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No matter what happens here, the Colts have done FAR better than almost everyone here thought they would.
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No matter what happens here, the Colts have done FAR better than almost everyone here thought they would.
No, not for 12 of the last fourten years..... We threw that winning mentality away and we have a losing mentality now. It may take a decade to overcome that. I have seen that with Colts before..... or do you forget or are you too young to have seen the Jeff George days and even worse ones than that....... ... I see that you were in the call of 2011. Fair enough. I have been watching since the days of Johnny Unitas...... ...This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
When they asked RG3 what quarter and the score was after he got hit he didn't know
The real question is did he know before?This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Wow that was a crazy catch.
Reggie's 33 and as good as he's ever been
Horrible call there.
did Billick just say "I give Weggie Wayne gweat cwedit?"
It's official, Luck is a BAMF.
Take me out to the black, tell 'em I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me.
wasn't there something about Luck making Matthews look silly? my goodness.
Luck 2nd rookie QB with 300 yards passing in 3 of first 4 games. Cam Newton the first.
Luck is the man wow
Oh my...
this is the dude's 4th game. if you score DO THE DISCOUNT DOUBLE CHECK BELT LUCK.
Look at our mediocre rookie QB go!
thought that was pretty clearly a first
Reggie Reggie Reggie
Remember the Jags game. I'm just sayin.
Who wants to bet hey don't line up in the defense from the end of the Jags game?


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Pema Rigdzin wrote:1) You have not answered my first question, only re-stated that there are supposedly different "interpretations of what buddha means." I'm asking you to specify what those differences are, since you claim to know of them.
If you studied a bit the literature then you should know. If you want to ignore it so be it. My motivation is not to sell anything or to evangelize anybody but I rely on that there is this variety of views about the meaning of the term "buddhahood" because I came across this diversity of views since I became interested in buddhism. Not wanting to persuade I am not going to put any effort in collecting quotes and reviewing literature since I do not want to present a scientific work here. There are already enough useless and futile activities in life but one of the most futile activities is arguing against beliefs.
Have you your belief that there is only one standard belief and that's fine for me if you feel good about it. Still it is an indefinite idea (or a collection of ideas) represented by one single term that is not accessible by valid cognition if one does not include scripture being valid "inference".
Pema Rigdzin wrote:2) My view is entirely consistent. Let me reiterate it for you. One can say accurate things (with respect to valid cognition or valid inferred cognition) about conventional phenomena. However, the ultimate truth is not an object of the conventional minds (discursive thought) and can only be nakedly experienced once the discursive mind has exhausted itself. Therefore, ultimate truth is not an object of analysis and anything one says about it -such as saying that emptiness is not blank but is inseparable from wisdom devoid of subject an object- is merely an expedient means of communication to stave off wrong views (such as that emptiness is nothingness and devoid of wisdom).
You did not understand. I said "ultimate truth" is a conventional phenomenon therefore it is an object of mind. Objects of minds are valid or not in the sense that they may be verified by many minds if certain procedures agreed upon through convention are applied or they may not be so verified. As soon as you merely say "ultimate truth" you are in the sphere of conventional truth since either you refer to something which is merely your own private fantasy or you refer to something which can be verified by valid conventional cognition in this case by inference.
But I agree that the psycho-mental effects of such an inference may be completely different depending on the psycho-mental circumstances under which such an inference is made.
Pema Rigdzin wrote:3) So let me get this straight... according to you, Dharmakirti, Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti, and Tsongkhapa and the Gelugpas deny the inseparability of emptiness and wisdom and merely use emptiness to negate everything but emptiness? Are you really sure any of these masters ever said that analytical reasoning trumped primordial wisdom??? Or did they in fact say that analytical reasoning can take one's discursive mind to its very limits, at which point primordial wisdom can be laid bare?
Sorry but I explicitely stated that I am referring to their logical reasoning procedures exclusively and not to any other teachings.
I appreciate that you want to support your belief system but my intention is neither to establish a belief system nor to negate a belief system.
However I concede that one may also come to the conclusion that what is called "logic" is not different from a belief system since of course it is a conventional system only, i.e. a system of thought that is established through agreement on rules and the meaning of terms. In this sense then I would concede that I prefer the belief system of logical reasoning over metaphysical belief systems that teach "given" phenomena beyond human reasoning doing so through rhetorically and sophistically applying the intellect to reject critical reasoning.
Pema Rigdzin wrote:4) Since you did not answer my previous 4th question, but instead just reiterated something about emptiness being mere negation, I'll restate the question: If your true nature involves no knowing aspect, i.e. wisdom, inseparable from emptiness, how did your present mind come about and what will happen to it once you realize emptiness?
I don't know.
Pema Rigdzin wrote:5) You said:TMingyur wrote:Of course if - for the sake of simplicity and to have something to talk about - we define "buddhahood" as being a subjective state of an individual of having removed of all fabrications from experience - this is not "blank nothingness". Would could it be "blank nothingness" since this sentient being will still experience? And how could it be functionless since this sentient being still breathes, moves etc.
That's of course your own definition, but for the sake of argument, when such a sentient being dies, does this "buddhahood" die with him or her?
"Dying" is conventional reality. It can be perceived and inferred. It is a reality valid across all belief systems. "buddhahood" is no such conventional reality in that it is more restricted as to no. of people and cannot be perceived and inferred unless specific scripture is accepted as "inference".
When a sentient being dies it is dead and the body sort of "dissolves" gradually if not incinerated. This is the objectivied perspective.
Applying perception and inference inference this is all I can say about it. If you are not satisfied and content with that and if you are disiring for "more" then you should ask someone else or look into scriptures/commentaries which cover this issue.
Pema Rigdzin wrote:6) You have said that upon analysis, you cannot find your mind. In what way was it unable to be found?
Of course through applying what is called "mind". I am imprisoned being a sentient being.
Pema Rigdzin wrote:7) What is it that cognizes emptiness?
A sentient being which cannot be found under analysis.
What faculty is it?
Since only a sentient being may cognize it cognition being dependent on "mind" or "consciousness" or "awareness" (choose whatever term you prefer) the faculty necessarily has to be "mind" or "consciousness" or "awareness".
Kind regards

subset: commoncrawl


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found a new home!
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'"In the seven years that I've been involved with the Buffalo Sabres, I don't think by either in person or by television I've missed more than six games. And, if I did miss the game, I watched the period-by-period on the internet. You have to remember, I changed my residence for other purposes. I made something like 250 trips between Rochester and Buffalo attending games."'
You are here: Home / SabresBeat / Golisano to Schopp and The Bulldog: I Have No Regrets


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Anthony Robinson isn't just dreaming about returning full-fledged to fire fighting any more -- he's living it.
The Vallejo 54-year-old firefighter, who received a heart transplant two and a half years ago, says he belongs to an elite group of known firefighters returning to full duty fire suppression work following such a surgery.
Robinson escaped behind-the-desk work with the San Francisco Fire Department last month, and is now working as commanding captain for the department's San Francisco Airport division. That, after three years -- excluding time he was out for the surgery and recovery -- of working what firefighters call "light duty."
"I joined the fire department to go in and help people ... going into burning buildings and fighting fires," Robinson said Friday. "I'm just excited."
Robinson added that passing the firefighter's physical exam for full fire suppression duty is a difficult task for a healthy 30-year-old, let alone a 50-something with a new ticker.
With a new lease on life and his profession, Robinson said he won't look to retirement for at least another four years.
"I'm just getting started," Robinson said, laughing, when asked if a quiet retirement loomed.
Robinson, formerly of Benicia, moved to Vallejo with his new wife LaMonica last year, just months after riding a float in the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena as a representative of the California Transplant Donor Network.
Contact staff writer Jessica A. York at (707) 553-6834 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @JYVallejo.


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Well nhl gamecenter devs, get to working. It always kinda scared me when i saw that big ole number in an app aside from cydia
Why would such identifiable info about consumer devices be given out in the first place
Yeah UDID is way to specific. There are other methods of tracking that are not as detailed as UDID is.
A. If apple continues UDID in the next moth we will hear "oh look apple s apps are insecure the can obtain UDID
B. Oh great now apple took away something that I found useful
Both ways apple gets criticized
Apples one main concern was to keep their products secure but instead and ruin that and let developers and iAds have access to info that can track our every movement. They should of never let them have that kind of info.
Apple really screwed up on that one.
hooray for apple! i'm tired of having to manually delete those tracking bugs. 5.1 no longer has awd_ice. Flurry, you're next!
This - ModMyi.com | Firewall iP
This - ModMyi.com | Protect My Privacy
Equals no worries. Sayin...
PS Oh, and for those interested, don't be weasels. Pay for the damn firewall. RR (aka Yllier) is one of the BEST JB devs around!!
Good now it'll make magicjack rewrite their app! I had to wait for the iPad (New) cause my iPad 2 I messed up on and got a free number, but when the magicjack came to my house n I set it up I couldn't use it's number on my iPad 2, the dill holes (magicjack support) told me to buy a new device! Arrg! So now if the guy I sold it to wants to use a different number he can't! This is all because of the unique UDID# thanks apple! Question is now they will have to tie it some other way?
SO glad this is happening. I have a social networking app that actually creates an account that is specific to your UDID; and, while I can always spoof my original, I''ll be glad I won't have to do this for the future. I'd rather be tied to an e-mail and login ID instead of my UDID.
How devs can make a new identifier:
Just use the WiFi MAC address. This is actually harder to spoof than the UDID in iOS5+ (at least for now)
How devs can make a new identifier that keeps the same length so they don't have to change their backend so much:
SHA1 of the WiFi MAC address
i guess im asking for any ideas on what i should/not allow/deny and when.
because ill deny access and the program wont work.. i am a bit confused.
any help is much appreciated


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Like in two minutes.... just realized this...
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Like in two minutes.... just realized this...
Why Not Us ?
Thanks for the heads up, turned to it just as Coach was walking out.
Super Bowl XLI Champions
2000 Eastern Conference Champions


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NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- I first saw the story over at TechCrunch: Time Warner's ( TWX) Home Box Office signed a deal with Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast ( CMCSA), to keep the latter's films on the former's air through 2022.Simply put, if you want access to roughly half of Hollywood's top releases -- after they leave the theater -- you'll need to subscribe to HBO through a cable or satellite company unless, someday, Time Warner offers HBO GO a la carte. There's no question -- HBO and TWX execs were trading high-fives after this deal. While Netflix ( NFLX) is more of a pest -- a veritable ankle-biter -- than a true threat, I know they enjoy knocking Reed Hastings around. The comments that followed TechCrunch's story show a misunderstanding of the media business -- "old" and "new" -- as well as a sense of entitlement enabled, in part, by the illusion that Netflix operates from a position of strength. The overarching reaction: Consumers lose. And, ultimately, because they're not "listening" to "what consumers want," HBO, Universal and others like them will lose. Wrong. That's where the misunderstanding and self-entitlement comes in. Despite the cat calls, Time Warner, led by Jeff Bewkes, is not the dinosaur it's made out to be. They're just smart business people who control a considerable amount of premium content. Let's run through reality from a consumer and investor standpoint.
- You should hate Netflix because it has created a myth. By charging $8 a month for unlimited viewing and somehow signing an exclusive movie deal with Disney (DIS), they have lured the consumer into thinking content is cheap, that somehow we're entitled to everything we want to watch for a low price -- something closer to 10 bucks a month than the $50 to $100-plus most of us pay for cable or satellite.
- Reality is as follows: Content is expensive because it costs a lot of money to make and, ultimately, the market -- to some extent, you -- sets the price. Advertisers pay big bucks to get on big-time shows and events, why shouldn't we do the same?


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Audi Repair Questions? Ask a Mechanic for Answers ASAP
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1) This is not an answer nor a direct info request to your concern.2) First off I am checking to see if you have already resolved your concern.3) If you do still need help, if there is anything more you think would help me answer your question, please reply with that info. I am sorry you have had to wait so long for the first contact. Sometimes this happens when the question you ask is not detailed enough or its just hard to address online. Many have viewed your post, but have decided to pass. I will do my best to help you. I have access to many repair sites, so at the least I can provide something to address at least part of your concern if it is not something I can address from memory and experience. I work on this site only in the evening hours 7 days a week. I am online normally from 3-midnight. At the latest you should get a response from me prior to 9pm TN time.Thanks for using our site, we will do all we can to earn your business, again sorry we did not get to you sooner. Chris>>


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Both Sides Take Heat in Jacoby & Meyers' Suit Over Ban on Law Firm Investors
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What's being said
The significance of this case should not be underestimated. Non-lawyer investment in cases might lead to an efficient market that effectively bundles litigation risks across multiple claims and plaintiffs. This could significantly reduce the negotiation advantage that well-financed institutional defendants now have over individual plaintiffs. Currently, plaintiffs can too easily be put into the position of having to settle valuable claims for pennies on the dollar because the individual plaintiffs and their lawyers can literally not afford to lose.
This is a response from a doctor who has had a long career as such - why are lawyers held to lower standards? We the PUBLIC need to know.
" In all my years I've understood that fee-splitting in the medical profession is unethical and illegal. I was about to write "and doesn't make sense", but...
4 minutes ago " written by a Medical Doctor
Rule 5.4 has a basis in Professional Conduct across states (American Bar Assn) "a) A lawyer or law firm shall not share legal fees with a NON-lawyer" This suit challenges that....BUT the public needs to know lawyers refer clients to each other....and share fees over said client, even if the case is lost. There are so many Conflicts of interest in play by lawyers in NY, who are never held accountable for breaking the existing laws under New York Rules of Professional Conduct, especially in the First Dept. (Manhattan/Bronx). (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer) Do Doctors Share Referral/Investor Fees? Surgeons? Dentists? etc.
(a) A lawyer or law firm shall not share legal fees with a nonlawyer, except that:
(1) an agreement by a lawyer with the lawyerââ¬â¢s firm or another lawyer associated in the firm may provide for the payment of money, over a reasonable period of time after the lawyerââ¬â¢s death, to the lawyerââ¬â¢s estate or to one or more specified persons;
(2) a lawyer who undertakes to complete unfinished legal business of a deceased lawyer may pay to the estate of the deceased lawyer that portion of the total compensation that fairly represents the services rendered by the deceased lawyer; and
(3) a lawyer or law firm may compensate a nonlawyer employee or include a nonlawyer employee in a retirement plan based in whole or in part on a profit-sharing arrangement.
(b) A lawyer shall not form a partnership with a nonlawyer if any of the activities of the partnership consist of the practice of law.
(c) Unless authorized by law, a lawyer shall not permit a person who recommends, employs or pays the lawyer to render legal service for another to direct or regulate the lawyerââ¬â¢s professional judgment in rendering such legal services or to cause the lawyer to compromise the lawyerââ¬â¢s duty to maintain the confidential information of the client under Rule 1.6.
(d) A lawyer shall not practice with or in the form of an entity authorized to practice law for profit, if:
(1) a nonlawyer owns any interest therein, except that a fiduciary
Whatever happened to champerty and maintenance? Maybe all the judges should read the book a civil action. How many law firms have gone broke fighting a deep pocket defendant who takes it all the way to the Supreme Court? Think about the Micronite filter tobacco cases The 'safest "cigarette had the blue asbestos filter, the most dangerous asbestos of all .Which had the most dead bodies? Kent? of lawyers who wenr broke in litigation costs,? This was clearly reckless endangerment but nobody went to jail. To a man the tobacco executives lied under oath to Congress.
The appellate judges chopped a billion dollar verdict down to peanuts.So why not let outside investors share some of the risks that lawyers take in these big cases?
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Selecting two colleagues to join the council has become more complicated than the Carolina Beach Town Council expected.
A body of three elected officials selecting two colleagues from more than a dozen applicants has become more complicated than the Carolina Beach Town Council expected, yet the plan remains to vote on the new members next week.
At Tuesday's special meeting, Council members Sarah Friede, Bob Lewis and Steve Shuttleworth asked Town Attorney Lawrence Craige for clarification about how to follow the open-meetings law while narrowing down their choices for the two open seats.
"You are free to talk to the applicants one-on-one," Craige said.
Council members, however, may not discuss their thoughts about the candidates, or any other town business, with each other in private because two of them constitute a quorum until the board is back up to five members. Also, any notes or other written documents they make during interviews are considered public record, Craige added.
"When the council deliberates about those vacancies, that is public," he said. "Only your individual thoughts don't have to be made public."
Friede, Lewis and Shuttleworth have faced public criticism for not asking their questions to the candidates during a public meeting, but all three agreed Tuesday they did not want to go this route. Instead, each council member will make individual calls to all 16 applicants this week, pick his or her top two or three by Friday and submit them to Town Clerk Lynn Prusa. She will rank the choices with a fixed points system before next Tuesday's regular meeting, when council members will vote on the appointments. The council expects to swear in the new members at the Jan. 8 meeting.
"In my opinion there wasn't anyone on this list who isn't qualified," Shuttleworth said. "At first I didn't think we were going to get anybody."
On Nov. 13, Mayor Ray Rothrock and Councilman Lonnie Lashley resigned, leaving open the two elected seats. Both expire on Dec. 10, 2013, but if the council appoints one of its current members to fill out the mayoral seat then he would have to resign his current seat before being appointed mayor. Friede said she is not interested in becoming mayor, while Shuttleworth and Lewis have not yet decided. Lewis' term expires in December 2013, while Shuttleworth's ends in December 2015.
Metro desk: 343-2384
On Twitter: @StarNewsOnline


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In psoriasis, skin cells rapidly reproduce to form red, dry, thickened patches of inflamed skin. In one study, 58 people were admitted to the hospital emergency room with an arthritic type of psoriasis of the skin and joints, or another type that affects the skin over most of the body surface. Both groups got conventional psoriasis treatment plus an antioxidant supplement containing 50 mg of coenzyme Q10, 75 IU of vitamin E, and 48 mcg of selenium per day, or a placebo.
After 33 days, compared to placebo, the antioxidant group with arthritic psoriasis had 45 percent lower symptom severity scores, and the antioxidant group with major skin-surface psoriasis had 37 percent lower symptom severity scores.


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07/27/12 By Ivan Watson and Raja Razek
Anadan, Syria (CNN) -- A distant machine gun rattled away in vain as a military helicopter flew long, slow circles, arcing from the contested Syrian city of Aleppo over to the rebel-controlled town of Anadan, six miles to the north.
A group of fighters stared and pointed from under the shelter of an overhanging building, until one man said in a worried tone, "Let's go away" before hurrying indoors.
In a matter of months, Syria's rebels have transformed themselves from ragtag village defense forces into an armed movement capable of attacking the country's two largest cities, Aleppo and Damascus. They have also punctured the image of invincibility projected by Syrian army tanks and armored personnel carriers, as proven by the twisted wreckage of armored vehicles that now litter some roads.
But the fighters still find themselves vastly out-gunned when facing government air power.
And yet, even that advantage may be shrinking.
Hidden away in rebel safe houses in this artillery-scarred town is a small arsenal of heavy weapons captured from Syrian security forces.
Fighters proudly opened garage doors to reveal trucks mounted with an enormous 120 millimeter mortar and a anti-aircraft gun.
The weapons have seen action.
"I've fired this gun about 2,000 times," said Jamal Awar, a bus driver-turned-rebel. He said that, during his mandatory military service, he specialized in firing the seated, double-barreled, anti-aircraft gun. Awar said that expertise helped him shoot down a helicopter during a battle in the nearby town of Azaz several weeks ago.
"I was ecstatic, I was very happy," Awar said.
Rebels like Awar appeared to be the only residents in this otherwise deserted town. The streets were eerily empty.
Beside one main road lay the twisted wreckage of a small truck, reeking of rotting flesh. Fighters said three passengers inside were killed when Syrian troops targeted the vehicle from an outpost several kilometers outside of town.
During a visit by CNN journalists, bullets whizzed overhead as security forces took potshots at the group.
The daily artillery strikes and weeks without electricity have driven out almost all of the civilian population.
One of the few residents remaining was Ahmed Afash, leader of a squad of rebels who had taken up residence in the opulent mansion of a Syrian businessman.
Roughly half of his men were in nearby Aleppo, fighting to seize control of the city, he said.
Other fighters lounged on gilded furniture in the mansion's main salon. Pistols and walkie-talkies lay next to an English coffee-table book and a French gossip magazine that appeared to have belonged to the house's original owners.
Afash showed off an armory of seized weapons: a belt-fed grenade launcher, tank shells, rocket-propelled grenades and even several gas masks he said were for protection against chemical weapons. It was a bizarre juxtaposition, rpg cones laying in stacks next to dainty throw pillows and an ornately decorated telephone, which matched the gold leaf of the furniture in the room.
Asked about the original owner of a camouflage flak jacket, Afash said "He's dead. God willing, he has gone to hell."
Afash and his men may put many of these weapons into action in the coming days, as they expected to face a likely government counter-offensive in Aleppo.
"We will fight this dictator and all of his aircraft, tanks and rocket," Afash said, as he worked with pliers to repair a malfunctioning gun bolt. "We started out this struggle with rocks."
Source: CNN


text: Communityhas caringcitizensEditor:On Friday, July 9, I had the misfortune of being involved in an accident while riding my motorcycle on Cleveland Road in Wooster. I also had the good fortune of being reminded how blessed we are in this community to have caring citizens and professional rescue personnel.Before I even hit the ground I had several passers-by rushing to my assistance. The first thing I remember seeing was a wonderful lady by the name of Patty Smith running toward me with a cell phone to her ear reminding me to lie still until help arrived. There were also several gentlemen who tended to me and who picked my bike up out of the street. I'm afraid I didn't get their names, but they know who they are and I want them to know how much I appreciated their help and concern. Mrs. Smith was incredible and not only stayed with me until the rescue personnel arrived on the scene, but also was kind enough to make sure my personal belongings were accounted for. She and the others who stopped to help made the ordeal much easier than it might otherwise have been, and I can't thank them enough.The fire department was on the scene in minutes with the rescue squad right behind them. They were all very professional but were also compassionate as they attended to me and let me know what they were doing and what to expect.I'm very fortunate that my injuries were relatively minor, but it's comforting to know that had they been more severe I would have had the care and assistance I needed. These fine folks, along with the staff at the Wooster Community Hospital Emergency Room are to be commended for their efforts. Again, I'm afraid I didn't catch any names (except for my friend Ed the paramedic), but they know who they are and that the community appreciates their talents and efforts.My story, fortunately, has a happy ending. I'm banged up and sore, but I'll live to ride again. Hopefully this accident and this letter will remind people to keep an eye out for motorcyclists on the roads. And to Patty Smith and the other good samaritans on the scene, the Wooster Fire Department and Rescue Squad, and the Wooster Hospital ER staff, thank you all for being there when I needed you!Mike DonelsonJeromesville MarriageAmendmentneeds supportEditor:President Bush and other conservatives have been accused in recent weeks of seeking to "put bias in the Constitution" by endorsing an amendment that would define marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman. Nothing could be further from the truth.In reality, however, the Constitution is going to be altered one way or the other. Either that change will come from unelected, unaccountable judges intent on creating a right of homosexual couples to marry when the Constitution grants no such right; or it will come from the American people through this amendment to preserve marriage as it has served society for millennia.Yelling "discrimination" is not the only strategy liberals have unleashed to defeat this amendment, though. They also have argued that gay marriage is a civil rights issue akin to the African-American struggle for equality. No less a civil rights icon than Jesse Jackson has denounced that claim, noting that "gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution."This aggressive campaign to undermine marriage as it's always been known can be defeated but only if we all stand up to support the Federal Marriage Amendment. Contact your legislators and demand their support today before it's too late.Terry R. LadrachApple Creek


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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Paul Zakaib Jr., a Kanawha County Circuit judge for nearly three decades, will leave the bench next month.
Zakaib, 81, said that after contemplating it for about a year, he will retire Aug. 31. He gave notice to the West Virginia Supreme Court on Monday.
"I feel like I want to spend some time with my grandkids. I have a special-needs grandchild I love to be with," he said.
Zakaib was first appointed circuit judge in 1986, to replace the retiring Robert K. Smith. He lost a bid for re-election, but was reappointed when Kanawha Circuit Judge Margaret Workman joined the state Supreme Court.
"He's tired," his longtime secretary, Melody Shannon, said. "It's time."
Zakaib, a graduate of Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston) and the West Virginia University College of Law, served four terms in the House of Delegates and was active in Republican politics before he became a judge.
"I have the utmost respect for him as a judge. I think his competency is above and beyond, as well as his integrity and ethics," said Kanawha Circuit Chief Judge Charlie King, who has served on the bench with Zakaib for about 26 years.
"The people of Kanawha County are going to miss him as a circuit judge, they really are … I'll miss him, I know that. He has a lot of institutional knowledge — you can't replace it. He will be missed," King said.
Tod Kaufman became a Kanawha Circuit judge the same year as King, in 1988, and said Zakaib's decisions are respected.
"Paul's record was one of consistency, longevity and commitment," Kaufman said. "His tenure on the bench will be remembered respectfully for years to come."
Kanawha Circuit Judges Duke Bloom and Jim Stucky reiterated that Zakaib's knowledge will be hard to replace.
"Judge Zakaib served the county with distinction, without controversy, always giving deference with the rule of law," Bloom said. "The citizens of Kanawha County are much better for his service."
"He'll certainly be missed. His experience and knowledge will certainly be hard to replace," Stucky said.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will appoint Zakaib's replacement after the state Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission interviews applicants and makes recommendations.
"Judge Zakaib is one of the finest judges Kanawha County has seen and may ever see," said Kanawha Commission President Kent Carper, an attorney and member of the judicial advisory commission.
About six years ago, Zakaib led the charge for redoing the county's mental hygiene office.
"He gave them a safe and functional area so they could be treated humanely and decently," Carper said. "We couldn't get him to do a ribbon-cutting; he just got it done and moved on to something else. We wanted to have a big deal about it, and he wouldn't do it — that's not him."
In 2011, Zakaib ruled that the Kanawha County Board of Education was no longer required by law to devote part of its budget to help fund the county's public library.
Zakaib declared null and void a funding stream — set by a 1957 special act of the Legislature — that required the Kanawha school board to provide about one-third of the library's annual budget. He ruled that the special act created a "lack of uniformity in the public education financing scheme as there is unequal treatment of the Kanawha Board as compared to [46] other county boards of education."
The West Virginia Supreme Court affirmed Zakaib last year in a 4-1 ruling. Justice Brent Benjamin dissented.
The Supreme Court this year agreed with Zakaib's decision to reverse the state Consolidated Public Retirement Board's definition for what constitutes military service. It will cost the state roughly $23 million a year to comply with the ruling, according to a report released earlier this month.
Zakaib found that the board had wrongly withheld credit for service during periods of armed conflict, even if those periods were not specially listed by the Legislature.
In another high-profile case over which Zakaib presided, Supreme Court justices reduced a $90 million verdict against a Charleston nursing home to about $32 million.
After a trial that lasted nearly two weeks in front of Zakaib in 2011, jurors found that Heartland of Charleston failed to feed and care for Dorothy Douglas, who stayed at the home for about three weeks. Jurors awarded Douglas' son and her estate $11.5 million in compensatory damages and $80 million in punitive damages.
Attorneys for the nursing home argued that Zakaib should have applied the state's medical malpractice caps, which prevent plaintiffs alleging medical malpractice from recovering more than $500,000 in noneconomic damages.
Zakaib ruled that a small portion of the verdict should be subject to the medical malpractice cap, and reduced the jury's $91.5 million award to about $90.5 million.
In a 4-1 ruling, Supreme Court justices reduced both the compensatory and punitive damages to Douglas' estate, but said the punitive damages should not be restricted by the cap on medical malpractice damages.
Justices wrote that Zakaib was right to find that the large punitive damages award was necessary to punish the nursing home but criticized the verdict form Zakaib approved for jurors to use. Justice Benjamin wrote, "The confused verdict form is woefully inadequate to serve as a proper legal basis for this Court to sustain the extraordinary damages awarded herein."
Zakaib recalled a 1989 ruling that reached the U.S. Supreme Court in which he upheld the constitutionality of a statute suspending driver's licenses of school dropouts under the age of 18.
"I took them as they came," Zakaib said about the cases he heard.
After graduating from law school in 1958, Zakaib began a series of jobs at the Statehouse, including stops at the Tax Commission, the Department of Employment Security, the Economic Development Agency and the Department of Commerce.
He left Morris Harvey for two years to serve in the Army, fighting in Korea.
Zakaib's father grew up in Damascus, Syria, and moved to the U.S. at age 20. Paul Zakaib Sr. ran Capitol Variety Shop on Washington Street East for about 20 years. While attending college in Charleston, Zakaib lived with his parents behind the store and sold shoes in Capitol Street stores and hawked doughnuts door-to-door all over the county.
Zakaib said Tuesday he prided himself on treating lawyers with respect and trying to make them feel comfortable in his courtroom.
"I don't want them to feel intimidated because they're in the courtroom," he said. "I remember when I was practicing law, at the time there were several judges who growled at you … it makes you feel bad, you feel intimidated. I tried not to make lawyers feel that way. I don't want them to feel intimidated by a judge."
Reach Kate White at firstname.lastname@example.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.


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Austin Symphony Announces 'Symphony in G' Pre/Post-Concert Backstage Party
The Austin Symphony, with the help of the Austin Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, invites the LGBT community to a first-of-its-kind series, "Symphony in G".
During the November 30th performance of Chicago Symphony's Beyond the Score®featuring Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the Austin Symphony will host a fabulous reception before and after the concert with food, open bar, entertainment, and special guests. Hosted in an exclusive backstage dressing room at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, "Symphony in G" is a can't-miss event for the LGBT community to enjoy live classical music.
The evening will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a pre-concert reception. Guided tours of the backstage area will be available as well as the pre-concert talks at 7:10pm with Bob Buckalew. Maestro Peter Bay will make an appearance as well as some musicians. After the performance you can skip the madness of traffic by returning to your dressing room and enjoying some champagne, dessert, and coffee.


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PLEASE read the entire ad carefully. If you don't have ALL of the requirements, no need to respond. Thank you!
2D/3D designers wanted for freelance work at LA based motion graphic studio on broadcast projects.
Please be FAST, able to work remotely (LA Area) if necessary (and deliver quickly remotely), and be flexible. Easy-going fun attitude is a must, no egos! Please have good project and time management skills. We work on tight deadlines and need to adhere to specific schedules.
At this time, LA based artists only please.
Please have mid to advanced skills in:
After Effects
Cinema 4d
Important: Maya and 3D Max are great programs, but we don't use them here, so if that's your main 3D program, no need to respond. C4D only please.
Please email a cover letter or other introduction (very important!), your hourly/day rate (also a must!), skills, and a link to an online portfolio.
email to jobs (at) trancedesigns (dot) com
Edited by trance, 30 April 2012 - 07:41 PM.


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Game Time Start: 7:00 PM ET
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
Officials: S. Foster, P. Fraher, S. Twardoski
Media Notes: Indiana Notes, Brooklyn Notes
Television: / FOX Sports Indiana / YES Network
Radio: WFNI 1070 AM, 107.5 FM / WFAN 660 AM, 101.9 FM
NBA Feeds:*NBA Audio League Pass (available free to NBA All-Access members)
*NBA League Pass Broadband (subscription req'd)
REMINDER: Per PD policy, please do not share a link to, describe how to search for, request a link to, or request a PM about streaming video of a NBA game that is not coming directly through the NBA. Not even in a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge, know-what-I-mean" round-about sort of way. Thank you
Season Records: (W-L) 23-5 Home: 14-1
East: 16-3
10-19 Away: 4-10
East: 6-12
Upcoming Games: Dec 31 Jan 01 Jan 04 Jan 05 vs at vs at 3:00pm 7:00pm 7:00pm 6:00pm
Projected Starting Lineup: HIBBERT WEST GEORGE STEPHENSON HILL Projected Starting Lineup: GARNETT PIERCE JOHNSON WILLIAMS LIVINGSTON
Andray Blatche - personal (out)
Brook Lopez - fractured right foot (out)
Andrei Kirilenko - back spasms (out)
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Colin Stephenson @Ledger_Knets
Devin Kharpertian @uuords
Tom Lorenzo @TomLorenzo
Jeremy Gordon @jeremypgordon
Ohm Youngmisuk @NotoriousOHM


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Happy Birthday, Sir John
Wednesday would have been the 100th birthday of investing legend and philanthropist John Templeton. He built a fortune using an international approach to value investing and offering successful investment products to the general public from his family of mutual funds. I have used his investing ideas and wisdom throughout my career and would be pleased to have a fraction of his long-term success. He was also a generous man who did much to leave the world much better than he found it. I hope I am able to say the same someday.
I am fond of quoting some of Templeton's maxims and use them often in my search for cheap stocks. You cannot outperform the market by doing what everyone else is doing. You need to buy when others sell, and sell when your friends and neighbors are excited buyers. (It is not easy to do this as it goes against you basic instincts.) While buying at the point of maximum pessimism requires great courage, investors will be rewarded with great profits. Last, the search for value should be international in scope to present the greatest number of opportunities....529 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
There's no substitute for a trading floor to get great ideas, so Jim Cramer created a better one at Real Money and blogs there exclusively. We then added legendary hedge fund manager, Doug Kass, with his exclusive Daily Diary and best investing ideas. Staffed with more than 4 dozen investing pros, money managers, journalists and analysts, Real Money Pro gives you a flood of opinions, analysis and actionable trading advice found nowhere else, and allows you to interact directly with each expert.
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Report: French, Pakistani Journalists Freed by Taliban
The Taliban said Saturday it had released French journalist Michel Peyrard after nearly a month in detention.
"The French journalist Michel Peyrard was freed Saturday in Afghanistan and is heading for the Torkham crossing with Pakistan," said a Taliban spokesman in the eastern city of Jalalabad quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press news agency (AIP).
"One of the two Pakistani journalists, Irfan Qureshi, has been freed and the second, Mukkaram Khan, will be later," the spokesman was quoted as saying.
The French ambassador to Pakistan left for the Afghanistan border to meet Peyrard.
Diplomatic sources said Peyrard, who was detained in Afghanistan with two Pakistani journalists on October 9, was expected to be handed over to the ambassador, Yannick Gerard, at the Torkham border crossing in North West Frontier Province.
Peyrard and the two Pakistanis were being held in Jalalabad.
When detained, Peyrard was dressed in a burqa, the traditional garment worn by Afghan women in public which covers the body from head to toe.
There was no information on the fate of the two Pakistani journalists, Mohammad Irfan Qureshi and Mukkaram Khan -- AFP


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The pirate site plans to ignore the lawsuits from Elsevier and the American Chemical Society.
Dad's Contribution
February 28, 2014|
Older fathers may have children with higher risk of psychiatric disorders, according to a study.
February 28, 2014|
Older fathers may have children with higher risk of psychiatric disorders, according to a study.
February 28, 2014|
New PLOS data sharing rules; mouse cortical connectome published; reprogramming astrocytes into neurons and fibroblasts into hepatocytes
February 28, 2014|
Two independent teams point to different plants that may have lost their plastid genomes.
February 24, 2014|
Researchers propose a naming system based on genomic information for all Earth's life.
February 19, 2014|
Dogs can suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder just like some humans do, and now researchers have identified a genetic basis for their spastic behavior.
February 18, 2014|
The strain of influenza that caused the 1918 pandemic probably came from birds, a study shows.
February 17, 2014|
Researchers trace the mixing of human populations using DNA.
February 14, 2014|
First Ancient North American genome; cannabinoids connect hunger with olfaction and eating; biotechs explore crowdfunding; confronting creationism
February 12, 2014|
Analysis of 12,600-year-old DNA refutes the idea that Native Americans originated in Western Europe.
February 12, 2014|
Scientists in the U.K. will sequence the genome of King Richard III.


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Get an overview of this hotel4-star Cincinnati hotel in Downtown Cincinnati, walk to Fountain Square
Popular property highlights
Located in Downtown Cincinnati, this hotel is steps from Contemporary Arts Center and Fountain Square. Carew Tower and National Underground Railroad Freedom Center are also within 10 minutes.
Hotel Features
This smoke-free hotel features 2 restaurants, a 24-hour fitness center, and a bar/lounge. Free WiFi in public areas and a free area shuttle are also provided. Additionally, valet parking, coffee/tea in a common area, and 24-hour room service are onsite.
Room Amenities
All 146 rooms feature thoughtful touches like bathrobes and slippers, along with free WiFi and 24-hour room service. Cable TV, premium bedding, and free newspapers are among the other amenities available to guests.
Guest Highlights
- Central location
- Onsite bar and room service
- Helpful staff
- Clean guestrooms
- Nice bathrooms
- Guestrooms were a little noisy
Cincinnatian Hotel
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Dining is available at one of the hotel's 2 restaurants. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. This 4-star property offers access to a business center.
Public areas are equipped with complimentary wireless Internet access. This business-friendly hotel also offers a 24-hour fitness center, coffee/tea in a common area, and concierge services. A complimentary area shuttle within 3.0 mi is available for guests. Onsite parking is available (surcharge).
Cincinnatian Hotel is a smoke-free property.
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Bar/lounge
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Business center
- Conference space
- 24-hour front desk
- Express check-out
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Fireplace in lobby
- Coffee/tea in common areas
- Elevator/lift
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Year Built 1882
- Concierge services
- 24-hour fitness facilities
- Number of floors - 8
- Total number of rooms - 146
- Porter/bellhop
- Luggage storage
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Free area shuttle
- Number of restaurants - 2
- Smoke-free property
- Wedding services
- Free WiFi
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Free Wi-Fi
- Area shuttle (complimentary)
- Refrigerator (on request)
- Microwave (on request)
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Free newspaper
- Air conditioning
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Phone
- Microwave (on request)
- Refrigerator (on request)
- Daily housekeeping
- Designer toiletries
- Bathrobes
- Hair dryer
- Shower only
- Iron/ironing board
- In-room safe
- Desk
- Cable TV service
- In-room massage available
- Premium bedding
- Premium TV channels
- Private bathroom
- Slippers
- Turndown service
- Room service (24 hours)
- Cribs/infant beds (surcharge)
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Free WiFi
Where to Eat
The Palace - This fine-dining restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The Cricket Lounge - Onsite restaurant.
Late night fare is available from 24-hour room service.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the hotel include a 24-hour fitness center.
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
Hotel Policies
Special check-in instructions:
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Children 18 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD 25 per stay.
- Cribs (infant beds) are available for USD 25.00 per stay.
- Pets allowed for an extra charge of USD 50.00 per accommodation, per stay, plus a deposit of USD 50.00 per stay
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Optional extras
- Breakfast fee: between USD 8 and USD 15 per person (approximately)
- Airport shuttle fee: USD 25.00 per person (one way)
- Valet parking fee: USD 35.00 per day (in/out privileges)
- Pet deposit: USD 50.00 per stay
- Pet fee: USD 50.00 per accommodation, per stay
- Refrigerator fee: USD 10 per day
- In-room microwave fee: USD 10.00 per day
- Crib (infant bed) fee: USD 25.00 per stay
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 25 per stay
Hotel Name
- Cincinnatian Hotel
- Hotel Cincinnatian
- Cincinnatian Hotel Cincinnati, Ohio
We should mention
This property offers transfers from the airport (surcharges may apply). Guests must contact the property with arrival details before travel, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Children 18 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.
Awards & Affiliations
- The property is a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts.


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There are no upcoming inspections or auctions scheduled. Email Agent to make an appointment.
10 Damalis Street, Woodridge could be your next home! Take a look at the stats below to find out more about this part of Woodridge and see what to expect from other residents nearby. Be sure to look at the pocket insights for every property you look at on realestateVIEW.com.au as it can vary greatly from street to street.
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For Immediate Release
February 4, 2013
Seventh Star Press Proudly Announces Selah Janel as Newest Member of Its Author Family
Seventh Star Press is proud to announce the addition of Selah Janel to its author family with an exciting four book, cross-genre series called The Kingdom City Chronicles. With its unique blend of humor, urban fantasy, horror, fantasy, and iconic figures from folk tales and legends, The Kingdom City Chronicles will appeal to a wide range of speculative fiction readers.
The first novel of The Kingdom City Chronicles, Olde School, is projected for a Fall 2013 release window. Subsequent titles will follow at a pace of one per year.
In The Kingdom City Chronicles, readers can look forward to a lot of familiar fantasy creatures and ideas, although those latter two elements will be turned completely on their heads! Kingdom City is a fantasy world caught between tradition and modernization. All the characters are trapped between past history and progression.
Readers will encounter trolls and princesses, dwarves and magical creatures, but they will be seen in a whole new light. Some renowned fairy-tale and folk story characters will make appearances, but readers will see the real story behind the legends. If fantasy characters can be caught in their own version of urban fantasy, where their world is the "real" and "urban" world, then Kingdom City and the surrounding areas is where it happens!
"I've wanted to work with Seventh Star Press first, because they produce amazing series that feature new variations on the fantasy, horror, and sci-fi genres," Selah commented. "Seventh Star Press genuinely loves the genres they publish. Then also because of the huge sense of community they have. Every Seventh Star author I've met always has great things to say about everyone else, and it's wonderful to be part of a group that thinks like that."
Joshua H. Leet will be working with Selah as the editor for The Kingdom City Chronicles . Interior illustrations and cover art from SSP's award-winning artists will be featured in all versions of Olde School and subsequent titles, from a special limited hardcover edition to the trade paperback and eBook editions.
A Midwest girl at heart and in residence, Selah Janel is fueled by a love of ideas, stories, and the potential of magic hiding in the mundane. She mostly writes fantasy and horror, but is known to stray into other genres if the idea beckons. She is the author of several short e-books with Mocha Memoirs Press and No Boundaries Press. Her first novel, the urban fantasy story In the Red, blends dark fantasy with fairy tale themes and rock n' roll. Her work has also been included in The MacGuffin, The Realm Beyond, Stories for Children Magazine, and several upcoming anthologies. She's also worked as a performer, puppeteer, and in costume design and construction.
"Selah's got more energy than a high-end nuclear reactor running at full capacity," fellow SSP author Stephen Zimmer remarked. "As a writer, she's got a wonderful range, in that she could thrive in any sub genre of speculative fiction. Add to that an iron work ethic, generous nature towards authors and readers alike, and a rock star flair, and you've got a real literary force to be reckoned with!"
For further information on Selah Janel releases or Seventh Star Press, please visit www.seventhstarpress.com or the author's site at: www.selahjanel.wordpress.com
Contact: C.C. James
Public Relations, Seventh Star Press
ccjames (at) seventhstarpress.com
Seventh Star Press is a small press publisher of speculative fiction located in Lexington Kentucky


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Wiltshire Police are backing a national campaign to clamp down on drink and drug driving.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) launched their summer drink and drug drive campaign yesterday which will run throughout the month.
Wiltshire Police - alongside colleagues from Avon & Somerset and Gloucestershire forces - are increasing their roadside enforcement across June in a determined effort to catch those drivers who ignore the warnings.
The campaign - which this year is focusing on younger drivers and those staying up late to watch the World Cup - is designed to raise awareness of the serious consequences of being caught drink or drug driving.
Penalties could include a minimum 12-month driving ban, a £5,000 fine and a criminal record.
Inspector Steve Cox, head of roads policing, said: "The message from Wiltshire Police is very clear - if you take a chance on drink or drug driving, you will be caught.
"By getting behind the wheel of a car while under the influence of alcohol or any illegal substances, you are putting both yourself and other road users in serious danger of harm.
"We will be conducting our operations 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.
"We aren't just targeting those who drink and drive straight away, we'll also be apprehending people who risk driving the morning after without allowing themselves time to recover from the effects of alcohol.
"Research shows that enhanced enforcement results in a decrease in the number of people caught drink or drug-driving.
"With the support of the public, I'm sure we can make this year's campaign another success."
Police advise calling 101 and selecting option 4 to report any incidents of drink or drug-driving directly to Wiltshire Police via its dedicated drink-drive hotline number.


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BAGHDAD - Prompt medical care is at last on offer in Iraq, for those who can find the dollars for it.
"Why would I want to go to government-run hospitals where there is no care, no functioning instruments, long lines, and in the end the same doctor who treats you there can treat you at a private hospital," says Mohammed Abbas, 35, an employee at Iraq's Ministry of Oil.
Abbas, speaking at the private Saint Raphael Hospital in the Karrada area of Baghdad, wanted treatment on time, and was prepared to pay for it. Like him, many are coughing up money for private treatment. When they have money, that is, in an economy with more than 50 percent unemployment.
For medical care, many scramble to find money somehow. "It is a catastrophe at the government-run hospitals," says Hayder Abud, 30, at the private hospital for a check-up. "When you finally get a doctor to see you there, they are so rushed and sleep deprived, you can't be sure you are getting proper treatment."
Most treatment at government hospitals is free. Getting an x-ray at a private hospital may cost 40 dollars. But at a private hospital the job can get done on time.
"Iraq's Ministry of Health is struggling," said Khaled, administrative manager at the Saint Raphael Hospital, requesting that his last name not be used. "We have had problems with the Ministry of Health because they are angry at us for treating so many more people nowadays."
The state medical system is on its knees. It was one of the best in the region before the U.N.-backed economic sanctions for more than 12 years, followed by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation.
Government hospitals are short of doctors. A small increase in pay over the last three years has lured some doctors back, but what they pay cannot match income in the private sector.
On average, a general practitioner in a government hospital earns about 300 dollars a month; a private hospital pays twice or three times that much. More and more doctors are shifting away from government hospitals.
"I and my family were unable to live on the pay I earned at a government hospital," says Dr. Kubayir Abbas, 34, an anesthetist. "So I decided to come over to the private sector instead, and now it is much better."
Dr. Shakir Mahmood Al-Robaei, another anesthetist, said "it's better for us to work here than in the public sector. We earn more money, it is safer, and we don't have to worry about having the right equipment and supplies. When I worked in the public sector, we were short of everything most of the time."
And so government hospitals continue to run short of doctors, while some private hospitals have a surplus. What has improved since 2007 is that violence against doctors, and even against patients who attend certain hospitals, has dropped notably.
Government hospitals also lack basic supplies such as gauze, rubber gloves, clean needles, surgical instruments and drugs for anesthesia. Non-medical basics such as clean bedding, disinfectants and air-conditioning are often lacking, even in the largest medical complex in the country, the Baghdad Medical City. Iraqis have for years had to buy their own medicines and even oxygen supplies on the expensive black market.
Corruption within the Ministry of Health, and the near total lack of reconstruction that was promised by the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority in the first year of the occupation have left Iraq's healthcare system depleted of resources.
A report 'Rehabilitation Under Fire' released last year by the health organization Medcat said Iraq has only around 9,000 doctors, after most fled the country. That gives a ratio of six doctors for every 10,000 people. The ratio in Britain is 23 to 10,000.
Given the crisis in government medical care, the business of private hospitals is booming. Raphael hospital, which currently has 35 beds and sees on average over 1,000 patients a day, will soon expand to 90 beds and increase its staff.
Dr. Rhamis Mukhtar, the only surgeon for morbid obesity in Iraq, has been working at this private hospital since 2000, while also working at a state hospital. "I'm thinking of moving here full time," he said. "There are much better supplies, services, and overall care for the patient. This center is the best for laproscopic surgery in the country."
For complicated emergency cases, government hospitals are still the best, Dr. Mukhtar said. They have special equipment most smaller private hospitals lack. It has to get very bad for someone before they can hope to get the best out of a government hospital.
Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Dahr Jamail writes about the
effects of the US occupation on the people of Iraq, since the mainstream
media in the US has in large part, he believes, failed to do so.
Dahr has spent a total of 5 months in occupied Iraq, and plans
on returning in October to continue reporting on the occupation.
One of only a few independent reporters in Iraq, Dahr will be using
the DahrJamailIraq.com
website and mailing list to disseminate his dispatches and will
continue as special correspondent for Flashpoints Radio.
Reproduction of material from any original Antiwar.com pages
without written permission is strictly prohibited.
Copyright 2017 Antiwar.com


text: Icon trench coat in plaid Italian wool Item F6027 Color: BURGUNDY TAN HOUNDSTOOTH Size: All sizes are US sizes. 4 6 12 Size Charts Quantity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Prices do not include taxes. Add to Bag Wishlist Add to Bag Add To Wishlist share: size & fit Cut for a classic fit—not too loose and not too tight. Body length: 34 1/4". Sleeve length: 32 1/2." Hits at midthigh. Product Details Our signature trench coat silhouette that we've been making for 10 years, now crafted in cooler-weather Italian wool featuring a mensy houndstooth print. Plus, details just like the original: a belted waist, buckles at the sleeves and roomy pockets. Poly/wool/viscose. Button closure. Pockets. Lined. Dry clean. Import. Item F6027.


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Blue is a beautiful and uniquely colored 5-year-old Catahoula hound that was found as a stray in Capitola and sadly never claimed. After weeks of waiting, it became clear that she was going to be in need of a new home and she came to the Santa Cruz SPCA to find the perfect one.
Blue has spent a bit of time in a few foster homes and we've been able to learn quite a bit about her.
First of all, this girl is gorgeous with beautiful blue, black and silver merle dapples painted all over her body. She has one blue eye and one half-and-half -- there is no way to miss her and she really stands out in a crowd!
She's just as sweet as she is beautiful and has shown herself to be well-mannered in the home and housebroken, even whining to go out. She knows some basic commands like "sit", "stay", "down" and even "go to bed." Blue has enjoyed daily outings to the beach and absolutely loves it. She'll play with other dogs, roll in the sand and chase tennis balls all day if you let her.
She's very friendly and gentle with people, enjoying the company of children and even seeking out men. This dog is the type that you can bring with you everywhere! She does pull a bit on the leash so she's currently being walked in a "no-pull" harness that is helping but should probably receive a refresher training course.
Although Blue is great with dogs of all sizes when she's out and about, she prefers to be the only dog in the home. She will bond very deeply and strongly with her family and will make someone very happy.
Blue is at that perfect "middle of the road" age where she's active but not overly so and has a bit of training already under her belt. She will require a good long walk at least once a day, if not more, and enjoys going out on social dates with other playful dogs.
Staff and volunteers make it a point to give her lots of love and attention, but we can't help but notice that Blue gets the blues from time to time and is ready for her new family to come and find her. If she sounds like your perfect fit, come on down and meet beautiful Blue!
Call the Santa Cruz SPCA at 465-5000, or visit www.santacruzspca.org. The SPCA, at 2685 Chanticleer Ave., is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The SPCA Mall Adoption Center and Gift Shop is at the Capitola Mall near Target and is open on Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The SPCA's adoption package for dogs and cats includes spay/neuter, vaccinations, micro-chipping, an ID tag, collar, a free vet exam, one month's free health insurance and other animal care materials.
Consider donating to the nonprofit Santa Cruz SPCA, which receives no government funding.


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ONTARIO – The Top Ladies of Distinction Inland Empire chapter will perform at music tribute to gospel legend Mahalia Jackson on Sunday.
The event will be at 3 p.m. at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, 1023 S. Sultana Ave.
Also participating will be the Friend Baptist Church Male Chorus, We are Soldiers Quartet, Marvios Demby, The Harmony Trio. Adela Davis, Sehile Smith and a variety of other singers and groups.
There is no charge but a free-will offering will be taken.
Information: 909-597-7134


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Kevin Pietersen is a Delhi Daredevil once more - a snip at £880,000 after day one of the Indian Premier League auction in Bangalore.
England's record runscorer is free for a full IPL season for the first time after his adopted country controversially severed all ties with him and effectively ended his international career last week.
But in an auction also notable for a wipe-out by other England players - all 10 of whom were unsold - and million pound-plus deals for Indians Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik, the South Africa-born batsman's market value proved significantly less than some of the more fanciful estimates put about before bidding began.
As an elite marquee player, Pietersen soon knew his fate as one of the first lots on Wednesday morning.
The 33-year-old quickly tweeted his satisfaction, despite turning out to be not quite the "million-pound asset" England spoke of last winter - before deciding a few weeks later they would be better off after all without him.
Pietersen, who agreed a summer contract to stay with Surrey earlier this week, will continue his association with the Delhi franchise when this year's IPL gets under way for seven-and-a-half weeks in April and May.
That, of course, is no longer of any concern to England - who stipulated, after their 5-0 Ashes trouncing in Australia, that all prospective Test and one-day international players will be expected to demonstrate their credentials in county cricket in May.
Almost a team full of Pietersen's fellow England-qualified players have not yet found a franchise, and their unavailability for the full campaign might have been a factor.
Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright and Ian Bell were among those who went unsold - although the maximum base price the Nottinghamshire pair had to agree with their county, in the deal which allowed them to enter the auction, might have played a part.
If they feature on a retained list when the franchises have the pick of all unsold players, they will still have an outside chance of being picked up in round two of the auction on Thursday.
By then, though, their potential employers will be strapped for cash close to the IPL budget limit for that 'clearing' process.
There were no such complications for Pietersen, whose contract was sealed when Delhi reached for their 'right to match' card after Sunrisers Hyderabad beat all other bids in the auction's earliest exchanges.
The IPL Twitter feed very soon read: "@KP24 will play for @DelhiDaredevils who have snapped him up for Rs. 900 lacs using their right to match card against SRH. #IPLAuction"
Shortly afterwards, Pietersen himself added: "Morning - so happy to be back with the Delhi family! Lovely start to the day...''
Pietersen was unable to play for Delhi last year, because of a knee injury which ruled him out of all cricket for three months.
He previously played for both them and Royal Challengers Bangalore but was up for grabs this time after Delhi chose last month not to retain any of their 2013 squad.
Pietersen's price did not quite reach the head-spinning amounts some had predicted, but he was still the most expensive overseas acquisition in the Indian domestic Twenty20 league.
India all-rounder Yuvraj, recalled in his country's ICC World Twenty20 squad just 24 hours earlier, had the honour of being the top lot at £1.4million for Bangalore in an auction which did not break any records.
Just behind him was wicketkeeper Karthik, worth £1.2 million to join Pietersen at Delhi.
Australian Ashes-winners Mitchell Johnson (Kings XI Punjab) and David Warner (Hyderabad), as well as their compatriot short-format specialist Glenn Maxwell (Punjab) were best of the rest among the big-money buys.
South Africa all-round great Jacques Kallis, who retired from Test cricket at the end of last year, was still worth more than £500,000 to Kolkata.


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IRVINE, CA--(Marketwire - February 28, 2013) -
About BIOLASE, Inc.
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Reds' offense erupts in series win vs. Crew
Hamilton, Phillips, Frazier homers part of season-high 13 runs, 19 hits
MILWAUKEE -- In a game they needed to win over the Brewers to get a series victory that was pretty paramount, the Reds didn't wait around for one guy to pick them up and carry the load.
Sunday's 13-4 pounding of Milwaukee at Miller Park showed what a Reds offense with all of its components is capable of doing. Besides achieving season highs for both runs and the 19 hits in this game, all eight position players had at least one hit and six players had at least two. Ten different players scored a run.
There was only one walk for the Reds lineup, from Joey Votto in the eighth, and even that produced a run, since the bases were loaded.
"I thought it was great," said third baseman Todd Frazier, who had a team-high four RBIs and a two-run homer that snapped a 3-3 tie in the fifth. "We know we can do it. We haven't really been doing it a lot. We haven't been clicking on all cylinders. Today shows us we can do those types of things. It goes to show we're a good-hitting ballclub and we can get those series wins. It was nice."
First-place Milwaukee still has a seven-game advantage over the Reds in the National League Central.
"It was important. To lose three, of course, would have taken us from eight back to 11," said Reds manager Bryan Price, whose club is 5-2 vs. the Brewers this season. "That wouldn't be insurmountable, but it would put us really in a pretty drastic situation in the middle of June. It was definitely big. We peeled off one game. We're establishing the fact we play this team well."
Cincinnati had a 5-4 lead after seven innings, but scored five runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth to put the game away. Besides Frazier, the other big producer was Ryan Ludwick with four hits -- including three doubles. It was also the club's largest margin of victory this season.
The late scoring took away the doubt and drama experienced in the first two games. The Reds blew a lead on Friday before winning and lost a tough one on Saturday with four runs allowed after the sixth inning.
"That was prolific. No one could expect to have that type of offensive game on a regular basis," Price said. "If we can bridge some of that -- take some of what happened here, especially in Games 1 and 3, and take that to Pittsburgh [for the next series]."
It was ample run support for Reds starter Mike Leake, who didn't have a sharp game again as he pitched five innings for the win, allowing four earned runs, nine hits, three walks and three strikeouts.
Not to be overlooked was the work of the bullpen. Following two rough nights for Reds relievers, the combo of Manny Parra, Sam LeCure and Tony Cingrani combined for four scoreless innings.
"It was our relievers and our offense did a great job today," said Leake, who has allowed 14 runs in 15 1/3 innings over his last three starts. "I did what I could, but the offense really came out today."
Facing Marco Estrada, the Major League leader in home runs allowed, the Reds pounced for a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Billy Hamilton started the game by hitting a 1-2 pitch for a homer to right field, giving him long balls on consecutive at-bats after one Saturday, and four overall. Votto hit a one-out single, then Brandon Phillips connected for his fifth homer, a two-run shot to left-center field.
Leake gave up three two-out runs in the fourth with Estrada's bases-loaded roller up the middle scoring Milwaukee's first run. Scooter Gennett's two-run double to left field made it a 3-3 game.
Hamilton led off the Reds' fifth with a single to right field and Frazier followed by jumping on a 0-1 pitch. His drive had a low trajectory and cleared the left-center-field wall quickly for the go-ahead two-run homer, his team-leading 15th.
"When we went up 3-0 early, we knew we had to get some more," Frazier said. "When we play here, there's always something that goes on. It was a full moon on Friday the 13th. They came back and beat us yesterday. We knew it was going to be a battle. Luckily for us, we got on top late in the game."
The big rally came in the eighth against reliever Rob Wooten, who gave up six singles and five runs without retiring a batter. It included bases-loaded singles by pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker and Hamilton. There were three more runs added in the ninth as the Reds won for the fourth time in the last five games.
"It's a big series, it's a big win," LeCure said. "We just need to keep continue to put the pedal to the metal and when we smell blood, step on somebody's throat."
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text: World 26 August 2012 Call Michael Gove: I've got an idea How to solve the schools crisis. Sign up for our weekly email * Print HTML In the past, my only engagement with O-levels was the ordeal of constantly correcting the O-level generation whenever they tried to ask me about my GCSEs, and then, when I was lucky, enjoy a rant about the New World and its confusing acronyms. So that gives some explanation to Michael Gove's O-level reversion. But all I see is the amplification of elitism in the education system. Gove introduces his two-tiered grading system on the claim that GCSEs are too easy and too many of these snot-nosed brats are skipping out of school with exemplary qualifications. But whether a single A* graded GCSE student ends up more intelligent than an A graded O-level student is irrelevant; generations will be coming off the factory line in two clear categories of intelligence, with only 30% holding qualifications that universities will give a second glance. And as we all know, these days anyone applying for at least a medium-rate job without a university diploma should be shipped straight back to their mother's basement. The problem isn't that too many people prance away with A grades; the problem is that the only skill taught is how to pass an exam, and very few workplaces hold jobs that require mastered geography essay structures or memorised verb tables. What Gove is getting wrong is our entire motivation for education. The motivation we see here all amounts to the same thing: creating a Huxleian dystopia within the education system. Through all our schools, state and private alike, children are bottled into the grade of human that society requires. With GCSEs there was less of a grip on the outcomes: pupils would have drummed into them the techniques for passing exams that will get them into universities in the hope that eventually they will amount to Something. But the forsaken, those who slipped through the cracks into Nothing, were doomed to be Epsilons. Once fallen, these people were often ignored; someone has to wash up the test tubes and refill the fountain pens! Perhaps, as the educational motive behind GCSEs always complied with Huxley's John the Savage ("why don't you make everybody an Alpha Double Plus?"), it can't be helped when the system accidentally creates Epsilons, because we had good intentions! Well, Gove, reintroducing O-levels and CSEs for less able students doesn't stop this Survival of the Fittest mechanism, it just makes the creation of Epsilons more deliberate. Supporters of the reform may argue that CSEs allow skills outside of academia to be valued as well. I whole-heartedly agree that egg-heads are not the most important type of head. But the reform won't solve the issue. It is deeply ingrained in the system that academia is rewarded higher than anything else. Whenever teachers fretted over exams on our behalf, it was always for the sake of our university applications. This mentality doesn't go away at the snap of Gove's fingers. CSEs will be imposed on 14-year-olds, at that point permanently deemed Lost Causes, and universities will write them off forever, blasting an enormous portion of their potential employment into the abyss of the unattainable. But fear not! I have taken the liberty of devising a solution that recognises both academic and practical achievements in equal merit. I propose all school uniforms be scrapped and replaced with a universal scout uniform. No longer shall students receive note of their educational abilities on paper, no: they will be able to proudly sew their achievements to their clothes. Achievement badges will include advantages for the egg-headed, such as the "Having an Educated Opinion on Sartre" badge (featuring a big, existential question mark) and "Understanding and Applying Standard Deviation". For the more practical-minded, be excited to sport the delightful "Ordering Food in French", "Interacting Positively with a Customer" or the renowned "Wearing Motorcycle Leather in 30 Degrees". Someone call Michael Gove and tell him I've cracked it. Then give him a "Resorting to Outdated Solutions" badge. › Morning Call: the pick of the papers Michael Gove. (Getty Images.) Subscribe from just £1 per issue More Subscription offer 12 issues for £12 + FREE book LEARN MORE Close This week's magazine


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Apologies if this has already been posted.Salary-based desperation isn't what it used to be. Expirings like Trevor Ariza, Rodney Stuckey, Charlie Villanueva, Paul Pierce, and Danny Granger aren't the carrots they once were. Washington and Indiana have been active on this front, per several league sources, but have found little traction so far. Trading Granger will be especially tough for the Pacers, since they cannot take on even a single dollar of money for next season without jeopardizing their ability to re-sign the terrifying (in a good way!) Lance Stephenson.
No real surprise here but it's the first time I've heard someone mention it per sources. If they're seriously shopping him, I would be happy with draft picks for this year as long as there was at least a first rounder involved. I can't imagine we could get a high pick for Granger by himself but hey, one first round pick would be better than no first round pick. I'm sure Larry could find a gem in the mid-late twenties.


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Well Connected: Chris Meaney '00 Stays "Interconnected" with the Natural World
Senior NOAA Policy Advisor Nurtured His Passion at UNH
Chris Meaney '00, on right, at the entrance to the EcoQuest program's facility in New Zealand.
In The Log from the Sea of Cortez, John Steinbeck writes about our interconnectedness with the natural world, stating, "[…] all things are one thing and that one thing is all things—plankton, a shimmering phosphorescence on the sea and the spinning planets and an expanding universe, all bound together by the elastic string of time. It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again."
Christopher Meaney '00 has done just that.
As a child growing up in coastal Connecticut, Meaney's playground of youth was the ecotone where shore meets ocean. "The foundation for my conservation ethic was established in the tidal pools of Long Island Sound," he says. This early love for the coast and ocean would later inform many of his decisions regarding educational pursuits and, ultimately, guide him to a position as a Senior Policy Advisor to Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator.
Meaney's passion for conservation extends far beyond our waterways. He has approached life with eyes wide open in appreciation for the natural world. Such awareness at an early age, and an influential vacation in the Granite State, led him to pursue an undergraduate education at the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). It was autumn in the White Mountains when Meaney's parents drove him through Franconia Notch where maple leaves shimmer like fire jewels against the yellow canopies of slender birches. The majestic Old Man of the Mountain had not yet crumbled. "I fell in love with the area," says Meaney, "and knew I wanted to go back."
Familiar with COLSA's reputation for a strong curriculum in the department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Meaney declared an Environmental Conservation major with an ecology focus. "I met great, like-minded folks who wanted to better understand the natural world and pursue efforts to work on natural resource issues," says Meaney who was profoundly influenced by his educational experiences at the college. He studied with Dr. Mimi Larsen Becker and recalls that her environmental policy course was instrumental to his "understanding of the importance and evolution of policies and regulations affecting society and the natural world."
Later, he was introduced to contemporary conservation biology theories in a course taught by Dr. Kimberly Babbitt '84. "She challenged us to apply those theories to what was happening in the world around us," says Meaney who was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) to work further with Babbitt. Together they developed a study that investigated amphibian species richness in southern New Hampshire wetlands. "Through that experience, I strengthened my grasp of research methodologies and design, applied concepts learned in the classroom to the field, and sharpened my critical thinking capabilities," says Meaney.
One of the most influential components of Meaney's undergraduate education came in 1999 with the opportunity to be a pioneer in UNH's initial EcoQuest program of applied field studies in New Zealand. For the first time, he found himself living far from home along the coast of Tikapa Moana/the Firth of Thames across from the rugged hills of the Coromandel Peninsula. There, EcoQuest's facility shares the sacred land for which two Māori tribes are the tangata whenua or spiritual and material guardians.
In this unique landscape and elsewhere throughout New Zealand, Meaney and his fellow students studied ecology and natural resource policy and management. And they conducted research that emphasized, in process and result, our indisputable interconnectedness. "The directed research project was a very powerful experience in many ways. My teammates and I conducted research with a family-run marine mussel aquaculture farm. I remember staying up late and waking up early in order to continue our counting of juvenile mussels in a small garage that, at the time, served as one of the labs at EcoQuest. When you spend so much time together, you really get to know folks and understand what it means to work as a team. Together, we brought boundless energy and heaps of motivation to almost every aspect of our lives at EcoQuest," says Meaney about this experience that advanced his interest in a career focusing on the connection between humans and the natural world. He recalls as transformative the experience of "identifying a research question, working side-by-side with the fishermen to conduct the research to help answer that question, and knowing that, in the end, the result could possibly help a local family's business flourish."
"At EcoQuest, I was able to take an in-depth look at policy and management concepts, identify issues and problems and debate ideas in a small classroom with my peers and teachers. We then were able to go out into the community or field to see how all these things were being applied. That was amazing. By the end of my EcoQuest experience, I felt certain that I would continue to study natural resources," says Meaney. And he did. After traveling throughout the western United States and volunteering with the Nature Conservancy, Meaney stayed in Alaska where, he says, "I worked with a small non-profit association of subsistence and commercial fishers with a mission of protecting and promoting all healthy fisheries and cultures along the Yukon River drainage."
His collective experiences mounted to a clearer understanding of how he wanted to be involved in conservation efforts. "The beauty of the US, and my previous experiences, drove me to complete a master's in natural resources law and policy," says Meaney. "I wanted to pursue a career where I could be closer to the decision making process and to have a greater role in effecting change." He enrolled in the Environmental Management master's program at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and, during that time, became a recipient of a Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, which led to his securing a position as a Marine Habitat Resource Specialist with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Habitat Conservation. "The main focus of my work was the implementation of the essential fish habitat provisions of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act—the Nation's primary law governing marine fisheries management in United States federal waters," says Meaney, "and I also assisted the Office with efforts to incorporate climate change considerations into regional and national conservation programs."
Later, he moved into a policy advising role at NOAA, where he now provides research, policy analysis, and fiscal advice on major policies and initiatives associated with federal marine fisheries management. "I interact with various constituent groups and many different federal agencies on national policies," says Meaney whose work influences habitat conservation efforts, aquaculture, commercial fisheries, recreational fishing, and more.
In spite of a demanding schedule, Meaney takes the time to remain connected to his friends and colleagues in the Environmental Conservation major at UNH. He makes an effort to keep in touch with his former professors because, as he says, "I really give them credit for holding me to the highest standards and for pushing me to challenge myself to succeed."
Meaney plans to come back for a reunion and share his perspective with current students on graduate school, travel, and his experiences working for the federal government. In considering imparting some words of wisdom regarding sustainability, he takes into account the interconnectedness of all living things. "When working on issues that involve natural resources, it is especially important to understand the social component, how personal, community and cultural values motivate people and how these values shape decision-making. If you can take these into account, you will be able to develop fair and effective solutions to these issues. It sounds simple, but it is all too often overlooked," says Meaney. "Looking forward, there will be no short fall of challenges and plenty of work to be done. Be sure to challenge yourself in whatever you do. Know that problems will be complex, and when things seem almost impossible that's when people really have the opportunity to shine."
Meaney offers a rare gift in being able to look from the tide pool to the stars—with their ineffable shine—and back to the tide pool again, with confidence that the illumination reflected there belongs to and benefits us all.
Originally published by:
Originally published in COLSA Insight, Newsletter of the College of Life Sciences & Agriculture
Written by Victoria Forester Courtland.


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Waterford Township Trustees approved handing over prosecutorial duties to a Troy attorney Monday, ending a 30-year run by the current prosecutor, Walt Bedell.
Margaret Scott, a former Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor, works as a partner with Secrest Wardle law firm in Troy. Waterford approved the contract with Scott unanimously. The prosecutor handles cases at Waterford's 51st District Court.
Scott will take over criminal prosecutions at the Waterford District Court on April 1.
Bedell has held the position for more than 30 years, from 1976-84, and from 1988 until present.
"I intend to go back into private practice," said Bedell Tuesday.
"I've always been an independent contractor with the township and been involved in other things than prosecution."
Bedell, who is 64, said he has an office and home in northern Michigan, and will divide time between Oakland County and the northern office.
"I've been thankful to be able to represent the people of Waterford for 33 years," he said.
Bedell will assist Scott with the transition, he said.
Waterford's request for quotes from area attorneys brought in 35 bids.
The labor attorney will be Howard Shifman of Birmingham and the general services attorney will be Gary Dovre of Farmington Hills. Shifman and Dovre charge hourly rates, said Supervisor Gary Wall. Scott's retainer is $150,000, said Wall.
A committee of three elected township officials -- supervisor, clerk and treasurer -- and two employees sifted through the bids.�
Trustee Julie Brown said she would have preferred an attorney from Waterford.
"I'm kind of disappointed for the citizens of Waterford that (the committee) didn't choose someone in our community who gives back to our community," said Brown.
Supervisor Gary Wall said attorneys who bid and worked in the township were considered. The committee spent six days choosing the three attorneys.�
"I could have picked three friends, but I don't like to do it that way. I do feel they were in the best interest of Waterford as a whole," Wall said.
He said Scott has worked with Waterford Police in auto theft matters in the past.
"She is familiar with our court extensively," Wall said. "That had a lot to do with our selection."
Scott's biography indicates she was chief of the auto theft unit with the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office between 1996-2008. From 1988-1990, she worked as a district court prosecutor in several communities including Royal Oak, Oak Park, Walled Lake, Novi and Farmington Hills. Her law degree is from Wayne State University Law School.
Trustee Donna Kelley thanked Bedell.
"He has given 30 years to this township and served us well," she said.
Wall said he met with Bedell in person to let him know he was not chosen. "I have that much respect for him," he said.
Contact Carol Hopkins at 248-745-4645 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @OPCarolHopkins or on Facebook @OPcarolhopkins.


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BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot is supporting Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation by offering an exclusive line of products designed to empower youth and inspire bravery.
Custom products include empowerment gift cards (with a face value of $20), with one of six messages on the front: "Be Brave," "Be Amazing," "Be Yourself," "Be Kind," "Be Accepting," and "Be Involved."
Also available will be limited-edition "Kindness Sticks" Post-It Notes, limited-edition Sharpie pens, and unique "Bravery Bracelets," each of which feature Born This Way Foundation's logo, as well as the same six messages of empowerment as the gift cards.
All products are available exclusively at Office Depot, both in retail stores and online at www.officedepot.com and www.facebook.com/officedepot. Office Depot will donate 25% of the sales of these limited edition products directly to Born This Way Foundation, with a guaranteed donation of $1 million this year.
"Office Depot is a place that brings together students as well as their families and teachers, who play such an important role in inspiring and supporting today's youth," said Cynthia Germanotta, president and co-founder of Born This Way Foundation.
Office Depot has also created unique experiences on its Facebook page to encourage students to express their individuality and reach out and connect with each other.
"Born This Way Foundation is an inspirational organization that has the power to make a difference in the lives of today's youth and we are honored to join this movement and help raise awareness for such an important cause," said Bob Moore, chief marketing officer for Office Depot. "We feel the six empowerment phrases will help start a much needed conversation among our students of `What will you be this school year?"'To which we look forward to hearing millions of students around the country answering: `Kind,' `Brave,' `Accepting,' `Involved,' `Amazing' - and most of all, for them to feel encouraged to `Be Yourself.'"