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Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun
Published Friday, March 12, 2010 | 10:05 a.m.
Updated Friday, March 12, 2010 | 3:42 p.m.
Sun Archives
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife is in good spirits and could be released from the hospital in the next few days after undergoing neck surgery this morning at a Washington, D.C., area hospital following a serious, multi-vehicle car crash, officials said.
Landra Reid, 69, could begin physical therapy this afternoon and her doctor said he believes no further surgeries will be needed.
The senator plans to continue his re-election campaign.
"His plans have not changed at all," a spokesman said.
The senator remained at his wife's side at the Northern Virginia hospital for most of the day as she underwent surgery that lasted several hours. The Senate was not in session.
"The tremendous concern and support for Landra and Lana from people across Nevada and across the nation have deeply touched our entire family," the senator said in a statement. "We greatly appreciate your thoughts during this difficult time. Landra and I have been married for 50 years. She is the love of my life, and I look forward to her making a full recovery as quickly as possible."
Reid's wife and daughter, Lana Reid-Barringer, 48, were rear-ended Thursday afternoon by a semi-truck on busy Interstate 95 in Fairfax County.
Landra Reid was in serious condition after suffering a broken neck, broken back and broken nose. His daughter suffered facial lacerations and neck injuries, and was released from the hospital Thursday night.
Dr. Elizabth Franco said at a hpspital press conference this afternoon that Landra Reid's "prognosis for recovery is actually very good." She faces essentially no risk of paralysis, the doctor said.
Reid's spokesman said the senator was "quite relieved" following the surgery.
The senator received word of the crash during a 2:15 p.m. conference call with rural Nevada reporters. He left the Capitol to go to the hospital, then returned to his office in the evening as health care talks continued.
The senator returned to the hospital Thursday evening and stayed until nearly midnight. He was back at the hospital this morning by his wife's side, his office said.
Lana is the oldest of Reid's five children and his only daughter. His four sons were all en route to the Washington area.
President Barack Obama called the senator Thursday night to check on Reid's family. Fellow senators, Nevada lawmakers and at least two candidates challenging Reid in his re-election this fall also sent their support. Republican candidate Sue Lowden said she would suspend her campaign ads.
The Reids are high school sweethearts who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year.


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For the sake of keeping the air clear I wanted to address the delay in Kingston shipments over the last two weeks. As many of you already know during the course of this year we re-structured our operations to be more agile. This restructuring brought with it some side-effects. One effect of the changes is that our business is now more dependent upon the holiday season. The execution of our holiday marketing is what is causing the delays in the delivery of the Kingstons. Placing our emphasis on the Kingston deliveries (i.e. holding back other watches we could have sold) for much of the year meant that the holiday season is that much more important to meeting our goals for the restructuring. I can assure that our profitability this year will reflect the reality that this is a re-building year for us and the additional delay was necessary to keep the company on an even keel. The seasonal efforts are not about maximizing the bottom line but making sure that the gains we made as a result of the restructuring will carry over into next year.
The good news is that the season is going very well and we expect that Kingston delivery volume will recover by next week to levels seen earlier this year.
Thanks in advance for your understanding.

subset: commoncrawl


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Democracy in America Today
February 5, 2005
By Leah Allen
It's time to take a serious look at what we consider to be our
democratic way of life and what it holds for us as we look into
the future.
We have serious economic issues and disturbing socio-economic
plans being presented as conclusions rather than proposals. Citizens
of the United States are paying the price for having an international
trade policy of war and empire-building with the fiasco in Iraq.
On the domestic front, huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people
only complicate the debt picture the war has created.
And then to add insult to injury, the government is feeding the
public a daily dose of misinformation about Social Security and
Medicare and plans to dissolve those quality-of-life commitments
to the citizens. The reality, which leading economists have identified,
is that if 1/5 of the tax break just given to the wealthiest
Americans was repealed, Social Security would be solvent beyond
the foreseeable future (beyond 2052). Another solution might be
to allow the Social Security tax to be applied to incomes above
$90,000. Ironically, these wealthy Americans would not be hurt by
either of these measures.
The alternative plan now being offered by the Bush administration
would add trillions of dollars of debt to our already burgeoning
deficit, though it has been clearly identified that the people will
not benefit for nearly half a century, even if they do have any
success with the stock market. This plan is ignorant and immoral.
The people need to figure out ways to fix the wobbling economy and
stock market other than raiding Social Security, defaulting on commitments
to citizens and enslaving ensuing generations with debt.
In cities across the country, we are readily trading scarce resources
desperately needed to fix schools, roads, sewers and to create good
jobs, for sports arenas and convention centers. In Indianapolis
alone we are faced with an $800 million repair of our schools, which
we will have to meet with property taxes. At the same time, plans
are being finalized for an additional $800 million for a sports
stadium and convention facility expansion to be financed with "gambling
The last time Hoosiers were given such a bait and switch was when
they allowed the state lottery to be implemented, proceeds of which
were promised to go to roads, bridges and schools. No one seems
to know where the lottery profits are going. Taxes keep going up.
The state is still broke and these basic infrastructure needs are
continuing to grow.
Unemployment and under-employment are at record levels with no
significant improvement in sight. Most good manufacturing jobs are
limited, even high-tech jobs are being outsourced overseas. Crane
Naval Center, a major employer in southern Indiana, even during
this wartime buildup is at risk of closure.
Meanwhile the United States is losing its most precious resource,
the young; lost in a malaise of menial jobs at best, drifting nowhere.
Many even have post-econdary training or education but cannot find
the jobs that match their skills. There are few from the upper class
who will somehow wander like nomads from job to job as our economy
continues to falter.
If one reads the paper on any given day, what is the most quoted
indicator of economic health? Consumer confidence. So who will be
the consumers in the future? Not the millions of unemployed, under-employed
or seniors who are so on the edge with the current cost of healthcare
that they have to cut their pills in half or stand in line for days
for public assistance for food and heat.
Realize, America most of the baby boomers, soon to be seniors,
did not save or plan for going it alone without real social benefits.
Theyve been busy growing the economy, being consumers.
The most distressing aspect of all of the above is that the citizens
seem to have no legitimate public discourse on these very real,
important issues. Endless discourse on gays, guns and God continue
to take center stage in deference to seemingly everything else.
The real discussions and decisions seem more often to be made in
some cloistered back room and then summarily announced to the people.
The media does very little to explore these issues, preferring to
take up all of their airtime with reinforcing fear of terrorists,
artfully crafted religious exhortations, and salacious stories of
local and national murders.
What can be done? First, citizens must recognize that they have
these problems. In order not to be victimized by them, people need
to get involved. Who is your congressman? Who is your local precinct
leader? How many different taxing agencies are affecting you and
how are you represented? How are you, the citizen, monitoring what
the government is really doing and spending? What do your schools,
streets, and parks look like? Who is helping the homeless and how?
Secondly, it is time for real, unscripted town hall meetings on
all government issues. It is time to get government back to work
and accountable to the public, not just the wealthy few that want
the public to pay for their enterprises. Public works projects could
easily employ a lot of people in good jobs fixing our dilapidated
schools, roads, sewers, and bridges. These are jobs that desperately
need to be done to improve the economy, tax base and quality of
life for all citizens.
Finally, the United States would save thousands of lives and billions
of dollars if its governmental representatives would participate
fairly and honestly in the international community instead of creating
excuses to take advantage of others in order to steal their resources.
The Greeks and Romans were also infamous empire builders and enjoyed
great stadiums. Their economies at that time also operated on a
two-tier structure of haves and have-nots (wealthy and poor). Our
pre-Civil war society was also a two-class system as much of our
economy was dependent on slaves. What can we learn from those legacies?
We must re-harness the power of democracy in America before we
are thrown back into a two-class society, where most of us may become
the nameless, faceless, voiceless and poor.


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New-look Casement Park revealed
Antrim chairman Jim Murray has hailed the release of the first image of the new-look Casement Park and believes that this marks another big stride towards the dawn of a new era within Ulster GAA.
And Murray has been joined in welcoming this latest development in the massive refurbishment plan for the ground by his brother-in-law, former Northern Ireland international soccer star Gerry Armstrong.
Murray's dynamic leadership and desire to see the west Belfast venue become one of the top four sporting stadia in Ireland has had much to do with the progress which has been made in the planning process to date and he admits that he can't wait for work to start later this year on what will be a three-year project."We hope to have the ground completely transformed and in use for the 2016 Ulster football final," enthuses Murray.
"I think the release of the image of what the new ground will look like will generate massive interest and this is exactly what the Stadium Project Board want at this juncture."
The Ulster Council's Head of Public Affairs Ryan Feeney confirms that the stadium re-development represents a significant step forward for the GAA in Ulster.
"When the work is completed Casement Park will be a state of the art stadium in every possible sense. This is a big step forward for Antrim an for the province and the new venue will become a jewel in the Association's crown," maintains Feeney.
Murray, meanwhile, is immersed in work at grassroots level to facilitate the project and suggests that it will provide "a massive boost" for the Association.
"It will be a dream come true for us when it is completed, a massive boost altogether" he adds.
Armstrong, a GAA player of note before attaining soccer fame, hails the work that is being done by an army of volunteers in Antrim.
"I know Jim lives, sleeps and breathes GAA – he's either going to a meeting or coming from one. The re-development of Casement Park is a wonderful undertaking and will have massive benefits for the economy as well of course as the GAA," says Arsmtrong.
And he hopes to see Antrim prosper in football and hurling.
"It's good to see that Frank Dawson's boys got their league campaign off to a start against Cavan. Hopefully they can push on and maybe gain promotion – that would be a big bonus," says Armstrong.
Armagh is making a concerted drive to pay off debts which have been accrued of late.
Already a new-formed fund-raising committee is fully immersed in drawing up a series of innovative projects aimed at easing the fianncail pressure under which the county has been labouring of late.
New football manager Paul Grimley is giving his full backing to the fund-raising campaign which will incorporate a massive open-air concert featuring Nathan Carter at the Athletic Grounds in April.
The county board has of course completed the massive refurbishment of the Athletic Grounds which has proved a drain on resources despite grant aid for the project.
While county board officials take justifiable pride in their impressive stadium, they must now turn their attention to the fact that Croke Park chiefs have pinpointed Armagh as one of a small number of counties about which they harbour concerns in relation to debt repayments.
Tipperary, Waterford and Sligo are among other counties grappling with financial woes but Armagh is the only Ulster county to have been pinpointed by Headquarters.
Indeed, on a wider front, there are worries that the overall financial situation within the GAA could deteriorate.
The attendance figures for last week-end's opening round of Allianz Football League games were far from encouraging, sparking fears that some counties could perhaps face even bigger financial burdens should this trend continue. The double-header at Croke Park involving four counties drew only 29,000 fans while there were only sparse attendances at the Galway v Derry and Monaghan v Meath matches.
The GAA will seek to introduce measures next year that will prevent counties from running up the type of consecutive deficits that got Kildare into such trouble last year when they required two 'bailouts'.
Belfast Telegraph


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Pole Dancing Underwater Will Make You Wet — Yakima Valley Needs This [VIDEO]
The Yakima Valley needs a swimming pool like this one! Pole dancing underwater is an incredible sport!
The Yakima Valley needs a swimming pool like this one! Pole dancing underwater is an incredible sport!
Former Playboy model Diosa Canales fell while pole dancing and popped one of her breast implants.
Strip club patrons in Houston, Texas are getting the shaft – or the pole.
There are literally thousands of pole dancing videos on the internet. Some are great, some not so much, some are funny, some look painful. Usually, when someone tells me to watch a pole dancing video I have the "I've seen one, I've seen them all" attitude, until I saw this one.
The big news in public transportation this week was 26-year old Ryan Wenzel (not pictured), who entertained riders of New York City's L Train with a pole dance.
While the show may have seemed spontaneous, it turns out it was actually part of a shoot for an upcoming Girl Talk video.
Move over, oil and water: A local FOX affiliate in Houston, TX, has discovered a new phenomenon that will have everyone scratching their heads.
It's called -- wait for it -- Pole Fitness for Jesus, a bi-weekly program in which women dance on a stripper pole set to Christian music.
Sounds like an oxy moron, right? Well, instructor Crystal Deans thinks otherwise, insisting that the program is all about female empowerment. "I teach women to feel good about themselves," she told the local FOX affiliate. Check out the full interview now.


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payment gateway
luxury beauty brand
Width(Opening):27cmHeight:28cmWidth(Bottom):11cmHand Height:11cmInner Bags:3cmBrand: 'Handmade' Style: Shoulder Bag Material: Leather Color: Reds Shade: red Size: Medium
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Bay Area Venues
Performances in the Bay Area happen in concert halls, community centers and churches. This comprehensive listing of venues gives you easy access to maps, directions and lists upcoming events in each venue.
Santa Cruz and Central Coast
Carmel Mission
3080 Rio Road, Carmel, CA 93923
Santa Cruz and Central Coast
Carmel Presbyterian
Junipero and Mountain View
Carmel Valley Ranch
1 Old Ranch Rd
San Francisco
Carmelite Monastery of Cristo Rey
721 Parker Avenue
San Francisco
Carola Zertuche Centro de Arte Flamenco
670 South Van Ness Avenue
Carolands Chateau
565 Remillard Drive, Hillsborough
Napa and Sonoma
Carole L. Ellis Auditorium
680 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, Petaluma
San Jose and Silicon Valley
Carriage House Theatre, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga
15400 Montalvo Road
Carrington Hall
1201 Brewster Avenue at Broadway, Redwood City
San Francisco
Cartwright Hotel Union Square
524 Sutter St San Francisco, CA 94102
San Jose and Silicon Valley
228 Marvin Avenue
San Jose and Silicon Valley
Casa De Anza
10351 Mary Avenue
East Bay
Casa de Cultura
1901 San Pablo Ave
San Francisco
Casa Fulton
1374 Fulton St., San Francisco
Caspar Community Center
15051 Caspar Road
Santa Cruz and Central Coast
Cass Winery
7350 Linne Road
Napa and Sonoma
Castello di Amorosa
4045 Saint Helena Highway, Calistoga
San Francisco
Castro Theatre
429 Castro Street, San Francisco
East Bay
Castro Valley Center for the Arts
19501 Redwood Road, Castro Valley, CA 94546
San Francisco


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Originally published Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 6:07 AM
Here in the Wrap Department, we were at a loss for words.
You expect life to throw a few curveballs, for bumps to rise in the road, for keys to snap off in locks, for your star tight end to drive a car through a nursing home, and for various other unexpected-bad-luck clichés to come to life.
But this? Ethically challenged megalomaniac David Stern and his rat's nest of thieving co-conspirators acting like duplicitous liars on a matter of supposed great import to two major U.S. cities?
Nobody could have seen that one coming. Not in a million years. Or apparently even five.
More blind eyes:
For the Record: Lots of blather about the contrast between Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and Seattle's civic leadership in 2008, when Howie Schultz was selling the Sonics out the back door. People inside the sports bubble can't seem to grasp the fact that local pols, in refusing to assume the position and "save the Sonics" by reopening the civic checkbook, were actually representing the will of the people — the vast majority of whom said hell no to propping up a corrupt enterprise with public money.
Hot News Tip: By any objective measure, most of those people feel the exact same way today.
A Tradition Unlike Any Other: Quite the scene downtown on May Day, with hundreds of news photographers shooting pictures of dozens of videographers capturing footage of a handful of shiftless riffraff — partially for news purposes, but mostly for later posting on Facebook.
We Interrupt Jeopardy to Bring You … Nothing: Those "riots" must've been earth-shattering, as local TV stations devoted two-thirds of their 11 p.m. newscasts to the brazen spectacle. They barely had time for their primary reason for existence, the weather.
Oh, the Humanity: No offense to those caught up in pepper spray and flash bangs. But we're pretty sure we felt Ernie Pyle spinning in his grave right near the end of that first-person (what else?) report from KING5's Chris Daniels about the harrowing trauma of being Silly Stringed on the mean streets of Seattle.
Attention, Trek: If you were paying attention last week, you're already working on an Urban Commando Hybrid Police Assault Bike with a front rock shield and dual pepper-spray cannons.
Speaking of Silly String: Times editorial columnist Jonathan Martin posed an interesting question last week: Can Mayor Mike McGinn learn from his mistakes? Our take: If he could, wouldn't he be a genius by now?
Just Win — Or at Least Sorta Try — Baby: Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik accidentally revealed the guiding principle of America's national-punch-line pro-sports franchise last week, telling KJR radio that impatient fans who focus on wins and losses, and not the team's excellent minor-league system, are "missing the big picture."
Gallows-Humor Barb of the Week Award: To whoever raised the question of whether the person with the starter gun at the next major track event that includes accused murderer Oscar Pistorius will fire off four shots.
And Finally: New measures against Somali pirates have been so effective that the lawless scalawags have been unable to mount a successful hijacking in almost a year. That leaves Comcast as the primary thieving-pirate establishment on the planet last year.
Ron Judd's column appears each Sunday. Reach him at firstname.lastname@example.com or 206-464-8280.
About The Wrap / Ron Judd
"The Wrap" appears on Sundays, highlighting the absurd and providing the punch line to the week's news headlines.


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The latest news from academia, regulators
research labs and other things of interest
|Posted: Nov 09, 2010
mPhase Successfully Assembles First Functional Multi-Cell Smart NanoBattery
|(Nanowerk News) mPhase Technologies, Inc. mPhase said today that it has successfully assembled its first functional multi-cell Smart NanoBattery.
|This was achieved by bonding an electrolyte reservoir to mPhase's patented, porous, silicon based smart surface. The combined multi-cell reservoir and honeycomb porous smart surface assembly is then bonded to a glass and silicon electrode assembly and populated with the electrode stacks consisting of lithium and carbon monofluoride materials (Li/CFx). Fully assembled units are then filled with the electrolyte and sealed, making them air tight. They are finally attached to special circuit boards for testing and characterization studies, which will include triggering and activation of each of the independent battery cells via a technique called electrowetting, which gives the mPhase reserve battery one of its key attributes -- programmable triggering. Because of the unique design of the multi-cell battery, each cell in the battery has very long shelf until it is triggered.
|The development of the Smart NanoBattery has been undertaken with funding support from a Phase II STTR Army award.
|About mPhase Technologies, Inc.
|mPhase Technologies is introducing a revolutionary Smart Surface technology enabled by breakthroughs in nanotechnology, MEMS processing and microfluidics. Our Smart Surface technology has potential applications within drug delivery systems, lab-on-a-chip analytic systems, self-cleaning systems, liquid and chemical sensor systems, and filtration systems. mPhase has pioneered its first Smart Surface enabled product, the mPhase Smart NanoBattery.
|In addition to the Smart Surface technology, mPhase recently introduced its first product, the mPower Emergency Illuminator, an award-winning product designed by Porsche Design Studio and sold via the mPower website: http://www.mpowertech.com.
|More information about the company can be found at http://www.mPhaseTech.com.
|Source: mPhase (press release)


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can u taste the citrus from the zest or the oil in the cake?
also is the white butter cake base for baking different layers from this recipe?
I need to make a 12 inch cake, or a sheet cake (I would prefer to make a round) so I wanted to figure out any adjustments
thanks in advance


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The information described here was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and through the guidance and support of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
The contents of this website are the responsibility of Fondation Ariel Glaser pour la Lutte contre le SIDA Pédiatrique and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CDC, the U.S. government, or other supporters.
logos (CDC/EGPAF/PEPFAR/another with a red cross)


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PINE BRANCH, TEXAS. Pine Branch is off Farm Road 909 twenty miles south of Clarksville in southern Red River County. The community was first settled prior to 1900. A school was in operation by 1907, when it had an enrollment of thirty. In the mid-1930s Pine Branch had a store, a school, and a number of houses. The school and store were closed around the time of World War II, but in the early 1990s a community center and a few scattered dwellings still remained.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Handbook of Texas Online, Christopher Long, "Pine Branch, TX," accessed November 17, 2017, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hrpsw.
Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
For more information about towns and counties including physical features, statistics, weather, maps and much more, visit the Town Database on TexasAlmanac.com!


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Knottingley landlord Paul Wood has opened a petting zoo at his pub.
Mr Wood, who runs the Steampacket Inn, created The Funny Farm in the play area behind the pub on Racca Green.
The free zoo has free range chickens, guinea pigs and rabbits and he also hopes to open an aviary for youngsters to enjoy in the near future.
Mr Wood, 46, said: "It's proving to be a great success, apart from the chickens sitting on my pool table."
He is pictured with one of his rabbits, Dumpling. p308a424


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So the next thing we know is, late April, CBS is messing the story -- they won't publish it, they won't do it. I pick up on it. So I end up getting the photographs. And more than that, CBS had some photographs. I get more of the photographs and I also get the report from somebody, from people inside who were really troubled by it. I publish it in the New Yorker.
What does the White House do? Oh my god. It's all in the chronology. What's going on? The president assigns a new general to be in charge. The president says: I was against torture, I'm always against torture. Condoleezza Rice says: Oh my god, the president made it clear where we stand. And she actually literally says, "I guess the army didn't get the message" -- she says this to one group of reporters.
What have they done in the four months since the time they're put on notice? Does the president immediately say to Rumsfeld: "What's going on in there -- this stuff is insane? We're fighting a war to win the hearts and minds of people and you're doing this kind of junk? I want everybody on the carpet for this." Does he demand an investigation? Does anything happen except the prosecution begins of the low-level people they want to bury?
That's all that happened.
They did nothing.
Ask about chain of command, ask about what the president knew or didn't know. That's all you need to know: They did nothing. They wanted the little boys and girls to get prosecuted. That's where we are right now. No officer has been charged.
And so, there we are. That's the chronology. All of a sudden there's gambling on the premises.
To me, the chronology is devastating, it's an indictment in spades of the leadership. You don't have to say that they knew in advance. I don't think they did know. But once they did know, they did nothing. What does that tell you? We now know what was going on all over. I think when we're done, we're going to find that Andersonville, the famous prison in the Civil War -- [the atrocities of the current situation] will equal that. No, this will be worse, because they killed them. Many died in Andersonville, but in terms of contempt for prisoners, once we find out what's happened in Guantánamo . . . when you get all the stuff from Guantánamo, folks, you're going to be so appalled. It's on videotape, they have a lot of it. What struck me after those stories came out, there was all this talk in the military about how there were rules and regulations; "Rumsfeld said we could do this" and "General Sanchez (the army general in charge of the war in Iraq) said we could do this" and "the Pentagon said we could this." I spent a lot of time talking to people about this, and I'll tell you what I understood the rules to be: Do whatever you want. Don't kill them, but do whatever you want. Whatever you want.
There were no rules. Of course there weren't any rules. It was just: Do what you can do.
So we've been dealing macro. I'll take you micro, because you've got to get a sense of this too. All this macro stuff. So what I was talking about, the little guys getting killed. Of course I think about My Lai, and most of you students don't remember. When I was growing up in the 1940s and early '50s in Chicago, World War I was way, far off the screen. It was Ernest Hemingway and Flanders Fields and ambulances, and so for your generation the Vietnam War is a distant vague memory. But there was a time. And some of us have gone through it, we survived it.
And there was a time you'd wake up every day and say, Oh, let's see, my country is raping, brutalizing, defoliating, sodomizing, and murdering a society today. That's how many of us felt about the war. It just got hopeless. In my case, I covered the war for the Associated Press and I learned to hate it on the job, just by seeing it. It wasn't because of any predilection to like or not like war. I was in the army. Didn't like it, but there are a lot of good people there. And a lot of bad people, just like there are everywhere. In any case, one day in Vietnam -- I'll just take a minute and tell you because there are analogies.
You see, in Vietnam we didn't see the enemy. There was a company called Charlie Company that had been sent to Vietnam in Christmas of '67, and by March of '68 they had never seen a soldier, a communist, a North Vietnamese communist, or a Vietcong. All they did was walk through fields and step on land mines and get shot at by snipers. Of the maybe 90 guys in the company, about 12 or 13 or 14 were dead and more wounded in three months. There was this inevitable build-up of rage at an enemy you couldn't see.
In Iraq, everybody wants to say it's so different.
But we don't see the enemy. All that happens is our guys drive around on trucks until they blow up. Then they jump off the trucks and shoot everybody they can shoot for a minute, and then we move on. Another day in the war. There are no set battles. There's very little of that stuff.
The soldiers in Charlie Company were part of a small task force, sort of like the kids we have today -- the underclass, the kids who join the army because it was a chance. A lot of Hispanics, a lot of African Americans then, just like now. It's a way to step up in the social ladder. And in this country right now, if you live in Guam or one of the countries that are protectorates of America, you can get citizenship by joining the army. So the army is full of a lot of people who don't even know the language, really. As you know from reading recruitment stuff, who wants to go there?
And so, in My Lai one day, March 15th, they were told they were going to meet a North Vietnamese combat division, ready to kill in a set-up fight: "This is it, guys." So they did what kids did then. They toked it up and smoked it up and drank it up and got ready and jumped on choppers at four in the morning, all juiced up, and ran into combat, guns held, terrified.
There are 530 or 540 women, children, and old men. It's about six in the morning and they're around the pots, cooking their rice for morning meals in the village. And for some inexplicable reason -- but maybe it's not so inexplicable, but just what happens -- as we know, this is the My Lai fore-story. The soldiers gather [the villagers] into three large groups and begin to shoot them.
I ended up spending a year or so running around talking to people about it, kids in the unit. By the time I got to the story, it was the fall of '69, 18 months later. Most of them were draftees and had come home. It's not like we have now. Now they stay in forever, which makes it harder to get stories in a way, obviously.
One of the things I'm telling you is anecdotal. People take issue when I say it, but it's my experience that there was a disproportionate share of African Americans and Puerto Ricans and Hispanics. The "underclass." But most of the kids who did the killing were the white kids. The African Americans and the Hispanics shot up into the air. They didn't want to be caught not shooting, because in that war, that's a bullet in the back if you're not going along. It was a different war. A lot of what they call fragging. You didn't rat out other guys. They shot, but they didn't shoot. And whether that's a wrong impression, I'm sure that every race can do anything it wants, but that was the experience that I found.
So anyway, they kill all [the villagers], and there are a remarkable couple of things that you have to know about because you have to understand. At one moment, they stopped and had a coffee break, or a lunch break. The meal's ready to eat -- [they had] C-rations then -- amidst all this. They really stopped and had their lunch.
And a mother had tucked one of her babies in this ditch full of bodies. (There were photographs later, just like there were photographs of Abu Ghraib.) And they heard a noise, and some boy about two somehow had survived. The mother had tucked him under her stomach and the onslaught had somehow missed him. And he got up and crawled out of the bodies, full of blood, other people's blood, and he began to run across the paddy, or the walkway.
Lieutenant Calley, the infamous Calley, is the main player, but there were three companies, five or six officers. But he was the one that was the most articulate about it, I guess, in his own demented way.
Calley said to the soldiers: Kill him; plug him. And nobody could move. Something about that one boy. So he grabbed a rifle and ran and shot him, threw him in the ditch.
Everybody remembered that.
The next day, one of the kids who had done much of the shooting, a guy named Paul Meadlo, had his foot blown off; he had stepped on a land mine. I was re-creating this by finding kids in the company, just running around the country. And at that time, I had just started [using the] American Express card, and I keep thinking, That's one ad you'll never see. Remember me? I solved the My Lai story with my American Express -- I had no money, but I had a card so I could fly around.
Anyway, Meadlo gets his foot blown off and he's being medivac'd -- the kids all tell me this. After an hour or so it comes out. He started shrieking, "God has punished me, Calley. He's going to punish you." It's one of those blood oaths that just somehow hung, whether you believe in such things or not. It was one of those chilling moments. So I went looking for Meadlo, and I finally found him. He lived in Indiana. I remember I was in Salt Lake City and I jumped on a plane and went to Chicago, went down to Indianapolis, got a car. He lived in a place called New Goshen in the south of Indiana. I remembered that part of the state because it was very heavy KKK [Ku Klux Klan]. It was as bad there as Mississippi, really, at least in the early part of the last century, not so bad later.
So I found him. I called the night before and got his mother. They were on a farm. And I told her what I was doing, and I told her I was coming to see her son. And she said, "Well, I don't know. I don't know if he'll talk to you." I said, "Well, I'm coming." And she said, "Do what you want. I can't promise anything." So I came.
And I drive up. Norman Rockwell used to do these little American paintings for the Saturday Evening Post 30 or 40 years ago. This was out of a Norman Rockwell painting. It was as poor as you could make it, a chicken farm. I didn't see any crops, just rows of chickens. No men, no man around. She was by herself with her son, and the most weather-beaten shacks passed for the house, the home. So when I pull up, she comes out, and naturally she's weather-beaten. She looks 70, but she's about 50, a slight woman. And I said, "I'm here to see your boy." And of course I'm polite, I introduce myself. She said, "He's in there." And I said thank you, and as I started to walk in, this rural woman said to me, quote unquote, she said, "I gave them a good boy and they sent me back a murderer."
Photo by Charles Harrington


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With 2012 about to arrive, NU spoke with some of the key figures in the E&S/Specialty Markets arena to hear their assessments of where the biggest opportunities will be found in the year ahead—and to get their take on the greatest challenges that will have to be faced over the next 12 months.
Click next to read their responses.
Hank Watkins
Lloyd's America
Without being able to predict the nature or scale of the disasters we'll experience in 2012, the key areas of concern for us are sluggish investment returns, surplus capital and relatively modest increases in premium rates. Against this backdrop, we continue to face uncertainty and delay in the European and U.S. regulatory environments. The risk of increasing compliance costs has not diminished and poses yet another challenge to the market's competitiveness. These realities will make disciplined, responsible underwriting as important as ever in 2012.
Alan Kaufman
Chairman & CEO
Burns & Wilcox
I do not anticipate that 2012 will be much different than 2011. The main reason is due to the overall U.S. economy. The world economy also has an effect. Rates will remain relatively flat, both in property and casualty, except for specific areas of the country where property rates may harden in small percentage points. I do not see rates weakening, due to the cost of reinsurance and some of the standard markets having difficulties with their loss experience in 2011. The personal-lines area in our segment of the specialty-insurance world in the latter half of 2012 will harden, with small percentage increases.
John Pagoumian
In order to get final approval [for premiums in excess of budget expectations], we expect more risk managers will need to bring alternative quotes to their senior management. If there's no change in submission quality or marketing strategy, it will be unrealistic for risk managers to deliver these alternative quotes, much less further reduction in premiums, without reducing critical coverage limits and increasing deductibles. [So] we expect to see significant opportunities in 2012 from agents and risk managers who have already had difficult renewal negotiations and don't need to be convinced that better submission quality and a fresh approach are required for optimal terms and pricing.
Wendy Houser
Managing Director of Wholesale Marketing
Markel Corp.
Markel is optimistic about the market opportunities in 2012. After six-plus years of declining premiums, we are seeing areas where premiums are, in fact, increasing. Our competition is pulling back, tightening forms, increasing rates or exiting the marketplace in a number of product lines. Markel has been growing throughout 2011—and in the last few months we have picked up the pace. We intend to capitalize on this trend in 2012.
Joel D. Cavaness
Risk Placement Services Inc.
Market opportunities for the wholesale community will expand in 2012. The standard markets are feeling the pains of the last year, and they feel the pain from the pricing that has been occurring over the last five or six years with significant pricing pressures, especially in the casualty lines. Although it is a long way from being a hard market, we are seeing a dramatic increase in submission flow and a fair amount of increase in bound new business.
The challenge of a transitioning market is twofold. One is to manage the amount of marketing activities that will go on in this type of a market. Many accounts will simply be marketed because the retailer just does not know what to expect out of his incumbent market, so it is up to him to check the waters.
The second factor is dealing with people who know how to sell in a changing market. If you think back, it has been a long time since anyone has had to deliver an increase to a client. We have to be in a position to provide them market intelligence, be well out ahead of the expiration, and provide them with advance notice on market conditions and guidance on their particular account.
Gary Thompson
Executive Vice President and Chief Underwriting
Officer for Commercial Markets
The Hartford
We're targeting industries such as health care, technology, life sciences and private education, and we're continuously improving our specialized capabilities to help our agents and brokers capitalize on these market opportunities. The industry continues to be challenged by a series of headwinds, including slow economic growth, sustained high unemployment levels, investment yields near all-time lows, and more frequent and more severe natural catastrophes. However, we believe the pendulum has shifted and the market is clearly firming. We expect to see commercial P&C pricing continue to increase, and we will continue to drive for price increases in 2012.
Mario Vitale
Aspen U.S. Insurance
We don't foresee any new challenges at this time for 2012; however, there are many ongoing challenges that will continue into the new year, one of which is the excess capacity in the marketplace. Despite the firming we are seeing in the marketplace, the number-one factor keeping rates below adequacy is too-robust competition in some lines, with more than enough supply to meet marketplace needs. We are seeing a few outlying companies that seem to be more concerned with production than profit. Sooner rather than later, we believe they also will recognize the importance of returning to the basics of responsible underwriting and pricing in a very challenging and risky marketplace.
Robert Cubbin
Meadowbrook Insurance Group
For sustainable profits to re-emerge, prices need to go up. While we are seeing some bottoming out and even price hardening in certain specific product lines or market segments, we still do not foresee a turn in the market cycle in the near future. There is still a lot of capacity and strong competition present in the market. Given the existing excess capacity available in the market—[combined with] fierce competition, low yields on fixed-income portfolios and tough economic conditions—profits will continue to be a struggle to achieve consistently. A lot in 2012 will depend on the weather.
Garrett Koehn
Crump Northwestern U.S.
In the area of professional liability or FinPro lines, we expect to see continued general softness in the overall market due to excessive capacity—with some signs of the market stabilizing overall.
Categorically, markets are adjusting to more recent experience. We see some hardening, for example, in the private directors-and-officers area, with some key carriers hoping to broadly raise rates in 2012 (in spite of this abundance of capacity). We expect the miscellaneous errors-and-omissions areas to remain relatively stable, with growth opportunities in the cyber-liability and privacy areas as more buyers appreciate the need for these coverages.
Jeremy Johnson
Product Line Executive for Specialty Lines (U.S. and Canada Region)
Specifically, we believe there are continued opportunities in environmental liability, corporate aviation and cyber liability, and we see a heightened interest in the development of solutions to address multinational exposures, whether driven by risk-management, tax or regulatory concerns. Underwriters need to be able to differentiate their product, drawing attention to coverage, service, claims handling and market commitment. There remains an abundance of competition, with many [carriers] looking to build market share at the expense of profit; the temptation to allow the insurance products to be commoditized along price lines must be resisted.
Marik Brockman
Principal Insurance Sector
PwC U.S.
Critical to top- and bottom-line growth is the ability to leverage the wealth of customer data to identify and promote products and services that match a customer's specific profile during any channel interaction. This lowers search and acquisition costs and increases awareness, products per customer and long-term loyalty.
Product, service and channel innovation represent key opportunities in 2012. Creating separation from competitors, as economies recover, begins with investment in strategic-growth initiatives during down times. Emerging or growing risk types, such as digital security, online reputation or business continuity, represent the potential to carve out new products and services. Developing partnerships with other service providers and retailers to reach high-value customers—and developing joint or integrated products and services—represent new channels for growth.
Ken Goldstein
Vice President, Specialty Insurance
Chubb Group of Insurance Cos.
Every company that collects, stores and/or transmits private information, such as an individual's name along with a Social Security number, employment information, health information or debit/credit card information, is subject to state notice regulations. Some companies may also be subject to federal compliance regulations. This creates a significant market opportunity for agents and brokers in the cyber-security space to assist companies with loss-mitigation tips and risk-transfer solutions.
In the current economic environment, a number of small to midsize companies will find it challenging to allocate the appropriate IT dollars needed to help defend the business against unauthorized access. Consequently, these companies will continue to be significant targets for global hackers, and may find it hard to purchase cyber-liability coverage [without being subject to] aggressive terms and conditions.
Joseph J. Beneducci
Chairman, President & CEO
ProSight Specialty Insurance Holdings
Technology will continue to play an increasing role in satisfying customer needs. I'm not talking about the technology we use to rate and issue policies. While that's definitely important, too, I'm talking about the use of technology and data-mining techniques to better understand customer behaviors, needs and buying trends.
The new breed of successful specialty-insurance provider isn't simply waiting for new submissions to show up in their inbox, but rather is proactively learning and improving their offerings based on the evolving needs of their customer base. Specialty carriers and producers will find it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to successfully improve and distinguish their value proposition without a more sophisticated use of technology and data-mining.
Greg Bangs
Vice President and Crime, Kidnap/Ransom and Extortion, and Workplace Violence Expense Product Manager
Chubb Group of Insurance Cos.
The key challenge in 2012 will be the continuing worldwide economic downturn. This has contributed to an upsurge in claims severity as companies monitor their finances and operations more closely and uncover previously overlooked losses, such as employee theft of funds, property or pension-fund assets.
Employees who are under severe personal financial pressure are more likely to steal, especially if they are concerned about losing their jobs. This increased motivation to commit dishonest acts is exacerbated by increased opportunity to do so, due to company cutbacks in internal audit and other internal control functions due to the poor economy. Small and midsize companies will be disproportionately victimized, as their internal fraud controls are often weaker than those in larger organizations.
Rick Ciullo
Chubb Surety
We continue to operate in a sluggish economy and an environment with more risk. As a result, contractors are generally smaller businesses than they were a few years ago. Their demand for bonds and the premiums they pay is down. For agents and brokers who play in this space, the challenge is easy to see: more competition, downward pressure on pricing and generally higher risk.
The opportunity is harder to see and may take a few more years to play out. Agents and brokers know that their surety customers need them now more than ever for sound advice. But customers also need surety capacity that is stable and predictable. This recession will not last forever. The better contractors will survive to enjoy the recovery; they'll need surety capacity to execute their business plan. Now is a good time to build more and deeper relationships with customers and prospects, and to match them up with surety underwriters who can support their long-term needs.
Wayne H. Carter III
Executive Vice President
Crump Professional Programs
The most significant challenge for 2012 will be the effective deployment of the still-abundant surplus within the P&C industry. There is a significant body of expertise with access to capital whose investors are looking for a return. The return can only be realized if the capital is deployed.
Depending on the perceived pressure to deploy that capital, some of that expertise will likely take more risky positions than they would normally view as prudent. Those activities will continue to keep a lid on price increases throughout the industry. While some pricing discipline is returning to the market, responsible risk-bearers who know they need rate will have a difficult time achieving the levels they desire.
From an overall market standpoint, technology will play a major role in enhancing efficiency and time-service standards over the next couple of years. Our industry has been very slow to embrace the effective use of technology, but we are starting to see some traction in the development of electronic exchanges for the smaller, run-of-the-mill risks. Those who are quickest to harness effective use of these delivery systems will be the long-term winners in handling this vast market segment.


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Content tagged with "international education"
December 29The story of a Third Culture Kid who arrives in the United States for the first time and reflects upon what it means to be a TCK.
October 24Danial Afzal BA '12, who studied theories behind the way media influences our lives, is now shaping lives himself with his award-winning short film, The Survivor. The documentary tells the story of a young student who escapes the 2014 attack on the Army Public School in Pakistan and the grief that follows.
October 19Max Clary '18 has been using his education and skills to advocate for social change throughout his time at Lewis & Clark, and now he's secured a nomination for the 2017 Wyatt Starnes Battle of the School Award. Given by the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network, the prize recognizes young leaders committed to improving the world through entrepreneurship.
October 11Three sociology students have returned to Lewis & Clark from their research in Cambodia alongside Assistant Professor of Sociology Maryann Bylander. They presented to peers and faculty the conclusions from their fieldwork on the practical and ethical implications of microcredit in developing countries.
September 26International affairs alumna Lyla Bashan has turned an expansive career in diplomacy into a handbook for those who want to change the world for the better. Now her lessons in foreign service from Tajikistan to Armenia are in the pocket of students everywhere with the release of her first book Global: An Extraordinary Guide for Ordinary Heroes.
June 12Student-athlete Katie Kowal BA '17, winner of Lewis & Clark's highest academic honor—the Rena Ratte Award—earned degrees in both physics and political science. As the Boulder, Colorado, native heads off to begin a two-year fellowship at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, Katie shares some of her favorite and formative Lewis & Clark memories.
April 21A team of three Lewis & Clark students has been awarded a grant from 100 Projects for Peace, an organization committed to supporting student initiatives for conflict resolution. The students will implement a two-month vocational training program in Uganda this summer for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers and young adults affected by war.
April 7Assistant Professor of Sociology Maryann Bylander will travel this summer to Cambodia with three Lewis & Clark students to investigate the use of microcredit—a finance model of providing small, affordable loans to new businesses in developing areas. The expedition is being funded by an ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows grant.
February 21For the fifth year in a row, Lewis & Clark has been named one of the top producers of Fulbright Award winners in the country, according to the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. With ten Fulbright scholars in 2016–17, Lewis & Clark is in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the nation, and the only one in Oregon.
September 13The Luce Scholars Program is a nationally competitive fellowship program. It was launched by the Henry Luce Foundation in 1974 to enhance the understanding of Asia among potential leaders in American society.
September 12The new 2018 U.S News & World Report Best Colleges rankings identify Lewis & Clark's Overseas and Off-Campus Programs as among the best in the nation. The peer rankings also feature Lewis & Clark on the "Best Undergraduate Teaching" list, a select group of 30 liberal arts colleges where the faculty has an unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching.
May 31Classics and German studies double major Geneva Karr '17 had "the complete Lewis & Clark experience," from overseas studies to archeology to athletics. She now heads to the University of Oregon on a full ride, a slew of impressive accomplishments already behind her.
February 17Lewis & Clark's third annual student-run Middle Eastern Studies Symposium explores how cultural identity interacts with religion, gender, and resistance. Beginning Monday, February 20, and running through Wednesday, the symposium is free and open to the public.
February 13In the few short years since graduating with a degree in international affairs, Matthew Rugamba '13 has become a rising young star in African fashion. Rugamba's Kigali-based fashion line House of Tayo was recently featured in the CNN series African Voices, with Rugamba recognized for his artistic innovation and nod to authentic African design.
January 24Rose Ngo '17 has been awarded a Davies-Jackson Scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Administered by the Council of Independent Colleges, the scholarship grants exceptional students who are among the first in their families to go to college the opportunity to study at the world-renowned St. John's College.
December 12The Society for Classical Studies has awarded Associate Professor With Term in Humanities Gordon Kelly a 2016 Teaching Excellence Award. Kelly is one of just three recipients to be granted this award honoring professors in the United States and Canada who have set themselves apart in the quality and innovation of their teaching.
September 18Funded by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), Boren awards come in two forms: fellowships and scholarships. Boren fellowships provide up to $30,000 to US graduate students, while scholarships provide up to $20,000 to US undergraduate students. Both support students who wish to study regions and languages critical to US interests.
September 18The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's German Chancellor Fellowship Programme is for university graduates from the United States, the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China with an interest in international issues and demonstrated leadership potential. The programme is targeted at accomplished young professionals who are likely to become decision-makers, thought leaders, and influential voices in their respective fields. Fellows will be recruited from a broad range of areas such as politics and public policy, law, media, business, the non-governmental sector, and the arts. The programme provides fellows the opportunity to spend one year in Germany, where they will network with other prospective leaders from abroad and explore new solutions to the global issues of our times. This prestigious programme builds on Germany's established and growing reputation as a favored destination for problem-focused international dialogue and a meeting place for tomorrow's international leaders.
September 16For the fourth time in five years, academic leaders from around the nation have identified our Overseas and Off-Campus Programs as among the best in the nation. Lewis & Clark, where more than 60 percent of students study abroad, is the only school in the Pacific Northwest to make the list this year.
July 29
Lily Clarke BA '15 grew up in the tiny town of Condon, Montana—population: 343. She's now a Fulbright fellow studying ethnomycology in Nepal, pairing her interest in ecology with her passion for giving back to the communities in which she works. Clarke shared her inspirational story with the Missoulian newspaper earlier this month.
June 17With a renowned commitment to international education, and a focus on nurturing curiosity, social consciousness, and critical thinking, Lewis & Clark is an ideal training ground for a career as a foreign correspondent. From the latest issue of The Chronicle, meet a few alumni making the journey.
May 12Five seniors and six recent alumni will spend the next year overseas after receiving prestigious awards from the Fulbright Program. Lewis & Clark is one of the top producers of Fulbright award winners in the country.
April 22A team from Lewis & Clark has been awarded a grant from 100 Projects for Peace, an organization that promotes global diplomacy. The students will host a summer camp for homeless youth in Cairo, focusing on strategies for decision- making and positive conflict resolution.
March 28
The most recent issue of The New Yorker features an essay by Associate Professor of English Pauls Toutonghi. The piece tells the story of a Moroccan organization's promising new technology: CloudFisher, a system that harvests water from fog.
March 8Lewis & Clark has again been named one of the top producers of Fulbright Award winners in the country. Additionally, the Peace Corps recently named Lewis & Clark one of the top 25 small undergraduate colleges.
January 19When Sam Reiter B.A. '15 appears on stage later this month in her original one-woman show, Baba Yaga, it'll be the culmination of years of hard work, research, and growth. It will also be the start of a new artistic sojourn.
October 26The Board of Trustees held its first meeting of the academic year on Friday, October 16.
September 15Eizabeth Crespo '16 spent the summer working in Quito for YASunidos
September 9From strengthening her foreign-language and professional skills, to practicing the Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira, Daniela Jimenez BA '14 is eager to serve as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Brazil in 2016.
September 3This past June, a group of German and American students put on the first Alternative Career Night, aimed at helping fellow students navigate the often-daunting path of choosing a suitable career. Organizers expected turnout for the Thursday night event at the University of Munich to be moderate—college students in Germany, much like those in the United States, enjoy spending their free time outside of the lecture hall. The event's success, however, went above and beyond expectations.


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Chief Executive Officer of the Sammons Financial Group, Inc., Chairman of The Principal Financial Group; Chairman of Unified Life Insurance Co.; CEO of GuideOne Insurance, Swiss Re Division Head Casualty—these are just a few of the School of Actuarial Science's outstanding alumni. Many actuarial science graduates maintain strong ties to the University, recruit students for internships and jobs, and are a great resource as you attend Drake and begin your career.
As highly sought-after professionals actuaries work in many fields, including finance, risk management, and insurance. The actuarial career ranks high for job satisfaction and compensation. CareerCast.com recently identified actuary as the No. 1 job in the United States, and CNNMoney named actuarial science as on the top 15 most lucrative college degrees. Experienced actuarial fellows may earn $150,000 or more. According to CNN Money, starting salaries average around $45,000 and $50,000 a year for recently graduated actuaries. To learn more about traditional career paths taken by actuaries, visit Society of Actuaries Traditional Paths. Examples of non-traditional fields include enterprise risk managment, investments, sales and marketing, and entrepreneurship. More information about these and other non-traditional paths can be found at the Society of Actuary's Non-Traditional Paths.
In addition to the professional staff in Drake's Professional and Career Development Center, Career bluePrint helps students and alumni advance their careers and find job openings.


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Reading the menu vs. eating it
Transitory Gaslamp means you have to straddle tastes
Patrick Henderson 8:03 p.m., Nov. 24
Get this: Mark Fabiani, lawyer/spokesman for the Chargers, is quoted saying the following on KFMB News today (Oct. 29): "We just can't do business with San Diego while Mike Aguirre is there. So we tell people that. We're not taking a position in the race; we don't endorse people or tell people to vote one way or another." Huh? The team says it can't do business with San Diego while Aguirre is there, but won't tell people how to vote in the city attorney race? There are two things people don't like about Fabiani: his face. To string two completely opposite thoughts together in one utterance will only register with rabid sports fans and lovers of political rhetoric. In the early 2000s, the Chargers came up with a cockamamie scheme to build condos in Mission Valley and get a subsidized stadium in the same deal. Fabiani claimed developers wouldn't enter the deal because of Aguirre. Such hogwash. Developers probably saw the San Diego condo collapse coming. Fabiani's double talk is also reminiscent of John Moores and Larry Lucchino trying to sell San Diegans on their subsidized ballpark. They both kept saying, "There is no Plan B." They might have well had a sign on their back: "We are incredibly stupid." No intelligent businessperson enters a deal without a Plan A, B, C, D, and E.
Prop B is DOA. Won't even be close-at least a 10 point loss.
There is NO MONEY and no credit for building a stadium ANYWHERE in the entire nation, much less a city as upside down financially as San Diego is. Just is not happening.
There will be no stadium for Spanos, even IF he had the politicians in his back pocket, not for a decade at least.
If Spanos wants a staduium it won't be for at least a decade=anywhere in America.
I don't think San Diego could do a stadium even in 10 years-I don't even think San Diego can avoid BK at this point.
John McCann, the Republican candidate for Assembly, is a politician who puts the Chargers' interests before San Diego. McCann wants to rob Chula Vista, already in budget crisis, to give away bay front land to billionaire Republican Spanos, the liar-for-hire's boss.
He and "Fibber" Fabiani are best buddies, and the Spanos political machine is doing its best to elect McCann into the state legislature.
Teach dishonest politicians a lesson this election. Vote no to Proposition B, the Stadium on Stilts, and vote NO to pro-sports subsidy queens like John McCann.
Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, or Independent, Marty Block from the Community College Board is a far better choice in the 78th Assembly District.
Fred Williams
This non-endorsement by Fabiani is not going to help Mike win. It should tell everyone what needs to be known about the Chargers. But there are legions of Charger fans out there--and if you doubt that, just look at the decals on the cars and trucks--who regard the team as the most important feature of local life. They are the same people who keep coming back for more despite decades of abuse by Klein and Spanos in turn. After all, you know, it's THEIR team. Losing the team to another city would be the end of their lives as they know them.
So, if Johnny Vegas is right, and there will be no stadia built for a decade, why do the Chargers now care? Simple; all the corporate welfare grabbers need to keep city government where it is now, in their back pockets. If that grip unravels, they might never be able to reknit it.
Visduh has Wisduhm.
Sports fans will never base their lives on rationality or a sense of proportion. By definition they are hopelessly in love with a game, and cannot understand the world around them without looking through the fun house prism of sportsdom. They listen to sports radio, only read the sports page, and spend their freetime watching sports on television. Everything else that happens around them is a blur.
Those of us who are adult enough to recognize that professional sports is merely an entertaining diversion must assert control. We've had enough fun and games, and now we're in deep financial trouble. When they blather on about how sports is the basis of our economic salvation, we must either ignore them or smack them upside the head until they shut up.
Capitulating to knuckle-dragging sports fans has been the shoddy history of this city, but by electing leaders with smarts and integrity we can avoid the mistakes of the past.
That means re-electing Mike Aguirre as City Attorney.
Abolutely correct, the adults MUST suprvise the children in these circumstances.
Fred Williams made many of the points that I've made for years about fans of pro sports, especially the one about them reading only the sports section of the newspaper. I love his comment that "Everything else that happens around them is a blur."
But he and I start to part company when he characterizes those folks as knuckle draggers. Many are, but many are otherwise pretty savvy people who just have one-track minds and one set of interests. When they read sports news, it's all about fun, and very little that is sad, negative, or alarming. And so sports become more than entertainment, they become life. Then there's the notion that sports are the ultimate in "guy stuff", and that those who do not so subscribe are less manly.
A few decades ago, pro sports teams were often playthings of rich people, and they often did not expect a team to be profitable. But during the sixties pro football became an American obsession, and the teams could be ultra-profitable. Good old Gene Klein was one of the first to realize that, with his background in movie houses, and he raked it in. That's part of our heritage here in San Diego.
Fred Williams is right. Elect Mike Aguire. Mike has done an unbelieveable job exposing corruption in San Diego. These public officials come and go and the tax payers are left with the bill and the problems. Those behind the city politicians just keep on buying more new politicians to keep the power to control. WE are short of good leadership that can stand up against this ongoing power hold of our government. Good leaders know you have to manage within your budget. That practice has been missing for a long time.
Serious Business


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Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean released a statement clarifying his reference to the U.S. terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 before an NHL playoff game on Wednesday.
"Washington and New York. The two cities united by the tragedy of 9/11," said MacLean. "I, like everyone on the planet in his or her lifetime, saw beyond the horror, the single greatest testament to the strength of the human spirit in the efforts of the first responders.
"We never know if we'll have that spirit. The bravery, the resilience. As I made clear, the hockey games in no way compare. However sports has proven a worthy training ground in nurturing the qualities which beget that spirit. To say he plays like a firefighter or a policeman would instantly conjure the traits an athlete most desires, especially in New York and Washington. There could be no higher praise of a player, no greater choice of a role model.
"But as I said of first responders, 'Our worst day is their everyday'. They stand alone."
Before the start of Game 6 between the New York Rangers and host Washington Capitals, MacLean said the two cities were linked by the tragedy.
"They were the twin targets of the coordinated attacks on 9/11. It's crazy to compare what the emergency respondents did at that time."
MacLean, however, might have crossed that very line by drawing similarities between what emergency personnel went through on that day and what NHLers go through during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"You can't help but be struck by the players and the way they've played these games. They are like police officers, they are like firefighters," MacLean said. "You can't fight fire with ego. The pain these men have faced, the price they keep on paying, the hearts they keep on lifting."


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With the opening of Lazarus Rising at London's Elms Lesters Paintings Rooms just a hand full of days away, I caught up with man of the hour Ron English to discuss his work. History was on the mind, so I queried English on what strikes him and how it connects to his painting.
Lazarus Rising runs May 8 to June 6, 2009. Interview and preview images after the jump.
Curated Mag: Tell me a little about your interest in history.
Ron English: I'm interested in history through the funhouse mirror of its art. I also feel a strong connection to artists of the past. I have a genetic bloodline that traces back down a certain path , but I also a creative bloodline independent of genetics. Artists leave behind something concrete to connect with. The better I get as an artist the more closely I feel connected to the past and the future.
CM: What subjects are you drawn too? How does it shape your view of current culture and politics?
RE: I think I'm drawn to all subjects. I'm just looking for a different perspective. Most of culture and politics are transient, I think it is the work of artists to search out the transcendent aspects of life.
CM: In the exhibition, you refer to Picasso's Guernica, what in the paintings narrative offers you a point of departure for your own explorations?
RE: I think Picasso' Guernica is a great point of departure for new art as its intended meaning is widely understood and its actual meaning is widely misunderstood. Depicting the original event as a cartoon, no matter how rough and powerful the depiction is, adds a layer of distance to the event. Of course the work was a political tool used to bring world attention to the event, but it also serves as a healing tool, a buffer image that helps keep the realities of the actual event from overwhelming the viewer. When people are overwhelmed they can often become immobile, paralyzed. A person needs a balance of distance and compassion to truly understand history.
CM: Who are some other artists, past and present, that inspire you?
RE: Past would probably be Albert Bierstadt, Jacques-Louis David, Diego Velazquez, present favorites include Mark Dean Veca, John Currin, Jose Parla, Travis Louie, Adam Neate, Banksy, Swoon and Lori Early.
CM: I study Lincoln, so obviously was interested in your Abraham Obama campaign. What are the first 5 things that come to mind when you think about Lincoln?
RE: The first thing I think of is his wit and easy smile. Things that are a bit overlooked in the shadow of personal and national tragedies and in the sad weary photographs of the man. They couldn't really capture the smile with the slow shutter speeds of the time as he had to hold still too long. The second thing would be the self determination. The third would be the vision tempered by the realities of real politic and the times. The 4th thing would be the image he and his staff developed for himself as the self made, independent frontiersman in contrast to the images other politicians of his time created for themselves. The fifth thing would be his connection to Illinois, the place where I grew up. Land of Lincoln was emblazoned on my license.
CM: Do you characterize your work as subversive?
RE: Yes, but in the best sense of the word.
CM: Popaganda, aside from being a tasty buzz term, what does it really mean to you?
RE: My art certainly has an element of propaganda and an element of pop, I wanted to acknowledge their presence. Popaganda seemed a well coined word to put these elements in their proper perspective. It is also a word I trademarked to brand my other endeavors such as toys, shoes, t-shirts, DVDs etc.
CM: Do you feel your work has the same effect when viewed in a gallery setting as it might when organically discovered on street level?
RE: No. Art on the streets is about the moment, especially billboards. They are cycled out quickly as often are the events they address. Paintings on the other hand are intended as not just part of a current
conversation but as an on going dialogue with the future.
CM: You views on arts ability to teach the masses – something that requires growth in the viewer or an innate human skill?
RE: Both.
CM: This is your first show solo show at Elms Lesters. How has it been working with the gallery? Do you have a constant process for gallery shows, or does it depend on the setting? And, does it differ when you are part of a group showing?
RE: Working with the gallery has been a lovely experience. Paul and Fiona really understand artists and also have a keen eye for art that is truly important, art that will stand the test of time. Street art is a bit of a fad but a select few of the "street artists" transcend the movement and will be a part of art history. As far as a process for gallery shows, each gallery is different. Sitting alone in my studio painting everyday I find it helpful to envision someone as my audience. It is usually the gallery director or curator. In this case it was Paul and Fiona who are extremely understanding and supportive of the long term process of art making. . They allow me to add layers of depth and meaning that may not lend themselves to quick comprehension and easy sales, but I know if I want to take things to a deeper level, they will back me up on it. Group show are a great way to introduce your work to a new audience but an artist really depends on the solo exhibition to articulate their larger vision.
CM: How involved are you in the installation of your works?
RE: I always let the gallery do that. I am too close to the works. Proper curation needs a distance the artist doesn't have. Maybe a piece needs to be pulled from the show to make it work as a whole, which is hard for an artist to do because maybe you spent two hundred hours on the piece.
CM: Your art has taken you all over the world and you've got a bit of an American focus when it comes to subject matter. Where have you found the most surprising response?
RE: I was in the Philippines and I saw some kids doing graffiti so we pulled over and I yelled at them that I was going to call the police. They turned around and said "holy shit, you're Ron English!" I was quite surprised they knew me. I drew in all their sketch books.
CM: How do art shows in commercial galleries fit within the global economic crisis?
RE: I don't think it's as big of a concern for artists as we can only make so many paintings and if they don't sell today they will sell tomorrow. The galleries will have a more difficult time because their expenses are a lot greater.
CM: Do you collect? If so, what grabs you?
RE: I am hoping the economic crises makes collecting easier for the next couple years. For the last couple years all the artists I love have been having sell out shows so there was never anything available. I have recently managed to get a Mark Dean Veca, a Banksy, a Futura, a Saber, a Adam Neate, a Sas Christian and am getting Travis Louie, Genieve Zacconi and Lori Early to do portraits of my daughter Zephyr
CM: What challenges are there in translating your artistic mission from the 2-dimensional to film?
RE: The only challenge for the Abraham Obama movie was recruiting the great
director Kevin Chapados.
CM: Finally, what can new viewers expect entering "Lazarus Rising"?
RE: The resurrection of the art world.


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As a business owner working in the heart of downtown Toronto, it's easy to take things for granted.
The critical mass of other entrepreneurs, suppliers, investors, customers and network opportunities that sprout up in Canada's cities provides us with a wealth of resources.
As someone who grew up in a rural setting, I know there are a lot of talented people building successful businesses far removed from the city limelight. But it can be a challenge for them to get the kind of PR exposure many of their urban counterparts enjoy.
Take the case of Camp Narrows, a successful hunting and fishing lodge in Rainy Lake, Ont. Camp Narrows caters to U.S. tourists, and Tom Pearson, the camp's owner, over the years had developed a necessary but tiresome routine. He usually spent the spring, summer and fall months giving his guests an unforgettable outdoor experience. But when the camp closed for winter, he couldn't take a break – instead, he hopped across the United States attending tourism trade shows to promote his business and attract new clients.
It was dreary work. "I'd sit in one booth after another, week after week. But all I was really doing was handing out brochures," Mr. Pearson says.
Tired of the punishing travel schedule, he decided to dive into online promotions and customer-based PR. He invested heavily in search engine advertising, bought the domain names "fishingrainylake.com" and "ontariohunting.ca," and opened a web-based photo gallery for clients that linked to his homepage.
The results have been dramatic. Mr. Pearson no longer uploads photos to his website – his guests do it for him. Most of them want to share their memories with Mr. Pearson, and the photos they post act as powerful testimonials for the company, giving those searching for a fishing trip a clearer view of what Camp Narrows has to offer. As a result, Mr. Pearson has seen a dramatic increase in bookings for the past several years.
He also got some time back for himself. Instead of doing the trade show circuit, Mr. Pearson spends his three-month winter break travelling to places such as Australia and Fiji. The online engine he created for his customers does the promotional work for him when he's away, and bookings can be managed over the Web.
For many businesses, physical location is taking a back seat to online image. One of the tangible benefits of social networking is putting customers to work on your behalf. They're credible, positive and – when acting in numbers – can change the future of your business.
Special to the Globe and Mail
Mia Wedgbury is president of the Canadian region for Fleishman-Hillard Canada and its sister company, High Road Communications. With more than two decades of experience in creating and growing award-winning communications agencies, she is focused on fostering the overarching vision for the Canadian market. Her experience spans many sectors, including financial, technology, consumer and lifestyle. She works in partnership with her clients, some of the most innovative and well-respected companies in the country, to build brands, mitigate risk and shape communications strategies that drive measurable results. Ms. Wedgbury is known as an innovator, an advocate of career opportunities for women and a dedicated supporter of the technology industry.Report Typo/Error
Follow us on Twitter: @GlobeSmallBiz


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My Nonprofit Reviews
Review for FIRST, Manchester, NH, USA
FIRST is an amazing program that gets high school students to bring together and share their creativity, enthusiasm, hard work, dedication, and incredible smarts to build a robot which competes with other schools around the world. In order to be successful, FIRST team's need several different types of skill sets from the students, ranging from math and engineering skills to build the robots, to business and marketing skills to fundraise and get free parts from companies. One of the best things about FIRST is they don't hold tryouts to be on the team like most high school sports. If you want to be involved and show initiative, then you're on the team! FIRST is one of the best high school programs around that prepares young minds for life after high school. FIRST is paving the way for the next generation of professionals which will one day run this country.
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being part of our companies sponsorship program which provides free parts to FIRST teams and awards 6 scholarships for highschool seniors who are planning on attending college.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
I don't know what could be chaged to make this program any better than it already is.


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Bonaparte plans its Taste of Christmas
BONAPARTE — Bonaparte Main Street's Taste of Christmas is being held Saturday in Bonaparte.
This annual candlelight dinner and tour of homes is by reservation only.
The appetizers will be hosted in various businesses in Bonaparte's National Historic Riverfront District starting at 4:30 p.m.
The main and dessert courses will be served as a candlelight dinner in the Whiteley Opera House Community Room. Tables are designed and set by local women who provide their own linens, China, crystal and centerpieces making each table uniquely individual. Waiters will serve the salad, main course and dessert with holiday music provided by Franny Troutman on the piano.
Following dinner, buses will run between three different homes in Bonaparte and Iron and Lace in Bentonsport, which will all be decorated for the holidays and open for tour. The homeowners include: Pat and Tom Gunn, Jean and Bill Wenke, Ellen and Mark Meek and Betty and Bill Printy at Iron and Lace. Each will be uniquely decorated.
Reservations are required and tickets are available by calling the Bonaparte Main Street office at 319-592-3400.


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Britain's favourite funds
Stocks and shares Isas are proving more popular than cash Isas for the first time, according to one financial group.
If the latest survey from TD Direct Investing truly reflects a wider trend it would represent a big turnaround, because last year savers put £11.9 billion into cash Isas, but just £3.4 billion into stocks and shares Isas.
Stuart Welch, chief executive of TD Direct Investing, says: "In the six years we have been studying investor confidence Isas have always been the most popular investment option among respondents.
"However as we enter our fourth year of low cash returns in the UK, share products continue to increase in popularity and this has tipped the balance in favour of stocks and shares Isas among our customers."


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MS Seminar - Thomas McKenzie
Event Details
Title: A CLIMATOLOGY OF TROPICAL CYCLONE SIZE IN THE WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC USING AN ALTERNATIVE METRIC. Abstract: The size of a tropical cyclone (TC) is a critical structure parameter that influences the greatest extent of societal impacts, and can be estimated by several different metrics. In this study, a revised method of quantifying the size of a TC is introduced. This method expands upon the work of Merrill (1984) to present an alternative TC size parameter that objectively uses the sea level pressure field and the area enclosed by it. This new approach is made possible by higher resolution and more accurate gridded meteorological data. The revised method calculates the area enclosed by an isobar around a tropical cyclone, and then computes the area ratio of adjacent isobars. These calculations are then compared with an analytically-derived area ratio using Holland (1980) radial pressure formulation. The outermost closed isobar (OCI) is generally determined to be the most outward isobar whose calculated area ratio does not significantly depart from the analytical ratio derived from Holland (1980).The algorithm is applied to a 36-year Western North Pacific (WNP) TC data set (1979 – 2014), and the results are analyzed statistically and physically. This derived climatology utilized three reanalysis data sets: NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Reanalysis data set (MERRA), ECMWF's ERA-Interim reanalysis (ERA-I), and NCEP's Climate Forecast System Reanalysis database (CFSR). On average, the algorithm was able to successfully determine an OCI for 75 – 80% of the roughly 30,000 six hour JTWC Best-Track records. The primary reason for the inability of the algorithm to determine an OCI was poor representation of the TC in the gridded reanalysis, especially at and soon after formation.The statistical analysis reveals that TC size calculations using the alternative metric are generally in agreement with existing climatologies. These results include a maximum mean TC size in October, a positive relationship between size and age of a TC, interannual variability of size, and an apparent maximum size near 25 degrees N. When the small TCs at formation were compared to the large TCs at formation, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference in the geographic distribution of these two groups. The size and position of the monsoon trough generally influences the size of a forming TC in the WNP. The study includes an examination of several case studies representative of the analysis presented above.