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DPAs and Corporate Governance
In this season's law review submission process, I am circulating an article about deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and corporate governance. DPAs are controversial tools increasingly-used to settle corporate criminal cases, usually without indictment. Targets admit facts, pay fines and promise governance reforms—such as replacing officers, adding directors and prescribing reporting lines.
Some view DPAs as coerced extractions of overzealous prosecutors, while others say they are mere whitewash that let corporate crooks off the hook. The weight of commentary urges prosecutors to get out of this business, to avoid corporate governance entirely, while some wonder why the intrusions are not deeper and more frequent.
I explain why prosecutors should invest in corporate governance and take a measured approach to reforming it. Ignoring governance can be perilous and embracing it can produce more effective reforms.
My diagnosis indicates a lack of both investment and transparency so I make two prescriptions: prosecutors should profile the corporate governance of businesses they target at the outset and publicly articulate rationales for reforms when settling.
The paper first surveys the landscape of contemporary corporate governance, stressing two normative points. First: one-size-does-not fit all. Corporate governance varies enormously from company to company, depending on such factors as ownership structures, management characteristics and employment policies. Second: failure to appreciate that poses serious risks, always to given companies, and sometimes to the economy at large.
That is the proper lesson to draw from the 2002 case of Arthur Andersen, where an indictment destroyed the auditing firm because it was a partnership owned and managed by its members in the veracity business.
Instead, prosecutors took a broader and cruder lesson: that they should always be averse to indicting any large business. The result of that aversion has been the proliferation of DPAs—which, despite controversy and criticism, is not necessarily a bad effect, so long as these lessons are incorporated into their production.
The paper then presents an original case study extending these normative points, here in the context of both prosecutor decisions made at the outset of an investigation, and in a DPA concluding it. The case is AIG and the ex ante problem was that prosecutors in 2005 stepped into an ongoing governance debate over CEO succession. They forced a hasty ouster of the CEO without adequate planning. The ex post problem was that prosecutors dictated a series of standardized governance reforms off the rack without considering how they would suit AIG. As became clear, they were ill-suited and the reforms played a causal role in putting AIG at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.
Having suggested some of the high stakes of miscalculation and excessive standardization, the article turns to how to conceptualize and evaluate DPAs. Proponents of the status quo implicitly conceive of them as contracts with open-ended terms; critics see them as regulation, warranting limitations on their scope. In my view, both conceptions are partly right, and, therefore, both normative prescriptions are entirely wrong.
DPAs have contractual aspects. No one is obliged to enter into one. Companies differ in their responses. Terms are negotiated and the defense bar pushes back. If DPAs were pure contracts, the law of contracts would suffice to evaluate their proper scope and validity of terms. Governance terms would be as proper as any other.
Yet DPAs have regulatory qualities—government agents wielding enormous power proffer terms and violations result in public sanctions. Were they pure regulation, as many argue, their scope should be narrow given the superiority of ex ante legislation or administrative rulemaking. That would put most governance terms off limits in DPAs.
These competing conceptions of DPAs as either contracts or regulation are thus each half-truths. The halves yield to a different reality, which is that these devices are products of prosecutorial discretion. Indeed, as decisions akin to prosecutorial declinations, they are substantially insulated from judicial and legislative review—and for good reasons steeped in the separation of powers and effective administration of justice.
Given the stakes of the governance terms DPAs contain, however, prosecutors must proceed cautiously. They occupy a special position as quasi-judicial officers and representatives of the public.
For corporate defendants, prosecutors thus have some duty to look out for the interests of corporate constituents. That entails understanding governance profiles and having a defensible rationale for proposing governance terms. It is therefore logical to expect formal investigation into governance ex ante and publicly articulated rationales for terms ex post.
The paper then explores the benefits and costs of this proposal, as compared to both the status quo and the alternative regulatory conception. Immediate benefits are improved analysis ex ante—the lesson of Andersen that all large businesses are not the same—and tailor-ability of terms ex post—the lesson of AIG to proceed contextually.
With time, advantages compound by building a body of knowledge and precedents, providing a basis for informed external critique and offering the net virtues of transparency.
As to objections, direct costs are real but modest. In the beginning, costs per case might average $100,000, most costs going to compensate for the lack of prosecutorial expertise in corporate governance. And that low cost is important to avoid discouraging prosecutors from using DPAs when they are the best way to resolve a case. Those costs would decline over time, moreover, as the knowledge base grows.
Skeptics may question the proposal's potency, since it is up to prosecutors without formal external scrutiny. But prosecutorial restraint can be effective, as epitomized by the 30-year tenure of Harry Connick Sr. as D.A. in New Orleans, where the practice of having staff provide written rationales for decisions instilled a culture of fidelity to the rule of law. Further, unlike the status quo or regulatory alternative, the proposed approach gives prosecutors reputational and other incentives to make governance terms in DPAs effective.
The paper's final part illustrates governance terms that have or could appear in DPAs and offers credible explanations of them—intended to show the proposal's efficacy.
In short, the proposal recognizes the proliferation of DPAs as a novel form of corporate criminal justice that would benefit from being formalized, systematized and catalogued, rather than maintained in the black box of prosecutorial discretion. I urge the DOJ to take the lead by updating its guidelines on corporate criminal prosecutions accordingly.
In conclusion, about 300 DPAs are now in existence—the majority made in the past few years. Looking at that same group of DPAs, those who seek to oust prosecutors from the boardroom see frequent and extensive incursions into corporate governance that must be repelled while those who perceive excessive leniency are eager for greater prosecutorial inroads into governance. Under my approach, the exact DPA population or density of governance terms becomes less important than whether there is investigation ahead of time and an articulated rationale afterwards
* On the paper, called Deferred Prosecution and Corporate Governance: An Integrated Approach to Investigation and Reform, thanks for helpful comments to Miriam Baer, Stephanie Cuba, Lisa Fairfax, Roger Fairfax, Brandon Garrett, Peter Henning, Renee Jones, Thomas Morgan, Michael Perino, Paul Radvany, Adam Spilka and William Wang. For the opportunity to present drafts of this Article as a work-in-progress, thanks to participants in workshops at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Fordham University School of Law, New York Law School and St. John's University School of Law.


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New U-verse Internet Customers Can Take Their Pick: A Free Xbox 360, SONOS PLAY:3, Kindle Fire or Nexus 7 Tablet
New U-verse Internet customers choosing a bundle of services can take their pick of a fun, free device
Dallas, Texas, March 18, 2013
AT&T* now offers new U-verse® High Speed Internet customers their choice of a free Wi-Fi enabled entertainment device – Xbox 360®, SONOS PLAY:3, Kindle Fire or a Nexus 7 Tablet – when they choose a package of U-verse services.
Customers signing up for U-verse High Speed Internet qualify for a free device when they add either U-verse TV or Voice service to the new Internet service. The free device, valued at up to $350**, provides even more value to popular AT&T U-verse bundles. Customers also receive access to the AT&T Wi-Fi network at no extra charge. And those who bundle U-verse TV and Internet benefit from more flexible connectivity with a free wireless gateway. In addition to state of the art connectivity and entertainment, U-verse packages offer customers significant savings.
"Customers tell us they enjoy access to their in-home Wi-Fi network and the freedom to use more than 32,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots across the country, which is why we're building new bundle offers around our broadband services," said Mel Coker, chief marketing officer, AT&T Home Solutions. "We know when customers bundle U-verse Internet, TV and voice services, they have higher customer satisfaction and engagement. Customers tell us that packing the services gives them even more reasons for love U-verse.
The offer is the latest example of AT&T responding to customer feedback. In 2012, U-verse introduced new bundle offers that deliver significant savings over 24 months. Triple- and quad-play bundle offers are popular among existing customers. In the fourth quarter of 2012, 90 percent of U-verse customers bundled U-verse TV and Internet, and 70 percent of customers had triple- or quad-play***.
AT&T added 609,000 U-verse High Speed Internet subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2012 to reach a total of 7.7 U-verse High Speed Internet million customers. Fifty-five percent of U-verse broadband subscribers have a plan delivering speeds up to 12 Mbps or higher.
For additional information on AT&T U-verse — or to find out if it's available in your area — visit www.att.com/u-verse.

subset: commoncrawl


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Myotubular Myopathy Genetic Testing Study
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- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Myotubular myopathy (XLMTM) is an X-linked disorder caused by mutations in the myotubularin gene (MTM1). The clinical spectrum is variable and ranges from individuals who require a wheelchair and full time breathing support to those who are able to walk and breathe on their own. Symptoms of myotubular myopathy include long faces, facial weakness with eye muscle weakness, breathing support with a muscle biopsy demonstrating central nucleated fibers. These symptoms may be caused by mutations or changes in the MTM1, BIN1 (bridging integrator 1), DNM2 (dynamin 2) and RYR1 (ryanodine receptor 1) genes. However, the majority are caused by mutations in the MTM1 gene. Some patients with symptoms consistent with myotubular myopathy who initially have negative testing of the MTM1 gene were later found to have a unique type of change in the MTM1 gene. This unique change, called a deletion or duplication, can be found with a different type of genetic test called a CGH (comparative genomic hybridization) array.
Investigators do not know how frequent deletions and duplications are in patients with X-linked myotubular myopathy. Recently, there have been advances in identifying potential treatments for XLMTM. The next step will be to proceed with clinical trials of potential treatments. In order to be ready for clinical trials, it is important that investigators find the specific genetic change that is causing XLMTM in people with this diagnosis. This study will attempt to find changes in the MTM1 gene in individuals who have clinical symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of XLMTM. Participants will be asked to enroll in the CMDIR (Congenital Muscle Disease International Registry), complete a brief clinical survey, provide access to medical records, and provide a saliva or blood sample for genetic testing. Results of genetic testing will be communicated to participants by the physician specified in the consent by the signing person.
Study Hypothesis:
Not all individuals with a clinical diagnosis of XLMTM have access to genetic testing. Investigators know that deletions and duplications of the MTM1 gene can cause XLMTM. Investigators will find more individuals with XLMTM by performing genetic testing of the MTM1 gene, including CGH array for deletions and duplications.
|Myotubular Myopathy
|Other: Genetic Testing
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Observational Model: Case-Only
Time Perspective: Cross-Sectional
|Official Title:
|Myotubular Myopathy Genetic Testing Study
- Description of Mutations in the MTM1 Gene by Complete Genetic Sequencing [ Time Frame: 1 year ]To confirm presence, locations and frequencies of mutations in the MTM1 gene in study participants presenting with symptoms as listed in the Brief Summary and muscle biopsy and/or family history typical for myotubular myopathy or prior confirmation of a mutation in the MTM1 gene by research sequencing.
- Frequency of Deletion/Duplication Mutations in the MTM1 Gene by CGH Array Testing [ Time Frame: 1 year ]To establish the frequency of deletions/duplications in the MTM1 gene for patients who have negative sequencing but have clinical history/muscle biopsy/family history.
- To Examine the Relation of the Mutation in the MTM1 Gene to the Phenotype [ Time Frame: 2 years ]Investigators will compare mutations characterized by sequencing and CGH array (if necessary) with the following data in the study participant's CMDIR profile: age of onset, ventilatory support needed post-natal and ongoing, maximal motor function achieved, current motor function, need for gastrostomy tube and rate of ER visits and hospitalizations. The individual genotype - phenotype relation will then be compared to that of other study participants. In the event that a genotype-phenotype pattern can be established, this may help predict the course of the disease and prepare for appropriate care.
Biospecimen Retention: Samples With DNA
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|March 2013
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|March 2019
|Estimated Primary Completion Date:
|March 2018 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Genetic testing
All participants determined eligible for the study will be placed into genetic testing arm.
Other: Genetic Testing
Genetic testing services will be provided by the University of Chicago under the guidance of Dr. Soma Das, PhD. Services will be coordinated by Rachel Alvarez, CMDIR Associate Director. Genetic testing will include standard sequencing of the MTM1 gene followed by CGH array for deletion/duplication in cases where no pathologic variant is identified by standard sequencing.
Other Name: Sequencing
Detailed Description:
- Prospective participants will complete registration in the CMDIR.
- The CMDIR genetic curator will review CMDIR data for study eligibility.
- If eligible, participant will be called and consented to participate in the study.
- Sequencing can be done with a saliva sample. However, if this method does not detect a mutation or change in the MTM1 gene, a further test, called CGH Array, has to be performed. For the CGH Array test, a saliva sample may deliver a clear result in terms of a deletion/duplication mutation. In the event, CGH Array with the saliva sample does not provide a result, a the blood sample is necessary to repeat CGH Array.
- The study participant will receive a kit and instructions for saliva specimen collection for genetic testing from the CMDIR in the mail.
- If a mutation or change in the MTM1 gene could not be found by genetic testing and CGH Array with a saliva sample, the study participant will receive a second kit in the mail from the CMDIR with instructions for a blood draw to be used for CGH Array.
- The family will coordinate collection of the saliva specimen or a local blood draw, if necessary, and will be responsible for mailing the specimen in a pre-paid parcel to the University of Chicago. There will be a $40 reimbursement for the cost of the blood draw. Mailing the specimen to the testing site is at no cost for the participant. A two-week turn-around from receipt of the kit to sending it to the testing laboratory is requested.
- Genetic testing will start with standard sequencing of the MTM1 gene, isolated from the saliva specimen, followed by CGH Array if sequencing of the MTM1 gene isolated from the saliva sample or further from a blood sample if a variant consistent with the symptoms could not be detected using the saliva sample.
- Test results will be 1) reported to a physician specified by the study participant and 2) uploaded into the study participant's profile in the CMDIR and 3) if concurrently enrolled in the Beggs Laboratory or other IRB-approved clinical study, test results will also be made available to that study provided appropriate informed consent has been given.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|Child, Adult, Senior
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Inclusion Criteria: Patient eligibility will be determined by the CMDIR genetic curator using the following prioritization protocol.
- Males and females in the US and Canada who have a known mutation in the MTM1 gene identified in a research lab and never confirmed in a clinical CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) -certified laboratory.
- Male and female patients in the US and Canada who meet 2 of 3 of the following criteria: + clinical history, + family history, + centronucleation on muscle biopsy (no signs of nemaline rods or cores). Clinical history includes: post-natal breathing support (not necessarily continued after first month), length above 90% for EGA (estimated gestational age), facial characteristics (narrow facies), facial weakness (ophthalmoplegia, excessive saliva with need for suctioning).
- Males and females in the US and Canada who present with XLMTM symptoms and no genetic mutation in the MTM1 gene found with conventional sequencing, requiring CGH array deletion/duplication testing.
- Age range: One month - no maximum age.
- Individual is registered with the CMDIR.
- Written study consent provided by parent/caregiver (affected individual's age less than 18 years or for those individuals greater than 18 years with learning disabilities or inability to physically access consent) or affected individual (age greater than 18 years)
Exclusion Criteria:
1. Carrier testing for asymptomatic mothers.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01817946
|Contact: Sabine de Chastonay, PhD
|Contact: Rachel Alvarez
|United States, California
|Congenital Muscle Disease International Registry
|Torrance, California, United States, 90502
|Contact: Sabine de Chastonay, PhD
|Contact: Rachel Alvarez, MS
|Principal Investigator: Sabine de Chastonay, PhD
|Sub-Investigator: Anne Rutkowski, MD
|Principal Investigator: Elizabeth DeChene, MS, CGC
|Sub-Investigator: Rachel Alvarez
|Sub-Investigator: Lindsay Swanson, MS, CGC
|Principal Investigator:
|Sabine de Chastonay, PhD
|Principal Investigator:
|Elizabeth DeChene, MS, GCG
|Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
|Principal Investigator:
|Soma Das, PhD
|University of Chicago Genetic Testing Services Laboratory
|Responsible Party:
|Cure CMD
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01817946 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|March 19, 2013
|Last Updated:
|July 25, 2016
Keywords provided by Cure CMD:
Congenital Myopathy
Centronuclear Myopathy
Myotubular Myopathy
MTM1 Gene
Genetic testing
Deletion/Duplication Mutation
CGH array
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Muscular Diseases
Myopathies, Structural, Congenital
Musculoskeletal Diseases
Neuromuscular Diseases
Nervous System Diseases
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 25, 2017


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Photo By: Above Photo by Ellie Van Houtte/Town Crier right rendering Courtesy of Abigail Ahrens
Developer Abigail Ahrens witnessed her latest concept begin to take shape when construction crews recently broke ground on her Enchanté hotel at 1 Main St.
To commemorate the start of construction, Ahrens has scheduled an official groundbreaking ceremony 1 p.m. Nov. 28 for the French chateau-style boutique hotel.
Currently the only planned hotel development in downtown Los Altos, the 12,000-square-foot hotel will feature 18 unique guest rooms, as well as a bistro and bar that opens onto a public gathering plaza at the corner of Main Street and San Antonio Road.
The construction timeline on the $8 million project is estimated at approximately 15 months.
For more information, visit www.enchantehotel.com.


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Category: classical music baby names
by Linda Rosenkrantz
Did you know that September happens to be Classical Music Month? Well neither did I, until just recently. This new knowledge inspired me to do a Nameberry Picks list of some of the most interesting classical composers' first names. And no, turns out they're not all Franz or Hans or Johann—there are a variety of unusual choices –unfortunately, most of them male.
Alban Maria Berg was an Austrian composer associated with Arnold Schoenberg's 12-tone technique and the composer of the opera Lulu. Rarely heard in the US, the saint's name Alban –one of the more unusual paths to Al–is currently Number 132 in France. With a variant spelling, Alben Barkley (born Willie Alben) was US Veep under Harry Truman.
Yes, middle names count—especially this one of Mozart's that became the title of a movie that won a best picture Academy Award in 1985. In 2010, tennis champ showed that this classical Latin appellation was still wearable when he named his son Amadeus Benedict.


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Vietnam Echoes Are Getting Louder and LouderNews Abroad
Sound familiar? The specter of the Vietnam War so haunts the American soul there is no keeping it repressed, try as we might. Even events bearing only superficial similarity to that two-decade disaster can trigger its memory. So for many the ongoing guerrilla war in Iraq has become a Vietnam War Rorschach test, in which troubling images of the present evoke nightmares of the past.
In Vietnam, the more troops we inserted, the more anger our policies produced.
No wonder Donald Rumsfeld clinches his jaw whenever he hears the Q-word. In many ways, of course, the Iraq-Vietnam analogy is strained, even absurd. We're comparing four months to two decades; linking a beleaguered occupation of Iraq after the speedy overthrow of a despised dictator to a protracted war on behalf of an unpopular South Vietnamese government against a nationwide Communist movement led by the widely revered Ho Chi Minh (who was supported by China and the Soviet Union); 240 American deaths in Iraq to 58,000 in Vietnam; perhaps 15,000 Iraqi deaths to three million Vietnamese.
However, there are also real similarities between the two wars that should be of great concern, the most important of which is that in Iraq, as in South Vietnam, massive numbers of American troops are being asked not just to fight a war, but to achieve an extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, political goal. In both wars the United States publicly defined its ultimate objective as the establishment of political self-rule and independence on foreign ground, of a local government that could survive without a large and permanent American occupation force.
On April 7, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson said, "We want nothing for
ourselves -- only that the people of South Vietnam be allowed to guide their
own country in their own way." President Bush makes precisely the same
claim about Iraq. In truth, the selflessness is as fraudulent now as it was
then. Just as four American presidents refused to consider a South Vietnamese
government that would include Communist participation, the Bush administration
is not about to tolerate a radical Islamist government unfriendly to a significant
U.S. political, economic and military presence. In Iraq, perhaps even more than
in Vietnam, the United States wants to determine the outcome of "self-determination."
American troops in Iraq are likely to prove incapable of building local support
for any government.
But just as in Vietnam, American troops in Iraq are likely to prove incapable of building local support for any government -- pro-American, truly self-determining or otherwise. In fact, if we can predict one thing from history, it's that their armed presence is almost guaranteed to generate opposition to any government associated with U.S. interests. In Vietnam, the more troops we inserted and the more Vietnamese we killed, the more anger and resentment our policies produced, thus giving ever more legitimacy to the forces opposing U.S. intervention.
We can't expect soldiers to win "hearts and minds," least of all when they're being fired on. What we can expect is that our increasingly frustrated, homesick and demoralized troops may become ever more cynical about "nation-building" and fall back on the line infamously uttered by an American officer in Vietnam, "Grab 'em by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow."
We should have learned from Vietnam that military dominance is not the same thing as political legitimacy. Of course, we have the power to occupy Iraq indefinitely. But, as in Vietnam, it may be that no foreign power can install a government that will gain the widespread support of its own people. And the American people may eventually decide it is no longer worth trying.
This article was first published by TomPaine.com and is reprinted with permission.
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More Comments:
Duke Weigh In - 8/15/2003
Cite the page numbers in your two books ("as any historian involved in a historical discussion is expected to do") which support your story about the French embassy seizure AND your hypothesis that this was an important motivational factor explaining the difference between the nearly unanimous international consensus supporting Bush I in 1991 and the overwhelming lack of international enthusiasm for Bush II in 2002-03. If you've really got something, I will retract my earlier skepticism.
Wesley Smart - 8/15/2003
The information's in two standard works on the subject.
The Gulf Conflict, 1990-1991, by Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh
The General's War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf, by Gen. Bernard Trainor and Michael R. Gordon.
Oh, and here's a primary source:
And if you do a google search for "French Embassy" Kuwait September 1990 you'll get this and several other sources.
Your original suggestion was that the French, Russian and Chinese motivations in 1990 were not particularly different from those now. I reminded you that the French had different motivations for participating last time round. As for the Russians, the large check for more than a billion dollars from the Saudi government bought their support. That's in those books as well.
I can't help it if you're relying on your memory for a historical discussion of events from 1990-1991. I'm relying on primary documents and secondary sources, as any historian involved in a historical discussion is expected to do.
Wolf DeVoon - 8/14/2003
Dear Mr. Thomas,
I enjoyed SCTV and 'Strange Brew' as object lessons in the poverty of pop culture. But the Grammar Spelling & Punctuation police will certainly take a dim view of the following:
Hussein's (not Husseins)
absolutely (not absoletly)
With respect to Vietnam, I find it difficult to characterize the wholesale subornation of a corrupt society as 'civil war.' The parallel in Iraq is exact, although U.S. firebombs and aircraft have improved. I think the question to be addressed at the moment is how many Iraqis have been killed and maimed by U.S. bombing, shelling, and 'pacification' to date? Perhaps 10,000? 100,000? 1 million over the past decade (of sanctions)?
Take off, eh!
-- Wolf DeVoon
kidA - 8/13/2003
i just found appy's website at http://www.chrisappy.com
it has some excerpts from his book PATRIOTS, links to his other articles, etc.
Duke - 8/13/2003
Hundreds of French citizens seized for use as human shields in Sept. 1990 and French troops sent to the Gulf the next day ? Cite your books, West, I'd like to know more.
I was following the headlines at the time and don't recall this episode at all. But I was a busier man in those days. Maybe I missed it.
I hardly think, however, that this explains the difference between the 1991 coalition and the 2003 fake coalition.
As for having and eating cake, you choke on that one, Wes.
Removing Saddam was overdue. Trusting chickenhawks Perle, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld. et. al. to not to make a huge mess of American foreign policy in the process of that long overdue action was the big mistake. What to do and how to do it. Two very different things. Big mistakes can happen if you don't recognize the distinction. Like getting rid of Gore by electing Bush instead of McCain.
Wesley Smart - 8/12/2003
Duke is welcome to double check the sources with me. I consulted two standard reference works on the chronology of the first Gulf War written by historians, not government officials, and available from the library. The Iraqi forces attacked the French embassy and four others, as well as the French ambassador's residence in Kuwait, on September 14, 1990. In addition, several hundred French citizens were taken hostage and held as human shields throughout Iraq and Kuwait. Prior to this action Mitterand had been attempting to resolve the situation peacefully, and had sent numerous emissaries around the region to seek a non-military solution and to persuade the Arab nations that the military force was there as a defensive, not offensive, one.
Duke must not understand the deep significance of attacking an embassy, which is nominally the territory of the guest country. Iraq was attacking the country of France implicitly by its actions.
Consequently, the French sent additional forces to the Gulf the very next day. All of this is publically and widely known. Who knows what additional information is still classified about French actions after this attack.
Again, on the percentages question: would you care to hazard a guess as to what percentage of the total foreign combat troops in Vietnam the Koreans and Australians provided? Would you care to compare that with the percentage of foreign, non-US troops in Iraq this time around? I suspect that you'd be disappointed by the similarities. That's aside from discussing the particulars of the forces employed (special forces vs. regular logistics troops) and the missions undertaken.
Your final paragraph left me laughing. I am interested to learn that removing a dictator is both a mistake and an overdue necessity. Oh to eat your cake and have it too.
Wesley Smart - 8/12/2003
We are in the realm of counterfactuals. It is not unreasonable to see where the Chinese might have stood to benefit from embarassing the Soviet Union in Vietnam. By the time of the Tet Offensive, the split is complete. It is a wonder the two parties were cooperating at all in assisting North Vietnam. I would not be surprised if documents turn up to indicate that the two parties worked at cross-purposes to hurt each other at the expense of the North Vietnamese.
Under the circumstances, Nixon's 1972 normalization of relations with China was the optimal way to use the split for diplomatic advantage, rather than to seek in Vietnam alone a way to play the two parties off one another.
Arch Stanton - 8/12/2003
An interesting point. I had forgotten that the Iraqis occupied the French embassy in Kuwait. What is publicly known or speculated about why they did that?
Josh Greenland - 8/12/2003
"What makes you certain that the Chinese would have been interested in intervening in North Vietnam before 1979?"
I did indicate certainty, didn't I? Well, let me soften my previous statements, because one can never be certain of future political events, and say that it is very unlikely that China would have tolerated another superpower moving into a small country on its border, motivated by territorial nervous that is normal for superpowers. Also though, China had occupied Vietnam for many (perhaps hundreds of) years in the past, and even with changes of government, empires and ex-empires often hanker for control of smaller countries they've controlled in the past.
I still insist that China refusing to respond militarily to a US ground invasion of North Vietnam is so unlikely that it's a waste of time to fantasize about it, and that anyone considering it at the time was a dangerous person best kept away from the levers of power.
"What does the state of the Sino-Soviet split by that point indicate about the willingness of the Chinese to do anything that would have bolstered their Soviet rivals?"
Are you saying China responding militarily to a US ground invasion of North Vietnam would have somehow bolstered the Soviet Union? If so, how?
Duke - 8/11/2003
"Meaningful discussion" would be furthered if Wesley Smart would double-check his sources instead of just trying to rhetorically dig himself out of the pro-Bush propaganda pit he has so eagerly jumped into. Where did that bit about the French "joining the coalition" after their Kuwait embassy was "occupied" come from, I wonder ? When was this "occupation" ? In August, 1990 during Saddam's two-day war against Kuwait ? Months before the U.S. Congress authorized Desert Storm ?
Smart's sidestepping of the percentages question cannot cover up the obvious truth. In some wars there are real coalitions, like US, UK and USSR against Nazi Germany, with each partner chipping in 10, 20 or 30% of the men, material and lives. Other wars get boosted by strategic use of misleading propaganda (e.g. Gulf of Tonkin resolution). The Cheney-Perle-Wolfowitz Iraq invasion is being justified by misleading propaganda about "coalitions".
One can "meaningfully discuss" an "alliance" this year between Bush and Blair perhaps, or even between the US and Britain, but a "coalition of Norwegians, Poles and Australians" ? That is just pure Dubya-in-2004 campaign deceit.
It was a mistake for the US to intervene in the already long-raging Vietnam War in the 1960s. It was a hopeless cause from the start. Colin, at least (unlike the Rambos posting here) learned that lesson, if nothing else: pick a war you can win quickly.
By contrast, getting rid of Saddam was not only not a mistake, it was long overdue. But trusting a bunch of incompetents in Washington to do the job was a very big mistake. As one TV pundit crudely but accurately put it: "How badly do you have to suck to lose in a popularity contest against Saddam ?" America won that war quickly nevertheless, and notwithstanding all the bull about "shock and awe". But, America lost the peace, and our international reputation, by the inept failure to make the war it started a multilateral effort.
Wesley Smart - 8/11/2003
From this suggestion of Nigerian nuclear weapons to your confusing question about percentages [we might well ask about percentages of foreign troops involved in the 'police action' in Korea, 1950-1953], I think there is much you need to revisit about the course of events over the past several months before meaningful discussion can occur.
For example, as per your mention of France and the 1990-91 Gulf War, you may be interested to know (a) that in 1990 the French joined the coalition in earnest after Hussein forceably occupied the French embassy in Kuwait City, and (b) that in the run up to this Gulf War, the French foreign minister explicitly informed Powell that France would have no opposition, and then announced publically shortly thereafter (without consulting the U.S.) that they would oppose the new resolution regardless of its overall popularity. A difference in diplomacy, or a difference in conditions? I submit to you that the answer is obvious.
Wesley Smart - 8/10/2003
What makes you certain that the Chinese would have been interested in intervening in North Vietnam before 1979? What does the state of the Sino-Soviet split by that point indicate about the willingness of the Chinese to do anything that would have bolstered their Soviet rivals? I ask these as serious historical questions.
The Vietnam case is a spectacular arena for counterfactuals. We will never know whether widening the war into North Vietnam through a ground invasion would have yielded any appreciable results, nor whether the generals who claim that the political/diplomatic difficulties confronted by the Johnson administration hampered the military operations are correct.
Dave Thomas - 8/9/2003
Vietnam began as a struggle to end colonial domination and ended as a civil war.
Husseins regime had absoletly nothing in common with Vietnam from 1917-1975 at all.
Political motives produce horrendous historical perspectives.
Josh Greenland - 8/9/2003
I'm sure the Chinese would have been happy for an excuse to get into Vietnam before 1979, and a US land invasion of North Vietnam would have been a perfect one. The idea that China wouldn't respond militarily to the invasion of a communist country on its borders by the USA can be dismissed out of hand. The notion of the US fighting the NVA alone in North Vietnam was an impossible fantasy. That some pro-Vietnam War hawks claim that this could have happened makes me respect them even less than I already did. If that was the quality of thinking of those who planned and pushed for the war, it explains its result.
Duke - 8/8/2003
Tell us please: What was the percentage of combat troops from countries other than the United States participating in this year's Iraq invasion ?
I suspect that that percentage is minuscule compared to the ratio of Koreans, Australians, etc. who served in Vietnam. And yet no one ever tried to sell the anti-Hanoi forces as some kind of grand "coalition". Though their administrations were hardly hallmarks of candor and accuracy, LBJ and Nixon were justifying a reluctant military action, not trying to launch (after Labor Day) a foreign war of aggression as some kind of international defense against terrorism and Nigerian nukes. More non-echoes.
As for French-German-Russian-Chinese "motivations", were they really much different in 1990-91 when UN authorization WAS successfully obtained ? An international boondoggle which is the result of an inept American president requires a degree of
"Amerocentrism" before it can be properly explained (or before
partisan propaganda trying to whitewash that boondoggle can be exposed).
Wesley Smart - 8/8/2003
In the interests of accuracy, Mr. Weigh In is reminded that the United States participated in a coalition of forces in Iraq. These additional forces, it will be recalled, included the British, the Australians, the Poles, and, I believe, the Norwegians. Doubtless there were others whose contributions were in the special forces roles and therefore eschewed publicity.
The idea that the United States acted "unlaterally" is a canard and weakens any utility that your overall argument has.
The idea that a more competent administration could have secured a resolution for intervention is an Amero-centric approach to the subject that ignores the actions and motivations of the French, Germans, Russians and Chinese in and out of the Security Council.
John Weigh In - 8/8/2003
In Vietnam we lost 50,000 men and hundreds of billions of dollars (and not because Nixon and Kissinger were too soft on communism as semi-educated arm-chair Rambos like to pretend). The president-select's war on Saddam was much less costly in lives, and probably in dollars too, but much more costly to America's long term international respect and reputation.
In Vietnam we intervened in a long-standing war. In Iraq, America for the first time ever, was the solitary overt aggressor and initiator of bloodshed. And unnecessarily so, since a competent US Administration (e.g. as in 1991) could and would have secured UN backing for a legitimate intervention. And an America with the UN behind it would have much more credibility now in Iran, in Saudi Arabia, North Korea, etc.
In Vietnam we slipped into a morass, against our better judgment but with honorable intentions. In Iraq, the most incompetent U.S. government in decades turned policy over to a hypocritical clique of think tank cowards.
Different indeed.
Elia Markell - 8/7/2003
Not a good sign for the quagmire crowd. The fiesty guerrillas of Baghdad are apparently facing a dwindling supply of willing assasins and have had to raise the bonus offered to anyone who kills an American from $1,000 to $5,000. In a market economy, prices send the key signals. Handwriting's on the wall.
Wesley Smart - 8/7/2003
I'm not sure if your comments were in response to mine, but I assure you that I specified *ground* invasion, not merely the air campaign, as the decisive course not taken. I am not arguing in favor of it or against such a course of action, but merely responding to Messers. Moner and Thornton.
It isn't really in doubt that if the United States had initiated a ground invasion of North Vietnam it would have been able to stop the logistical support of the NVA regulars and VC forces in the south, assuming that only the North Vietnamese were present to defend the country. The larger issue was whether such an action would have initiated a counterinvasion by the Chinese; the operational assumptions of the Johnson administration was that the Chinese certainly would have done so. Sometimes the military solution to a problem is completely at odds with the diplomatic solution to the problem, and this was the case in the Vietnam War.
Given that the Chinese themselves invaded North Vietnam in 1979, I am not one hundred percent convinced that the Chinese would have opposed a U.S. invasion of North Vietnam.
Josh Greenland - 8/7/2003
It's nice to hear arguments almost 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War that US forces were "held back" by the politicians and that the US would only have been fighting North Vietnamese troups if it invaded North Vietnam.
Nice dream. The huge Chinese army was right over the border and I'm sure we would have had a second Korean War on our hands, but maybe bigger and a lot worse. If we didn't hold back from going into North Vietnam, there's no reason China would have.
Therefore, the "US against the NVA only" scenario of the "we could have won in Vietnam crowd" is an impossible historical fantasy.
And we did attack North Vietnam. We ran an air war against it, bombing all cities except Haiphong and Hanoi out of existence. The B52 carpet bombing was so bad that North Vietnam manufactured culvert sections for the sole purpose of being upended and put into holes dug into the ground all over that country for citizens to jump into at a moment's notice, including out in rice fields because US aerial bombs were so ubiquitous. I'm not sure any of the younger folks who weren't around then can imagine the intensity of that bombing campaign. It must have been seriously disruptive of the Vietnamese war effort against the US, but they still won.
jim naso - 8/7/2003
Prof. Appy acknowledges that "the Vietnam-Iraq analogy" is "in may ways...strained, even absurd," but he carries on anyway. In support of the Iraq side of the analogy, he cites selectively and tendentiously items he has either read in a newspaper (New York Times, perchance?)or heard on the radio (NPR?). Having no more factual information than I or anybody else has, Prof. Appy relies instead upon nuggets of political rhetoric, hearsay and anecdote in order to arrive at his "guaranteed" dismal conclusion. Call me old-fashioned, but I expect a greater degree of intellectual honesty and rigor from a trained historian sporting a Ph.D.
Any analogy, when scrutinized closely, will undoubtedly seem strained, even absurd. But since that is the game we are playing today, let's consider the case of Japan. We dropped two atomic bombs there, maintained a military occupation for nearly ten years there, and imposed a constitution there. Japan remains a democracy, and is one of our closest allies and trading partners. And most Japanese like Americans. If a Japan-Iraq analogy seems strained in the current political environment, it seems so, in part, because the "greatest generation" has been supplanted by an "intellectual" elite which started yelling "quagmire" even before the first bomb was dropped.
John Kipper - 8/7/2003
Maybe this will help. You can find the entire British dossier at:
On page 8 of the document, in the executive summary, you find:
[Irag has]military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons,including against its own Shia population.Some of these weapons are deployable within 45 minutes of an order to use them;
Further, on the next page:
.illegally retained up to 20 al-Hussein missiles,with a range of 650km,capable of carrying chemical or biological warheads;
.started deploying its al-Samoud liquid propellant missile,and has used the absence of weapons inspectors to work on extending its range to at least 200km,which is beyond the limit of 150km imposed by the United Nations;
.started producing the solid-propellant Ababil-100,and is making efforts to extend its range to at least 200km,which is beyond the limit of 150km imposed by the United Nations;
.constructed a new engine test stand for the development of missiles capable of reaching the UK Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus and NATO members (Greece and Turkey),as well as all Iraq 's Gulf neighbours and Israel;
.pursued illegal programmes to procure materials for use in its illegal development of long range missiles;
It is obvious that the British government was not concerned about a WMD strike on the homeland with only a 45 minute lead time, as there was no Iraqi capability to deliver the strike. The concern was for in-theater, tactical use.
Wesley Smart - 8/6/2003
The Tet Offensive, it is widely understood by historians of the war, was a military failure for the North and the VC but a diplomatic and political disaster for the United States. The United States, it will be recalled, was not in a position to launch a ground invasion of North Vietnam, out of fear that the Chinese and the Soviet Union would have countered with military action of their own, elsewhere. Had the United States launched a ground invasion of the North, it would have inflicted at a minimum a serious disruption to the ***logistical and personnel support network backing the war in the south.*** It might well have been enough to bring the overall organized war to a halt or indeed a complete end. [no bullets or rockets, no organized attacks!] The Johnson administration was not willing to risk the chance of wider conflict, however, and so a ground invasion of the North never occurred. This is one key element in the argument that the United States could well have achieved a military victory if it had been free to fight the war in the best way possible.
Gus Moner - 8/6/2003
Mr Thornton would have us believe we were "a shot away", as the Rolling Stones song goes, from victory. The question is not whether Vietnnam was a 'military loss'. Clearly a victory it was not.
If the VC and NVA were so 'finished' after Tet, what exactly stopped the US from gaining the upper hand? Moreover, it's worrying to read "Avoiding a confrontation with the USSR and PRC was more important to Presidents Johnson and Nixon rather than prosecuting the war in Vietnam to victory". What were we supposed to have done, gone nuclear?
Some old Vietnam hands tell us they could have won. Well, they did not. Some Germans say they could have won in WWII, or WWI. They did not. It's a simple as that,
The NVA, VC and many S Vietnamese we were "saving" saw to it the US lost. Were we supposed to have gone nuclear to 'win'? Sheer madness. An enemy everywhere and nowhere was eating the US and their small 'coalition allies' alive in the jungles and cities.
Heading north wouldn't have changed that scenario, but merely broadened it and it would have got China and perhaps the USSR involved, while wasting even more people and land.
Escalation, it was not a brilliant strategy and it failed under Nixon and Johnson. Just how were the US forces supposed to enter N Vietnam and 'regime change' their government? I suppose Mr Thornton would have us believe the N Vietnamese would have laid their weapons down and welcomed the US whilst Russia and China would have stood by and watched their ally defeated.
Gus Moner - 8/6/2003
Good question. I'll try to find an answer.
Will J. Richardson - 8/6/2003
Dear Mr. Appy,
Elia Markell covered the major flaws in your comparison of Iraq to Vietnam. I write to add one nore. In Vietnam the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong had safe havens in adjoining countries. In Iraq there are no sanctuaries that the U.S. is willing to tolerate. This was demonstrated by the incursion into Syria earlier this year in which the U.S. detained Syrian border guards and citizens. Without foreign support and safe bases the Bathist and Islamist terrorists are bound to fail in the end.
Herodotus - 8/6/2003
Wasn't that the 45 minutes from order of use by Hussein to actual use by the Iraq field commanders in theater, not against Western European cities by short range SCUD missiles?
Elia Markell - 8/6/2003
Prof. Appy's Vietnam echoes are in the minds of the Vietnam generation of academia and nowhere else to be heard. Let's just take each element in Appy's opener:
"An "invisible enemy" strikes U.S. soldiers in a faraway land we claim to be saving;"
In Vietnam, the enemy was, first and foremost, the army of North Vietnam. The NLF was the creature of that army, which itself was supplied by Russia and China. The final collapse of South Vietnam was a result of an end to U.S. aid to the South followed by a final invasion by that army, the NLF as a fighting force having been decimated after Tet. In Iraq, meanwhile, an utterly uncoordinated series of pot-shoters are taking out soldiers at about the rate of LA street-gang violence. The population is increasingly aiding the U.S. in ferreting out these dead-enders or al Qaeda fanatics. There are no supply lines to superpowers or even second rate powers to keep the arms flowing. As for the leaderhip, the equivalent of General Giap and the entire Vietnamese Politburo are dead or in jail, and the Ho Chi Minh of the day is hiding in basements as we close in.
"overwhelming American firepower kills thousands before many citizens realize their president used phony pretexts to justify military action; "
The dastardly 16 words have faded to page 3 since the killing of Saddam's sons. To say this and other snippets of speculation on WMD proves it was a "phony pretext," is to demean the UN, the Brits, the Russians and even the French, as much as the U.S., all of whom held Saddam in breach of resolutions demanding he account for his WMD programs. This is why the huffing and puffing on this will never make it into a Tonkin Gulf myth for the left (Tonkin Gulf itself never having fed any widespread popular discontent about the war anyway, as opposed to among post-Vietnam nostalgia in the colleges). The public is not responding to the "where's the outrage" rage of the left on this for a very simple reason. They share the president's view that our policies on terrorism post 9/11 must now be preemptive, that, as he said, we cannot wait until the threat is immanent, and that the threat was plainly high enough in potential to fully justify what we did.
"policy makers insist that while progress is steady we must be patient; anti-American guerrillas attack their own countrymen, whom they deem U.S. "puppets";
These two go together. Progress is in fact steady. Electricity and water are back to Saddam levels or better. The ENTIRE south, where Shiite hostility was the headline de jure in May and June, is now quiet. Town governments are forming. Local police forces are shaping up. By no stretch can the interim governing council be portrayed as a puppet since it includes many long active key Shiite and Kurd freedom fighters. Reports from the field, as opposed to the desperate effort to turn the news into a daily body count, suggest growing respect, cooperation and understanding from the Iraqis. This all will grow as the Baathist dead-enders fade.
"only a few nations send troops to support the United States' cause; talk of a "quagmire" fills the air. "
This is the biggest hoot of them all. Outside of the pages of the New York Times, Maureen Dowd, Chris Matthews, Paul Krugman, and the whole A.N.S.W.E.R. crowd and fellow travelers, who are in fact salavating in the hopes of "quagmire," no one on planet earth is using the term. Really, Appy, come on out to the Midwest, and see. The air is full of misquitos and pollen. Otherwise, it's clear and pleasant. Not a quagmire in sight. As for the few nations sending troops, why, apart from perhaps the Poles, the British, would the US or the Iraqis WANT them? Thank God they are not nosing around getting in the way.
James Thornton - 8/6/2003
War is really a contest of wills. After Tet, the VC and NVA were militarily finished. If the military had been permitted to use ground troops and change the regime in Hanoi, the outcome would have been completely different. Vietnam is the war we lost despite winning the battles because of inept political leadership. Avoiding a confrontation with the USSR and PRC was more important to Presidents Johnson and Nixon rather than prosecuting the war in Vietnam to victory. If you take a broader survey of history you will find the US is one of the most succesful in counter-insurgency. The Indian Campaigns and the Philippine Insurrection are examples of classic successful counter-insurgencies.
NYGuy - 8/5/2003
Just another "what if" analysis using a static situation as if there has been nothing changing in the world for over 30 years. It is hard to believe the quaqmire crowd can't understand they are in a black hole with no light or knowledge allowed to come in.
Who really believes that today's world is the same as 30 years ago? Certainly not the youngsters who are getting ready to go to college and are well aware of the significant technological changes that has changed this world. They also know that nuclear and biological weapons are of greater concern than during the Vietnam period. They know that the U. S. was attacked and two 110 story building were brought down as well as killing in others parts of the U. S. by fanatics. Some also felt the loss of this attack on the U. S personally. They at least have a chnace of growing up, not like the anti-war groups from Vietnam who always see shadows and believe in "what-if" analysis which is not appropriate for our times.
During the 1990's we followed the approach they recommneded and what did we get. An inept U. N. that does nothing to stop the dangerous trends in the world, a U. S. government that engaged in the same idyllic ideas that did nothing to protect this country.
Prof. Appy's analysis is typical of what this over-the-hill group of propagandist spew out. Nothing has changed, the world is the same as when we were on the picket lines. What glorious days they were. Let us try to go back and recreate that feeling by writing fantasy articles that Iraq is the same as Vietnam. We even leave class to protest, but the students paying $20,000-30,000 per year for our knowledge tell us to get back in the classroom, we want to learn not become propagandists
Try as they may to convince the public, the average citizen knows the difference,even if they did not go to college. Sometimes people are too smart for their own good.
There lack of knowledte is proved every day with articles like Prof. Appy's as well as those experts who predicted quaqmire a week or two before we won in Iraq.
Today we are in a better position to protect ourselves, and the world then we ever were in the Vietnam era or for the 1990's.
Gus Moner - 8/5/2003
Untold horrors in the form of BCWs.
Herodotus - 8/5/2003
What was supposed to reach London in 45 minutes?
Gus Moner - 8/5/2003
No one, you, the author or myself, ever said there was "no Iraqi Air Force". The fact they buried their aeroplanes in the desert shows their trust in its capabilities in time of war.
But from your comment I infer that you assume the vaunted WMD that Bush solemly announced had been distributed to front line Iraqi units whose officers were authorised to use in case of invasion, will also turn up in the desert.
You can bet that some WMD will turn up, planted or found, otherwise these NeoCon Judeo-Christian Crusaders will lose their face and the elections. I always contended they existed, whilst disagreeing with the policy to attack, but I may yet have to eat my words if they are not located.
Whatever is located will never equal the threat level, the level of development and sophistication (does reaching London in 45 minutes ring a bell?)attributed to the Iraqis in the rush to frighten us into submission by the time the invasion was ready to be launched. In fact, the course of events have proven that the UN inspection regime was rather successful in the end.
You can bet the WMD won't have their tailfins sticking up from the sand when they are 'found'!
Herodotus - 8/5/2003
Yup, no WMD. Just like there was no Iraqi air force. Oh wait, it just turned up in the desert, buried.
Gus Moner - 8/4/2003
There is a big difference in the way we ended up in each war. The US slipped and slid, tripped and tumbled into Vietnam. Before you knew it, soldiers were dying and an incident was used to trigger a massive occupation.
In Iraq, we blundered and entered en-masse. Whatever else is said, the US planned and executed the invasion resolutely. There ca n be no doubting who were the theologians and the converts, the executors and all are there to see.
However, they failed to even glimpse the collapse and occupation, with Wolfowitz telling Congress 60 days and a few thousand million.
The shooting gallery there will continue, regardless of Saddam's eventual fate, it's time to get out of the way. The best plan is to put up - a government- and get out- letting Iraqis rule themselves and deal with their thugs their way.
Whether one supported the 'pre-emptive' attack or not, the US job is basically done; there are no WMD, no vaunted Iraqi army nor anymore an onerous regime. Let's wrap it up.
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|Strength of Schedule Report
March 5, 2013
Western Front
Different Ballparks, Same Problem
Two of the most extreme ballparks in baseball are home to National League West teams. Coors Field inflates offense, while Petco Park destroys it. Neither the Rockies nor the Padres are expected to contend in 2013, and a lack of quality starting pitching is a large part of the reason in both cases. Despite their different environments, these two teams face the same problem.
Who are the candidates for each rotation? What do they have to offer?
As a group, the Colorado rotation sported a 5.81 ERA, last in MLB by plenty. Even by Coors Field standards, last year was bad. Only once in the club's 20-year existence had Rockies starters posted a higher ERA, and that came when more runs were being scored in baseball. Here are the bottom five:
The best, in case you were wondering, wasn't all that long ago. In 2009, Colorado starters posted a combined 4.10 ERA. So it can be done.
Note also how few innings Rockies starters pitched. This was easily their lowest total (by more than 100 innings) in a non-strike season. Even the 1995 rotation worked 7 1/3 more innings despite starting 18 fewer games. Colorado starters worked the fewest innings in MLB by 115 innings. The gap from 29th-ranked Minnesota to sixth-ranked Tampa Bay was only 113 1/3 innings. The Rockies, with their pitch-limit experiment, were playing a different game.
Their innings total from starting pitchers was lowest in MLB in a non-strike year since at least 1916, when data is first available. Your bottom 10*:
*Okay, technically the 1918 Yankees would be 10th with 861, but they played 126 games. This goes against the spirit of the thing. What we're really interested in is innings pitched per start, which, oh look another table (this includes strike years):
So Rockies starters averaged a third of an inning less than any other team's starters in at least 96 years, probably longer because relievers served a different purpose back then.
The good news is that some of the guys who were hurt last year for the Rockies are no longer hurt, at least not to start the season. The bad news is, they still come with a lot of questions. Working from the current BP depth charts, here is a quick rundown of Colorado's leading candidates:
Jorge De La Rosa
Good: De La Rosa gave the Rockies 5.3 WARP in 2008 and 2009.
Bad: He has pitched 69 2/3 innings since signing a two-year, $21.5 million deal with an $11 million player option that he exercised this year coming off Tommy John surgery. His 90th percentile PECOTA projection is 79 2/3 innings and a 3.90 ERA.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2010: "It looks like his talent has finally translated to production, and his wanderin' days are through."
Jhoulys Chacin
Good: He was brilliant before the All-Star break in 2011, posting a 3.16 ERA in 18 starts and holding the opposition to a .201/.287/.365 line.
Bad: His ERA is 4.37 since then. Arm problems caused him to miss four months last year.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2009: "There's no reason he couldn't be a second or third starter in the majors in short order."
Drew Pomeranz
Good: Kevin Goldstein ranked him 34th among all prospects entering the 2012 season, up from 43rd a year earlier. If there's anyone to get excited about here, it's probably Pomeranz.
Bad: A high walk rate (4.3 BB/9 last year) is dangerous at Coors Field. He should watch Jeff Francis.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2012: "Assuming he doesn't go Full Nuclear Poreda with the walks, Pomeranz should be a fixture at the top of Colorado's rotation for years to come."
Juan Nicasio
Good: After surviving a horrendous injury that ended his 2011 season early, Nicasio made good on his vow to return to the mound. If he does nothing else in life, this is an awesome story.
Bad: His season ended early again, this time thanks to left knee surgery.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2010: "A little old for the Sally League, Juan Nicasio nonetheless impressed by posting a ridiculous K/BB ratio in a notorious hitter's park; he might surprise."
Jeff Francis
Good: Francis pitched very well for the Rockies from 2005 to 2007, totaling 10.1 WARP in that time. He has 65 strikeouts and five walks against left-handed batters over the past three years.
Bad: Since 2008, opponents are hitting .299/.341/.469 against him, which is basically Dave Parker's career line or what Adrian Gonzalez did last year.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2005: "Highly touted, Grade-A prospect. Francis throws hard, has good command and control, big K rates, nothing here not to like."
Tyler Chatwood
Good: Chatwood is 23 years old. He was once compared to Roy Oswalt, because... short right-hander.
Bad: In a full season's worth of innings, he owns a 4.5 BB/9 and a 5.0 K/9. His 90th percentile PECOTA projection is 103 2/3 innings and a 5.25 ERA.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2010: "Chatwood drew inevitable comparisons to Roy Oswalt due to his diminutive size and combination of a mid-90s fastball and a knee-buckling curve."
Christian Friedrich
Good: Friedrich is a former first-round pick and top prospect (ranked 22nd in 2010, one slot behind Madison Bumgarner).
Bad: He owns a 4.78 ERA and 1.1 HR/9 in 250 2/3 innings in the high minors, and allowed 10 homers in 187 plate appearances at Coors Field in his big-league debut.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2010: "Friedrich's curveball may be the best in the minors, while his low-90s fastball is more than just a show-me pitch."
Chris Volstad
Good: Volstad used to be a top prospect and is still only 26 years old. He is durable, having made 30 or more starts (including the minors) in each of the past four seasons.
Bad: Opponents hit .306/.365/.482 against him last year (Andre Ethier/Luis Gonzalez territory). His career K/9 is 5.7.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2007: "Scouts like his ability to keep the ball on the ground, and everybody likes his ability to throw strikes with low-90s heat, curves, and changeups."
I've addressed San Diego's pitching woes briefly in a recent Lineup Card, and in greater detail at my Padres blog. The team's big off-season moves were to add Freddy Garcia and Tyson Ross, and retain Jason Marquis and Tim Stauffer. The utility of these moves is left to your imagination.
The Padres weren't historical like the Rockies. San Diego did lead the league in different starting pitchers used with 15, but 67 teams in history (65 if you're not comfortable going back before 1901) have used more—most impressively the 1915 Athletics, who used 24 in 154 games.
To San Diego's rotation candidates (you could add Andrew Cashner and Ross to this list; heck, for all I know, you could add John D'Acquisto and Juan Eichelberger):
Edinson Volquez
Good: Vólquez made it through the season healthy and racked up a ton of strikeouts.
Bad: He tied for the major-league lead in walks. His ERA since 2009 is 4.62.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2009: "If he could shave one walk per nine off his 2008 performance, we'd be looking at someone special."
Clayton Richard
Good: Richard is a workhorse with a winning smile.
Bad: He led the NL in homers allowed last year. His career ERA away from Petco is 4.99. He can't make a throw to first base to save his life.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2010: "Between the rhythm, the stuff, and the durability, he should settle in nicely as the Padres' third or fourth starter."
Jason Marquis
Good: Marquis has made the playoffs with four different teams and owns a career .202 batting average.
Bad: Since 2010, his WARP is -0.2. The Twins, who desperately needed pitching last year, released him in May.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2000: "He has good command and gets points for his intelligence, so there's not much here to not like. With the usual health caveats, Marquis is an excellent pitching prospect."
Eric Stults
Good: Dan Evans drafted him.
Bad: Stults has accumulated 2.1 WARP in 256 innings. His career K/9 is 5.6, and his single-season high in IP at the big-league level is 99, set last year at age 32.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2007: "With an 88 to 92 mph fastball, a plus changeup, and an average cutter, he generates enough ground balls that he could find a spot in the bullpen."
Freddy Garcia
Good: García had a 4.01 ERA in his 20s, averaging 31 starts and 205 innings a year.
Bad: García has a 4.57 ERA in his 30s, averaging 16 starts and 90 innings a year.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2000: "He has the stuff and makeup to be a number one starter."
Tim Stauffer
Good: Stauffer made it through 2011 healthy and put up good numbers before tiring toward the end.
Bad: He worked five innings last year and had elbow surgery in August.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2006: "He's still a solid mid-wattage pitching prospect, and will be in the mix for a rotation spot this year."
Casey Kelly
Good: Kelly has been a highly regarded prospect since the Red Sox took him in the first round of the 2008 draft. He showed signs of fulfilling his potential last year and is just 23 years old.
Bad: An elbow strain kept him out of action for 3 ½ months in 2012. He doesn't miss a lot of bats.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2010: "Kelly throws strikes with a low-90s fastball with good movement, an excellent curve, and a developing change, all of which could be plus pitches."
Cory Luebke
Good: Luebke led NL rookie pitchers with 21.6 VORP in 2011 and started strong last season after signing a four-year contract extension.
Bad: He blew out his elbow five starts into the new deal and in May had Tommy John surgery, which will keep him out of action for the first half of 2013.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2011: "Luebke hits 89-91 with his four- and two-seamers to go with a slider/changeup combo, both of which are in the low-to-mid 80s—but his command of all four pitches is a plus skill."
Robbie Erlin
Good: Erlin is a polished strike-thrower who owns a 10.1 K/9 in 326 2/3 minor-league innings and a Saberhagenesque 7.4 K/BB.
Bad: An elbow injury limited him to 84 1/3 innings in 2012, including winter ball.
Yesterday's optimism, courtesy of BP2011: "Despite not possessing a top-of-the-rotation ceiling, Erlin has a combination of polish and promise that make him a legit prospect and a player who could reach Double-A as a 20-year-old."
* * *
There are other reasons why these two teams probably won't contend in 2013 (we've got the Rockies at 72 wins as of this writing, the Padres at 76), but when we look back on the season, the starting rotations will have played a large role. Either that, or I've just offended the baseball gods by dismissing two teams in March, in which case Chris Volstad is your World Series MVP.
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I love, LOVE the "yesterday's optimism" blurbs. One of my favorite things to do is rifle through the BP archives to find past write-ups in the annuals, so including relevant morsels in the article itself saves me time and satisfies my curiosity. I dunno if it's a ton of extra work for you guys, but it'd be awesome to see more of these in the future!
Mar 05, 2013 09:10 AM
Where did you find De La Rosa's 90th percentile projections? I cannot find anybody's percentile projections on BP this year. :(
Mar 05, 2013 09:22 AM
I second this query. What happened to the percentile projections?
Mar 05, 2013 14:56 PM
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Hello all,
If we take a piece clay and make various shapes out of it (ball, square, rectangle, pyramid, etc) it is still the same clay. Even if we split clay in
two parts, the same amount of clay remains. Person can eat with a fork and then stab someone with the same fork. Here the same object has different functions. A same object, lets say red ball can look different under different lighting. In dark room red ball can appear black or brown, in a bright room the same ball can appear red. Strait stick can appear bent in water and appear strait in the air.
What if the same thing is with the Citta? It can take different objects, it can cognize different things but it is still same in the sense of "knowing in first person".
Any comments? How to refute this?
With best wishes,


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Shushing ushers, beer at the theater, reserved seats, and fewer screaming babies --- the ArcLight Cinemas that opened at the Westfield UTC this week is trying to squeeze the irritations out of modern movie going.
The high-end movie chain made San Diego's University City its first destination outside of Los Angeles, its fifth branch overall, thanks to the areas proximity and its strong support of film. The 14-screen ArcLight is part of the mall's $180 million renovation. The company has been combating declining theater attendance by improving the experience.
"We spent 10 years improving the moviegoing experience," said Nora Dashwood , chief operating officer for ArcLight. "We feel we've perfected the concept."
ArcLight's chief selling point to enthusiasts may be its "black box" movie environment, with high-end digital projection and sound systems. Its ushers forbid late seating and patrol the theater to keep customers from texting or talking while the movie is in progress. It also allows customers to buy and print tickets at home for no additional fee.
The chain also discourages children under 2 from attending by charging more for infants than for children between 2 and 12. At peak times, infants are charged the full adult price. Other theater chains, like AMC, allow children under 2 in for free, except for R-rated films at certain times.
"One of the biggest distractions in the movie theater is crying babies," Dashwood said.
All these perks do come at a cost: A ticket for the new the animated film Wreck-It Ralph will cost $13.75 at a peak time of 9 p.m. on Friday at ArcLight, 15 percent more than the $12 it costs at AMC theaters and 17 percent more than the $11.75 at Ultrastar .
ArcLight will charge 39 percent less than the $22.50 Cinepolis Luxury Theaters , which features food service and recliners in its theaters, and allows customers to reserve their seat in advance.
Luxury theaters are an attempt by theater companies to counter a long-term trend of declining movie attendance. Last year, 1.3 billion movie tickets were sold in the U.S. and Canada, the lowest figure in 10 years, according to the Motion Picture Association of America .
"Many movie theaters are trying offer more bells and whistles on the upper end to charge more," said S. Siddarth , a marketing professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
ArcLight Cinemas will have a cafe and a bar, primarily intended to provide a comfortable place to wait for their film to start. Like Cinepolis, ArcLight lets customers buy reserved seats, which allows them to walk into theater just a few minutes before the film starts. And while movies will still have trailers for future attractions, Dashwood said there are no commercials before movies at ArcLight.
"We're very excited to come to La Jolla," she said.


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Columbus — Ohio's economic growth matched the national economy's last year, according to newly released federal statistics.
That makes the fourth straight year that growth in the Buckeye State either matched or surpassed the national average after trailing the nation for years heading into the Great Recession.
The numbers were in federal data released June 11 by the Bureau of Economic Analysis and reported by The Columbus Dispatch.
"From about the late '90s, growth was less than the U.S. virtually every year until the last four years," said David Berson, senior vice president and chief economist at Nationwide.
The statistics show the Ohio economy grew by 1.8 percent in 2013, ranking 26th among the states. However, the growth last year was less than the past three years.
IHS Global Insight economist Karl Kuykendall tells the newspaper the strong growth rate that Ohio saw in the previous three years wasn't sustainable, given the state's demographics.
Every state but Alaska, which was hurt by a drop in oil production, had stronger growth last year, the bureau's report said. North Dakota, where oil production is booming, posted the biggest increase.
Manufacturing was the biggest contributor to growth in Ohio and the nation last year. Much of the growth within manufacturing occurred in sectors that focus on plastics, rubber products, chemicals and food manufacturing.
After the drought in 2012, farmers did much better last year.
People also are spending more on concerts, sporting events and movies.
The jobless rate in Ohio dropped to 5.7 percent in April, the lowest level in more than six years.
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch
Ohio's economic growth matched nation's for fourth straight year
Columbus — Ohio's economic growth matched the national economy's last year, according to newly released federal statistics.


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ANN ARBOR, Mich. Borders announced that it is celebrating educators with Educator Appreciation Week (Oct. 6 to 10) in Borders stores nationwide. During the event, Borders is giving educators a 25% discount off the list price of most items in store and an additional 10% discount if they become Borders Rewards Plus loyalty members. The company also announced that as part of its recently revamped Borders Rewards program, customers can now donate the Borders Bucks they've accrued to an educator — and Borders will match each donation during the month of October.
Members of the Rewards program accrue $5 in Borders Bucks for every $150 spent on qualifying purchases. Borders said it believes that donated Bucks, plus the donation matching, will have a positive impact on the availability of reading and scholastic materials in the classroom, as well as preparatory materials for instructors.
During Educator Appreciation Week, Borders reported it will also provide a variety of activities for pre-school and K through 12 current and retired teachers, professors, librarians and home schoolers.


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The American Heart Association has certified Artisan Lettuce from Salinas, Calif.-based Tanimura & Antle as a heart-healthy food, allowing the grower-packer to affix the association's Heart Check mark to packages, according to a news release.
The logo identifies products that the heart association has certified as meeting its nutritional guidelines for that particular food, according to the association's website.
To be certified, the food must be low in fat, cholesterol, sodium and processed sugars and provide at least 10% of the daily value of at least one of these nutrients: vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein of dietary fiber.
Artisan Lettuce is low in fat, and a serving delivers 45% of the daily value of vitamin A, according to the release.
Whole petite heads are field packed and come in both red and green varieties.
They are sold in four- or six-count clamshells.


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SANTA CRUZ -- A Santa Cruz surf instructor accused of seeking sex with underage girls and recording them in a dressing room could face federal charges, police said Monday.
The scope of the case against 38-year-old Dylan David Greiner widened during the weekend as police received calls from families as far away as New York, said Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark.
"It's a worst-case scenario," Clark said. "We have someone who was popular in the community and had access to girls, and he exploited that."
Greiner, owner of Santa Cruz Surf School, was arrested Friday on suspicion of two felony charges of lewd acts with children. He is expected to be arraigned Wednesday and remained in Santa Cruz County Jail on Monday in lieu of $500,000 bail, according to jail records.
A federal investigation could be launched if the case involves interstate victims and if the Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office relinquishes control, police said.
Two girls were 13 and 14 years old when they began relationships with Greiner, police said. When authorities questioned him, Greiner admitted to detectives that he made sexual advances to the girls and wrote apology letters to them and the community, Clark said.
An investigation determined Greiner also secretly recorded girls changing into wetsuits at his shop on Center Street, and he photographed and videotaped them with focuses on their private areas. His cellphone and at least two computers were seized from his home.
"This is a person who was in a position of trust, and he violated that trust," Clark said.
Greiner -- who had been in the public eye for a recent trash cleanup crusade at Cowell Beach and elsewhere -- became the subject of criticism on Facebook this weekend.
Parent Gemma Locatelli said she had a bad feeling about Greiner when she and her then 14-year-old daughter asked about surf lessons about 18 months ago. Locatelli wanted to learn to surf with her daughter, but Greiner wouldn't have it.
"He kept saying, 'Just drop her off, there's lots of girls her age,'" Locatelli said. "He said, 'I'm really trustworthy, everybody trusts me.'"
When she pushed to do the class together, Greiner got defensive, she said. He wouldn't look her in the eye, and Locatelli did not enroll her daughter.
"I had a weird feeling. All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up," Locatelli said.
She would advise other parents to trust their instincts and do their own informal background checks on anyone who will be with their children. Doing so could start on a Yelp page, for instance, where previous customers often scrutinize businesses.
Another red flag is when an instructor tries to separate parent from child, Locatelli said.
Greiner's surf school was one of four surf schools at Cowell Beach permitted by the city.
Recreation director Carol Scurich said Greiner's permit remains active, meaning employees still can give instruction to clients. But she said the city attorney and police are looking into taking action on the permit.
There also are a handful of surf schools in Capitola and other areas of the county.
Rudy Escalante, the Capitola police chief, said the surf schools he knows in Capitola don't have changing rooms. Most surfers simply use a towel to change into a wetsuit.
As a parent, Escalante echoed some of Locatelli's advice about checking on adults who care for children and teens.
"I would encourage people to ask those pertinent questions to where they feel comfortable to do business with people," Escalante said. "If I don't feel comfortable, then it's not happening."
It's also worth reminding parents to tell children it's OK to say "no," Escalante said, adding that the case is "a very sad situation."
Sentinel staff writer J.M. Brown contributed to this report. Follow Sentinel reporter Stephen Baxter at Twitter.com/sbaxter_sc


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Topic: Newly Diagnosed
Hello Everyone,
I just learned last week my 81 year old dad, who happens to be in great shape and health, has cholangiocarcinoma. It has been a three week journey so far. The initial problem that brought him to the hospital was severe pain. They thought it was food poisoning, then something gall bladder related. They did an ERCP and put in a temporary stint. He then went onto the U of Minnesota and had a endoscopic ultrasound and another ERCP to put in a more permanent stint. The EUS showed cancer including in two lymph nodes. There is also a vein involved(can't remember name.) We met with oncologist connected to U of MN and said would do chemo once a week for 3 weeks and be off the 4 week. Would do 3-4 cycles and was going to use Gemcitabine, trade name Gemzer. She said he had about a year to live and surgery was not an option. Left that appointment quite numb.
We went onto the Mayo in Rochester, MN a few days later. Met surgeon who is expert at Mayo for this type of issue. She said surgery not an option right now, but wants to start chemo treatments. One week on, one week off. She then offered some other options. I left with some hope unlike earlier experience. Do not know what type of chemo yet as we go back to Mayo on Thursday this week to meet with oncologist.
As you can see from my lengthy post, I am very scared and sad. Anything you can share to provide insights, encouragement, hope would bless me beyond words.


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While sitting, every unicorn travel souvenir measures about ten inches in height – from the tip of her horn to her hooves, and six inches wide – hoof to hoof.
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V-Mart asks for fan support during rough stretch
DETROIT -- Two veteran Tigers spent Wednesday taking note of fan reaction. It was fitting that they came from opposite ends of the clubhouse.
Victor Martinez seemingly wasn't aware of Joe Nathan's gesture to fans at the end of Wednesday's 8-4 win, but he was certainly aware of the boos Nathan and other teammates were receiving. And as the Tigers celebrated the end of their four-game losing streak, Martinez was making a reasoned plea to reporters for fan support.
"We're trying," Martinez said. "It's too long of a season. At some point, you're going to struggle. Every team struggles. As a fan, if you're just going to be with us when we're doing good, we really need the fans when we struggle, too.
"It bothers me. It bothers me, because people think that we're playing Little League teams out there. You have to give credit to who deserves credit sometimes. This is the game of baseball. One thing for sure is every day we show up, we're ready to beat the other team. A lot of times it ends up on the good side, a lot of times in the wrong side."
The Tigers entered Thursday a half-game behind the Royals in the American League Central, after leading the division for much of the season. Even before the recent skid, however, Martinez noted he was hearing criticism.
"We [were winning] the division by three-to-four games and I hear people complaining," Martinez said. "I heard some negative comments.
"We're the ones here. If somebody has to be panicked, it's us here. We're the ones playing. We're fine. We believe in what we got. We're not going to keep playing like this for too long. We've got too good of a team. Like I say, every team struggles at some point. Look at it during the season, every team struggles. We wish that we could go 162-0."
Martinez received a level of criticism last season, when he got off to a slow start in his return from knee surgery. His second-half surge turned sentiment around, and his All-Star season this year has made him one of the most popular players on the team.
Even so, the team's fall from the division lead has left everyone noticing the reception upon the return from a 2-7 road trip. That includes Martinez, who is usually among the quieter players on the team.
In this case, however, he felt like he wanted to speak up and make a case for support.
"Personally, I don't think that I have ever paid attention to that like this time," Martinez said. "It just bothered me a little bit, because I really think the people just think that we have to win the division by 10 games, 20 games. We were winning the division by three, four, five games and I was hearing some complaints and stuff. As a player, it bothers you. It bothers you because again, this game is not as easy as it seems when you're sitting in the stands.
"Again, they have all the right to be mad, because they're paying money to come here and see a good show, but I want them to understand on the other hand that we're really trying. We don't want to give it up, we don't want to lose. It's just the way it is. We're in a really tough stretch, and this is when we need the fans the most. Because as soon as I go out, as soon as the team goes outside and sees the atmosphere outside, the fans in the game, we feed off that. We feed off that, and that's what we want to see. We want the fans to keep backing us up."
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Thread: Beware of Hydrogen
Threaded View
Beware of Hydrogen
Honda is getting a lot of publicity lately on a fuel cell & battery hydrogen fueled car. At first glance it may seem like a good thing but I have questions.
How safe is the 350 atmosphere storage tank? Isn't that about 5000 psi? And what happens in a closed garage if it leaks? Isn't hydrogen odor free and combustible with almost any amount of air?
The two least cost ways to mass produce hydrogen that are proven seem to be electrolysis of water with nuclear power or reduction of water with Carbon Monoxide from partially burned coal. Aside from all the toxic Carbon Monoxide as an intermediate from the coal process, what happens to all the Carbon Dioxide from the process conclusion? Do we really think it can be sequestered for thousands of years by pumping down failing Saudi oil wells?


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I was about to respond to your other post about trading Al.Bump.
Forget the "Trade Al" stuff... certainly don't want to go there after today.
I'm just trying to start Pacerfans talking and thinking about Mark Blount as a Pacer... either as our new starting center or as our new Antonio Davis, backing up both frontcourt positions.
I doubt Donnie would do it considering how well the team is doing on and off the court.
Pacers (Donnie) like to hang onto their home grown players, especially the ones that make the team successful.


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The major stock exchanges in the United States observe the following nine holidays:
If the holiday falls on a Saturday, the markets will close on the Friday preceding the holiday unless the Friday is the end of a monthly or annual accounting period. If the holiday falls on a Sunday, the markets will close on the Monday following the holiday.


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34 35th St., Unit 26, Brooklyn, NY, 11232
Andrea Polli
|Eyebeam CV
Andrea Polli is a digital media artist living in New York City. She is currently Director of the Integrated Media Arts MFA Program at Hunter College/CUNY. Her works focus on the real time interconnectivity of global systems, both human and non-human. Recent works include: spatialized sonificatios of highly detailed meteorological models of storms; sonifications of actual and projected climate in Central Park; and a real-time multi-channel sonification and visualization of weather in the Arctic. She has exhibited, performed, and lectured nationally and internationally and recently spent seven weeks in Antarctica on a National Science Foundation funded project (http://www.90degreessouth.org).
Research: Sustainability


text: +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | TPWD News Release 20080519b | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | This page contains only plain text, no HTML formatting codes. | | It is not designed for display in a browser but for copying | | and editing in whatever software you use to lay out pages. | | To copy the text into an editing program: | | --Display this page in your browser. | | --Select all. | | --Copy. | | --Paste in a document in your editing program. | | If you have any suggestions for improving these pages, send | | an e-mail to email@example.com and mention Plain Text Pages. | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ [ Note: This item is more than nine years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references. ] [ Media Contact: TPWD News, firstname.lastname@example.com, 512-389-8030 ] May 19, 2008 Free Web Service Connects Hunters With Places To Hunt AUSTIN, Texas -- Research surveys show that finding a place to hunt is a barrier for many people in today's Texas, which is why Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has created the Hunt Texas Online Connection, a new, free Web service that allows anyone to view hunting opportunities posted by private landowners across the state. In the first half of 2008, the department invited landowners to list hunting lease opportunities in Texas for free, including last-minute openings. Now, hunters can search more than 150 hunting opportunities by lease type, county, game animal, cost per hunter and other parameters. The service is free to both hunters and landowners. "We want to make it easy for people looking for a place to hunt to connect with landowners offering hunts on their property," said Mike Berger, TPWD wildlife division director. "This is one way we're trying to better serve our license-buying public. It's important to keep the Texas hunting tradition strong, since hunting supports wholesome family recreation, pumps more than a billion dollars per year into Texas local economies, and provides an economic incentive for private land stewards to protect wildlife habitat." To register, landowners can visit the main Hunt Texas Online Connection Web area on the TPWD Web site. Click "Get Started," select a username and password, log in, and start looking at hunting opportunities. Leases can be seen without registering and logging in, but users must register in order to contact landowners. After users fill out the online registration form, they'll get an email with a long URL ending in the word "activate"-users must click this link to complete registration. If users don't receive the activation email, it might be because a security system is blocking it. In that case, users could try placing firstname.lastname@example.com in their address book or allowed e-mail rules. Hunters and landowners will determine if they are the right fit for each other, and all transactions will be between landowners and hunters. The new service also provides links to privately operated hunting lease Web sites on as a convenience for the public. TPWD does not independently verify, endorse or warrant any of the information posted on Hunt Texas Online Connection, or any information contained on the privately operated hunting lease Web sites that are linked from the service. Anyone can e-mail questions, comments and suggestions about Hunt Texas Online Connection to email@example.com. The TPWD Wildlife Information staff at (512) 389-4505 can also provide basic assistance with the service. -30-


text: Amazon S3's Query String Authentication is the only way to secure your files, while allowing you to make them available to those customers who should have access via your web site. If you run a membership site based on WordPress, this plugin is a must-have. If you care about the security of your content and want to prevent link sharing and hot-linking to your files on S3, do NOT make your content security settings (ACL) Readable by Everyone like many tutorials out there teach. Use Query String Authentication instead. Visit out site to learn more.