text:
Face Off
The Gray Man does architecture, not carpentry.
He does not drive through blue-collar neighborhoods to make sure campaign lawn signs are still standing after a windy night. He does not spot-check the jumbo shrimp before fund-raising cocktail parties or call up candidates' friends in other states to wring contributions out of their checkbooks. The Gray Man does big-picture campaign strategy, not street work, and he likes to operate in shadow. He may or may not be the best of Broward County's full-time political consultants, but he probably is the most invisible. For example, his business card bears a company name so monumentally vague that it might be involved in timber, or aircraft parts, or hospital management. To enter his inner sanctum requires a promise of anonymity.
On the morning of January 19, exactly 85 hours after declaring his candidacy for mayor of Hollywood, John Coleman arrives at the Gray Man's office for a meeting. An irrepressible chatterbox, Coleman shuts up for 90 minutes and sits at a conference table. By the time he leaves the Gray Man's office, Coleman has been offered the following lessons in municipal political science:
1. Campaign finance laws don't really exist.
2. Newspapers don't really matter.
3. Voters are mainly clueless.
4. Democracy is alive and well.
"I'll tell you the secret of winning," says the Gray Man, leaning back in his chair. "The secret of winning is that most people don't give a rat's ass about issues. They don't care about anything except liking and trusting you. That's all they do, OK?
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"A voter who says, 'Well what do you stand for?' probably isn't going to vote for you. A voter where you walk up and say, 'Hi, I'm John, and gee, are you as tired as I am about what's going on?' They say, 'You bet,' and then you shut up! They'll talk to you! The more you listen to a voter, the more they like you. It's a lesson some people never learn because they're too busy preaching to everybody."
"Here's the reality of the situation as I understand it," he says, blowing on some herbal tea. "You probably have a populist momentum that you can create, and it can be energized. You have no money, but you need to get your message out, so you need to do two things. You use people, and lots of 'em, and you have to use the phones, which are free. You have to talk to a gazillion people, dawn to dusk. Another thing. You're gonna have to do some signs."
The Gray Man gets up and leaves the room. Estelle Loewenstein has arrived late. Like Coleman, Loewenstein is a first-time candidate. She, Coleman, and a third contender, former Hollywood Mayor Sal Oliveri, are attempting to unseat the current mayor, Mara Giulianti, and two commissioners, Eleanor Sobel and Dick Blattner, who are up for reelection.
Loewenstein leans toward Coleman: "Who is he, actually?" she whispers, meaning the Gray Man. Before Coleman can answer, the Gray Man jumps back into the room waving a set of campaign signs from a recent race he puppeteered.
"These are done on a color printer," The Gray Man explains. "Eight-and-a-half-by-eleven sheets. You put the enamel on it, that's it. Great signs. You don't have to have expensive, slick signs. You don't have to have them on every street. Printed on color paper!"
Loewenstein asks: "What, now, ah, what's the, ah, sealed in ah... they're all homemade?"
"Yeah!" The Gray Man shrieks with excitement. "You go to Sam's [Club] and you get a little enameler, and you can make these every day. You have somebody in your group who has a color printer and you do this -- boom, boom! You have somebody to lay it out and it's done! It's not hard!
"The point I'm trying to make here," he continues, "is to get off this idea you have to raise a bunch of money, cause you aren't going to, OK? I wouldn't spend ten minutes trying to raise money. Just put that in abeyance. You have to tell the people that this is their campaign. You cannot internalize it. It's not about either one of you individually. It's not a cult of personality. So let me tell you how you contact people."
Coleman scratches his head. Loewenstein, who is prone to frowning, frowns.
"You'll find that insiders amount to a small handful of people," the Gray Man says. "And you'll find that the majority of voters never read a paper. If they read a paper, like me they'll read the funny pages, or they're gonna read the sports section, or they'll read the financial news, and they'll never, never read the local section. They will never, ever look at a political article. Most people one day before the election won't have an idea or clue that there's even an election, let alone who to vote for."
The Gray Man throws the signs in the corner of the conference room and sits down. Coleman leans forward and starts to ask a question. The Gray Man leaps out of his chair. A memory has him under arrest.
"Someone very intelligent told me a long time ago that if you always say a guy is a bum or somebody's a jerk, and you say that for a year -- without backing it up -- 'Oh, that guy's a jerk. He's a jerk, he's a jerk, he's a jerk.' At the end of a year, whoever you've been telling that to for a year believes that person's a jerk. It works.
"So always make your attack on their slate. Remember, they're running a slate. How do you know they're running a slate? Well, [Broward political consultant] Barbara Miller is running this campaign, that campaign, and that campaign. You say, 'Hey: They're the slate. We oppose the city hall slate.' That can be one of your things. You turn it around on 'em: 'Our slate? Our slate is for the people. We are together because we oppose them. Let's see if they walk, talk, act like a slate: Same campaign person. Same financial backing. Same issues. On the dais they vote the same. They all live in the same neighborhood -- Emerald Hills. Who's the slate here?' Call 'em a name! Call 'em the Three Stooges! Or the three whatever."
Tactics: "You won't win Emerald Hills because Emerald Hills is their bastion. They live there. So why on Earth spend any time in Emerald Hills? Don't! Zero! Why? You have real strengths in some of the condos. You can hit it hard, and that's what you have to do. If you can take the beach condos and Westlake and Hillcrest condos away from that bloc, and you ought to be able to, you probably have enough opposition impetus to win. That's what Sal did in 1990. Sal lost when Mara went and made peace with those groups again in 1992. OK?"
Coleman: "What about terms like 'clean sweep'?"
"Well, sure. 'Clean sweep' works fine. You get a broom handle, put a sign there, people will like it. 'What's the broom for?' 'It's time to get the Three Stooges out. Sweep 'em out!' You put the shoe on the other foot.
"The name of the game in most campaigns, all things being equal, is not to make mistakes. If you don't give them anything to attack you on, all they'll be able to put out is puff pieces about themselves, which no one will be interested in reading.
"Most of the issues have answers. Mara and the others will come up with answers. So if you try to play the information game, you can't do it. So deal with what the image is. You say, 'Come on. This is embarrassing, Mara. It's not your job to embarrass the city. How could you let this happen? [Former city attorney] Alan Koslow, who resigned in disgrace for paying all that money to his girlfriend, is now the chief lobbyist in the city. How can that be? How does that work?'
"They have to run on their record. You run against their record. You don't have to run on your record -- you don't have one. They can out-debate you because they have more information than you. But the one thing a serious candidate can't handle is if you poke fun at them. Reagan did it best when he said, 'Well, there they go.' There's no answer to that. What are you going to say? 'No, I'm not going! Well maybe I am?'"
On campaign finance reporting: "There are no campaign police. We like to think there are, but there aren't. OK? Everybody makes a big scene about it when there's some sort of supposed violation, but nothing happens, because I assure you the other guys have done far worse. The winners never pursue it, because there's no point to it. And the losers are never successful because the boys they go up to are people who know they've done even worse, OK? And what's worse, they've already lost, it's ancient history, so what's it matter?"
Debates, another waste of time: "Virtually nobody goes to these things except the press and candidates' supporters," he explains. "There aren't any undecided voters there. But let's say there were. If you got 100 percent of everyone at every debate, you'd still lose.
"Our process -- I hate to sound like America the Beautiful and all that stuff -- our political process thrives on a real debate. But the debate isn't in some meeting hall. It's out there!" -- here the Gray Man throws his arms wide and goggles his eyes.
Not sure his audience is getting the point, the Gray Man tries it another way: "People will either flock to your point of view or they won't. You will know right off how your campaign is going. Either you're going to see a thing that begins to mushroom, or you're gonna see nothin'. And if you see nothin', it'll be a tip for you that people are basically happy with what exists, even if you weren't." The Gray Man pauses. "That's about it. OK?"
Dead silence.
By the following Saturday, John Coleman has decided not to hire the Gray Man as his campaign manager, though he may use some of the Gray Man's top-secret technical services in the final days of the election.
Instead of the Gray Man, Coleman and his two de facto running mates have settled on Joe Whitehead, a lawyer and politics junkie who helped Sal Oliveri defeat Mara Giulianti in 1990 and then helped him lose a rematch in 1992. Whitehead has kept all of his laminated precinct maps in his closet. The precinct maps illustrate how Giulianti habitually carries Hollywood by winning big in ten key districts, some of which may now be vulnerable to attack. The western and southern borders of the city, and central Hollywood, are rich with registered voters who rarely vote but might vote against Giulianti if they did. They include blacks and Hispanic newcomers.
From afar Hollywood's mayor might seem invulnerable. Even as she has won five out of the last six elections, Broward's second-largest city has changed in ways that are hard to argue with. The downtown business district, once an unwashed stumblebum of a destination, now looks like an up-and-coming movie star. Hollywood's Broadwalk, one of the few places in South Florida where cars are entirely prohibited and pedestrians rule the roost, is alive with new moneymakers and moneyspenders.
Some delirious boosters along Harrison Street, Hollywood Boulevard, Young Circle, and South Ocean Drive have taken to calling Hollywood the next South Beach. The underlying reason for the renaissance is a special tax-zone created long before Mayor Giulianti or any of her challengers came on the scene. But Giulianti's administration has been vigorous in business recruitment and promotion.
The most apocryphal of these recent success stories is the one about Giulianti running into Fort Lauderdale businesswoman Kitty Oliver at a jazz concert. "She put the bug in my ear about Hollywood and then kept talking to me about the idea of opening a new place down there," Oliver says. Oliver is opening a new version of her successful, music-driven O'Hara's saloon. "Las Olas was a bit of a cold shoulder compared to the warmth and the outstretching in Hollywood," Oliver adds. "I mean, the neighborhood cop stops by and says hello. It's like Mayberry."
The problem for Giulianti and her two commission confreres now running for reelection is not just that all of Mayberry isn't sharing in the gold rush. It's not just that certain residents in west Hollywood still do without sidewalks or that north beach denizens haven't forgotten a clumsy attempt by the city to acquire and commercialize a state nature preserve. It's that the city's coziness with private business interests has some people wondering whether there's anything more to Giulianti's civic vision than the narrow notion of government as a vast secretarial pool for the chamber of commerce.
The view is bolstered by a few legendary personalities sauntering around city hall. Former city attorney Alan Koslow, after first engaging in an extramarital affair with a fellow city employee and then urging the city to pay the woman $50,000 to settle an unrelated sex-discrimination suit, today serves as an omnipresent city lobbyist. Bernie Friedman, Koslow's law partner at the firm Becker & Poliakoff, is so chummy with elected officials that local wags refer to him as "the sixth commissioner." The firm is a heavy contributor to Giulianti's reelection campaign.
The most recent deal in which Koslow and Friedman played a part was the awarding of a prime, six-acre parcel of public beachfront property near Johnson Street to developer Gus Boulis, founder of the Miami Subs fast-food chain and a principal in a local gambling-boat operation. Because the city charter prohibits selling public land for commercial projects, Boulis got a long-term lease. Sitting beside him at various commission meetings was lobbyist Friedman. And the recommendation that Boulis get the land was promulgated by the newly created Hollywood Economic Growth Corporation (HEGC).
As even the incumbent commissioners who created it will acknowledge, the HEGC was instituted as a means of skirting public-records laws and dodging public scrutiny of business dealings between the city and private enterprise. The argument for creating public-private corporations like the HEGC goes like this: In the early stages of many business-recruitment efforts, public disclosure of negotiations will scare away potential investors who might otherwise move to Hollywood and build hotels or renovate shabby downtown storefronts.
Virtually all of the funding for the "public-private" corporation comes from public funds, though; and its board members have at times included the city manager; the mayor; the CEO of HIP Insurance, the city's health insurer; and Michael Swerdlow, the biggest developer Hollywood does business with. Superficially at least the HEGC seems indistinguishable from a tea party made up of elected officials and developers cutting deals behind closed doors. The latest result: a snazzy, high-rise hotel to be built by Boulis along Hollywood's oceanfront.
In a press release kicking off their campaign, Coleman and his confreres say they're "tired of City Hall ignoring neighborhood concerns, listening only to lawyers and lobbyists." As a counterpoint to this alleged elitism, Coleman says he wants to reprioritize government services to address the needs of neighborhoods and families; develop a "knowledge-based" work force instead of relying wholly on the tourist trade; establish better oversight and accountability for city spending, and "preserve our natural heritage, especially our scarce oceanfront land." At the heart of the Colemanite campaign is a belief in Mara Giulianti's souring electability.
"I had a mailman tell me he doesn't know how Mara got elected, because everyone he talks to says they didn't vote for her," says Bob Mikes, the mayor of adjacent Dania. "What they're really saying is that they didn't vote. Coleman doesn't need to sell himself. He simply needs to get people to the polls who feel disenfranchised by her, which is a big chunk of Hollywood."
Former Hollywood Police Chief Richard Witt, who is currently suing the city for wrongful termination, notes that "Mara has a vision, and that is something that you can both like and dislike about her. That vision is a combination of things: She sees downtown as a sort of cross between Las Olas Boulevard and Coconut Grove. She sees the beach as sort of an extension of South Beach, all very active, glitzy, upscale. She's committed to do whatever it takes to bring that to fruition; and the fact that that vision isn't shared by others in the city doesn't bother her a bit."
Both Witt and Mikes agree that one major stumbling block for Coleman and his unofficial slate is the fact that there are several other candidates in the race, including commission candidates Peter Bober and Julie Sweeten, and the rather mysterious Philip Martin, another mayoral candidate. Because Hollywood has no primary or runoff, just a one-shot, winner-take-all election day, numerous opposition candidates increase the odds of a split vote -- and the reelection of incumbents.
"In my history in Hollywood, it seemed that any time an incumbent had a viable opposition, someone who no one had ever heard of would jump in the race and split the vote," says Witt. "I prided myself that I knew people in the community, but then these unknowns would materialize at election time. You were always left with that quandary -- is this person a kook or is he a spoiler, a stealth candidate, brought in and paid off by an incumbent?"
This time around, opposition candidates are raising their eyebrows at Philip Martin. Martin lives in a battered bungalow in west Hollywood. A brand-new Ford Mustang sits in the driveway next to a child's tree house bearing the spray-painted words "Kick Ass!" State records list two marriages and two divorces, show he has a concealed-weapons permit, and suggest that the source of his income is a telecommunications company with directors based in Tulsa and Dallas. For a mayoral candidate, Martin seems reticent: He didn't return phone calls to his home or campaign treasurer.
None of these things seems to bother Coleman as he finishes a strategy session at Sal Oliveri's house, leaves his fellow candidates and campaign manager behind, and pilots a battered station wagon toward Key Largo. By his own admission, it's the worst possible use of his time right now -- a date at the thirteenth annual Everglades Coalition conference. On the other hand, he'll pick up a few checks from friends in the bunny-hugging world, among them a donation from Col. "Rock" Salt, a former regional chief of the Army Corps of Engineers.
Salt isn't the only high-level federal official Coleman has recruited into his campaign. In a few days, a former campaign advisor to Hugh Rodham's U.S. Senate race will be flying into town to survey the Hollywood election and perhaps lend a hand. Coleman is pals with Hugh and Tony Rodham, the First Lady's brothers; he gets invited to White House fundraisers; and he recently squired Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt around South Florida in his car.
Coleman's links to the top brass and his interest in politics date back to 1962 when he arrived in Florida as chief of an Army detachment charged with planning the invasion of Cuba on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The invasion never took place, and Coleman returned home to Providence, Rhode Island. During the next two decades, he worked as a schoolteacher, a sales rep for Lipton Tea, and finally as the president of his own consulting firm, the Technical Assistance and Training Corporation.
According to Coleman, he made a lot of money; flew almost constantly among offices in Boston, Washington, New York, Dallas, and Chicago; and lived mainly on steak, scotch and adrenaline. Among other things, the firm advised the Congressional Budget Office on its computers, the state of New Jersey on its vocational education system, and the National Alliance of Business on its management strategies. Six years ago, with two marriages, eight kids, and one heart operation behind him, Coleman took up residence in a rental apartment in the high-rise Presidential Towers on Hollywood beach, intent on lounging around the rest of his life.
Instead he began to run afoul of Giulianti. There was the morning four years ago when he looked out his window and saw a bulldozer illegally rearranging the sand per orders of the city. Later on he embroiled himself in a lawsuit against the city to block its acquisition of North Shore Park from the county. More recently he fought a new strip-mall Burger King on the beach. For weeks leading up to the filing deadline for this election, Coleman, as president of an activist group called Coalition of Hollywood Citizens, tried to recruit an opposition candidate. When none emerged, he says, he drafted himself.
"The reasons for not running are very legitimate," Coleman notes. "How do you say to your husband or wife or partner in life that you're going to spend the next eight weeks running for a job that pays $15,000? But I'm in geezerland now. I have absolutely no need for money. I came here to sit on the beach, to read, to think, to be a father. But things never turn out quite like you plan."
Will he win?
"That's going to be up to the people," he says. "A candidate really has no idea what's going down. I've been a part of enough political campaigns to know how they get fast and they get strange. This one's gonna be both.
"The problem with Mara is the same problem Dukakis had. The guy never left the Northeast. He couldn't have told you where Montana was to save his life. Mara's a creature of Emerald Hills. She has no sense of city.
"I'll tell you," Coleman adds, "economic development isn't just about restaurants that serve basil and pesto. And the good communities in Florida are no longer building high-rises on the beach."
A few days after Coleman wasted precious time -- but had a lot of fun -- driving to Key Largo, he's out on the street "kissing babies and asking for money," as his campaign manager calls it. Oliveri and Loewenstein are with him in spirit, though they're working other parts of town.
Meanwhile, Mayor Giulianti is wasting her time and not having much fun doing it. She's sitting in her third-floor office at city hall enduring an interview. She thinks the questions are stupid and suspects the result will be unfair, negative press.
"This is tilting at windmills!" she yells, unconsciously tearing at a purple scarf knotted around her neck. "I'm establishment to you! I know it! I know it! I don't know why I bothered with this!"
But rather than walk out, the mayor keeps talking, and the talk invariably turns to Coleman, an avid environmentalist who lives in a high-rise and runs the air conditioning 24 hours a day; a former globe-trotting business consultant who owns no property; a candidate who espouses family values while living with his girlfriend.
The world is full of paradox, but Coleman's paradoxes amount to rank hypocrisy, Giulianti charges. She accuses Coleman of being a tax cheat because he failed to change his out-of-state license plate in a timely fashion; of harboring a secret agenda in which Mother Nature will return Hollywood beach to barren, barrier-island status.
"They don't deserve John Coleman's vision!" she intones, speaking of the people. "Mara's vision is the right one. It's the one that's going to save Hollywood!"
Issues in Hollywood are maddeningly parochial. They're not just local, they're superlocal: one neighborhood gets exercised over storm drains or sidewalks; another cares only about the widening of U.S. 1 where it cuts through the city; another part of town wants nothing more than to stop paying a new surcharge on paramedic services.
The one issue that crosses neighborhood boundaries is the issue of Giulianti herself. The mayor knows that, rightly or wrongly, the March 10 election is largely a referendum on her management style, her personality, and the way the city has changed in recent years -- which in turn is linked inextricably to her.
So what about her image? What about this idea that she and her elected comrades are too cozy with the country club set? The mayor is establishment. But the upside of incumbency is that she, Eleanor Sobel, and Dick Blattner had already raised more than $100,000 for their campaigns by January 1. A lot of that money comes from lawyers, lobbyists, construction firms, and others who do business before the commission. So campaign contributions would seem a reasonable point of departure for a discussion of public image.
Q:That image of you is not restricted to your political opponents. It's out there, it's abroad, and how it got created is something I'd like you to talk about if you care to. But why perpetuate that image by accepting campaign contributions from Swerdlow, from Becker & Poliakoff, from HIP Insurance, from --
A:Wait a minute, wait a minute, everyone accepts campaign contributions! From the President to the governor to every legislator. That's why you have campaign reporting laws. I think what scares me about people like John, and I thought about how he could say that I put some guy that I never heard of -- Martin Philips or Philip Martin or whatever he is -- in there, I thought, it's people that would do those things who usually think someone else would too. I think that John probably -- maybe it's because he's never been a financial success, and maybe that's what causes him, or maybe it's --
Q:Wait a minute. What are you basing that on? You just told me on the phone the other day that you think his past and his background are a black hole, that it's sketchy.
A:I think anyone who's been a financial success has a credit rating. I've been told that he has no credit rating.
Q:Well, you've not only been told that, you saw that on a credit report. You testified under oath to that.
A:No, I -- I'm not sure what it was I saw. I don't know that it was a credit report. I do not know what was shown to me.
Q:And you don't remember who showed it to you.
A:I do not remember who showed it to me. I think I remember, but I don't want to get -- I think it might have been somebody, but I would not want to get her in trouble if -- if she wasn't the one.
Hmm. Whew. The discussion of Giulianti's public image has derailed. Maybe it's worth a second try.
Q:We were starting to talk about campaign contributions a minute ago. Campaign contributions as they relate to your public image. Anybody can contribute to a campaign as long as they follow the campaign contribution guidelines. But that's not the same thing as saying you have to accept them. Given this image of you that some people have as elitist, arrogant, surrounded by developers whose pockets you're helping to line, why do you continue to do business with people like --
A:Because I don't think they're dirty.
Q:With people like Bernie Friedman, Alan Koslow.... In a sense these people are a liability, aren't they?
A:OK, well, then that's really pretty sad, because you know what? I don't make a value judgment on human beings. I think this happens to be a capitalistic country. People have an opportunity to earn a living, and business is not a dirty word. And if you're going to build buildings probably a developer or a builder is going to build them.
Q:Sure. What do you think Gus Boulis hopes to get out of you in exchange for his campaign contributions?
A:I think it's a little bit just the opposite. I think that Gus Boulis, before he ever contributed, was already awarded the contract to do Diamond on the Beach. Uh, I think it's probably not unusual for somebody who's been awarded a contract like that to make a contribution. So what does he need to get? He already has a 49-year lease to build something that we desperately need on that beach. It will be Hollywood's only four-star hotel. And unlike, well, Miami Beach had to pay [in incentives] a fortune to get a hotel done. They contributed millions of dollars. We didn't even have to do that.
Q:Since we're jumping around --
A:But your premise is so scary! It is! It's that the people who built America are dirty!
Q:No, no. That's not what I'm saying. I'm talking about these campaign contributions and the way that this city administration does business with people like Alan Koslow as it relates to --
A:Tell me about people like Alan Koslow. Has he been to prison? Has he done something I don't know of? We have a President of the United States who right now has a bunch of sexual allegations against him. Well, I don't care. You know what I do care about? If he lied under oath, he's lost me forever. But you know what? I think it's between him and Hillary if he had affairs, and I do think it shows poor judgment if it was somebody that was only 21 years old, but frankly you've got Strom Thurmond who must have married a gal who's 19 years old. I mean, give me a break! If they did that with three-quarters of the Presidents -- and how about the popes that we've had who have had illegitimate children? And you know what, they weren't even defrocked by the Church! So what I'm saying is that Alan Koslow has some very good clients. He has done a very good job. I mean I'm the one who asked for his resignation, and I asked for his resignation because he hadn't upheld the standards that you need in government.
Q:Then why on earth would you turn around and do business with him the way you do?
A:You know what? When I go into Macy's to buy something, frankly, I do not ask to have a check on the lady who's waiting on me. To be perfectly honest, I probably buy clothes, maybe a few of the kids in the sweatshops sew them because I haven't been diligent enough to check and see if that was the case.... Anybody who knows me knows I vote my conscience and let the chips fall where they may. Nobody can buy me! What do I need this for -- $16,000, a $20,000 total with my car allowance? I'm married to somebody who was a brain surgeon. I don't need this for the income.
It's something else that Giulianti needs, that keeps her running for office every two years. Partly, she says, it's the satisfaction of public service. More to the point, it's the thrill of approval and validation. Giulianti calls Hollywood "a 50-50 city," a place where almost any given issue polarizes and divides the populace down the middle. The phenomenon holds true of the city's attitude toward her. Giulianti's brusque, unapologetic, hard-charging personality rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but so far more voters seem to like those qualities than not.
"I've come up with some good ideas, and because I'm a forceful person that's how they've been implemented," Giulianti says. "You look at the cities where you don't even know who the mayor is, and those cities may be very good at having the wheels turn, but if they need to change direction, to chart a new course, they can't do it."
As twilight falls on Hollywood, talk-radio hosts are making dates with candidates, campaign literature is on its way to the printers, and incumbents and challengers alike are plotting their public appearances for the evening. A fortnight into the eight-week election sprint, Coleman optimistically likens his campaign to a rocket and claims that "the rocket is taking off." He acknowledges that he and his fellow status-quo shakers have raised only a fraction of the money Giulianti has. With four contenders for the mayor's seat, Coleman faces an uphill fight against a split vote.
Late last week, in an effort to narrow the pack, Coleman's camp sent an emissary to Philip Martin's house to persuade the mystery candidate to drop out of the fray. The effort was unsuccessful. A second meeting with Martin took place at the home of attorney and Coleman-supporter Ken Barnett. The result: further exasperation. Martin refused to budge, despite acknowledging he had virtually no chance of winning. "Unfortunate and illogical," notes Coleman, "and suspicious.
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Q I am looking for an inexpensive turntable for my father as a gift. He has a very good receiver with built-in phono preamp and Axiom speakers. What do you recommend under $400?
— B.H., Pittsburgh
A I commend you for introducing your father to the wonderful world of vinyl records. I have long been a fan of records for the warm, natural sound and the wide variety of music available very inexpensively on the used market. Under $400 there are only two turntables I know of that are worth considering. Fortunately, both are solid choices and you won't go wrong either way, even in his high-quality system.
The first is the Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB, which lists for $299 but can be found online for under $220. It provides a true taste of vinyl magic and is exceedingly well made for the price, having solid heft and looking like a clone of the legendary Technics SL-1200. The turntable has a USB output for transferring records to a computer and also has a built-in phono preamplifier so you can use it with any receiver, even those lacking a phono input. Your father's receiver has a phono preamp so if you get him the AT-LP120-USB instruct him to turn off the turntable's phono preamp and use the receiver's instead. Audio-Technica upgraded the mediocre DJ cartridge originally fitted to the turntable to their well-regarded AT-95E HiFi cartridge, which makes this turntable an even better buy than it was when I first recommended it two years ago.
Mark Twain had a saying that "the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." In the $200 turntable pecking order, this turntable is lightning. The sub-$200 USB turntables that you find in department and big-box stores are the lightning bugs — cheap junk that you should stay away from. Anyone who wants to play records should seek this product out and spend a bit more rather than buy one of the cheapies. You will be very glad that you did. For more information, visit www.audio-technica.com.
The other choice is the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon for $399. This is a true audiophile product and though entry-level by audiophile standards, you have to spend $1,000 or more to clearly outperform it. It has an excellent Ortofon 2M Red cartridge mounted to an exotic carbon-fiber tonearm and the whole package looks and sounds great. Pro-Ject makes accessories like an acrylic platter and a motor controller so your dad can tweak and upgrade it as time goes on. It does not have a built-in phono preamp, which is OK in your case but readers considering this turntable will need one. For more information, visit www.sumikoaudio.net
You are lucky to live in the same city as Jerry's Records, one of the very best used record stores in the world. Jerry's is an audiophile landmark and many vinyl record fans make pilgrimages there to spend a day looking through the incredible inventory, most of it sorted, cleaned and priced for under $5 per album. My website has a feature about Jerry's Records that you can see at http://tinyurl.com/jerrysrecords. Be sure to pass on the link to your dad as I am sure he will want to visit once he has that new turntable hooked up.
Contact Don Lindich at www.soundadviceblog.com and use the "submit question" link on that site.


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A COMPANY which has a vehicle dealership in Blackburn has been fined following an inquiry into market rigging.
The case, which centres on the distribution of Mercedes-Benz trucks and vans in the north of England and parts of Wales and Scotland, resulted in a fine of £1.5million for the Daimler-owned company.
Ciceley, which has Mercedes dealerships in Commercial Road, Blackburn, Great Lever, Carlisle, and Dumfries, was fined £659,675, while the penalties for Enza Motors, of Warrington, Stoke, Trafford Park, and Manchester, and North-Wales-based Road Range were £347,000, and £115,000, respectively.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) identified three separate breaches of competition law in relation to market sharing, price co-ordination, and the exchange of commercially-sensitive information, and has fined Mercedes-Benz and three commercial vehicle dealers £2.6million Ali Nikpay, OFT senior director of cartels, said: "These cases send a clear signal that the OFT will take firm action against companies that collude to deny customers the benefit of fair competition, regardless of the size of the firms."


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Expect More Selling
After the fast advance last week, the markets looked as though they were ready for a pullback, and that is what started to develop on Monday. The Arms Index moving averages had become overbought, the volatility index (the VIX) had gone back to a very complacent level, and all the averages were at levels that have a history as stopping places.
However, the drop, while quite large, showed a very obvious lack of concern. Volume was light and was not concentrated heavily in the declining stocks. Therefore, a quite neutral Arms Index kept the moving averages in overbought territory....337 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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Article Post
Experts and Staff
Energy Central
Member since 2016
Experts and Staff, Energy Central
Austin Energy
YOU WILL HAVE TO FORGIVE THE FOLKS AT AUSTIN ENERGY IF they don't notice they dropped a spot in the Intelligent Utility's UtiliQ Top 25 Intelligent Utilities rankings, from second place in 2010 to third in 2011.
They have been such busy campers continuing to transform energy consumption and delivery in the Texas capital-and unveiling Austin Energy's first proposed rate increase in 17 years-that they probably won't even notice their new spot in the top 25.
"We've got our hands full," said Jerry Hernandez, Austin Energy's director of smart grid and system operations, seemingly enjoying the understatement. "We are keeping pretty busy."
Rolling out renewables and efficiencies
The nation's ninth largest community-owned electric utility, Austin Energy has about 430,000 customers and covers a population of almost 1 million. It relies on energy sources such as nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewables, generating almost 3,000 megawatts of power.
And on Jan. 7, Austin Energy unveiled a massive solar panel site east of the city. The privately built Webberville solar project will generate enough electricity to power 5,000 homes annually from 127,000 solar panels on a 380-acre site. The 30-megawatt facility is considered one of the largest in the country.
Among its ongoing efforts, the city-owned utility has been retrofitting all of Austin's streetlights, a job that is about one-third complete. The new "smart lights" will inform Austin Energy when a light no longer shines, a much more proactive situation instead of waiting to hear from a passerby if a streetlight is out, Hernandez said.
The utility also recently rolled out a mobile workforce management system to improve workers' efficiency, and it is looking at migrating its internal management system to a large-screen video setup that is expected to enhance situational awareness.
No-stress smart meter conversion
Austin Energy has completed its conversion to smart meters and is now gathering information from its advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to improve responses to outages. It is also "looking behind the meter," Hernandez said, to determine how best to work with customers to manage their energy use, especially when it comes to large drags on the system like lighting.
Regarding the implementation of the smart meter program, which has been controversial in some areas of the country, Hernandez believes Austin Energy was "rather successful in our rollout." He credits a concerted advertising and marketing campaign for informing the public about the benefits of the smart meter program and how the utility would go about installing the new meters.
"We really didn't have a lot of customer complaints because we were very transparent with the whole thing," said Hernandez.
Balancing budgets and reserves
When it comes to the public's reaction to the proposed rate increase, however, Hernandez is not expecting a sustained opposition, especially if consumers realize Austin Energy needs the revenue to maintain popular efforts, such as its voluntary green pricing program, GreenChoice, the nation's most successful utility-sponsored, voluntary green pricing program for eight years running.
In fact, Austin Energy has been an ATM for the city, chipping in $77 million to the municipality's general fund in 2006, a source of revenue that rose to $105 million in 2011, helping the city council cover expenses that would otherwise have had to be covered by unpopular hikes in property taxes.
But now Austin Energy needs $126 million more in yearly revenue to cover its budget, deal with rising costs and replenish its reserves, the Austin American-Statesman reported. On its Web site, Austin Energy projects a $75 million deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, 2011.
Two-pronged approach to rate increase proposed
Austin Energy officials met with the city council on Dec. 14, 2011, to discuss its proposed 12.5 percent rate increase, which would have seen residential customers who use 1,500 kWh or less a month pay $10 to $20 more, one of a series of suggested rate hikes that would have targeted small businesses, churches, apartment dwellings and homeowners.
Not surprisingly, some public outcry ensued. Austin Energy went back to the drawing board and on Feb. 2 it suggested a two-pronged approach to the increase: raise rates by 8.7 percent sometime this year and by another 3.8 percent in October 2014. The city council will revisit the issue in March.
As can be imagined, the rate increase has received mixed reviews. One councilor, Bill Spelman, told the American-Statesman that the revamped plan suggests "we're headed in the right direction." However, church groups are still not satisfied by changes proposed by Austin Energy, and an advocate for suburban customers, Roger Borgelt, told the local daily newspaper that the energy provider's new plan "couldn't even be called throwing a bone. I'd call it throwing a fingernail."
Austin Energy has said that it must focus on small businesses and residential areas because they have historically been paying less than what it costs to service those customers. According to the new plan, homeowners would see their monthly electrical bill climb from $114 to $127 in 2012, and then inch up another $3 per month in 2014.
Accurately reflecting true costs
Just like any Austin citizen, Hernandez is bracing himself for his new electricity bill, but the reality is these are financially tight times and the utility is "trying to tighten our belt too." He noted that the current rates reflect the life and times of 17 years ago, when Texans would crank up the air conditioning and leave a window open, an amazingly wasteful exercise by today's standards, but one that also benefited utility providers like Austin Energy: the more energy used, the more revenue it collected.
But Austin Energy has been running a deficit for the past three to four years, Hernandez added, so now it's time to establish a rate structure that accurately reflects the costs of delivering energy to the hip and not-so-hip customers that populate the self-styled "Live Music Capital of the World."
Hernandez doubts he'll see a substantive change among customers in his laid-back hometown, no radical revolt or reaction to the rate increase if it is approved.
If there is, the busy Austin Energy crew is used to being busy.
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Since the last decade, there are now more Hispanic children of immigrants in the United States than actual immigrants. That should translate into more progress — educationally and economically. But Steve Trejo, an economist at the University of Texas at Austin, tells Renee Montagne that while the second generation does better than the first, the third generation doesn't fare as well.
Economic Progress Lags For U.S. Born Children Of Mexican Immigrants
By editor • Oct 12, 2011


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We Never Learn, U19, Demon Prince Poro's Diaries, Hungry Marie, Dr. Stone, Robot x Laserbeam. Tell us what you think of the newest additions to the WSJ line-up HERE!
The new season of the Anime League is here! Tell us which new Anime of this season you liked the most so far!
Congratulations Jammin & Purity of Magi for winning the Manhwa Freestyle contest!, and well done to the other participants!.
New Week, New Contest!
Time to get coloring! The theme is Pets Coloring.
Voting has begun for the Flower Banner contest!.
Starting from mid-February or so we'll be going through the media gallery and sorting through the submissions there to ensure they match with our recent changes listed in the Media Gallery Guide.
As such some media files will be removed, so please be sure to look through your media and ensure it is up to requirements If you have any questions, contact a global/admin.
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Though artists in particular, everyone please do check out the [MEDIA GUIDE] , as there are information relevant for you all. Thanks!
Special Nanatsu no Taizai Specials - Side Story: Fight!! The Great Captain of Leftover Disposal
Discussion in 'Nanatsu no Taizai' started by goldb, Feb 22, 2014.
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Fiesta on the street
Sure Cindo de Mayo has turned into a drinking-based American celebration, but we're gonna drop some history here on you.From the completely reliable source of Wikipedia, May 5 is the "date observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride, and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War." What's that? Still wondering where your margarita is? Well, hit up the Strip tonight as it gets a touch of Latin flair for the holiday. From Sue Ellen's to TMC: The Mining Company, the celebration highlights the block tonight.
DEETS: Blockwide Fiesta at Sue Ellen's, TMC: The Mining Company, S4 and JR.'s Bar & Grill. Cedar Springs Road and Throckmorton Street. 8 p.m. PartyAtTheBlock.com.


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The Q.i. Value ranks companies using four ratios. These ratios consist of EBITDA Yield, FCF Yield, Liquidity, and Earnings Yield. The purpose of the Q.i. Value is to help identify companies that are the most undervalued. Typically, the lower the value, the more undervalued the company tends to be. Vectura Group plc (LSE:VEC) currently has a Q.i. Value of 54.00000. Investors often have a large selection of stocks to research when looking to add to the portfolio. Investors have the ability to employ many different strategies to help beat the stock market. In the end, the main goal is typically to maximize profits while minimizing risk. Investors commonly strive to diversify the portfolio in order to minimize risk. Most serious investors are well aware of the risks when entering the equity market. Investors may choose to own stocks across multiple industries to keep from having all the eggs in one basket. Others may choose companies of different size, and even delve into foreign markets. Finding those hidden gems in the stock market may not be the easiest of chores. Investors may have to spend many hours doing the research and crunching the numbers.
Checking in on some valuation rankings, Vectura Group plc (LSE:VEC) has a Value Composite score of 53. Developed by James O'Shaughnessy, the VC score uses five valuation ratios. These ratios are price to earnings, price to cash flow, EBITDA to EV, price to book value, and price to sales.
The VC is displayed as a number between 1 and 100. In general, a company with a score closer to 0 would be seen as undervalued, and a score closer to 100 would indicate an overvalued company. Adding a sixth ratio, shareholder yield, we can view the Value Composite 2 score which is currently sitting at 65.
Watching some historical volatility numbers on shares of Vectura Group plc (LSE:VEC), we can see that the 12 month volatility is presently 26.213800. The 6 month volatility is 27.975100, and the 3 month is spotted at 23.419800.
Following volatility data can help measure how much the stock price has fluctuated over the specified time period. Although past volatility action may help project future stock volatility, it may also be vastly different when taking into account other factors that may be driving price action during the measured time period.
We can now take a quick look at some historical stock price index data. Vectura Group plc (LSE:VEC) presently has a 10 month price index of 0.81487. The price index is calculated by dividing the current share price by the share price ten months ago. A ratio over one indicates an increase in share price over the period. A ratio lower than one shows that the price has decreased over that time period.
Looking at some alternate time periods, the 12 month price index is 0.86299, the 24 month is 0.63463, and the 36 month is 0.81035. Narrowing in a bit closer, the 5 month price index is 0.72391, the 3 month is 0.94646, and the 1 month is currently 0.97336.
Vectura Group plc (LSE:VEC) has a current ERP5 Rank of 12383. The ERP5 Rank may assist investors with spotting companies that are undervalued. This ranking uses four ratios. These ratios are Earnings Yield, ROIC, Price to Book, and 5 year average ROIC. When looking at the ERP5 ranking, it is generally considered the lower the value, the better.


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Topic: Good News
I was diagnosed with CC last August with fairly large Tumors (which I described in prior posts last November) involving both the Left and Right Liver lobes and also some nodule mets indicated in my lungs - I began Chemo Gem/Cis in September and completed Cycle 6 (once a week for two weeks and every third week off) a week ago -
I've now done four CT scans - The original done in August, the second done in early October, the third done in late November and the last done last Friday - The second scan showed very minor changes and a couple of small new mets when compared with the original scan - The third and fourth scans showed no new nodules and no growth but also no shrinkage either -
My oncologist is thrilled because my condition is now considered STABLE - He originally planned to have me take a month or two break from the Chemo schedule to give my body a rest - However, inasmuch as I have tolerated the Chemo extremely well (no nausea, loss of appetite, no loss of weight, etc - only a little fatigue for a day or so after each treatment) he agreed we should continue the schedule for the foreseeable future -
So, I guess this is good news!!!
At the risk of overstaying my welcome on this board by writing an overlong post I'd really appreciate a little advice -
I'm in the process of setting up arrangements to get a second opinion because I've never really gotten a detailed first opinion - Frankly, although the CT scans clearly show tumors and nodules I'm not entirely sure my condition has been properly diagnosed - It appears to me that everyone diagnosed with CC has experienced some of the classic symptoms (fever, itching, jaundice, back pain, pain in abdomen, etc) but I have never experienced any of these symptoms now or ever so I wonder about the diagnosis - I'd appreciate any comments anyone might have about this -
My intention is to set up a multidisciplinary second opinion appointment in the near future - I'd really like to set it up at Case/University Hospitals and/or Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland - I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a knowledgeable specialist at either of those facilities -
I apologize for the length of this post and want to herewith thank those of you who have had the stamina to persevere through this tome!!!


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KX Series
U Series
R Series
TLB Series
Kubota Technology
Save time and work more efficiently. With a simple movement of the dozer lever,
the hydraulic angle blade can be angled to the right or left to push soil to the
side as the machine moves forward, eliminating the need for repetitive repositioning
at right angles when backfilling trenches.
The angle blade lets you work efficiently in confined spaces, alongside walls, and
near busy roads. No wider than the tracks, its also easy to transport between jobs.
down, left, and rightthe angle blade can be moved and positioned with just a single
You dont
need to adjust the dozer height to make a clean ground surfaceafter backfilling,
just travel backward along the covered ditch with the dozer in the float position.
Ground finishing work is now fast and easy!
The dozer arms reinforcement pipe is strategically placed to prevent soil from
piling up.
The angle blade features a U-shaped grease nipple guard on the fulcrum pin for added
A stopper plate ensures fulcrum pin and bushing durability.
The cutting edge protects the angle blade during heavy-duty dozing operations. The
durable edge is divided into multiple sections for easy replacement of the side
components, where wear and tear occur most.
*Standard on Angle Blade models.
When tilted to its maximum angle, the angle blade is wider than the track width,
which prevents soil from entering the tread path.
The angle blades connector has been specially designed to achieve outstanding strength
and durability.
The angle blade boasts a generous approach angle, which allows climbing over obstacles
with ease.
The thick side plate of the angle blade enhances the strength of the fixed hook.
Angle Blade
Kubota Tractor Corporation
1000 Kubota Drive, Grapevine, TX 76051
© 1996 -


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'"There's some improvements to do," the 23-year-old said. "I need to get defensively a little bit better, play maybe a little harder. It's not always perfect, but you try and you try, and sometimes you get rewarded. It's never enough. You have to keep going, keep going, never stop. I just want to be the best player you can be, the whole season long, all the time."'
You are here: Home / SabresBeat / Kalinin's learning curve on fast track


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A very nice opportunity to visit the US presented itself to me so I'll be spending April in Escondido, CA.
I already have a pretty good picture of what courses are in that general area but apart from some bigger pdga tournaments I have no idea if there are any competitions I could take part in during my time there. Do you guys have any recommendations?


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Politics, Prophecy & the Supernatural
He can do it! He's very close and the ELITES are running scared. We just might take back our country and drain the swamp. First order of business. Get rid of Harry Reid!
http://lamarzulli.wordpress.com/ http://www.lamarzulli.net/
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Boots on the Ground in Houston Show Absolute Devastation, MSM Ignores It
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The Obama Zuckerberg Collusion: Facebook CEO and Obama Are Working Together, Here's the Sick Thing They're Doing to Conservatives
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Mother Jones Laments That "Nothing Happened" to Milo and Pamela Geller at Free Speech Rally


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Weave the colored strips through the slits. Alternate the over and under pattern with each strip.
Tape the outside edges of the paper to keep the strips in place. Roll the woven paper into a cone shape and then tape or staple to hold.
Fill the cone with popcorn and enjoy!


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Hassan Aref
University of Illinois
"For his pioneering contributions to the study of chaotic motion in fluids, scientific computation, and vortex dynamics, and most notably for the development of the concept of chaotic advection."Background:
Hassan Aref holds a cand. scient. degree from University of Copenhagen, and a PhD from Cornell University, both in physics. He was a faculty member at Brown University 1980-85 and at University of California, San Diego 1985-92. From 1989-92 he was Chief Scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. He assumed his current position of professor and head, Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 1992.
Aref's main field of research is fluid mechanics. He is particularly well known for introducing and naming the mechanism of "chaotic advection". He is also well known for work on point vortex dynamics, and for numerical simulation studies of vortex flows, flows with sharp interfaces, and foam structure and evolution. Aref was Associate Editor of Journal of Fluid Mechanics 1984-94, founding editor with D. G. Crighton of Cambridge Texts in Applied Mathematics, and a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator 1985-90. He is a Foreign Member of the Danish Centre for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.


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Last Friday, we wrote about the considerations concerning whether to offset previously realized 2012 capital gains with available losses. Our perspective was that, barring an announcement that capital gains rates would rise to 30% or higher, you should use available losses to offset 2012 gains.
Today, let's look at the flip side of the issue: Should you take unrealized gains as taxable profits in 2012? The considerations are whether to pay up sooner at a lower tax rate, as opposed to paying later at a higher rate.
As is true of so many things, the correct short answer is, "It depends." The expanded answer is that it largely depends on your own circumstances.
As we stated last week, we believe that capital-gains rates are likely to rise incrementally but not dramatically. Our best sense is that rates will rise from the current 15% to a rate of 20% and possibly even 25%. (On top of this will be the new health care law surtax of 3.8%, which will apply to all forms of investment income except those generated by an actively managed business.) So rates are likely to rise to the 23.8% to 28.8% level.
We all hope to have some clarity on capital-gains rates before Dec. 31, but you should set a general plan now and be prepared to act on an eventual tax and budget agreement. In the absence of definitive details, we believe the best working assumption is that capital gains rates will move up to the 23.8% level (20% plus the newly effective health care surtax).
All of this leads to a consideration of the time value of money, i.e., the differential between paying less tax sooner rather than the discounted value of paying possibly more tax in the future.
However, we believe the two most important factors should be your own needs for cash and your view of the investment merits of the particular stocks that you might sell for gains.
If you think you will need cash next year, it would probably make sense for you to take gains in 2012. The amount of gain to be realized should track your need for cash, including the tax required to cover the realized gain. Therefore it's not necessarily an either/or decision. You can take gains just to match your cash-flow needs.
Conversely, if you aren't in need of cash next year, then it probably makes good sense to hold on. This would be particularly so if you have a conviction that the stocks in question have good prospects. If a stock is close to hitting your targeted sale price purely from an investment consideration, and if you expect to sell it between now and early 2013, you might consider taking a portion of the gains in 2012 and the balance next year.
Another factor arguing for holding on would be that, while you might have a gain in a stock, there might be some continuing year-end selling pressure as other investors attempt to realize gains on the same stock as well. In 2012, year-end tax selling pressure might fall upon both winners and losers.
The bottom line from our perspective is that barring your needs for cash, making investment-driven decisions about selling is probably the wisest course.
So the combination of investment considerations, together with the benefit of being able to pay tax later, should provide, in the absence of a need for short-term cash, a strong inducement to hold winning stocks that you continue to like into 2013.


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A FORMER female truck driver who launched a club for fellow lady truckers is seeing her organisation grow from strength to strength.
Elizabeth Waters, of Billinghay, launched Lady Truck Drivers UK with co-founder Wendy Priestley two years ago and is now the secretary/treasurer.
Elizabeth used to drive a Scania to Portugal taking wool and bringing back carpets, before retiring in 2000. Roughly two per cent of truck drivers in the UK are women. She said: "Starting the club was something I always wanted to do from when I stopped driving a truck."
She met Wendy at Peterborough Truckfest and they decided to start their own, non-profit-making club, for which Elizabeth also edits the quarterly magazine. After a recruitment drive their membership grew from three to 70 and they now have members all over the UK.
Things have been going very well, forging links with other clubs around the world. She visited and spoke to the 400 members of a French group - Route Au Femine - for their annual dinner at Easter. They have links with clubs in Finland, Sweden (Queen of the Road), Slovenia (Kitty Truckers), Italy (Buona Strada) and she even stumbled upon a group in South Africa while on holiday.
The annual barbecue meeting for members is held at Truckfest. She said: "It is a social thing where we keep in touch with each other on the road and bring up issues like truck stops with women's facilities and places to park that are safe. Most driver showering facilities are only for men and if you use the regular ladies' toilets you look like a tramp, so there is a campaign to make improvements.
"I want to portray women truck drivers as professionals."
Any women truck drivers wanting to join should go to www.ladytruckdriversuk.com


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What: LIVE WFNZ Radio Broadcast / Meet the Hounds
Where: WFNZ Doghouse | 401 W. Morehead | Charlotte, NC
When: Wednesday, February 29 | 10:00a - 3:00p
Free Lunch provided by Queen City Q from 11:30a - 1:00p.
Meet Hounds Superstars -
Jeremy Boltus (A),
Matt Danowski (A) and
Jovan Miller (M).
Autographs and photos. Lacrosse 101. Contests and prizes!
Be one of the first to see the new team jersey and helmet!
Buy 2012 Season Tickets and shop the latest Hounds gear!


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4-Methylumbelliferone as a Treatment for Chronic HBV/HCV
Recruitment status was: Active, not recruiting
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- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Open-label studies, anecdotal reports, and in vitro scientific research indicate that 4-methylumbelliferone (active ingredient of the dietary supplement Heparvit®) may prevent and reverse the symptoms and complications of chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV)and hepatitis C virus (HCV). This effect has been observed among naïve patients as well as those who are non-responders to interferon, commonly used as first-line therapy for HBV and HCV. In order to scientifically address the efficacy of this 4-methylumbelliferone on chronic viral hepatitis, a randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded study is needed.
It is hypothesized that 4-methylumbelliferone may reduce the impact and aggressiveness of HBV and HCV upon the liver, thereby slowing the progression to potentially life threatening liver diseases such as cancer and cirrhosis. This is a preliminary study designed to determine any indications under controlled conditions that may warrant further detailed clinical studies.
|Chronic Hepatitis C Chronic Hepatitis B
|Drug: 4-Methylumbelliferone (Heparvit®)
|Phase 2
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: Double
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|Evaluation of 4-Methylumbelliferone for Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B (HBV) and Chronic Hepatitis C (HCV)
- Reduction of virus in blood to undetectable levels;
- Normalization of serum ALT and AST.
- Reduced viral loads; Improvement of serum ALT and AST;
- Improvement in general health status;
- Improvement in serum marker of hepatic fibrosis;
- Loss of HBeAg/seroconversion to HBeAb (for HBV patients).
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|September 2005
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|August 2007
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 65 Years (Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Serum ALT at least 1.5x the upper limit of normal
- For chronic HBV: Known positive serum HBeAg for at least 6 months; Presence of HBV DNA in serum
- For chronic HCV: Presence of anti-HCV in serum within 6 months of enrollment; Positive serum HCV RNA (enrollment)
- Written informed consent
Exclusion Criteria:
- Treatment (within past 3 months) with interferon, ribavirin, lamivudine, entecavir, or adefovir dipivoxil
- Current treatment with any drug or dietary supplement that could affect serum transaminase values (e.g., milk thistle)
- Pregnancy or inability to practice contraception in patients capable of bearing or fathering children
- Decompensated liver disease (as indicated by total bilirubin >4 mg/dL; albumin <3 g/dL; prolonged (>2 sec over control) prothrombin time; or history of bleeding esophageal varices, ascites or hepatic encephalopathy)
- Active alcohol use, drug abuse, and/or psychiatric problems that, in the investigator's opinion, could interfere with participation in the study
- Hepatitis D infection (for HBV-infected patients)
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00225537
|United States, Texas
|University Health Center Downtown "Brady/Green", 527 North Leona,
|San Antonio, Texas, United States, 78207
|Principal Investigator:
|Charles T Leach, Prof. M.D.
|University of Texas Health Science Center : Department of Pediatrics
|Principal Investigator:
|Anastacio M Hoyumpa, Prof. M.D.
|University of Texas Health Science Center : Medicine -Gastroenterolog
|Study Director:
|Dubravko Pavlin, PhD
|University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00225537 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|June 30, 2005
|Last Updated:
|September 7, 2006
Keywords provided by MTmedical Institute of Health:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis, Chronic
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C, Chronic
Hepatitis B, Chronic
Liver Diseases
Digestive System Diseases
Hepatitis, Viral, Human
Virus Diseases
Enterovirus Infections
Picornaviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Flaviviridae Infections
Hepadnaviridae Infections
DNA Virus Infections
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 25, 2017


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Ready Your Roofs Today for More Snow Tomorrow
Office of Public Affairs
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
Feb. 25, 2003
Ready Your Roofs Today for More Snow Tomorrow
The Fairfax County Office of Building Code Services encourages owners and tenants of buildings with flat roofs to take precautions to ensure structural safety in preparation for more snow in this week's forecast. Last weekend's heavy rainfall, combined with accumulated snow already on flat roofs, caused numerous roof leaks and several structural collapses in the Northern Virginia region, including two in Fairfax County.
Building owners are encouraged to:
- Inspect roofs for any sign of damage
- Ensure there is no excessive ponding of water or accumulation of snow/ice
- Ensure that all roof drainage systems are working properly
If you are not able to safely clear your roof, get professional help. However, if you are equipped to access the roof and can do so safely, use extra caution on slippery surfaces and check for overhead power lines before placing or moving ladders. Deep snow left to melt on flat rooftops can stress the structure and cause leaks not normally found with rainfall. Snow drifts that accumulate at roof/wall intersections and melting snow can work its way past the flashing, resulting in water damage inside the structure.
"We can't stress enough the importance of these simple steps," said Sophie Zager, Fairfax County's Building Official. "It's much better to spend a few minutes today to ensure your property can withstand another snowfall later this season."
For additional information, please call the Fairfax County Office of Building Code Services at 703-324-1980, TTY 711 (Virginia Relay Center).


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I've been a WWE fan since 1990, since then hings have changed. Eras, talent, and WRITING TEAM.
Golden Era which had the faces of the company such as Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Macho man and later down the road Bret Hart.
Attitude Era which we had The Rock, Mick Foley, The Undertaker and Stone Cold as the face of the company.
PG-Era and we


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TD Garden is located at 100 Legends Way in Boston, Massachusetts 02114.
The multi-purpose arena has a seating capacity of 18,624 for basketball games, 17,565 for hockey games, and 19,600 for concert events.
TD Garden first broke ground in April of 1993 and initially opened in September of 1995 at a construction cost of $160 million.
TD Garden is the home of the NBA's Boston Celtics and NHL's Boston Bruins.
From the North
Take Interstate 93S to Exit 26/Leverett Circle/Cambridge. Follow the signs towards North Station. Turn right at the end of the ramp onto Nashua Street. Turn left at Lomasney Way. The TD Garden will be located on your left.
From the South
Take Interstate 95N to Interstate 93N to Boston. Enter 93N Tunnel. Take Exit 26/Storrow Drive. After exiting, stay in the left lane and follow signs for North Station. Make a right at the next set of lights onto Nashua Street. Follow Nashua Street until the end and make a left at the lights. The TD Garden will be on your left.
From the West
Take Mass Pike East to Interstate 93N to Boston. Enter 93 N Tunnel. Take Exit 26/Storrow Drive. After exiting, stay in the left lane and follow signs for North Station. Make a right at the next set of lights onto Nashua Street. Follow Nashua Street until the end and make a left at the lights. The TD Garden will be on your left.
TD Garden North Station Garage offers a flat rate of $42 for parking when guests enter the lot 2 and half hours prior to the start of an event.
Other parking prices vary depending on how long of a duration the event is.
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Sorbet and Champagne Cocktail
The Champagne cocktail, an instant mood lightener, was the official drink of the "bright young things" who flitted through the novels of Evelyn Waugh. In this version, a scoop of sorbet takes the place of the traditional sugar and bitters and turns this classic into a delicious holiday slush.
- Yield: Makes 1
Source: Martha Stewart Living, December 2009
- 1 teaspoon sorbet (we like raspberry or passion fruit)
- Chilled Champagne or Prosecco
Scoop sorbet into a champagne flute. Fill with chilled Champagne or Prosecco; stir.


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Commercial News USA is the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The catalog-style magazine is designed to help U.S. companies find buyers and distributors for their products and services.
Commercial News USA is distributed every two months, free of charge, to readers in 178 countries outside of the United States, including the UK. The magazine is mailed directly to qualified recipients, such as pre-screened agents, distributors, buyers, end-users, and selected multiplier organizations. Free copies are also available at industry trade shows and other events in which the U.S. Commercial Service participates.
Commercial News USA gets results! According to data collected from buyers around the world, advertising in Commercial News USA generates an estimated:
Potential customers can now access CNUSA online, and so can you! Click here for advertising rates and information, or call 1-800-581-8533.
Reserve your space in the next issue of Commercial News USA!


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In case you missed it, a recording of the recent Penn State Technology Tuesdays webinar "Flies and Smells, A Management Challenge," is now available.
View a recording at this site. And, don't miss the next webinar in the Technology Tuesdays series:
May 8, 2012
Topic - The Relationship Between Flooring, Footing and Lameness.
8:30-10:00 a.m., Eastern time; Offered free of charge.
Program presenter: Ernest Hovingh, Penn State Extension veterinarian.
Source: Penn State Extension Dairy Team


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Posted 5 years ago
(153 items)
Here we have a 1942 Supplement to 'The Chicago Sun', dated Sunday, October 11, 1942. Commander GENE TUNNEY, U.S.N., Lt. JACK DEMPSEY, U.S. Coast Guard & Sergeant JOE LOUIS, U.S. ARMY.
The total measures 30" X 15", each measures 10" x 15". This was an insert to the newspaper, it folds to fit. The condition is excellent and should be framed, but not by me. Very nicely done.


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The past week has been intriguing, to say the least. I've talked to people who are scared stiff about the looming fiscal cliff and about what it could mean for them financially. More than a handful of business owners have expressed an intense interest in selling their businesses before year-end.
I must admit that as a long-term-oriented investor -- it certainly doesn't hurt that I'm still in my 30s -- I am getting excited about the opportunities that the so-called fiscal cliff is presenting (in addition to seeking partial equity investments, my holding company is also an interested buyer of quality small businesses that are looking for a long-term home, so if you have a small business for sale, I want to hear about it!).
Readers of my columns know that I'm an optimist when it comes to the U.S. America has endured some calamities over the past 200-plus years, but the country has always succeeded in picking up the pieces and prospering. The resolve here in the U.S. is unlike what you find anywhere else in the world. But America has succeeded because our leaders have come together to do what is in the best interest of the nation, not the best interest of the right or left.
I believe a compromise will occur because it has to. I believe that the threat of the fiscal cliff is exactly what the U.S. needs to bring two extremely opposing viewpoints together.
While I'm an optimist, I'm not living in a fairy tale either. The political landscape in the U.S. is dangerously divided. Such a division, if not settled, could pose a bigger threat to our economic might than any other global threat we face. As in a well-functioning marriage, everyone is going to have to give up a little for the greater good. I believe that will happen. Whether that occurs before Jan. 1, 2013, or after is anyone's guess. But if last week's election proved anything, it is that the country won't tolerate a leadership that refuses to compromise. And given the more subtle rhetoric already coming out of Washington, our elected officials seem to be getting the message.
So if investors continue to pound the markets like they did last week, I believe such a market reaction will be overblown and perhaps present an opening to invest at more attractive valuations. Chesapeake Energy (CHK) has dropped by more than 15% in the past couple of weeks on a less than rosy earnings report. But that doesn't change the fact the company continues to monetize assets and pare down debt. McDonald's (MCD) has sold off to the point that it now almost yields 4%. I don't ever advocate investing solely for the dividend, but McDonald's has been successfully at re-defining itself with newer, healthier options. And the price point is obviously attractive. Dare I say that Apple (AAPL) watchers may get another chance should the stock continue sliding into year-end?
My two key takeaways? First, I believe the market is overblowing the fiscal cliff, and second, investors should be attentive to opportunities that may arise from the fear that may continue to develop in the market.


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- August 22: Chrysler Recalls Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger Cars recalls | 29 days ago
- August 12: Daimler Recalls Sprinter 2500 and 3500 Vans Over Takata Airbags recalls | 39 days ago
- July 22: Chrysler Recalls Dodge Challengers That May Roll Away recalls | 60 days ago
- July 15: Chrysler Recalls 442,000 Cars and SUVs Over Alternator Failures recalls | 67 days ago
- July 14: Chrysler Recalls 363,000 Dodge Journey SUVs recalls | 68 days ago
1995 Dodge Intrepid
drivetrain Problems
Worst 1995 Intrepid drivetrain Problems
Click on a problem below to read more.
- NHTSA: Power Train: Axle Assembly6
- NHTSA: Power Train: Driveline: Constant Velocity Joint5
- NHTSA: Power Train4
- NHTSA: Power Train: Axle Assembly: Axle Shaft1
- NHTSA: Power Train: Axle Assembly: Axle Shaft: Seal1
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McCutchen's discipline on display for Pirates
PITTSBURGH -- The phrase "lead by example" gets liberally tossed around Major League clubhouses, yet is seldom defined.
Andrew McCutchen took care of that Wednesday night. In their loss to the Reds, Pirates batters were on the receiving end of a total of 151 pitches. McCutchen saw 32 of them.
That skewered ratio resulted from the stubborn, confident approach manager Clint Hurdle urges the rest of his lineup to adopt. It yields results: McCutchen hit one of those 32 pitches out of the park and another safely to left for two of the Bucs' six hits in the 5-2 defeat.
"That's what our men all need to buy into," Hurdle said. "Then have the disciplines and stubbornness to do it. That's what separates hitters at this level."
Less than two weeks after reposing below "the Mendoza Line," McCutchen entered Thursday with 18 hits in his last 48 at-bats, raising his average from .194 to .298.
"Most teams have a go-to guy in the lineup," said Hurdle, who recalled Todd Helton, his Colorado first baseman, in the same light. "At [a count of] 0-and-2 on him, we'd laugh in the dugout, 'Now he's got 'em.'
"They'd waste two pitches, take a couple of stabs at getting him out -- foul, foul -- and now it's a nine-pitch at-bat, and now it's a double. Cutch showed that last night again."
McCutchen's longest at-bat was a 10-pitch duel with Cincinnati starter Alfredo Simon leading off the third inning. Four pitches in, the count stood 2-2. McCutchen fouled off four straight full-count fastballs and deposited the next one in the left-field seats for his third home run in as many games.
Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog Change for a Nickel. He can also be found on Twitter @Tom_Singer. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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My wife and I met Joe a few years ago at the Reds HOF on the day Eric Davis and Jose Rijo were inducted.
I told him how I used to plan my trips home from college so that I would be on the road while games were on just so I could listen to him and Marty. He thanked me for listening and being a fan, then said something to my wife about hoping the Reds could win one for us that day. Well, my wife grew up in DC and is a huge Orioles fan.
I told Joe that she was one of "them" and probably wasn't hoping for a Reds win. He just smiled and said, "As long as she's a fan of baseball, that's alright."
Simply a class act and a true franchise great.


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When it was announced a couple of weeks ago that Bernard Hopkins would challenge Tavoris Cloud for his light heavyweight title March 9 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., nary an eyebrow was raised here.
It doesn't matter that Hopkins is 48. He may not be exciting to watch at this stage of his career. But when you become the oldest man to win a world title at the age of 46 years, four months and six days by taking the title from 28-year-old champion Jean Pascal in his native Canada, you have earned the right to continue the journey.
Hopkins turned that trick with a unanimous decision over Pascal on May 21, 2011. He has since fought a 2-round no-contest with Chad Dawson, then lost his title to Dawson via majority decision this past April. That's OK, because Hopkins did not get blown out and he did not get seriously hurt.
He's an active legend who will be smart enough to know exactly when to say it's time to hang up the gloves. Hopkins is one of the smartest fighters to grace the ring over the past 50 years, to be sure.
"Sugar" Shane Mosley is no Bernard Hopkins. He has not looked good in a fight in four years, or since he stunned the boxing world with a ninth-round stoppage of Antonio Margarito in January 2009 at Staples Center.
In Mosley's past four fights, he is 0-3-1. He lost in lopsided fashion to Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and drew with light-hitting Sergio Mora.
Yet Mosley recently announced his desire to come back at the age of 41, after having announced his retirement last summer not long after being dominated by 21-year-old super welterweight champion Alvarez over 12 rounds on May 5 in Las Vegas.
Mosley - a certainty for the International Boxing Hall of Fame - wants to win another title and had agreed in principle to challenge Paulie Malignaggi for his welterweight belt. That eventually fell through when Malignaggi balked at then money being offered him.
Since Malignaggi is a light hitter, Mosley would have actually had a chance to last the distance in the fight. That's not the point.
Why should someone who obviously is incapable of fighting at the top level anymore be able to come into any situation where he is fighting for a world championship after four consecutive poor performances? Yeah, we know the answer, because it's boxing. But it stinks.
And why should someone who is not even a shadow of himself be able to basically charge fans hundreds of dollars to see him in person because he has convinced them he is capable of being the fighter he's always been?
Let's go back to last year as Mosley was preparing for Alvarez. By this time, he had already had his lackluster fights against Mayweather, Mora and Pacquiao. Yet, there he was, telling reporters why it was going to be different against Alvarez.
"I see myself not as an old warrior, but a young killer," he said at the time. "I don't buy into the 40-year-old (stuff). I'm coming to work like a killer. I'm coming to the fight like I fought with (Antonio) Margarito, like the training camp I had with Margarito, and even better."
He talked about what fuels him.
"The haters are what keep me motivated," he said. "Some media members might be overlooking me because of my age. I'm considered an underdog. I like being the underdog and proving that I'm not. I'm not going to rule the fight, I'm going to dominate."
He was dominated.
Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, was the guy trying to make the Mosley-Malignaggi fight. He said recently that if it didn't pan out, he'd be willing to look for something else for Mosley, knowing Mosley is only interested in a big-money fight.
Schaefer said that in his mind, people need to realize that the three losses we spoke of earlier were to two top pound-for-pound fighters in Mayweather and Pacquiao, and to a rising star in Alvarez. Schaefer said people therefore shouldn't resent Mosley possibly getting a title shot under these circumstances.
"You used the word `deserving.' I think if Shane Mosley deserves one thing after he has entertained fight and sports fans for so many years, I do believe he deserves another opportunity," Schaefer said.
No, he exhausted that opportunity when he tried to convince anyone who would listen that he was going to dominate Alvarez, probably knowing full well he couldn't actually come close to doing it.
Enough is enough.
It's not enough for Hopkins, yet it was one of his recent news conference quotes that kind of hits home with Mosley.
"Age is not an enemy to me," Hopkins said. "The clock is not something to try to stop. The man upstairs can't even do that. You can get the daylight to be earlier or the darkness to be later, but the clock has to move forward."
For Mosley, it has reached the point of no return.
Donaire selected fighter of the year
It had to have been one of those bittersweet weeks for Nonito Donaire. It became apparent his title unification bout with Abner Mares is probably not going to happen any time soon, but Donaire was named fighter of the year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Donaire went 4-0 with two knockouts in super bantamweight title fights against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka and Jorge Arce. Donaire had never fought at super bantamweight before 2012, having moved up from bantamweight.
Donaire, 30, of San Leandro via the Philippines, is 31-1 with 20 knockouts. His only loss came more than 11 years ago - in March 2001 - in a five-round decision to Rosendo Sanchez in Vallejo.
His promoter, Bob Arum, is impressed.
"Nonito came into his own in 2012," he said. "He will do even greater things in 2013 and beyond. He will become the next big pay-per-view star."
The fight everyone wants to see Donaire in is against Mares.
Unfortunately, negotiations appear to have fallen apart. Top Rank Inc. offered Golden Boy Promotions - which promotes Mares - an undisclosed sum of money for Mares' services because Top Rank chairman Arum does not want to do a co-promotion with Golden Boy.
Golden Boy came back with an offer of $3 million for Donaire's services, and that was rejected. Mares is now saying he is going to move on and move up to featherweight.
It would have been one of the most attractive lower-weight title fights in recent years.
Meanwhile, Arum is close to sealing a deal that would pit Donaire against another champion, Guillermo Rigondeaux, on April 13.
Rigondeaux is also promoted by Arum.
In other BWAA news, Donaire's trainer, Robert Garcia, was named Trainer of the Year. Garcia also trains - among others - his younger brother Mikey, a featherweight champion - and former lightweight champion Brandon Rios.
And the fourth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez on Dec. 8 in Las Vegas was voted Fight of the Year. Marquez knocked out Pacquiao with one punch in the sixth round.
Golden Boy Promotions this week announced that Devon Alexander (24-1, 13 KOs) of St. Louis will defend his welterweight belt against Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KOs) of England on Feb. 23 at The Masonic Temple Theatre in Detroit (on Showtime). Also on the show, Cornelius "K9" Bundrage (23-4, 19 KOs) of Detroit will defend his junior middleweight belt against Ishe Smith (24-5, 11 KOs) of Las Vegas. ... The super lightweight title bout between champion Danny Garcia and Zab Judah scheduled for Feb. 9 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn has been re-scheduled for April 27 there because of a rib injury suffered by Garcia. ... Tickets for the March 30 junior welterweight rematch between Mike Alvarado and Brandon Rios at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (on HBO) went on sale Friday. Try Ticketmaster or Mandalay Bay. Their first fight was a thriller won by Rios via seventh-round TKO in October. ... Golden Boy this week signed junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KOs) to a promotional contract. ... Frankie Gomez (14-0, 11 KOs) of East L.A. will take on Linard Lane (13-2, 8 KOs) of Philadelphia in the main event tonight at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas (on FSN/Fox Deportes).