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Rep. Karen Gaudet St. Germain, D-Pierre Part, has been elected to lead the 16-member Louisiana Legislative Women's Caucus starting July 1. St. Germain, who leads the House Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works, replaces Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, as chairwoman of the group. Peterson will continue to serve on the caucus board.
The other newly elected caucus officers include: Sen. Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb, D-Baton Rouge, Senate vice chairwoman; Rep. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, House vice chairwoman; Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, secretary; Rep. Ledricka Thierry, D-Opelousas, treasurer; Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, parliamentarian; and Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport, member at large.
The caucus works on issues affecting women, children and families in the state.


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Surprise, surprise, surprise. Guaranteed she initially blamed the gas station attendant at first. Shocked she wasn't at minimum talking on her cell phone and at maximum smoking a cig. Might actually be time to take away their car keys and their voting rights while we're on a roll.
Where's Today In Women? It'll be back, when we have fresh enough material. Yeah I could throw together a bunch of happy crap you've seen a million times before on Tosh.0, but that's not how we roll. See broads being broads? Tweet it at me:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
A power outage that affected about 4,300 customers in Warren and Hunterdon counties for several hours on Jan. 17 was the result of a problem at a privately owned substation in Warren County, according to a Jersey Central Power and Light spokesman.
The "transmission trip" affected three JCP&L substations and a second privately owned substation, according to John Anderson. The source of the problem may have been interference with wires at the substation, which can result from a tree limb or animal shorting out the system.
In Warren, 3,568 customers were affected. The outage affected 727 customers in Hunterdon, mostly in Bloomsbury.
Neither weather nor excessive demand — typical reasons for outages or reduced power flows — was a factor.
Such "blue sky outages," as power officials call them, typically result in outages that are relatively short compared to the kind of Sandy-related problems that led to week-long and longer outages for some customers in Hunterdon and Warren.
On Jan. 17, first reports of outages came in late in the morning. As some JCP&L crews sought to identify the source of the problem, the company began switching lines and power flow to circumvent the problem. Power was restored to customers without electricity throughout the afternoon and all customers were restored by about 4 p.m., Anderson said.
When temperatures fell into single digits and stayed there for a few days earlier this month, officials of the regional power grid supplier PJM Interconnection sought customers in its 13-state service area to conserve energy during one of the highest winter demand periods on record.
PJM warned that the excessive demand could lead the company to call for transmission companies such as JCP&L to reduce voltage emanating from the substations.
Such a reduction, of about 2%, might not be noticed by a typical customer, Anderson said.
The approach of another winter storm tomorrow, Jan. 21, and temperatures predicted to fall and remain below freezing through the end of the week, raise the question of whether that's a call that PJM could make again if demand becomes unmanagable.
No one from the company was immediately able to address that, as the office was closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
More Hunterdon County news: NJ.com/hunterdon • Facebook • Twitter


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Ex-Flextronics Manager Shimoon Pleads Guilty in Insider Case
A former Flextronics International Ltd. executive, pleading guilty in a nationwide insider trading probe, admitted he passed inside information while working as a consultant to two expert networking firms.
Walter Shimoon, 39, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Manhattan to two counts of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud. Shimoon told U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff that he passed illegal tips while working as a consultant for Primary Global Research LLC and Broadband Research LLC.
Shimoon faces as long as 30 years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for July 8, 2013. Rakoff told Shimoon, who is cooperating with prosecutors, that the sentencing may be moved to an earlier date.
In questioning by Rakoff, Shimoon said he had passed tips about a Flextronics supplier, OmniVision Technologies Inc., to a man named "Nick," who worked for one of Primary Global's hedge fund clients. Assistant U.S. Attorney Antonia Apps identified that man as Nicholas Caputo of Kingdom Ridge Capital LLC, an asset management firm in White Plains, New York.
Caputo, who hasn't been charged with wrongdoing, didn't immediately return voice-mail messages and e-mails to his office after regular business hours yesterday.
Kingdom Ridge said in an e-mailed statement that it has always complied with relevant laws, rules and regulations.
Plea Agreement
In a plea agreement signed by Shimoon, prosecutors said he provided illegal tips to Primary Global and its clients from mid-2008 to 2010.
Shimoon told Rakoff he was paid $200 an hour, for a total of $18,000, for his work for Primary Global. He passed illegal tips involving Flextronics, OmniVision and Apple Inc., according to prosecutors.
Shimoon also admitted passing inside information while working for Broadband Research, for which he was paid a total of $27,500. In the plea agreement, prosecutors said he provided inside information to Broadband Research, to the firm's founder and principal, John Kinnucan, and to Broadband Research clients.
Prosecutors said Shimoon, as a Broadband Research consultant, passed confidential information about Flextronics, OmniVision, Apple and Cisco Systems Inc.
Nathaniel Burney, a lawyer for Kinnucan, said his client didn't do anything wrong. Kinnucan hasn't been charged.
Kinnucan, whose Portland, Oregon-based firm provides research on technology companies to hedge funds and mutual funds, told clients in October that federal officials had asked him to secretly tape a conversation with a fund manager whom he didn't name. Kinnucan said at the time that he refused to cooperate.
'Blessed' by SEC
Kinnucan said yesterday in a phone interview that he didn't pass illegal information to his clients.
"The kind of information I provided to my clients is exactly what is provided by the large investment banks," Kinnucan said. "These practices have been blessed by the SEC."
Kinnucan said he didn't cover Flextronics for his clients. He said he has e-mails from clients saying the information Shimoon provided on Apple and OmniVision was "worthless."
"They were saying Walter Shimoon doesn't know what he's talking about," Kinnucan said. "It's a joke."
Shimoon was arrested in December with three other defendants. Also charged with Shimoon were former Primary Global executive James Fleishman; Mark Anthony Longoria, who worked at Advanced Micro Devices Inc.; and Manosha Karunatilaka, a former account manager at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Longoria and Karunatilaka have pleaded guilty. Fleishman is scheduled to be tried next month on two counts of conspiracy.
In a parallel lawsuit, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Shimoon spoke with people from at least 11 hedge funds over 14 months and leaked stock tips to some of them.
Winifred Jiau, a former Primary Global consultant, was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy June 20 in Manhattan federal court.
The case is U.S. v. Shimoon, 10-mj-2823, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).


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Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine OnFollowSymLinks is a security requirement of the rewrite engine. It is required to be on, and in most cases will already be set in the httpd.conf. If you know you do not need this line, you can leave it out. Otherwise, it does no harm to restate it. RewriteEngine On is fairly self-explanatory. We are telling Apache to activate the rewrite engine because we want to use it. You can now setup your rewrites. These are done by a series of rules - the syntax for which is:
RewriteRule PATTERN DESTINATION FLAGSPATTERN is a regex pattern for which the incoming request is applied to. If the request matches the pattern, the request is rewritten to the DESTINATION. This is the relative path to the resource to load instead. FLAGS is an optional parameter which allows you to alter the behaviour of your rewrite rule. For the full list, see the documentation. The most common flags are: NC (no case, makes the pattern case insensitive) L (last, stops processing the rewrites if this one has been applied) R (redirect, changes the transparent rewrite to a redirect - a redirect response header is sent, along with the new location) Certain flags, such as the R can take a value. In this case, you can use R=301 to send a 301 permanently moved response code (used for SEO). By default, it will send a 302 found (temporarily moved) response.
^[a-z0-9_-]+/([0-9]+)\.html$We use the parenthesis (brackets) around the number because we need to capture that as a back reference for use in our destination. Back references are in the form $N when using mod_rewrite. Our destination needs to be:
show.php?article=$1And after we've completed that rewrite, we do not wish to do any more rewriting so we can use the L flag. Putting that all together, we can come up with our working RewriteRule:
RewriteRule ^[a-z0-9_-]+/([0-9]+)\.html$ show.php?article=$1 [L,NC]The best way for you to learn how to get the best out of mod_rewrite is trial and error. If you get completely stuck, try asking at a webmaster forum. Hopefully you can see how you could expand this example further to incorporate much more complex uses. If this were a full mod_rewrite tutorial, I could show you the abilities of the module when combined with the only other directive you're likely to need, the RewriteCond. Unfortunately that falls outside the scope of a pretty URLs article but if you are at all interested, I highly recommend you read up on it. It will allow you to do practically anything you might want to do with mod_rewrite, including: - blocking users based on referrer, IP or user agent - forcing either the www or non-www domain to prevent pagerank being split between the two - redirecting to your secure https connection - stop hot-linking to your files But I digress, back on the subject of pretty URLs, there is one last point to explain. I mentioned earlier that the rewrite engine will not change your links; you have to manually alter your pages or scripts to generate the new pretty URLs. In the example above, we included the article title in the URL to help with our SEO efforts. You may have noticed I only included alphanumeric characters, the dash and the underscore in the pattern - this is because there are plenty of other special characters that legitimately could be used in an article title but cannot be used in an URL. Therefore it is quickest, easiest and safest to simply strip out these characters. I'll leave the exact implementation to you as every script is different, but you would probably use something along the lines of (in PHP):
$safeTitle = preg_replace('#[^A-Za-z0-9_-]#','',$articleTitle);I have also included the actual ID in all my examples. In theory, you could alter your script to rely not on the ID but the name/title as the unique identifier and remove the ID altogether from the URL. This requires additional editing of your scripts but will result in an "prettier" URL. Earlier I mentioned an easier alternative in case you simply cannot understand the mod_rewrite topic. This method will not always work and is best suited to your own custom built applications. If you are using a particular script and want to quickly convert your ugly URLs to pretty URLs, it is best to use a detailed ruleset for mod_rewrite to process. The alternative is to say "if the requested file does not exist, rewrite to a particular script". This means that requests for images, CSS files, etc. will still return the correct file. Everything else will be sent to the script to process where the requested URL will be available under the server REQUEST_URI variable. To use this method, you would need to create a .htaccess file in your domain root (or wherever you want the rewrite to apply) with the following inside:
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{SCRIPT_FILENAME} !-d RewriteCond %{SCRIPT_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule .* index.php [L]Replace index.php with the name of whatever script you wish to use. Sticking with the PHP example, I could then create the index.php file as follows:
<?php $requested = empty($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ? false : $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']; switch ( $requested ) { case '/dogs': include 'animals/dogs.php'; break; case '/apple': include 'fruit.php?type=apple'; default: include '404.php'; } ?>Obviously that would not be a very practical solution but it illustrates the point. Remember, the REQUEST_URI variable will contain everything after the hostname and should start with a leading slash. You will need to process the request a bit better than I have, but the reason you are using this method is because you are comfortable with your server side scripting! Finally, going back to the proper method or rewriting, let's finish up with a few more examples of pretty URLs, the old ugly URL and the rewrite code needed to convert them. Again, you will need to manually change your script to output the new pretty URLs. Pretty URL: /browse/animals-24/cats-76.html Ugly URL: /browse.php?category=24&subcategory=76 .htaccess:
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteRule ^browse/[A-Z0-9_-]+-([0-9]+)/[A-Z0-9_-]+-([0-9]+)\.html$ browse.php?category=$1&subcategory=$2 [NC,L]Pretty URL: /download/5g2cg4re9wqcxpo4fawsw45xx2mbu4tb/334/myFile.zip Ugly URL: /download.php?session_id=5g2cg4re9wqcxpo4fawsw45xx2mbu4tb&file=334 .htaccess:
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteRule ^download/([A-Z0-9]{32})/([0-9]+)/ download.php?session_id=$1&file=$2 [NC,L]Pretty URL: /topic-41/favourite-cheese.html Ugly URL: /viewtopic.php?t=41 .htaccess:
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteRule ^topic-([0-9]+)/[A-Z0-9_-]+\.html$ /viewtopic.php?t=$1 [NC,L]
Added by Rodney on July-2-2007, 9:44 am


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The ERS Distance Learning Program links ERS with minority-serving universities and their students to enhance the instruction, understanding, and discussion of food and agricultural policy.
The program…
Each semester, ERS researchers give presentations on timely and policy-relevant topics that broadly cover issues pertaining to food and agricultural policy. The presentations are delivered directly to the classrooms of participating institutions using interactive, real-time technologies. Students interact with ERS researchers by asking questions during the presentation and by giving their own presentations.
To register for a seminar, please send an email to Hodan Farah Wells.
Last updated: Monday, July 11, 2016
For more information contact: Christopher G. Davis, Keithly Jones, and Hodan Farah Wells


text:
"Your World to Take"
November 22, 2010
Cross your heart and hope to not be killed by your own son.
For those of you keeping track at home, this week's episode title contains a pronoun for the third straight week (and six of nine). What does it mean?? For one thing, it means that the episode titles are a little too monumental for the episodes themselves. "Your World to Take" sounds like this should be a major episode, right? Anyway, based on their bye week last Monday, it makes sense that tonight would be an alien-centric outing. Never take a week off to find Uranium again, aliens! Seriously.
Have you forgotten about the very weak ties between Sean and Leila and the main plot line? Well, they are back to remind you. They are still working with Angie (who prefers to be called Angela, and I disagree, because I only know one Angela and she goes by Angie.). She researched the list of girls that Sean provided and apparently one of them escaped her captors and is back with her family in Tulsa. Dempsey sends one of his henchman, Mr. Berg, to reacquire her and give her a dose of something. It's probably not a flu shot.
Sean and Leila instantly arrive in Tulsa to speak to Abby's family. Mrs. Stern says she doesn't know anything that could help and Abby doesn't remember anything, so you know, tough beans. The husband gets home and immediately tells them to leave. Before they do, Abby walks out of the bedroom and seems to know Samantha and Leila. Upon threat of the police, Sean and Leila leave, but I bet they'll be back. Abby's face is still "old" which means that her homecoming and rescue would absolutely be a national story. My guess is that Matt Lauer will be interviewing her within a week.
Abby and her family leave the house with pre-packed suitcases with Sean and Leila following. Dempsey's henchman tails them to complicate things. They really should have carpooled. Leila corners Mrs. Stern in the gas station bathroom and talks to Abby. (Why couldn't they go at home before leaving? That's just terrible planning.) She says that she ran away two days after Samantha arrived. Also, she says she saw a water tower nearby the facility. Actually, she called it simply "a tower" before Leila clarified. I would never refer to a water tower as "a tower." I would consider it for a radio tower or a TV tower. But a water tower is never just a tower. Sorry to nitpick, Abby.
Henchman walks across the parking lot and just starts shooting. Shouldn't hired henchman be a little more discrete? He shoots Mr. Stern in the leg and Sean and the girls run into a cornfield. Running, fighting, punching, and choking ensue. Sean finally brains the henchman with a rock. As they go through his personal items, Sean finds a piece of paper with Leila's information. Sean surmises that it was Leila he was after and not Abby. (Trivia fans, you may be interested in knowing that Leila's #3 friend is Bort Escoto. Also, she likes Atlanta sports. With the Hawks, Falcons, Thrashers, and Braves, it's really a pretty good sports town. Nice.)
Vice President Jarvis is in critical condition at the hospital. Blake Sterling and President Martinez console the VP's wife but don't tell her that he is in fact a traitor to his country. The Vice President wakes up and talks to his wife who says he should not talk to the President about anything. She says that men came to their house and threatened them. Well, first she says that these people knew her children's names, which let's face it, is REALLY easy to look up on Wikipedia. In fact, I'll wiki VP Biden right now to prove it. VP Biden had three children, Joseph, Robert, and Naomi, with his first wife. One-year-old Naomi and his wife were killed in a car accident in 1972. He remarried in 1977 and had one daughter, Ashley, with his second wife. Biden's case is likely more complicated than VP Jarvis' situation and I still figured that out in less than 2 minutes. President Martinez arrives and would like to have some words with him. Very stern, $10 words, I'm guessing.
We opened the episode with several seeming unrelated people receiving text messages with only the number string "1121944." January 12th, 1944? Obviously not. How about November 2nd, 1944? Sophia, Thomas, and Simon emerge to a huge ballroom of people. Sophia says it wonderful to see all of them after so many years. It appears these are the sleeper aliens who have been living among us for the last 66 years, far more than the 97 being held at Inostronka. When I think of large gatherings in ballrooms, I assume it's a motivational speaker or a pitch man. Also, how were they planning on communicating before cell phones? Are they all living in the DC metro area? Why?
Sophia meets with a smaller group of upper-level aliens. Isabel is their apparent mouthpiece and while she appreciates everything that the Inostronka captives went through, they do not wish to leave Earth. Sophia cautions them by reminding them what will happen to the indigenous population if they stay. Do tell, Sophia. Will there be overpopulation and food shortages in 500 years? Bowtie guy says that the reason they came to Earth in the first place is because their home is barely viable. Overpopulation and food shortages? Just tell me!!
Sophia asks Thomas what else he has been up to the last 66 years besides building financial empires (with Warren Buffet). The answer? Thomas has been planning a coup with his special lady friend, Isabel. This plan also contains a dash of matricide so watch your back, Sophia.
Isabel and Thomas have some private time and she immediately kills the mood by talking about Sophia. They go over the plan to kill Sophia once again and talk about the stopping power of a .380 which immediately reignites the passion because, duh.
Sophia and Thomas have a heart-to-heart mother-son discussion. There are a couple interesting points from this conversation: 1) Thomas was a young boy once upon a time who was scared of thunderstorms. 2) Sophia says her group at Inostronka could have left at any time but chose not to so as to protect those living freely. Maybe she's playing the one lie, one truth game because I believe number one but I'm not sure about number two at all.
Sophia and Thomas proceed to a secret vault that contains a gelatinous cube. Inside the cube is what looks like a sheathed lightsaber that was apparently part of their crash. Sophia says it is still viable and then Thomas pulls a gun on her. Dun dun dun… Thomas calls the odd item a key. Is that all they needed to go home? The key to start their alien spaceship? Can they not just use a screwdriver? Sophia eggs him on but he can't pull the trigger and he breaks down into a sobbing mess.
Sophia meets with Isabel on the shores of the Potomac. She offers Isabel a choice. Sophia can make it so that none of their kind ever speak to Isabel again. She will be ostracized for the rest of her life.
Behind door number two, Isabel has to shoot herself in the leg to prove her loyalty. Eventually, she does shoot herself. Hey Isabel, how about you go to a hospital instead of crying on the sidewalk?
Note: Therein lies the problem for Isabel. She has to go to the hospital now but the doctors will quickly realize that her blood is not compatible with normal human blood. Likely, she will be quarantined and will never be able to live quietly among us ever again. In fact, without a proper blood transfusion, Isabel could be in serious trouble. Sophia was hardly offering her a choice at all. The Internets would have liked Isabel to call Sophia's bluff and attempt to just shoot her in the head since that was the plan from the beginning. My theory is that her loyalty to their alien code was the chief consideration for Isabel.
Well, that wasn't the most eventful episode. I apologize for the wordplay but come on, The Event. This was the dreaded "filler" episode, a low point before a hopefully big fall finale next week. Yes, next week is the last episode for almost three months. There were a few nice segments in this episode and we maybe had our first hint in several weeks that the Sean and Leila story won't splinter off into a sitcom by season's end. Does Leila have some importance to these warring parties beyond her sister? As for the reveals, it's curious that Sophia refers to Thomas' childhood. Is it possible that they aged normally on their home planet? Please give me something, anything that will wow me next week, The Event. Here's hoping for a fantastic fall finale.
The Event airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on NBC.


text:
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Kurt Braunohler and Matt Atchity
Kurt Braunohler sits down for a podcast about ridiculous Movie of the Weeks, Tonight Show nerves, and the new trend of 'passenger shaming'. Plus, Matt Atchity hosts a round of the Rotten Tomatoes Game.Read More
Alexis Ohanian
Alexis Ohanion, Reddit Co-Founder, joins for a podcast about trusting your gut, living like college students for as long as possible, and the free U2 album nobody wants.Read More
Tom Sizemore
Tom Sizemore talks to Adam about his new crowdfunding venture, his continued sobriety, and exploding baby powder. Plus, Bald Bryan reviews the film 'Boyhood' for this week's Baldywood.Read More
Jimmy Dore
Jimmy Dore joins for a podcast about the insane heat wave, the new 'corporate class', and attempts to boycott the NFL.Read More
Jay Paterno
Show Summary At the top of the show, Adam, Alison and Bryan discuss the Rotten Tomatoes Game, and what Adam likes about college football. He also talks about skipping rope in the studio around the Porcelain Punisher, and helping the kids off their training wheels. Jay Paterno then phones in, and the guys discuss the legacy of Coach Joe Paterno. …Read More


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This is a discussion on Re: A [one-sided] conversation with Peter Kohlmann - Suse ; On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 10:58:28 -0500, DFS wrote: > PK: Another name for a Windows tutorial is crash course > DFS: How often does Windows crash on you? > > PK: Any idiot can run XP. And usually does. ...
On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 10:58:28 -0500, DFS wrote:
> PK: Another name for a Windows tutorial is crash course
> DFS: How often does Windows crash on you?
> PK: Any idiot can run XP. And usually does.
> DFS: Not only do you run XP, you use it to make a living. Does that make
> you an idiot, a hypocrite, or both?
> PK: Computers are like air conditioners - they stop working properly when
> you open Windows
> DFS: How can you make a living on Windows when it doesn't work properly?
> refuses to answer>
> PK: Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with your Microsoft product.
> DFS: Which MS products have failed on you, and under what conditions?
> refuses to answer>
> PK: Get the new Windows XP. Now with eXtra Problems included
> DFS: Results 1 - 10 of about 10,400,000 for Linux problems
> answer>
> PK: It's not about, 'Where do you want to go today?' It's more like, 'Where
> am I allowed to go today?'
> DFS: You're allowed to go to work today and develop software for Windows.
> You can't do that with Linux.
> PK: Linux: Because rebooting is for adding new hardware
> DFS: Mepis states a reboot is required to change the video driver.
> refuses to answer>
> PK: Microsoft: which revised Eula do you want to accept today?
> DFS: All of them. Which Linux do you want to activate today?
> to answer>
> PK: The Day Microsoft makes something that does not suck is probably the day
> they start making vacuum cleaners.
> DFS: If MS products suck, and you're 1/10th the quality of developer MS
> employs, your code must suck too.
> PK: To start your shiny new Core II Duo in Gameboy mode just enter C:\win
> DFS: 'C:\win' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable
> program or batch file.
> PK: Warning: 10 days have passed since your last Windows reinstall.
> DFS: When was the last time you had to reinstall Windows due to system
> issues?
> PK: Windows is just the instable version of Linux for users who are too dumb
> to handle the real thing.
> DFS: The smartest people in the world run Windows (but you're definitely not
> one of them)
> PK: Windows isn't unstable. It's spontaneous.
> DFS: Results 1 - 10 of about 56,400 for Linux spontaneously reboots, Results
> 1 - 10 of about 106,000 for Windows spontaneously reboots
> PK: Windows: Because everyone needs a good laugh!
> DFS: But you have no sense of humor or wit whatsoever.
> but his face cracks into 8 pieces, then he can't answer>
Peter Kohlmann is nothing but a mean, incompetent, nasty fraud.
He earns his living programming Windows by day, yet he glorifies Linux by
His family uses Windows, so by his own criteria, they must be idiots as
The best thing that can be said of Kohlmann is that his is consistent.
Consistently ignorant that is.


text:
Humans Winning War on Geese!
For NOW.By Chris Rovzar
For NOW.By Chris Rovzar
A really adorable thing happened yesterday.By Chris Rovzar
It's because of the recession, of course.By Adam K. Raymond
This isn't going to be good for their image.By Adam K. Raymond
This fall would be a good time for a vacation.By Adam K. Raymond
But it took four cop cars, two motorcycles, and a helicopter to do it.By Chris Rovzar
And you thought they were coming in from Westchester.By Chris Rovzar
Two writers, Elyssa East and Susan Orlean, tried to save it.By Sean Kennedy
This is beginning to be troublesome.By Chris Rovzar
Paco Sosa is headed to that great dog run in the sky.By Adam K. Raymond
Do not let them into your home!By Chris Rovzar
At first they felt out of place, but slowly, the coyotes are acclimating.By Jessica Pressler
That's right, wild chickens. And they roost in TREES.By Chris Rovzar
The third and fourth coyotes in as many weeks have turned up in upper Manhattan.By Chris Rovzar
This is the start of something big, we can feel it.By Chris Rovzar
Wild packs of abandon beagles are going crazy in east Long Island.By Adam K. Raymond
Watch out!By Adam K. Raymond
Roosters, raccoons, swans, skunks and a baby goat!By Adam K. Raymond
But this coyote knew exactly what it was doing.By Jessica Pressler
Even in a one-bedroom apartment in East New York.By Chris Rovzar


text:
Today the National Trust's Outdoor Nation website posted a piece from me that aims to win parents over to the goal of expanding children's horizons. I had to think carefully when writing it.
About Rethinking ChildhoodThis website is managed by Tim Gill. Tim is interested in the changing nature of childhood. His work - which embraces writing, independent research, consultancy and public speaking - aims to have a positive impact on children's everyday lives.
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- The R word: risk, uncertainty and the possibility of adverse outcomes in play
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- Top event coming on #playwork #outdoorplay #riskyplay. From the good people at @popupplay . ow.ly/ohKS304uiZM 1 week ago
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November 20, 2014
SKF launched new premium wheel end system extended warranty packages with the SKF Trouble-Free Operation program for trailer OEM and retro fit markets.
October 23, 2014
Commercial truck dealership chain Rush Enterprises had net income totaling $23.5 million in the third quarter, compared with $15.2 million a year ago, as Class 8 truck sales outpaced national numbers.
October 21, 2014
Jost International has added Edbro brand hydraulic cylinders to the company's range of products.
October 3, 2014
Does the system come before the leadership? Or do you need the leadership and then the system?
September 11, 2014
Rush Enterprises announced that its Orlando Light and Medium Duty Truck Center has been moved to a new location.
September 10, 2014
Love's Truck Tire Care is now available at more than 200 of the company's travel stops across the U.S.
Blossman Services is waiting on final governmental approval for a "blended fuel" system that injects varying amounts of propane autogas to replace diesel fuel in heavy duty truck engines.
August 19, 2014
August 14, 2014
Bendix has unveiled its newly upgraded brake shoe remanufacturing facility in Huntington, Indiana
August 11, 2014
FleetPride has acquired the Republic Diesel truck parts and service business, expanding the company's presence in Indiana and Kentucky.
August 6, 2014
Sales of diesel particulate filters for commercial trucks and buses in California increased at the end of 2013 and in the first half of 2014 compared to the first half of 2013, according a survey released by the Manufacturers of Emission Controls Association.
July 31, 2014
Sales were down slightly for Meritor in its third fiscal quarter, but partly thanks to a settlement of an antitrust suit with Eaton, it saw net income of $234 million, compared to a net loss of $38 million in the same period last year.
July 29, 2014
Hadley has named Tim Lampen fleet and dealer account manager, responsible for developing new business within the fleet and dealer industry.
July 23, 2014
A group fostering young aftermarket leaders gets major support from Vipar Heavy Duty.
July 17, 2014
The majority of the deliveries, which started July 1, to Navistar's roughly 350 North American dealers will be Eaton Flex Reman transmissions.
July 7, 2014
Road Choice Truck Parts, the recently launched private label all-makes parts brand, has added five new product categories and expanded its distribution footprint in North America to more than 100 authorized retail locations.
May 28, 2014
As a result of continued growth, Bergstrom, a designer and and supplier of climate systems to the commercial vehicle industry, has promoted Joe Kirby to general manager of aftermarket sales.
May 23, 2014
Federal-Mogul Holdings Corporation has announced that its the Vehicle Components division will be renamed Federal-Mogul Motorparts.
May 16, 2014
Finding and training technicians, purchasing tools and equipment, maintaining a parts inventory, dealing with OSHA and the EPA. These are just a few of the headaches fleets that maintain their own trucks face.
May 14, 2014
Utility Trailer Manufacturing announced the opening of a new parts location in San Benito, Texas on June 1, 2014.
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Maxion Unveils MaxSmart Wheel-Mounted Sensor
Gates Expands Heavy-Duty Belt Line
Peterbilt Expands Sleeper Heater Availability
OWL Detects Overhead Obstacles for Oversize Loads


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A car crash in Lancaster shut down Prince Street for about an hour Saturday morning.
A vehicle flipped on its side about 7 a.m., forcing police to shut down the intersection of Prince and King streets.
One person suffered minor injuries in the crash.
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Fariview boys tennis team wins season opener
- Fairview 4, Panama (N.Y.) 1: At Pennbriar Athletic Club, the Fairview boys tennis team opened the season with a convincing win over Panama in non-region action on Monday.
Jon Oskin and Ben Westcott won their respective singles matches, before the Tigers (1-0) locked up wins in each doubles match.
Mike Siegel and Tris Tuttle won number one doubles 6-1, 6-0, before Josh McMahan and Ken McGrain cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win in second doubles.
Panama starts the season 0-1.
-- from staff reports


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A black silk cami
10 hours ago
what's new in store, fashion trends, pattern reviews, Tessuti creations, sewing tips and techniques.
I'm thinking I'm going to have to put an order in for these- delicious colours, perfect for playing with paints/ food and anything else wonderfully messy that Brigi would like! Great to see you on Wed. Bec xReplyDelete
I simply adore Amy Butler's laminated cottons! Just found someone who makes splat mats with laminated cotton and thought I'd share. Baby's Indulgence at www.babysindulgence.etsy.comReplyDelete


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Feds Balk at Protecting Utah Workers From Union Power Grab Involving West Coast Ports
Salt Lake City, Utah (May 6, 2003) – The Denver Regional Office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today refused to intervene and protect over thirty Salt Lake City area employees of Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) from losing their jobs in retaliation for refraining from union representation.
In November 2002, with the help of attorneys from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the workers filed charges with the NLRB against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) for demanding that SSA take jobs away from its non-union employees at a Salt Lake City facility.
Despite the fact that the employees' case was based on well-established law, the NLRB office today released a letter dismissing the charges. Foundation attorneys plan to file an appeal with NLRB General Counsel Arthur Rosenfeld.
"The shutdown of West Coast ports was a naked attempt to exploit an economic crisis for the purpose of increasing union coercive power at the expense of workers," said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. "Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Union bosses have a long history of using economic and wartime crises to grab power."
Control over the clerk jobs was a top bargaining priority for the union hierarchy, whose actions sparked a $2-billion-a-day shutdown of West Coast ports last Fall. Before the 10-day lockout in October, the ILWU hierarchy employed a variety of work slowdown tactics including deliberately understaffing key operations and sending workers to jobs for which they were not qualified, which made it impossible for the ports to function.
Last February, several members of Utah's Congressional Delegation, including Senator Hatch, Senator Bennett, and Representative Cannon, urged the NLRB to take quick action.
"Now is the time for NRLB General Counsel Arthur Rosenfeld to step up and protect these workers from being the victim of another blatant union power grab," stated Gleason.
The employees are responsible for tactical management of day-to-day activities and perform computerized planning work over the company's rail, yard, and vessel functions. By insisting that this planning work instead be performed at new facilities at the ports staffed by unionized "marine clerks" rather than non-union employees, ILWU and PMA officials are in violation of the employees' right to refrain from unionization under federal law and Utah's Right to Work Law. If allowed to stand, the NRLB's decision solidifies union control over vital jobs performed by non-union employees.


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Behrend men win AMCC tournament
Back-to-back champs.
The Penn State Behrend men's basketball team repeated as AMCC champions Saturday with a 66-51 win over Hilbert at the Junker Center.
The Lions earned an automatic berth in the Division III tournament.
Nick DeLisio scored 18 points for the Lions (23-4), and Shane Skelly had a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds).
Just as in Friday night's win over Pitt-Bradford in the semifinals, the Lions took control in the first half, leading by as many as 11 points.
Hilbert cut the lead to seven points at halftime and pulled to within four in the second half before Casey Courneen hit two big 3-pointers to put the Lions in control.
Courneen hit a 3 from each corner as part of a 10-0 run to give the Lions some breathing room.
Then the Lions' defense took over.
Behrend held Hilbert without a basket for nearly 7 minutes, from 12:18 to the 5:35 mark in the second half. The Lions limited Hilbert, which had been averaging more than 80 points per game, to just 39.5 percent shooting.
The Lions also were strong on the boards, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds compared to just five for Hilbert.
Central Tech graduate Keith Wallace added 12 points for the Lions, who will enter the NCAA tournament as one of the hottest teams. Behrend has won seven in a row and 18 out of its past 20 games.
Cathedral Prep product Mike Knoll had seven points and seven rebounds, while Strong Vincent's Malquan Pullium scored five points, including a big 3-pointer late in the second half.
It was the third victory of the season for the Lions against Hilbert -- Behrend won 55-52 in Hamburg, N.Y., on Jan. 20 and defeated the Hawks 87-58 on Feb. 19 at the Junker Center.
Saturday's victory marks the fifth AMCC tournament title for the Lions. The Lions won the tournament in 1998, 2005, 2008 and 2013.
On Monday, Behrend will learn its opponent during the selection show broadcast live on NCAA.com at 12:30 p.m.
Jarame Owens, the AMCC's leading rebounder, had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Hilbert (21-7), while Nick Nadeau added 12 points.


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According to Shams Charania of RealGM.com, San Antonio Spurs unrestricted free agent forward Matt Bonner is still in contact with the Spurs, as he is waiting for the teams roster to unfold.
Free agent Matt Bonner's remained in contact with Spurs on reunion, waiting for roster to unfold, sources tell RealGM. No others in mix yet.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 7, 2014
As recently written, the Spurs will only have two roster spaces available once the Spurs sign Boris Diaw, Patty Mills, and Kyle Anderson. Since Bonner is one of the Spurs' free agents, the Spurs can go over the salary cap to re-sign him, as well as Aron Baynes, if they so choose.
In Manu Ginobili's recent press conference in Argentina, he mentioned that the Spurs just needed to bring back Diaw and Bonner, to bring their championship core back together. Charania also reports that other teams haven't pursued Bonner, 34, just yet.
As Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote Sunday, it seems the Spurs' next free agent target is unrestricted free agent Pau Gasol, whom the Spurs plan on trying to sign with the full Mid-Level Exception. The chances still seem slim of signing Gasol, because he'd have to take a substantial pay cut to play in San Antonio.
Once Gasol's decision is made, more light should be shed on Bonner's future with the Spurs.


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I love this little lamp, however it comes without a harp and it took me some time to get the right lamp shade for it. But all in all it is lovely and I would recommend it.
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Lando Calrissian Gives Han Some Help in Lego's New Force Awakens Short
One of the most famous Star Wars characters not in The Force Awakens makes his sequel trilogy debut in a new Lego short film.
One of the most famous Star Wars characters not in The Force Awakens makes his sequel trilogy debut in a new Lego short film.
Think of this realisation as an opportunity to stand out. To steal this film. Here are some observations to help.
Have you ever wondered how those clever YouTubers get Obama to sing and rap entire songs? They usually spend countless hours carefully splicing together individual words taken from footage of the president, but you can now do the same thing in just seconds with a new website called Talk Obama To Me. Read more >>
Have you ever wondered where those Impact font-adorned images came from? Wonder no more.
Good thing Siri is there, I'm not sure touchscreens work with felt hands.
So THAT'S how they make the dragons look so good!
The Canadian Library and Archives claims to have dug up Wolverine's military records from its collection.
Honestly, some of the products that brands advertise on April Fools' Day sound pretty nice.
Back in the 19th century, April Fools Day was way more vicious. In that spirit, we have a list of fun April Fools Day pranks to play with technology.
If you've been fortunate enough to avoid the curse of bizarrely loud upstairs neighbours, good for you, you non-existent entity you!
The playful nature of fish may not be widely known, but this little puffer shows it off wonderfully.
Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush tweeted a photo of a gun engraved with his name. The text of the tweet simply read, "America". The people of Twitter have weighed in on this divisively cryptic message with their own views of America – and by extension Britain and other nations. See more >>
What-Dog.net is a silly new tool from Microsoft Garage. You search Bing for an image or upload one from your computer. And then the app tells you what kind of dog breed the face looks most like. See more >>
Frinkiac is great new too which trawls through millions of Simpsons images to match whatever quote from the cartoon you put in – you have to give it a go. Read more >>
The very future of the universe might be on the line.
Is it time to kill Bill? Or are you in full support of the stickman who's taking the internet by storm?


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She centers the rest of her day on her boys, driving them to summer school, accompanying them on dirt bikes and begging them to pick up after themselves.
"I love being a mom and the chaos it brings me," says Taylor, 31, who lives with the boys in four-bedroom, French colonial in Brentwood, Tenn. "It reminds me how lucky and blessed I am."
Those aren't words that first come to mind when reviewing Taylor's life. In 1995 she saw her younger sister Krissy, also a model, die at age 17 from a rare heart ailment. A year later Taylor's marriage to the twins' father, Arena football player Matt Martinez, fell apart. Then there was her battle with prescription drugs and the car crash five years ago that left her clinging to life and resulted in more than 50 surgeries and procedures to repair her wrecked body.
Yet as Taylor looks out over her 7-acre retreat she says, "I have a good thing going on."
She rarely models anymore, instead focusing on a slew of fashion-related enterprises. She has even found a way to stay in touch with her wild side: by riding her Harley-Davidson Road King, an odd choice, perhaps, for someone who nearly died in a car crash. But Taylor shrugs off such concern. "
I'm not one to worry – what's the point?" she explains. "We are only here for a short amount of time. You have to live your life. I know that."
She knows that a lot better than most: In April 2001, Taylor was with friends in Atlanta when the driver of the car she was in attempted to answer his cell phone and lost control of the vehicle, smashing it into a utility pole.
"The doctors prepared us several times for the worst," says Taylor's mom, Barbara, 59, a photographer. "They said, 'Don't expect any miracles.'"
During the six weeks she spent unconscious, Taylor says she experienced terrible nightmares. When she finally regained consciousness that June, she says, "I went through every emotion possible and was like, 'Something has to change.'"
Taylor refocused her life on her boys, settling in Brentwood after she fell in love with the area during a visit. It was there that she dated ex-boyfriend Keith Urban, whom she was with from 2002 to 2004. "We're still friends, and I'm so happy for him and Nicole."
Taylor hopes that kind of happiness is in her cards too. "I want to find the right man," she admits. But only homebodies need apply. "On Friday I just want to stay on the couch and watch a movie with the boys," says Taylor. "That is the perfect night."
For the full story, pick up PEOPLE on newsstands now.


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The 'Devil Baby' terrified New Yorkers and caused general chaos as it rampaged through the streets of New York City.
The 'Devil Baby' was created by a group of pranksters, promoting a new movie. The animatronic but very real looking baby was left by itself in a stroller. As passersby went to check on the child, the pranksters triggered a switch that made the child sit straight up and let out a blood-curling scream.
A hidden camera caught the reaction of those who approached the stroller.
See the video below:
The video has since gone viral and has been viewed by more than 5-million people.
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TEXAS FAITH: Do Republicans have an Ayn Rand problem?
Paul Ryan's selection as the Republican vice presidential nominee has put Ayn Rand back into the spotlight. Ryan was picked in large part because he's the architect of a budget that demands lower taxes and smaller government and, more to the point, anticipates a shifting emphasis from government to the individual. Ryan has credited Rand as a source of his political thought. He has said Rand's philosophy was "sorely needed right now" and "Ayn Rand did more than anybody to build a moral case for capitalism, the morality of individualism, and this to me is what matters most."
Rand argued that altruism is immoral and selfishness is good. She was a champion of unbridled markets and limited government. She was an atheist who denounced religion as the enemy of reason and she advanced the idea of an unlimited laissez-faire capitalism in which the rich prospered in a social Darwinian universe. Emboldened by the Tea Party, many Republican leaders like Ryan have proposed a fundamental dismantling of the nation's social safety net in a way that would make Rand proud. But many Tea Party advocates are strong Christian conservatives who would be appalled by Rand's anti-Christian views.
Here's the thing: By embracing Rand, Paul Ryan touts a philosophy that is tightly knit and carefully constructed in which the pieces fit neatly together. In Rand's world, if you believe in objectivism, there's no room for a little government collectivism. One precludes the other. Take out one piece and it all falls apart.
So can leaders who are strong believers in Rand's philosophy advocate self-interest and community obligation in the same breath? How do you make a "moral case" for the individual and individual rights in a way that's ethically justifiable? Do Republicans have an Ayn Rand problem?
Our Texas Faith panel weighs in:
MATTHEW WILSON, Associate Professor of Political Science, Southern Methodist University
Paul Ryan's embrace of Ayn Rand and her worldview is considerably more qualified than many make it out to be. While he acknowledges having been inspired by her vigorous defense of freedom and individual excellence and her repudiation of socialism, he has said that he "completely disagrees" with her philosophy of objectivism and its atheistic foundations. Rather than rooting his preferences for smaller government and more individual economic autonomy in Randian objectivism, Ryan advocates some of the same ideas (though not nearly to the same degree—Rand would see Ryan as a craven, bleeding-heart statist) on the basis of the Catholic doctrine of subsidiarity. This doctrine argues for a devolution of authority and responsibility to the most localized level possible—where feasible, all the way down to individual families. It is rooted, however, not in a rejection of community and society, but in a desire to maximize the dignity and authentic freedom of each person as a child of God. This is a far cry from Rand's philosophy.
Ryan and many conservative Christians (both Catholic and Protestant) draw inspiration from elements of Rand's philosophy while finding others distasteful, in much the same way that some on the religious left are sympathetic to aspects of Marxism while rejecting its militant atheism and its more extreme prescriptions. I am sure that both Rand and Marx would have little patience for these partial disciples, as both saw their philosophies as holistic, all-encompassing worldviews, but this kind of limited ideological borrowing happens all the time. It is very clear that Ryan has really grappled with the idea of how best to reconcile his strong commitment to individual economic autonomy and suspicion of the welfare state (inspired in part by his reading of Rand) with his Catholic faith. One can certainly argue with the theological merits of the position at which he has arrived, believing perhaps that he has elevated subsidiarity too far at the expense of solidarity, but it is hard to question the sincerity of his search for an authentically Catholic economic philosophy. He has partaken in a respectful, extended, theologically-grounded exchange about Catholic social doctrine and the budget with America's leading Catholic cleric, Cardinal Dolan of New York (detailed here:http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/314272/dolan-ryan-great-public-servant-kathryn-jean-lopez) and, while they do not see completely eye to eye on budget specifics, the Cardinal came away impressed with Ryan's "obvious solicitude for the poor" and his genuine desire to situate economic policy in a moral framework. Does that sound like an inflexible adherent of Randian objectivism?
KATIE SHERROD, Independent writer/producer, progressive Episcopalian activist, Fort Worth
Yes, Republicans do have an Ayn Rand problem — or at least they would if they were bothered at all by intellectual dishonesty, which they are clearly not. The disconnects between what Republican candidates say they believe and what their actions say are too numerous to list, although some examples are clear, starting with the slate for president and vice-president.
Mitt Romney creates Romneycare in Massachusetts while governor, and now promises to "get rid of" virtually the same thing in its incarnation as Obamacare. Paul Ryan embraces a philosophy that explicitly denounces religion while proclaiming himself a devout Catholic. Paul Ryan claims to be a fiscal conservative while voting for all George W. Bush's deficit-growing bills. Mitt Romney assures women that his administration will protect the right to abortion for victims of rape, but Ryan consistently has said there should be no exceptions for rape or incest . Does Romney's statement mean Ryan has changed his views or does it mean that Romney is not troubled by the fact that his VP holds very different views on this?
So, yes, I would say they do have an Ayn Rand problem if I thought the Republican base cared about such things. But increasingly it is clear that all the base cares about is getting rid of the African American in the White House. A little intellectual dishonesty is a small price to pay for that. And obviously it's not a problem with the Libertarians who will most likely support the Republican ticket since their guy Ron Paul lost in the primaries. They embrace Ayn Rand as one of the "big thinkers" of the Libertarian Movement.
But will it be a problem for independents and those moderate Republicans who are increasingly troubled by the extremists in their party? I think it will be. This election is between two very different world views. One thinks government should use our tax dollars to care equally for all our citizens, but especially for the most vulnerable amongst us. The other thinks government should do as little as possible for anyone except the wealthiest, for whom tax breaks and favorable policies are to be tailored. What I hope is that Ryan's liking for Ayn Rand will cause a national conversation about these competing worldviews to actually happen. But I'm not holding my breath.
JOE CLIFFORD, Head of Staff and Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas
As with all of us, Ayn Rand is the product of her cultural experience. Hers was defined by a privileged upbringing, as is true for many of her contemporary adherents. More significantly, she came of age during the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. The Bolsheviks and their brand of communism were an extreme reaction to the oppression of Nicolas II's imperial Russia. Rand's radical individualism and eventual objectivist philosophy rejecting collectivism of all kinds were a response to the extremism of the Bolsheviks. Ironically both of them function from an atheist perspective, as did their forbearers, Nietzsche and Marx, elevating human reason to godly status, forming god in their own image. Unfortunately Rand's thought represents the opposite side of an extremist coin. While there is something to be learned from her focus on individual worth, truth is ultimately found not in absolute extremes, but in the tension generated by holding together the two equal truths of individual worth and collective value. This tension was well negotiated by our Founding Fathers. I'll take them over Ayn Rand any day.
DARRELL BOCK, Executive Director of Cultural Engagement, Center for Christian Leadership, and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary
Since I am not so familiar with Ayn Rand's work, I cannot comment on her impact on Paul Ryan or whether there is an Ayn Rand problem. I think the key question here is that working together in a society is always a negotiation between individual rights and corporate responsibility and compassion. The roots of individualism were bequeathed to us by Greco-Roman society and philosophical reflection that fed the Enlightenment and the development of the nation-state along the lines of forming a republic. While corporate concern is the product of a biblical concern for my neighbor who I respect as one made in the Image of God. What is harder to discern is when a legitimate concern for individual rights becomes a kind of self focus that becomes interested only in how something impacts me and my own private interests versus a protection of individual rights we all acknowledge to one degree or another.
Selfishness is never a biblical value. What government seeks to do is to respect her individual citizens while urging them to work together to create the best society possible for all, protecting her citizens as best she can as a collective nation. That does mean being fiscally responsible but also compassionate. Altruism and alms is something Jesus, the Old Testament and the New Testament affirm as an expression of compassion towards the poor and those in need (Just check out Matthew 5:38-48 or 6:1-4 in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount or biblical remarks in Luke 3:10-11, Luke 6:20-23, Micah 6:6-8, or James 1:26-27). Thus when push comes to shove, Scripture exhorts us to move beyond ourselves and take into consideration how best to love my neighbor and reach out to them to help meet needs.
MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas
The problem Republicans have is "a policy coup by some hardnosed people," in the words of Gen. Wesley Clark. The right among Republicans is attempting to take over the direction of this country and pushing for policies that will break the cohesive fabric of America. As individuals, we do not function entirely on our own abilities; we are inter-dependent and interconnected. Without a consumer the manufacturer will fail, without a patient a doctor has no job, and without a healthy society the productivity of a nation suffers, and the rich will not get richer. We don't need any one when we are doing well with our health and a reliable income. In Ayn Rand's ideal world, the fittest will survive. What happens if we are not fit? Who is not vulnerable to the Nile virus, floods, fires, disasters, diseases, and the economic depression?
The defining moment about individualism and collectivism came when Ron Paul was asked, "Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?" His response was health care was a mercy of the community and not a right. A political commercial depicted Romney to be responsible for the death of a lady whose family could not afford insurance to treat her cancer. None of us would have survived the Holocaust, genocides, massacres, persecution and ethnic cleansing if it was entirely the formula of Ayn Rand. If you are not willing to stand up for others, why should anyone stand up for you?
At the end, the Republican Party does have a serious Ayn Rand problem by virtue of their silence against the policy coup by a few. They have two mouths – one talks about freedom and the other wants to take away choices from a woman about her body; one talks about individual liberties while the other rips that right from gay couples marrying each other, and one talks about freedom of religion and the other passes laws restricting Muslims to practice their religion.
Indeed, we need to find a balance between the individual and individual rights in a way that's ethically, morally justifiable. When Justice Roberts rendered a decision in favor of Obama care, I welcomed the decision as a moderate Republican, and instantaneously many Republicans found a way out and echoed my sentiments. They may be silent, but they have spoken against extremism in the ballot. Ryan is a new throw in the basket; if he was in the primaries, he probably would have been rejected like the other divisive men and women.
HOWARD COHEN, Lecturer in Jewish/Christian Relations and member of Congregation Shearith Israel and Congregation Beth Torah, Dallas
Of course Republicans have an Ayn Rand problem; all Jews, Christians, and Muslims should have a problem with her philosophy. For Ryan to include "moral" and "Ayn Rand" in the same sentence is an oxymoron and makes me wonder if he ever read anything she wrote. Her argument that "altruism is immoral and selfishness is good," contradicts the social ethic of these Abrahamic faiths and Ryan's own.
The Republican ticket does seem to have adopted her preference for "a Social Darwinian universe," and that should give all people of faith a reason to vote against them. Can compassionate, caring, concerned Americans of faith reconcile a social policy of survival of the fittest, i.e. the wealthiest, while dismantling the social safety net that feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and protects the powerless with the tenets of their faiths? As for the argument that we cannot afford the social safety net, perhaps if the wealthiest paid the full 30 % of their income in taxes we could.
AMY MARTIN, Executive Director, Earth Rhythms; writer/editor, Moonlady Media
Taoism councils that when ideas, just like people, animals or plants, are rigid, they are more dead than alive. If a philosophy is so rigid that if you "take out one piece and it all falls apart," then it's not a very valid philosophy. Life is a continual process of change, adaptation, growth and movement. "When living, man is supple and yielding, when dead he is rigid and stiff," states the Tao Teh Ching. "When living, all plants and animals are soft and pliant; when dead they are withered and brittle. Thus, being inflexible and unyielding is a part of dying; being flexible and yielding is a part of living."
But to answer the question, Republicans have an Ayn Rand problem much as they do a Ronald Reagan problem, an Eisenhower problem, and a fiscal conservative problem. Because they are some of those things and not some of those things. No purity, no polarity, but messy, just like life.
GEOFFREY DENNIS, Rabbi, Congregation Kol Ami, Flower Mound; faculty member, University of North Texas Jewish Studies Program
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
I read Rand's Atlas Shrugged and The Anti-Industrial Left as a youth, and I came down on the side of Orcs. To my mind, Rand is the economic anti-pode of Marx, a absolutist thinker who pursues a premise to its utterly logical, completely consistent conclusion, yielding a philosophy that is elegant, air-tight, and intellectually compelling, while at the same time being morally reprehensible, unworkable, and profoundly anti-human. Of the two, Marx has an attractiveness advantage in that he was, personality-wise, likable.
Do Marx and Rand have good points – yes. Without question. They both readily and vividly described the flaws and excesses of the systems they disliked. But like a Marxist, a true-believing Objectivist (I'm not sure even Rand could claim to be that, she was more of a clinical narcissist), is a scary person. Ryan, seen from afar, is not a real Objectivist, though his past pretensions of idolizing Rand make me uneasy. I am bothered that in picking-and-choosing between his commitment to Rand and his Roman Catholic faith, too many of his economic policies are Randian rather than scriptural or canonical in their character and goals. It is certainly an issue I would like Rep. Ryan to address head-on during the course of the election.
NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, Minister, ISKCON Kalachandji's Hare Krishna Temple Dallas
The antithesis of real religion is selfishness. The more one advances in their spiritual understanding and realization, the more the qualities of compassion and generosity becomes apparent. On the bodily level there is no equality, although we as Americans are ushered to believe it. The fact remains that we are all different. But on the spiritual level we are all the same. This equality even extends to the various species of life. Just as a battery in one device, such as remote control, causes it to operate differently, then the same type of battery in another type of machine, such as a toy. Therefore the Vedic teachings are socially liberal, recognizing the difference. Due to karma of past lives people are born with various abilities and facilities. Some are born intelligent or wealthy and others are not. Some have fortunate lives, I am sure there are many who are as intelligent and resourceful as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs but did not end up as them. Because of this difference those who can, are morally obliged to help as duty given by God.
The Vedic teaching are spiritually conservative, recognizing the soul is in all that lives. Therefore we do not agree with animal slaughter, fetal slaughter and so on. With the advancement of spiritual knowledge comes compassion and internal happiness and those who are spiritually ignorant, and are thus unfulfilled, strive for temporary selfish desires and exploit others.
The conclusion is that if a person is spiritual intelligent he will know how to actually work in his self/soul's interest. Such an intelligently selfish man only works for the benefit of others.
WILLIAM LAWRENCE, Dean and Professor of American Church History, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist UniversityWilliam Lawrence
The classic standard test for the boundary where individual freedom meets communal responsibility is this. As individuals we have complete freedom of speech. But we are not free to shout "Fire" in a crowded theater.
In Ayn Rand's philosophy, individual freedom trumps everything. The individuals in the community must assume responsibility for their own circumstances and safety. Thus, individuals should only occupy theater seats only near the exits. If they sit in the middle of the room or the row, they are responsible for those risks and their consequences. The problem with the Ayn Rand approach, however, is that an individual decision to sit near an exit provides insufficient security when one is on an airplane. If someone in the middle of the cabin were to shout "Fire" at 30,000 feet, opening the exit door will not provide security. The community has the duty, responsibility, and obligation to protect everyone. Individual freedom will not keep any individual free.
An individual is free to establish a business, to manage the business in the way that the entrepreneur sees fit, and to earn a profit from the business. But the individual is not free to poison the perimeter of the business property to make the neighboring land toxic for other users. The individual is not free to destroy water resources and ruin the supply of potable water for the next entrepreneur. The community has both important interests and important responsibilities to protect the land, the air, and the water. A political entrepreneur is free to speak her or his mind on any topic. The Supreme Court's decision known as "Citizens United" established the principle that financing speech–such as through commercial advertising that advocates political positions or candidates–is an exercise in freedom. Apparently, that includes filling the air with poisonous lies and toxic statements, repeated as often as the financing of this "free" speech can support. At some point, political leaders and their parties have to protect the community from individuals' abuses of their precious freedoms.
CYNTHIA RIGBY, W.C. Brown Professor of Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
To take seriously Rand's commitment to self-interest is to recognize that it displaces every and all other would-be values. To balance self-interest with "community obligation" is necessarily to lay aside self-interest, according to Rand. Rand understands autonomous exercise of agency to be not only the most important value among others, but the only value that matters. To take the other into account because they have intrinsic value – or simply because you love them – is, according to Rand, misguided and weak. To do so is to lose out, she thinks. And she has no sympathy for losers.
Rand's philosophy is absolutely antithetical to Christ's teaching that we love others as God loves us, sharing with them and caring for them as though they are members of our very own household. I disagree with Ryan that Ayn Rand's philosophy is "sorely needed right now." I think what is always needed is for human beings to take seriously Jesus' commandment that we love one another as we love ourselves, translating it into economic and social policies that enable both the individual and the community to flourish.
It seems to me that the most life-enhancing political decisions are made in the context of tugging between individual and communal interests. The best leaders are those who respect both sides of the game, even as they plant their feet more firmly on one side or the other and pull as hard as they can. But Ann Rand doesn't even bother to tug – she has let go of the rope and walked away, leaving the community fallen on their . . . backsides. I sincerely hope Ryan has not exempted himself from the tugging, despite his appreciation of Rand's cold, uncompromising, dehumanizing philosophy.
RIC DEXTER, Nichiren Buddhist area leader, Soka Gakkai-USA
I grew up as someone who always wanted to help other people. My brother held that I was selfish fordoing so. He argued Hobbs and Rand while I cited Rousseau and Plato. We both appealed to reason. We were respectively 16 and 14. Naturally, I rejected Rand then and still do. The questions forced me to take a more nuanced look at Rand's philosophy.
Republicans may have an "Ayn Rand problem" if they hold that to be a seminal philosophy in their path forward. The majority of people have only a surface understanding of the objectivist philosophy. That problem extends to both those who support that surface understanding and those who oppose it. Nuanced views don't fit well into soundbites.
Nathaniel Branden seems to give Randians an explanation of how community obligation can fit into the self-interest of Objectivists. "Because a genuinely selfish man chooses his goals by the guidance of reason—and because the interests of rational men do not clash—other men may often benefit from his actions." In another essay Branden distinguishes individualists from those people regarded as the merely self-interested, labeling as "Counterfeit Individualists" the hedonist, the irrationalist and the subjectivist. His argument in that essay and Rand's own "Objectivists Ethics"help show the ethics of rational self-interest as a new, and in their view justifiable, morality.
Objectivist "value" is summed up as "reason, purpose, self-esteem," and virtue as "rationality, productiveness, pride." The way to attain these virtues is limited to an intellectual path of understanding. Branden's counterfeit individualists are described, but shown no path to correct their imprecise understanding. Lacking a methodology to hone the individual Objectivism is truly a "philosophy without a practice."
Buddhist teacherTsunesaboro Makiguchi offers a much deeper understanding of value. To have value a thing must express beauty, benefit, and goodness. He defined beauty as "that which brings fulfillment to the aesthetic sensibility of the individual"; benefit as "that which advances the life of the individual in a holistic manner"; goodness as "that which contributes to the well-being of the larger human society."
Reason and knowledge can serve as a gateway to wisdom. It is wisdom that enables us to use knowledge in the most humane and valuable way. Through the path of compassionate wisdom we create value and foster individuality. If you confuse the gateway with the path, value by any definition is lost.


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Choosing an RV Roadside Assistance Plan
RVs—especially motorized RVs—are complicated machines. Although there's a considerable amount of care and engineering that goes into manufacturing these units, breakdowns can still happen. So, if you're not a certified RV technician or a mechanic, how do you deal with such problems when you're on the road? The answer is to invest in a roadside-assistance plan. And here are a few answers to questions you might have about these plans.
What do Roadside Assistance Plans Cover?
Basic plans will get you towed to a nearby service center. You'll also get help if you run out of gas, have a blowout, need a jump-start, or get locked out. More comprehensive plans will get you help working through temperamental RV systems like air-conditioning, heating, slide outs, and the like. Some plans can even include "concierge" convenience services such as campsite and activity referrals, trip planning, and arranging service appointments.
Who Provides Roadside Assistance Plans?
If you buy a new RV, some manufacturers offer roadside assistance coverage free for a year. In addition, the service contract you bought from your dealer might also have coverage, though sometimes this only entails reimbursing you for towing expenses rather than fully coordinated assistance with an 800 number to call if you need help.
Several companies and organizations sell roadside assistance plans. Access to qualified, trained RV service technicians is a differentiator. If your unit needs to be towed, it needs to go to a qualified RV repair facility, and, if you're 1,000 miles from home, you need guidance on finding such a facility. It's critical that you stick with a service provider that has RV industry experience.
Coach-Net has been offering RV roadside assistance for more than 25 years, primarily via manufacturer-sponsored owner's clubs. As discounted rates or specials on popular plans are a possibility here, it's worth investigating this option. That said, if you call Coach-Net, their advisors will inform you that they provide service and warranty support to owners of RVs made by many different manufacturers. You'll also see Coach-Net representatives at events sponsored by the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) and the Escapee Club, which also market roadside assistance plans to members and offer valuable program insights via their online forums.
The AAA—the granddaddy of motor clubs, established in 1902 and with around 51 million members—offers a program for RV owners. In addition, nearly 400,000 Good Sam Club members have signed up for its Allstate RV roadside assistance program, which is also available to AARP members. Finally, if you have your RV insured with Progressive Insurance you have the option of adding roadside assistance to your policy.
How Do I Choose an RV Roadside Assistance Plan?
Don't make your decisions strictly based on price, which will range from roughly $115 to $170 a year. Consider your needs. For instance, if you're technologically challenged, you really should select a plan that not only helps with breakdowns but also with RV-system problems. Also do some research online and by talking to other RV owners. Providers are only as good as their service support network, which includes everything from the customer service representatives on the phone to the tow truck driver responding to that call for help.
Experienced RV technicians man Coach-Net's help lines 24/7. This is especially handy if one of the RV's systems isn't working, as these technicians can talk you through fixing problems on the spot. The Good Sam Club plan is a good value. It's also RV focused, with access to experienced and trained staff, and will cover your car, utility trailer, motorcycle, and other vehicles. You'll also get a free safety inspection at any Camping World store.
If a physical office is important to you, a plan through the AAA might be a good choice. You can go into a local AAA office and get trip advice, maps, and other information. Plus, the AAA has been around a long time and has an extensive network of automotive and truck dealers that can handle chassis issues if you have a breakdown. That said, its plans are on the high side of the pricing scale.
Progressive is a good low-cost option. But its coverage is vehicle specific, unlike that provided by AAA, Coach-Net, or Good Sam, which covers any of your owned or rented vehicles. Essentially, Progressive's plan will get your covered unit towed to a nearby service facility.


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Sherry Hammel spent the last few months creating special memories.
About two months ago, doctors told the 37-year-old mom of five she didn't have much longer to live, and she wanted to give loved ones some happy memories.
The Altoona native died Wednesday after battling stage four colon cancer since her diagnosis in July 2010.
On a Friday evening in late September, Hammel, who lived in McClure, Snyder County, with her husband, Bob, and children - Matthew, 13, 11-year-old twins Billy and Damian, Robert, 5, and Larissa, 2 - had come to the city home of her sister, Brandy Ronan, to attend a festival.
When her doctors told the strong-spirited Hammel she only had a short time to live after cancer had spread throughout her body, they had to double check that she had comprehended what they were saying, because she accepted it so gracefully.
Hammel had said she wasn't scared and knew where she was going.
Fact Box
If you go:
What: Spaghetti dinner to benefit the family of Sherry Hammel, who died Wednesday
When: 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17
Where: Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 1 Cathedral Square
Cost: Free dinner and drink with $10 admission
To donate: Donations can be sent c/o Bob Hammel to 12 W. Specht St., McClure, PA 17841
"It's in God's hands. It's his decision. He puts us here, and he takes us out of here," she said at the time. "The doctors can only do as much as he guides them to do."
All she wanted was to spend time with her family, making memories, she said.
A $10 spaghetti dinner to help support the family is taking place from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 1 Cathedral Square.
Money raised will go to her family, whose members are facing "astronomical" medical bills, a funeral and a utility bill that is at least $1,000, friend Jessica Dunn said. They have raised $2,000 toward the $10,000 funeral so far, Dunn said.
Trinity Lutheran churches - the one in Juniata where Hammel was a longtime member and the one in McClure - held a fundraiser, Ronan said. Hammel had taught Sunday school at both churches.
About 10 years ago, the then-single Hammel took legal custody of Matthew, Billy and Damian after their biological mother signed over the rights. Hammel had begun caring for the children at a day care where she worked at the time. She and her husband officially adopted the three oldest children after her diagnosis.
"I fell in love with them, and they were just always my kids," she had said.
Ronan said her sister wanted to fight for her children and husband.
Hammel started doubling over in pain when she was pregnant with Larissa, but doctors at a hospital told her the pain was associated with the pregnancy.
When the pain continued after Hammel gave birth, she went to another hospital and had a CAT scan. The doctors told her there were tumors in her liver, and a colonoscopy confirmed their diagnosis of stage four colon cancer.
She had surgery to remove the tumors from her colon and liver. She underwent chemotherapy for more than a year with some success.
The cancer, however, spread to her lungs and was inoperable. Recently, she had found out the cancer had moved into her brain in the form of two tumors. She underwent radiation in an attempt to gain more time with her family.
Once the brain tumors were found, the doctors gave Hammel about two months to live. She was aiming to see another Christmas.
Ronan said her sister was determined and had been waiting for a miracle. Hammel had unbelievable faith and strength, she said.
Hammel reached out to encourage fellow patients suffering with cancer through her faith while receiving treatment, Ronan said.
Hammel left behind many other friends and family, including cousins, nieces and nephews who will miss her, Ronan said Thursday. Ronan and Hammel have a half-sister, Bonnie Mishock of Altoona, and a half-brother, Ronnie Forsht of Williamsport.
Friends Dawn Davis and Ginger Shoeman, both of Altoona, stuck by Hammel's side, helping during her time of need, Ronan said.
The hardest part for Hammel was thinking about her children growing up without her, she had said in September. She wondered whether Larissa would actually remember her, because she is so young, or if she would just have secondhand memories through photos or family stories.
Bob Hammel said his wife remained positive through it all. Her children were her main priority, and she would worry about him more than herself, he said.
"She always put everybody else's needs before hers," he said.
Mirror Staff Writer Amanda Gabeletto is at 949-7030.