NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: TAX DEDUCTIONS FOR MY BOOK

As I am sending to many publishing agents my book proposals (suggested Title: “Islam, the West and Me: From “madrassa” to monastery”), I could deduct from my income taxes the book’s expenses, according to an advice I have just found.

(See below).

Actually, I could have deducted many years of expenses on my website, and on books, meals, taxis expenses that my newspaper didn’t refund me for.

In my planned book, the first chapter is about almost two decades in the village where I was born and grew-up. I am planning to go back to the village later this year; I should be able to deduct the visit expenses.

Also, the last chapter is on the annual Caribbean cruises during which I learned more about the West and the Westerners. I am planning to take “Queen Victoria,” one of the World’s top cruise ships, and compare it to “Queen Victoria,” the River Nile’s coal-driven paddle ship that I took when leaving my village to the outside world. I should be able to deduct the cruise expense.

Of course, I have to be careful; the advice below says: “Be careful and be honest. Claiming you bought a new boat to learn how to water-ski so that you can write about water-skiing will not cut it, but nearly everything else will fly.”

————————————————–     

NEWS: TAX DEDUCTIONS FOR WRITERS: PAMELA THIBODEAUX

… Unpublished or new writers may be thinking, “Oh, I’m not published so I don’t need to worry about that yet.”

Wrong. IRS rules state that you can claim a tax loss for business expenses even if you’re unpublished.

Some will say that you MUST show a profit, otherwise it is considered a hobby. Wrong! According to my tax advisor, the CPA’s I’ve talked to and those I’ve worked with, the rule states “as long as you can prove you are actively pursuing a career in writing” and as long as the expenses are considered “necessary business expenses” they are deductible…

Most writers will use a Schedule C or Profit and Loss statement to file their business tax. This form is found in your 1040 forms and instructions book or from your local IRS office. You can file a 1040 form with a Schedule C and still take standard deductions in lieu of itemizing. The “Principal Business or Professional Activity Code” (711510) is listed in your 1040 book under the Performing Arts section.

How do you prove you’re “actively pursuing a career in writing” and what are “necessary business expenses”? Here are a few examples:

1. Send letters to agents or editors. Keep a copy and staple their reply to your copy. Postage is deductible as well as return postage on your SASE. Do this via email? Print out a copy of your email query and their response.

2. Buy writing-related books (Writers Market Guide or “how to” books). These are all legitimate expenses. Office supplies (paper, ink, envelopes, business cards, etc.) are also valid expenditures. Have an office set up in your home for your writing? You may be able to write off a portion of your rent or house note and utility bills.

3. Join a writers group. Membership dues are tax deductible. Gas mileage is tax deductible when you travel to meetings or conferences even if your vehicle is normally used everyday. Meals are also tax deductible as long as the meal was business related.

4. Go to a writers conference. Conference fees, hotel expenses, gas mileage and meals are all deductible expenses even for unpublished writers.

5. Have a website? Any fees related to the creation, development and maintenance of this website are tax deductible.

6. Take vacation with your family. Combine this with a little networking by visiting the local writers group.

7. Visit the library, museum, or any other place that you could claim as research. Talk to celebrities, authors and media about your book even if it’s not published. Collect business cards as verification that this was a “working” vacation.

8. Do your children help you by doing research, proof reading, or taking on extra chores so that you have time to write? Their allowance may be deductible. You can pay for contract labor up to $600 per year without providing a 1099 and student income does not have to be reported along with the parent’s income!

9. Pay a housekeeper or babysitter so that you have time to write. All or part of this may be deductible.

10. Pay a CPA or Tax Consultant to do your taxes? Pay for an evaluation or professional critique of your work? These are considered professional fees and services and are tax deductible.

PUBLISHED A BOOK?

Here are some additional items that can be written off as expenses:

1. Promotional expenses (brochures, flyers, press kits, press releases, etc. etc.)

2. Books donated to libraries or given away for promotional purposes (sent to Oprah, swapped with another author, donated for fund raisers, etc) may be deducted at retail value.

3. Books bought for research.

4. Dry-cleaning those nice clothes you wear for speaking engagements, book signings or other author appearances.

5. Postage and/or shipping fees for books sent to wholesalers, retailers, readers, reviewers, etc.

6. Agent fees and commissions.

7. Self-Published or E-published and have to buy copies of your book to resale? Set up costs, cover art, and the charge for producing (or buying) the books are tax deductible!

Remember, if it falls under “Necessary Business Expense” it is deductible!

Worried about being audited? Don’t.

Be careful and be honest. Claiming you bought a new boat to learn how to water-ski so that you can write about water-skiing will not cut it, but nearly everything else will fly.

Most important: good record keeping.

It’s never too early or too late to get organized for tax season. Remember, tax laws change yearly. For more information visit the IRS website @ www.irs.gov.

————————————–

Pamela S. Thibodeaux is a member of Bayou Writers Group and ACRW (American Christian Romance Writers). Her writing has been tagged as “Inspirational with an Edge!”

———————————————–

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: STARBUCKS: THE QUITE AMERICANS

I am entering my fourth decade in America, but I am still learning some basics, like how the Americans worship quietness. Of course, New York City is very noisy and so are Cairo, Calcutta and cities almost everywhere. But, for 31 years I have been using the Washington, DC, subway system and I have been amazed at how relatively quite it is during rush hours.

I found that Christianity — its spirit, if not the established religion – is a major cause, especially after I participated in glasses in meditation, and centering and contemplative prayers. Because of my background, I know the importance of quietness in Sufism. Of course, life in my village was very quiet, but I have found that the real quietness is the one that challenges urban crowds, noise, rush – and rudeness.

But, cities in the West tend to be quieter than those in the East. I have been to cafes in Cairo and to Starbucks in Washington, and found a wide difference is the levels of quietness.

I found more quietness in Starbucks stores near where I live, in Burke, VA, a suburb of Washington. I sometimes look in amazement at people silently standing on line, crossing their arms and avoiding eye contacts.

That was why I found it interesting that immigrants from the Third Word felt unwelcomed when a Starbucks store removed the outside chairs they used to sit on with their coffees and talk.

(Read below).

Most probably, they used to enjoy the outside seating to avoid the inside quietness, and they must have had their share of silent looks that could be translated to “Shut up!”

—————————————–

NEWS: RUMORS FLY AT VA. STARBUCKS: “WASHINGTON POST”:

(Excerpts): The regulars showed up as usual at the Falls Church Starbucks one day in late June, ready to share coffee and conversation with fellow immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. But the men were stunned to find that the coffee chain, an integral part of their daily routine, had removed the outdoor seating that was central to their gatherings…

A Fairfax County official said the store lacked the correct permitting for outdoor seating…

The immigrants had begun gathering there in 1997, a year after the coffee chain opened in the Crossroads Place strip mall. They lingered over coffee to discuss politics, sports and life. They dispensed advice to newcomers and even dug into their pockets to help each other out during crises…

The immigrants were confounded… Jesse Foster, the store’s manager, said he hopes the men will return once the permit issue is resolved. In the meantime, he spends most of his time these days dispelling rumors — that the chairs were removed in retaliation… or that their removal was an attempt by Starbucks to reduce the crowds and change the scene…

—————————————–

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: DUETSCHLAND UBER ALLES

The few times I was in Germany were at Frankfurt airport, but one of my dreams is to take a Rhine River cruise, see the castles and cathedrals and write about my fascination by the Germans.

What I know now is their stereotype as hard-working and disciplined people. Also, there is their recent history of Nazism, racial purity and killing of millions of Jews. And the most recently, there is the unification and the ascendance as the most powerful Europeans.

Being attracted, even at this late age, by beautiful blondes, German blondes have a special place in my heart.

Today, I read a review of a book about the Germans that was written during the first century after Christ, and the book seems to be describing the Germans of today.

(Read below)

———————————

NEWS: BOOK: “GERMANIA”: “THE MOST DANGEROUS PEOPLE; MICHAEL DIRBA: “WASHINGTON POST”:

… “Germania” — “On Germany” — runs fewer than 40 pages, but, like other comparably short documents, such as the Declaration of Independence and “The Communist Manifesto,” its influence has been earthshaking. As the Penguin translator, H. Mattingly, frankly writes in his 1947 introduction, the book is “a detailed account of a great people that had already begun to be a European problem in the first century of our era.”

“Germania” is an early work by Tacitus (circa 56-120), whose greatest achievement, the “Annals,” provides our best account of Roman history under such “bad” emperors as Tiberius and Nero.

“Germania” concisely describes the customs and character of dozens of loosely affiliated northern tribes but also functions as an implicit moral tract: While Romans have sunk into softness and debauchery, the tough, blond barbarians living around the Rhine are unwaveringly loyal to their leaders, fierce in battle, without interest in gold and other baubles, obedient to their gods, chaste when young and faithful to their spouses when married.

Why are these Teutons such admirable physical specimens and moral beings? In the most unwittingly pernicious sentence of his superbly readable book, Tacitus writes at the opening of Chapter 4: “For myself I accept the view that the people of Germany have never been tainted by intermarriage with other peoples, and stand out as a nation peculiar, pure and unique of its kind.”

The Germans are, in short, racially homogenous. This accounts, Tacitus adds, for their common body type: blue eyes, flaxen hair, huge frames. Moreover, since battle is viewed as the sole worthwhile activity, young warriors are intensely devoted to their band (comitatus) and will fight to the death for their leader. Drinking to excess is almost the only vice among these noble savages, though they do sometimes sacrifice human beings in their religious ceremonies…

————————————————–

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: ONLY IN AMERICA: CHINESE INFERIORITY COMPLEX

As I am planning my memoir book, there will be, towards the end, a chapter on “blacks’ inferiority complex” Since I came to America about 35 years ago, I have been surprised, and saddened, by black Americans general pre-occupation with slavery, discrimination, the color of their skins and the N-word. Especially after I have come to believe that the color of my skin doesn’t have anything to do with my identity, and that the core of my identity is my faith (Islam).

To be fair to the black Americans, this 500-years old Western Christian civilization is very powerful and intimidating, especially in the eyes of Third World peoples. I know about Africans’ inferiority complex because I came from Africa; I have learned about Latinos’ inferiority complex since I came to America and during my many visits to Latin America; and now, I am learning about Asian inferiority complex, especially the Chinese.

As much as the Chinese seem to be able to challenge the dominance of the West, they have a long way to go, and mostly because of their: (a) economic backwardness; (b) absence of freedom and justice in their history; and (c) current absence of freedom and justice.

I learned about Chinese women whitening their skins, men formal Western attires, popularity of American songs, movies, TV programs, food and drinks. The following is about Chinese women and men trying to out-do the Americans.

(Read below).

———————————————

NEWS: “THE FINANCIAL TIMES” (OF LONDON): CHINESE WOMEN, CARS AND WHISKY

… Chinese women buy more whisky and fast cars than their western counterparts, for example, while men purchase more face creams and bags.

At one Shanghai Prada store, the shop assistant explains that Chinese men have more of a penchant for male handbags partly because they need to carry so much cash.

Victor Luis, president of Coach’s international business, says “man bags” are popular in China because they satisfy practical needs that are not counteracted by exaggerated notions of manliness.

L’Oréal sees a similar trend. The French group sells more male grooming products in mainland China than in Western Europe. It says Chinese men see appearance as key to social and professional success. A glimpse at the jet black hairdos of China’s top political leaders – most of whom are elderly – drives home the point that Chinese men are enthusiastic consumers of hair dye.

McKinsey says women in China are increasing their spending on luxury goods twice as fast as men, prompting western companies to try to understand what makes Chinese women tick.

“In China, women are ambitious … so they will buy more ‘high powered’ products than women in the US or Europe,” says Tom Doctoroff, greater China head of JWT, the advertising agency. “A woman here needs to project her power in ways that a western woman simply does not need to.”

Luxury car companies are finding the age-old desire among the rich to drive a fast car in China is unisex. Maserati says 30 per cent of its Chinese buyers are female, far higher than the 2-5 per cent common in Europe and the US.

More Chinese women drink Johnnie Walker whisky than in the west, according to Diageo. As a result, it plans to make the brand more “gender bilingual” and include more women in a social media ad campaign.

————————————————

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: MY SUMMER VACATION AND THE POWERFUL SUMMER VACATIONS:

Since 1980, a Washington, DC, full-time journalist for major Arabic newspapers and magazines in the Middle East, my summer vacation has been mostly in Hollywood, Florida, where my wife’s parents live, and sometimes in Boon, NC, where they have a summer house.

I don’t go to Sudan as often as I would want, but I am planning a one week visit this summer. (My 15 brothers and sisters hold an annual memorial gathering for our father and mother, and I didn’t attend it before; I would like to briefly connect with my very large family).

Since 2007, I started an annual family Caribbean cruise out of Florida. Early summer, for 11 days, we took “Caribbean Princess” to six islands. We are planning another cruise next year on “Queen Victoria,” one the most elegant large cruise ships.

For this Sudanese village boy, this will be the top of the top.

The last chapter in my planned memoir book will be: From “Queen Victoria” (a Nile River coal-driven paddle steamer that I took for my first trip from the village to the city, during the last days of the British rule of Sudan) to “Queen Victoria” (the elegant Caribbean cruise ship).

I am not jealous (I always say “Alhamdulilahi”), but I always wonder how the rich and the powerful spent their summers.

(Read below).

———————————————————–

NEWS: “THE FIANANCIAL TIMES” (OF LONDON): HOW THEY SPEND SUMMER?

FORMER SECRETARY OF SATE JAMES BAKER:

“My wife Susan and I usually spend August at our remodelled old homesteader’s cabin on Silver Creek in Wyoming. It is a beautiful place with a wonderful trout stream coursing through it…

We catch and release four types of trout that live in our stream. We take long walks and enjoy watching elk, antelope, deer, black bear, moose and mountain lion. And we entertain friends. We hunt elk in the fall…

It would be wonderful if any one of my former bosses – Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan or George HW Bush – could come visit. So much has happened in our country and the world since I worked with each of them, so it would be very interesting to hear their takes on current events.

Item unable to leave at home: My yoga mat. It has been my companion at home, on trips and during vacation since Susan convinced me three years ago that at my age I needed to do yoga to be flexible…

We’re a 30-minute drive from the nearest “civilisation”, so we eat in most of the time… In November, we’re going on a buffalo hunting safari in Tanzania.

—————————————-

JOHN STUDZINSKI, SENIOR DIRECTOR, BLACKSTONE GROUP:

“I go to three or four places. I go to Lourdes on pilgrimage, to work with the sick. I go to Salzburg to climb the Alps and listen to music and drink Austrian Burgundy in the evening. I go to Italy to enjoy the Amalfi coast. Then I go to my farm in America to chill out and go back to my roots. I also spend some time in 40C heat in my castle in Trujillo in Spain…

Every summer I read and reread War and Peace. I’ve done it for the past 30 years; I think it’s the best tutorial on humanity…Holidays are about close friends, intensive culture, intensive walking and nature, and putting time and the planet in perspective…

Item unable to leave at home: It’s a toss-up between my rosary beads and my mobile phone…

I would like to go next to New Zealand.

————————————–

EDITOR OF “VANITY FAIR” GRAYDON CARTER:

I’m at a glorious health spa in Austria with my friend Reinaldo Herrera. We are taking the cure… Following this, I have a week and a half of business travel in Europe. Then I’m taking my wife, five kids, two girlfriends (theirs), a nanny, my wife’s father, and my mother, to Rome and Porto Ercole for another two weeks.

When you arrive, we generally unpack and then lie down. I find any kind of travel exhausting…

I do like to swim. And then poking around market towns, reading, and just eating, drinking and gabbing…I generally take a photograph of my kids in a small silver frame even when they are on the trip with me. And my iPod…

I’d love to go to Prague and Budapest. And Turkey.

——————————————

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: CHEERS, FBI: POLITICIANS’ CORRUPTION

Throughout the years, I have been critical of the FBI for its role in the so-called “war on terrorism.”

If the Pentagon and the CIA have been engaged in the invasion, occupation and bombardment of Muslim countries, and of killing, injuring, jailing, torturing, chasing, spying on, harassing, insulting and humiliating Muslims all over the world, the FBI has been engaged in spying on, harassing, insulting and humiliating Muslims in the US.

Also, throughout the years, I have been very critical of politicians, for their hypocrisy, and, more importantly, for their corruption. (Of course, there is more hypocrisy and corruption all over the world and particularly in where I came from, in the Muslim and African countries).

This year’s corruption cases of two politicians, Jack Johnson, Prince George County (MD) Chief Executive, and his wife, Leslie Johnson, member of the Country Council, show the important role played by the FBI.

(Read below).

So, three cheers for the FBI for its role in this case, and in other similar cases.

Having said that, I have a dream that, one day, the FBI would stop its unnecessary spying on, harassing, insulting and humiliating Muslims in the US, and use its talents to catch corrupt politicians and other law violators.

—————————————-

NEWS: “WASHINGTON POST” LESLIE JOHNSON’S POSSIBLE GUILTY PLEA

Prince George’s County Council member Leslie Johnson (D), who faces criminal charges in connection with a sweeping corruption investigation, is scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday for a plea hearing…

Johnson (D-Mitchellville), 59, is accused of destroying evidence on the November day she and her husband, former county executive Jack B. Johnson (D), 62, were arrested as part of a federal investigation into whether county officials accepted and solicited bribes…

Federal officials said that as FBI agents banged on the Johnsons’ door Nov. 12, Leslie Johnson hid $79,600 in cash in her underwear and flushed a $100,000 check from a developer down the toilet.

If Johnson is convicted of a felony, Maryland law requires she step down from her council seat…

————————————————

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: MY LOW-CARB DIET

During two decades in my village (on the Nile River in northern Sudan, south of the borders with Egypt), everyone was thin and some were very thin. The average family ate meat twice a week; desert was a rarity; and working hard in the fields, and walking to and from schools, were compulsory exercises.

The only fat men (and women) were in the nearby town, merchants and rich people who, most probably, ate meat and have desert daily. They probably could have been heavier if they used cars, but, there were only three trucks in the whole town.

During the following decade in the city, where I went to a boarding high school and a boarding university, I gained few pounds from eating “modern” food (like a dinner of meat, bread and an orange).

During the first decade in America, my weight jumped from 170 to 190 pounds (I am five feet and seven inches tall), and I spent the following two decades trying to lose weight, to no fail.

As I entered my fourth decade, I started annual Caribbean cruises and because of their most delicious (and big) meals, my weight jumped to 197 pounds after each cruise. I spend the rest of each year trying to bring my weight down to the “normal” 190 pounds. But, I would like to bring it down to 180 pounds.

Ten years ago, I became diabetic and started leaning towards less carbohydrates and more meat (for many years, I followed Atkins Diet). Now, I fluctuate between “no-carb” (not even fruits and milk) to “low-carb” (fruits, milk and small quantities of whole wheat bread and pasta).

Strict “no-carb” makes me lose up to four pounds a week, but I soon stop it.

Now, I feel vindicated by the recent Harvard research. (Read below).

High carbohydrates (bread, rice but mostly potatoes) were declared not good. My usual snacks (cheese, nuts and yogurt) were declared very favorable.

I may not be losing a lot of weight, but, at least, Harvard agreed with me to try to avoid carbohydrates.

——————————————-

NEWS: “WASHINGTON POST”: POTATOES NO, YOGURT YESS:

Everyone knows that people who chow down on french fries, chug soda and go heavy on red meat tend to pile on more pounds than those who stick to salads, fruits and grains.

But is a serving of boiled potatoes really much worse than a helping of nuts?

Is some white bread as bad as a candy bar?

Could yogurt be a key to staying slim?

The answer to all those questions is yes, according to the provocative revelations produced by a big Harvard project that for the first time details how much weight individual foods make people put on or keep off.

The federally funded analysis of data collected over 20 years from more than 120,000 U.S. men and women in their 30s, 40s and 50s found striking differences in how various foods and drinks — as well as exercise, sleep patterns and other lifestyle choices — affect whether people gradually get fatter.

The findings add to the growing body of evidence that getting heavier is not just a matter of “calories in, calories out,” and that the mantra: “Eat less and exercise more” is far too simplistic. Although calories remain crucial, some foods clearly cause people to put on more weight than others, perhaps because of their chemical makeup and how our bodies process them. This understanding may help explain the dizzying, often seemingly contradictory nutritional advice from one dietary study to the next…

The findings help explain why many people put on weight little by little over the years without even realizing it. Just by picking the wrong combinations and portions of foods, and making unhealthy lifestyle choices, people imperceptibly enlarge their girth as time goes by, eventually becoming overweight or even obese, the study indicates…

—————————————————–

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: GOOD BYE BLOCKBUSTER

Yesterday, I found that the neighborhood “Blockbuster,” in K-Mart Plaza in Burke, VA, was closed for good. A 7-11 store is there now. Last year, “Hollywood Video,” in nearby Rolling Valley Mall, was gone too.

But, our family movie renting in Burke, VA (a suburb of Washington, DC), began before these two stores. When we bought our present house in 1980, there was “Erols,” established by a local immigrant from Turkey, renting movies on VHS which was the latest in home video at that time.

He later sold his business to Blockbuster, the giant that swept the area and the country, renting VHS’s, and later, DVDs.

I remember we used to go with our three children to the nearby store and, on weekends, it was like a fair: children and adults walking in rows and rows of selections, and also buying pop-corn and candies.

Three cheers for the Western civilization.

VHS’s are gone; DVS are no more in stores, but arrive by “Netflix,” a mail service, or are in “Red Box,” a new automatic service that uses credit or debit cards. Where there was “Hollywood Video” there is now a single “Red Box.”

What is next?

Renting movies on line or through TV sets.

Three more cheers for the Western civilization.

————————————————–

NEWS: “WASHINGTON POST”: BLOCKBUSTERS GONE IN DC:

The race to provide cutting-edge Internet video services such as Netflix has made it far harder to find a DVD rental these days. Just one Blockbuster remains in the District… DVDs and the devices made to play them look poised to enter the growing technology graveyard in American homes: They are headed for that plastic bin tucked away in the basement, which also holds the family Flip video camera, a PalmPilot and CDs…

The gadget mortality rate is up, experts say. It took 30 years for 100 million households to buy a television. It took six months for 10 million people to buy Microsoft’s Kinect, a motion-sensing device for its Xbox 360 game console…

The Flip was hailed as a must-have device just a few years ago. Today, with smartphones offering similar technology, its maker has canceled production.

Two years ago, analysts predicted cheap netbooks would spell doom for the laptop. Now tablets have made the netbook merely a memory.

The iPad sold nearly 15 million units last year; that’s the fastest adoption of a computer in history.

The increasingly quick transition to new technologies is fueling an innovation boom. It has made Apple one of the most valuable companies in the world and Netflix a giant in the entertainment industry…

There are still options for rentals through vending-machine-like kiosks such as RedBox. But such services end up costing nearly the purchase price of the DVD for rentals beyond one week. Netflix’s most popular plan offers customers a single DVD rental by mail at a time and its streaming service for $10 a month. Blockbuster also offers streaming and DVDs by mail.

By comparison, Blockbuster and other rentals stores offered multiple-day rentals for about $5 — and the ability to walk through aisles of offerings.

The Internet’s toll on the DVD market is seen in all neighborhoods around the nation.

————————————-

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VIEWS: ONLY IN AMERICA: RUSSIA’S EXTREME CORRUPTION

After 35 years in America, I must have taken many things for granted. Like annual car inspection and renewal of car licenses.

Every year, we receive letters from Virginia Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) about annual cars’ taxes, renewal of cars’ licenses and cars’ inspections.

Every year, we put the new tags on our cars’ license plates and the new county licenses on cars’ windshields.

We go to DMV’s offices only if we buy a new car. Most of the time, the place is full and the lines are long, but the procedures are smooth, organized and quite. And the staff is smiling and courteous.

I must have taken these things for granted. Please read the following from Russia.

—————————————————-

NEWS: “THE WASHINGTON POST”: PUTIN DISSOLVES AUTO INSURANCE AGENCY

Less than a year off, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has found an easy way to give Russia’s car owners a gift that could be worth upward of $1 billion: He did away with auto inspections for the rest of 2011…The traffic police and the state-controlled company that performs the inspections have the authority to issue certificates, and both have devised inspection routines that are so onerous and unpredictable that cars somehow rarely pass them.

Drivers, instead, grease palms — and the certificates magically appear.

It cost $100 to $170 to buy a certificate in Moscow, Sergei Kanaev, head of the grass-roots car owners association, said Thursday…

Depending on age, cars are supposed to pass inspection either every year or every two years. Experts estimate that only about 30 percent of the cars now on the road have cleared inspection and that most of those were presumably brand new — and belonged to owners who were willing to wait hours and hours in line and were too stubborn to succumb to the wiles of the inspectors…

President Dmitry Medvedev
suggested taking the inspection authority away from the police and essentially giving it to insurance companies…

A thoroughly unverifiable rumor that swept Moscow on Thursday held that the traffic police officers were being swatted down because they had gotten too greedy — not in the amount of bribes they demand from drivers, but in the amount of money they have been sending up the line to their superiors…

————————————-

NEWS AND VIEWS:

VEIWS: ONLY IN AMERICA: NEW IMMIGRANTS

About 20 years ago, I wrote a piece titled: “Welcome to American because this is America”, about my fascination, after ten years in America, with the fact that this is really a nation of immigrants.

It works both ways: the Americans welcome new immigrants because they are a nation of immigrants; and they are a nation of immigrants because they keep welcoming more and more immigrants.

I don’t think there was ever in the history of mankind a nation so welcoming of foreigners, but, again, I don’t think there was ever a nation made of so many foreigners and their descendents.

Every now and then, I, and others, might feel that: (a) there are enough immigrants; (b) some new immigrants don’t want to assimilate; and (c) the character of America will suffer.

But, I have come to believe that the “Spirit of America” is stronger than what I, and those others, thought. Generation after generation, the “Spirit of America” doesn’t fade; it just renew itself.

Now, to the subject of new immigrants to Washington, DC, area. (Read below). I could have said that the Indians, the Chinese and the Koreans have taken over, but I would rather say that their children and grandchildren will be wholly absorbed by the “Spirit of America.”

——————————————————————-

NEWS: “THE WASHINGTON POST”: ASIANS INCREASE IN WASHINGON AREA:

H.K. Suh was a pioneer among Koreans when he moved his family to Centreville 15 years ago.

His two sons had few Asian classmates at their Fairfax County public school. The closest Asian grocery was in Annandale, a dozen miles away. Forget about Korean restaurants nearby; there weren’t any.

Today, Suh lives in one of the most highly concentrated communities of Koreans in the Washington region, according to a Washington Post analysis of census statistics…

The data provide a richly detailed picture of where the region’s 570,000 Asians live. Chinese are most prevalent in the District and Montgomery County, particularly in Rockville and Potomac. Filipinos are the largest group in Prince George’s and Charles counties. Indians are flocking to Loudoun and Fairfax counties and have become the largest and fastest-growing group of Asians in the area. Koreans are the largest group in Centreville, where 26 percent of the population is Asian…

On the East Coast, Boston is the only city with a higher percentage of Chinese. Only New York has a bigger Japanese proportion. And New Orleans is the only metropolitan area with a larger concentration of Vietnamese.

Asians are drawn here by the same magnet of opportunity that has attracted so many other ambitious people, making Washington the city with the biggest share of college graduates in the country…