Word: backgrounder
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What is the TSA worried about these days? Long lines, which annoy travelers and make choice terrorist targets. To speed things up, the agency is taking its Registered Traveler program nationwide in June. Passengers who enroll--pay a fee and get a background check and biometric scans--will be fast-tracked through security. The program, along with fewer prohibited carry-on items, should help the TSA's 45,000 screeners spend less time confiscating cuticle clippers. The hope is that by creating a voluntary database that identifies frequent flyers, the measures will also reduce reliance on racial profiling. Sounds smart...
...jealous of a migrating female that the Whale Caller spends hours serenading. "That stupid fish has castrated you," Saluni howls. It's a mammal, he corrects, ineffectually. This improbable triangle ripens gently until its heart-breaking conclusion. Meanwhile, the new, tourism-obsessed, environmentally threatened South Africa festers in the background. A masterpiece of understatement, The Whale Caller is the real winner among this year's crop of South African fiction. What about future vintages? Next year will see new novels by Mark Behr, Patricia Schonstein and other young whites who have made their mark since apartheid's fall. Expect more...
...Despite the militant iconography, most protesters were peaceful and only a small number rampaged at businesses associated with the U.S. Television here, like in the United States, tended to focus on the most violent images. One station played scenes of violence with Stars and Stripes Forever playing in the background...
...reprehensible Republican rival Ritchie, this campaign’s a bit more ambiguous. Don’t get me wrong, Democratic candidate Santos (Jimmy Smits) is great (you’ve gotta love those sweet close ups of hunky Jimmy spouting liberal ideology as the music crescendos in the background). The problem is those damn Republicans! Opposition candidate Vinick (Alan Alda), batting for the red team, is just too appealing to hate! I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. This is, after all, the Left Wing…err, I mean the West Wing, so not only...
...activists would think I wasn’t angry enough in this book,” he adds.“I think I’m a journalist first, and a gay person second. I’ve always had this feeling that I should stay in the background in my books as much as possible.” —Daniel J. Hemel