Collateral Damage

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A convicted felon charged with killing a 75-year-old South Dakota hospice nurse so that he could steal her car and drive to Washington, D.C., described the woman during a TV interview as "collateral damage" in what he envisioned as a scheme to kill President Obama. James McVay, 41, is charged with first-degree murder and burglary in the weekend stabbing death of Maybelle Schein. During a jailhouse interview with television station WKOW, in Madison, Wis., where McVay was arrested Saturday, he said that Schein was "in my way and I removed her. " "He did it just more or less as kind of a lark, I guess," Schein's brother, Ted Fetters, said yesterday.

EVERYONE is being oddly judgmental about the Cheney shooting incident in assuming it was an accident. After all, this shooter is already known for his homicidal tendencies because of his part in the international-law-violating, pre-emptive attacks on Iraq. Why such a mass-homicidal person is permitted to carry a gun is just one question. It may well be that he put that aspect of himself aside in his quest to kill small birds in Texas, but we need to keep an open mind. Perhaps those quail were security threats, carriers of avian flu or illegal immigrants, though that information must remain classified.

When Tiger Woods cracked up his car at the end of the driveway on Thanksgiving night, the golfer came away from the wreck with a long list of personal and professional collateral damage - some of which is still up on the lift in his private repair shop - and, more tangibly, he sustained a split lip and a sore neck. Fast-forward through the last five months, as Woods dealt with the messy unraveling of his world, still executed a reasonably quick return to golf, and now is forced to withdraw mid-round from a major tournament because of . . . a neck injury.

We're not sure the lessons of this case will be all that helpful to American justice or financial markets. . . . Maybe there's some rough justice in putting [Martha] Stewart in an orange jumpsuit for fibbing about the circumstances of [a stock] sale with her broker. But in a case ostensibly brought on behalf of sticking up for the forgotten "little guy" . . . prosecutors might have weighed the price paid by the truly innocent here: all the Martha Stewart Living shareholders, employees, executives, and so forth whose livelihoods have suffered tremendously since this case first broke into the headlines and whose futures, like their company, are now in limbo.

A heroic firefighter hunts down terrorists, avenging innocent lives lost during surprise attacks on the United States. This, the plotline of Collateral Damage, is no mere wish-fulfillment fantasy hatched in the aftermath of Sept. 11. It is pumped-up, feel-the-burn vigilantism starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, completed before the terrorist attacks and originally scheduled for an October release. As suspense craftsmanship, Collateral Damage is terrifically well wrought by director Andrew Davis, the filmmaker of The Fugitive.

IN CLINTON'S OWN BACK YARD Washington is a place of murder. Recently an elderly woman was found in her house wrapped in a rug, her throat slit. Dealers kill dealers almost every day; innocents get caught in between. A gang member opened fire on young children in a swimming pool. And in the Oval Office the President, to send a signal to Saddam Hussein, ordered a bombing raid that he knew could well result in, as they say in the business, "collateral damage. " As payback for a foiled murder plot, the United States killed innocent people.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm starting to think maybe the country would be better off if we put all the politicians into Bedlam and let them carry on from there. Congress is making the president, scandal and all, look like a titan. First, they have a huge fight about whether to rename Washington National Airport after Ronald Reagan, our former president's greatest contribution to aviation having firing a bunch of air traffic controllers who are still mad about it. Ever get the feeling our lawmakers don't have a lot to do there?

Columnist Jeff Greenfield (Op-ed Page, Aug. 5) criticizes some New York liberals for entertaining Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and refusing to confront him on the repressive measures he has instituted. Mr. Greenfield's point may be well taken and those New York liberals should be instructed. However, in reading Mr. Greenfield's open letter to them, I felt that his intent was to persuade his readers to treat anyone sympathizing with the Nicaraguans or advocating a dialogue with Mr. Ortega as soft on injustice.

Next to Normal is, for lack of a better term, a musical tragedy. With its beautifully sung score telling a painful and upsetting story, it challenges conventional expectations of what big Broadway musicals are likely to be. The fine production at the Arden Theatre, directed by Terrence J. Nolen, begins with a huge close-up of a face projected onto the upstage wall (the many stunning and disturbing images were created by Jorge Cousineau). Eyes fly open and we are at once looking and being looked at. The spare set - everything is square or stripes - turns out to be the Goodman family's suburban home.

As with most Americans these days, my mind never strays far from the war we are waging against terrorism. Recently, I had an epiphany about wars and heroes. Terrorism exists in many forms. Heroes and heroines are often disguised as everyday folks. Brave souls who keep marching forward into the face of certain pain and possible death. One lives right in my midst. I see her often. I know the toll the wages of war bring to her body and her spirit. She is my dear friend of 37 years.

Next to Normal is, for lack of a better term, a musical tragedy. With its beautifully sung score telling a painful and upsetting story, it challenges conventional expectations of what big Broadway musicals are likely to be. The fine production at the Arden Theatre, directed by Terrence J. Nolen, begins with a huge close-up of a face projected onto the upstage wall (the many stunning and disturbing images were created by Jorge Cousineau). Eyes fly open and we are at once looking and being looked at. The spare set - everything is square or stripes - turns out to be the Goodman family's suburban home.

Two family-owned nurseries that have been around for generations in the Philadelphia suburbs are wishing the summer hadn't brought unexpected financial heat in the form of the Waterloo Gardens bankruptcy. Both are entangled in the Chapter 11 case filed June 26 by the debt-soaked gardening center that closed its renowned Devon store. Both landed on an unenviable list: creditors holding the 20 largest unsecured claims. And both longtime suppliers of poinsettias, annuals, and other earthly wares to the region's onetime preeminent gardening center are coming to understand the exquisite frustration of being a little guy in a big, old bankruptcy case.

Question: Eight months ago, after a brief illness, my 57-year-old friend's husband passed away. Their marriage had always been a bit rocky, and after his death we learned that he'd been involved in some questionable activities. Needless to say, her emotions ran the gamut from disbelief to anger to grief. During this time, I was there for her to listen, care, and encourage, and supported her decision to seek professional counseling. But now I'm concerned she might be moving too quickly through this process.

The news that NFL players are paid for being able to deliver hits capable of hurting an opponent isn't much of a revelation when you get down to it. That's the nature of the game. Hard hits are celebrated, and just as the NHL and NASCAR owe some popularity to the promise of potential violence at any moment, the NFL puts away a lot of dough because its players smack each other around with great frequency. The league has no problem licensing video games in which the mayhem is taken to cartoonish levels, and has never been bothered by the slavering mythology that NFL Films built around the exploits of guys like Ray Nitschke, Dick Butkus, and Mike Singletary, who were all nice enough when they weren't dismembering opponents.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A convicted felon charged with killing a 75-year-old South Dakota hospice nurse so that he could steal her car and drive to Washington, D.C., described the woman during a TV interview as "collateral damage" in what he envisioned as a scheme to kill President Obama. James McVay, 41, is charged with first-degree murder and burglary in the weekend stabbing death of Maybelle Schein. During a jailhouse interview with television station WKOW, in Madison, Wis., where McVay was arrested Saturday, he said that Schein was "in my way and I removed her. " "He did it just more or less as kind of a lark, I guess," Schein's brother, Ted Fetters, said yesterday.

THE media jumped all over the incident involving the cow that escaped from an Upper Darby slaughterhouse. It received so much attention, Gov. Corbett even issued a "pardon" for the cow. Meanwhile, the media have paid very little attention to the fact that the governor is pen-happy in signing death warrants for humans. Although he's been in office less than six months, he's already signed (at least) four, including one for James "Jimmy" Dennis, whom many people, myself included, believe is innocent.

City Councilman Bill Green's support for a bill to eliminate the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office has earned him some enemies in the African American political community, with State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D., Philadelphia) leading the way. Green obviously was not quite prepared for the political blowback he reaped in June when he cosponsored Councilman Frank DiCicco's bill to eliminate the Sheriff's Office. The political community was abuzz last month after State Rep. Jewell Williams, the city Democratic leadership's choice to succeed Sheriff John Green, had words with Councilman Green at Councilman Curtis Jones Jr.'s birthday bash.

THERE have been any number of times since Sept. 11, 2001, when news from the wars overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan detailed the loss of civilian life. Predator drone strikes, although highly successful in taking out the very worst of the worst, have often been associated with these losses. Chances are that when the stories appear, if you have any reaction at all, it's an acknowledgment that war is hell and that sometimes noncombatants end up in the cross-fire. (I put the blame for their deaths on their terrorist neighbors.

When Tiger Woods cracked up his car at the end of the driveway on Thanksgiving night, the golfer came away from the wreck with a long list of personal and professional collateral damage - some of which is still up on the lift in his private repair shop - and, more tangibly, he sustained a split lip and a sore neck. Fast-forward through the last five months, as Woods dealt with the messy unraveling of his world, still executed a reasonably quick return to golf, and now is forced to withdraw mid-round from a major tournament because of . . . a neck injury.

I can't imagine how much I would have to love a man to dice kabocha squash for his dinner. Along with "clean the squid" and "open the coconut," cooking instructions that involve reducing the size of roly-poly winter squash are easier said than done. This is the time of year when commands such as "cut the butternut squash into 1-inch-thick slices" fall into the lives of home cooks as frequently as autumn leaves. Such recipe directions in no way hint at the battle that must be engaged to do so. This is unfortunate, because nothing says October and November like the warmly orange and comforting dishes that may be made from these sturdy members of the gourd family.