[fiorina] they were down on me as a woman

Hewlett-Packard CEO for six years, her style inflamed critics and after her financial results fell short, she was dumped. In her memoirs ''Tough Choices'', Fiorina says she was unfairly scrutinized as a woman in business and unproductively opposed by people who feared the big changes she had to make at HP. Besides her $21 million severance pay, she began 2006 with 850,000 HP shares - a stake that size is worth $31 million now. Her name emerged last year as a candidate for World Bank president. Fiorina has advised President Bush and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on tech policy; she won praise for defining a new vision but generally she is considered to have fallen short on day-to-day operational matters, unlike Mark Hurd. Under her, HP's stock sank 56 percent. Her view? ''I feel incredibly blessed,'' she said. ''I am an unexpected success story to myself.''

[sunday blogfocus] two issues today for the price of one

Evocative, atmospheric & historic

Today there are two separate issues – those veils and expanding one’s blog-base. Issue One: Those Veils This is one which has surely run its natural course, having been commented on by just about everybody and yet it still won’t go away. Now CNN has weighed in: British newspapers on Saturday backed cabinet minister Jack Straw after the political storm sparked by his remarks that veils worn by Muslim women harmed community relations. What bloggers said here.

[anna politkovskaya] careful where you point the finger

Yes it's terrible that Anna Politkovskaya was killed but there are just too many unexplained aspects. The western press leapt on the story and even Wikipedia immediately updated. Now isn't this interesting? The incident which the cloak 'n dagger west wants to link to this - the 2004 poisoning - needs to be kept separate. Yes they were trying to kill her but who were? She was going to Beslan to negotiate hostage release. Her thoughts on the issue did not emerge until afterwards. On top of that, do you really think Putin is going to risk this, knowing full well how the west will view it? And why doesn't he then do the same to EchoMoskva, often far more critical than Anna. As I said, there is much more to this than meets the eye, so no one's in any position to point fingers yet.

[mystery blogger] watch out tomorrow

This man signed off one of his recent posts with: and an all-new Sunday Service blog roundup. See ya. I shall visit with interest.

[the departed 2006] reviewed by victoria alexander

Sensational. Before, Martin Scorsese, DiCaprio, Damon, and Walherg were movie stars, now they are “Class A” actors. With a first rate script by William Monahan (adapting Hong Kong smash thriller “Infernal Affairs” – I tried watching it twenty times but couldn’t keep track of who was who), Scorsese delivers exactly what you want: Highly stylized, and vicious-glamorous, characters. The script is funny, witty, and dangerously smart. You expect DiCaprio and Damon to be good, but you can’t wait for Mark Wahlberg to turn up. Scorsese … uses Jack Nicholson … selectively. The excitement never lets up and Scorsese’s love of vicious criminals is mob opera. The only weak link is police psychologist Madolyn (Vera Farmiga). This is DiCaprio’s movie, Damon has scenes that seem tailor-written for him and I even loved the background players. Victoria Alexander masauu@aol.com Good to see Matt Damon at it again.

[la présidentielle 2007] les trois candidats du parti socialiste

Le Figaro dit: Le Parti socialiste a enregistré les candidatures de Ségolène Royal, Dominique Strauss-Kahn et Laurent Fabius pour la présidentielle de 2007, donnant le coup d'envoi de plus d'un mois de campagne interne. Réunis en conseil national à la Mutualité, à Paris, les 305 membres du parlement du PS ont recueilli les vœux des candidats en lice, qui seront départagés le mois prochain par un vote des militants. Lors de leur intervention à la tribune, les trois ténors n'ont épargné ni la droite ni, à mots plus couverts, leurs adversaires à l'investiture.