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How About TRON In WRECK-IT RALPH 2?This past December, Wreck-It Ralph Director Rich Moore said that he's hoping to feature Nintendo's icon, MARIO, in WRECK-IT RALPH 2. He said he couldn't include Mario in the first film only because they couldn't fit him into the story, not because Nintendo wouldn't allow them to use the character. Well, it seems like he wants to jam-pack the sequel even more.. Comingsoon heard it straight from Moore who said that he wanted to include TRON (which is a video game character, much like Ralph and Fix-It Felix are) in WRECK-IT RALPH 2 and get this,.. they actually initially planned to have TRON cameo in the first film...
"I can't specifically remember why that didn't happen," "...Of course, with a sequel, I'm hoping that we can find a way to see Tron himself in that movie."Wouldn't that be somethin'.. with TRON UPRISING, and TRON 3 hopefully in development, and this possible TRON Cameo in WRECK-IT RALPH 3, Bruce Boxleitner will stay employed. Awesome!
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I really do admire President Obama for having the courage to make health care reform his top priority when he knew in advance how difficult it would be to pass. That took a lot of guts, and he should be congratulated for it. And I really do have genuine sympathy for White House staffers and Congressional leaders trying to work their way through the incredible complications on this issue to find the sweet spot for passing a bill. This is a massively complicated issue, with a new minefield around every bend. The fight over the public option has obscured all the rest of it, but health care reform is a monster of an issue: how do you make the subsidies for lower and middle class folks affordable without breaking the bank? How do you adjust Medicare rates and Medicaid formulas and provider reimbursements in a fair way? How do you re-structure financial incentives to encourage more primary care physicians without penalizing the specialists too much? How do you find a path through all the special interest roadblocks thrown in your way?
Questions like these, and a few hundred more, make the passage of any major health care bill as difficult as anything a President could ever take on -- it is just landmine after landmine. From what I can tell, the Obama team hasn't done a bad job of navigating their way through to a solution on many of those quiet but really important issues. Again, my congratulations.
In the end, though, health care reform will live or die on whether the White House, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid can figure out a way around the massive barrier in the middle of the road, the public option. Progressives are demanding it, conservative Democrats don't want to do it, Senate procedural rules make it complicated, so it's difficult to figure out what to do. And I fully understand the political imperative to get something passed.
Here's where I get confused, though. We have always known that passing any health care bill would be tough, but it has become increasingly clear as we get closer and closer to an end game that the easiest, simplest, least painful path is to actually go ahead and do what the President has proposed, which is to pass a bill with the public option.
Look at the facts that we are dealing with:
- There is a very big and very solid core group of members in the House (way more than enough to block a bill from passing) who have pledged multiple times in writing to only vote for a bill with a public option.
- That group in the House is backed up by an extremely determined activist core from the netroots, and increasingly intense organizations like the AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org, and Democracy for America.
- A majority of House members are on the record in favor of the public option.
- While there are procedural issues to be resolved in the Senate, many of the top experts on Senate rules are saying that the public option can be included in a reconciliation bill which only needs 51 votes. Such a bill could be combined with a second bill to deal with the less controversial issues that can't be included in reconciliation.
- While some of the most conservative Senate Democrats want there to be a bipartisan bill, which would require no public option, there are not enough of them to stop a bill being passed on reconciliation. In fact, there are now 51 Senators on the record in favor of the public option.
Okay, stay with me now: ditching the public option would mean a massive, ugly civil war with House progressives, most of whom will be feeling very gun-shy about abandoning their written pledges to oppose any bill without the public option. Keeping the public option would require dealing with some unhappiness from some conservative Senators, and might require a procedural move or two that would be complicated.
Which approach sounds easier to get done?
But conventional wisdom insiders have been telling each other for a long time that there is no way to pass a public option, and that has made White House staffers and legislative leaders have a hard time seeing what is becoming the honest truth: passing a bill with the public option is not only possible, but the easiest way to a victory.
Maybe there is something I don't understand here -- it wouldn't be the first time. But as someone who passionately wants to help the White House pass a health reform bill, it seems pretty clear which way to go. I will admit it would not be simple or smooth, but that civil war scenario of dropping the public option would be a lot worse.
Let's get this train moving down the most direct path to victory.
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subset: commoncrawl


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A man suffering from gunshot wounds was dropped off late Wednesday night at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, the apparent victim of gang violence, the Portland Police Bureau reported.
Officers were called to the hospital just after 11:30 p.m. and were told Johnny Ray Brown Jr., 20, was driven to the hospital in private vehicle. He had a gunshot wound to his right arm, an injury doctors described as non-life-threatening injury.
Brown told police that the shooting occurred a few blocks West of Kenton Park in North Portland. Officers checking the Kenton neighborhood did not locate any crime scene or calls of shots fired in the area.
Detectives said Brown is known to police as a gang associate, so the Gang Enforcement Team responded to continue the investigation.
--Tom Hallman Jr.


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In what is surely to become an election night classic, Rove, the political strategist and Fox News analyst, questioned the network's call of Ohio – and the presidency – for President Obama last night.
Rove, who had predicted in his Wall Street Journal column last week that Romney would win with "at least 279 Electoral College votes, probably more" thought Fox was premature in calling the win, which automatically doomed Mitt Romney's bid for victory. He chastised the network. "I would be very cautious of intruding in this process," Rove said.
Megyn Kelly, the co-anchor for the Fox News election desk muttered, "That's awkward."
And then she marched into the back offices where Fox data analysts crunch their numbers to hear them explain it. And they did. Outstanding counties in Ohio, when their votes came in, would break for Obama, they explained. Of this they were certain. Romney was done.
It's been a long, strange trip for Rove. A mere eight years ago, as President George W. Bush's chief strategist, he was filled with contempt for what he called "the reality-based community."
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality," he told the New York Times in 2004. "And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
Now it is Rove who will be left to study the reality of a second Obama term.


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International Edition
October, 23, 2016
About Us
Contact Us
India reveals first budget featuring 'Modi-nomics'
By Penelope MacRae, AFP
July 11, 2014, 12:05 am TWN
NEW DELHI--India's new right-wing government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled its maiden budget Thursday, promising a new era of fiscal prudence and greater opportunities for foreign investors in key sectors of the economy.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told parliament that the new right-wing government, in office since May, had inherited a "challenging" situation of low growth and high inflation from the previous Congress administration.
But he laid out what he said were broad indicators of the direction the government intended to travel in: towards lower government debt, more privatization and greater openness to foreign investors.
Government overspending would be brought down dramatically in the next three years, with the fiscal deficit reduced to 3.0 percent in 2016/17 from a target of 4.1 percent this financial year, Jaitley pledged.
"We cannot leave behind a legacy of debt for future generations," he said.
He said the budget was "the beginning of a journey to sustain seven to eight percent growth in the next three to four years."
Jaitley also announced an increase in the permitted level of foreign direct investment in the defense and insurance sectors to 49 percent from 26 percent.
He also said the government intended to sell an unspecified amount of shares in the debt-laden public banks which are in need of fresh equity.
"The government will continue to hold majority ownership, but the citizens of India will get direct shareholding in these banks," he said.
1 Comment
July 12, 2014 satchandrag@


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i've got a top score
Credits & Info
- Uploaded
- Jan 29, 2009 | 1:38 AM EST
- File Info
- Song
- 1 min 46 sec
- Score
- 4.47 / 5.00
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Heard in 4 Entries!
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- Score:
- Rated 4.47 / 5 stars
- Plays & Downloads:
- 9,985 Plays | 577 Downloads
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- Genres:
- Electronic - Dance
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Author Comments
Rated 5 / 5 stars
...you go?
Paris fashion show in the (forget 80's, let's say 90's), definitely.
And, as the title suggests, it can be used for a top-score BGM in a game, if only the beginning were a little more explosive. I guess the high-score list works too?
Besides that, 5/5 and 89/100. The ending needs just the tiniest bit of work.
Rated 5 / 5 stars
One of the best songs I've heard, of all time! So fun, so calming, yet so energic. It's so perfect.
Only the shortness is sad, but I guess that's what fits this song.
Well done!
You're very kind. :)
Rated 5 / 5 stars
I really enjoyed this song quite a bit! I understood that it sounded familiar, but I wasn't quite sure where it came from. Congradulations on being Tom Fulp's all time favorite audio submission! Of course, he mostly just adds whatever submission he finds to be great at the top of his list, anyway. It's just a song that has real ambition. I appreciate the extremely stylized stuff that I hear.
It seems to have a pretty funky beat overall. It's the kind of tune you can really listen to when you're having a good time. For the most part, it's a good video game tribute. I guess I just assume all great music from here is related to video games. You get that way being on the Internet too long. At two minutes, it really isn't even that short.
Rated 5 / 5 stars
that awesome
Rated 5 / 5 stars
paris fashion runway ;-)
Haha, the track played and i was thinking about the fashion runway. At the same time i read the comments of brokendeck!
However, nice track indeed!


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Sometimes, you never know whom you're going to bump into.
And sometimes you never know where you'll be when you do.
I certainly never thought I'd be on the floor at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Monday, Nov. 25, interviewing the founder of Camp Fish Tales in Pinconning.
But there we were as the Detroit Pistons took on the Milwaukee Bucks.
My trip to the game itself was more than a year in the making. My buddy Eric English, who works as an assistant editor at The Saginaw News, scored us tickets right behind the Piston's bench, which means we had an up-close view of all the action.
Having grown up in Milwaukee, I've been a Bucks fan most of my life and although they haven't given me much to cheer about in many years, it is why we chose to drive to Auburn Hills on a Monday night, with freezing rain on the way, to see two teams with losing records take the court.
It was awesome and being that close to the players gave me a real appreciation for their size, agility and athleticism.
The Pistons won the game 113-94.
But the real highlight of the night happened during a timeout in the first half when Pistons officials ushered three people holding awards to center court and the public address announcer introduced them to the crowd.
Don Wackerle, who founded, Camp Fish Tales in 1993, was among those introduced as a winner of the 2013 Impact Award and a $25,000 grant that comes with it.
The award is given by the Detroit Pistons and the team's Come Together Foundation to honor "Game Changers" in communities across Michigan.
Wackerle, who attended Monday's game with LaraBeth Sullivan, executive director of Camp Fish Tales, along with their families, founded the camp for those with disabilities after his son, Ben Wackerle, was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy.
Prior to the establishment of the camp, Don Wackerle hosted a fishing contest to raise money to send children to barrier-free camps. In 1993, he hosted his own camp on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University and in 1996 campers were welcomed for the first time at the current camp on Erickson Road near Pinconning. Last year, more than 200 kids attended Camp Fish Tales.
Camp organizers plan to use the $25,000 grant to help construct a new barrier-free playground at the camp. Another $10,000 is coming from the Nathalie Awrey Memorial Fund and $5,000 is coming from Bubba's Tri-City Cycles.
"To start an organization like Fish Tales with basically family … to have it grow to what it is today and then being honored for achieving something like that from a prestigious organization like the Pistons is humbling," said Wackerle, who lives with his wife Martha in Monitor Township. "It's hard to describe. To be there, right there on the court being presented with a plaque, is just … very special for us."
Regarding the award, Dennis Mannion, president and CEO of Palace Sports & Entertainment, said the Impact Awards celebrate those who make a positive impact through volunteerism in their communities.
"Impact Award winners have done outstanding work in the community and the Pistons and Come Together Foundation want to recognize these often unsung heroes," Mannion said in a press release.
As Wackerle walked off the court Monday night, his award in hand, Eric and I found an usher who kindly escorted us down the floor where we met the Camp Fish Tales founder.
It was one of those "right-place-right-time" moments that easily will be my greatest memory from my night at The Palace.


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Happy Hanukkah Santa Fe!
December 20, 2011
The world holds many faiths, each with special holidays that we are glad to celebrate, and one begins today….it's Hanukkah! New Mexico, like so many western outposts, has its Judaic history, with both travelers and businessman from the Old World and … Continue reading
Las Posadas: A Santa Fe Holiday Tradition
December 08, 2011
The holiday tradition of Las Posadas takes place on Sunday, December 11, at 5:30pm at the Palace of the Governors So much of the holiday season seems so familiar and so relentlessly repetitive, and once-only experiences are becoming a rarity. … Continue reading
From Stardust to Sardine Cans: a guided walk in the Cerrillos Hills
December 03, 2011
Consilience. That's the word I suspect was trembling on the lips of our guide for the afternoon, Ranger Sarah Woods, as she led us for a walk with that eye-catching title, along a dusty, juniper-dotted trail in Cerrillos Hills State … Continue reading
Soaring on Raven's Ridge
November 24, 2011
The other weekend I just had to get out for some exercise, and since my thoughts lately have been occupied planning some hikes up in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado next summer, I decided to head up to Ski … Continue reading
We Say Thanks, Santa Fe!
November 24, 2011
This is a favorite holiday for so many people…..and no wonder. For us, Thanksgiving is a time for reflecting on the blessings we enjoy by living in Santa Fe and the Land of Enchantment. The climate, the mountains, the light, … Continue reading
Santa Fe Holiday Food Fun!
November 22, 2011
You're invited to dinner in Santa Fe! In fact, we're suspecting that you probably have a favorite Santa Fe Restaurant in mind, and we'd like to know what it is. Perhaps YOU will be the winner of our Facebook holiday … Continue reading
November Snow
November 13, 2011
Nearly ever year, sometime around the end of October, Santa Fe gets its first little snowfall to let us know that winter is on its way. This year the reminder came a little earlier, the weekend before Halloween, and the … Continue reading
Show Us Your Santa Fe
November 02, 2011
We invited lovers of Santa Fe to share their Santa Fe memories in pictures, and the response was swift and gratifying. Our Show Us Your Santa Fe Facebook contest garnered seventy beautiful pictures. It seems that the sights and the … Continue reading
Little things
October 30, 2011
Most of the leaves have come down from the aspen in the mountains above Santa Fe, and the highest peaks are already shining with the first snows of the season. The glorious light of late fall streams over the forests … Continue reading


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By Sue Merrell
Just when you thought the summer was finally getting warm enough, Mason Street Warehouse in Saugatuck cranks it up a few degrees with a sizzling dance revue, "Steam Heat."
If you like the smoldering, dramatic choreography of Bob Fosse, you're going to love this show. All the elements are there: the splayed hands, the shoulder shrugs, the bent knees and wrists, bowler hats and white gloves. As the title suggests, there are a few moments that rattle the pipes or let the steam hiss, but mostly the show chugs along relentlessly keeping the stage warm, cozy and entertaining.
Mason Street artistic director Kurt Stamm has created the show as a sort of biography of the iconic Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse. Stamm borrows heavily from "Fosse," the 1999 Tony Award-winning show on which Stamm served as associate director. But he has compressed the lineup, reimagined a few numbers and added a few power-packing pieces.
Like "Fosse," "Steam Heat" opens with "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries," but right from the start the Mason Street production has a different kind of sizzle. Melanie Waldron pulls the audience in with a seductive intimacy that builds to roof-raising power, for a four-alarm, full-steam-ahead opener.
My favorite number of the evening was "Big Spender." Originally from the musical "Sweet Charity," this number was also featured in "Fosse," but Stamm reimagines the presentation with the whole ensemble, not just the female members, standing at the bar to lure in customers. Music director Jamie Reed keeps the beat extra slow to squeeze all the punch out of every note, every word, every finger flick. Definitely another steam-hissing moment.
In the second act, "Mein Herr," (from "Cabaret" and "Fosse") scorches with even more intensity. Mackenzie Warren delivers a biting vocal performance while she and the other ensemble members writhe against their chairs with pipe-clanging power.
Stamm includes a wonderful interpretation of "Mr. Bojangles," (from "Dancin'" and "Fosse"). Netanel Bellaishe, who provided many fine dance performances during the evening, portrays a stooped and aging Bojangles who imagines himself doing dance moves that are accomplished with ballet grace by his shadow, Taurean Everett, while Este'Fan Kizer sings the familiar song.
The show also includes some Fosse "musts," such as "Rich Man's Frug" (from "Sweet Charity" and "Fosse"). Statuesque Lauren Sprague provides the head-spinning, pony-tail whiplash moves, while the ensemble bends backwards for the aloof, cigarette-accented parade that has become so symbolic of '60s society.
Stamm added several numbers that were not included in "Fosse," such as the playful "Real Live Girl" and "There's Gotta Be Something Better than This" (from "Sweet Charity.") The high point of his additions juxtaposes Warren singing "Funny Honey" from "Chicago" while Waldron sings the counterpoint with "Maybe This Time" from "Cabaret." The songs blend very well, musically and thematically, to express the irony of love.
With a few exceptions, such as the blue and white baseball uniforms for the "Shoeless Joe Ballet" at the beginning of Act II, most of the costumes are sleek black that won't detract from the graphic shapes Fosse's dance moves were designed to create. Todd Engle's set design of shiny aluminum geometric patterns fits in perfectly, including a sailboat-shaped rolling piece that serves as transparent video screen as well as portable ladder.
So if your summer isn't steamy enough, head on over to Saugatuck and enjoy the sizzle of "Steam Heat."
Sue Merrell writes for EncoreMichigan.


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I've been pretty hard on Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY ) in recent months, but my skepticism regarding this troubled auto-parts (and services) retailer has thus far been rewarded. The stock has continued to slide, now sitting at its lowest price since 2003. Given the following news, I find that intriguing.
Earlier this week, the company announced that CEO Larry Stevenson had resigned, effective immediately. In his place, the board tapped Chairman Bill Leonard to serve as interim CEO. Remember when I mentioned 2003? That's when Stevenson was originally hired, and although the first part of '03 was rocky, the stock ultimately saw a sharp rebound.
Until, that is, the wheels started falling off once more. Since that lofty peak in early 2004, performance has eroded, and the stock has seen a pretty steady fall, punctuated by two rounded-off rallies about a year apart. Though company press releases often talked about improving the business, the failure to actually do anything with service operations continued to weigh on overall performance.
The CEO's departure does not solve Pep Boys' problems. Though it has hired Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) to explore the fabled "strategic alternatives," hedge funds like Pirate Capital and Barington have been vocal in criticizing both the company's sluggish self-improvement and its failure to set a date for its shareholders meeting.
In addition, investors have recently grown more worried about performance at rivals Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP ) , AutoZone (NYSE: AZO ) , and O'Reilly Automotive (Nasdaq: ORLY ) . If better-run companies in the industry are having trouble, that doesn't bode well for a quick turnaround at Pep Boys.
I've said before that I'd consider these shares if they were at a discount to tangible book value. They're not there yet, but they keep getting closer. I'm also cautiously optimistic that we're now seeing the last of things getting worse before the company's improvement begins. I may have little faith in Pep Boys' current board when it comes to fixing this business (or hiring a good CEO candidate to do so), but if it can't do it, I figure that somebody who can will eventually step up and buy the company.
For more peppy Foolishness:
AutoZone is aMotley Fool Inside Valuepick. Discover Philip Durell's full list of great stocks trading below their fair values with a free 30-day trial.
Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).


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LORETTO, Tennessee – Two Tennessee teens were fatally injured following a Wednesday evening car crash in Lawrence County.
The accident took place around 6 p.m. along Old Florence Pulaski Road. According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol Rianna L. Watson, 17, of Leoma, TN, was heading west in a GMC Envoy when her vehicle crossed the center line and crashed into a box truck that was heading east.
Watson was killed in the car accident while her passenger, Tanna J. Pesnell, 17, of Loretto, TN, was transported via helicopter to Vanderbilt University Medical, where she died on Thursday. The driver of the box truck was not injured.
Although the high school the girls attended was closed on fall break the week of the accident, it opened at 10 a.m. Thursday to offer counseling for students and teachers.
Have you or someone you know been injured or killed in an auto accident? If so, you may be eligible to receive damages for your pain and suffering. Seek legal help immediately to file a case with an accident lawyer in Tennessee so you can fight for your rights and make sure those responsible for the incident are held liable for their negligence and wrongdoing.
Tennessee can help you obtain thousands or even millions in money damages, medical care, lost wages, and property damage reimbursement for your accident. Aside from car crashes, accident attorneys can also help you file cases involving medical malpractice, slip and falls, wrongful deaths, and workplace injuries. No matter how serious or how minor the incident, you can rest assured your Tennessee accident lawyer will not rest until you obtain the maximum compensation for your injuries and losses, so call to schedule a consultation today with an attorney near you.


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Meanwhile, Johnny Damon expressed hope Friday that he could come off the Yankees' disabled list Sunday, although general manager Brian Cashman made that sound unlikely.
Matsui was examined by Yankees team physician Stuart Hershon Friday after a recurrence of swelling in the knee earlier in the week. No decision will be made on a course of action until Matsui sees Scott Rodeo, who performed arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in November.
After Monday, "we'll have a better idea what direction it'll take," Cashman said. "Surgery certainly has moved up on the list of options."
Matsui said the "topic" of surgery "is out there. We just haven't discussed details."
Asked if he will have one more try at returning without surgery, Matsui said, "Probably. That hasn't been really cleared, but probably."
Matsui has not played since June 22. An arthroscopic procedure would require three to four months of recovery time, thus ending his season.
Damon, recovering from a strained left shoulder suffered July 4, did drills off a tee and soft-tossing Friday. He hopes to take full batting practice Saturday and is eligible to come off the DL Sunday.
"(This) morning's the big thing," Damon said. "If I wake up and it feels good, it's going to be up to them whether or not they activate me."
But Cashman intimated Damon will need more time.
"I don't know about (returning Sunday)," Cashman said, "but I do know our trainers in Tampa said when he's ready to swing so he could come fast.
"We'll take him when he's ready. I don't know if (tomorrow) is realistic or not. I wouldn't douse anybody's enthusiasm, but a rehab assignment is probably part of the process."
Brett Gardner, who has been playing left field in Damon's absence, is batting .150 with 12 strikeouts in 40 at-bats.


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This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
Testimony on Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) and the Blood Supply by David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Public Health Service
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Before the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, Subcommittee on Human Resources
July 31, 1997
Good morning. I am Dr. David Satcher, Director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). I am accompanied by Dr. Mary Chamberland, Dr.
Bruce Evatt and Dr. Lawrence Schonberger with CDC's National Center for
Infectious Diseases. We are pleased to be here this morning to discuss with you
issues related to blood safety; specifically, the safety implications of plasma
pool sizes and our surveillance efforts related to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
(CJD) and the blood supply.
As the report published nearly a year ago by this subcommittee found, the
Nation's blood supply is safer than it has ever been. However, the blood supply
continues to face infectious disease challenges from both recognized, as well as
unknown threats. Ensuring that the Nation's supply of blood and blood products
is free of infectious agents is a public health responsibility shared within the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by CDC, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While CDC has
no regulatory responsibility for blood safety, as the Nation's Prevention
Agency, it has the expertise and responsibility for surveillance and detection
of public health risks associated with receipt of blood and blood products. In
collaboration with FDA, CDC also keeps the public informed concerning such
Since I last addressed the subcommittee in November 1995 on this subject,
CDC has implemented a number of steps to improve our ability to monitor and
respond to potential threats to the blood supply in the United States. Blood
safety is a priority area in CDC's strategy to prevent emerging and reemerging
infectious diseases. CDC has enhanced several of its surveillance systems,
including those that monitor infections in persons who have hemophilia. CDC has
also developed new surveillance programs, such as the system to detect bacteria
associated transfusion reactions that was described in a recent Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). This past year, CDC, in collaboration with FDA,
responded rapidly to conduct a number of epidemiologic and laboratory
investigations, including bacterial sepsis associated with contamination of
intravenous albumin and possible exposure to porcine parvovirus among persons
receiving porcine factor VIII concentrate. CDC has also created a full-time
position, occupied by Dr. Chamberland, to facilitate intra- and interagency
coordination of CDC's blood safety activities. In addition, CDC continues to
participate actively in the PHS Interagency Working Group on Blood Safety; the
HHS Blood Safety Committee, the FDA Blood Products Advisory Committee and
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, and the newly formed
HHS Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability.
You have asked me to address two specific issues related to blood safety.
The first is the relationship between plasma pool size and the risk of
infectious diseases; the second is the effectiveness of surveillance efforts to
detect CJD in the blood supply and the experimental work that suggests the
potential for transmission of CJD through blood products.
The risks for infectious diseases associated with plasma products such as
albumin, immunoglobulins, and clotting factor concentrates, have decreased
dramatically since the introduction of donor screening and testing, and most
importantly, effective virus inactivation procedures. Viruses, including human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus
(HCV) are readily and efficiently inactivated by such procedures. Since
implementation of these inactivation procedures beginning in the mid- 1980s,
transmissions of HIV, HBV, and HCV by U.S. licensed products have been virtually
eliminated in recipients of clotting factor concentrates. Prior to this,
clotting factor concentrates carried a substantial risk of transmitting HBV and
HCV infection; and most tragically, nearly 10,000 persons with hemophilia were
infected with HIV in the early 1980s. Unfailing adherence to chemical and
physical inactivation procedures and their further refinement, combined with
donor screening, are our most critical safeguards for plasma products.
Despite screening and viral inactivation techniques, blood products made
from plasma carry risks for transmission of other blood borne infectious agents.
For example, clotting factor concentrates made from human plasma are still known
to commonly transmit human parvovirus B 19 and, in rare instances, hepatitis A.
These infections are extremely resistant to the viral inactivation practices
used in current manufacturing processes. In addition, the potential exists for
other, as yet unknown agents, to be transmitted if their infectivity cannot be
eliminated through current inactivation practices. One strategy that has been
proposed is to reduce or limit the number of individual donors who contribute to
the large pools of plasma that are used in the manufacture of these products.
Typically, pients would be involved.
CDC believes that setting an upper limit on the number of individual donors
who contribute to pools used in the manufacturing of plasma products would be
beneficial. Smaller pool sizes would provide an increased margin of safety to
persons who receive single or infrequent infusions of plasma products. In
addition, an industry-wide standard would be established. FDA is in the best
position to work with industry to define an upper limit and determine how it can
be implemented most expeditiously. If production practices require a large
volume, one approach would be for manufactures to create pools made from repeat
donations. This would decrease the number of donors in a pool without reducing
the volume of the pool and the amount of available product, even after quality
control testing. Whatever strategies or manufacturing changes are initiated, it
will be critical to ensure that our efforts to improve the safety of blood
products do not result in interim product shorroducts automatically increases
the risk for exposure to other infectious agents that are not inactivated. This
is true for persons who receive a single or infrequent infusion (e.g.,
intramuscular immunoglobulin) -- a smaller pool size would reduce their risk of
transmission of blood borne infections. In addition, use of smaller volume pools
by manufacturers could result in less disruption of supplies of blood
derivatives and less expense in the event lot(s) of product are recalled, since
fewer recipients would be involved.
CDC believes that setting an upper limit on the number of individual donors
who contribute to pools used in the manufacturing of plasma products would be
beneficial. Smaller pool sizes would provide an increased margin of safety to
persons who receive single or infrequent infusions of plasma products. In
addition, an industry-wide standard would be established. FDA is in the best
position to work with industry to define an upper limit and determine how it can
be implemented most expeditiously. If production practices require a large
volume, one approach would be for manufactures to create pools made from repeat
donations. This would decrease the number of donors in a pool without reducing
the volume of the pool and the amount of available product, even after quality
control testing. Whatever strategies or manufacturing changes are initiated, it
will be critical to ensure that our efforts to improve the safety of blood
products do not result in interim product shortages.
In January 1997, Dr. Lawrence Schonberger summarized for the subcommittee
available epidemiologic information about the potential transmissibility of CJD
by blood and blood products. I would like to review the major points of his
testimony as well as reiterate CDC's assessment that the risk of transmission of
CJD by blood and blood products is extremely small, if it exists at all.
CDC understands the concern of the subcommittee and others about the
potential transmissibility of CJD by blood and blood products. CJD is an
invariably fatal brain disease that is caused by an unconventional agent.
Disinfection is unusually difficult. Incubation periods are long -- measured in
years; and there is no practical screening test to identify those who are
incubating the disease. In addition, since the 1970s, cases of CJD associated
with medical procedures, such as those caused by infected pituitary-derived
growth hormone and dura mater grafts, have been increasingly recognized.
The most direct reason for concern about the risk of transmitting CJD by
blood products are laboratory and experimental studies. These studies have
demonstrated the possible, occasional presence of the CJD agent in minimal
amounts in the blood of infected patients and have demonstrated the infectivity
of blood throughout most of the incubation period in two different rodent models
of CJD. Studies also have demonstrated the infectivity of the buffy coat (i.e.,
that part of blood that contains white blood cells and platelets), the plasma,
and some derivatives from plasma, particularly cryoprecipitate, when injected
into the brains of animals. In at least one study, CJD was transmitted in an
animal model by intravenous inoculation of blood from a sick animal. Some of
these studies have been conducted by Dr. Paul Brown from the NIH.
How closely animal models mimic human CJD, particularly the infectivity of
blood throughout most of the incubation period, is not known; nor can we
directly infer from them the risk, if any, of transmission of CJD by transfusion
of blood and blood products. To help answer these critical questions, it is
necessary to focus on available epidemiologic data.
First, CDC is aware of no compelling evidence for any instance of
transmission of CJD to a human recipient by blood or blood products. The absence
of such case reports contrasts to what happened in the United States in the
1980s, when reports first appeared describing transmission of CJD by pituitary-
derived growth hormone and by a commercial brand of dura mater grafts. Further,
the recent report from the United Kingdom of the possible spread of Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (13 SE) to humans in the form of a new variant of CJD
has increased physician and public awareness about CJD.
Second, case control studies are often the most practical epidemiologic
studies for identifying risk factors for rare disease, such as CJD. The results
of at least five such studies have consistently demonstrated that a history of a
blood transfusion is not a risk factor for CJD. In none of these studies were
patients with CJD more likely to have a history of blood transfusion than
control subjects.
Third, CDC conducts routine surveillance for CJD through ongoing review of
national mortality data. Results from 1979-1995 indicate that annual rates of
CJD have remained stable (at about 1 case per million population). Thus, despite
regular blood donation by persons who subsequently develop CJD, blood
transfusions do not appear to be amplifying CJD infections in the U.S.
population. None of the 3,905 reported cases of CJD was also reported to have
hemophilia, thalassemia, or sickle cell disease -- diseases associated with
increased exposure to blood or blood products, such as clotting factor
concentrates and/or cryoprecipitate. Because many such patients are exposed to
blood products at a very early age, it is noteworthy that no CJD cases were
reported in persons 5-19 years of age in the United States during this 17 year
Fourth, CDC has undertaken to supplement its routine surveillance for CJD
with an increased focus on persons with hemophilia. As part of this effort, CDC
expanded its collaboration with hemophilia treatment centers beginning in
October 1995 by: 1) active solicitation of more than 140 centers for any case
reports of CJD; and 2) facilitating neuropathological examinations of brain
tissue from deceased hemophilic patients with neurologic disorders to look for
signs of CJD and the presence of the agent thought to cause the disease. Despite
active solicitation of treatment centers, as well as efforts to increase
providers' awareness about CJD through educational symposia at national
hemophilia meetings, no center has reported a patient with clinical CJD. CDC
continues to make follow-up inquiries to the largest of these centers. Suitable
autopsy material from 30 persons with hemophilia has been received to date.
Neuropathological examination has been completed for 26 of these persons; none
had evidence of CJD.
Finally, to further enhance the evidence derived from routine surveillance,
CDC is assisting the American Red Cross in coordinating a long-term, follow-up
study of recipients who received blood components from donors who were
subsequently reported to have been diagnosed with CJD. Using primarily the
national death index through 1995, the vital status of 178 recipients of
transfusable blood components from 14 donors who subsequently developed CJD was
determined; none of these recipients were reported to have died of CJD. Among
these recipients, 41 persons lived 5 or more years after their transfusion,
including nine who lived as long as 13 to 24 years.
Data from two additional sources have demonstrated similar findings. First,
the Puget Sound Blood Center and Program in Seattle has shared with CDC follow-up
data from a cohort of 101 persons who each received more than 100 units of
cryoprecipitate for a bleeding disorder between 1979 and 1985. Cryoprecipitate
is the blood component that contained the highest titers of the CJD agent in the
recently reported animal model experiments. It has been estimated that several
thousand persons with hemophilia nationwide have been treated with at least some
cryoprecipitate; however, the Puget Sound patients were treated primarily with
cryoprecipitate. Of these 101 persons, 76 remain alive a minimum of 11 to 17
years after receipt of cryoprecipitate; none of the 25 persons who have died
were reported to have developed CJD. The second study was done in Germany; none
of 27 patients who definitely, or eight who probably, received a unit of blood
from a CJD donor died of CJD. At least 13 of these patients survived 10 years or
longer after the transfusion.
You have asked that I specifically address the effectiveness of our efforts
to detect CJD that may be related to receipt of blood and blood products. CDC is
aware of two studies which indicate that routine mortality surveillance has good
sensitivity to detect CJD cases. The first study, conducted in 11 states, found
that 80 percent of all neuropathologically confirmed cases of CJD during
1986-1988 could be ascertained by review of death certificates. The second study
was conducted in early April 1996 in four Emerging Infections Program sites in
three states and two metropolitan areas as part of active surveillance for the
newly reported variant of CJD and physician-diagnosed cases of CJD. In these
surveillance areas, greater than 90 percent of all pathologists, neurologists,
and neuopathologists were contacted. Of the 94 CJD deaths identified during
1991-1995, 81 (86 percent) were found from death certificate review. These
findings were reported in the CDC's MMWR on August 9, 1996.
Our efforts to supplement routine surveillance for CJD with focused
activities in hemophilia treatment centers have met with varying success. The
response to requests for reporting the number of patient deaths and patients who
might have clinical CJD has been good. However, obtaining brain tissue from
deceased hemophilia patients to examine for evidence of CJD has proved to be
challenging. First, of the 140 Federally-funded hemophilia treatment centers
that were invited to participate in this endeavor, only 52 volunteered. We
attribute the modest level of participation to several reasons, including: 1)
insufficient personnel and resources; 2) small size of some centers; 3)
surveillance not being a routine function; and 4) CDC's direct funding of
centers did not occur until October 1996, a year after initiation of the program
in 1995. Second, we have received a small number of brain autopsy specimens, and
most have been from persons who died before October 1995 when this program was
initiated. According to records obtained from participating treatment centers,
of 56 persons with bleeding disorders who died during January 1996-July 1997, 20
had central nervous system symptoms; of these 20, brain autopsy material from 6
(30 percent) persons has been identified to date. There appear to be a number of
reasons for the small number of brain autopsies. Brain autopsy is not routinely
performed on hemophilia decedents. Permission for an autopsy must be obtained
during a time of family grief and high emotions. Hemophilia treatment staff have
reported that it is difficult and uncomfortable to approach families of dying
persons about consenting to a brain autopsy. A significant number of deaths
occur outside of the hospital; consequently, hemophilia treatment center staff
often become aware of these deaths after it is too late to obtain material for
examination. Finally, there is a reluctance on the part of pathologists to
perform brain autopsy on persons known to be infected with HIV and possibly CJD.
CDC has developed a number of approaches to help increase both the level of
participation by hemophilia treatment centers and the number of brain autopsies
performed on persons with hemophilia who die with neurologic disorders. In
October 1996, CDC began direct funding of hemophilia treatment centers in order
to implement a nationally coordinated prevention program to reduce or eliminate
the complications of hemophilia. CDC is in the process of fostering changes in
the hemophilia treatment centers which will provide a needed surveillance and
communication network. This will facilitate a quicker response time for
investigation of reports of possible transmission of blood borne agents. As part
of this program, CDC is phasing in a nationwide monitoring system, the
"Universal Data Collection System," which will collect information about the
occurrence and severity of blood borne infections among persons with bleeding
disorders, provide free testing for blood borne infections, and retain blood
specimens to evaluate new agents that may threaten the safety of the blood
supply. Implementation of the system, which has necessitated modification of
many operating procedures in the 140 hemophilia treatment centers, is expected
to be complete in 1998. When completely implemented, the system should capture
nearly all blood borne infections occurring in patients treated at
Federally-funded hemophilia treatment centers and improve participation in the
CJD surveillance activities. Until then, CDC is working hard to improve
awareness and participation in these activities.
We believe that educating patients and physicians on the importance of the
neuropathological examination component, and encouraging patients to enroll
before they become ill, will increase the number of autopsies. CDC plans to
develop and distribute educational materials to hemophilia consumer and advocacy
groups in addition to treatment centers regarding the CJD surveillance study.
Additional efforts include working with pathologists to resolve concerns related
to the handling of HIV- infected tissues and specimens and educating medical
care providers about the importance of obtaining brain autopsies. Lastly, the
implementation of the Universal Data Collection System may help recruitment for
CJD surveillance. For example, the Universal Data Collection System informed
consent process may facilitate discussions between care providers and patients
about blood safety concerns, such as CJD, and lead to greater understanding and
acceptance of the CJD surveillance project.
Ensuring the safety of the Nation's blood supply is an important public
health priority and one to which CDC remains strongly committed to address. As
part of its continued vigilance for emerging threats to the blood supply, CDC
has a number of surveillance systems for the detection of diseases that may be
transmitted in the blood supply. Surveillance is a critical component of CDC's
mission. One of the four goals of CDC's strategic plan, "Addressing Emerging
Infectious Disease Threats: A Prevention Strategy for the United States," is the
improvement and expansion of surveillance and response capabilities for
infectious diseases in the United States and globally. Enhanced surveillance can
play an important role in helping to ensure the safety of our blood and plasma
This morning, I have described CDC's surveillance and epidemiologic studies
related to CJD and how we plan to strengthen these efforts. Surveillance and
epidemiologic data have certain limitations and must be interpreted with
caution. They cannot establish the absence of a risk. However, surveillance and
epidemiologic data from both the United States and other countries provide
increasing support for CDC's conclusion that, despite some experimental evidence
suggesting a potential for blood borne transmission of CJD, the risk of
transmission of CJD by blood products in humans is extremely small and remains
theoretical. Periodic reevaluations of accumulating data will undoubtedly
provide a stronger scientific basis for modifying, as appropriate, public health
policies on CJD and blood safety in the future.
The current level of the safety of the blood supply largely reflects
improvements in the areas of donor screening and education- serologic screening
tests for viral pathogens; and viral inactivation techniques. The General
Accounting Office, in its November 1996 report, Blood Supply:
Transfusion-Associated Risks, indicated that new interventions will likely be of
decreasing benefit and stated that new interventions will require careful
consideration in order to identify areas of improvement that would maximize
safety with reasonable costs. Limiting pool size is one intervention that could
further improve the safety of blood products in some situations. However,
compared to the aforementioned improvements that are already in place, the
additional margin of safety to be gained is likely far less. We concur with the
FDA's proposal that some upper limit on pool size be established. This would
create a needed industry-wide standard. We urge that careful deliberation and
study be undertaken by public health officials, industry, and consumers in
advance of implementing pool size limitations to ensure that the supplies of
these life-saving products are not jeopardized.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the Subcommittee. I will be
happy to answer any questions you may have.


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Obituaries for Monday, June 16th
Jerry M. Golden, 65 of Paris, passed away Saturday, June 14, 2014.
Funeral services have been set for Wednesday, June 18, 2014 at 11:00 A.M. at New Hope Baptist Church with Rev. Mike Fortenberry, Rev. Kevin Moore and Rev. Buddy Greer officiating. Interment will follow at McDonald Cemetery with Rev. Gary Reed officiating. The family will receive friends on Tuesday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. at New Hope Baptist Church.
He was born in Red River County on November 12, 1948 to Monroe and Dorothy Damron Golden. He was a concrete contractor and a faithful member of New Hope Baptist Church. He married his high school sweetheart, Patsy Bramlett on February 16, 1968.
He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Patsy "Pat"; children, Melissa White and husband Melvin, Adam Golden and wife Shawntel, Mary Musick and husband Kenneth; grandchildren, Logun, Jessy and Brazos White, Garrett and Chesney Golden and Atlas Musick; mother, Dorothy Morton; sisters, Wanda McMillin and husband Bob, Sherry Golden; brother, George Golden and wife Lisa; sisters-in-law, Donna Plunk and husband Richard, Vickie Burris, Kathy Kombos, Peggy Brannan and husband Everett; a brother-in-law, whom he loved as a son, Danny Bramlett and wife Lori.
He was preceded in death by his father, Monroe Golden and a sister, Nancy Ramsey.
Serving as Pallbearers will be Brazos White, Logun White, Garrett Golden, Hunter Bramlett, Sean Rhodes and Chad White. Honorary Pallbearers will be Kenneth Ashcraft, Norris Bolton, Thomas Draper, Larry Bramlett, Glen Barnett and J.D. Daniel.
The love of his life was his kids and grandkids. He loved to share his love of God and his knowledge to his kids and his grandkids. He was known to drive a blue Suzuki Samurai to feed his cows between Atlas and Ambia and he loved living on the hill in Atlas for 34 years. He was a faithful and loving husband for 46 years and was dad and peepaw to many.
Online condolences may be sent to the Golden family at www.fry-gibbs.com
James V. Talent, 75, of Paris, passed away Saturday, June 14, 2014, at Legend Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center. Cremation is under the care and direction of Bright-Holland Funeral Home. No formal services are scheduled at this time.
Mr. Talent, the son of Ben & Edna Elease Ward Talent, was born Aug. 8, 1938, in Bowie County, Texas.
He served in the U. S. Army. Following his service to our country, his career spanned many years as a welding & fabrication supervisor. He was an avid Dallas Cowboys fan and enjoyed working in his backyard.
On Sept. 4, 1960, he married Patsy Womack, building fifty-three years of family and memories.
Survivors include his wife, Patsy, two sons, Monte Talent & wife Sherry and Mark Talent & wife Joan all of Rowlett, two grandchildren, Zackary Talent of Nacogdoches and Michelle Talent of Rowlett, one brother, Carroll Talent & wife Georgia of Tularosa, NM, one sister, Betty Bruno of San Antonio along with several nieces, nephews and a host of friends.
To leave a message or tribute for the family please visit www.brighthollandfuneralhome.com.


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On July 19 and 20, students will be treated to talks by some of the most popular conservative Senators and Representatives, including Senators Jim DeMint and Jim Inhofe, and Representatives Michele Bachmann and Allen West. Student will get a rare opportunity to network with conservative students from other colleges all over the country. Again, the dates are July 19 and 20 at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. The entire conference is free for college students. However, you need to register in advance on our website: EFCollegians dot org while there is still time.
If you are a parent or grandparent listening to this program, I hope you will notify a college student in your own family who would benefit by attending this Conference. You need to prepare the young people in your family for what they will face in the classroom so they can reject the false propaganda of multiculturalism, diversity and feminism that is so prevalent on college campuses. Remember, Eagle Forum Collegians Summit is free to college students, but they must register soon on the web at EFCollegians dot org.
Listen to the radio commentary here:


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Town budget only out of whack by $3K
The Board of Selectmen met briefly July 7 with just a few agenda items: having alternate members on the Master Plan Implementation Committee, registrars' payments and building commissioner permits.
Selectman chair Fred Goodrich proposed appointing alternate members to the Master Plan Committee in case a regular member can't make a meeting. His idea was approved, so the board will begin taking nominations and appoint alternates within the next month or so.
Goodrich suggested switching payment to registrars from payroll to a 1099 plan, which was also approved.
Goodrich's final topic was the building commissioner's proposal to charge a $100 fee to extend a permit. The suggestion seemed a bit too much for the other members, with selectman Bill Trotta calling it "overkill."
Town Administrator Charlie Blanchard agreed. He said people don't pay the $30 closing fee, so why would they pay the fee for a permit extension?
It was decided to speak to the building commissioner and try to change some of the policies.
Other business
Blanchard said the recently signed FY 2011 state budget reduces the payment for state-owned land in Paxton by $6,991. "Based on the figures we estimated for other sources of local revenue, and the application of $186,000 from free cash and $75,000 from the stabilization fund, we are only out of balance at this time by $3,122," Blanchard wrote in his report. He said Gov. Deval Patrick's budget eliminated the final 12.5 percent reimbursement for the Dec. 2008 ice storm.
Selectmen discussed the role of the Personnel Advisory board, now with only two members when there should be seven. The board decided to change membership to a maximum of five, and begin searching for people to fill the three vacant slots.
The DPW recently upgraded the road from the White Building to the recreation area, thanks to a material donation, Blanchard said. Once materials are donated, the department will begin work to improve the Grove Street fields.


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Art Spiegelman, one of the most celebrated and accomplished comic artists ever, will give a multimedia presentation at 7 p.m. on April 10 in Eastern Michigan University's Pease Auditorium.
The presentation, entitled "What the %@$*! Happened to Comics" will focus on the history of comic books and their influence on society, and Spiegelman will be available to autograph books following the presentation.
The comic and author is best known for his book "Maus" which tells the story of his father's experiences as a holocaust survivor, depicting the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats.
The event is put on by EMU's Halle Library and the Friends of the Ypsilanti District Library, and Lori Coryell, assistant director of the Ypsilanti District Library, described Spiegelman's work as insightful and praised his ability to discuss serious issues in graphic form. That ability has made him a "legend in the worlds of both comics and literature," she said.
Spiegelman's visit this spring coincides with the YDL's spring theme: "Our Lives, Our Stories: The Greatest Generation." that features a national traveling exhibit focused on the personal stories of members of the WWII generation.
Tickets are $20 for adults or $10 for students. A limited number of VIP tickets that include priority seating and a reception with Spiegelman that evening at 6 pm are available for $50. Tickets are available at EMUTix.com or 734-487-2282.


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An alert ruins Jones' wedding reception.
The platoon discovers a bomb.
Frazer's collection of sovereigns.
The gang wants to stage the story of St. George.
Pike gets his hands on Mainwaring's car.
An alert warns of possible invaders.
Mainwaring appoints himself chairman of a committee to organize a fundraiser for the troops.
Capt Mainwaring has an unexpected and most unwelcome guest - much to the delight of Frazer.
Jones' face winds up on the wrong poster.
Jones' books are examined.
A German aircrew refuses to surrender.
Godfrey's cottage is scheduled for bulldozing.
Pike receives some alarming news.
The platoon takes part in a training film.
Jones accidentally shoots a turkey.
The platoon uses the captain's Rolls-Royce.
The carnival attracts Capt. Mainwaring.
A fanatic pursues Capt. Mainwaring.
More troops arrive.
The platoon encounters a steamroller.
Clergymen join the platoon.
The platoon is stranded when the van breaks down.
A relation of Sgt. Wilson dies.
The platoon has an efficiency test.
The platoon guards royalty.
The platoon welcomes American troops.
The platoon guards a captive U-boat crew.
A parachute gets tangled on a steeple.
The platoon guards a secret weapon.
Mainwaring receives a summons.
Mainwaring challenges a commander.
Jones loses money for the new canteen.
Pvt. Godfrey courts a lost love.
The platoon counts cash after a bank bomb.
Frazer gets to run the unit.
Cpl. Jones must rescue the platoon.
Cpl. Jones tries to solve the meat shortage.
The platoon sees a film on Napoleon.
Platoon members worry about a transfer.
The platoon tries to rescue comrades.
The platoon celebrates Christmas.
Mainwaring proves unpopular on a weekend camp.
Chief Warden uses Mainwaring's office for headquarters.
Wilson becomes a bank manager.
Capt. Mainwaring is challenged to a game of cricket.
Capt. Mainwaring plans to recruit women.
Cpl. Jones' military past is questioned.
Jones commands an outpost.
The platoon goes after an IRA member.
The platoon relieves a Polish unit guarding Italian POWs.
The platoon has to rescue Pvt. Pike.
The platoon starts a tough training program.
The platoon must capture a windmill.
The auxiliary services have a parade.
Capt. Mainwaring sees a boat's tactical possibilities.
A vital part of the machine gun is missing.
Pvt. Frazer suggests a platoon dog.
Pvt. Godfrey troubles over shooting the enemy.
The platoon replaces a transferred naval section.
Capt. Mainwaring organizes a dance.
A barrage balloon gets entangled on the church tower.
No one knows how to use a large naval gun.
Mainwaring is demoted and Wilson is put in charge of the platoon.
The platoon is trapped in a vault with a bomb.
The platoon needs more ammunition.
Enemy aircraft crashes in the town reservoir.
The platoon takes part in a weekend battle course.
A butcher's van is converted for military use.
The platoon arrests a suspected spy; Mrs. Pike extinguishes an incendiary bomb.
Jones resents Frazer's promotion to lance corporal.
Wilson overhears Mrs. Pike talk about having a child, and jumps to the wrong conclusion.
Mainwaring tries to keep Walker from being called to active duty.
Tolling church bells are thought to herald a German invasion.
Highland Regiment attacks the platoon in war games.
A shooting contest decides which platoon escorts the prime minister on his visit.
Major Reagan inspects the platoon and finds Corporal Jones unfit for duty.
The unit learns that a monetary reward is offered for captured Germans.
An old soldier convinces Mainwaring to give him command of the unit for weapons.
Mainwaring requisitions weapons from a museum.
A bank manager takes charge of home-defense volunteers.


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IONIA, MI — A quartet of twentysomethings are facing drug charges in Ionia County after police allegedly found them operating several meth labs in a condemned house.
The Central Michigan Enforcement Team raided a home on East Main Street in Ionia on Thursday, Feb. 28, where the Ionia County Sheriff's Office says multiple people were cooking methamphetamine.
Police are charging four people with meth related charges:
• Matthew Aaron Smith, 23, of Texas, is charged with manufacturing meth.
• Cory Beebe, 22, of Lyons, is charged with manufacturing meth.
• Chelsea Bauer, 22, of Carson City, is charged with resisting and obstructing police and operating/maintaining a meth lab.
• Adam Sears, 22, of Ionia, is charged with manufacturing meth.
Deputies said a 16-year-old was found at the residence during the raid but was not arrested. The four facing charges were lodged in the Ionia County Jail.
Authorities said the labs, which were operating in a house previously condemned by the county health department for lack of running water, were using the "one pot" or "shake and bake" method of manufacturing meth by mixing the drug's ingredients in a small sealed container, often a soda bottle.
Deputies said additional arrests and charges related to the raid are pending. The case remains under investigation.


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NEW YORK – Civil rights activists protested stricter voting laws Saturday with a march from the New York offices of Koch Industries, whose owners have supported an organization that favors tighter safeguards against election fraud.
"You can't accomplish anything if you're not prepared to fight," said U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, wearing a hat with embroidered with "NAACP." Rangel and other labor leaders and politicians said they wanted to roll back new voting rules passed in several states.
From Springfield, Mass., the Rev. Talbert W. Swan II said he brought 45 people by bus to join the "Stand for Freedom" protest.
"The local branch wanted to show its support in the effort to relieve the country of voter suppression. .¤.¤. We wanted to aid in that effort, to stand for freedom for our voting rights," said Swan, president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP and pastor of the Spring Hope Church of God in Christ in that city.
Some of the laws passed in more than a dozen states around the country include requiring photo IDs at the ballot box and restricting voting by ex-felons. Critics say the laws will have a negative effect on blacks, Latinos, students and the elderly.
"Voting rights are being challenged all across the United States," said Diane Sanders, 50, an organizer with 1199SEIU, the service employee's international union and one of the nation's largest unions. "People have died for the right to vote. We can't just sit by and let our rights be taken from us."
The group met and rallied among the tony Upper East Side buildings where Koch Industries has New York offices. The company is headquartered in Wichita, Kan. The protesters say Koch is directly responsible because it funded the political lobbying group that helped pass the laws.
Though Koch Industries is the oft-cited corporate sponsor of the lobby group behind the voting laws, and is one of its largest, there are others, including Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola and AT&T. Koch, owned by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, is one of the nation's largest privately held companies with business interests that include refining, chemicals and commodities trading.
"Koch has taken no position on the voter ID issue, which is why these groups are wrong and completely misguided in their false accusations," company spokesman Bill O'Reilly said in a statement.
Rangel, along with the Rev. Al Sharpton, and Hazel Dukes of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, locked arms and led the march on Madison Avenue south to a plaza near the United Nations in honor of U.N. Human Rights Day.
"Voting is a human right," said Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid. "And human rights are sacred rights."


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GRANDVILLE, MI — The torrential downpour that hit several communities and sparked power outages across the southern metro Grand Rapids area Monday morning was not a normal event, say officials.
"It's almost unheard of," said Kent County Drain Commissioner William Byl, who arrived at his office in Grand Rapids on Sept. 9 to a flood of phone calls.
Heavy rain doused the Wyoming panhandle area Monday, flooding basements, streets and stranding cars. Communities hit with varying levels of localized flooding included Grandville, Wyoming, Kentwood, Jenison and Hudsonville.
Multiple streets in the Wyoming-Grandville area were closed or backed up Monday morning before the waters began to recede around noon. The National Weather Service reported 5.63 inches of rain fell in the area between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. and roughly 4.9 inches of rain fell near Jenison in the same timeframe.
That's more than 5 inches of rain in three hours. That amount of rain in 24 hours is considered a 100-year storm, said Byl.
"This was a very narrow area that just got dumped on," he said. "Everything connected to that area is just overwhelmed right now."
Related Stories:
• General Motors shuts down Wyoming plant after lightning strike
• West Michigan school buses delayed due to heavy rain
Byl said a combination of the largely flat topography and the developed environment of the area played a factor in the flash flooding, but he cautioned that even porous, non-developed land not covered by asphalt would be overwhelmed by Monday morning's rain because the ground becomes over-saturated.
"There's no way you can design any system to meet this kind of event," he said. "It's the intensity that does it. Systems just can't put up with that much flow."
"It doesn't matter if these were buildings from 75 years ago or five years ago."
Garret Ellison covers business, government and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at email@example.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram


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It's all about window pictures, a genre that pervaded northern Europe early in the 1800s. Two drawings by the German Romantic painter Casper David Friedrich launched the trend. They are in the show, having traveled to America for the first time.
They are golden ink and sepia renditions of a handsome but plain section of a high-ceilinged interior, with a large, deep-set open window. The view is a pleasant section of the calm river Elbe.
The drawings represented a departure. There's no one in the bare, light-filled room. Artists of the day were far more likely to include people, furnishings, activity.
At a preview, curator Sabine Rewald noted that critics apparently missed the point when Freidrich showed the drawings, but other painters got it instantly.
The formula — room, window, view — offered them the opportunity to lavish attention on details and light without having to bother about a narrative, relationships or likenesses.
Another well-known painting, Friedrich's "Woman at the Window" (1822), depicts a woman in a large window; her back is to us, the viewers. Romantically inclined admirers of this lovely piece devised all kind of interpretations.
The mysterious figure was poised, they imagined, between two worlds. There was, also at the time, the rather sharp-minded observation that anything viewed from a distance acquires romance.
As the poet von Hardenberg put it: "Everything at a distance turns into poetry: Distant mountains, distant people, distant events; all become romantic."
(It has no tie to the E.M. Forster novel, "Room With A View" or the Merchant-Ivory film. They're all about the triumph of passion and intimacy over repression and convention.)
The painters who became caught up in the window movement had different approaches. In some of his window pictures, the meticulous Georg Kersting celebrated the most minute details, like the faint shadows cast by the tiny knobs on a wooden chest.
The middle gallery of the "Room With a View" suite has paintings portraying artists in their work spaces. Male artists had studios, with large windows, but female students and painters were shown working in the drawing room, oddly enough.
Apparently, the window view was subject to imaginative flights. Several of the artists depicted themselves in their Roman studios, with views of various unmistakable landmarks.
Contemporary detective work has shown that the workplaces of the artists in question enjoyed no such thrilling vistas of St. Peter's, the Forum or the Colosseum.
The painters were just being romantic, exercising artistic license.
'Rooms With A View'
The Romantic motif of the open window in Danish, French, German and Russian art, circa 1810–20.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street.
Fridays and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m to 9 p.m.; Sundays, Tuesdays-Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; April 5-July 11.
How much
Admission is $20 general, $10 students.
More information


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Results tagged ' Nate McLouth '
Halladay Looks Good Again
The two busses that carried the Phillies from Bright House Field in Clearwater to Champion Stadium in Lake Buena Vista left at 1:30 p.m. today.
Roy Halladay was not on board. He could not wait for the busses to make the 90-minute trek. He wanted to get to the ballpark earlier, so he drove himself and arrived at 2:15 p.m. instead.
"I just can't sit at home on days I pitch," he said during a 7-4 victory over the Braves. "I get fidgety. My wife can't stand me, so she kicks me out. I try to get here a little earlier just to meander for awhile."
Halladay, who will spend that time during the season studying a game plan, allowed three hits and struck out five in three scoreless innings against Atlanta. In two Grapefruit League starts, Halladay has allowed five hits and struck out eight in five scoreless innings. Halladay struck out the side in the first inning, including a nice curveball to get Brian McCann to end the inning. He retired the side in order in the third, striking out Nate McLouth and Martin Prado each for the second time.
"I felt like it got better," Halladay said. "The last inning I felt like the command was better."
Halladay threw 51 pitches, 33 for strikes. He allowed singles to Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus in the first inning, which left him unsatisfied. Yes, Halladay didn't think he threw particularly well the first two innings – and he still looked good, catcher Brian Schneider remarked.
Braves manager Bobby Cox marveled at the two front-door cutters that got Prado.
"He can do it with every pitch," Cox said. "There's a guy that can throw 96 (mph) if he wants to. But he throws 89-91 and knows right where it's going."
The Zo Zone is on Facebook and Twitter. His Phillies book "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly" is available online, and at Delaware Valley bookstores!


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LAMBERTVILLE — Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek signed jerseys, footballs, helmets and more at an event for Lambertville Ramblers youth football players on June 5 at Ely Field.
He signed whatever was handed to him and smiled for photos with Ramblers members one week before a new food festival that will feature foodie food trucks.
Celek brought his restaurant Prime Stache's food truck, but only to promote the June 12 NiteFare event, not to feed people.
The food festival and the meet-and-greet with Celek were organized by Lambertville Area Chamber of Commerce President Wilson Weed, who's also a volunteer Ramblers coach. He's been helped with both events by Rob Mitchell, who plans to bring his The Cow and the Curd food trucks on June 12.
A fifth-round draft pick in 2007, his organization says he has since "molded himself into one of the best all-around tight ends in the NFL and earned a six-year contract extension in 2009 that will keep him in Philadelphia through 2016."
His team praises his "unique toughness and relentless work ethic."
On June 12 North Union Street will be closed between Bridge and York streets for the festival, which will have 15 foodie food trucks and 15 city restaurant food stations, along with a "beer garden" featuring Yards Brewery craft ales and wine from Unionville and Old York Cellars.
More Hunterdon County news: NJ.com/hunterdon • Facebook • Twitter


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From the very heart of Paulista Avenue in São Paulo, the real latin sound.
To start listening, click the "Listen" button below.
Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Mambo, Samba, Cumbia, Tropical, Vals, Venezolano, Latino Pop...
Live from Paulista Avenue, São Paulo.
Visit www.radioamericalatina.com from your smartphone and tablet!
Send us your photo (face) and we'll put them in our Rádio América Latina Box! Click here!


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Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Quote of the Day: "Making duplicate copies and computer printouts of things no one wanted even one of in the first place is giving America a new sense of purpose."
- Andy Rooney
(me looking like I am in dire need of a bathroom)
The world of passports is new to me.
"You mean you've never had a passport?"
"No, every time I've gone overseas, my passport has been my M16."
But because of my impending duty assignment, I will be needing a passport and that means I had to go through the bureaucratic gymnastics to get one of these nifty little booklets.
I had never even seen one up close in my life.
First, I had to fill out an online application that just added to the stack I've had to fill out for various reasons over the last few months. I don't exactly know what the color my stool was that day has any bearing on my application but, hey, they seem to set a high price on thoroughness.
It seems I need two kind of passports:
1. Diplomatic (which is referred to as my "dip" which makes me giggle every time)
2. Tourist
"Why do I need a tourist passport if I already have a dip (giggle)?"
The answer to this innocent enough question did not send me to my happy place:
"Because if your plane gets hijacked, you don't want to hand them a dip (not so much giggling) which would identify you as military."
Like my short hair, collared shirt, and slacks wouldn't be a dead giveaway.
So I did the pictures and sent away the paperwork for the dip, free-O-charge, but I would have to pay for the tourist and get reimbursed. This is good because coming in at over $100, getting some duckies back from this would be nice.
I received all kinds of horror stories about the time lag of getting them back and I was all but promised that even with the expensive express shipping, it may not make it back to me in time.
Cut to the chase, both of them got back to me within a couple of weeks so now I'm all passported up.
Now I hope I never need the tourist one but if I do, yeah, looking like I need a bathroom is probably gonaa be pretty accurate.
Free Advice for Today: "Start a 'smile file' of jokes, articles, and cartoons that make you laugh."
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


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The RNC Corner Brook region is continuing to investigate an overnight break and enter at a commercial business on Broadway.
About 1:10 a.m. this morning, the RNC was called about a break and enter in progress at the unnamed business. The RNC says the name of the business will not be released at the request of the owner.
An employee inside the building said an unknown male forced entry into the business by breaking out a window in the business door. The suspect was scared off when detected by the employee.
RNC Police Dog Services was called to the scene.
No arrests have been made at this time. The RNC forensic identification section is presently examining the scene.
The suspect is described as a male, approximately 18-19 years of age wearing a dark-coloured hoodie.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the RNC at 637-4100 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). You can provide information anonymously on the NL Crime Stoppers website at www.nlcrimestoppers.com.


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If you want to understand how the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally transforms the small South Dakota town, take a look at webcams showing Main Street.
For most of the year they reveal nearly empty streets. That's about to change as an estimated 500,000 motorcyclists from around the world set out to Sturgis for the 74th annual rally.
I'll soon be headed that way, making the 2,600-mile round-trip journey on my Triumph Thunderbird.
When I mentioned the trip in a recent Motorcycle Monday post, I began hearing from readers from throughout the Pacific Northwest as well as from Nebraska, Alabama, Illinois, Texas and Kentucky.
We've made plans to meet in Sturgis to swap stories and share photographs.
Kathlynn Polkowski, her husband and one of their friends are making plans to head out from Portland.
"I'm 61," she said. "My husband gave me his old motorcycle five years ago. I'd never been on one before, but I always wanted to ride. I moved up to a bigger bike.
"I love it," she said. "Riding bicycles prepared me for being on the road. I expected to be nervous in traffic, but I feel safer on a motorcycle than I do on a bike because I have a helmet and wear safety gear."
She said her husband is from Europe. While they've traveled extensively overseas, they haven't seen much of the United States.
"None of us have been to the Sturgis rally," she said. "We've seen it on TV, and figured it was time to go. We've never seen Montana, Wyoming or South Dakota. The trip there is going to be fun."
Rachel Hauser and her husband live in Omaha, and have been making the trip to Sturgis for nine years.
"My husband went alone the first couple years, and when it was time for me to join him I had so many questions about what to expect," she said. "He told me to just write a book.
"He was joking, but I thought if I had questions other people would, too," she said.
Her book, a guide for people attending the rally for the first time, can be downloaded here.
"It can be overwhelming the first time people come to the rally," Hauser said. "My advice is to just enjoy it. if you want to see a party, go to Main Street."
Some bikers load their motorcycles in trailers, pulling over a few hundred miles from Sturgis so they can ride in.
Others will ship them all the way to Sturgis, said Dean Xeros, a vice president at uShip, a company that does that.
"It's a long trip to get there from almost everywhere in the country," said Xeros. "Time is a factor for some people, so they ship a bike there and fly in."
The company figures it would cost $396 to ship a motorcycle to Sturgis from Portland. Sounds like a plan for some riders. But not for me.
I plan on riding there and back, and camping in the heart of the party, just a few blocks off Main Street.
Stay tuned.
--Tom Hallman Jr.


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wes your new gifs blow. in a bad way. need more pron.
Hate You Can Trust
You are both wrong.
That was an atta-girl congratulatory pat for a job well done. It happens all the time in almost every level of sports and is not sexual in nature.
It also happens all the time in the workplace and among friends.
Coach T-1000
Coach T-1000


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===Story=== Harvard, MBA-educated biotech executive John Henry "Jack" Armstrong (Anthony Mackie) gets fired when he informs on his bosses and initiates an investigation into their business dealings by the Securities & Exchange Commission. Branded a whistle-blower and therefore unemployable, Jack desperately needs to make a living. When his former girlfriend Fatima (Kerry Washington), a high powered businesswoman and now a lesbian, offers him cash to impregnate her and her new girlfriend Alex (Dania Ramirez), Jack is persuaded by the chance to make "easy" money. Word spreads and soon Jack is in the baby-making business at $10,000 a tryst. Lesbians with a desire for motherhood and the cash to spare are lining up to seek his services. But, between the attempts by his former employers to frame him for securities fraud and his dubious fathering activities, Jack finds his life, all at once, becoming very complicated.
|Anthony Mackie
|John Henry 'Jack' Armstrong
|Kerry Washington
|Fatima Goodrich
|Ellen Barkin
|Margo Chadwick
|Monica Bellucci
|Simona Bonasera
|Jim Brown
|Geronimo Armstrong
|Ossie Davis
|Judge Buchanan
|Jamel Debbouze
|Brian Dennehy
|Chairman Billy Church
|Woody Harrelson
|Leland Powell
|Bai Ling
|Lonette McKee
|Lottie Armstrong
|Paula Jai Parker
|Vada Huff
|Dania Ramirez
|Alex Guerrero
|John Turturro
|Don Angelo Bonasera
|Chiwetel Ejiofor
|Frank Wills
|David Bennent
|Dr. Herman Schiller
|Isiah Whitlock Jr.
|Agent Amos Flood
|Michole Briana White
|Sarita Choudhury
|Savannah Haske
|Joie Lee
|Gloria Reid
Recent threads
- Genre: Drama Movies
- Director: Spike Lee
- Producer: Sony Pictures Classics
- Length: 138 min
- Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical Release North America Jul 30, 2004 Europe Sep 24, 2004 Japan Sep 23, 2006
Ratings North America R Europe 15 Japan R-18 Australia MA
DVD Release North America Feb 1, 2005


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When it comes to tourism promotion, Prince Edward Island should take a page from Newfoundland and Labrador's books.
Since 2006, Canada's traditionally maligned - turned much celebrated – province has been running the "Find Yourself Here" marketing campaign.
It's beautiful, and it's attracting people in droves to a place that is not a traditionally tourist heavy area.
According to Newfoundland and Labrador's Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, non-residential visitation increased 22 per cent between 2006 and 2010.
The province even topped 504,000 visitors in 2012.
In fact, numbers are up across the board for Newfoundland and Labrador; including traffic through St. John's International Airport, cruise ship visitors and tourism spending – which we might add passed $1 billion in 2011.
Here's that number again in case you missed it – $ 1 Billion dollars.
Mind you that's $424.4 million from tourists and $580 million from residents of the province – but it's still a huge dollar figure.
Which brings us to the television commercials.
The quality of those ads, coupled with a hefty marketing budget from the provincial government, is being credited with putting Newfoundland and Labrador on the itinerary of tourists.
P.E.I. could do something similar.
We don't have to run out and hire St. John's based Target Marketing, the creators of the "Find Yourself Here" campaign, but could we strive to match the high quality of its productions?
Watching the videos from Newfoundland and Labrador it's like every scene, every frame, is a painting.
A little boy sitting on a punt as a dozen men roll it down a slip into a picturesque bay.
Two elderly ladies laughing over a cup of tea, a window between them shows a lovely village with rolling scenery.
Children playing amongst a recreation of a Viking settlement.
A man, on a boat, staring up at a towering cliff with countless sea birds whirling away over head.
Each scene is several seconds long and interconnected with an overall theme for each commercial.
A deeply baritone voiceover on all these commercials welcomes visitors to various experiences.
In contrast, a Google search for "P.E.I. tourism commercials" reveals a dated video that pales in comparison.
One video on the Tourism P.E.I. website, labeled as "television commercial on NBC – Royal Vacation," is full of beautiful island scenery – but you barely get a chance to notice it.
The video was shot from the air, so the viewer is really far away from whatever they're supposed to be looking at, and all the scenes literally fly by within a couple of seconds.
It's pretty. But it's not memorable.
The Island deserves better.
Whoever shoots the next television commercial for this province should drop the aerial views and come back down to earth to tell some stories – it's beautiful down here.


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Some people just can't take a joke.
The forces of political correctness have spent the last week being outraged because the mayor of Belmar made a wisecrack about "guidos."
But Ken Pringle's remarks were made in jest. And they were pretty funny.
In an online newsletter about summer renters, he wrote about a website devoted to self-described guidos:
"The more time we spend on the NJGuido site, the more we think of Guidos as a kind of rare bird: they flock to our shore towns during the warm months, and are as welcome as, oh, Canada Geese. They're always tanned to the color of coconut shells, and easily identified by their plumage: satin shirts and short skirts on the females; Armani Exchange T-shirts and artfully distressed jeans on the males. The females favor bold hair styles and colorful makeup; the males tend to strut and flex their pumped up muscles. The call of the Guido is bellowing, and frequently slurred, invariably starting with the sound, "Yo," followed all too often by some creative variation on an expletive beginning with the letter, "F."
In fact, "guido" is not an ethnic slur but a generic term used by the Jersey Shore locals to describe tourists of any ethnic background who adopt a certain look and lifestyle. My daughters, who are experts in fashion, tell me that many of the males not only wear lip gloss but wax their eyebrows. My daughter Molly, who is in Paris studying at the moment, informs me that the guido look is catching on among French men.
And by the way, it is a little-known fact of history that the first Guido to make a name for himself was not an Italian at all but an Englishman. That would be Guido Fawkes, a.k.a. Guy Fawkes. He's the guy who tried to blow up Parliament in 1605.
That set a standard that many have been aspiring to emulate ever since, though these days they do it with 200-watt car-stereo systems rather than gunpowder. Perhaps the most obnoxious thing about these characters, whatever you call them, is their insistence on acting like they own the place because they spend a few dollars getting drunk.
Pringle also got in some shots at "Staten Island girls" in his newsletter, prompting the usual threat of a boycott from offended Staten Islanders. The Staten Island Advance quoted a Staten Island woman as saying, "It's surprising to know that a place where tourism thrives and pays for pretty much everything around here, that someone would make comments like this."
In another article, a Brooklyn girl was quoted as saying
"We love it here. How would this town survive without the Guidos?"
The answer is: Quite well. It often seems that the less a tourist spends, the more he thinks that his spending gives him the right to make an ass of himself. You rarely hear a peep out of the wealthy tourists in Spring Lake, who contribute infinitely more to the local economy. But let a Belmar bennie buy a hot dog and a Coke and he thinks he's supporting the entire town.
In fact Belmar does not need tourism dollars to survive. Years ago it was a tourist town, but now it is a bedroom community for commuters. A boycott would have little effect on the town's finances. Any revenue lost would be offset by the money saved in salaries for the cops who control the crowds. A couple of years ago, I did a column on bad bennie behavior in Belmar. Among the victims was a family who had had all of their porch furniture carried away by drunks leaving the bars at closing time.
By the way, this isn't the first brouhaha over the use of the term "guido." Just before Labor Day weekend in 2000, the cops in what was then known as South Belmar circulated a memo that got a lot of p.c. panties in a knot.
"Let's end the summer by taking a bite out of the remaining guidos and having some fun while we are doing it," the memo stated.
As was the case with Pringle, this was clearly a joke, but the forces of ethnic correctness swung into gear. Numerous organizations alleged that the term guido is an ethnic slur directed at Italian-Americans. But when I called then-Mayor Lawrence Chiavarallo, he defended the cops in the town, which is now known as Lake Como.
The term had no ethnic connotation, Chiavarallo told me.
"My father was born in Italy," he said. "I'm proud of my heritage. My youngest son was a lifeguard. He told me about it. He said, 'We used to call the wise guys from the north guidos.'"
Perhaps there is a nicer name for them. But consider this quote from a New York Post article about Pringle's remarks. "The mayor should watch his f- - -ing mouth!" said a 21-year-old Staten Islander who was interviewed on the beach.
Somehow I don't think a boycott by such characters would greatly upset the residents of Belmar.


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If your parents or friends ever say you eat like an elephant, it might not be such a bad thing, especially since they eat mostly fruits and vegetables.
Three elephants from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus enjoyed a delicious brunch of fresh produce from Lehigh Valley farmers Thursday at Stabler Arena on the Lehigh University campus in Bethlehem.
While the elephants chowed down, trainer Cathy Carden talked about training the elephants, and added that they each drink 100 gallons of water each day.
The Indian elephants are part of the circus and will be performing six shows over the next few days.
See the elephants and other performers during shows at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
And, for the record, the elephants cleaned their plates.


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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Tottenville felon with a history of robberies celebrated 2012 by swiping an SUV from a neighborhood repair shop on New Year's Eve and heading down to Atlantic City.
But Alfonso Manzo's luck began running out the next evening when a valet at Caesar's Casino Hotel refused to release the Chevrolet Equinox.
Manzo, 49, took a cab back to Staten Island, where he remained on the loose until his arrest this week on grand larceny and other charges.
According to court papers, the bizarre sequence of events unfolded late on Dec. 31.
Manzo, who lives on the 7800 block of Amboy Road, allegedly stole the SUV from the rear of a Tottenville auto body shop.
He drove to Atlantic City and parked the Equinox at Caesars.
Manzo went to retrieve the vehicle on New Year's Day, but a valet refused to release it when he couldn't produce the claim ticket, according to the New York Post.
The valet called the vehicle's owner on Staten Island at about 10 p.m. The man said he didn't know Manzo, and the suspect didn't have permission to drive the car, said court papers.
Stranded without wheels, Manzo told authorities he took a cab back to the borough.
Cops launched an investigation and tracked down Manzo on Tuesday.
When confronted by police, Manzo allegedly claimed someone at the body shop had loaned him the SUV.
"I was never told that I'm taking the truck at my own risk," court papers quote him as telling cops.
Attempts to reach the SUV owner on Friday were unsuccessful.
Manzo was arraigned Wednesday in Stapleton Criminal Court on a felony count of fourth-degree grand larceny and misdemeanor counts of stolen-property possession and unauthorized vehicle use, said a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on $1,500 bail, online state court records show. He was ordered back to court on Monday.
His lawyer could not immediately be reached Friday for comment.
Manzo has served four prison stints for attempted robbery dating to 1986, show online records of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. He most recently served a term of one and a half to three years and was paroled on that case in April 2006, those documents state.


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Italian Muscle Model Vince Ferelli stands about 5'10" tall and about 190 lbs of solid hunk man muscle. He's got a nice thick Italian cock and huge fucking thighs. His powerful legs can crush your head like a walnut. Vince caught my eye via online body builder posing and flexing photos. I immediately contacted this big hunk and had him fly in for his audition and teamed him up immediately with gay porn veteran Robert Van Damme. I was concerned that Vince would not be able to take Van Damme's huge cock as Vince had only been fucked once before, but soon discovered that his big muscle ass could take a hot, powerful fucking in the video "Oops".
Experience: Very little at the time of taping. Currently a successful male porn model and high end professional male body builder escort
Home: San Diego, CA (formerly from Chicago area).