to complete the transaction and said they would provide support . <p> ' ' The government was firmly of the view that terminating or delaying the closing of the transaction could lead to significant concerns and could result in significant systemic concerns , ' Mr. Lewis said . ' ' We did think we were doing the right thing for the country . ' <p> Still Mr. Lewis expressed optimism about the conglomerate he has built , once the economy recovers . <p> ' ' This company will generate huge amounts of profit when we get a normal economic environment , not even a great one but a normal one , and so it 's almost directly related to how fast you think the economy will come back , ' he said . <p> Bank of America ' s shares , which have fallen sharply over the last week , were down sharply again on Friday , shedding $1.15 , or 14 percent , to close at $7.17 . <p> In the conference call , Bank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announced overnight to help them complete the merger with Merrill . <p> Two weeks after closing its purchase of Merrill Lynch at the urging of federal regulators , the government cemented a deal at midnight Thursday to supply Bank of America with a fresh $20 billion capital injection and absorb as much as $98.2 billion in losses on toxic assets , according to people involved in the transaction . <p> The bank had been pressing the government for help after it was surprised to learn that Merrill would be taking a fourth-quarter write-down of $15 billion to $20 billion , according to two people who have been briefed on the situation , in addition to Bank of America ' s rising consumer loan losses . <p> The second lifeline brings the government 's total stake in Bank of America to $45 billion and makes it the bank 's largest shareholder , with a stake of about 6 percent . <p> The program is modeled after a larger one engineered to stabilize Citigroup as its stock price plummeted in late November , but it appears to have had limited success . Under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first $10 billion in losses on a pool of $118 billion in illiquid assets , including residential and commercial real estate and corporate loans , and that will remain on its balance sheet . <p> The Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will take on the next $10 billion in losses . The Fed will absorb 90 percent of any additional losses , with Bank of America responsible for the rest . <p> In exchange for the new support , Bank of America will give the government an additional $4 billion stake in preferred stock . It has also agreed to cut its quarterly dividend to a penny , from 32 cents , and accept more stringent restrictions on executive pay . <p> The F.D.I.C. announced separately that it would soon propose to extend its guarantee on supporting new consumer lending to 10 years , from 3 years . <p> ' ' The U.S. government will continue to use all of our resources to preserve the strength of our banking institutions and promote the process of repair and recovery and to manage risks , ' regulators said . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banks may eventually feel compelled to turn to the government for assistance , and the program could to used for other big banks . Taxpayers could end up guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars of banks toxic assets . <p> ' ' The financial services sector still needs more equity , ' said Frederick Cannon , the managing director at Keefe , Bruyette & Woods . ' ' TARP was announced in mid-September and most of the initial decisions were based on the state of the economy then . The economy has gotten a heck of a lot worse . ' <p> Government officials said that they did not have new money to allocate for this assistance , so they used funds that were already allocated from the $350 billion bailout fund for other banks or for future stabilization programs . The officials said that even though Citigroup 's stock had tumbled since November , that bank 's stock price might not be the best indicator of whether the program was working . <p> Bank of America ' s troubles are only adding to the worries . Mr. Lewis had earned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a small lender , into a consumer powerhouse with bicoastal branches -- and was often accused of overpaying . It snapped up Bank of America and took on its name , then followed with flashy deals for FleetBoston Financial in 2003 and then the credit card giant MBNA in 2006 . That was followed by US Trust and LaSalle Bank of Chicago a year later . <p> Last year , Mr. Lewis 's bank also bought Countrywide Financial Corporation , the troubled mortgage giant that has come to symbolize many of the excesses of the subprime mortgage era . That made Bank of America the biggest player in every major financial service but wealth advice . <p> Even before the most recent deal with Merrill closed , troubles began to surface . At the time , shareholders liked the strategic fit of adding Merrill Lynch , the nation 's biggest brokerage firm , to the nation 's biggest bank . Still , they worried that Mr. Lewis had paid a hefty premium -- or underestimated Merrill 's losses -- in the merger stitched together over the mid-September weekend that Lehman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announced , Mr. Lewis said that he had considered buying Merrill months earlier but was not comfortable with its mortgage exposure . John A. Thain , the chief executive of Merrill Lynch , said he had cleaned up many of his company 's problems . ' ' We have been consistently cleaning up the balance sheet , repairing the damage that was done over the last few years , ' Mr. Thain said . <p> Mr. Lewis praised Mr. Thain for decreasing risks at the firm and said that Merrill 's capital levels were in good shape . <p> As it turned out , more problems were lurking . In December , when executives at Merrill began tallying losses on its mortgage investments , they were found to exceed previous estimates . When Bank of America was informed of the gaping write-downs , the bank became fearful it would not have the capital to cover them . The revelations , which came just weeks before the merger was expected to close , prompted Bank of America to ask the government for additional help . <p> After Bank of America told regulators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of mounting losses at the brokerage , government officials said they decided they needed to take immediate action to avert a systemic risk . <p> Still , the Merrill deal has not been any easy deal for Mr. Lewis to digest . ' ' He made a bet , ' said Brad Hintz , an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company . ' ' He bought the retail broker operation , and in a normal environment that 's a gold mine . The challenge that Bank of America has is , can they keep their hands off of the retail brokerage operation , because their history in terms of acquisitions is n't really perfect . ' <p> 
##4060860 Your unit , on the edges of the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya , has taken mortar fire from the crowded refugee camp nearby . You prepare to return fire , and perhaps you notice -- or perhaps you do n't , even though it 's on your map -- that there is a United Nations school just there , full of displaced Gazans . You know that international law allows you to protect your soldiers and return fire , but also demands that you ensure that there is no excessive harm to civilians . Do you remember all that in the chaos ? <p> You pick GPS-guided mortars , which are supposed to be accurate and of a specific explosive force , and fire back . In the end , you kill some Hamas fighters but also , the United Nations says , more than 40 civilians , some of them children . <p> Have you committed a war crime ? <p> Whatever the military and political results of Israel 's 21-day war against Hamas in Gaza , Israel is again facing serious accusations and anguished questioning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel 's 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon , the popular perception abroad of how Israel fights , and hence of Israelis , may prove to be more lasting than any strategic gains or losses . <p> The televised images of devastation in the crowded Gaza Strip and the large asymmetry in deaths , especially of civilians , have created an uproar in the Arab world and the West reminiscent of 2006 . <p> A plethora of Western foreign ministers , United Nations officials and human rights groups , both Israeli and foreign , have expressed shock and disgust ; some have called for investigations into possible war crimes . Such groups also say Hamas is clearly violating the rules of war . <p> More than 1,100 Palestinians have died in Gaza , according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health , which estimates that 40 percent are women and children under 18 . Israel estimates that only a quarter of the dead are civilians . Israel , which has suffered 13 dead , 3 of them civilian , is being accused of a disproportionate use of force . Death tolls in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal one . <p> Question of Proportionality <p> Under international law , proportionality is defined as a question of judgment , not of numbers : Is the potential risk to civilians excessive in relationship to the anticipated military advantage ? That puts the weight on military advantage , since civilian risk is a given and must only not be ' ' excessive . ' Even if the target is legitimate , was the right weapon used to try to minimize civilian damage ? The key is the expected damage the commander anticipated from the use of a certain weapon , and not what actually happened when it was fired . <p> The other key legal principle is discrimination : has a military struggled hard enough to hit only military targets and combatants , while trying to avoid purely civilian targets and noncombatants ? <p> Deciding requires an investigation into battlefield circumstances that can not be carried out while the fighting rages , and such judgments are especially difficult in urban guerrilla warfare , when fighters like Hamas live among the civilian population and take shelter there . While Israel is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a radical Islamic group classified by the United States and Europe as terrorist , violates international law . <p> Shooting rockets out of Gaza aimed at Israeli cities and civilians is an obvious violation of the principle of discrimination and fits the classic definition of terrorism . Hamas fighters are also putting civilians at undue risk by storing weapons among them , including in mosques , schools and allegedly hospitals , too , making them potential military targets . While urban and guerrilla warfare is not illegal , by fighting in the midst of civilians , often in civilian clothing , Hamas may also bring risk to noncombatants . <p> But Hamas 's violations tend to be treated as a given and criticized as an afterthought , Israeli spokesmen and officials say . They say that Israel has never sought to hit civilians , medical workers or United Nations facilities or personnel . ' ' The rules of engagement are very clear , ' said Mark Regev , the government spokesman . ' ' Not to target civilians , not to target U.N . people , not to target medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doctrine . ' <p> Asa Kasher , 69 , has a chair in ethics at Tel Aviv University and helped write the Israeli military 's ethical code . He still teaches in the army 's College of Command and General Staff . <p> He said that the Israeli Army 's ethical and legal standards were high and that he believed they were conscientiously taught to its military . But as for what happens on the ground , he said , ' ' I have a general confidence in their attitudes and decency , but who knows ? ' <p> A senior lawyer for the United Nations , who was authorized to speak only if she remained anonymous , agreed that the Israeli code was excellent , but said that the military was not doing enough to protect neutrals or to provide havens for civilians . ' ' A proper weighing of proportionality on the battlefield is just not happening as it should , ' she said . <p> Israel 's chief army legal officer , whose name can not be published under censorship rules , called the charges ' ' deeply @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ realities of war and compared Israel 's behavior favorably to that of the American military in Iraq , Afghanistan and Kosovo . <p> The most intense criticism of Israel 's behavior has centered on how it has conducted the war and weighed risks to civilians , access of medical personnel to the wounded and provision of vital supplies to civilians in Gaza who can not escape the sealed territory . A few events encapsulate the arguments and are fiercely disputed . <p> The Fakhura School <p> One of the touchstones of the war so far has been the fate of a group of Palestinian civilians fleeing the fighting who were lining up to enter a United Nations school . They were killed on Jan. 6 in an exchange of mortar fire between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops . The facts are disputed ; John Ging , the Gaza director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency , said that 43 people died and that no militants fired from inside the school grounds or were harbored there . The Israeli military first said that it had returned fire at a Hamas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Then the army briefed diplomats to say that the Hamas men were firing next to the school , and that one mortar shell , equipped with a guidance system , had gone off target . But after completing its initial inquiry , the army now has returned to its first version -- that Hamas militants fired from inside the school compound . The army has also questioned the figure of 43 dead , saying that it was manipulated by Hamas and is too high , given the limited explosive power of a mortar shell . <p> The director of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq , Shawan Jabarin , said in an interview that the Israelis knew that the school was sheltering civilians . <p> ' ' While they did not attack the school directly , they have to take into account civilians there . Because they did n't take that into account , and they knew the shells would fragment , they did n't take care with civilian lives , ' he said . ' ' They bear the responsibility . Under international law , if you do n't take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ' <p> Witnesses , including Hanan Abu Khajib , 39 , said that Hamas fired just outside the school compound , probably from the secluded courtyard of a house across the street , 25 yards from the school . Israeli return fire , some minutes later , also landed outside the school , along the southwest wall , killing two Hamas fighters . Nearly all the casualties were in the street outside the compound , with only three people wounded from shrapnel inside the walls . <p> The United Nations relief agency takes great care not to harbor militants in its buildings in order to protect civilians and their children , said the agency 's spokesman , Christopher Gunness . The agency normally deals with as much as half of Gaza 's population of 1.5 million , and it is eager to make clear that its workers are neutral and not to be fired upon . <p> Mr. Gunness and other agency officials say that they do not want to get into a fight with Israel over allegations of war crimes , though they stress that they had provided the map @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Israeli military . But they are troubled by regular Israeli allegations , most recently by the Foreign Ministry and by Avi Dichter , Israel 's minister of public security and former head of the Shin Bet counterterrorism agency , that the agency has been infiltrated by Hamas partisans and fighters , which may , Mr. Gunness said , lead young Israeli soldiers to believe that the agency is a justifiable target . <p> Israel , too , has tried to avoid a public fight with the agency , sending a senior Defense Ministry official to express his regrets for the death of an agency driver -- whose killing the United Nations attributed to Israel but Israel denied it -- and to say that Israel appreciates the work the agency does in Gaza , diplomats and Israeli officials said . <p> But the legal question of war crimes is different . <p> First , if Hamas fired from inside or even next to the United Nations school , knowing that it was an agency building and thus trying to use its neutrality for protection , endangering civilians , then the Hamas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ B'Tselem , an Israeli human rights group . They also , by firing , turned the place from which they fired into a legitimate military target -- as mosques became legitimate targets because Hamas stored large caches of rockets and weaponry inside them . <p> Investigators would then have to decide if Israeli troops fired back with appropriate weapons , and with the appropriate balancing of military benefit for the entire operation against potential civilian harm . <p> ' ' The important issue is how the Israeli forces balanced the military benefit of hitting the target with the expected collateral damage to civilians , ' said the Israeli army chief legal officer . ' ' As I understand it , I do n't think they expected this number of casualties . When you look at mortar fire , you do n't expect 43 casualties -- if in fact there were 43 casualties . We think a wall collapsed or there was another explosion . It 's not clear . ' <p> The Israeli mortars had GPS guidance , the army said . But a commander must also consider the probability that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to go off target , then it 's not something you have to take into account , ' the legal officer said . ' ' But I do n't know how much the soldiers were aware of who was inside the building -- maybe they should have known better , but getting information to forces in a firefight on the ground is a problem . But if the firing was from outside and they did n't expect the building to be hit , then that affects the judgment . ' <p> There is a ' ' field debriefing ' going on , the officer said . But it is not clear when the investigation will be completed or whether it will be made public . Usually field investigations are internal , with only conclusions revealed , unlike criminal investigations and courts-martial . <p> The Samouni Clan <p> The Israeli ground invasion began Jan. 3 , and in the early hours of Jan. 4 , the International Committee of the Red Cross began hearing of a large clan , the Samounis , who were wounded and trapped by the fierce fighting around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ began asking the Israeli Army for access to the wounded . <p> The Samouni clan said it was moved by Israeli soldiers from house to house , but the Israeli military denies it . The last house was shelled , and some 30 members of the extended family died , raising the question of whether the Israeli Army targeted a house where it knew refugees were sheltering . The Red Cross was not granted access to the area to reach the Samounis and others until Jan. 7 , when four children were found emaciated , next to their dead mothers . <p> It was not clear why the house was shelled , but Maj. Jacob Dallal of the Israeli Army said an investigation showed that no specific buildings in Zeitoun had been chosen as targets that day , and that the army only heard later about the family 's plight . He said that an inquiry showed that the army had not moved the Samouni family from house to house , though they may have done so themselves in response to Israeli calls to leave the battlefield . <p> The Red @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public statement rebuking Israel , charging that the Israeli military had failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded in a timely way . <p> Anne-Sophie Bonefeld , a Red Cross spokeswoman based in Jerusalem , said , ' ' We were really , really shocked by the delay . ' The aim of going public , she said , ' ' was to try to ensure that we never have such a situation again . ' <p> The Red Cross statement also shocked the Israelis , who work well with the Red Cross and trust it , Mr. Regev said . ' ' We found it very troubling , because we take them very seriously , ' he said . ' ' It is incumbent on us in difficult situations to help the I.C.R.C. to do its job . ' <p> Maj. Peter Lerner , spokesman for the Defense Ministry 's coordination office for Gaza , said that access to the battlefield ' ' is severely influenced by the combat going on , ' adding that ' ' tactical coordination was there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sometimes due to intense fighting it did n't work as well . ' <p> But Israel then moved to set up an additional special joint operations room with the main humanitarian agencies near Tel Aviv . <p> Hamas has misused ambulances and Red Crescent and United Nations symbols in the past and is doing so during this conflict , Major Lerner charged . <p> ' ' We 've had gunmen coming out of ambulances and taking up positions here in the last week ; my people saw it , ' he said . ' ' So of course this makes the troops in the field very wary about any vehicles approaching them , and why coordination has to be from the top to the very bottom , all the way down the line to the unit in the field . ' <p> The army 's chief lawyer said about the Samounis : ' ' There was at no stage a policy to not take care of the wounded . We 're trying to improve coordination . But there can be no high intensity fighting in such a densely populated place without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ <p> Since then , the Red Cross has noted improvements , even praising Israel for trying to avoid civilian casualties and provide humanitarian assistance in a briefing for Europeans in Tel Aviv , according to a European diplomat who attended the briefing . <p> Pierre Wettach , head of the organization in Israel and the Palestinian territories , said of the Israel Defense Forces in an interview : ' ' I believe there is a true concern on the part of the I.D.F. to address these things , which are extremely complicated to organize . ' <p> Targets Challenged <p> Human rights groups are also troubled by Israel 's strikes on buildings they believe should be classified as civilian , like the parliament , police stations and the presidential palace . <p> ' ' Some of the targets are government offices of Hamas and the civilian authorities , ' said Jessica Montell of B'Tselem . Unless used for military purposes , she said , ' ' these are not legitimate targets , ' and added , ' ' we have suspicions that the I.D.F. does not respect these regulations . ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ -- its resistance or military wing and its dawa , or social wing , ' a senior intelligence officer said . He argued that Hamas was all of a piece and in a war , its instruments of political and social control were as legitimate a target as its rocket caches . Since June 2007 and the Hamas takeover of Gaza in a brief war with its secular rival Fatah , both Israel and Egypt have tried to seal the territory . But there has been an active smuggling trade through tunnels from Egypt , and a year ago , Hamas blew open the Egyptian border , letting Gazans go to Egypt and shop for food , cooking oil , medicines , refrigerators and the like . But Hamas also used the open border to smuggle in large rockets and other weapons , Israeli officials say . <p> To try to stop rocket attacks from Gaza , Israel halted normal trade with Gaza and kept it on a much reduced diet for electricity , gasoline , diesel and cooking oil , wheat flour and many other items . The idea was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government spokesman , said , a reminder that Israel would not let life be normal under Hamas . <p> But many human rights groups banded together to sue the government in the Supreme Court , alleging violation of international law and ' ' collective punishment of civilians . ' The Israeli government argued that there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza , that basic necessities were provided -- using the United Nations figure for the minimum calories required daily for subsistence -- and the court generally agreed . But the rockets did not stop . <p> The effective closure continued through a six-month cease-fire with Hamas that ended last month , and the shortage of diesel oil for Gaza 's only power generator , for example , meant many hours a day without electricity . That put a strain on hospitals , generators and on the water supply and sewage system , which depend on electric pumps . <p> Nine Israeli human rights groups charged that the fighting had caused a crisis in the health and sanitation systems and have petitioned the Supreme Court again . <p> Sari Bashi , of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of electricity had limited the access to potable water to more than 500,000 people ; she said that there was sewage in the streets and that hospitals were running on generators missing spare parts . Ms. Montell of B'Tselem said that even though Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 , ' ' there is no legal vacuum ' and it retains responsibility for basic needs and trade . ' ' The argument that it 's collective punishment of civilians I find very compelling , ' she said . <p> Replacement for Sanctions <p> But since the war began , fighting has replaced sanctions as a means for stopping the rockets , Mr. Regev said . <p> Philippe Lazzarini , head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs , said that since the war started , ' ' The number of trucks Israel has allowed into Gaza is much higher than during the blockade . ' But he laughed and said , ' ' Anything seems like a big increase when you compare it to practically nothing . ' Major Dallal said that ' ' people lose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ densely populated area , where every time a door is pulled open , a soldier wonders who is behind it . ' <p> The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the Israeli military had acted with ' ' total disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians . ' <p> Major Dallal , however , said the fundamental question , and not just for Israel , was , ' ' How does an army fight a terrorist group ? ' <p> ' ' If we , ' he added , meaning the world , ' ' just see the pictures and do n't use our heads , then the terrorists will always win these public opinion battles . ' ' <p> 
##4060861 Just 14 months ago , at his confirmation hearing , Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey frustrated and angered some senators by refusing to state that waterboarding , the near-drowning technique used on three prisoners by the Central Intelligence Agency , is in fact torture . <p> This week , at his confirmation hearing , Eric H. Holder Jr. , the attorney general-designate , did not hesitate to express a clear view . He noted that waterboarding had been used to torment prisoners during the Inquisition , by the Japanese in World War II and in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge . <p> ' ' We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam , ' Mr. Holder said . ' ' Waterboarding is torture . ' <p> In the view of many historians and legal authorities , Mr. Holder was merely admitting the obvious . He was agreeing with the clear position of his boss-to-be , President-elect Barack Obama , and he was giving an answer that almost certainly was necessary to win confirmation . <p> Yet his statement , amounting to an admission that the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to an unpredictable train of legal and political consequences . It could potentially require a full-scale legal investigation , complicate prosecutions of individuals suspected of committing terrorism and mire the new administration in just the kind of backward look that Mr. Obama has said he would like to avoid . <p> Mr. Holder 's statement came just two days after the Defense Department official in charge of military commissions at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , said in an interview with The Washington Post that she had refused to permit a trial for one detainee there , Mohammed al-Qahtani , because she believed he had been tortured . <p> Together the statements , from a current and an incoming legal official , cover both the Central Intelligence Agency , which has acknowledged waterboarding three captured operatives of Al Qaeda , and the military 's detention program . <p> Legal experts across the political spectrum said the statements would make it difficult for the incoming administration to avoid a criminal investigation of torture , even as most also say a successful prosecution might well be impossible . <p> Two obvious obstacles stand in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Justice Department that declared even the harshest interrogation methods to be legal , and a provision in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that grants strong legal protections to government employees who relied on such legal advice in counterterrorism programs . <p> Still , Jennifer Daskal , senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch , said , ' ' It would be contrary to the principles of the criminal justice system for the attorney general to say he believes a very serious crime has been committed and then to do nothing about it . ' <p> Charles D. Stimson , who served as the Defense Department 's top official on detainee affairs from 2004 to 2007 and is now a senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation , said the statements ' ' certainly will increase the pressure on Holder to mount some kind of investigation . ' <p> In addition to domestic political pressures , the United States appears to have a legal obligation as a party to the international Convention against Torture to follow up on the torture statements . That treaty requires signatory states to conduct a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction . ' <p> The Bush administration placed its interrogation operations offshore , at the American base in Cuba and at secret C.I.A . sites , and officials have sometimes argued that they were not on territory under American jurisdiction . But that assertion has been eroded by court decisions concerning the Guantanamo detention center , and it is unlikely that the Obama administration would use such a loophole to avoid the torture convention 's effect . <p> ' ' There 's a moral , legal and practical obligation of the United States to follow this allegation in good faith wherever it leads , ' said Juan E. Mendez , a veteran human rights lawyer who is president of the International Center for Transitional Justice in New York . <p> Where such an inquiry might lead is an unsettling question for departing Bush administration officials , who have long worried that aggressive policies could make them vulnerable to civil or criminal liability . <p> If rank-and-file interrogators are protected by the Justice Department 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawyers who gave the assurances ? What about the senior officials , including President Bush , who approved the use of waterboarding and other such tactics ? <p> Such questions are so legally daunting and politically complex that Mr. Obama has played down , while not ruling out , the possibility of a criminal investigation or a national commission to examine past policies . In an interview with ABC last Sunday , he said ' ' my orientation 's going to be to move forward ' rather than looking back . <p> In recent weeks , Mr. Bush , Vice President Cheney and other officials have strongly defended their counterterrorism methods and credited them with preventing attacks on the United States since 2001 . Their implicit argument -- that the Obama administration should not question policies that protected Americans -- was made more explicit and personal by Michael V. Hayden , the departing C.I.A . director , in a session with reporters on Thursday . <p> ' ' If I 'm going to go to an officer and say , ' I 've got a truth commission , or I want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we 've got this guy from the bureau who wants to talk to you , ' Mr. Hayden said , it would discourage such a C.I.A . officer from taking risks on behalf of the new president 's policies . <p> ' ' We have no right to ask this guy to bet his kid 's college education on who 's going to win the off-year election , ' Mr. Hayden said , alluding to legal fees that such a C.I.A . officer might face . <p> At his confirmation hearing , Mr. Holder was asked by Senator Orrin G. Hatch , Republican of Utah , whether he would pursue a criminal investigation of the interrogation programs . <p> Mr. Holder hedged his response , saying , ' ' Senator , no one 's above the law , and we will follow the evidence , the facts , the law , and let that take us where it should . ' <p> But he added , quoting Mr. Obama , that ' ' we do n't want to criminalize policy differences ' and finally pleaded for time to study the matter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I 'm going to have to do , ' Mr. Holder said , ' ' is to become more familiar with what happened that led to the implementation of these policies . ' <p> 
##4060862 And then there was one . <p> Not long ago , three truly mass-market newsmagazines came out every week to tell Americans about world and national events , and it was a hugely lucrative business . Media empires were built on the idea . <p> But with readers and ads melting away , and more media outlets available to get the same information faster , U.S. News & World Report took itself out of that competition in 2008 , and Newsweek may be poised to step back from it this year , leaving Time as the one playing something closest to the traditional newsweekly game , and making money at it . <p> But in fact , the entire category , Time included , has already transformed itself . The business of telling people what happened in the last week is just about gone , in favor of telling them how to think about the news -- much like a rising competitor , The Economist -- and the magazines resemble one another less , each having chosen a distinct direction . <p> People have asked for a generation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pressing question than ever , as the recession pummels the magazine industry . Magazine advertising pages fell 11.7 percent in 2008 , and the categories that newsmagazines relied on most heavily -- cars , pharmaceuticals and financial services -- posted much steeper declines . Industry analysts predict that 2009 will be worse . <p> But for now , the answer may be that newsweeklies are already gone , having evolved into something else . <p> ' ' We 're not in the business of telling people the news , ' said Richard Stengel , managing editor of Time , a product of Time Warner 's Time Inc. division . ' ' News has become a commodity . They already know the news . ' <p> Among the big three , only Time seems content where it is . While U.S. News and Newsweek struggle financially , Time generated a profit of near $50 million in 2008 , in part by sharply cutting costs , according to Time Inc. executives who are privy to the finances but who asked to remain anonymous to discuss data that was not made public . <p> @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pages in 2008 than they did in 2004 , but Time sold more pages , and at higher prices , according to media buyers . As part of a much larger chain , it has advantages over its competitors in combining ad sales efforts and back-office costs with other magazines . <p> Unable to compete with the immediacy of television , cable and then the Internet , newsmagazines have been moving for decades in the direction of analysis , commentary and news-related feature articles . That trend has accelerated in recent years , driven by financial pressures . The magazines editorial staffs are about half as big as they were in the 1990s , and they have shuttered many of the bureaus they once had around the world . <p> They still produce some deep , original reporting . But these days , they are more likely to offer a comprehensive survey of a subject to present an argument or offer a prescription -- like Newsweek 's recent cover article on why President-elect Barack Obama may come to embrace Vice President Dick Cheney 's view of executive power , or Time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . <p> ' ' Time and Newsweek have definitely become more about views , ' said Victor Navasky , a journalism professor at Columbia University , and a former publisher and editor of The Nation . And as a strategy , he said , ' ' I think that makes sense . ' <p> ' ' I do n't see the audience going down , so the question is how much of it will continue to be on paper versus online , ' he added . ' ' And no one can say yet . ' <p> Newsweek , owned by The Washington Post Company , is planning a major overhaul this year . It has not made its new vision public , but executives have said it will strive to be a ' ' thought leader , ' competing more with The Economist than with Time -- in other words , a big stride in the direction it was already headed . The strategy includes a major reduction in circulation and operating costs and a focus on an elite audience to attract advertisers . <p> ' ' I think a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fourth person in your bridge game , ' said Jon Meacham , editor of Newsweek . ' ' Sometimes they 're the most delightful person in the world , sometimes they get drunk and throw up on you . But enough times in a year , when something happens , that 's the first place you want to go to hear what they have to say . ' <p> To that end , Newsweek has bet heavily on the writing of name-brand journalists , familiar presences on television as well as in print , like Fareed Zakaria , Mr. Meacham and Christopher Hitchens . <p> Time has done some of the same , with writers like Joe Klein and Michael Kinsley , but it has not staked its identity on those stars to the same extent . ( The Economist represents the opposite extreme ; its writers names do not appear with their articles . ) Playing catch-up on TV exposure , Mr. Stengel said Time was talking with another Time Warner property , CNN , about creating a Time program . <p> Newsweek has tried harder to be controversial ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Case for Gay Marriage , ' generated hundreds of thousands of e-mail messages , and leading bloggers weighed in on it for several days . <p> But it can be tough to stand out in the crowded field of magazines offering opinion , analysis and well-known writers . As a weekly , Newsweek can be more topical than monthlies like The Atlantic , but it remains to be seen if the new strategy will work . <p> Each issue of Time still includes several pages in the front of the magazine with an overview of the week 's events . Newsweek and The Economist offer much less of that . <p> ' ' That kind of being all things to all people is culturally tough for Time and Newsweek to get away from , because that is what they were , ' said Steven Kotok , general manager of The Week , another kind of newsweekly . ' ' Personally , I think they 're improving their products with the directions they 're going . ' <p> Last year , U.S. News , the perennial third-place competitor owned by Mortimer B. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ products and services as about news . It went from publishing weekly to biweekly , and then announced that it would become a monthly and lowered its rate base -- the circulation promised to advertisers -- to 1.5 million , from 2 million . <p> It does not disclose financial information , but executives at other magazine companies say U.S. News loses money . <p> Newsweek also loses money , the Post Company has acknowledged , though it has not said how much . Through the first nine months of last year , the company 's magazine division -- Newsweek and a group of smaller properties -- reported an operating loss of $27 million on $176 million in revenue . <p> Two British-owned upstarts have cut into the audience for the domestic newsmagazines . The Economist has United States circulation approaching 800,000 , a number that has roughly doubled in seven years . Its ad pages actually rose last year , and it charges premium prices to both readers and advertisers . <p> The Week , which began publishing in this country in 2003 and has circulation over 500,000 , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staff of just 15 , and almost all of its content consists of greatly condensed versions of news and opinion pieces that have appeared in other publications -- material it does not pay for . <p> At Time and Newsweek , the traditional competition for circulation has essentially ended . Newsweek dropped its rate base to 2.6 million , from 3.1 million a year ago , and people briefed on its plans said it was likely to go below 2 million by next year . Time lowered its rate base two years ago , to3.25 million , from 4 million , and is standing pat at that level . <p> The newsweeklies have cut back sharply on spending for advertising and telemarketing to chase new readers -- customers they were able to win over only by charging steadily less for subscriptions . <p> Still , Time 's leaders insisted that despite the trends around them , the current circulation was sustainable . <p> ' ' The future of a mass , general-interest newsmagazine is still a very good proposition , ' Mr. Stengel said . But , he added , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 
##4060863 In the immortal words of Yogi Berra , it 's deja vu all over again . <p> Was n't it just four months ago that the government was racing to save the American International Group , forcing the sale of weak banks and writing huge checks to stabilize the teetering banking system ? The worst was over -- or so we were given to believe . <p> It sure has n't worked out that way . In November , not long after it was handed $25 billion in new capital , Citigroup was back for more -- another $20 billion in bailout money and a government backstop of more than $300 billion in potential losses . This week , alas , it 's Bank of America ' s turn . It came crawling back because of the huge write-down of its shiny new toy , Merrill Lynch . It got another $20 billion and a backstop against losses of $118 billion in troubled assets . There are rumors that Wells Fargo might also need more capital . <p> When is it going to end ? Because of declining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ' ' It 's like putting money in a pothole that keeps getting bigger , ' said Daniel Alpert , the managing partner at Westwood Capital . And it 's not over yet . Goldman Sachs says the world banking system has absorbed about $1 trillion in losses -- but there is likely to be another $1.1 trillion yet to go . <p> The response has got to stop being so haphazard . Think about it : Citigroup is slimming down . Bank of America is bulking up . The government is essentially backing both approaches . It makes no sense . <p> I started wondering if there is a better approach -- something that does n't feel like plugging holes in a leaky dike . Perhaps this new idea being discussed in Washington of creating a government bank to buy up toxic assets might do the trick . It turns out I 'm not the only one who 's been asking this question lately . <p> ' ' I do n't want to have to do any more of these one-offs , ' said Sheila C. Bair , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interview on Friday . ' ' Nobody does . ' She was referring to the Bank of America deal , which had been completed just days before . But she could just as well have been talking about the Bush administration 's entire approach to the financial crisis . <p> Think back to last September . After the A.I.G. rescue -- which of course followed the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac takeovers , the Merrill Lynch sale to Bank of America and the disastrous Lehman bankruptcy -- Ben S. Bernanke , chairman of the Federal Reserve , and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr . concluded that they needed to find a systemic approach to fixing the huge problems in the banking system . They came up with the $700 billion bailout bill . <p> Do you remember the original idea for the TARP money ? The government was going to use funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to buy up bad assets from banks and other institutions , thus taking them off the balance sheets and keeping them from dragging down the institutions . But by the time TARP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first was that nobody in Washington -- or on Wall Street , for that matter -- had a clear idea of how to value the toxic assets the government was proposing to buy . And second , the banking system had deteriorated so badly that most of that first $350 billion had to be shoveled into the banking system as recapitalizations . In addition , Ms. Bair and others forced the sale of insolvent institutions like Washington Mutual and Wachovia to healthier banks . <p> That initial recapitalization was necessary . Without that government-financed capital , many more banks would have been insolvent , or would have been hoarding capital , fearing future asset write-downs . But the underlying problem has never gone away . The toxic assets are still on the books . Banks still do n't really know what they are worth , so they continue to be written down in piecemeal fashion . And now , with the recession getting worse by the day , other assets , like commercial real estate and credit card loans , are going south as well . ' ' It 's a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the banking consultant Bert Ely said . <p> ( A quick reminder for readers who wonder why the banks should n't be allowed to go bankrupt , like any other company that made the kinds of mistakes banks made . The answer is that the banking system is the engine of the economy ; if banks stop functioning , economic activity will grind to a halt . Indeed , at least some of the pain we are going through now is the result of the banking system 's not functioning properly . ) <p> The key point here is that any systemic solution has to deal with the bad assets , once and for all . They need to be properly valued and they need to be isolated . ' ' How do you know how big the hole is on the balance sheet of Citi until you have a decent valuation ? ' asks the Princeton economist Alan Blinder . That is the primary reason the banking system ca n't attract private capital and has to rely on the government -- no prospective investor has any idea how deep the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when these assets are either written down to zero ( unlikely ) or start trading again . <p> The second point is that the next round of recapitalization -- and it now appears the next $350 billion of TARP money is going to be used primarily for that purpose -- needs to encompass the entire banking system , and needs to be truly enormous . Simon Johnson , a professor at the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. , and a well-known blogger on banking issues , says he believes that it will take $1 trillion to really do the trick -- money , presumably , the government will get back once the banking system is healthy again , and private capital comes in to replace the government 's capital . <p> ' ' It 's not rocket science , ' Mr. Johnson said . ' ' When you do a recap , you need overkill . But then , you also have to take the bad assets off the books . ' In the recent deals it cut with Citi and Bank of America , the government tried to ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , not mine -- by agreeing to absorb losses on securities that have been identified as toxic . But that is still a piecemeal , one-bank-at-a-time approach . <p> Mr. Blinder , a former Fed governor , told me that he thought the government should be thinking about the entire problem differently : ' ' It should go market to market instead of institution to institution . ' He pointed to actions by the Federal Reserve as a possible model : it has revived the commercial paper market by creating a commercial paper funding facility -- and has done the same with several other important debt markets . In effect , it is guaranteeing the smooth functioning of those markets . And that approach has worked . <p> As it turns out , Ms. Bair -- who , thankfully , will remain the head of the F.D.I.C. in the new administration -- has been thinking along the same lines . She , Mr. Bernanke and Treasury officials have begun talking about a new kind of bank , one that would be created and capitalized by the federal government , and whose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instead of ring-fencing bad assets one bank at a time , it would warehouse them in one place , much the same way the Resolution Trust Corporation did for real estate assets during the savings and loan crisis . <p> Would the sale of these assets cause further write-downs ? Of course . That is why you would need to throw more capital into the banks as part of a systemic solution . But at least you would finally know how deep the hole is . ' ' You would have to mark the assets at the price they were selling for , ' Ms. Bair told me . ' ' I think that is an advantage . ' At long last , there would be some certainty . Private capital wo n't return to the banking system until that happens . <p> ' ' The only rub in the ointment is back to the original problem : How do you determine the market price ? ' said Josh Rosner , a managing director of the research firm Graham Fisher . We avoided dealing with the issue in September ; this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Charles E. Schumer also worries about the total cost . ' ' I 'm hearing $1 trillion , ' he told me . ' ' That seems low . ' But , he added , ' ' if they can adequately answer that question , the idea has a lot of appeal , both on Capitol Hill and , I think , in the financial markets . ' <p> In past financial crises , it has often been the bold and brilliant stroke that has restored confidence and revived the financial system . During the German hyperinflation of the 1920s , the government actually created a new currency . During the Latin American crisis of the late 1980s , the United States government created so-called Brady bonds , which cleverly allowed banks to get their Latin American debt off their balance sheets by turning it into tradable instruments . <p> And here we are again , in need of bold action and strategic thinking and the restoration of confidence . Inauguration Day ca n't come a moment too soon . <p> 
##4060864 Among some Orthodox Jews , one response to a member of the faith who egregiously violates their religion 's fundamental values and beliefs is to rend clothes and treat the transgressor as if he were dead -- sitting shiva , or mourning , for him . <p> For the more secular there is a different response : convene a panel discussion . <p> Thursday night at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in Manhattan , it was Option 2 : the Ivy League professors Simon Schama and Michael Walzer and the Wall Street powerbrokers Mort Zuckerman , Michael Steinhardt and William Ackman gathered to discuss ' ' Madoff : A Jewish Reckoning . ' <p> Or , as the program asked , ' ' Where did this man come from ? ' <p> Seventeen-degree weather , airport-style security and a mandatory coat-check queue longer than the Rockettes chorus line did not deter an overflow crowd from attending an effort to shed light on Bernard L. Madoff , the man said to have bilked scores of Jewish friends and philanthropies out of billions of dollars . <p> Mr. Zuckerman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his charitable contributions evaporate in a Madoff enterprise . He started off the evening by declaring that he objected to the discussion 's premise : that somehow Jews should have to account for ' ' a sociopath . ' <p> Kenneth Lay of the Enron Corporation was not referred to as a ' ' prominent Protestant energy fraudster , ' he noted , nor is Gov . Rod Blagojevich of Illinois referred to as a ' ' prominent Serbian-American politician . ' <p> Then why are you here , an audience member asked . <p> ' ' I am here to disagree with the essence of the theme , ' A Jewish Reckoning , ' he said . ' ' I do not accept this at all as a Jewish thing . ' <p> While a public event , the gathering retained the feel of a family affair : lots of hugs , good-natured joshing and sharp , unexplained comments that implied subterranean tensions . <p> ' ' YIVO does n't have a dime invested with Madoff , ' said Martin Peretz , the panel 's moderator , who is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chairman of YIVO 's board of overseers . <p> Mr. Ackman , chief executive of the Pershing Square Management hedge fund , responded , ' ' YIVO does n't have a dime . ' <p> Speakers told Jewish jokes and offered Talmudic wisdom ; impatient audience members shouted out comments and questions ; and after one panelist -- Mr. Zuckerman -- left early , everyone else talked about him . <p> ( In fairness , everyone , including the speakers who disagreed with Mr. Zuckerman , seemed sorry he was not there to respond . ) <p> One major point of contention was how much anti-Semitic venom the Madoff affair would revive , particularly at a time when world opinion is so negatively focused on Israel . Mr. Zuckerman argued that no one since Julius Rosenberg , executed for espionage in 1953 , had ' ' so damaged the image and self-respect of Jews . ' <p> Mr. Steinhardt , a noted philanthropist , was decidedly more optimistic . American Jews have ' ' tremendous insecurity , ' he said ; perhaps surviving this debacle , he suggested , might ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ' <p> The one good that may come out of this , Mr. Steinhardt continued , is that it might prompt Jews to re-evaluate their charitable giving in these leaner times . Naming names , he called a handful of Jewish agencies ' ' lousy , miserable , corrupt organizations ' ' ; he said contributors were ' ' just plain stupid , ' for giving them money . ' ' They spend $150 million for about 18 anti-Semitic incidents per year , ' he said . <p> Mr. Schama , a history professor at Columbia , urged a vigorous offensive against any bias , but also questioned whether American Jews were overly sensitive . Was everyone assuming a tidal wave of anti-Semitic poison , he asked , ' ' or do we know that the recruiting centers in Montana have been exceptionally busy this past month ? ' <p> As for moral issues , Mr. Walzer , of Princeton , said , ' ' I 'm a moral philosopher , but I do n't think morality is all that important in the way we think about Wall Street and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the root of the business world , he noted : ' ' We have to assume human behavior is what it is , and that 's what you need government for . ' <p> It was Mr. Ackman who made the most unexpected comments . Aside from Mr. Madoff , who has said that he ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme , according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court , the other people who stand accused are ' ' innocent till proven guilty , ' Mr. Ackman reminded the audience . <p> In 2002 Mr. Ackman himself was briefly investigated by Eliot Spitzer , then the New York attorney general , after Mr. Ackman brought attention to questionable accounting by MBIA , a holding company . He was ultimately cleared , but during that period , Mr. Ackman said , his lawyers would not permit him to defend himself publicly . Mr. Ackman also referred to his friend J. Ezra Merkin , who is being investigated after investing his clients millions with Mr. Madoff . One of those clients was Mr. Zuckerman , who during his remarks had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ' ' enablers , ' and ' ' not much better ' than the ' ' sociopath ' himself . <p> Mr. Ackman said that Mr. Madoff had seemed to check out on all fronts , and that Mr. Merkin 's funds had all been audited by top-flight accounting firms . Mr. Zuckerman probably did n't bother to look at the prospectus or statements , Mr. Ackman said , perhaps relegating the paperwork to a secretary . Mr. Merkin might have made a terrible mistake , but he was not dishonest , Mr. Ackman maintained . Mr. Steinhardt seconded the notion . <p> Those comments particularly roused the crowd , which apparently included some Madoff investors , prompting Mr. Peretz to declare : ' ' Ezra Merkin is a side story . Let 's not continue to discuss him . ' <p> Questions directed toward the bankers continued . ' ' I want a Jewish question , ' Mr. Peretz demanded , ' ' for the professors . ' <p> Someone asked about the investment strategies of Jewish charities . That question was Jewish , but it was n't for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked one of his own : was there anything about Jews participation in the money culture today -- perhaps , say , excessive expenditures like a bar mitzvah held at Madison Square Garden -- that deserved more thoughtful review . <p> An outraged man in the balcony interrupted , saying that for hundreds of years , conspicuous consumption had been used as an excuse to criticize Jews . The issue returned when a young woman said that she and her under-30 friends were n't worried about anti-Semitic flare-ups but did share a vague sense of shame . <p> Mr. Walzer , a self-described social democrat , said that the shame arose from a Jewish sense of responsibility for one another , and a commitment to speak out against wrongdoing . <p> As for ' ' wanton extravagance , ' perhaps the medieval idea of sumptuary laws aimed at curbing conspicuous consumption make sense , he said : ' ' I would pay attention to those feelings and let them grow . ' ' <p> 
##4060865 Some passengers screamed , others tucked their heads between their knees , and several prayed over and over , ' ' Lord , forgive me for my sins . ' But a man named Josh who was sitting in the exit row did exactly what everyone is supposed to but few ever do : He pulled out the safety card and read the instructions on how to open the exit door . <p> US Airways Flight 1549 smacked the Hudson River the way a speedboat lands after jumping over a wake -- with a thud that rattled teeth and nerves and stunned the cabin silent . It was as if everyone was waiting for someone else to shout in pain , and no one did . <p> Then Josh stood up . ' ' Someone tried to pull the door in , ' another passenger recalled , ' ' and he said , ' No , you 've got to throw it out . He twisted it and threw it out . ' <p> Thus began some of the most harrowing minutes of what Gov . David A. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It was a perfect landing and a perfect ending : Everyone survived . But from the moment the plane hit the water to the moment the last person reached dry land , scores of human dramas unfolded . <p> Friendships were struck on a frigid wing . Chivalrous heroes emerged beside selfish elbow-thrusters in what one survivor described as an ' ' orderly mess ' and another called ' ' controlled panic . ' There was tension , cooperation and even pure comedy , as more than a dozen passengers recounted in interviews on the day after in New York , Charlotte , N.C. , and beyond . <p> There was the woman in the fur coat who asked a stranger to go back inside the slowly sinking plane to fetch her purse . The man who carried his garment bag onto the wing with him . The mother who had to climb over seats holding her 9-month-old son to avoid a stampede , and the man who eventually helped them to safety . An older woman who walked with great difficulty , and a young one who tenderly kissed her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from simple pleas to the heavens to the Lord 's Prayer , only halfway completed when the jet began to swim . <p> The flight , which left La Guardia Airport late after a gate change , was packed with a diverse cross-section : 23 frequent-flying Bank of America executives returning home after meetings in New York ; a band of buddies on a golf trip to Myrtle Beach , S.C. ; a 74-year-old man who had just attended his brother 's funeral ; a family trying to visit a grandmother before her surgery . And , in Seat 13F , Emma Sophina , 26 , a pop singer from Australia , who was working on a song , titled ' ' Bittersweet , ' forever linked in her mind now to a day that was anything but . <p> Martin Sosa , 48 , who lives in the West Village and was traveling with his wife and two young children , recalled thinking , ' ' O.K. , so you survived the impact , now you are going to drown . ' He added , ' ' The plane is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ' <p> Inside , as if heeding one collective thought , everyone moved to the rear of the cabin , only to find the exit doors there locked tight and water rising as the tail dipped below the surface . <p> ' ' If that door opened , everything would go under , ' said Brad Wentzell , 31 , a patio-door salesman from Charlotte , the flight 's destination . The crowd turned and began moving up the aisle all at once . <p> ' ' Everybody 's blocking everybody off and there 's a woman and a child , ' Mr. Wentzell said . ' ' She 's screaming that people were blocking them off . ' <p> The woman was Mr. Sosa 's wife , Tess , who was carrying their 9-month-old son , Damian . Mr. Sosa was with their 4-year-old , Sofia . ' ' People were just saying , ' Move , move , move ! ' he recalled . ' ' Some people were actually gracious enough to let me go by with a child and kind of move my way up . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , and finally began trying to crawl over the backs of seats . ' ' She did n't want to get crushed by the stampede , ' her husband said . Another passenger heard someone cry , ' ' Get the baby out ! ' <p> Mr. Wentzell , the door salesman , moved to help . ' ' I kind of bear-hugged them and picked them up and said , ' You 're coming with me , and carried them to the front to the exit , ' he said . He passed them off to a stranger standing at the door , who helped them onto a wing . <p> But the life raft attached to the plane was upside down in the river , just out of reach . Mr. Wentzell turned and found another passenger , Carl Bazarian , an investment banker from Florida who , at 62 , was twice his age . Mr. Wentzell grabbed the wrist of Mr. Bazarian , who grabbed a third man who held onto the plane . Mr. Wentzell then leaned out to flip the raft . <p> ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wentzell said . ' ' We got the raft stabilized and we got on . ' A man went into the water , and the door salesman and the banker hauled him aboard . He curled in a fetal position , freezing . <p> On another wing , Craig Black , a 46-year-old auditor , stood at the tip and thought of the Titanic , as in , he said , ' ' There would n't have been enough rafts for everyone . ' <p> Don Norton , 35 , one of three passengers who work at LendingTree.com , a Charlotte-based financial services company , had opened one of the other emergency exits . Then he had to figure out what to do with the hatch , finally tossing it into the river . <p> He was the first to step onto the slippery wing , and struggled to maintain his balance in his black Aldo dress shoes as he made room for those behind . About 20 or 30 people had joined him when he realized that in his rush to remove the door , he had forgotten to grab @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he heard that announcement ? At that moment , ' ' the woman next to me handed me my seat cushion , ' he recalled . ' ' She had hers and handed me mine . We bonded . ' <p> He needed it , too , because the New York Waterway ferry stopped about three feet from the wing 's edge , so he had to jump in and swim . The cushion kept his head dry . Lucille Palmer , 85 , grabbed for her pocketbook . Her daughter , Diane Higgins , 58 , told her to leave it . <p> Dick Richardson , 57 , a frequent flier , had , upon takeoff , done his ritual count of the rows between his seat and the nearest exit ( eight ) before closing his eyes to try to go to sleep . On impact , he moved his BlackBerry from his belt clip to the inside pocket of his blue-gray tweed blazer . <p> Debbie Ramsey , 48 , of Knoxville , Tenn. , said she hesitated a minute over leaving her Eddie Bauer down jacket , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for her 2-year-old grandson , but grabbed her seat cushion instead . <p> Dave Sanderson , 47 , a salesman for Oracle , said he saw a woman in her 60s pulling her luggage out of the overhead bin . ' ' I just started screaming , ' Get out , get out ! She said , ' I need my stuff , ' Mr. Sanderson said . ' ' Another gentleman who did a great job -- he 's a hero -- actually picked her up and threw her on the lifeboat . ' Her luggage was floating in the river . <p> David Sontag , who had just buried his brother in New York , recalled a man in the doorway , demanding the passengers count off as they passed ; now he believes it was the hero-pilot himself , Capt . Chesley B. Sullenberger III . <p> Nick Gamache , 32 , a software salesman , had moments earlier sent his wife a text message that read , ' ' Planes on fire love you and the kids , ' so he was naturally in a hurry to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him to carefully step into the raft . <p> On the wing , Laurie Crane , 58 , watched the water rise to her waist . ' ' I 'm like , ' I 'm not supposed to drown , ' she said . ' ' This is n't the way I 'm going to go . Keep fighting . So I did . ' <p> The Sosa family made their way slowly onto the right wing . ' ' We were being very cautious because we did n't want to lose hold of our children , and many people were trying to grab our children away from us , ' Mr. Sosa said . Indeed , Mr. Sanderson -- who said that since 9/11 he says a silent prayer every time he boards a flight -- recalled Mrs. Sosa ' ' standing there screaming . ' <p> ' ' The ladies on the lifeboat said , ' Give us the baby , give us the baby , throw us the baby , ' Mr. Sanderson said . ' ' And she would n't do it . ' Eventually , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the wing and myself sort of grabbed her and heaved . ' <p> There was no room on the overcrowded raft for Mr. Sosa . ' ' It was kind of first come first served , ' he said . ' ' I have to say , some things could have been done a little differently to get my wife and kids on board first . ' Mr. Sosa ended up chest-deep in the frigid water , and was soon unable to feel his legs -- his fingers stayed numb through Friday -- but the children were fine , and joined their parents on the ' ' Today ' show on Friday morning . <p> ' ' My daughter said , ' Daddy , the plane turned into a boat , ' Mr. Sosa recalled . <p> The rescue boats streamed toward the jet from all directions . A police helicopter hovered just above the river , and divers dropped down . <p> Aboard one of the ferries that helped in the rescue , Captain Sullenberger took a metal clipboard with the manifest up to the wheelhouse , and used the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other vessels : Everyone was alive . <p> Billy Campbell , 49 , a television executive , had watched water seeping through seams in the plane 's windows and , seeing the clogged aisles , started climbing over the seats instead . His waterlogged shoes gave him little traction , so he would put a knee on a seat , fall and keep moving . He reached the exit on the right wing , but it was blocked . The exit on the left was clear , but the wing was full of people . <p> The pilot and the flight attendants had beckoned Mr. Campbell to the front , and he ended up on the same raft as the pilot . <p> ' ' I said , ' Thank you , and held his arm , ' Mr. Campbell recalled , ' ' and he said , ' You 're welcome . ' <p> Maryann Bruce , 48 , of Cornelius , N.C. , said that while others were ' ' thinking of dying , I was actually thinking about living . I wanted to see my kids and my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disasters before , including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center , where she worked then . ' ' I must have nine lives , ' she said . ' ' I was vacationing in Honolulu and had to be evacuated for a tsunami . I was skiing in Denver and had an avalanche . I flew into the eye of a hurricane . I was at the big L.A. earthquake . ' <p> At a downtown hotel where survivors waited to meet with airline representatives , one passenger ordered a martini . Before long , nine of the passengers were exchanging stories , and wine was poured , and someone decided he had seen enough of New York City for one day , thank you . The group returned to La Guardia , where they boarded US Airways Flight 2591 to Charlotte , which took off just before 10 p.m . <p> ' ' They applauded us , ' said Mr. Wentzell , the door salesman . ' ' We had some wine and we thought about just how great it was to be alive . ' ' <p> 