Interests

When Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick Jr. and his wife, Charlotte, founded Camp Fire Girls in 1910, their goal was simple: to better their Vermont town on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. For the celebratory pageant, the Boy Scouts had been designated to play a key role, with girls left watching from the sidelines. In response, Gulick set out to create an organization focused on outdoor activities especially for young women. Camp Fire Girls of America was incorporated as a national agency in 1912.

A company headed by cellphone pioneer Craig O. McCaw asked the California Supreme Court to reinstate a $603-million fraud and breach-of-contract verdict against Boeing Co., alleging that two appellate justices had conflicts of interest. ICO Global Communications, a subsidiary of Pendrell Corp., said in its appeal filed Wednesday that two state 2nd District Court of Appeal judges considered Boeing's petition to toss out the trial court verdict even though they owned stock in Boeing.

In his article (Opinion, March 15), "Kissinger on Gorbachev's New Challenge," former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger suggests that " . . . it might be possible to arrange a code of coexistence . . . " and then Secretary of State George P. Shultz could say to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, " . . . Obviously, whatever is done has to be in the common interest." Such language is very encouraging. Coexistence implies mutual survival and is the basic common interest. By starting with this, other common interests could be noted, discussed and expanded.

It's called Lot 160, a 5-inch glass tube that's unremarkable in every way - except that it purportedly held blood drawn from President Ronald Reagan as he lay struggling for life after an assassination attempt. The vial, partially coated with a ring of a residue, is being offered for sale by a British online auction house where bids Tuesday reached nearly $15,000. A label and an accompanying document identify it as having contained a blood sample taken from Reagan at George Washington University Hospital on March 30, 1981, the day he was shot outside aWashington, D.C., hotel.

The problem with looking the other way is that it can leave you blindsided. That appears to be what happened in Kyrgyzstan, where the United States had ignored official corruption and oppression while paying the government a hefty sum for an air base that is key to moving troops and supplies into nearby Afghanistan. The Obama administration clearly was caught off guard by the violent ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev last week, and now the future of the U.S. base and bilateral relations are in doubt.

Shakespeare at sea? Poker cruise? Antiques on board? A new website, ThemeCruiseFinder.com, can help you locate a cruise themed on whatever interests you. There are cruises dedicated to golf, cruises about religion and cruises featuring concerts from various musical genres. While some cruisers prefer general-interest trips where the focus is on a destination, others enjoy meeting people with similar interests or spending their time on board learning about a subject that interests them rather than relaxing.

Re "The Senators' Sons," June 22 and 23: I was not totally surprised to read that many lawmakers indulge in the practice of allowing -- if not encouraging -- relatives and family members to lobby Congress, but I was especially chagrined to see that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was a member of this less-than-august group until The Times launched its inquiry. Any judge would recuse himself from a case in which his child was one of the lawyers; no less should be demanded of Congress.

Elections are all about arithmetic, while politics is about people and power. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine on Wednesday tried to use the latter to make the case for winning the former. To be sure, get-out-the-vote drives, campaign money for ads, charismatic candidates and fervent volunteers are the needed notes that blend into any successful election. But it is the concert that most voters want to hear, and speaking at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Kaine, joined by a feisty and pugnacious Gov. Ed Rendell, sounded the themes that will mark the next eight weeks of campaigning across the country.

Michele Bachmann called Rick Perry "highly naive" for saying he would cut off aid to Pakistan, part of a contentious round of questioning in tonight's GOP debate about U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Perry, the Texas governor, said that Pakistan had shown the world that "they can't be trusted. " "And until Pakistan clearly shows that they have America's best interests in mind, I would not send them one penny, period," he said. "I think it is important for us to send the message to those across the world that if you are not going to be an ally of the United States, do not expect a dime of our citizens' money.

The problems of Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services are too numerous to list and too serious to ignore. County supervisors addressed one last week by moving aside the head of the troubled agency. Those that remain range from uneven and onerous caseloads to technological limitations to inexperienced workers handling delicate matters beyond their capacity. Compounding all of those issues, however, is one problem that can and should be fixed: Dependency courts, where cases of child abuse and neglect are heard, should be open to the public.

Facebook shares fell flat on their Nasdaq debut, but another trading venue for the stock will open later this month. The Chicago Board Options Exchange will start listing option contracts on the Menlo Park company May 29, according to specialist firm Susquehanna Investment Group. This is sooner than normal for a company going public. The exchange typically waits a month or more before offering these options, but investor interest in the social media giant accelerated that timetable.

Their internationally recognized names sell music and movie tickets. They promote perfumes and presidents. But when it comes to selling their own houses, celebrities often find that their cachet doesn't pull in the cash. Actors Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell haven't found a buyer for their Malibu beach house, which comes with a raft of celeb-friendly amenities including a covered outdoor living room, a spa-like bath retreat and a meditation room. So the couple have nipped $3.5 million from last year's price, listing the Balinese-influenced oceanfront spread at $11.2 million.

NEW DELHI - When Gavin Martin and his family moved here from southern India in the early '70s, the country's capital city offered the gifted young pianist exactly one option for continuing his music education: the Delhi School of Music. It was the only place in town - perhaps in the whole of northern India - that taught Western classical music with any degree of competence. Even so, life wasn't easy for the serious student born in a country where the sitar is king. "Growing up in India playing the piano was kind of like [being]

SACRAMENTO - Jerry Brown told voters he was different - that only he, a septuagenarian government veteran with no aspirations to higher office, could fix the cycle of swelling budget deficits that has plagued California for more than a decade. But the release of Brown's updated budget plan Monday shows that he is being trapped by the same partisanship and dysfunction that hobbled his predecessors when they tried to repair the state's finances. "No governor, under the system we have in California, really has the ability to deal with the mess we've created," said Mark Paul, a former deputy state treasurer and the coauthor of a book about the state's financial quandary.

It wasn't so long ago that Gwen Jorgensen got a call from U.S. triathlon officials. They knew she had competed as a runner and swimmer in college. Now that she had graduated, they wondered if she might like to try something new. But Jorgensen had pretty much put sports on the back burner to start a career in accounting. Besides, the word "triathlon" conjured images of the grueling Ironman competition, athletes pushing themselves to the point of collapse. "No," she told them, "that doesn't interest me. " Which makes it all the more surprising that - just a few years later - the 26-year-old will race in the triathlon at the 2012 London Olympics, an overnight success in a sport she has grown to love.

Citing a state investigation of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum's top executive, City Councilman and stadium Commissioner Bernard C. Parks demanded Friday that a Monday vote on surrendering stewardship of the venue to USC be canceled. Parks also asked the Los Angeles County district attorney's office to investigate Coliseum Interim General Manager John Sandbrook, who recently became the subject of an inquiry by state ethics officials. They are looking into allegations that the executive illegally sought a job with USC while he was representing the public interest in lease negotiations with the private university.

Why is it that when sports' teams' owners "get together" to protect their interests, it's collusion ? When the players "get together" to protect their interests, it's strategic labor negotiations ? TOM BOKARAE Huntington Beach

If the Secretary of Education William J. Bennett wants to be a lobbyist for the parochial school interests, shouldn't he resign his present position? M. GREAVU JR. San Diego

At the world premiere Thursday night of Anne LeBaron's darkly mysterious, troubling yet weirdly exuberant and wonderfully performed new opera "Crescent City," a young Reveler in the production frolicked a few feet from where I was sitting on a folding chair along the perimeter of the experimental art space, Atwater Crossing. She wore a skirt fashioned out of the Arts & Books section of this newspaper, and she was close enough that I could read a few crumpled lines. But she was hardly there to make me or any other Angeleno feel remotely at home.

A newly streamlined government plan to reward homeowners who diligently pay their underwater mortgages is proving a bonanza for banks, which by one estimate may pocket $12 billion in extra revenue by refinancing loans. The revisions to the Obama administration's 3-year-old Home Affordable Refinance Program have yielded mixed results for homeowners, analysts and mortgage professionals say. Some responsible homeowners are indeed getting lower-interest loans despite owing far more than their homes are worth.