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For the most current version of this Note, see Background Notes A-Z.
Area: 1,972,550 sq. km. (761,600 sq. mi.); about three times the size of Texas.
Cities: Capital--Mexico City (22 million, estimate for metro area). Other major cities--Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Acapulco, Merida, Leon, Veracruz.
Terrain: Coastal lowlands, central high plateaus, and mountains up to 5,400 m. (18,000 ft.).
Climate: Tropical to desert.
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Mexican(s).
Population (July 2010 est.): 112,468,855.
Annual population growth rate (2010 est.): 1.118%.
Ethnic groups: Indian-Spanish (mestizo) 60%, Indian 30%, Caucasian 9%, other 1%.
Religions (2000 census): Roman Catholic 76.5%, Protestant 6.3%, other 0.3%, unspecified 13.8%, none 3.1%.
Language: Spanish.
Education: Years compulsory--11 (note: preschool education was made mandatory in Dec. 2001). Literacy--91.4%.
Health (2010): Infant mortality rate--17.84/1,000. Life expectancy--male 73.5 years; female 79.22 years.
Work force (2009 est., 44.5 million): Agriculture--13.7%, industry--23.4%, services--62.2%.
Type: Federal republic.
Independence: First proclaimed September 16, 1810; republic established 1824.
Constitution: February 5, 1917.
Branches: Executive--president (chief of state and head of government). Legislative--bicameral. Judicial--Supreme Court, local and federal systems.
Administrative subdivisions: 31 states and a federal district.
Political parties: Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), National Action Party (PAN), Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Green Ecological Party (PVEM), Labor Party (PT), and several small parties.
Suffrage: Universal at 18.
GDP (official exchange rate): $1 trillion (2010 est.); $876 billion (2009); $1.088 trillion (2008).
GDP (PPP method): $1.459 trillion (2009 est.); $1.550 trillion (2008).
Per capita GDP (PPP method): $13,542 (2009 est.); $14,534 (2008).
Annual real GDP growth: 4.5% (2010 est.); -6.5% (2009); 1.3% (2008); 3.3% (2007); 5.1% (2006); 3.2% (2005).
Inflation rate: 4.6% (2010 est.); 3.57% (2009); 6.5% (2008); 3.8% (2007); 3.4% (2006); 3.3% (2005).
Natural resources: Petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber.
Agriculture (4% of GDP): Products--corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes, beef, poultry, dairy products, wood products.
Industry (31% of GDP): Types--food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables.
Services (64% of GDP): Types--commerce and tourism, financial services, transportation and communications.
Trade (goods): Exports (2009)--$230 billion f.o.b. Imports (2009)--$234 billion f.o.b. Exports to U.S. (2009)--$185 billion (80% of total). Imports from U.S. (2009)--$112 billion (48% of total). Major markets--U.S., EU (5% of total), Canada (3.6% of total).
Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world and the second most-populous country in Latin America after Portuguese-speaking Brazil. About 76% of the people live in urban areas. Many Mexicans emigrate from rural areas that lack job opportunities--such as the underdeveloped southern states and the crowded central plateau--to the industrialized urban centers and the developing areas along the U.S.-Mexico border. According to some estimates, the population of the area around Mexico City is nearly 22 million, which would make it the largest concentration of population in the Western Hemisphere. Cities bordering on the United States--such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez--and cities in the interior--such as Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Puebla--have undergone sharp rises in population in recent years.
Mexico has made great strides in improving access to education and literacy rates over the past few decades. According to a 2006 World Bank report, enrollment at the primary level is nearly universal, and more children are completing primary education. The average number of years of schooling for the population 15 years old and over was around 8 years during the 2004-2005 school year, a marked improvement on a decade earlier--when it was 6.8 years--but low compared with other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
Highly developed cultures, including those of the Olmecs, Mayas, Toltecs, and Aztecs, existed long before the Spanish conquest. Hernan Cortes conquered Mexico during the period 1519-21 and founded a Spanish colony that lasted nearly 300 years.
Independence from Spain was proclaimed by Father Miguel Hidalgo on September 16, 1810. Father Hidalgo's declaration of national independence, "Viva Mexico!," known in Mexico as the "Grito de Dolores," launched a decade-long struggle for independence from Spain. Prominent figures in Mexico's war for independence were: Father Jose Maria Morelos; Gen. Augustin de Iturbide, who defeated the Spaniards and ruled as Mexican emperor from 1822-23; and Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, who went on to dominate Mexican politics from 1833 to 1855. An 1821 treaty recognized Mexican independence from Spain and called for a constitutional monarchy. The planned monarchy failed; a republic was proclaimed in December 1822 and established in 1824.
Throughout the rest of the 19th century, Mexico's government and economy were shaped by contentious debates among liberals and conservatives, republicans and monarchists, federalists and those who favored centralized government. During the four presidential terms of Benito Juarez (1858-72), Mexico experimented with modern democratic and economic reforms. President Juarez' terms in office and Mexico's early experience with democracy were interrupted by the invasion of French forces in early 1862. They imposed a monarchy on the country in the form of Hapsburg archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria, who ruled as emperor from 1864-67. Liberal forces succeeded in overthrowing, and executing, the emperor in 1867 after which Juarez returned to office until his death in 1872. Following several weak governments, the authoritarian General Porfirio Diaz assumed office and was president during most of the period between 1877 and 1911.
Mexico's severe social and economic problems erupted in a revolution that lasted from 1910 until 1920 and gave rise to the 1917 constitution. Prominent leaders in this period--some of whom were rivals for power--were Francisco Madero, Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa, Alvaro Obregon, Victoriano Huerta, and Emiliano Zapata. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), formed in 1929 under a different name, emerged from the chaos of revolution as a vehicle for keeping political competition among a coalition of interests in peaceful channels. For 71 years, Mexico's national government was controlled by the PRI, which won every presidential race and most gubernatorial races until the July 2000 presidential election of Vicente Fox Quesada of the National Action Party (PAN), in what were widely considered at the time the freest and fairest elections in Mexico's history. President Fox completed his term on December 1, 2006, when Felipe Calderon, also of the PAN, assumed the presidency.
The 1917 constitution provides for a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Historically, the executive has been the dominant branch, with power vested in the president, who promulgates and executes the laws of the Congress. The Congress has played an increasingly important role since 1997, when opposition parties first made major gains. The president also legislates by executive decree in certain economic and financial fields, using powers delegated by the Congress. The president is elected by universal adult suffrage for a 6-year term and may not hold office a second time. There is no vice president; in the event of the removal or death of the president, a provisional president is elected by the Congress.
The Congress is comprised of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. Consecutive re-election is prohibited. Senators are elected to 6-year terms, and deputies serve 3-year terms. The Senate's 128 seats are filled by a mixture of direct-election and proportional representation. In the lower chamber, 300 deputies are directly elected to represent single-member districts, and 200 are selected by a modified form of proportional representation from five electoral regions. The 200 proportional representation seats were created to help smaller parties gain access to the Chamber.
The judiciary is divided into federal and state court systems, with federal courts having jurisdiction over most civil cases and some major felonies. Under the constitution, trial and sentencing must be completed within 12 months of arrest for crimes that would carry at least a 2-year sentence. In practice, the judicial system often does not meet this requirement. Trial is by judge, not jury. Defendants have a right to counsel, and public defenders are available. Other rights include defense against self-incrimination, the right to confront one's accusers, and the right to a public trial. Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. (See "Reforms" below for comments on judicial reform currently underway.)
Principal Government Officials
President--Felipe CALDERON Hinojosa
Foreign Secretary--Patricia ESPINOSA Cantellano
Ambassador to the U.S.--Arturo SARUKHAN Casamitjana
Ambassador to the United Nations--Claude HELLER Rouassant
Ambassador to the OAS--Gustavo ALBIN Santos
Mexico maintains an embassy in the United States at 1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20006 (tel. 202-728-1600). Consular offices are located at 2827 - 16th St. NW, 20009 (tel. 202-736-1000), and the trade office is co-located at the embassy (tel. 202-728-1687, fax. 202-296-4904).
Besides its embassy, Mexico maintains 52 diplomatic offices in the United States. Mexican consulates general are located in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Antonio, San Diego, and San Francisco; consulates are (partial listing) in Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Seattle, St. Louis, and Tucson.
President Felipe Calderon of the PAN was elected in 2006 in an extremely tight race, with a margin of less than 1% separating his vote total from that of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ("AMLO") of the left-of-center Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). AMLO contested the results of the election, alleging that it was marred by widespread fraud. Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal, while acknowledging the presence of randomly-distributed irregularities, rejected AMLO's accusation of widespread fraud and upheld Calderon's victory on September 5, 2006.
President Calderon's National Action Party currently is the largest party in the Senate but lost its majority in the Chamber of Deputies in the July 2009 elections. The PRI gained a de facto majority (through its alliance with another party) in those elections in which every Chamber of Deputies seat was up for vote. Although the PRI does not control the presidency or a majority in the Senate, it remains a significant force in Mexican politics, holding or having recently been elected to 19 of 31 governorships and often playing a pivotal role in forming coalitions in Congress. The next national elections--for the president, all 128 seats in the Senate, and all 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies--will take place in July 2012. In 2010, elections were held in 14 of Mexico's 31 states. The PRI won nine of the 12 governorships up for election, while an alliance of convenience between the PAN, PRD, and smaller parties in three states demonstrated that the PRI could be defeated.
One of President Fox's (2000-2006) most important reforms was the passage and implementation of freedom of information (FOIA) laws. President Fox also highlighted the need for modernization of Mexico's criminal justice system, including the introduction of oral trials. Judicial reforms stalled at the federal level during the Fox years, but President Calderon succeeded in passing legislation to reform the federal judicial system in 2008. The reform legislation set a timetable of 8 years for full implementation.
In addition to judicial reform, President Calderon has also succeeded in negotiating with Congress to pass fiscal, electoral, energy, and pension reforms. The administration is grappling with many economic challenges, including a severe GDP contraction in 2009 and the need to upgrade infrastructure, modernize labor laws, and make the energy sector more competitive. Calderon has stated that his top economic priorities remain reducing poverty and creating jobs. In the face of the serious threat posed by organized crime, the Mexican Congress passed legislation in 2009 expanding the investigative and intelligence capabilities of the country's Federal Police. It also set a 4-year deadline for vetting all of the country's 2,500 federal, state, and municipal police forces.
Mexico is classified by the World Bank as an upper-middle-income country. Poverty is widespread (around 44% of the population lives below the poverty line) and high rates of economic growth are needed to create legitimate economic opportunities for new entrants to the work force. The Mexican economy in 2009 experienced its deepest recession since the 1930s. Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 6.5%, driven by weaker exports to the United States; lower remittances and investment from abroad; a decline in oil revenues; and the impact of H1N1 influenza on tourism.
Mexico's trade regime is built upon free trade agreements with the United States, Canada, the European Union, and many other countries (44 total). Since the 1994 devaluation of the peso, successive Mexican governments have improved the country's macroeconomic fundamentals. Inflation and public sector deficits are under control, while the current account balance and public debt profile have improved. Mexico's sovereign debt remains investment-grade, with a stable outlook.
Mexico is a major recipient of remittances, sent mostly from Mexicans in the United States. Remittances average around U.S. $21 billion per year, and are the country's second-largest source of foreign currency, after oil. Most remittances are used for immediate consumption--food, housing, health care, education--but some collective remittances, sent from a U.S. community of migrants to their community of origin, are used for shared projects and infrastructure improvements. The Government of Mexico participates through its flagship fund-matching program "3X1 Program for Migrants." The Mexican Government also has implemented social development programs, like Oportunidades, to address the problems of poverty.
Mexico is the United States' second-largest export market and third-largest trading partner. Top U.S. exports to Mexico include electronic equipment, motor vehicle parts, and chemicals. Trade matters are generally settled through direct negotiations between the two countries or addressed via World Trade Organization (WTO) or North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) formal dispute settlement procedures. The most significant areas of friction involve agricultural products as well as cross-border trucking. Mexico is an active and constructive member of the World Trade Organization, the G-20, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Mexican Government and many businesses support a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Only 11% of Mexico's land area is arable, of which less than 3% is irrigated. Top revenue-producing crops include corn, tomatoes, sugar cane, dry beans, and avocados. Mexico also generates significant revenue from the production of beef, poultry, pork, and dairy products. In total, agriculture accounted for 4.3% of GDP in 2009 and 3% of GDP in 2008, and agricultural employment accounted for about 15% of total employment.
Implementation of NAFTA has opened Mexico's agricultural sector to the forces of globalization and competition, and some farmers have greatly benefited from greater market access. In particular, fruit and vegetable exports from Mexico have increased dramatically in recent years, exceeding $4.7 billion to the United States alone in 2009. However, structural inefficiencies that have existed for decades continue to limit improvements in productivity and living standards for many in the agricultural sector. These inefficiencies include a prevalence of small-scale producers, a lack of infrastructure, inadequate supplies of credit, a communal land structure for many producers, and a large subsistence rural population that is not part of the formal economy. It is estimated that half of Mexico's producers are subsistence farmers and over 60% produce corn or beans, with the majority of these farmers cultivating five hectares or less, although the number of Mexican farmers is steadily decreasing as they seek greater economic opportunities from off-farm employment.
Foreign Investment
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico for 2009 was $14.4 billion, down 51% from the previous year. The U.S. was once again the largest foreign investor in Mexico, accounting for 45% ($6.4 billion FDI from the U.S.) of reported FDI. The economic slowdown in the U.S. in 2008 and 2009 caused a significant decline in this figure. The Mexican Government estimate of FDI for 2010 is $15 billion to $20 billion.
Oil and Gas
In 2009, Mexico was the world's seventh-largest producer of crude oil, and the second-largest supplier of oil to the U.S. Oil and gas revenues provided more than one-third of all Mexican Government revenues and are the country's largest source of foreign currency. Mexico's state-owned oil company, Pemex, holds a constitutionally established monopoly for the exploration, production, transportation, and marketing of the nation's oil. With its primary known oil reserves already in serious decline, Mexico still must determine in the near future how it wants to exploit probable deepwater reserves in order to avoid very difficult economic choices. The Mexican Congress passed energy reform legislation in October 2008 that gives Pemex more budgetary autonomy and transparency. This reform allowed some private investment through contracts which permit some risk-sharing, which are still being developed by Pemex. However, the reform did not completely open the petroleum sector to private sector investment as Pemex is not permitted to issue contracts which give foreign companies either a share of total oil production or a percentage of the price received per barrel produced. In addition, Pemex will continue to have the final word in all investment and production decisions. Mexico also imports finished petroleum products such as gasoline, due to a lack of refinery capacity.
Although private investment in natural gas transportation, distribution, and storage is permitted, Pemex remains in sole control of natural gas exploration and production. Despite substantial reserves, Mexico is a net natural gas importer.
Transportation and Communications
Mexico's land transportation network is one of the most extensive in Latin America with 366,341 kilometers (224,749 mi.) of paved roads, including more than 13,035 kilometers of four-lane paved roads. The 26,704 kilometers (16,382 mi.) of government-owned railroads in Mexico have been privatized through the sale of 50-year operating concessions.
Mexico's ports have experienced a boom in investment and traffic following a 1993 law that privatized the port system. Mexico's ports moved 3.3 million 20-foot container equivalent units (TEU) in 2008 and 2.9 million TEUs in 2009. Several dozen international airlines serve Mexico, with direct or connecting flights from most major cities in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Latin America. Most Mexican regional capitals and resorts have direct air services to Mexico City or the United States. In 2005, the Government of Mexico agreed to sell Mexicana, one of the two main national airlines, to a private investor, and did the same with Aeromexico in 2007. After experiencing financial difficulties, Mexicana is in the process of being sold to a new investor, PC Capital. Airports are semi-privatized with the government still the majority shareholder, but with each regional airport group maintaining operational autonomy.
The telecommunications sector is dominated by Telmex, the former state-owned monopoly. Several international companies compete in the sector with limited success. The fixed-line teledensity rate in Mexico (18%) is below average in Latin America. Wireless penetration is much higher (77.4%), with 83.5 million wireless subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2009, although 88% of these customers use prepaid cards, and many use their phones to receive calls only. At the close of 2009, 28.5 million Mexicans had some form of Internet access. Mexico's satellite service sector was opened to competition, including limited foreign direct investment, in 2001.
Mexico's armed forces number about 225,000. The air force is a semiautonomous organization that reports to the head of the army, and together the army and air force make up about three-fourths of that total. The navy is a completely autonomous cabinet agency, and there is no joint chief of staff position. Principal military roles include national defense, narcotics control, and civic action assignments such as search and rescue and disaster relief. Mexico's federal, state, and municipal police forces number approximately 450,000, including analysts and investigators. At the state and local level, police are generally divided into "preventive" and "judicial" police. Preventive police maintain order and public security and generally do not investigate crimes. As noted previously, the Mexican Congress passed legislation in 2009 expanding the investigative and intelligence capabilities of the Federal Police, which itself has expanded from 20,000 personnel to approximately 34,000.
President Calderon has made combating organized crime a priority of his administration and, to that end, has deployed the Mexican military to 10 Mexican states to assist (or replace) the weak and often corrupt local and state police. Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) have responded to increased pressure on their activities with unprecedented violence directed mostly at competing cartels, but also government security forces and innocent citizens. They have also expanded their business beyond narcotics into kidnapping, migrant smuggling, and extortion. Narcotics-related violence took the lives of over 8,000 individuals in 2009, with over half killed in states along the U.S. border; of this total over 400 members of Mexico's security forces were killed. New estimates suggest that nearly 29,000 people have died in the war on drugs since Calderon took office in December 2006. The Mexican military and police have been increasingly successful in carrying out operations to remove top cartel leaders, including Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen "Tony Tormenta" (Gulf Cartel--killed in a shootout in November 2010); Edgar Valdez Villareal "La Barbie" (Beltran Leyva Cartel--arrested in August 2010); Ignacio Coronel Villareal "Nacho" (Sinaloa Cartel--killed in shootout in July 2010); Eduardo Teodoro Garcia Semental "El Teo" (Arellano Felix Cartel--arrested in January 2010); Carlos Beltran Leyva (Beltran Leyva Cartel--arrested in January 2010); and Arturo Beltran Leyva (Beltran Leyva Cartel--killed during an attempted arrest in December 2009.) As the military has stepped up its engagement in law enforcement activities, allegations of human rights abuses against the military have also increased.
Mexico's efforts to reform its judicial sector and professionalize its police forces reflect its commitment to promote the rule of law and build strong law enforcement institutions to counter the threat posed by organized crime. The U.S. assists Mexico in this effort through the multi-year $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, which directly supports programs to help Mexico train its police forces in modern investigative techniques, promote a culture of lawfulness, and implement key justice reform. Elements of the police force began to replace the military in strategic locations in 2010.
Traditionally, Mexico has sought to maintain its interests abroad and project its influence largely through moral persuasion and has championed the principles of nonintervention and self-determination. In its efforts to revitalize its economy and open up to international competition, Mexico has sought closer relations with the U.S., Western Europe, and the Pacific Basin. President Calderon has actively promoted international human rights and democracy and sought to increase Mexico's participation in international affairs.
Mexico is a strong supporter of the United Nations and Organization of American States systems. While selective in its membership in other international organizations, it pursues its interests through a number of ad hoc international bodies. Mexico is the Secretary Pro Tempore of the Rio Group for the term 2008-2010; separately, it was elected to a seat on the UN Security Council for the period 2009-2010. In late 2010, it hosted the 16th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Whereas Mexico declined to become a member of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, it nevertheless seeks to diversify its diplomatic and economic relations, as demonstrated by its accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986; its joining the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) in 1993; its becoming, in April 1994, the first Latin American member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); and its entering the World Trade Organization as a founding member in 1996. Mexico attended the first Summit of the Americas, held in Miami in 1994; managed coordination of the agenda item on education for the 1998 Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile; hosted a Special Summit of the Americas in early 2004; and participated actively in the 2009 Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. In 2002 it hosted the APEC Leaders' Meeting in Cabo San Lucas. Mexico hosted the September 2003 WTO Ministerial in Cancun and a Hemispheric Security Conference in October of the same year. It was elected to the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors in 2003. Mexico has emerged as a key middle income player in the G-20 and hosted an H1N1 Conference in Cancun in 2009.
U.S. relations with Mexico are as important and complex as with any country in the world. U.S. relations with Mexico have a direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans--whether the issue is trade and economic reform, homeland security, drug control, migration, or the environment. The U.S. and Mexico are partners in NAFTA, and enjoy a broad and expanding trade relationship. Since the first North American Leaders' Summit in 2005, the United States, Canada, and Mexico have been cooperating more closely on a trilateral basis to improve North American competitiveness, ensure the safety of our citizens, and promote clean energy and a healthy environment. The three nations also cooperate on hemispheric and global challenges, such as managing transborder infectious diseases and seeking greater integration to respond to challenges of transnational organized crime.
The scope of U.S.-Mexican relations goes far beyond diplomatic and official contacts; it entails extensive commercial, cultural, and educational ties, as demonstrated by the annual figure of about a million legal border crossings a day. In addition, a million American citizens live in Mexico. More than 18,000 companies with U.S. investment have operations there, and the U.S. accounts for more than 40% of all foreign direct investment in Mexico. Along the 2,000-mile shared border, state and local governments interact closely.
There has been frequent contact at the highest levels. Presidents' meetings have included a visit by President Calderon to Washington, DC to meet with President-elect Barack Obama in January 2009; visits by President Obama to Mexico City in April 2009 and to Guadalajara in August 2009 for the North American Leaders' Summit; a visit by President Calderon to Pittsburgh in September 2009 for a G-20 Summit; and a state visit, hosted by President Obama, in honor of President Calderon in May 2010.
In recent years, U.S.-Mexico cooperation in the struggle against organized crime and drug trafficking has been unprecedented. At the August 2007 North American Leaders' Summit in Montebello, Canada, Presidents George W. Bush and Calderon announced the Merida Initiative to work together and with the countries of Central America to combat drug trafficking and organized crime in the region. In June 2008, President Bush signed the congressional appropriations bill allocating assistance to Mexico as part of the Merida Initiative. Appropriated funds for Mexico under the initiative totaled $1.4 billion as of November 2010. In March 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Mexican counterpart Patricia Espinosa chaired a high-level group meeting that announced four strategic pillars for U.S.-Mexico cooperation. The first pillar aims to disrupt the capacity of organized crime to operate by capturing criminal groups and their leaders and reducing their revenues through better investigations, successful prosecutions, and shipment interdictions. The initiative's second pillar focuses on enhancing the capacity of Mexico's government and institutions to sustain the rule of law. The Merida Initiative's third pillar aims to facilitate legitimate trade and movement of people while thwarting the flow of drugs, arms, and cash. Finally, the fourth pillar seeks to build strong and resilient communities.
Border, Environmental, and Telecom Affairs
Cooperation between the United States and Mexico along the 2,000-mile common border includes state and local problem-solving mechanisms; transportation planning; and institutions to address resource, environment, and health issues. In 1993, the Border Liaison Mechanism (BLM) was established. Chaired by U.S. and Mexican consuls, the BLMs operate in "sister city" pairs and have proven to be effective means of dealing with a variety of local issues ranging from accidental violation of sovereignty by law enforcement officials and charges of mistreatment of foreign nationals to coordination of port security and cooperation in public health matters such as tuberculosis and H1N1 influenza.
With nearly one million people and one billion dollars worth of commerce crossing the U.S.-Mexico border each day, coordination of border crossing operations and development among federal, state, and local partners on both sides of the border is critical. In 2010, the U.S. and Mexico are opening three new border crossings (McAllen TX--Reynosa, Tamaulipas; San Luis AZ--San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora; and Donna TX--Reynosa, Tamaulipas). The multi-agency U.S.-Mexico Binational Group on Bridges and Border Crossings meets twice yearly to improve the efficiency of existing crossings and coordinate planning for new ones. The 10 U.S. and Mexican border states are active participants in these meetings.
The United States and Mexico have a history of cooperation on environmental and natural resource issues, particularly in the border area, where there are serious environmental problems caused by rapid population growth, urbanization, and industrialization. Cooperative activities between the U.S. and Mexico take place under a number of agreements such as:
- The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) is an international organization with roots dating back to the late 19th century. The IBWC comprises independent U.S. and Mexican sections and has settled numerous difficult U.S.-Mexico boundary and water problems, including the regularization of the Rio Grande near El Paso through the 1967 Chamizal settlement. The IBWC determines and accounts for national ownership of international waters, builds and operates water conservation and flood control projects, and constructs and maintains boundary markers on the land boundary and on international bridges. In recent years, the IBWC has worked to resolve longstanding border sanitation problems, to monitor the quantity and quality of border waters, and to address water delivery and sedimentation problems of the Colorado River.
- The 1983 La Paz Agreement to protect and improve the border environment and Border 2012, a 10-year, binational, results-oriented environmental program for the U.S.-Mexico border region. The Border 2012 Program is the latest multi-year, binational planning effort to be implemented under the La Paz Agreement and succeeds Border XXI, a 5-year program that ended in 2000.
- A November 1993 agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, establishing the North American Development Bank (NADBank) and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) under the auspices of NAFTA, in order to address border environmental problems. The NADBank uses capital and grant funds contributed by Mexico and the U.S. to help finance border environmental infrastructure projects certified by the BECC. The BECC works with local communities to develop and certify environmental infrastructure projects, such as wastewater treatment plants, drinking water systems, and solid waste disposal facilities. Prior to 2005, both institutions had separate Boards of Directors. In an effort to improve efficiency, the separate Boards were merged into a single entity, which held its first meeting in June 2006.
- The 1993 North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), creating the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation under NAFTA by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, to improve enforcement of environmental laws and to address common environmental concerns.
- A series of agreements on border health (since 1942), wildlife and migratory birds (since 1936), national parks, forests, marine and atmospheric resources. In July 2000, the U.S. and Mexico signed an agreement to establish a binational Border Health Commission. The Border Health Commission meets annually and is made up of the federal secretaries of health, the 10 border states' chief health officers, and prominent community health professionals from both countries. A representative from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services manages the U.S. Section in El Paso, Texas.
The United States and Mexico have also cooperated on telecommunications services in the border area for more than 50 years. Currently, there are 39 bilateral agreements that govern shared use of the radio spectrum. When the United States completed the transition to digital television in 2009, a high percentage of Mexican border cities did the same well ahead of Mexico's deadline to complete the transition by 2021. Recent border agreements also cover mobile broadband services such as BlackBerrys, smartphones and similar devices. The High Level Consultative Commission on Telecommunications continues to serve as the primary bilateral arena for both governments to promote growth in the sector and to ensure compatible services in the border area. Under this mechanism, the United States and Mexico signed an agreement to improve cross-border public security communications in the border area in 2009.
Principal U.S. Embassy Officials
Ambassador--Carlos Pascual
Deputy Chief of Mission--John Feeley
Minister Counselor for Political Affairs--Gregory Schiffer, acting
Minister Counselor for Economic and Science Affairs--Adam Shub
Minister Counselor for Public Diplomacy--James Williams
Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs--Edward McKeon
Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs--Ann Bacher
Minister Counselor for Management Affairs--Barbara Aycock
Minister Counselor for Agricultural Affairs--Allan Mustard
Consul General--Sean Murphy
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico is located at Paseo de la Reforma 305, 06500 Mexico, DF. U.S. mailing address: Box 3087, Laredo, Texas 78044-3087; tel. (from the U.S.): (011) (52) 55-5080-2000; Internet: http://mexico.usembassy.gov/
The embassy and the U.S. Consulates General, Consulates, and consular agents provide a range of services to American students, tourists, business people, and residents throughout Mexico.
U.S. Consulates General, Consulates, and Officials
Consulate General, Ciudad Juarez--Dean Haas
Address: Avenida Lopez Mateos 924-N, 32310 Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
U.S. Postal Address: Box 10545, El Paso, Texas 79995-0545
Tel. (from the U.S.): (011)(52) 656-611-3000
Consulate General, Guadalajara--Daniel Keller
Address: Progreso 175. Col. Americana, Guadalajara, Jalisco 44160
U.S. Postal Address: Box 9001, Brownsville, Texas 78520-0901
Tel.: (011)(52) 333-268-2100
Consulate General, Hermosillo--John D. Breidenstine
Address: Calle Monterrey 141 Pte., Col. Esqueda 83260, Hermosillo, Sonora
U.S. Postal Address: Box 1689, Nogales, Arizona 85628
Tel.: (011)(52) 662-289-3500
Consulate General, Matamoros--Michael Barkin
Address: Ave. Primera 2002 y Azaleas, 87330, Matamoros, Tamaulipas
U.S. Postal Address: Box 633, Brownsville, Texas 78522-0633
Tel.: (011)(52) 868-812-4402
Consulate General, Monterrey--Nace Crawford
Address: Avenida Constitution 411 Poniente, 64000 Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
U.S. Postal Address: Box 9002, Brownsville, Texas 78520-0902
Tel.: (011)(52) 818-345-2120
Consulate General, Nuevo Laredo--Donald Heflin
Address: Calle Allende 3330, Col. Jardin, 88260 Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
U.S. Postal Address: Box 3089, Laredo, Texas 78044-3089
Tel.: (011)(52) 867-714-0512
Consulate General, Tijuana--Steven Kashkett
Address: Tapachula 96, Col. Hipodromo 22420 Tijuana, Baja California Norte
U.S. Postal Address: P.O. Box 439039, San Diego, California 92143-9039
Tel.: (011)(52) 664-622-7400
Consulate, Merida--Greg Segas
Address: Calle 60 No 338 K x 29 y 31, Colonia Alcala Martin, CP 97050, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
U.S. Postal Address: Box 9003, Brownsville, Texas 78520-0903
Tel.: (011)(52)(999) 942-5700
Consulate, Nogales--John Dinkelman
Address: Calle San Jose s/n, Fracc. Los Alamos 84065, Nogales, Sonora
U.S. Postal Address: P.O. Box 1729, Nogales, AZ 85628-1729
Tel.: (011)(52) 631-313-4820
Consular Agents
Acapulco--Alexander Richards
Address: Hotel Continental Emporio, Costera M. Aleman 121-Local 14,
39670 Acapulco, Guerrero
Tel. (from the U.S.): (011)(52) 744-481-0100
Cabo San Lucas--Trena Brown Schjetnan
Address: Blvd. Marina, Local C-4, Plaza Nautica, Col. Centro,
23410 Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur
Tel.: (011)(52) 624-143-3566
Cancun--Rebecca Kubisiak
Address: Plaza Caracol 2, Segundo Nivel, #320-323, Blvd. Kukulkan, Zona Hotelera,
77500 Cancun, Quintana Roo
Tel.: (011)(52) 998-883-0272
Cozumel--Anne R. Harris
Address: Plaza Villa Mar, Plaza Principal, Parque Juarez
(entre Melgar y 5a Av.), Piso 2 Locales 8 y 9, 77600 Cozumel, Quintana Roo
Tel.: (011)(52) 987-872-4574/4485
Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo--Debra Loiuse Mione
Address: Hotel Fontan, Blvd Ixtapa S/N, 40880, Ixtapa, Zihuataejo, Guerrero, 40880 Zihuatanejo, Guerrero
Courier Address: Apdo. Postal 169, Paseo de los Hujes 236, Col. El Hujal, 40880 Zihuatanejo, Guerrero
Tel.: (011)(52) 755-553-2100
Mazatlan--Luis Antonio Ramirez Maisonet
Address: Hotel Playa Mazatlan, Playa Gaviotas 202, Zona Dorada,
82110 Mazatlan, Sinaloa
Tel.: (011)(52) 669-916-5889
Oaxaca--Mark A. Leyes
Address: Macedonio Alcala 407, Int. 20,
68000 Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Tel.: (011)(52) 951-514-3054
Piedras Negras--Dina O'Brien
Address: Abasolo 211, Local 3, Col. Centro
Piedras Negras, Coahuila, C.P. 26000
Tel. (011)(52) 878-782-5586/782-8664
Playa del Carmen--Samantha Mason
Address: "The Palapa", Calle 1 Sur, entre Avenida 15 y Avenida 20
Playa del Carmen 77710 Quintana Roo
Tel: (011)(52) 984-873-0303
Puerto Vallarta--Kelly Trainor de Oceguera
Address: Paradise Village Plaza, Paseo de los Cocoteros #1, Local 4, Int. 17 63732 Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit
Tel.: (011)(52) 322-222-0069
Reynosa--Vera Nicole Vera
Calle Monterrey #390 esq. Sinaloa, Col. Rodriguez
88630 Reynosa, Tamaulipas
Tel. (011)(52) 899-923-9331
San Luis Potosi--Deborah Escobar
Address: Edificio "Las Terrazas," Av. Venustiano Carranza 2076-41, Col. Polanco,
78220 San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi
Tel.: (011)(52) 444-811-7802
San Miguel de Allende--Edward Clancy
Address: Dr. Hernandez Macias 72
37700 San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
Tel.: (011)(52) 415-152-2357
Other Contact Information
American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico, A.C. Lucerna 78-4, 06600 Mexico, D.F., Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 60326-113, Houston, TX 77205-0326
Tel: (011)(52) 555-141-3820
Fax: (011)(52) 555-141-3836
E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
(Branch offices also in Guadalajara and Monterrey)
U.S. Department of Commerce
International Trade Administration
Office of Latin America and the Caribbean
14th and Constitution, NW
Washington, DC 20230
Tel: 202-482-0305; 1-800-USA-TRAD(E)
Internet: http://trade.gov/
Short URL: http://m.state.gov/md177378.htm


text:
National Eisteddfod Association Medal - reverse
JOHN, Sir William Goscombe (1860 - 1952)
(Amgueddfa Cymru regrets that we are not able to provide an image for this item at this time. This is either due to copyright restrictions, or the item is awaiting digitisation. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.)
Media: plaster
Size: 26.4 cm
Acquired: 1924; Bequest; T.H. Thomas
Accession Number: NMW A 2576

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The number of times media commentators on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee used the word 'change' – on a par with 'iconic' and historic' – was undoubtedly emblematic of the banality of much of the coverage. However, as time wore on, the word began to take on slightly creepy overtones to my Jubilee-fevered brain, comparable to the sensation that accompanied House of Commons Speaker John Bercow's fulsome tribute to the Queen (or was it to himself?) when he conferred on HM the title of 'rainbow Queen' or some such. I began to think that these commentators meant not that the Queen had simply seen lots of change, but that she was 'OK' with it. We were not told what the 'changes' were – which might have been helpful to younger viewers – and in the silence of the unfinished sentence I heard the words 'and there are more to come'. To be fair, most sentences uttered in the course of the Jubilee coverage, when they were not simply soundbites, were unfinished, but it nevertheless suggested that there is change and change. For example, there is a great deal of difference between changing a wheel and changing the wheel. Most people grasp this difference, but the Progressive politician seems unable to do so. Most people, if they had a flat tyre, would change it themselves, or get someone else to do it. But they would change it for another tyre. The Progressive politician would, however, decide that the round wheel was old-fashioned and must be changed for something much more up-to-date – like a square wheel. And they would insist that everyone's wheel must be square. Not for them the dictatorship of relativism – 'hey, everyone to his own wheel' or even 'what goes around comes a-square', but the wheel itself must from this day forward be square; in delicate and nuanced modern parlance, 'the wheel is square – get over it!'
In the same way, Progressive politicians have declared that marriage must be redefined for everyone. Possibly we will still be allowed to entertain traditional marriage in our own heads, but as in dictatorships where the Beloved Leader can redefine the colour of the sky, or the number of days in the year, or call black white, the Progressive politician believes he (or she) can actually change reality – they can 'make change happen'. But nowadays they seem to shy away from real change – the banking system, for example – and only have the courage to change things that don't matter – or, to be more precise, things that they think don't matter. Like marriage. They may be married themselves, but this only allows them to bask in the virtuous glow of changing something that will affect them too. Actually a bit like changing the wheel would affect them, when many politicians use taxis or, if they are Government Ministers, chauffeured vehicles – which would be exempt from the square-wheel mandate, naturally.
If ideology is about the 'why' of life, politics is about the 'how' – except that the Minister in charge of redefining marriage has no idea how to go about it. Announcing a consultation about same-sex marriage, Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone insisted that the consultation was not about whether it should be done, but how. Thus the Government, in trying to change the nature of marriage, has managed to change the meaning of 'consultation'.
Well, politics is about change – managing natural change, introducing changes in response to public demand, and sometimes in response to demonstrable need – but up until now it has never been about changing the meaning of change.


text:
I'm sure most of us residents would give up hunting if we had to pay NR fees. A NR has a choice to hunt his own state instead of coming to the elk states. As a Colorado resident I don't hunt any other states. If they were to make it so I couldn't afford to hunt my own state. I'd have to give up hunting.
Then hunting would become a rich mans sport. That would be pretty sad. A lot of us are meat hunters to feed our family's.


text:
Planning to buy a Blu-ray player? Hold on. It's already battling public indifference, technical problems, laughable features and downloadable movies. Is it any wonder Blu-ray is doomed to fail? Here are five reasons why it's heading for the grave...
1. HD movie downloads
OK so the picture quality's not quite there yet, but Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others have already seen the future of movie viewing at home - and it doesn't come on shiny 12cm discs.
Instead services like iTunes, Xbox Live and Vudu already offer HD movies over the internet, enabling you to see the movies you want without having to hack down to the video store in the pouring rain.
With fibre-to-home broadband slowly being rolled out in the UK, who knows what the next few years will bring.
2. BD-Live
Have you seen the demos? BD-Live is a joke. It's a second-rate attempt to offer interactive features that HD DVD did first and much, much better.
It won't work on old Blu-ray players (they don't have the persistent storage) and may not work on new ones: it's not mandatory for Blu-ray player makers to include it in the hardware they sell.
Result? Large doses of confusion and frustration for anyone (un)lucky enough to buy a Blu-ray disc with BD-Live features on it.
3. Samsung thinks Blu-ray is finished
You know, the world's number one consumer electronics maker, Blu-ray stalwart.
Andy Griffiths, director of consumer electronics at Samsung UK, told Pocket Lint that Blu-ray would be dead in five years, and that it certainly wouldn't last 10.
He believes the format will be replaced by either a new kind of physical media - most likely flash memory cards if Toshiba's IFA 2008 keynote is anything to go by - or downloads. Go figure.
4. Sony thinks Blu-ray is finished
Blu-ray is not only finished in terms of spec, but it's also finished as a format. Optical disc technology has gone as far as it can go.
Or so says Take Miyama, Sony product manager for home video marketing in Europe believes. He told Electric Pig that "in the future, if [our emphasis] we have a physical media format, it will change physically. It won't look like an optical disc."
Talk of a 500GB Blu-ray prototype will only prolong the agony.
Sony has already hinted at its future direction with the launch of Bravia TVs in the US that can directly receive movies streamed over the internet. Blu-ray player not required.
5. DVD is good enough
Despite the fact that Blu-ray movies are expected to hit to 12 million sales in Europe this year, they still account for just two per cent of video sales in countries like the UK.
Even by 2012 DVD will still have the edge - and that's according to the Blu-ray Disc Association's own over-enthusiastic predictions [PDF link].
The plain fact is few of us are ever likely to swap extensive DVD collection for their Blu-ray equivalents, especially when prices for Blu-ray movies and players are still so high.
Given that many cheap DVD players now have some kind of upscaling capability, DVD will prove 'good enough' in terms of picture quality for many years to come. More PlayStation 3 News...


text:
A Tale of Two AOLs — New York and Silicon Valley
Ever since Tim Armstrong became its CEO in April 2009, AOL has been going through a makeover. The company hired a large number of experienced journalists and bloggers, expanded through Patch into localities all over the country, and made some high-profile acquisitions, including HuffPo and TechCrunch.
But if the company is going to deliver on what SVP Marty Moe described to me in mid-2009 as a business model built on "high-quality content to scale," it is going to take a lot more than just good writing, a network of hyperlocal hubs and absorbing other media properties.
What it will take will be technological innovation of the sort driving the boom-without-a-name currently sweeping through San Francisco and the Valley. Armstrong, Moe and team know that and that's why they've opened an office in Palo Alto, filling it with developers, as well as a gaggle of startup tenants, and an executive team experienced in the ways of the Valley.


text:
Rat Rod History - Order RodentiaWritten by David Freiburger on November 1, 2010 Contributors: Wes Allison, The HRM Archives, Tommy Ivo Rat Rods Have Been Gnawing At The Mainstream For Nearly 15 Years. And Winning. Here's A Pop History.
We're talking about the biggest craze to hit the gearhead world since Pro Street in the '80s. It's had traction for at least 15 years. No one wants to admit it, no one wants to talk about it, and virtually no one can define it. That is, at least no one within the walls of publishing giants or speed-parts empires. "Ignore it and it'll go away" has failed. But the guys on the streets? They get it. Implicitly. They may hate it, but they get it. More likely, they'll claim they've been into it since way before it went mainstream.
The it is rat rodding. And, yeah, no one can really pinpoint what that means; four of our contributing pundits fed us the famed line, "I know it when I see it." That's curious, because even scenesters who enjoy a chorus of "I hate labels" can describe the defining elements of, say, a fad T, a resto rod, a lakes roadster, or a Watson-inspired custom. C'mon-you know what a rat rod is. Or do you?
HRM's Gray Baskerville is sometimes credited with coining rat rod and once told us it was a spin on motorcycling's term rat bikes for fun rides that are thrown together with little regard for aesthetic or societal acceptance. Rat rodding started out in the mid-'90s as a fast and loose deal in which guys built fairly retro-correct but primered and dirty hot rods, and it pretty quickly spun into a scene loaded with rusty rods built from castoff parts for dirt cheap and with a proud finger to The Man-that being the lawn-chair-rodding crowd-who reacted predictably with outrage, formed industry committees against rat rodding, and started using the term rat rod with the same intonation as S.O.B. Funny thing is, the uptight crowd eventually embraced the rat styles as their own when they realized that rust-perforated Model A's with grass fringe on the headers were siphoning crowds away from the billet rods.
Brian Setzer once said the Stray Cats had been euthanized the day the band's T-shirts hit department stores. Going mainstream is usually a postmortem, but in the case of rodent rides, the young guys with the cuffed pants pretty quickly learned that the graybeards still remembered a thing or three about life in the '50s, and pretty soon those 60-somethings were building retro rods of their own. Pure hot rodding was reborn, a massive nostalgia trend changed the face of the hobby, abandoned barns started regurgitating gennie old rods, and everyone learned the word patina. Ironically, that's about the time that some of the rat rodders decided they didn't like to be called rat rodders and got cliquish and uppity themselves, commonly making statements along the lines of, "The term rat rod should be struck from the English language." Yep, there are rebels against the rebel hot rods. It seems every generation eventually needs to be reminded that half the reason for hot rodding is outsidership.
Today, the legacy of the early rat rods is very broad. High-end retro has been spun into countless variants on one end of the craze, and at the other are the ever-shifting styles of rat rods, rat customs, and even rat street machines and trucks. The trend quickly rocked into the '60s styles; nosebleed-stance '55s are the new red '69 Camaro, and "D/Gas" has been lettered on the sides of all sorts of cars that could have never legally raced in D/Gas. All sorts of bitchin' new old parts have become available. As Street Rodder's Tim Bernsau recently quipped, "We're starting to lap ourselves."
Wherever you look, rust is in-but going viral did have glaring drawbacks. The stuff ain't outlaw anymore, which softens the bite. The new clichés are beer-can overflows, ever-increasing rafts of old carbs, iron crosses everywhere, and miles of pinstriping. Another downside: Readers often tell us that HOT ROD as an entity is supposed to spare judgment on people's cars . . . but c'mon-there's some plenty horrid examples of rat rods out there, as there always are when hot rodding art becomes interpreted by guys who have neither the eye nor the subtlety for it. Speaking of which, rat rods have also led to what we don't mind calling the single most ridiculous fad ever: fake patina.
As the trends have matured, the definition of rat rod has changed. Longtime rodding scribe Pat Ganahl delivered us a broad look at the current lay of the land: "I see what are referred to as rat rods today comprising three elements: First are the traditional rods and customs. Those are cars built the way rods were built in the '30s, '40s, and early '50s, with a primary emphasis on low-buck and homebuilt, using period-correct components ranging from flathead to nailhead engines, wide whitewall tires to skinny blackwall bias-plies, and black primer to hand-rubbed paint. If they're built the way most rods were built back then, sorting the chassis and doing the bodywork came first, paint hopefully came later, and some nice upholstery to replace the original or a blanket came last. But the point was to build the best car possible, given available funds and/or talent, and to keep improving it as you went." These pure retro cars in primer are often called rat rods by outsiders, but the owners are quick to vehemently reject the term. They are just building hot rods.
Ganahl kept rolling: "Second are what I personally call rat rods, as a positive term. These are rods and customs built the way Ed Roth painted them on sweatshirts. They're artistic, fun, and sensational reinterpretations of late-'40s/early-'50s hot rodding as a culture that includes music, clothing, hairstyles, and tattoos. The cars are low, loud, chopped, unpainted (or scalloped, flamed, or lettered), with giant rear tires, lots of carburetors, open pipes, and tall gearshifts. The customs can have slit windows and scrape the ground. Few cars in the '50s looked like this, but today they can, in countless creative and fun ways." HOT ROD has recently called these caricature rods. They can be very well done, and the fabricators are usually outraged at their creations being tagged rats. Their cars don't have to be era correct at all-they generally have a vintage vibe, but they might mix and match parts from different eras. In our opinion, it's these cars that are driving the craze, though the marketplace has failed to come up with a descriptive tag for them.
Too-Tall Ganahl again: "Third are what used to be called schlock rods or shot rods and what I derisively call crap rods today. They've always been part of the mix, unavoidably. I take exception to those who think that shoddy construction is somehow cool, or worse, those who know they can throw a bunch of junk parts together and peddle it as a cool rat rod to some inexperienced buyer who doesn't know the difference." In our opinion, there are plenty of these poorly built cars of all build styles.
There's a fourth category that's emerged, and it's for guys who really glom onto the rat rod moniker. Their cars don't have to be era correct at all, and they might not even be based on a recognizable body or a traditional rod of any kind. They often over-rely on accessories such as iron crosses, rubber rats, beer-tap shifters, mailboxes for air cleaners, and stylized spider webs all over everything. They are generally disproportional and thrown together.
We've rarely seen a rodding trend so thoroughly derided as the latter two rat rod scenarios described here, as they're hated by industry leaders and vintage purists alike. Josh Russell is both: He's the director of sales and marketing for Raybestos Brakes in the online, performance, and racing markets but also a member of Chicago's Chrome Czars Motor Club, which annually hosts the Hunnert Car Pile-Up, one of the largest pre-1964 traditional-style hot rod and custom shows in the country. He says, "To me, a rat rod is a vintage car that's been hacked together with whatever used and rusty parts are available to the builder, without much discretion-and typically without a targeted era or style in mind, other than perhaps shock rod. A rat rod's build construction is often suspect, without much regard for safety, proper engineering, or design sensibility. They often have excessive, welded-on spikes, spears, or other rusty garbage for no apparent or functional reason, or obviously mismatched, modern-looking IFS and engines on a retro body. They may have an obnoxious mix of billet and rusty parts.
"To be clear, though, I really admire low-buck, homebuilt, real-deal hot rods and customs. And who doesn't love scoring parts for your project from swaps, barns, and junkyards?"
For even more outraged commentary, we went to the entertainingly opinionated Brad Ocock, a freelance journalist for titles including our own HOT ROD Deluxe. Watch this: "There's a huge difference between rat rod and beater. A beater has potential. A rat rod is something someone threw together to make a statement, and usually that statement is, 'I don't know how to weld. I had a bunch of crap lying around and realized there was enough to put together a car but didn't want to put any effort into it.' Or, 'Look at me!' Or, 'I'm an idiot.' It's intentionally using junky parts and no-thought stereotype stuff like Pabst Blue Ribbon-can velocity stacks and iron crosses, cartoonish stances and proportions, and poor form over function, like 4-foot-tall gearshift levers sticking out of the roof."
Too much hate? There's more love in the words of Brian Brennan, editor of Street Rodder and editorial director at Rod & Custom magazine (and a Street Rodder staffer as far back as 1971). He has this to say: "The rat rod has evolved over the past 15 or so years and so has the definition. In the beginning, the name categorized a style of hot rod lacking in mechanical performance, frills, and refinement but long on spirit, intent, and creativity. Economics drove the initial movement as well as the desire to be different. Embedded in the hot rodding DNA is the desire to be fresh, creative, innovative, and possibly exist outside the bounds of civilized society. The early days of rat rodding (wow, rat rods have history!) allowed young men the chance to have something that was clearly recognized as their contribution, and within this spirit was ingrained the lone wolf mentality.
"Today, the early rat rod build style still exists, but early rat rodders have grown older and their desires and tastes have grown. I won't use the word sophisticated, but clearly the rat rod build style has evolved. Also, rat rodding has absorbed older guys. The popularity of the rat rod should be credited with the growth in purely traditional build styles, from '40s era-correct cars to '50s and '60s styles. The list goes on, and the longer the list becomes, the more entrenched and solid our hobby/sport becomes."
Ganahl had a good take, too: "Rat rodding emphasizes the fact that, whereas rodding was once strictly fad driven, today you can build any style or era of rod you want: high-tech/low-tech, modern/old, big bucks/low-buck. It has obviously brought a lot of younger, fresher, new blood to hot rodding that was otherwise atrophying, if not literally dying off. Actually, I believe that hot rodding, in one form or another, will always be part of American culture, and rat rodding is just one more example of it reinventing and revivifying itself. And it's influencing American popular culture in a stronger, more positive sense than street rodding or drag racing was doing otherwise. Finally, take a look at the rapidly growing number of parts being offered for obsolete engines, not to mention brand-new old parts like Ardun heads and S.Co.T. blowers. Look at the huge rejuvenation of racing at Bonneville, plus the overwhelming popularity of vintage drag racing and reunions over Pro events."
You get the idea. The entire movement has influenced the world of car building far more than anyone could have expected 15 years ago. All that's left is to decide if you really want your next beater project to be called a rat rod or not. We got a pretty good perspective on that conundrum from Dave Wallace Jr., a former Drag News and HRM staffer who grew up with fuel cars and has no personal allegiance to nostalgia hot rods, but who first dove into the rat scene at the second Billetproof show in 1998. D2 says, "Nobody could've convinced me prior to the mid-'90s that my more-door '61 Mopar would ever be allowed into any car show area, let alone welcomed enthusiastically. Civilians on the street also have a new attitude about and appreciation of that beater; a quick ride yesterday inspired three different people to approach me. Two of them uttered the term rat rods in the course of brief conversations, indicating that the term now encompasses the wide range of vehicles and is obviously sticking with the population at large-whether we like it or not.
"I'm reminded of the evolution of the term funny car (lower case), originally a derogatory description of crudely altered production cars that was despised by their builders and drivers (who argued for handles like fuel coupes and ultra stockers, to no avail). Over their objections and the subsequent 45 years, Funny Cars (upper case) are among the most respected and most popular race cars in motorsports. I have a hunch that rat rods are following the same path. Once the general public adopts any such term, attempting to revoke it is like pissing into the wind."
Is This a Rat Rod?
We photographed Brad Roorda's '29 roadster pickup during the '10 HOT ROD Power(r) Tour because we thought it carried a great stance and a lean-and-low, proportional look, plus he was having a riot driving the thing and not really caring what anyone else thought. The car is not retro correct with its modern engine and radial tires, and it's a not a rubber-rat-on-the-cowl kind of car. So is it a rat rod? Here's what our panel had to say.
No: Josh Russell says, "While it's not exactly traditional, and it's certainly rough, I still wouldn't call this a rat rod. My hope would be that the builder is just enjoying it while the project is still in progress. But on the whole, it has the makings of a hot rod. Even while using scavenged parts, the builder still has a sensibility for what homebuilt, work-in-progress rods could have looked like in the '40s and '50s."
Yes: Brad Ocock rants, "Yeah, that's a rat rod. Besides the damn tractor grille, it's unsafe as hell. There are obvious issues with the scrub lines: a flat front tire is gonna dig that framehorn into the ground, while a rear flat is going to drag the body behind the door. But what's really idiotic is thinking the split wishbones are strong enough to weld a bracket into the middle of them, mounting the buggy spring to them, and then expecting that they won't crack or fold with the leverage of that front axle and tires being way out ahead of the mounting point. Plus, the tubing for those '40 split wishbones was never meant to support the weight of a vehicle-it was only to stabilize the axles fore/aft. And zip-tied beer cans aren't supposed to be an aesthetic component."
No: Brian Brennan says, "To me, this isn't a rat rod. It doesn't exemplify the necessary markings such as creativity and freshness. A car that's unpainted, sans interior, lacking in the finer graces of proper fitment and manicured components isn't necessarily a rat rod-and this ain't! This is a compilation of parts: some good Model A roadster pickup components, possibly a Model A frame with the body channeled over it, a six-cylinder with a late-model ignition and multicarb setup, a Case tractor grille shell (I have one of those at my house in Idaho-and that's where it belongs!), and an early stock I-beam axle and split wishbones. Splitting wishbones is never a good idea, even if hot rodders have made it work for eons. I realize many examples of the earliest rat rods were pretty scary pieces of hot rodding, but if you could get past this, you could see some genuine creativity and fresh thinking. Unsafe rods, cars lacking in creativity, and cars assembled with little or no regard to builders' intent aren't rat rods. They are what they are-lost and aimless wanderings."
Yes: Pat Ganahl says, "I definitely would say this is what most people call a rat rod today. I'd call it that. I think cars like this are cool. The three-carb six is neat because it's different and inexpensive. But I'd do several things differently if it were mine. It looks like he has a cross spring hooked to the split radius rods at the same point as the shock absorbers. Early Ford wishbones aren't made to be load-bearing pieces. The cross spring really should be attached to the axle, and a dropped axle isn't that expensive. One thing many get their shorts in a bunch over is radial tires-which this car has-but the only thing that bothers me about his is that the fronts are a bit too big. And I'd try for more imaginative wheels/hubcaps. I know people who would even quip over the HEI-type distributor. I wouldn't use it on a car like this-but I don't really care if he does. I also think pinstriping on rusty metal is silly, but I like to sand and paint things. To each his own. That's the real fun of hot rodding."
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In 1982, HOT ROD featured its first primered car on the cover, the Eastwood & Barakat '32 Ford "Rusto Rod," per Gray Baskerville. Many of today's primer guys hold up that car as inspiration. Today, it doesn't seem very extreme, but at the time, it was unheard of for HOT ROD to promote such mediocrity.If this car rolled into a show today, would you call it a rat rod? It's got the cues: suede paint, mud splatters, a deep channel job, and shoe-polish numbers on the doors. But this was shot in 1955, and it looks like it's on the road to being well built. So isn't it just a real hot rod?In Dec. '94, HOT ROD ran a story called "Street Sleepers and Rusto Rods," glorifying beaters. In that story was Dennis Eaton's '46 Ford roofless Tudor with lots of rust but also a modern Rod Factory chassis. The old-body/new-chassis combo is the formula for many of today's rat cruisers. The new undercarriage isn't kosher from a pure retro perspective, but these days, no one who is pure retro wants to be called a rat rodder, anyway.Some fans point to Jim Jacobs' mid-'80s-built '29 tub-painted with a brush at a Goodguys show and later coated with real magazine pages, becoming the Jakeopage-as the mainstream access point for retro beaters that were fun instead of snobby. It was featured in the Nov. '00 issue of HOT ROD but was on the cover of Pat Ganahl's comeback issue of Rod & Custom in Dec. '88. "Beaters are neater" and "Primer is finer" were already rally cries. It might have been a rat rod then, but it's just a hot rod now.A lightning rod for the rat movement was the original HOT ROD Deluxe magazine, which had two issues printed in 1999 before the publishing company killed it for lack of advertising. It had music, kulture, lowbrow art, and even rust and primer-but nothing that any of the featured car owners would want to call a rat rod today. The second launch of HOT ROD Deluxe started bimonthly with a Spring '08 cover date and is pure retro rather than rats, depending on your perspective.While the publishing underground was festering with rat rodding, it went mainstream when the Choppers' Mark Idzardi found his polarizing Purple People Eater on the cover of Rod & Custom's Feb. '01 issue. Most billet rodders and some advertisers were literally outraged, and fittingly, it was on the newsstand right before Street Rodder Editor Tom Voegele was speaking out against rat rods at National Street Rod Association industry functions. Meanwhile, R&C quickly embraced its retro roots. That shift was even more evident after the 2006 hiring of Aaron Kahan of the Choppers as the magazine's art director (he was part of the content and the creation of first two issues of HOT ROD Deluxe), and the newest editor is following the retro formula even today.At the very leading edge of the trend, as a micro niche, is the growing fascination with retro '70s fad vans. The more patina the better-or if you're building from scratch, the more psychedelic graphics the better.Rat rod or hot rod? Perhaps your answer will be influenced by the knowledge that this '29 was a recent barn find. It was built by Stan Moss in Gilroy, California, between 1941 and 1948, according to current owner Charlie Hascall.
Another take on the rat rod is what some call art cars. These can be virtually any year, make, and model, as long as they are covered in random objects presented as massive crafts projects. Such is the case with this '70s Cad.To our eye, the most appealing kind of beater is an original body with a perfect patina of use-but no excessive rot-and with straight-up rodding practices applied. On roadsters and highboys, the mods should be retro. On fat-fendered cars, they can be more contemporary and hidden.This '37 Ford really spun our crank with its rat finish and a tire and wheel package-and stance-that is almost Pro Touring inspired.Many top shows now offer a Suede Palace, as seen here at the '10 Grand National Roadster Show. Is Kevan Sledge's '40 Merc a rat custom just because the paint is not shiny? We say no. Your opinion may vary.Here's some creativity. This '55 or '56 Plymouth seems to have started life as a sedan or wagon, but the addition of a Dodge truck bed and some customizing turned it into a DeSoto pickup.It's a '30/'31 Model A built like a street-going Comp Coupe with a cross-ram 348. Who's to say it could not have happened in history?These are the types of rough hot rods that were first called rat rods in the mid-'90s, before the look went more extreme. Today, these are clearly just hot rods driven as they should be.Squeak Bell owns this amazingly burnished '32 sedan with nailhead power that runs 12s at the drags. The uninitiated would call this a rat rod. Instead, it's a functional barn find.
One of the challenges of rat rodding is to use the least expected castoffs in the most unusual ways.Sean Hartman had a stroke of genius-or just a stroke-when he built this 6x6 rat out of a '44 Dodge troop-carrier chassis flipped upside down (to lower it) and topped with a '35 Dodge truck body. The engine is a Chevy 250 six.While rat rods used to be all about vintage tin, the no-holds-barred styling extremes are now being applied to virtually anything. An example is this roofless Suburban with dualie fenders and a severe body drop.This Chevy truck wears its all-original paint but it's all been preserved under a shiny clearcoat. You'd have never seen such a thing before the advent of the rat.Rolling Bones is the shop du jour for real traditional-style hot rods that can truly be driven. The fake patina is a heavy nod to the fact that bucks-up guys will pay extra to have their cars look neglected.Another spin-off on ratty hot rods is the rat muscle car. It's tough to walk this line without being Joe Dirt, but this Pro Touring-style '69 Chevelle shows that you can often have more character by not refinishing the paint.Extra lowness is a key to the stance of many rat rods and hot rods, but rats can do it in ways that are not retro correct. Brad's example is this heavy Z-job and a homemade three-link using quarter-elliptic rear springs-with no shocks.The engine is a late-model Ford 300ci inline-six with a Duraspark distributor throwing off the illusion that's otherwise well set with the three glass-bowl carbs.


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Holiday Budget Tips.
by Sarah Welch
I'm struggling to figure out the best approach for gift giving this Holiday Season. I want to give my kids and family the world, but can't afford to spend a lot of money this year because I have been out of a job since September. What are some good ways to make a little go a long way when it comes to presents?
The spirit of the Holidays is about giving, but that does not necessarily have to mean gift-giving. There are lots of ways, for little or no money, to celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or just the New Year, in a way that makes the people you love feel loved, appreciated, and special. Below are a few thought starters – we usually stick to three – but in this case once we started thinking of ways to get yourself organized to celebrate without spending too much, the ideas kept coming.
Use Points
One of the best ways to give gifts without busting your budget is to use any credit card points you have accumulated all year long to get gifts for friends and family. Credit card companies, like American Express, have so many great things to choose from and they are free with those points you have earned but probably don't think about using.
Start Early and Shop Smart
With the economy in the doldrums, retailers are doing their best to entice buyers into stores. Be on the lookout for "BOGOs" – or buy one get one free offers, and discounts as much as 40% on brand new merchandise. In addition, be sure to look for deals online. Amazon.com, overstock, etc all usually have better deals on prices and periodically offer free shipping. Also considered gently used items on ebay. And if you've got gamers at home, try GameStop (in stores or online). They have a huge selection of used video games guaranteed to work. They are exactly the same as new ones, it's just that the child who owned it before yours beat the game and has no use for it any more.
Give Together
Rather than focusing on "what I got" – focus on giving something back. This Christmas morning, or the first day of Chanukah or Kwanzaa, consider volunteering as a family at a soup kitchen, a nursing home, or hospital. Your children (and you) will get to experience the true gift of the Holidays when you see another's face light up because you have offered a helping hand.
Make Something in the Kitchen Together
Apple pie, pumpkin pie, ginger bread cookies, rugelach – no matter the dish – time spent in the kitchen making special treats creates memories that will last a lifetime. Before you put on your aprons, sit down together and read Truman Capote's short story, called "A Christmas Memory" to set the mood.


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Rep. Nugent OK with women serving in combat roles
Published: Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 9:57 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 9:57 p.m.
One local lawmaker says he is OK with female soldiers serving in combat roles, as long as the decision to do so by the Pentagon brass doesn't undermine the troops or their mission.
U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent, a Brooksville Republican recently appointed to the House Armed Services Committee, said a "fine line" separates oversight and micromanagement, and when possible, he is inclined to defer to the generals.
Women in combat appears to be one of those issues, Nugent, whose district includes most of Marion County, indicated in an email to the Star-Banner.
"They know their troops, and they know their mission better than the rest of us," Nugent said.
"This country has been at war for the last 10 years, and during that time, women in our Armed Forces have served with bravery, capability and distinction," he added.
"I have a great deal of respect for our military leaders when it comes to personnel decisions or anything else. The bottom line for me is that all of our policies ensure that our troops get the support that they need to complete their mission safely and successfully. That's what counts."
Nugent was responding to Thursday's announcement by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that most combat-related jobs previously off limits to women would soon be opened to them.
The decision overturned a 1994 ban on allowing women into the military's most hazardous occupations.
Panetta directed the military to submit their plans for integrating female troops into those positions by May 15.
The Pentagon's chief set Jan. 1, 2016, as the deadline for fully implementing the plan.
The new policy also affects the elite of America's military, as the U.S. Special Operations Command, based in Tampa, was included in the directive outlining the plan that Dempsey wrote on Jan. 9.
In that memo, Dempsey noted that the decision regarding female troops by the Joint Chiefs was unanimous.
At a news conference Thursday, Panetta said the new policy recognized the changing nature of combat, as dictated by missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to a report by Stars and Stripes, 152 women were among the more than 6,600 soldiers killed in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"They serve, they're wounded and they die right next to each other," Panetta told reporters on Thursday.
"I've gone to Bethesda (Naval Hospital) to visit wounded warriors, and I've gone to Arlington (National Cemetery) to bury our dead. There's no distinction."
Overall, roughly 202,400 women serve in the U.S. military. That's about 15 percent of the military's 1.4 million active-duty personnel.
In the last 10 years, more than 280,000 women have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon.
Nugent, an Illinois Air National Guard veteran whose three sons have served in the Army, including in combat, said allowing women to serve in the most hostile environments should also be predicated on making sure they are fit to do so.
And he believes the Pentagon would not go forward without understanding that.
"If you can shoot straight, make sound decisions under fire and carry the soldier next to you off the battlefield, I have a lot of confidence in you," he said. "So the key is that women who volunteer for these assignments absolutely need to meet all of the same physical and training requirements as their male counterparts — nothing less.
"The generals know that if they put anybody — man or woman — out on the battlefield who shouldn't be there, it's going to cost American lives. That's something they are acutely aware of."
Contact Bill Thompson at 867-4117 or email@example.com.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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The Animal Awareness Society
102 Hilliary Street, Randleman, NC 27317
Phone (336) 498-6013
Hours are by appointment only.
Web site: http://www.catawareness.org/
Once you look into my golden eyes, you will realize that I am worth more than gold for a companion. I like to check things out, you might say a wee bit inquisitive. I am calm, loving and gentle. I am a law-abiding citizen, when I couldn't find anything to eat, I went to our local police dept and turned myself in. I was so hoping for a good meal for all my efforts..and I sure got it! They found these ladies that were willing to give me a chance to find a forever home, and it won't take me long to get my stuff together. Let's go home, I am just waiting for your lap to curl up in.


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by Nikelle Feimster, Media Relations Specialist, Business Wire/NY
The Publicity Club of New York (PCNY) recently held a business media briefing at 3 West Club in New York City. The event, moderated by Peter Himler, Founder and Principal of Flatiron Communications LL, included a panel of guests from top business magazines. The speakers were: Michael Santoli, Senior Editor & "Streetwise" Columnist, Barron's; Jeff Chu, Articles Editor, Fast Company; Steve Bertoni, Reporter, Forbes; Nadine Heintz, Senior Editor, Inc. Magazine; Russell Pearlman, Senior Markets Editor, SmartMoney Magazine.
Here are a few techniques offered by the panelists on how PR professionals can increase their chances of getting media coverage:
Make your pitch challenging. According to Steve Bertoni, Forbes is always known as the "drama critics of capitalism". He said that for the magazine, stories need to have challenge or conflict so be sure there is drama or a lesson in your pitch.
Take time to build relationships. Russell Pearlman of SmartMoney Magazine advised PR pros to invest in long term relationships with journalists. He is willing to contact companies for information, but only after he has developed a relationship with them first. It's also helpful to provide him with a client list that explains what each client can talk about.
Make sure your pitch fits the publication. According to Nadine Heintz of Inc. Magazine, you should know and read the magazine. "Show that you understand it and how your story would be a good fit," she said. When pitching Fast Company, Jeff Chu said to check out the magazine issue covering the world's most fifty innovative companies to get a good sense of the companies they cover.
Small companies, small industry you can still get big coverage. Inc. Magazine only covers privately held companies. Heintz will focus on how people start their own business and what makes them successful. Also, Barron's writers are not bound by a beat assignment so "everything is pretty much fair game," said Michael Santoli.
The panelists provided additional tips for pitching, like:
- Don't continue to call without leaving a voice message.
- Spell the writer's name correctly.
- Stay away from jargon.
- Put the news in the headline and subhead of the email.
PCNY has monthly "Meet the Media" luncheons that include a panel of guests from leading print, broadcast and online news organizations. For more information on upcoming events, visit http://www.publicityclub.org.


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Irreconcilable Differences by Marcia Muller
Reader Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful: A great short story anthology, December 7, 1999 Reviewer: Harriet Klausner from Morrow, Ga. United States This short story collection centers on the impact of separations and divorce on the participants including extended family members. However, the twenty tales share a dark look at IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES as the audience is treated to situations that do not end as peacefully as our current legal system expects. Lia Matera has put together a remarkable anthology that has several excellent stories, some very good tales, and no poor entry. The cross-genre contributors are a modern day who's who with such noted authors like Oates, Cross, Deaver, Lutz, Buchanan, and Muller, etc. None of the writers are lightweights as they all hold their own with the heavyweights. Anyone who enjoyed the Battle of the Roses will fully relish each tale that paints a very dismal look at broken relationships. Harriet Klausner --This text refers to the Hardcover edition


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This hand painted leather upper slingback sandal defines causal comfort. With an adjustable hook-and-loop strap over the vamp, cork footbed, soft suede sock liner and rubber sole, this shoe has it all: good fit, extreme comfort, perfect flexibility and wonderful support. 1-1/2" heel height.
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No. 11 Iowa State kept Kliff Kingsbury in check and Seneca Wallace ignited the offense with a 12-yard TD run that covered 135 yards of ground as the Cyclones beat Texas Tech 31-17. Lane Danielsen followed Wallace's touchdown with a 79-yard TD run on a reverse to put ISU ahead to stay. The two big plays helped the Cyclones pile up 228 yards of rushing.
Iowa State frustrated a Texas Tech offense that averaged 48.3 points over its last three games. Kingsbury, who threw for more than 400 yards in each of his previous two game, had just 272. The Cyclones, of to their best start since winning their first seven games in 1938, improved to 3-0 in league play for the first time since 1949. The two teams wre locked into a 3-3 tie before the Cyclones took advantage of two Tech fumbles to break it open.
The first, when Iowa State's Jeremy Loyd ripped the ball from Anton Paige, set up Wallace's touchdown. ISU took over at midfield and Wallace completed passes of 28 yards to Danielsen and 17 yards to Lance Young before working his magic on second down at the 12.
Pressured as he dropped back to pass, Wallace retreated to the 32, ran toward the right sideline, stayed inbounds as he continued looking for a receiver, then started back to his left at the 10. He then cut behind a crushing block from running back Michael Wagner on Ricky Sailor, Wallace strolled into the end zone untouched.
Tech came right back with a 15-play, 79-yard drive that Kingsbury finished with a 1-yard dive to tie it, but Iowa State needed only one play to regain the lead on Danielsen's reverse. Six plays later, Iowa State's Matt Word knocked the ball loose as Kingsbury scrambled. Word had 17 tackles, two for loss a sack and one forced fumble. Anthony Forrest recovered for the Cyclones at the Tech 40 and Iowa State needed only five plays to score, Wagner going the final 3 yards to make it 24-10. Wallace's 20-yard TD pass to Young stretched the lead to 31-10 with 5:51 left.
Wallace finished 15-of-22 for 148 yards.


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May 24, 2016
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- For the third year in a row, Florida is giving up on collecting more than $100 million in taxes, fees and fines owed the state.
The amount of money the state is walking away from continues to grow. Data released this past month by a state agency shows that the state forgave $124.2 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Last year the state forgave $110.5 million.
A large portion written off by state officials was unpaid taxes, including sales taxes, corporate income taxes and unemployment taxes.
This year the state also closed the books on trying to collect back nearly $30.7 million that was overpaid to people receiving unemployment compensation checks. Some of these overpayments were made when the state's jobless rate was sharply rising.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or email@example.com.


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TMZ covers Hardy injury
More often than not, the majority of wrestling news remain exclusive to those that follow the industry closely. However, the reports about Jeff Hardy being serious injured during the taping of Lockdown, that has received some mainstream media attention. TMZ, which keeps a pretty close eye on WWE and TNA, picked up the story, and it has spread through social media. There are still talks that the injury is just a work.
January 12, 2015


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Chesterfield Upholstered Sofa
- Overview
Comfort and style define our Chesterfield Collection. Crafted in America using eco-friendly components, our sofa and love seat are detailed with this collection's classic details like deep button tufts and plush, sheltering arms.
- Love Seat: 72" wide x 38" deep x 31" high
- Sofa: 86" wide x 41" deep x 31" high
- Grand Sofa: 96" wide x 41" deep x 31" high
- Polyester-wrapped flame-retardant-free cushions for a firmer feel.
- This collection is also available in leather.
- For more information on this collection: Chesterfield Collection Guide.
- For more information on fabric options: Fabric Guide.
- For successful delivery: Furniture Delivery Video.
- Create a floor plan with our interactive Room Planner.
- To place your custom fabric order, call 1.888.779.5176.
- Crafted in America by our own master artisans from American and imported materials.
- Dimensions & Care
- Love Seat Overall: 72" w x 38" d x 31" h
- Diagonal Depth: 33.5"
- Seat: 51" w x 24" d x 21" h
- Arms: 10" w x 31" h
- Legs (removable): 4" sq x 3" h
- Back Height: 31"
- Weight: 135 lb
- Sofa Overall: 86" w x 41" d x 31" h
- Diagonal Depth: 30"
- Seat: 64" w x 27" d x 21" h
- Arms: 11" w x 31" h
- Legs (removable): 4" sq x 3" h
- Back Height: 31"
- Weight: 145 lb
- Grand Sofa Overall: 96" w x 41" d x 31" h
- Diagonal Depth: 30"
- Seat: 74" w x 27" d x 21" h
- Arms: 11" w x 31" h
- Legs (removable): 4" sq x 3" h
- Back Height: 31"
- Weight: 161 lb
More Features
- Eco-friendly construction includes seat cushions made with a minimum 15% soy-based material and sinuous springs of partially recycled heavy-gauge steel.
- Should you ever need to purchase a replacement cushion, our associates can place that order for you at any time. For assistance, please call 888.779.5176.
Replacement Cushions
- Shipping & Return Info
This is an upholstered furniture item.
View our Shipping Information
Return Policy
At Pottery Barn, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction is our priority. We carefully inspect your order prior to shipment. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement. If, within 7 days for Quick Ship upholstery and 30 days for all other products, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, made to order items, or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. We also cannot accept returns of final-sale items which are identified by a price which ends in .99.
For returns of items purchased from your Pottery Barn registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever date is later.
You may return merchandise through the mail for a refund or replacement. For detailed procedures for returning items through the mail, please contact Customer Service at 1.888.779.5176, 7 days a week, 5:00am - 9:00pm (PT).


text: I've had two users who have reported a problem trying to print Zimbra e-mail through the Chrome browser. In both instances, if they open their mailbox in IE or Firefox printing works as it should. I Chrome, clicking the printer icon hangs the printing process. However, if the user initiates printing using the Ctrl-P shortcut, the system prints normally. I susspect this is some obscure holdover from some of Chrome's early-release printing problems. Anyone else encountered this?


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Clemson, S.C.--K.J. McDaniels scored 14 points and had career highs with nine rebounds and seven blocks to lead Clemson to it's fourth straight win over Wake Forest 60-44.
The Tigers (10-6, 2-2 In The ACC) held the Demon Deacons to their lowest point total this season.
McDaniels led an aggressive defensive attack that held Wake Forest's two leading scorers in C.J. Harris and Travis McKie to 20 Points -- 11 points below their combined average coming in.
McKie led the Demon Deacons (9-7, 2-2) with 12 points, but struggled against Clemson's inside defense and was just 4-of-13 shooting.
Wake Forest shot under 25 percent (15 of 61) as a team.
Associated Press


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|Concert ushers in Music in Our Schools Month
|Written by Holyoke Enterprise
The annual Smorgasbord Concert Thursday evening, Feb. 27 celebrated the work of local student musicians and ushered in Music in Our Schools Month for the month of March.
Prior to the concert, the Music Parents Association served a smorgasbord meal in the elementary school to raise funds for the local music department.
Audience members packed the HHS auditorium for a concert that featured a little taste of everything, with choirs in grades 7-12 directed by Marcia Dalton and bands in grades 5-12 led by Pat Wiebers.
Sound Check members surround Shaylee Krueger as they conclude their exciting rendition of "Love Potion Number 9" at last Thursday's concert.
Maury Kramer also directs the show choir with Dalton, and Sharon Strauss is the concert choir's piano accompanist.
HHS Sound Check show choir kicked things off with "Anyway" with soloist Megan Vieselmeyer, "Sincerely" featuring the Sound Check girls and soloist Brittney Prottsman and "Love Potion Number 9" with soloist Sid Struckmeyer.
The junior high concert choir sang "Let It Grow" with soloists Andrea Becerra, Jessica Mosqueda and Katy Voigt, "Hine Ma Tov" and "Sing" with soloists Drew Stewart, James Oberle, Savannah Burris and Paola Ruiz.
To view the full article, consider an e-Subscription. Call 970-854-2811 for details.


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Herbal Supplements
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If you're just starting to explore the many benefits of herbal supplements, Puritan's Pride can help you sort out your options.
"Whole Herbs" are made from ground plants and may include the roots, leaves and/or stems of the plants and other natural ingredients.
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Amanda Pauline Carpenter of New Bern and Benjamin Colby Griffin of Red Oak were united in marriage on May 4, 2013, at Centenary United Methodist Church with the Rev. Susan Pate Greenwood officiating.
The bride is the daughter of Jerry and Mary Carpenter and the granddaughter of Everette and Maxine Carpenter, all of New Bern.
The bridegroom is the son of Dwayne and Brenda Griffin of Red Oak and the grandson of Carolyn Vanhook of Nashville.
The bride was given in marriage by her father.
Nuptial music was provided by Paul Saik.
The matrons of honor were Rebecca Scott of Rhems and Julie Bullock of Clayton, sisters of the bride.
Bridesmaids were Amy McClain of Garner, McLean Ellis of Chapel Hill and Elizabeth Burkhart of Raleigh.
Claire Scott and Caba Finch were the flower girls.
Best man was Dwayne Griffin of Red Oak, father of the groom.
Groomsmen were Phillip Carpenter of New Bern, brother of the bride, James Bullock of Clayton, Wesley Boone of Red Oak, and Chris Hart of Goldston.
Ushers were Trent Scott of Rhems, Brad Jones of Apex, and Corbin Griffin of Red Oak.
Assisting with the wedding were directors Vanita Seymour and Lynn Hardison, program attendants Brandy Cook and Claire Griffin, Jim Woltjen of Distinctive Photo Images, videographer Jon Shearin, and Odham�s Flower Shop of New Bern.
A reception, hosted by the bride�s parents, was held at The History Center at Tryon Palace.
Assisting with the reception were BTA Entertainment, The Flame Catering Center, As You Wish Bakery, and Mike and Kathy Guzzo of Southern Hospitality Concierge Service.
The couple took a honeymoon trip to Cancun, Mexico.
The bride graduated from North Carolina State University and is currently attending Nursing School.
The bridegroom graduated from North Carolina State University and is employed by Tryon Palace as a horticulturist.
The couple will live in New Bern.
Location, ST | website.com


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