Ryan

On a recent Friday, as the sun's rays first slipped inside their little home in Glassell Park, the parents of an Army infantryman woke to a mix of anticipation and sadness. Rodolfo gazed at a wood-framed photo of his eldest son, Ryan, a slim soldier dressed in sharp fatigues. Rachel thought of how today would mark the end of a long journey: Within hours, she and Rodolfo would become Americans at last. Then she thought of how this came to be, of Ryan, longed for him as only a mother can. "Good morning Amboy," she said, using the nickname Ryan had grown up with in the Philippines -- Amboy, short for "American Boy. " "We love you Amboy.

The only thing I found more astounding than President Bush's nomination of T. Timothy Ryan Jr. and his subsequent defense of Ryan's drug use ("White House Calls Ryan Drug Use 'Not Relevant' ," Part A, April 1) is the compliance by the Banking Committee in approving the nomination. It is bad enough that Ryan is completely unqualified for the job of bailing out of the savings and loan industry. Are we now to believe that the President who created the position of drug czar, invaded and overthrew the government of Panama and constantly vituperates against the users of crack and cocaine is now calling for the United States to forget the use of drugs by his top appointees?

Ryan and Matt Rice have a thing for igloos. The brothers, ages 24 and 21, are part-time college students living at home with their parents in suburban Springfield, Va. Every winter, if conditions are right, they build an igloo. So when snow started flying last week, they grabbed shovels and started piling it up in the front yard of their brick colonial. They took snow from their driveway, from neighbors' driveways, from front yards and sidewalks.

Contrary to reports, quarterback Tim Tebow says he didn't ask New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan not to use him in the wildcat offense on Sunday. However, he does say it was possible that Ryan misunderstood what he was saying. Tebow said Wednesday that he told Ryan last week that he was “definitely disappointed” he wasn't going to be the starting quarterback in place of the benched Mark Sanchez and that he told Ryan he wanted to be the “regular quarterback.” Tebow says, looking back, he can understand that Ryan may have taken that to mean he wanted to only play regular quarterback and not be a part of any other offense.  "I never said, 'Hey, I don't want to do anything.

Try Not to Breathe A Novel Jennifer R. Hubbard Viking: 233 pp., $16.99, ages 14 and up Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24, claiming 4,400 lives annually, according to theU.S. Centers for Disease Control. That statistic alone is alarming, but at least 149,000 more young people attempt suicide and survive each year. It's this second statistic that Jennifer R. Hubbard humanizes in her young-adult novel "Try Not to Breathe," about a teenage boy struggling to find meaning after attempting to take his own life.

Re "Combative Biden and Ryan display energy Obama lacked," Oct. 12 No doubt Vice President Joe Biden and Republican rival Rep. Paul Ryan were ready to debate, and each of them made good points for their causes. Both seem sincerely dedicated to helping the people of the United States. However, what was obvious was that these two combative souls were light years away from agreeing on anything, just like the two parties in Washington. What America wants to see is Democrats and Republicans sitting down and coming to agreements on the important matters before Congress.

Re "Hollywood Shakes Off Fear of Terror Images," May 20: If they had made a movie of Tom Clancy's 1996 book, "Executive Orders," perhaps the CIA and the Pentagon would have been forewarned of an air attack on important buildings. Clancy writes about a civilian airliner that crashes into the Capitol building while the president is giving his State of the Union address to Congress, the Supreme Court, his Cabinet and other high officials. When the plane crashes into the building it explodes, the building is engulfed in flames and all of the inhabitants perish.

Republicans dismissed President Obama's State of the Union address as more of the same, saying his call for renewed investment in American education, infrastructure and technology was simply a push for another round of federal spending that shows little commitment to reducing the deficit. "Whether sold as 'stimulus' or repackaged as 'investment,' their actions show they want a federal government that controls too much, taxes too much, and spends too much in order to do too much," said Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, in the GOP's official address after Obama's speech.

Without the advantage (or contamination) of listening to other instant analysts, I gave the debate to Vice President Joe Biden on style and on the substance of economic and tax policy. Rehearsed or not, his exasperation with Rep. Paul Ryan's posturing was engaging, not overbearing, and he checked the "47%" and "don't voucherize Medicare" boxes. With some aid from the moderator, he pounced on Ryan for teasing the voters about which tax breaks Mitt Romney would eliminate to offset his tax cuts.