text:
Some progressive Democrats share a modest admiration for Ron Paul, a U.S. congressman from Texas and perennial darkhorse contender for the Republican presidential nomination.
It appears there will be 22 candidates on the ballot in November vying for the nine open seats on Cincinnati City Council.
As of today's 4 p.m. filing deadline at the Board of Elections, that's the number of people who had submitted petitions with enough voter signatures. At least five of those candidates, however, haven't yet had the signatures verified by Elections Board staffers because they only filed their final petitions today.
Congressman Steve Chabot could give Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci a few pointers about doing quick backflips.
Less than three days after Chabot prohibited the use of cameras at a supposed "town hall" meeting in North Avondale and used the services of a Cincinnati police officer to stop offenders, the congressman is rescinding the rule for future sessions.
One of Ohio's two U.S. senators says Democrats need to get better organized so they can counteract private conservative groups that secretly draft legislation for Republican lawmakers.
The Porkopolis column in this week's CityBeat features excerpts from an interview with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). As is often the case with print media, there was limited space available and segments of the wide-ranging interview with Brown weren't included in the column.
One of the unused segments included Brown's responses to questions about whether President Obama and Congressional Democrats are aggressive enough in pushing their agenda, and whether the Left needs a group to counteract organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Asked if Democrats at the federal level are too reactive and need to do better at framing and guiding debate on issues, Brown said his party could use some improvement in that regard. He cited the theories of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the 19th Century essayist and abolitionist.
"I think the Democrats could do better at that, from the president on down," Brown said. "It's always easier to say no. The one reason (Republicans) do well with message is, by definition almost, of conservative. Emerson talked about the innovators and the conservators. Progressives are the innovators and conservatives are the conservators. By definition, the conservators protect the status quo. Protecting the status quo means 'no,' 'repeal,' 'don't,' and 'not.' Those are simple concepts. Changing things is more complex."
Also, Brown wishes the media would more clearly articulate what's happening in Washington. During the recent debate on raising the federal debt ceiling, for example, it was Obama and Democrats who were willing to compromise, a fact he believes didn't receive enough attention.
"When one party digs in and is extreme, both parties look bad," he said. "When people say, 'they all look terrible in Washington,' a big reason for that is Republicans weren't willing to negotiate anything. They were willing to shut the government down if we didn't do things their way.
"We, in the end, want to be responsible," Brown added. "A bunch of senators were in the White House months ago and Barack Obama said to us, 'I'm the adult and I have to be responsible. They know I'm not going to let the government default.' Well, as long as they know that, it changes things."
Brown likes the suggestion of Democrats forming their own progressive version of ALEC — the private, corporate-backed group that writes model legislation for state lawmakers, which is funded by the Koch brothers, the National Rifle Association and others.
"That might be a good idea," he said. "The elections last year were all about job loss. Spending a little bit, but mostly about job loss. Then you look at the three most salient things this state legislature has done, which is roll back collective bargaining rights, voting rights and women's rights.
"Not only is that not solving the problems we really have, which is jobs, it's also injecting divisions into our country and our state that we don't need," Brown added. "It's made people so angry and hurt so many people's feelings in a really significant way and for what? So they can accomplish a political agenda. That's what is really outrageous."
An ardent opponent of going to war in Iraq, Brown believes some progressives' fear that Obama will extend the wars there and in Afghanistan beyond the timetables for troop withdrawals is unfounded.
"I'm confident they will be respected and I'm hoping Afghanistan's will be accelerated," he said. "I think (Obama) will stand on what he said."
The senator is more ambivalent about U.S. intervention in the uprising in Libya. "I wish the president had been a bit more forthcoming with Congress about our involvement, but people I respect have also said it would've been a real genocide there if the Europeans and we hadn't done something," Brown said. "It's an awfully difficult call."
Brown believes extremist actions by the GOP — like restricting collective bargaining rights at the state level, and trying to defund Planned Parenthood and limit access to abortion at the federal level — are out of touch with the mainstream, and will benefit Democrats in next year's elections.
"Voters absolutely see these guys overreaching," Brown said. "The voters aren't wild about Barack Obama and the Democrats, but they like the Republicans even less.
"They've overreached on Medicare, it's going after Head Start and Planned Parenthood and all the kinds of things there is general consensus about in this country," he added. "We have general consensus in this country on many things, except the Far Right, on items like the environment, on Medicare, on food safety, on voting rights. These guys have exploded that."
The state-level political turmoil caused by the Tea Party and its financial backers, the Koch brothers, got its start in Wisconsin under rookie Gov. Scott Walker. Today, Wisconsin voters have the opportunity to oust six Republican state senators in unprecedented recall elections.
Follow the action via a live blog set up by Isthmus, the alt weekly paper in Madison, Wisc. Polls are open until 8 p.m. Central time, so there won't be a lot of action until later.
So, just who did Jean Schmidt think was paying her mounting legal bills, anyhow?
That's the lingering question after the House Ethics Committee ruled today that Schmidt, a Republican congresswoman from Miami Township, did receive an "impermissible gift" by accepting about $500,000 in free legal help since spring 2009, but somehow didn't "knowingly" violate the law.
A group affiliated with the Heritage Foundation has bombarded voters in Ohio's 1st Congressional District with a glossy flier that tries to paint Rep. Steve Chabot as someone akin to an Old West hero.
The fliers, which began showing up in mailboxes during the past few days, feature a large photograph of a smiling Steve Chabot next to a headline that states, "Steve Chabot fights for our families." The direct-mail campaign piece was paid for and distributed by Heritage Action for America, a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt group founded last year by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
What did they know and when did they know it? Moreover, why aren't they commenting on it?
"They," in this case, are leaders of the Ohio Republican Party. And "it" is the drunken driving arrest of State Rep. Robert Mecklenborg (R-Green Township). In the 16 days since the April arrest became publicized through the media, the state GOP has been curiously silent about the matter.
Amid the recent controversy about possibly adding more publicly subsidized housing for the poor in Green Township, local Republicans will hold a special forum tonight to discuss methods for blocking the expansion.


text:
Cyclones Down Drake for Fennelly's 400th Win at ISU
DES MOINES, Iowa – The No. 22/16 Iowa State women's basketball team (4-0, 0-0 Big 12)
silenced the Drake Bulldogs with an 89-47 victory at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The win improved Iowa State to 4-0 and served as Head Coach Bill Fennelly's 400th-career win with the Cyclones.
How it Happened:
With Drake closing in on a Cyclone lead, 26-22, the Iowa State defense would step up to the plate holding the Bulldogs scoreless to close the half. With 5:29 remaining in the first half, Iowa State would use a 14-0 run to take an 18-point lead over the Bulldogs. Four different Cyclones contributed points during the Iowa State run, with junior Brynn Williamson leading the way with five, followed by senior Hallie Christofferson (4) and freshmen Jadda Buckley (3) and Seanna Johnson (2).
Discuss it now. Visit our Facebook page to have your say on the turning point of tonight's match.
Game Ball Goes To...
Hallie Christofferson and Seanna Johnson. Christofferson led the Cyclones' offensive attack another 25-point performance. The senior went 8-of-10 from the field and 2-of-4 from the three. She also grabbed four boards, two blocks and a steal.
Freshman Seanna Johnson recorded her first career double-double, making her the third different Cyclone this season to grab a double-double. She nabbed career-highs with 14 points and 11 boards.
Cyclone Nation, who was your player of the match? Tweet the player along with the hashtag #CyclONEgameball to @CycloneWBB and we'll announce the fan's pick later.
Cyclone Quick Hits
*Christofferson recorded her 62nd career double-digit scoring game with 25 points. She also recorded her 18th-career 20-point effort. She has scored 25+ points in all four games this season
*Seanna Johnson recorded her first career double-double with 14 points and 11 boards.
*ISU has outrebounded all four opponents.
*ISU shot a season-high 91.3 percent (21-23) from the free-throw line.
*ISU has won nine of its last 10 games against Drake
*Nikki Moody led the Cyclones in assists for the 50th time in her career with four.
*Jadda Buckley tied her career-high that she set against Cincinnati with 12 points.
*The 42-point margin of victory matches ISU's second-largest in the series (87-45 in 2012).
Fan Tweet of the Game
Found the @CycloneWBB on the radio on my way to work! #clutch @AshleyHagedorn
— KTK (@katiekullmer11) November 24, 2013
After each game, one tweet will be chose as the "Fan Tweet of the Game". Fans are encouraged to tweet @CycloneWBB during the match, and visit cyclones.com after each match to see if their tweet was chosen as "Fan Tweet of the Match".
Next Up:
Iowa State travels to Las Vegas, Nev., to participate in the South Point Classic with games against Eastern Washington and Auburn. Fans can follow the action on Cyclones.com and on Twitter using the hashtag #VivaLasCyclones and following the general account @CycloneWBB.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Simply Bronze Crystal Buffet Lamp Item #: 125713 $34.99 $19.97 Qty: Sorry, this item is currently unavailable online. Ship to Home For a lighting touch that is simply elegant, try this Simply Bronze Crystal Buffet Lamp! The smooth base and crystal accents make this buffet lamp simply sparkle. Lamp measures 32.5H in. Crafted of metal and crystal Bronze finish Straight candlestick base with crystal accents Hardback modified drum shade in white linen Shade measures 9.5H x 12 in. in diameter (at widest) Socket accommodates a 100-watt, three-way bulb Features a brown, plug-in cord Care: Dust with a soft dry cloth. Do not exceed specified wattage. Contact your local Kirkland's store for availability. Quantities and selection may vary by location. Sorry, this item is currently unavailable online.


text:
AAR reports strong rail carload and intermodal volumes for week ending May 21
May 27, 2011
Rail traffic was solid for the week ending May 21, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Carload volume—at 295,148—was up 2.3 percent compared to the same timeframe last year and slightly ahead of the week ending May 14 at 294,271. It was also behind the week ending April 2, which hit 305,905 carloads, marking the highest weekly carload tally since the end of 2008.
Carload volume was up 0.9 percent in the East and up 3.3 percent out West. Carloads on a year-to-date basis are at 5,822,505 for a 3.3 percent annual gain.
Intermodal volume—at 234,235 trailers and containers—was up 8.7 percent from last year. This was ahead of the week ending May 14 at 231,875. Intermodal volumes are being boosted in part by modal shifts by carriers looking for financial relief from increasing fuel prices.
As LM has reported, truckload carriers and shippers are moving more freight via intermodal, even though it typically adds at least a day or two to transit times.
Of the 20 commodity groups tracked by the AAR, 12 were up annually. Grain was up 12.9 percent, and metallic ores were up 11.5 percent. Primary forest products were down 10.1 percent.
Estimated ton-miles for the week were 32.8 billion for a 3.5 percent annual increase, and on a year-to-date basis, the 652.3 billion ton-miles recorded are up 4.3 percent.
Subscribe to Logistics Management magazine
entire logistics operation. Start your FREE subscription today!


text:
Oklahoma City, OK (Sports Network) - The Oklahoma City Thunder didn't take it
easy on the undermanned Memphis Grizzlies as they rolled to a 106-89 wire-to-
wire victory at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Grizzlies parted ways with their leading scorer, Rudy Gay, in a three-team
trade on Wednesday and were without their assets from the deal -- forwards Ed
Davis, Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye.
The Thunder, after a splitting a six-game road trip that ended in a loss to
the Lakers on Sunday, were more than happy to jump on the Grizzlies early, as
they built a comfortable 24-point halftime lead.
Kevin Durant scored 27 points, Russell Westbrook added 21 and reserves Kevin
Martin and Nick Collison chipped in 16 and 12 points, respectively, for the
The Grizzlies, the league's stingiest defense coming in, allowed Oklahoma City
to shoot 56 percent from the field, while they themselves made just 35 percent
of their shots. Jerryd Bayless had a team-high 23 points in defeat.
The Sports Network


text:
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sports Network) - Benjamin Alvarado used a late birdie on
Sunday to pull ahead of Dawie van der Walt and win the inaugural Brasil
Alvarado finished his final round at the Sao Paulo Golf Club with a 2-under 69
to capture his first career victory on the Web.com Tour at 19-under-par 265.
Van der Walt fired a 5-under 66 and even moved into a tie with Alvarado for
the lead with a birdie at the 16th, but closed with a pair of pars, while
Alvarado birdied the 17th to pull ahead for good.
The birdie dropped Van der Walt into second place with a total of 18-under-par
Kevin Kim (68) finished in third at 17-under, Kevin Tway (66) took fourth at
16-under and Wes Roach (68) ended in fifth at minus-15.
The Sports Network


text:
Oh, HandsomeRob, I'd love to see a step-by-step tutorial on your techniques for creating your maps! Please do.
And I'd go nuts trying to come up with all the derivations of "India" place names, you've done so far.
I got a little bit burned out coming up with names for places in Jalaun, so I decided to move to the other side of Sorol and throw together a map of the Kingdom of Allal. I have another map in progress (about 75% done) for Jalaun, and then the next map I do I plan on walking through step-by-step here if people are interested. It would be a sort of WIP/tutorial combo.
Also, the KML has been updated.
Last edited by HandsomeRob; 02-18-2008 at 01:12 PM. Reason: Added KML link
Oh, HandsomeRob, I'd love to see a step-by-step tutorial on your techniques for creating your maps! Please do.
And I'd go nuts trying to come up with all the derivations of "India" place names, you've done so far.
Gamer Printshop - We print RPG Maps for Game Masters!
Kaidan setting of Japanese Horror (PFRPG) Google+ community
It's a really good looking map, but IMHO it could use some ocean definition : either just coloration between the low and high sea or a whole floor of derivation. Something like this attach, but better looking.
Let my fangs find your neck, during the night, so that I can drink your knowledge ...
So it could be use here : www.l-hazard.com
hehe I agree Alucard thats just me though, but the thing is, its an Atlas styled map, I've never seen an atlas map with ocean/sea/lake definition, they are all that blue/green color and very much flat...
My Finished Maps :: My Challenge Maps :: My Tutorials :: The World of Ashlon- My Obsidian Portal/World BuilderProjects
WIP :: Carian Round... Who knows...
Back Burner :: World Map
Software: 99% Adobe Photoshop (CS4), Geo Control 2, Wilbur Every so often I use another program!
My gallery is here
__________________________________________________ _______
"Keep your mind in hell, but despair not." --Saint Silouan [1866-1938]
I'm sorry Don, I simply cannot agree with you. You should have said:
Do it, DO IT YESTERDAY!
I like this map ... a lot. I love the atlas look to the map, and the colour palette used.
Google Groups for FGII Games:
European FG2 RPG - Fridays & Sundays (8pm UK time)
Using Ultimate FGII and can accept unlicensed player connections on some of the games
Alucard- I really like your attachment for the ocean definition. I'd like to see a tutorial on that.
Yandor- I'm going to have to (partially) disagree with you on this one. While atlas-style oceans do NOT have details like that which Alucard proposed, they often have mutliple shades of blue to depict deeper and deeper water. I think its fairly common for atlas-style maps to have something other than flat blue water.
The Cartographist
The Fantasy Cartographic
CartoCacography (My Blog)
I believe other maps by HandsomeRob, include a minimal amount of off shore shallows. However these volcanic islands could very well have steep slopes dropping to the ocean floor and the source of these volcanoes.
Hawaii for instance has steeply sloping beach dropping towards the sea floor. Volcano islands are seabottom mountains. There would effectively be no shallow areas per se, except right at the beach - and this wouldn't show in a map.
HandsomeRob's maps have a very much National Geographic feel to them, don't lessen it because its less "artistic" than other maps found here. These are very technical maps and accurate in look and feel, more so than any artistic map...
Gamer Printshop - We print RPG Maps for Game Masters!
Kaidan setting of Japanese Horror (PFRPG) Google+ community
Thanks for the responses! I guess I will have to do that walkthrough/tutorial then. I will try to finish up the map of Gurhana that I have in production now (probably a week or so?) and after that is done I will do the next map step-by-step with you guys.
About this map:
I have not included any sort of water depth shading on any of my maps so far. I agree that it would definitely enhance this particular map. I might consider adding some sort of depth shading if I ever get around to doing a second edition of my atlas. I wonder if I could come up with a method... I'm not particularly fond of the ocean depths given by Fractal Terrains so that is right out.
Thanks all,


text:
Click LISTEN LIVE to stream FM100 now!
Most Music Mornings
Listen Live
Listen on Your Phone
Audio Vault
Photo Gallery
Ron Olson
Michelle Lewis
Sheryl Stewart
Chris Michaels
Screwy News
Daily Dish
Trending Now
Daily Dish
Get Your Beyonce Tickets ASAP!
by Michelle Lewis
posted Feb 13 2013 6:11AM
It's possible for real A list celebrities to bomb at things too! Turns out Scarlett Johansson wanted to star in Les Miserables and that dream was over when she became sick with laryngitis and bombed the audition. She says she sang her litte heart out but it wasn't enough. But looking back at it, Scarlett Johansson says the right woman won the part. She even went as far as saying that she couldn't top Anne Hathaway's performance. Kudos to her for saying that, but doesn't the sick excuse seem like every excuse American Idol contestants that are HORRIBLE give?
Congratulations is in order for Alec Baldwin. I reported last week that my sources were telling me that he and his wife were expecting and now they are confirming it! Alec and his wife Hilaria are indeed expecting their first child together and their statement and quote, "We're so thrilled and we can't wait to meet our baby." The baby is due in the summer.
And remember how Taylor Swift bashed Harry Styles during her opening number at the Grammys? Well, Harry Styles' bandmates of One Direction have warned him not to retaliate! Nial, Zayn and Liam all want him to be the better and bigger person and to ignore the whole thing. My sources are also telling me that they have all advised Harry that airing his dirty laundry out in public Is tacky and embarrassing, so don't do it1 Yea, right! We want to see it!
I think we all saw this one coming. Are Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z hitting the road together with a 10 piece band and going on tour? It seems almost inevitable after performing together TWICE in the past couple of weeks and now my sources are telling me that Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z will visit at least 10 cities during a stadium tour together.
Details of the tour have not yet been released but I'll keep you posted.
If you're a big fan of America's Got Talent, rejoice! Your favorite judge, Howie Mandel, is coming back next season! On top of that, he also dispels the rumors for now that Rosie O'Donnell and Carmen Electra will replace Sharon Osbourne as a judge.
Kate Middleton is part of ANOTHER royal photo scandal! The palace is in an uproar after the same Italian magazine that printed those controversial topless pictures of Kate Middleton have published pictures of Prince William's pregnant wife in a bikini while the couple are currently vacationing in Mustique. The palace released the following statement: "We are disappointed that photographs of the Duke and Duchess on a private holiday look likely to be published overseas. This is a clear breach of the couple's right to privacy." It's only been five months since the first photos of Kate Middleton topless were released. There's no news on whether or not the palace with press charges yet.
If you were hoping to see Beyonce live on her just announced upcoming tour, you might be out of luck! As tickets for her Mrs. Carter tour go on sale, they are selling out in mere SECONDS and sites like StubHub are already putting them on sale for up to nine thousand, nine hundred dollars! But there may be a GLIMMER of hope! After the first show sold out in just TEN seconds, Beyonce added another date to her Brooklyn stop at the Barclays Center on August 4
and those tickets go on sale on Friday. So my sources are telling me that Beyonce may be adding MORE shows to her tour to help people out! So we'll stay on top of it for you and if you want to see her in Nashville, be at your computer at 10 AM ON THE DOT or you may just be out of luck!
Lady Gaga letting us all in on a big secret that she's been keeping from her little monsters and even her staff! Looks like she is postponing concerts because of an injury. It's a show injury that she has been hiding for quite some time and has been causing Lady Gaga a lot of chronic pain. Over the past month the injury has only worsened and even though she was praying that it would heal and hiding it from her staff, Lady Gaga reported that after last night's performance that she did she couldn't even walk and still can't do so! She doesn't want to disappoint her fans anymore so that's why she has come clean. Gaga has a case of synovitis, which is a severe inflammation of the joints. She's already been forced to postpone four concerts. She says, and quote, "I'm devastated & sad. It will hopefully heal as soon as possible. I hate this. I hate this so much. I love you and I'm sorry."
Tags :
Topics :
Social :
Locations :
People :
Alec Baldwin
Anne Hathaway
Carmen Electra
Donnell Electra
Harry Styles
Howie Mandel
Justin Timberlake
Kate Middleton
Lady Gaga
Scarlett Johansson
Sharon Osbourne
Taylor Swift
Back To Blog
Share This:
Get Your Beyonce Tickets ASAP!
Please Enter Your Comments Below
Title :
Comment :
Please enter the text as it is shown in the box below :
Refresh Image
Download the FM100 iPhone App
Connect to FM100 / Facebook & Twitter
A Moment For Your Health
advertise with us
Recent Blog Posts
At First Look At The Next Chapter In Harry Potter's Life
Mike Draup
May 31
Breaking Bad's Walter White Wants You To Vote
Mike Draup
May 31
The NBA Finals Will Be A Rematch
Mike Draup
May 31
No, Katy Perry Didn't Tweet That She Missed Taylor Swift
Mike Draup
May 31
Is Amber Heard Lying About Johnny Depp Attacking Her?
Daily Dish
May 31
Demi Lovato's Kind Words About Her Late Great Grandmother
Mike Draup
May 31
Protests Continue As Cincinnati Zoo Continues To Defend It's Actions
Mike Draup
May 31
Boy Fails At Obstacle Course, BADLY!
Michelle Lewis
May 31
Daily Dish
May 2016
Apr 2016
Mar 2016
Feb 2016
Jan 2016
Dec 2015


text:
10 States That Consume Too Much Fast Food
Want fries with that?
Americans love fast food. (We spent $165 billion on it in 2010.) But we don't all love it equally. Like the obesity rate, fast-food consumption varies widely by region. Residents of some states disproportionately choose fast food over other options when they go out to eat, with consequences for the state's collective health.
Using government data on the percentage of restaurants in each state that serve fast food and the percentage of dining-out dollars the average resident spends in them each year, Health.com identified the 10 states where fast-food consumption is most prevalent. Here they are, in alphabetical order.
Next: Alabama
Get the latest health, fitness, anti-aging, and nutrition news, plus special offers, insights and updates from Health.com!


text:
Aston Martin hypercar sees huge demand despite... Supercars
25 minutes ago
25 minutes ago
2017 BMW 3-Series Gran Turismo preview Luxury
2 hours ago
2 hours ago
First Drives
Auto Shows
Spy Shots
Car Tech
One lucky enthusiast now has a very special Porsche among his or her collection. This is the only Porsche 911 GT1 race car to be converted for street use, and it was just... read more May 16, 2016 by Viknesh Vijayenthiran
Porsche will launch a significantly revised 911 RSR for the 2017 motorsport season. The RSR, the current version of which was introduced for the 2013 season, is... read more May 12, 2016 by Viknesh Vijayenthiran
One of the rarest configurations of Porsche's classic 1989-1994 911, the 911 Turbo Flatnose, has come up for sale in a high-end British vintage car showroom. Officially known... read more May 9, 2016 by Andrew Ganz
Prices for older Porsche 911s have risen along with those of numerous other classics as more and more purchases are made with a view for investment rather than purely... read more May 9, 2016 by Viknesh Vijayenthiran
The Porsche 911 isn't just a car. It's car history, one of the foundation garments on the body of work that includes everything from the Model T to the Beetle to... read more May 6, 2016 by Marty Padgett


text:
ibm.com Community
Convergence of Performance Management and Risk Management - Part 2
Erwin Boeren 270002C43V email@example.com | | Tags:  grc risk reporting ibm compliance fsr cognos solvency regulatory ii basel openpages | 0 Comments | 3,892 Visits
Convergence of Performance Management and Risk Management - Part 2
the increase of the Governance, Risk & Compliance maturity level at many of
my clients I see that clients start to realize the benefits of the integration
of GRC activities in their Performance Management cycle. Therefore a follow up
on my previous article around Risk Management and the convergence with
Performance Management.
Let me share some insights on Risk & Performance Management initiatives that keep clients busy around Europe. The following 4 items came up in the last 3 months.
1. Cost control and process performance improvement give us the opportunity to embed controls in our process. Lessons learned from Six Sigma and Lean can give us guidance here.
2. How do I manage organizational and regulatory change and monitor the impact on business processes, policies and my risk and control framework?
3. Trending topic is emerging risks, am I able to identity risks that are coming to me over time?
4. Integrated Financial and Risk reporting, an excellent example of 'Where Performance Management meets Risk Management'.
Cost control and Process improvements
Implementing and testing controls has become a huge cost for many organizations. That is why some of my clients are now looking for a way to reduce cost by embedding controls in their existing business processes. This goes hand in hand with the global initiative on cost reduction. While optimizing or even re designing core business processes internal controls are being embedded in the process. What I see is that the organizations that involve process owners and process contributors are most successful. This is an initiative that we have seen before in Lean Six Sigma projects. The only way to optimize processes and to reduce waste is to involve the process owners. Instead of increasing regulatory pressure we should seek a solution in this area in my opinion. Business cases around this have proven to be very successful and savings up to millions of Euros per year have been achieved.
Regulatory change
Regulatory changes are a huge concern of many risk, compliance, legal and audit professionals. How can we monitor these changes and how can we understand the impact on our organization? Taking this together with the fact that policy management is changing from a 'must do' once a year to a continuous process tells us that an integrated approach to Governance, Risk & Compliance is necessary to drive performance. I come across clients that have a monthly Performance Report that shows how they derived business objectives from their policies and how they are performing on a compliance level to these objectives. What risks did they identify in this process and how will they respond to these risks? Organizations realize that they need to understand the correlation between processes, policies, regulations, business objectives, risks and controls and how they might impact each other. An integrated GRC view is the only way to face this challenge.
Emerging Risk Modelling
One of the trending topics among customers is Emerging Risks. Can we model risks that we see coming and can we follow up on risks that are getting closer or fading away? Analytical Risk modeling is an answer to this question. This also let you perform risk forecasting with different scenarios. Interesting question is how the increase of a risk exposure in an operating entity will impact my group level exposure? Risk Analytics, derived from the Performance Management area can help us answer these questions. A financial performance management cycle contains the exact same characteristics.
Integrated Financial and Risk performance reporting
Financial and Risk reporting are standard items in today's Annual Reports, Tax statements, Management reports and Regulatory reports. The big question is how do I keep all of this information organized in such a way that I understand the source of the information, the transformation it has gone through, the owner of the information and most important when information changes at the last moment that all information output contains the latest version? No bigger reputational risk than sending out inconsistent information to stakeholders. Some organizations saw their share price drop with 25% due to inconsistent external reporting. One of my clients has implemented a solution that orchestrates all of these information sources with workflow capabilities and even XBRL output. From a risk perspective this is a great mitigation of your reputational risk and an excellent example of 'Where Performance Management meets Risk Management'.
Blog post by Erwin Boeren
Senior Governance, Risk & Compliance specialist IBM Europe
Twitter : http
LinkedIn : http
Risk Reporting and Dashboarding now available on your desktop!
Erwin Boeren 270002C43V email@example.com | | Tags:  ibm solvency insight dashboarding governance grc openpages management reporting risk basel cognos ii compliance | 0 Comments | 3,287 Visits
With the brand-new IBM Cognos Insight you can now connect to your IBM OpenPages environment from your desktop. You always have that moment that you need the information on a report but just a bit different than the standard report provides to you. The solution is here now, IBM Cognos Insight!
Insight is a powerful, intuitive desktop solution, that can read many different data sources from Excel to datawarehouses. Even your real time IBM OpenPages environment!
And it is not only reporting and dashboarding but it also lets you create what if scenarios on the fly! How would my risk exposure be if in one risk category the loss impact increases with 15%? Two clicks and you know the answer! And then you can comment on your report, which gives your colleagues more information on the context the moment you share your workspace.
How easy can risk reporting be???
For more tour on how IBM Cognos Insight please look at : http
Blog post by Erwin Boeren
Senior Governance, Risk & Compliance specialist IBM
Twitter : http
LinkedIn : http
IBM Enhances Risk-Aware Decision Making & Policy Management with New OpenPages Platform Release
Timothy Powers 270003F3FN email@example.com | | Tags:  frank-dodd risk grc business-analytics cognos fraud openpages compliance performance-management analytics governance risk-analytics | 0 Comments | 3,624 Visits
By Gordon Burnes, Worldwide Marketing, IBM Risk Analytics
A key theme at Vision 2012, IBM's three-day user conference for Finance and Risk professionals, is how organizations can leverage enterprise risk information to make better decisions while balancing the demands for risk oversight and regulatory compliance.
The current complex and dynamic regulatory environment is a particular challenge for risk and compliance directors. For instance, while organizations covered by Dodd-Frank must respond to current regulatory reporting requirements, less than a third of the associated rule-making has been finished.
So, risk and compliance professionals must put in place an approach to meet regulatory requirements that can easily adapt over time as regulations evolve, and this approach includes the capability to adapt internal policies to keep pace with the evolving regulatory environment.
During the Risk Analytics Keynote, IBM announced general availability of IBM OpenPages GRC Platform 6.1.
This new solution enhances the ability to make risk-aware business decisions, enables companies to react more quickly to regulatory changes through better policy management, and decreases costs and complexity of compliance.
Leveraging the IBM Cognos business intelligence platform, OpenPages 6.1 delivers interactive reports and dashboards that allow business managers to turn that risk information into insight and insight into better business outcomes.
The new release includes several important enhancements:
· Manages lifecycle of policies from creation, review, approval, attestation, and exception management
· Standardizes policy templates and approval processes across the business
· Allows policies to be structured in a standardized way but presented in narrative form (for editing and review, etc) the way people are used to working with policies
· Formalizes process for employee awareness and training and monitoring of campaigns
· Maps policies to regulatory library and control framework to increase visibility into policy coverage & adherence and make it easier to update policies as regulations change
· Enhanced reporting user interface and framework that empowers business users to explore and analyze risk data using interactive dashboards and reporting for better decision making
In summary, IBM OpenPages 6.1:
· Enables companies to react more quickly to regulatory changes through better policy management
· Enhances the ability to make risk-aware business decisions through easier access to risk and compliance information
· Decreases the cost and complexity of compliance with out-of-the-box configurations for policy management.
For more information:
· Read the Vision 2012 Day One Recap
· Read the blog post from Michael Zerbs, VP of IBM Risk Analytics, "Managing Risk: A Global Challenge that Must be Confronted"
· Download the whitepaper, "Managing Regulatory Change - Learn how Dodd-Frank Impacts Regulatory Compliance"
· Follow @IBMRisk & @IBMCognos on Twitter and/or search #Vision12
For more information:
· Read the Vision 2012 Day One Recap
· Read the blog post from Michael Zerbs, VP of IBM Risk Analytics, "Managing Risk: A Global Challenge that Must be Confronted"
· Download the whitepaper, "Managing Regulatory Change - Learn how Dodd-Frank Impacts Regulatory Compliance"
· Follow @IBMRisk & @IBMCognos on Twitter and/or search #Vision12
Not Going to IBM Vision 2012? Better "Think Twice."
Timothy Powers 270003F3FN firstname.lastname@example.com | | Tags:  xbrl predictive-analytics governance decision-management risk grc business-analytics performance-management fraud compliance openpages clarity cognos analytics | 0 Comments | 4,290 Visits
Do you really understand the reasons you make decisions?
Sometimes the mind wants to unconsciously push us into a certain decision when there's a better way to think about it.
That's the premise of the book, Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition, written by Michael Mauboussin, Chief Investment Strategist at Legg Mason Capital Management and a keynote speaker at IBM's upcoming Vision 2012 conference in Orlando, May 14-17.
Vision is IBM's global conference for finance and risk professionals to help improve planning, budgeting and forecasting, identify and mitigate risk, and meet the demanding requirements of XBRL, IFRS, Basel II and Solvency II with greater confidence.
I talked to Mauboussin about his book, making data-driven decisions, some common pitfalls as decision makers, and his upcoming talk at Vision.
"What's very exciting is that in the last half dozen years, we've had a real influx of data, and we're now just learning how to tap that data for the benefit of better decision making," said Mauboussin. "Now we can create a better intersection between value creation and making decisions."
The problem however, according to Mauboussin, is that we still have the same cognitive makeup and the propensity to make common mistakes.
"We often think about our own decision making as being objective and fact based and rationale. And we tend to underestimate systematically how important the social context is for our decision making," said Mauboussin.
To illustrate this point he told an interesting story from his book.
Researchers went into the wine section of a supermarket and set up French and German wines next to each other that were roughly matched in price and quality. Over a two week period they alternated playing distinctively French and distinctively German music to see if it would have any influence on purchase decisions.
Surprisingly, they found when French music played people bought French wine 77 percent of the time, and German wine 73 percent of the time when German music played. When asked if music affected their selections, the consumers unanimously said no.
"This basic experiment can be extrapolated to a lot of organizational settings where we think of ourselves as trying to be conscious and mindful as we make decisions. But indeed what is going on around us can be deeply influential to our decisions," said Mauboussin.
So what do we do?
According to Mauboussin, integrate more data into quality decisions. However, there is still a tension between the intuitive, go by the seat of the pants experience group versus the analytically-minded group.
"Either extreme is not going to work but a blend between the two is right way," said Mauboussin.
Read the rest of the interview with Michael Mauboussin on the Business Analytics Blog here.
For more information:
· Register here for the upcoming Vision 2012 conference
· Download the Vision conference guide for background on keynotes, elective sessions, demos & workshops
· Read a previous blog post on minimizing risk and improving performance


text:
John Knisely
Because you will feel relieved and surprised that your preconceived notions about certain patient populations are not borne out.
Plus, because of my background in behavioral mental health and as a psychotherapist, I can share real-life experiences about different patient populations and diagnoses, which makes the information a little more grounded.
I hope you will not leave my classes holding onto that "us vs. them" mentality — as though people with psychiatric disorders are some different creatures. Every one of us has a potential for being effective or ineffective in our life.
We all struggle, we all have differences and we need help in profound ways in terms of feelings and how we perceive reality. There isn't a dichotomy; some people just have more trouble than others.


text:
Commission on Security & Cooperation in Europe:
U.S. Helsinki Commission
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights: Accomplishments
and Challenges
Committee Member Present:
Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)
Ambassador Janez Lenarcic,
Director, Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights,
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Hearing Was Held From 2:29 p.m. To 3:27 p.m.,
Senate Room Number 210-212, Capitol Visitors Center, Washington, D.C., Senator
Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), CSCE, Presiding
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Transcript by
Federal News Service
Washington, D.C.
CARDIN: Well, good afternoon, and let me welcome you all to this hearing of
the Helsinki Commission, in which we're very honored to have Ambassador
Lenarcic here, the director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights in the OSCE. Ambassador Lenarcic is a – is a familiar face and a person
who we have worked with for a long time and it's a pleasure to have him here.
It underscores the importance of the work that you do in the Helsinki
Commission and the priorities that we place on the human dimension.
Since the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, human rights have formed an inseparable
and core part of the OSCE's comprehensive concept of security. Agreement was
reached back in 1990 to create specialized institutions to assist the
participating states in implementing their human dimension commitments. And
based on U.S. proposal, the then Office of Free Elections was established in
Warsaw. It later was expanded to encompass human rights under the title it is
now know by as the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, or
better known as ODIHR.
In enhancing the role of ODIHR, the 1992 Helsinki Summit declared that the
participating states express their strong determination to ensure full respect
for human rights and fundamental freedom, to abide by the rule of law, to
promote the principles of democracy and, in this regard to build, strengthen
and protect democratic institutions as well as to promote tolerance throughout
the society.
I think the international community is well aware that the U.S. Helsinki
Commission has made human rights, the human dimension and the work of ODIHR our
top priority. We're proud of the role that we've had in advancing many of the
most important human rights issues – from trafficking, where we now I think
have brought about the sharing of best practices to stop this modern form of
slavery; to the tolerance agenda, where we're very proud of the role that we've
had in improving the capacity of OSCE through special representatives and
sharing, again, best practices among the participating states; to transparency
initiatives that we're very proud of our initiative in those areas that have
put a spotlight on anti-corruption strategies in countries to advance that
basic right of good governance. And certainly we've made progress, but,
nonetheless, we still face significant issues.
While some OSCE countries have successfully transitioned to democracy, others
appear to be moving backwards. Several participating states have yet to hold
free and fair elections. Freedom of the media is threatened in many OSCE
states, where journalists are harassed, attacked and even killed for their
work. And the Internet and other digital media are restricted.
Nongovernmental organizations and human rights defenders face reprisal for
their work. Extremism laws are used to go after opposition activists and
nontraditional religious groups. Anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination
continue to result in hate crimes. Roma, Europe's largest ethnic minority,
continue to face discrimination in education, employment, and housing. I
support ODHIR's work to address these issues.
The OSCE itself also faces challenges. This year marks the 10th anniversary of
the Roma Action Plan and the OSCE's first conference on racism, xenophobia and
discrimination. 2014 will mark not only the 10th anniversary of the OSCE
Tolerance Unit but also the adoption of the seminal Berlin declaration on
combating anti-Semitism. And I was very proud to be part of that U.S.
delegation to the Berlin meetings that resulted in that declaration.
However, even as we commemorate and approach these anniversaries, OSCE's
efforts to address these issues face political problems. For two years in a
row, Russia has blocked all human-dimension decisions by the OSCE Ministerial
Council, including a proposal at the Dublin Ministerial last December which
would have strengthened the OSCE tolerance efforts. Agreement to hold a
high-level tolerance conference taking place today in Albania came only at the
last minute and significantly diminishing its impact.
I'd like to take this opportunity to applaud ODHIR's 2011 Roundtable, 2012's
hate crimes training and other outreach efforts to the seven (million) to 10
million people of African descent in Europe, who have been especially targeted
by hate groups in addition to challenges experienced by North American
African-descent population. African-descent civil society is still in great
need of additional capacity-building, and I hope ODHIR can build on these
I would also like to see ODHIR strengthen its work on gender issue and
assisting participating states with promoting equality of opportunity between
women and men. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge the presence in our
audience today of the OSCE chair-in-office, Special Representative on Gender
Issues June Zeitlin, and thank her for her work in this regard.
Ambassador Lenarcic, I understand you are working with the State Department to
arrange a visit to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in preparation for
the possible monitoring of any illegal proceedings related to it. I myself
have visited Guantanamo and I support you doing so as well as ODHIR's involved
in monitoring the situation there. I believe the United States policy
concerning the remaining detainees should be transparent and in accordance with
acceptable standards. I look forward to your thoughts on how these and other
human rights efforts can be advanced by the OSCE.
I first got to know Ambassador Lenarcic when he chaired the OSCE Permanent
Council in Vienna during Slovenia's 2005 chairmanship in office. After his
Vienna assignment, he was appointed Slovenia's state secretary for European
affairs in 2006. He also served as a diplomatic adviser in the Office of the
Prime Minister and in the permanent mission to the United Nations in New York.
Ambassador Lenarcic was appointed director of the Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights in July of 2008.
Welcome. We look forward to your testimony.
LENARCIC: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like first to express my gratitude to you for
this opportunity. I'm very pleased and honored to be able, again, to testify
before this commission. I'm very much grateful for the consistent support that
this commission and the United States have extended to our office and its
I think that this meeting today is also an opportunity to look at the five
years that have passed since I appeared here for the first time back in
September 2008, as well as to look ahead – but not too far ahead because, as
you know, I'm entering my last year in this office.
Before I continue, in the interest of saving time for discussion, I would
request, or suggest that my prepared statement be put into the record.
CARDIN: Without objection, your entire statement will be put in the record.
LENARCIC: Thank you, sir. And I would limit then my introduction to a few
First, if we look back to all these years, there were many significant
developments and challenges throughout the OSCE area and around it. And these
developments, unfortunately, have led recently to what appears to be a mismatch
between the decreasing ability of decision-making bodies of the OSCE to adopt
timely and substantive and relevant decisions. And you mentioned that, Mr.
Chairman, in your introduction. And this is, on the other hand – on the other
hand, we have other parts of the organization, the same organizations, that are
responsible for implementing those decisions and are able more or less to do
their work. I'm talking about secretariat institutions, field offices and
One of the major factors that impacted the OSCE in these years was undoubtedly
the financial crisis that hit just after I appeared before you five years ago.
And this, obviously, has resulted in restriction of resources, of available
resources, but not only that. Some of the participating states have had to
economize and they did so by prioritizing immediate firefighting, I would call
it, over long-term fire prevention and protection. And that happened also
within the OSCE human dimension. The available resources have shrunk while the
challenges have increased.
Others, meanwhile, whether affected by that same economic crisis or not, have
continued to prioritize stability over human rights standards and system
continuity over systemic reforms. I think we have seen a situation developed
in OSCE, where some of the willing have become less able, while some of the
increasingly able have become less willing. And the result is that we have now
individual appetites for questioning existing commitments sometimes stronger
than the common desire to further strengthen them. And this is also visible in
what you noted in your introduction, Mr. Chairman: the absence of meaningful
human dimension decisions taken by the ministerial council over the last couple
of years.
But there is also the other part of the OSCE: overseeing of the institution's
field operations and secretariat, and including, of course, of the
parliamentary assembly, which are trying to assist and support participating
states. And a lot has been over two and more decades in turning commitments
into practice and offering best practices that – for the participating states
and other regions and organizations to learn from them.
This part of the OSCE is the one that helped develop democratic institutions in
the war-torn region of the Balkans. This is the OSCE that has pioneered the
development of standards, methodologies and expertise in many fields. And this
is also the part of the OSCE whose accomplishments are little known, simply
because effective prevention of conflicts draws less attention than the
conflicts themselves.
In short, I do see, after all these years, OSCE as a – to use the language of
enterprise – a profitable and well-functioning enterprise based on sound
principles but with an increasingly paralyzed boardroom. The main problem is
not so much that the discussions in that board room, which is the permanent
council, on meeting protocols and possibly new products that these discussions
require increasing amounts of both energy and time. The main problem is that
this paralysis in our boardroom, combined with the ongoing budgetary squeeze,
result in slowing down our assembly line, the assembly line which produced
well-tested and quality OSCE products.
Let me now go through some of these products. And I will try to focus only on
a few of the highlights here.
First, human rights defenders. Our office continues to work closely with civil
society and nongovernmental organizations in order to ensure that their voice
is heard in the OSCE and that they can play their fundamental role in human
rights protection. We try to ensure that they can operate in an enabling
environment, free from reprisals, harassment, and intimidation.
Unfortunately, in many countries, who we have witnessed in the past few years
that there is deterioration of the situation of human rights defenders. We
have seen disturbing developments where the environment for human rights
defenders to operate freely has become much more restricted. That's why the
meeting of the civil society organizations on the margins of the Dublin
Ministerial last December made a strong call by producing a Declaration on
Human Rights Defenders. We will heed that call. And we launched a project
aimed at producing recommendations to participating states how to protect human
rights defenders, which is an old obligation of the OSCE-participating states
codified, if I may say so, already in Budapest in 1994. We will mark the 20th
anniversary of the Budapest document next year. And, in our view, this is a
good opportunity to recall this obligation – common obligation of OSCE
participating states to protect human rights defenders.
In the area of rule of law, I would like to highlight our trial monitoring
activities. Trial monitoring can be an important way to promote transparency
in the administration of justice and full adherence to fair trial standards.
Since 2008, we have conducted large trial monitoring projects in Armenia after
2008 presidential elections, in Belarus in the aftermath of the 2010 elections,
and currently in Georgia, where we monitor criminal proceedings against former
senior officials of the previous government; proceedings that were initiated
after the 2012 parliamentary elections there.
Of course, I wish to thank the United States for its continuous financial and
political support to these projects, which would not be possible if we had to
rely solely on our regular budgets.
You mentioned, Mr. Chairman, the anti-trafficking, where OSCE has pioneered
standards and commitments. I could tell you that over all these years, in
close cooperation with the special coordinator of OSCE on trafficking on human
beings, Mrs. Giammarinaro, we have been developing and promoting a human
rights-based approach in combating trafficking.
ODHIR was one of the first international bodies to raise the issue of
trafficking for not only sexual, but also labor exploitation by advocating for
a diversified approach to the identification of victims and assistance to
trafficked persons. We also specialized in establishment of compensation funds
and we advocated the access of victims to compensation for the losses that they
have suffered.
Gender – and I share your pleasure with seeing Mr. Zeitlin here – gender has
remained one of our most important activities over all these years. Our office
has attempted to mainstream the gender aspects into all – all – of its
programmatic activities.
Let me just illustrate this by our election related activities, where all
observation and assessment activities take into account the gender aspect of
elections. And we have also been active in promoting women's political
participation throughout the OSCE and beyond, notably in the Mediterranean
partner countries. We have developed a plethora of tools in support to
OSCE-participating states and the field operations, for instance, the base line
study gender equality in elected office six-step action plan. So it implies
that if there is political will, six steps would do and improve the
participation of women in political and public life.
Freedom of peaceful assembly and association is one of those freedoms that have
come under increasing strain in the OSCE since 2008. In some participating
states, the space for free expression of these fundamental rights is shrinking
as a result of restrictive legislation and practices, including increased
scrutiny and monitoring of civil society activity through, for instance,
deployment of tax, labor and other inspections.
Another troubling development is the tendency to brand legitimate exercises of
freedom of peaceful assembly and association as the activity done by so-called
extremists or foreign agents. We are launching now a joint activity with the
Council of Europe's Venice Commission to develop guidelines on freedom of
association. These guidelines will be designed to assist the participating
states in implementing their important commitments in this area and will
complement the existing joint guidelines on freedom of peaceful assembly that
we produced recently also together with the Venice Commission.
Mr. Chairman, you mentioned Roma and Sinti issues. Indeed, the OSCE action
plan on improvement of the situation of Roma and Sinti, which was adopted in
2003, was a landmark document. It was a pioneering document, but it remains
not implemented. This was the case in 2008 when I already reported to you
about our preparation of status report after five years since the adoption of
the Roma and Sinti action plan.
We are now preparing a second status report at the 10th anniversary of the
adoption of the action plan. I can already tell you that preliminary reading
of the background data that we have collected for this second status report
indicates that Roma and Sinti overall remain discriminated against, remain
vulnerable, and that sizeable communities live – continue to live in abject
poverty and on the margins of societies. And that all this is happening also
in countries that otherwise (are known ?) as well-developed ones.
On hate crimes, you are aware of our annual report, which clearly shows that
more needs to be done to develop the capacity to effectively address such
crimes. In many instances, law enforcement agencies and officers lack the
required knowledge and skills to recognize hate crimes as such and also to
offer effective and adequate victim protection.
And for these reasons, victims are often reluctant to report hate crimes and
that results in underreporting of this phenomena. We are developing a number
of tools and activities to assist participating states to improve their
performance in this area, notably by our program on training against hate
crimes for law enforcement. This is a success story I can say. To date, this
– through this program, we have trained more than 70,000 police officers in
Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and with the support of the OSCE mission in Kosovo,
also in Pristina. We are planning to continue this work this year and next in
Albania, Italy, where I will sign the memorandum next year, Montenegro and
Combating hate crimes is only one of our ongoing activities in the field of
promoting tolerance and nondiscrimination, which are much wider. We have a
variety of tools and activities in this area, in the areas of combating
anti-Semitism, combating discrimination against Muslims as well as of
Christians and members of other religions. We work closely together with the
special representative – personal representatives of the chairperson in office,
including Andy Baker, in this field. Next month, for instance, we will help
organize jointly a conference in Berlin on the security of Jewish communities.
With regard to freedom of religion or belief, you probably are aware of the
fact that we have overhauled the institutional structure at our disposal; there
is a new panel of experts on freedom of religion or belief that has been
established recently. It has 12 notable personalities serving in it and we
believe that it will allow us to improve our capacity to assist participating
states in meeting their obligations in the area of freedom of religion or
belief so that everyone will be able to exercise this freedom in whatever way
they wish to do it, when and where they wish to do it.
It is now more than two years since the events unfolded that became commonly
referred to as the Arab spring. I can report to you that our office has been
actively promoting closer cooperation between the OSCE and its Mediterranean
partners of cooperation. We have come particularly far with our cooperation
and support to the efforts by Tunisia in many fields, but we also are pursuing
expansion of this cooperation with others.
Mr. Chairman, of course, we have to – I have to also mention one of the major
activities of our office, which is election observation. We have deployed many
election observation missions over these years. We have cooperated in most
cases well with the parliamentary assembly of the OSCE and other parliamentary
I would single out the observation missions in the Russian Federation in
December 2011 and March 2012. Why? Because you will recall that five years
earlier, it was not possible for our office to monitor elections there due to
the restrictions imposed at that time. So there was a challenge how to
overcome that legacy. And I think that challenge was met. It was not easy.
It was not easy to overcome the mistrust and suspicion, but I think we were
able to do that and we were able to produce together with – on both cases, with
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and other parliamentary partners two reports – two
assessments of those elections. And I am confident about the value of those
reports. There are many other election observation activities that are ongoing
and I do hope that there will be a good cooperation between out office and
parliamentary assembly, maybe a word about it a little later.
Before I go there, just one more thing. Election observation is not an end in
itself. We see it as only a stage in the longer process, a process which
should include the follow-up to recommendations that are usually contained in
our final reports. I'm pleased to note that that is a growing number of
participating states that do engaged in earnest in follow-up activities. And
this group includes the United States. As we speak, this week, the follow-up
visit is underway in order to present and discuss our final report from the
last November elections and to discuss its recommendations. I'm particularly
pleased the U.S. is engaging in this activity in earnest because I think it's
important for the OSCE that the U.S. is able to show an example to others also
in this area.
A word about the cooperation with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. I would
like to emphasize here before you that we are fully committed to cooperation
with our parliamentary assembly on the basis of the '97 cooperation agreement
as endorsed by the ministerial council decision. That ministerial council
decision talks about election observation as a common endeavor of our two
institutions, ODHIR and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and other parliamentary
bodies as appropriate. And it calls for partnership. And we are committed to
I think that the previous president of the parliamentary assembly, Petros
Efthymiou, put it very well when he said that OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and
ODHIR have complementary roles to play. I fully agree with it and also have to
know that during his presidency of parliamentary assembly, our cooperation was
generally good.
I would like to move towards conclusions, sir, with importance of the United
States leadership in the promotion of human rights, freedoms, rule of law and
democracy, importance which was clearly demonstrated over the past century and
also in the framework of the OSCE.
But as for any leadership, it is most effective when it is done by example. In
January 2012, on the 10th anniversary of the transfer of the first detainees to
the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, we – it was with regret and dismay that
we had to issue a press release stressing that universal human rights standards
require that also detention of terrorist suspects should be accompanied by
concrete charges and that the persons detained under these charges shall be
immediately informed of them and brought before a competent judicial authority.
We also called for a swift closure of Guantanamo of – we called for
prosecution of the remaining detainees in accordance with international fair
trial standards or for their release.
And, most recently, President Obama echoed what international human rights and
democracy activists have been saying for years – that Guantanamo, I quote,
"hurts the United States in terms of its international standing," end of quote,
and that the facility, quote, "likely created more terrorists around the world
than it ever detained," end of quote.
The United States has traditionally aspired to play a role as both a leader and
example for others. If it wishes to do so, it must move, I believe, without
delay towards closing of the Guantanamo detention center.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you once more for your kind
invitation. I would like to thank you and the commission and the United States
for its staunch, consistent support for our activities. I very much look
forward to our discussion and also to our continued cooperation for the
remainder of my term in this office. Thank you.
CARDIN: Mr. Ambassador, thank you for that very comprehensive overview of the
work under your portfolio. It certainly is a very ambitious agenda from the
point of view of the challenges that we have within the OSCE region.
I also appreciate you started with the – some of the procedural challenges that
we have. I think the OSCE has been one of the most successful consensus
organizations in modern history, but a consensus organization requires the
cooperation of all the participating states with a common objective, and a
willingness to sit down and listen as well as to voice concerns, and to
recognize that there are principles that we all need to improve upon. And by
the work of the OSCE, each of our states can become stronger in all three
baskets. And I think that's the hallmark here.
I also thank you for bringing up the election monitoring. We think that's one
of the basic responsibilities that we have. And I think we all are somewhat
feeling better today because of renewed commitments between the parliamentary
assembly and ODHIR to work out its issues. And, as I understand it, the most
recent observation teams have worked and it looks like we're back on track on
the observation issues.
I am concerned about some suggestions being made by participating states that
they want more of the election monitoring decision-making done by consensus
rather than done in a professional manner between ODHIR, and the chair in
office, and the parliamentary assembly.
Can you just share with us – you know, we want to make progress on the process
issues. We certainly don't want to backtrack. Can you just fill us in as to
whether we're going to be able to move forward in a similar manner, as we have
in the past, in election monitoring?
LENARCIC: Now? Thank you, sir. I think your concern is very well justified.
I think that the attempts to place a greater share of the ODHIR's or any other
OSCE institution's activities under the consensus-based decision-making of the
permanent council can only result in hampering the activities of the
institutions. I think that such attempts must be resisted.
It was for a reason that OSCE decided to establish distinct institutions and
give them their mandates. It is necessary to allow these institutions – and I
think I'm talking about all three of them, all three of these institutions
established by the ministerial council, to be able to deliver on their mandate
without undo – without undo hindrance.
There are attempts, as you said, that important parts of ODHIR's activities,
including in election observation, would be placed under this decision-making
authority of the permanent council. For instance, that – let's say,
preliminary statement should first be discussed and agreed in the permanent
council. I think that such arrangement would inevitably result in the absence
of any meaningful assessments of election processes. Clearly, if every state
has a veto, they would prevent anything that would reflect negatively. It
would, in other words, spell the end of professional, independent and impartial
election observation. It would mean the end of election observation as a
professional activity which is devoid of the politics between – playing out
between the participating states.
CARDIN: I agree with you completely and that's a matter that I can tell you
this commission will be watching very closely. I've had discussions with our
mission in Vienna on this issue. And we will continue to push very hard to
continue the professional manner in which the election activities have been
taking place within OSCE.
You mentioned the human rights defenders and protecting human right defenders,
which is something that is a very high priority to us. I'd like to put into
that a recent concern that's been brought to our attention about NGOs and NGOs'
participation in OSCE activities and proposals made by Belarus and Russia that
would cause the vetting process to deny active participation by many of the NGO
Can you just bring us up to date on this issue as to whether we are – how well
NGOs are able to operate within the OSCE framework and within OSCE countries?
And what does the trend line here look like?
LENARCIC: Thank you, sir. I think that the – one of the unique features and
advantages of the OSCE is precisely the format of its human dimension events.
I think the OSCE is the only international organization which holds its human
dimension, human rights events in the format which is completely open to
nongovernmental organizations, to civil society representatives; but not only
open, it places them. It gives them place at the table and they can take the
floor and confront participating states with their views and suggestion.
Clearly, this can often be uncomfortable for some participating states. It's
never comfortable when government policies are criticized, especially not in
front of others, but that's what actually OSCE is all about. OSCE is about
peer pressure. OSCE is about peer review. And the civil society organizations
and nongovernmental organizations have a crucial role to play. And this role
was most recently reaffirmed or acknowledged again at the highest level at the
Astana summit, where the leaders of OSCE participating states acknowledge the
role of civil society organizations in helping them meet their OSCE
So I think it is of utmost importance to preserve the access of nongovernmental
organizations to OSCE conferences, to human dimension meetings. It is,
therefore, of utmost importance to not allow attempts to exclude this or that
civil society representative upon request of an individual state. There are –
there is one exception, according to OSCE rules. It is defined in the Helsinki
document from 1992, which stipulates that all NGOs will be able to participate
in OSCE human dimension events, except for those organizations and individuals
that advocate violence or justify terrorism. So this is the only exception. I
think that this arrangement is adequate.
There are ongoing complaints – ongoing complaints almost every year about
certain individual organizations appearing, appearing before – appearing at the
human dimension event. But those complaints usually – I would say, are an
issue between two or more participating states, because state A claims this
person should not be seated at the OSCE conference table because according to a
court decision in our country, that person was convicted of terrorist
activities. But that same person lives and works in another participating
state which obviously disagrees with that court judgment.
So this is an issue that in my view should be solved between the countries
concerned and not – not – at the conference itself. Certainly, we at ODHIR do
not see our role – our role as policing the human dimension events. We see our
role as opening the door to all those who wish to attend and participate. And
we don't see our role as identifying those who are not supposed to attend and
throw them out.
CARDIN: I would just underscore the point that you made. I understand the
exception that's there on participation, but I would argue that's not for an
individual state's determination, even if the event is in that individual
state. It has got to be a broader acceptance that the organization is
disqualified rather than it being suspicious that an NGO is being denied
participation because the host country doesn't particularly like what they
stand for rather than being disqualified for the reasons that you mentioned.
So I think we have to be pretty aggressive in protecting the participation,
which is what we believe in as an organization.
I want to move to the issue that you mentioned, which I think is very, very
important: trial monitoring. In more and more countries, we're finding that
countries that have transitioned into free and fair elections and to democracy,
after an election is over are using every tool at their disposal to crush their
opposition, their new opposition, including using the trial process in
imprisoning the opposition, denying them full rights to participate in the
government in order to try to maintain the power of their new – their new
election. The election may have been free and fair, but as a result of the
elections they're taking steps that are really questionable as to the rights of
You've mentioned a couple of points in your opening comments about monitoring
trials that could very well be political in nature. And you also mentioned the
opportunity, freedom of expression, and the ability to effectively oppose the
government in power. It seems to me that we have some countries that have –
that we thought were pretty far along the way that require some attention today
that may resist that. How can we effectively put a spotlight on those concerns
and try to improve the conduct in these countries?
LENARCIC: Thank you. There are two firm commitments made by
OSCE-participating states to invite international observers. One widely known
is to invite international monitors for elections. Another one, which is less
known, is commitment to invite international observers to monitor trials. It
is as unequivocal as the first one. And we tried to use that. We tried to use
it in – on occasions, when there are – when there are concerns with regard to
the motivation for the trials, with regard to the fairness of the trials, or
with regard to the – to the circumstances that result in the – in the trials.
In all the three cases that I mentioned, Armenia, 2008; Belarus, 2010; and,
most recently, Georgia, we use these arguments – this unequivocal commitment
combined with the concerns that were due to circumstances in order to advocate
this kind of exercise.
CARDIN: Let me interrupt you just for one moment. I was aware that we had the
right to monitor trials. It seems to me we're better off if we never have a
trial in some of these cases and that is there any way that we can work with
countries to say, don't just try to find a criminal statute or invent a
criminal statute so the person you beat ends up in jail, but to really look at
the type of country you want to live in and understand that elections have
consequences. You won, but you're – you won because of a free and fair
election. It's your responsibility to maintain that. Understand that once the
indictments are there, you have the opportunity to monitor how the trial itself
takes place. It seems to me we want to prevent the intimidation factor to
start off with.
LENARCIC: That's a strong point that you made, sir, but I don't think that we
are in a position to prevent trials if prosecutors, you know, go ahead and
trials start, but we can monitor them. And we can – and the purpose of
monitoring is to ascertain to what extent the defendant was afforded fair trial
guarantees. And those fair trial guarantees are quite unequivocal and are
contained in a number of OSCE commitments. So there is a solid basis for our
work in monitoring the trials.
And there is also key added value in such monitoring. Every monitoring
exercise results in a comprehensive report, which, if it identifies significant
shortcomings, it also contains specific, concrete recommendations for the
country to undertake in order – what measures to take in order to improve its
judiciary, the functioning of a judiciary, its independence, as well as to
strengthen the fair trial guarantees.
I can tell you that the Armenian authorities worked with us seriously and
engaged with us intensively on the basis of our report from the trial
monitoring in that country. We're still waiting for Belarus to work with us on
recommendations from our trial monitoring report in their case. I am
optimistic with regard to the readiness of Georgia and its authorities to work
with us on recommendations that will be part of our final report when we issue
CARDIN: Let me move on I guess beyond than just monitoring. We had the chair
in office here not too long ago when we brought up the Ukraine situation, where
the former leader was – is now in prison, and how the European institution has
found that that was a political action. Do you coordinate some of the work
that you do with the appropriate institutions within Europe that are monitoring
some of these activities?
LENARCIC: In the case that you mentioned, the case of former Ukraine prime
minister is the European Court of Human Rights that has been seized with the
matter and we – of course, that court is completely independent and autonomous.
We do, on the other hand, cooperate closely with another institution of the
Council of Europe, the so-called Venice Commission, on a number of issues
related to human rights, rule of law, independence of judiciary. We produce
join legal opinions about relevant pieces of legislation so there is good
cooperation with the Council of Europe.
CARDIN: Let me – I don't want your comments on Guantanamo Bay to go without a
response. And my response is pretty brief. I agree with you, everything you
said, without equivocation.
I would add one additional point, and that is – in every one of our country –
every one of our states, we're struggling with budget problems. And the cost
of Guantanamo Bay is astronomical. When you look at the comparable cost of
bringing the detainees to trial and housing them in a more mainstream penal
facility, the cost would be a fraction of what it's costing the U.S. taxpayers
today in Guantanamo Bay.
Now, that's not the reason to close Guantanamo Bay. That's not the reason to
do everything you just said, but it's another factor that I think needs to be
understood. So I hope that you will be aggressive in this and I can assure
that there are members of Congress that will be working on this issue with you
and members of our commission.
I want to get your thoughts on how we go to the next level. It's been a decade
since the tolerance agenda really was in full stride. You mentioned the
document for the Roma population, and what was done, and tremendous commitments
made. And I agree with you, not enough progress has been made. I think we've
made significant progress on tolerance and very proud of what we've been able
to accomplish in sharing of best practices.
On gender issues, there are still significant problems in our region. We've
got to get beyond just the ability to run for office, but also deal with the
family issues and have to deal with the economic issues on gender.
What strategies would you recommend that we employ, those of us who are
interested in keeping the tolerance agendas and the equity agendas aggressive,
to take it to the next level, recognizing it's now been a decade that we've
followed this strategy?
LENARCIC: From what we have experienced, the areas where things could
definitely be lifted to a higher level are at least two.
One is our training programs, like the one that I mentioned, training against
hate crimes for law enforcement. This is important because if hate crimes are
not recognized as such, then nobody sees it as a problem from the perspective
of tolerance and nondiscrimination. And hate crimes can be described as the
extreme form – extreme manifestation of intolerance and discrimination. In
that area, what really would be needed would be better collection of data by
all participating states. This is a perpetual problem that we are encountering
when we collect information that serves as a basis for our annual report.
We see that some states don't even collect data. Some collect only part of the
data necessary. This data collection and statistics, these are important
things because you don't have that, you don't have the understanding of the
dimension of the problem. So this is one thing where we are trying to foster
greater efforts by the participating states to systematically collect data, to
analyze data, to convey that data to us so that we can – we can get the picture
of what the dimensions of the problems really are.
If somebody asked me today is the – are the incidents of hate crimes on the
rise or not, I couldn't give you an answer. If you look at our annual report,
you will see some participating states with a high number of hate crime
incidents. But that is – does it mean that those crimes are more common in
that country? Not necessarily. More likely it is due to the fact that that
country is collecting its data more successfully and systematically.
So there are – these efforts should be upgraded, but on a strategic level I
think that tolerance and nondiscrimination issues, including issues connected
to with Roma, would need to be – would need to continue to be kept on the
agenda. Sometimes, one has the – one has the impression that there is no more
attention paid to these issues. And this comes at a particularly unfortunate
time. It is obvious that the current difficulties that many countries are
dealing with due to economic and financial situation the result – do result in
scapegoating members of minority, migrants, Roma and others. So we do see the
increase in that context of the manifestations of discrimination and
intolerance. So we should keep this item very high. And also this conference
that is taking place in Tirana this week is I think a welcome step in this
CARDIN: I agree. I think information is critically important. Statistics are
important. I think you will find that there are states that are doing this the
right way. The United States, I think our statically information on hate
crimes is pretty sophisticated. And it can be very informative as to where we
need to put our priorities.
I think there are other participating states that have equally strong
statically information. Some states don't. And that's where best practices
can help and that's where I think the special representatives can help in
trying to promote the practices in states, at a minimum, to get the inform
information so we can evaluate.
I can assure you the commission wants to work with you in how we can strategize
to continue to keep a focus on these areas. The plight of the Roma is a high
priority of our commission and it will remain a high priority. Dealing with
the problems of anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim activities and anti-Christian
activities are going to be front and center for this commission. And gender
equality issues are going to be matters that we're going to spend a lot of time
to make sure that we'll move forward on. So these are issues that we have
promoted in the past, special conferences. We have promoted agendas at the
ministerial meetings and strategies.
What I would urge is that we come together and try to figure out the right
strategy to advance these issues moving forward, recognizing the procedural
hurdles that have been more difficult in recent years and also recognizing the
competing areas. You laid out a very comprehensive report and where there are
so many different areas. And the resources – and I don't mean just financial
resources, just the resources have to be used in a most judicious way in order
to set priorities so we can make progress in each of these areas.
I can assure that this commission will strongly support your work. And we look
forward to your recommendations and advice as to how not only our commission,
but also the United States Congress and the administration can weigh in to help
advance the objectives of the human dimension within OSCE. We value very much
your recommendations and we want to make sure that you have the tools in order
to carry out your responsibilities. And we will continue to fight from a
procedural point of view to make sure that OSCE can continue to be a
functioning institution to advance the human dimension.
Thank you for your public service. Thank you for coming to the United States.
We very much appreciate that.
LENARCIC: Thank you.
CARDIN: The commission will stand adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:27 pm, the hearing was adjourned.]


text:
BlackFlys Sonic Fly II Sunglasses
Item # 12627759
|Eligible for Free Shipping on Orders $39 or More! (see promotion details)
|Members of The League get 5% back when you spend $100! (see promotion details)
Product Details
Fuel your need for speed with the BlackFlys® Sonic II Fly sunglasses. A nylon-injected frame constructed around a wire core keeps the shape consistent in extreme conditions. They offer crucial 100% UV protection and come with a BlackFlys® zip case and microfiber cleaning cloth.
- 100% UV protection
- 8-base polycarbonate lenses
- Nylon-injected frame around a wire core maintains a consistent shape in extreme conditions
- Comes with BlackFlys® zip case and microfiber cleaning cloth


text:
The mission of the Noreen Fraser Foundation (NFF), a 501c3 not for profit organization based in Los Angeles, is to raise funds for breakthrough research that advances precision medicine for the prevention and treatment of women's cancers. Our hope is that cancer will become a manageable disease that patients will live with and not die from, until it ceases to exist.
The Noreen Fraser Foundation is a
501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.


text:
Find a Doctor at Sanford Health
Sanford Health's online directory helps you find a doctor or advanced practice provider that is right for you and your family. Learn more about their specialties, philosophies, and accreditations.
- Knows you and your personal health history
- Schedules routine screening tests that detect disease such as heart attack, cancer and diabetes
- Encourages you to make lifestyle changes, cares for you through illnesses and refers you to specialists when necessary
- Is the custodian of your health history and will be the doctor other doctors will call for information if you're ever hospitalized for a serious medical condition
Doctor Video Bios
Displaying all 0 doctors and advanced practice providers.
We're sorry there are no doctors or advanced practice providers that match your search criteria. Please modify your selections.
If you would like to reach a representative by phone to assist with your search, you may call our Physician Finder service at 1-877-945-5678.
Thank you.
Check mark icon indicates which providers are accepting new patients


text:
Here's the list of last week's most popular TV shows, according to the latest Nielsen ratings.
2. World Series Game 6: St. Louis at Boston, Fox
3. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Houston, NBC
4. "60 Minutes," CBS
5. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS
6. World Series Game 5: Boston at St. Louis, Fox
7. "Walking Dead," AMC
8. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC
9. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC
10. "Person of Interest," CBS
11. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS
12. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC
13. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC
14. "Blue Bloods," CBS
15. NFL Football Seattle vs. St. Louis, ESPN
16. "Castle," ABC
17. "Criminal Minds," CBS
18. "The Blacklist," NBC
19. "The Good Wife," CBS
20. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS


text:
Social Media
|Kohler Facebook
The official Kohler Facebook page. "Like" us to keep up with our latest products, see inspiring home imagery, find out about ongoing contests and give us your feedback.
|Kohler Twitter
The official Kohler Twitter page. Follow us and get updates on our new products, go behind the scenes at major events, ask us questions and more
|Kohler Instagram
The official Kohler Instagram page. Follow our Kohler photographers as they share an inside view on photo shoots, live events, design trends and more.
|Kohler YouTube
The official Kohler YouTube channel. See our latest television ads, experience our new products, find helpful installation instructions and more.
|Kohler Google+
The official Kohler Google+ page. Add us to your circle and keep up with our latest products, see inspiring home imagery, find out about ongoing contests and go behind the scenes at major events.
|Kohler Pinterest
The official Kohler Pinterest page. Follow us and see our latest products, get inspired with beautiful home interiors and keep up with the latest trends in kitchen and bathroom design.
|Kohler Houzz
The official Kohler Houzz page. Browse beautiful home interiors and find creative solutions and product ideas for your kitchen or bathroom.
Kohler's design blog. See ideas and trends we love, profiles of people we find amazing, and all kinds of smart, beautiful things that inspire us.


text:
I'll be upgrading to 7.2.1 shortly and wonder how long the MYSQL table upgrade script has taken other people to run?
In the release notes the example is for a 4000 mailbox, 250 MB mailbox size, the script could take about 70 minutes to run.
Now I only have 170 mailboxes but most of those are GB's in size, with the average about 4GB
So anybody remember how long theirs took and how many mailboxes + size?


text:
WASHINGTON – D.C.'s fire department is investigating allegations that D.C. Fire and EMS training academy instructors made inappropriate remarks to female cadets.
At least two female cadets claim their instructors sexually harassed them, ABC7 reports.
But D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Kenneth Ellerbe disputes that what happened was sexual harassment.
"What we believe happened was more some inappropriate language and touching — not of a sexual nature, but the matter made the young ladies uncomfortable," Ellerbe tells ABC7.
Cadets say the instructors made comments about their body parts.
"We took immediate action to remove those members from the presence of our cadets and continued class," Ellerbe tells ABC7. "The ladies have asked that we keep this matter confidential and we've done our best to do that until this matter is completely resolved."
In a prepared statement to ABC7, Ellerbe said, "No employee has made an allegation of physical sexual misconduct. There are also no allegations involving shaking behinds or comments about an employee's breast as reported by ABC7. We take any allegation of inappropriate conduct very seriously. Once a concern was raised immediate action was taken to separate the various parties and to properly investigate the matter. A full and thorough investigation is underway."
D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells says if he is not satisfied with the fire department's investigation, he'll bring the matter before a council committee for further review.
A parent of a cadet in the class spoke to ABC7:
U.S. News & World Report combed through its Best Hotels database to find the properties that offered the best amenities for youngsters and their parents.


text:
Images: Royal Thai Armed Forces members visit JBER [Image 10 of 11]
Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jason Epperson
Paratroopers from the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, jump from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft as part of a combined air drop, called a friendship jump, during the joint Thai-U.S. training exercise on Malemute Drop Zone at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska Feb. 6 2014. The Spartan Brigade is preparing for their upcoming role in Exercise Cobra Gold 2014 in the Kingdom of Thailand. (Photo by Army Sgt. 1st Class Jason Epperson/Released)
This work, Royal Thai Armed Forces members visit JBER [Image 1 of 11], by SFC Jason Epperson, identified by DVIDS, is free of known copyright restrictions under U.S. copyright law.
Date Taken:02.06.2014
Date Posted:02.11.2014 20:44
Photo ID:1165840
Size:3.34 MB
Location:JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, US
Gallery Images
Associated News
Royal Thai Armed Forces members visit JBER


text:
Out of Stock
Item # REY0104
Don't worry though, we have a lot more Tubular Wheels in stock than that.View Similar Products
Reynolds Forty Six T Tubular Wheelset $0.00
If you're like us, you see rim depths in terms of functionality -- under 32mm is reserved for climbing, over 60mm is best left for time trials, and 46mm is the absolute sweet spot. We find this cross-section of the wheel market to be its most competitive, but not surprisingly, Reynolds has risen to the occasion. With its Forty Six T Tubular Wheelset, you'll find an industry leader in regard to weight, rigidity, and responsiveness.
In fact, in terms of weight, the Forty Six tips the scales around a mere 1200 grams. And when compared to comparable tubular rim depths, the Forty Six comes in lower than both the Zipp Firecrest 303 and Enve SES 3.4s. How was it done? With Reynolds' CR6 Hybrid Carbon, of course. This is the same carbon fiber found in the Aero line of wheels. It's used in both lines because it allows a high level of torsional and lateral rigidity without the detriment of stacking grams. And for the Aero line, its light weight and high tensile strength keeps the weight of a 26.2mm wide rim down.
When used on the Forty Six's maximum width of 20.8mm and a rim depth of 46mm, rotational weight becomes almost negligible. So, it can be asserted that while the Forty Six's aerodynamics play a vital role in its design, it hasn't undergone the same extensive DET tunnel-testing as the Aero series. However, like the RZR 46, the Forty Six has received Reynolds' Swirl Lip Generator (SLG) technology. It's easy to miss, but the leading edge of the rim features a 0.9mm lip in order to widen it near the spoke face. Accordingly, this minimizes pressure drag by reducing side forces on the rim, leaving room for responsiveness and weight to be the paramount characteristics of the Forty Six. And along these lines, you'll find that the wheels roll up to speed quickly, and demand less user-force to keep them there. Additionally, its exceptional stiffness-to-weight ratio guarantees a nimble reaction to your force when you jump to pin down a climbing break.
Now, while the Aero and Forty Six differ in functionality, both wheels are constructed with the same proprietary carbon technology. The recipe consists of three technologies -- Hybrid Modulus Laminate (HLM), Variable Resin Chemistry (VRC), and Inert Gas Compaction (IGC). Basically, these three systems work harmoniously to construct the Forty Six. HLM is a method used to assign specific carbons and layups at different points of the rim. So, through this method, Reynolds placed different carbons and layups at the tire channel, brake track, side wall, internal nipple bed, and spoke face. Then, with VRC, Reynolds' exclusive resins bond the different laminates into a single structure. And lastly, IGC is used to mold and cure the rim in what Reynolds deems as the most ideal of environments. As a result of this construction process, the Forty Six is strengthened at strategic points, and benefits from a light overall weight. Additionally, the wheel's layup provides high levels of lateral and torsional rigidity under load.
With the Forty Six, Reynolds also addressed an all-too-common ailment to carbon wheels -- poor braking. The solution was found through the development of what Reynolds calls its Crynogenic Glass Transition Braking System (CTg). Essentially, this is a patented braking design that required both a redesign of the brake track laminate and pads. Accordingly, CTg uses a temperature-conductive laminate at the brake track's transition points that withstands higher levels of heat than typical carbon laminates. And when paired with Reynolds' polymer Cryo Blue brake pads, braking becomes more predictable and requires less finicky feathering on fast descents.
For the actual build, Reynolds used 20 radial-laced DT Swiss Aerolite spokes in the front and 24 spokes in a two-cross, drive-side pattern at the rear. These have been laced to DT Swiss straight-pull hubs, and the wheels attach with Reynolds' new camlock quick-release skewers. Please note that while the Forty Six's internal nipples decrease your drag footprint, truing the wheels will require a Reynolds-specific internal spoke wrench.
The Reynolds Forty Six T Tubular Wheelset is available in the color Black with White labels and in a tubular configuration. Please note that the rear wheel is offered with either a Shimano or Campagnolo 11-speed. Also, every wheelset includes two pairs of Reynolds Cryo Blue Brake Pads. Reynolds recommends only using its proprietary pads, and the use of any other brake pads will result in a void of your warranty.


text:
Order Online or Call (931) 528-6518
|Shopping Cart: (0 items)
|Register / Login
Fluitek Filter Store > woodgate
Fluitek sells high quality aftermarket WOODGATE filters for substantially less than the OEM brand. All of our WOODGATE replacement filters meet or exceed the OEM filter specifications. If you cannot find the WOODGATE replacement that you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact us.
14 Types of WOODGATE Filters found:
|Filtration Product Catalog
Customer Service
Manage Account
Order Confirmation Options
Security and Privacy
Privacy Policy
Store Policies
About Us
Unit Conversion Calculator
» Absorption Elements
» Adsorption Elements
» Air Intake Elements
» Air/Oil Separator
» Bag Filters
» Compressed Air Filters
» Coalescer/Separator
» Compressor Filters
» Depth Elements
» Dust Collectors
» Hydraulic Filters
» Metal Elements
» Panel Filters
» Pleated Media Liquid
» Process Cartridges
» Radial Fin Elements
» Spin-On Elements
» Wound Elements
Fluitek Corporation is an independent supplier of aftermarket filters and is not affiliated with the manufacturers mentioned in this web site. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) names are the trademarks of each manufacturer. OEM names and part numbers are for reference only and do not indicate the manufacturer of our products.