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Prince Jake never met a stranger. That much is apparent watching the three-legged dog work the waiting room of a Balch Springs veterinary clinic, nuzzling everyone in sight. A black cocker spaniel--a stuffed toy compared to the 90-pound Jake--cowers beneath a chair, fearful of becoming an appetizer. No chance. Even at age 12 (84 in human years, if you recall the math), Jake is a true, devil-may-care golden retriever just looking for fun.
Trouble is, Jake's good times are fading fast. He can barely chase down a ball anymore, or even climb stairs. Jake often drags his hind legs. He sleeps a lot. It has nothing to do with the missing front leg, which was amputated 10 years ago after Jake was hit by a car. "He's never even known his leg is gone," says owner Shirley Hutson.
Jake is simply getting old. Hutson has been dropping nine medications a day down her dog's throat for the past few years, trying to ease the pain in his back and hind quarters. Jake took prednisone, a steroid often prescribed for arthritis in humans and animals. He also took pills to regulate his thyroid. A vet told Hutson her dog would need the pills for the rest of his life.
"Then, the last time I had him to the vet, I was told it was time for me to consider putting him to sleep," Hutson says, as she strokes Jake's thick copper coat with a custom-ordered dog brush. "I can't do that. I won't. He has too much life left in him to do that."
So Hutson recently found herself in the waiting room of Dr. Norman Ralston's LBJ Animal Clinic. Jake waited to see the doctor alongside Chrissy, a fat 9-year-old black cockapoo with red toenail polish and a bad thyroid, and Puff, a 20-year-old spotted longhair cat with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), a cat version of AIDS.
These are the types of cases brought to Ralston's clinic six days a week--deaf, incontinent dogs with cataracts. Dogs with parasites or seemingly incurable skin rashes. Cats with AIDS. Cats with snakebite. A lop-eared rabbit with a bum liver.
For many, the trip to Ralston's modest, flat-roofed clinic southeast of downtown Dallas is nothing less than a pilgrimage to Lourdes. They cling to a faith that the kindly 78-year-old vet with the full head of wavy silver hair will somehow make their lame dogs walk and their blind cats see.
Ralston is the longest practicing holistic veterinarian in these parts, relying almost entirely on natural therapies like acupuncture, herbs, and homeopathy to coax animals back to health.
Some of his practices border on the incredible. He uses a "surrogate" to channel for animals so they can tell him what is wrong with them. He believes that--if you know how to listen--a dog or cat will tell you what natural medicines it needs, even what doses it should take.
Texas A&M, the school Ralston graduated from in 1945, stakes no claim to the medicine now practiced by its wayward former student. Traditional vets scoff at his ways, and state regulators have been keeping a close eye on him for several years now.
But Ralston set off down the holistic path more than 25 years ago and isn't about to apologize for it now. "They come here so full of drugs and poisons," Ralston says of the animals he sees. "This profession can be very wrong-headed."
To the multitudes who have brought their pets to Ralston over the years, the man could spin gold from cat hair. His regular clients--the two-legged kind--speak his name in hushed tones, a kind of reverence creeping into their voices as they describe the way Ralston "reads" their animals. They cannot fathom how anyone could find fault with his methods--and certainly not with his results.
But a state investigation into a handful of complaints against Ralston now has the vet doing battle with his more traditional peers on the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.
The board, which licenses vets in Texas, may not agree with Ralston's unorthodox methods, but they are most concerned that Ralston's clients know he does not practice conventional animal medicine.
On June 12, the regulatory panel of six vets and three lay members decided that Ralston had violated rules of professional conduct under the Texas Veterinary Licensing Act. By failing to get two former clients to sign consent forms for treatment in 1994--a charge that Ralston does not deny--the vet has been ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, and his license soon will be suspended for 30 days .
"A kangaroo court," Ralston muttered the day the veterinary board met in Austin and ruled on his fate. Some days later, while working in his clinic, Ralston scowled as he recounted his numerous donnybrooks with the board and other conventional vets who have little use for his theories.
"They've been trying to catch me doing something wrong since 1976," he says. "But I have been honest with the board from the first time we tried acupuncture 20 years ago. It's the same now as it was back then--they're just trying to keep anything new out.
"This stinks to high heaven."
The expression on Shirley Hutson's face is equal parts awe and confusion as she watches Dr. Norman Ralston examine Prince Jake through a process known as "contact reflexology." To do the exam, Ralston relies on his 37-year-old veterinary technician, Felner Trespeses, to act as a "surrogate" for the dog. Trespeses lays one hand on the dog's back. Ralston then touches various points on Trespeses' body, and names specific organs--"spleen, pancreas, liver, thyroid"--and so on.
As Ralston touches him, Trespeses stands tall, eyes closed. The theory is that each time Ralston names a body part, the dog will know if that organ is the cause of his trouble. But since the dog can't talk, Trespeses acts as a channel. When Ralston hits a "hot spot," Trespeses lets out what can best be described as a pained grunt. "I'm using Felner's body to check his," Ralston explains. "We're asking the dog's body what it needs to get rid of, and what it needs to get better."
In about five minutes, Ralston has his diagnosis. Jake is suffering from gout--a painful inflammation of several of his joints. His thyroid is out of kilter as well, which partly explains his recent weight gain. Ralston tells Hutson that both maladies are treatable with what he calls "designed nutrition"--a mixture of powerful natural vitamins, herbs, and other plant extracts. Acupuncture might also help, although Jake--communicating through Trespeses--says he doesn't need acupuncture just yet.
But before the nutrition plan can start, Jake's body must be "detoxified." Ralston suspected that Jake was overflowing with toxins as soon as he saw the big brown bag filled with medicine that Hutson carried into the examining room.
One by one, Hutson dutifully pulled each bottle from the sack and described the purpose of every medication. The great evil among these potions, Ralston believes, is the prednisone Jake took as an anti-inflammatory. "It's a quick fix for the dog," Ralston says. "It'll work in the short term, but we get animals like this one who have been on steroids for way too long. Their bodies are poisoned."
To detoxify Jake, Hutson will administer a series of "clearing remedies" twice each day for two weeks. This is the homeopathic approach to making Jake well. Homeopathic medicine dates back to Hippocrates, the father of medicine. Samuel Christian Hahnemann, a German physician in the mid-1800s, is credited with developing the homeopathic system used today.
True believers in homeopathy hold to the system's underlying philosophy: "similia similibus curentur" or "like cures like." It goes like this: A large dose of a toxic substance in the body can be fatal. But when a homeopathic, highly diluted, minute dose of the same substance is given, it can save the poisoned human or animal. Homeopathic remedies, usually liquid, are made from natural substances and do not mask or suppress symptoms, but treat the deepest constitutional causes of an illness. According to the American Holisitic Veterinary Medical Association, a Maryland-based group of 450 veterinarians, "homeopathic remedies contain vibrational energy essences that match the patterns present in the diseased state within the ailing patient."
Freshly armed with a new bag of medications--each of them completely natural--Hutson will take Jake home and begin the holistic cleansing regime. She has watched Ralston and Trespeses intently during the session. She is, she says, somewhat doubtful. But she is also desperate, which could explain why she doesn't balk at the cost of the treatment: $320. Ralston assures her that if the price is too steep, he can scale back on the remedies by treating only the most serious problems first.
"No, no, let's do it," Hutson says. "I'm putting him in your hands. I don't know what else to do."
In return for her confidence, Ralston makes Hutson a vow. "I can promise you two things. One, we will never knowingly hurt your dog," he says. "And second, you will see a change in him in two weeks. I can't promise he'll be completely well, because we have a lot of work to do. But you will see a change."
Before accepting the treatment, though, Hutson must sign a form that summarizes Ralston's unconventional methods, including the possible risks and side effects of the treatments. The consent form is one of the burdens Ralston must bear because of his ongoing battles with the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. In 1992, a patient complained to the board that Ralston didn't tell her he was prescribing homeopathic cures for her pet.
Two years later, Ralston and the board entered into a "negotiated settlement," under which the vet received an official reprimand. The conditions of the settlement require Ralston to advise all clients of his methods before treating their animals. He also agreed to put up prominent signs both inside and outside his clinic informing the public that he uses acupuncture and homeopathic remedies.
Today, a towering signpost outside the clinic--visible from Interstate 635--features a large sign referring to "alternative treatment." In the waiting room, an electronic message board sits atop a display shelf, flashing helpful hints about pet care and a constantly repeating message that Ralston uses alternative therapies. A smaller sign with the same message hangs behind the receptionist's desk. And each examination room features a sign on the wall as well.
"Good lord, I spent $25,000 just on signs," Ralston says, shaking his head in exasperation. "I'd like to think people have got the message by now."
Most do get the message. In fact, by the time most people reach Ralston's clinic, they have heard of him through word of mouth. Ralston says many of his clients are already sold on certain aspects of natural healing for humans, so applying the same principles to animals is no great stretch. Even two years after the veterinary board ordered him to post his signs and obtain signed consent forms from pet owners, Ralston still boils with resentment. Such bureaucratic nonsense, he thinks, only serves to stilt his relationship with his clients--who almost without exception have already heard of his unconventional treatments and have come specifically for that purpose.
"Doesn't the government already control us enough?" he says. "They just want more and more control."
Laura M. Gentry, Norman Ralston's maternal grandmother, is never far from his mind or his practice. She looks down from a framed sepia-toned portrait hanging on a clinic wall. In the photograph, she stands beside her husband and is dressed in a wide-brimmed hat and her Sunday best. "Miss Gentry," as Ralston refers to her, raised 11 daughters and two sons on a family farm in the Red River country north of Dallas. She lived to be 89, and that woman knew something about animals.
"She could pull those animals on the farm through anything. I've never seen anything like it," Ralston says. Miss Gentry was widowed long before Ralston was born, but for years she kept the livestock healthy and the farm running on her own. Through the course of a typical day at the clinic, Ralston invokes his grandmother's name two or three times. He will tell a client about a particular poultice she made that drew infection from a wound like a magnet. Or the time she put an extension agent in his place for trying to sell her on chemical pesticides for her crops.
"She told him not to come near her with that stuff," he says. "Long before there were any studies to prove it, Miss Gentry knew all those pesticides and preservatives couldn't be a good thing."
Ralston says his grandmother always stressed the importance of questioning authority and the power of seeking knowledge. "She always encouraged me to listen to others' ideas politely, but not to take what they tell me at face value. She wanted me to seek answers for myself, and to keep learning throughout my life."
Ralston graduated from Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine in 1945 and opened his first practice in Mount Pleasant, treating both large and small animals. Ten years later he moved to Dallas, opened another clinic, and started working only on small animals.
Well-schooled in conventional veterinary science, Ralston knew little of alternative medicine until the late '60s. In 1965, his 13-year-old daughter was diagnosed with curvature of the spine--scoliosis. He says he immediately took to researching everything written on the condition during the last two centuries, hoping to find an alternative to the conventional treatment--the surgical implantation of a 14-inch steel rod in his daughter's back.
"Unfortunately, I didn't find anything acceptable back then, and we went ahead with the surgery," Ralston says, his eyes welling with tears. "It still hurts me to talk about it. She came through the surgery all right, but I was never satisfied with our decision. If I had known then what I know now, I could have cured her in three weeks for about $20 with acupuncture."
Ralston leaped zealously into everything alternative--chiropractic care, vitamin and herbal therapies, acupuncture, homeopathy--and he has remained a believer ever since. A regular student and speaker at New Agey institutes throughout the country, Ralston says he wakes each morning at 3:30 and studies until 5. "There's just so much to learn," he says, eyes wide behind big square glasses. He eats lunch each day from a brown bag in his tiny office, usually nibbling a sandwich between patients.
His reputation is well known among the handful of veterinarians who incorporate holistic therapy into their conventional practices. The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association counts 15 such vets in the state of Texas, with six of them practicing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"I run into people all the time who know of Dr. Ralston. He's just been at it for so long," says Dr. Shawn Messonnier, a Plano vet who says he devotes about 25 percent of his practice to holistic methods such as acupuncture and nutritional therapy. And though he still uses conventional medicine on most of his patients, Messonnier is not hesitant to criticize the members of his profession who ply animals with drugs and expensive medications when they might be able to treat a condition with a more natural approach.
Cortisone and other steroids, for instance--the great evil in Ralston's mind--are too often "an easy way out for vets," Messonnier says. "It's often given automatically, without really getting a good diagnosis first."
But drug therapy and surgery are drummed into students from the moment they enter school, says Messonnier, who graduated from Texas A&M's program in 1987. He got no training in holistic care when he attended school there. Ten years later, A&M shows no sign of adding even the slightest hint of alternative education to its curriculum.
"Currently we have no plans of addressing holistic medicine in our curriculum," says Dr. Bruce Simpson, rather sharply. The professor of veterinary medicine at A&M is chairman of the college's curriculum committee. "I suppose the closest thing would be course work in animal behavior and nutrition." Simpson is not familiar with Ralston, nor his struggle for greater acceptance by the state's veterinary community. The profession's main concern, he says, is always that a vet do an animal no harm.
On March 3, 1992, Elaine Foster took Tippy, her 5-year-old cockapoo, to Ralston's clinic. Although the dog had been recently spayed, Foster thought Tippy might be pregnant, according to a complaint affidavit she later filed with the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.
Ralston, according to the affidavit, diagnosed Tippy's condition as "pseudocyesis"--false pregnancy--and prescribed a homeopathic herbal remedy called bryonia. Board records do not disclose Tippy's fate, and Foster could not be reached for comment. But Foster's complaint stated that Ralston did not tell her he was prescribing herbal treatment for the dog. Foster told the board's investigator she thought Ralston was dispensing conventional medicine. Ralston was subsequently reprimanded by the board on January 20, 1994, for violations of the Texas Veterinary Licensing Act and the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The vet entered into a settlement with the board, agreeing to post several signs notifying clients of his alternative methods. He also agreed to explain his methods to each client and to obtain signed consent forms before undertaking any alternative treatments.
But three years later, Ralston was before the board again. Two complaints were filed against him in 1994--both charging that Ralston did not obtain specific written consent before treating animals with homeopathic remedies. On March 26, 1994, Lisa Huckaby brought Scooter, her female cat, to Ralston along with Scooter's kittens, who had crusty eyes and were sneezing. Ralston and an assistant performed their "contact reflexology" exam on the kittens, according to the licensing board's records. The vet dispensed an herbal remedy, chamomilla, for the kittens' eyes. Huckaby later told an investigator she was not informed that Ralston practiced alternative medicine, nor did she sign off on the treatment he prescribed.
One month later, Joy Cisco took her 13-year-old cat, Daisy, to the LBJ Animal Clinic. Ralston diagnosed the cat with borderline diabetes, and gave Cisco several natural remedies, including iris flower essence and cell salts.
Cisco, who could not be reached for comment, told a veterinary board investigator that Ralston did not inform her that he practiced alternative medicine and was treating her cat with herbal remedies. She says she did not sign a consent form.
It is Cisco's case that agitates Ralston, even today. "I told her the cat was developing diabetes and that most vets would prescribe insulin. And I told her how miserable that would make both her and the cat. I said, 'You will have to catch that cat every day and give her a shot. Pretty soon, she'll hate you, and you'll hate her because of it.' "
Ralston says he told Cisco they could avoid that trouble by trying a holistic approach--that the homeopathic route might keep the diabetes at bay. Cisco, Ralston says, agreed to the treatment, but gave up before it had a chance to work and took Daisy to another vet, who prescribed insulin.
"I asked that little lady to sign a statement, but she refused to sign it," Ralston says, adding that she agreed verbally to the treatment. "I've been in this business for 52 years, and this whole flap is over that one little consent form. All this over one little kitty. I mean, God almighty."
Nevertheless, Ralston, by his own admission, did break the conditions of his earlier negotiated settlement with the board. He has been ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and will have his license suspended for 30 days. But that is not necessarily the end of the case. Ralston can challenge the board in civil court, but hasn't decided if he will. The dates for Ralston's suspension have not been set.
"Every time I do anything on this, a lawyer wants $200," Ralston says. "I finally started representing myself, but it takes too much time. I don't know what I'll do next."
Dr. James Gomez, a Brownsville veterinarian and president of the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, did not return telephone calls from the Dallas Observer.
But Gomez appeared to have little patience with Ralston during the June 12 board meeting in Austin at which Ralston was sanctioned. After the board's vote, Ralston asked Gomez if he might enter into the record a newspaper clipping and letters of support from clients.
Staring down at Ralston from the head of the board's conference table, Gomez said simply, "the board has spoken."
Felner Trespeses simply cannot believe what people feed their dogs and cats. Table scraps, fat-laden treats, over-processed canned meat. The mere thought of the American dog's diet sends a shudder straight through him.
Trespeses came to Philadelphia from his native Philippines several years ago. He married a Filipino-American woman and eventually found his way to Texas, where he now works as a veterinary technician for Dr. Norman Ralston. He is the surrogate, the channeler. He speaks for the animals.
"In my house, we had eight dogs," he says through heavily accented English. "My father, he made a huge pot of rice every day and fed our dogs. That is what they ate. And they were healthy."
Trespeses has a lovable mutt dog and a cat. "They eat what we eat. Rice, vegetables, some meat."
The animals that come to Ralston are "so fragile," Trespeses says. "They can't climb, they can't jump, they're very overweight. I think it's all in the nutrition. We have to fix their diet."
Try telling that idea to Stevie and Eileen McCarty, two elderly sisters who share a home with two dogs in Oak Cliff. Shelley is the alpha dog, the dominatrix who decides who gets to eat first and how much, and Toby her diminutive male companion.
The McCarty sisters visit Ralston's clinic as much for themselves as for their pets. In the waiting room, they socialize and chirp about how they try to keep Shelley on a diet, but the dog just seems to be hungry all the time.
Stevie McCarty has known Ralston for 30 years. He calls her "sweetie." She calls him "miracle worker."
"He doesn't get credit for all the good he does," Stevie says. She is sitting in the examination room, dressed in shell-pink pants and knit top, her hair tucked neatly under a matching turban. Shelley, the plump Collie mix, is hiding beneath the chair. "Other vets need to hear him," Stevie says. "They need to learn from him."
Ralston tells the sisters that Shelley "has a little too much weight on her. I'd like to see some of that come off. But when the thyroid gland begins to function, some of this weight will burn right off."
Down the hall, Richard Adams and Richard Gooding have brought one of their seven dogs in for a routine exam. Adams proudly introduces Gretel, a 16-year-old German shepherd, stone deaf with only two front teeth left. Gretel has a skin condition. She takes vitamins and other nutrients. She is living a fine old life on Gooding's 40-acre ranch in Hutchins, along with a rag-tag pack of dogs the two men have rescued over the years from animal shelters and the sides of highways.
They have Pyro, a Dalmatian they brought to Ralston last year for a violent seizure disorder. Adams swears that through homeopathic clearing of his system, Pyro has not suffered a seizure since January. "And when he did have a seizure, Dr. Ralston taught me just to press on his belly button. I don't know why, but that made it stop."
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They have Gypsy Rose Leaper, a German shepherd who frequently jumps the fence. There are two Siberian huskies and a beagle mix. All have been under Ralston's care. They take vitamins and other natural remedies every day.
Gooding, a retired gunsmith, describes how he makes each dog a meatball every morning, hiding the pill inside. He blends their liquid medicines into bowls of chicken broth. And just to keep the huskies healthy, Gooding pressure-cooks and cuts up two chickens each night for the dogs.
"Do we seem crazy?" asks Adams rhetorically as he leans forward on his chair to comfort a whining Gretel. "We must be." Pointing to Gooding, Adams says "he's the only person I know who takes a bag of food and fresh water in the car in case he finds a dog." Both men laugh wildly.
They say Ralston is the only vet they know who truly understands their animals. "He listens to them," says Adams, a lanky middle-aged man in a Mr. Goodwrench cap and tattered flannel shirt. "You can call them dumb animals, but they know what they need. And they tell Dr. Ralston.


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Federal News Service
REP. HOEKSTRA: This is Congressman Pete Hoekstra, and I welcome you to this conference call. I am joined by my conference colleagues, Senator Collins, Senator Lieberman and Representative Harman. We just completed a conference call with the conferees of the entire set of conferees, where I would guess that we had just about 90 percent participation from the conferees.
Now, here's what we shared with the conferees. That is, that over the last two weeks, especially the four of us, but other members on occasion have been involved in the discussions, we have gotten to know each other very, very well. The four of us have been in Washington-I think the last of us left yesterday afternoon, but up until Wednesday, all four of us were in Washington, almost since the conference began. And we have been meeting on pretty much a daily basis. A number of days we met more than once together.
Now, the issues between the House and the Senate versions, they've been complex, they've been difficult. The discussions have been focused on the direction that we would take with Title I. Title I are the authorities for the national intelligence director, the structure and the responsibilities of the National Counterterrorism Center, and also primarily the Civil Liberties Board. There have been in the House offer that was given last week, we started with Title I. After Title I was presented to the Senate, the other provisions were also provided to the Senate at a later point. The progress we've made has been slow. It is not definitive. We have not reached agreement. We've maybe come close on some issues, but on other issues there is still a-there are some cases what some would describe as a rather significant gap.
Both the White House, the folks from the 9/11 commission, and the speaker have been involved in one form or another of trying to help us bridge the differences. Over the weekend, the-well, maybe not the-put it this way-later this afternoon the House will present another offer back to the Senate. We are expecting hopefully early next week that the Senate will be able to respond to the offer. The offer will consist of all five titles. We hope that we can bridge some of the differences and get closer to where we'd like to be on Title I. We recognize that on Titles II through V there will probably need to be additional work, because we haven't had the same kind of in-depth, meaningful discussions on those titles that we've had on Title I. I do not expect that this would be the final piece of work that would go over to the Senate this afternoon. But what we hope is that it continues to be a step in the right direction.
I think all four of us are committed to doing as much work as we can, so that we can get this done during a lame-duck session. We're realistic about the work-significant work needs to be done. Compromise needs to be made. But with all of us working, we believe that it is possible-it will be difficult, but it is possible that a bill can be completed.
And with that, Susan, I'll turn it over to you, and then we'll go to Jane and then to Senator Lieberman. Susan? Hello, Susan? Senator Collins, are you there?
SEN. COLLINS: Hello, can you hear me now? I don't know why it wouldn't go through.
It is very disappointing that we have been unable to negotiate an agreement to date. But I am heartened by the determination of each of us to keep negotiating towards the goal of reaching an agreement.
I also was pleased that the conferees this morning in our broader conference call encouraged us to keep going as well. I'm determined to keep working toward an agreement, because this issue is so important to our national security. And I'm also encouraged that both sides have moved somewhat from their initial positions. We have made some progress, albeit not nearly as much as I would have hoped by this time.
I remain hopeful that we can negotiate an agreement that could be considered as the first item of business in the lame-duck session.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Jane?
OPERATOR: Before Ms. Harman begins, we need to let you know that the call is about to be recorded.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Jane? Is Jane there?
SEN. COLLINS: She was. I wonder when you told everyone to press-to mute their phones whether that's the problem. And, Jane, if that's the case you need to do I think it's star-6 to unmute it.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Susan, you're getting awful technical here. I'm impressed.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Susan is being advised by the National Security Agency. (Laughter.)
SEN. COLLINS: Which is eavesdropping on this call.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Joe, why don't you go, and hopefully we'll be able to work out the technical difficulties with Jane.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Fine. First, thanks to you, Peter and Jane and Susan, for all of the work that we've done together. And you're right, we have spent a lot of time together, and I think there's sort of a real mood of trust that's grown among us.
For me, as I know for the three others, the inability to reach a conference committee agreement yet has been a deep personal disappointment. I must say, however, that if we do not reach an agreement before the end of the lame-duck session, it will be a shameful failure for Congress. And that's why I know that the four of us and our conferees are committed to trying to do that. And it will be a shameful failure, because this is not just any conference committee on any bill-conference committees regularly fail to reach agreement in Congress. But this one is about the threat of terrorism. And what the 9/11 commission has told us are the vulnerabilities that allowed the terrorists to strike on 9/11, and will allow them to strike again unless we better organize our intelligence assets and community-and that's what this is all about.
We are very accustomed to using a phrase in Congress-"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." In this case, the quest for the perfect may well be the enemy of the safety and security of the American people, and therefore we have to commit ourselves to a quest for the good, for the best we can do before the lame-duck session to improve our security. Obviously we had hoped that the Election Day would be a point of pressure that would have brought us together. I mean, sadly, that has-though it's brought us closer together, it hasn't brought us together.
Sadly, the election will come and go next Tuesday, insofar as this conference committee is concerned. But the threat of terrorism remains, and I do believe that ultimately, and appropriately, is a stronger incentive to get this done.
I was encouraged on the call this morning by some of the-I can't find a better word than "flexibility" that I thought I heard and a commitment to really stretch to find common ground to pass this bill. One of our colleagues said, "I'm not for the Senate bill, I'm not for the House bill-I'm for the right bill, the best bill we can get done before the lame-duck session"-and that's the spirit in which I proceed now to the next chapter of our work together.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Good, thank you, Joe.
Jane, are you back?
REP. HARMAN: Yes, I'm --
REP. HOEKSTRA: Okay, good.
REP. HARMAN: Can everybody here me? Oh, good. I don't know what happened before. Anyway, I was starting to say that if the Red Sox can win, anything is possible in this year. And they had to wait 86 years. We've only been waiting 55 years for intelligence reform. This is clearly a subject I'm passionately interested in, and I dearly hope we can work some form of good bill by the end of this year.
I wanted to make a couple of points. First of all, the House proposal, which I have not seen, which will be sent around later today, including I assume to the House Democratic conferees, is the House Republican proposal. I think that's unfortunate. I wish that the House were speaking with one voice on this issue, as the Senate is. And in that regard I want to commend Susan and Joe for demonstrating, even in this dismally partisan 108th Congress, that bipartisanship can produce excellent legislation.
I would hope that as we proceed to consider the House Republican offer we would re -- (audio glitch) -- the White House letter that we all received dated October 18th, 2004. And the other one is the 9/11 commission letter that we all received dated October 20th, 2004. Both of those letters are extremely careful and evaluated both the House- and Senate-passed bills and make specific suggestions for common ground. And I personally believe that if we had followed those suggestions 10 days ago we might have had an agreement before the election, which was something all four of us so really wanted to achieve. So my comment is that we do have some benchmarks to look at to move us together.
Finally, I did want to mention that on the House side some specific suggestions were made by one of our conferees, Bob Menendez, on behalf of the House Democrats, and they relate to Title III, the immigration sections. And they essentially proposed taking some of the ideas in the House-passed bill, including more border guards, more beds. The Western Hemisphere changes-but putting the rest of the much more divisive issues into a study-not projecting them, but studying them for a short period of time, so that the House and Senate can come back at a later time and consider them separately. I just wanted to be sure everyone understood there was some engagement on that issue. I don't know whether that suggestion will be favorably considered in the House Republican offer, but we did make that suggestion at the request of Chairman Hoekstra about a week ago.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Okay, thank you. Courtney, I believe you have a list of press folks as they came on the line for questions? Is that correct? Okay, who is this?
Q Hi, this is Simona Chedarchi (ph) with Knight Ridder Newspapers Washington Bureau.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Okay, go ahead.
Q How did the Pentagon letter, I mean the letter from General Myers this week, and negotiations involving Pentagon allies, how did that contribute to where you are now through the stalemate that you have right now?
REP. HOEKSTRA: Well, there's been a lot of input in the last week. Some of that has helped move the process forward. Some of it has delayed it or sidetracked it. You know, we've gotten, as Jane indicated, we've gotten comments from the White House, we've gotten comments from the 9/11 commission, we've gotten comments from Phil Zelikow, who is the former staff director. And you know we're-and then we've got the letter from General Myers. All of that stuff is being considered and will be factored into, in one form or another, the offer that we are going to be making later this afternoon.
Does anybody else want to --
Q I'd like to ask a follow-up question, if I could. It's Mary Curtis at the Los Angeles Times. Chairman Hoekstra, this offer that you're going to be making this afternoon, is it going to address-is it going to contain provisions around the way the flow of money would be handled? And does this offer go beyond the offer that I understand the speaker's chief of staff said on Wednesday the House would not go beyond?
REP. HOEKSTRA: We've been in a number of different places in the last four or five days. There will be-one of the issues that we've talked about considerably is the flow of money. The Senate, in response to the offer that we made last week, Friday, sent over, I think, a very helpful, a nine-point Senate-we refer to it in common language as the nine-point Senate memo. And we have tried to address some of the points that they've raised in their memo. They also sent over a statement that dealt with terms and definitions. We're also trying to respond and incorporate some of the changes that they recommended in that document. So there will be changes in there. There will also be changes in the area that Jane referenced, which is Title III, II and III. In some of the informal discussions we've had in the last week-I know that Chairman Sensenbrenner met with Senators Collins and Lieberman. He had indicated that he was willing to consider dropping the-or removing the death penalty from the law enforcement provisions. You know, there was obviously no agreement which was made, but Chairman Sensenbrenner and the offer that will be coming out of the House today will have removed the death penalty. We will also-we've removed the provision dealing with expedited removal, and we will also deal with the issue of caps on aliens granted asylum. So I think in a number of different places in the bill you will see some changes from where we were last week, Friday.
I was going to say-I don't know if there's any-Jane or Joe or Susan, if you want to add anything?
REP. HARMAN: Well, I'm listening carefully. As I said, I haven't read this proposal, and I look forward to reading it, and I don't want to prematurely make a judgment on it. But I think the question was the flow of money. This has to do with changes if you eliminate the declassified top-line, something that three fourths of the conferees support. It was in the Senate bill. The House Democrats voted for the Menendez substitute, to declassify the top line. But if you do not do that, which is the strong wish of the House Republicans, then you have to hide the money in the budget. And how do you do that, and how much control will the secretary of Defense have over the money? And we reached an impasse on that issue a few days ago, because those of us who felt that the NID needs strong budget execution authority felt that some part of this money could not have what we call the second valve of control by the secretary of Defense. So I don't-I didn't hear you, Peter, say that your offer was going to change in any way the language that was suggested a few days ago, which led to an impasse. Is it going to change that language?
REP. HOEKSTRA: I think the-there will be some changes to that, but I-it would not be as significant as what would lead to the opportunity to declassify the number. And obviously part of the flow of the money issue comes as to whether you're going to have a declassified or a classified number.
Q Can I ask-this is Shaun Waterman from UPI. Could I just have a quick follow-up on that? I gather that there is this problem of where you hide $40 billion.
REP. HOEKSTRA: (Laughter.) If that's what it is, you found it.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: They were considering, Shaun, your bank account. (Laughter.
Q I gather there was a proposal for some kind of escrow account managed by OMB. I mean, I guess the point I'm trying to get at is-you know, was rejection from Hunter and some of the other House conferees really about secrecy or was it really about control?
SEN. COLLINS: Pete, could I take a stab at that one?
REP. HOEKSTRA: That's fine.
SEN. COLLINS: This is a key issue in the bill. The reason that the Senate-one of the reasons that the 9/11 commission and the Senate recommended the declassification of the top line is then you don't have to hide the money in the Department of Defense accounts or in other accounts. You can give an account directly to the national intelligence director, and it's a much clearer, cleaner system. However, the two issues are potentially separable. The issue of-it makes it more difficult if the top line is still classified. But presumably those are two separate issues. But what my goal is, speaking for myself, is to make sure that the NID has true budget execution authority. And if someone else is able to control the flow of the money, then the NID does not have true budget execution authority.
But certainly there's a lot of ways to get towards that goal, and that's what we're continuing to discuss. It has been the thorniest issue to resolve so far.
Q On that point, has the House then moved-this is Greta Wodele with Congress Daily-has the House then moved off of its position to allow-to cut out the Pentagon from this process? In other words, are you guys going to allow the money to flow directly from the NID to these defense intelligence agencies?
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Well, that's what we're negotiating. It's fair to say, as you and others have been following us, mostly know-and it seems from your questions that you've got pretty good sources from our confidential meetings -- (laughter) -- the initial hurdle we're facing is the one that intelligence reformers faced for the last half century, which is, Can you have genuine intelligence reform and now a strong national intelligence director, and allow the Department of Defense to maintain some form of budget authority over the intelligence budget? And during the week we thought we might have had a formula to take us a step toward one another, but it didn't sell. There have been times I think when each of us felt that it might be time to walk away. But this thing is too important, and we're going to hang in there and keep trying to find a formula that will I think for me I say and for the Senate, people in the Senate generally, that will lead us to conclude that we have not just created the Office of the National Intelligence Director, but that it's real and it has authority that somebody will be in charge of our intelligence community in a way that no one was before 9/11, as the commission documents. And there are various ways to get to that point, and rest assured we're going to explore every single one of them between now and the lame-duck session.
Q But does the latest House proposal do that?
SEN. COLLINS: Well, we haven't-the latest House proposal has not been submitted to the Senate yet.
REP. HARMAN: Or to the House Democrats.
Q This is Martin Cady (ph) at Congressional Quarterly. Senator Collins, when the Senate passed the bill earlier this month, you said that if we don't get it done this year, you bet we won't get it done at all, if this bill is pushed into next year. Do you still believe that?
SEN. COLLINS: I do. I am pessimistic that if we have to start all over again next year that we would be successful. We're fast learning there's a reason that intelligence reform has been blocked over the past 50 years time and time again. It is extremely difficult to accomplish. I think we have the momentum generated by the strong recommendations from the 9/11 commission. The time is ripe, and I believe that we need to act this year.
Q During the lame-duck-here's a different question-what happens if John Kerry wins, or if the Senate changes hands-are all of you worried that the legislative dynamic and the mood for compromise would change if there is some political change?
SEN. COLLINS: Well, I can't imagine either of those eventualities, so I guess I should let my Democratic colleagues respond. (Laughs.)
REP. HARMAN: I'll take that. I can imagine them. I can wish for them. But, nonetheless, I would say that John Kerry has stated that he is firmly committed to the 9/11 commission recommendations. So I would surely hope that if he wins on November 2nd, he would encourage us to adopt some of the suggestions in the 9/11 commission letter of October 20, which does move beyond the Senate bill as passed or the House bill as passed to some common ground. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, that letter has been around for a couple of weeks. And if that were the basis for our negotiations, we might truly get to an agreement in the lame-duck session, which I think would be in everyone's interests. It's a dangerous world. I totally agree with Joe Lieberman's comments that we cannot put off reforming our intelligence capabilities.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Yeah, I think what you're going to see is obviously the dynamics after Tuesday will depend on what occurs on Tuesday. But the four of us are committed to do everything that we can over the-from the timeframe from Tuesday to when the lame-duck ends-to try to make this bill a reality. We are committed. We have been in Washington for most of the last two weeks working on this, many nights till well past midnight. Our staffs have been there until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. You know, our focus right now is doing as much as we can to try and get this done before the lame-duck is over.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: I agree with that. And I thought I heard some sentiment in that direction from our other conferees. It was, I suppose understandably and appropriately vague in most cases, but I thought I heard this morning some feeling that to find common ground on the powers of the national intelligence director and the creation of the National Counterterrorism Center, on which-the second on which we're very close-those are the two top recommendations of the 9/11 commission-may well be a willingness among the conferees to put aside for the moment some of the other parts of both the House and the Senate bills that are important, but not as important to do immediately as the NID and the NCTC.
Q Why do you think this hasn't been more of an issue out in the campaign?
REP. HOEKSTRA: Well, from my perspective there's a lot of-I mean, being in a battleground state and having the president or the vice president or Senator Kerry or Senator Edwards basically in my backyard every day-one of them every day-there's a lot of issues out there. And I think this is one where there's maybe not a lot of distance between the president and Senator Kerry, that they-and between the four of us-we all want to create a national intelligence director, we want to create a strong national intelligence director. We have different definitions as to exactly what that means, but we want to do a Civil Liberties Board. The offer that comes over today will strengthen the Civil Liberties Board for - -you know, let's remember the House offer-the House bill didn't even have a Civil Liberties Board in it. We are going to come closer to the Senate on where they were with the National Counterterrorism Center and on the law enforcement and immigration issues. I mean,. Senator-or, excuse me, Representative Sensenbrenner has been willing to, even with no negotiations from the Senate on this, has been willing to make some concessions, which I think he believes are pretty significant, by pulling out the death penalty and the expedited removal. So I think that, you know echoing Senator Lieberman's comments, I think it really is the sense of our conferees is to try to move this process forward and to take some steps-take some initiative by the conferees on their own, without kind of a tit for tat, saying, Well, I'll give up death penalty if you give over here. And it's kind of like, well, let's take the first step and see where that leads.
Q Could I just follow up on that?
Q Excuse me, could I get a question in. This is Denise with Aviation Daily-I'm sorry, Shaun, can you-let me just get my question in, because you have a follow-up.
Q Sure, sure, go on.
Q Can I just shift gears for a second and look at Title II and IV. I've been hearing that staff was told not to do any work on the aviation portions of the bill. This is Denise with Aviation Daily. Now, is the proposal going to the conference this afternoon, has it changed Title II or Title IV in any way?
REP. HOEKSTRA: The House has not received-at least as of late yesterday afternoon-we had not received a response on the international relations issues or the transportation issues. So I'm not-the offer may reflect what our staffs believe to be-a response to where we believe the Senate may be, but it does not reflect a response to a document that we received back from the Senate.
REP. HYDE: Peter, this is Henry Hyde, I've just joined the conversation.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Good, welcome.
REP. HYDE: Thanks.
Q Congressman, I have a question for you. What happened to all the momentum coming out of August and building over time? How did that all dissipate to a point where a few days before the election-and there still isn't agreement on the major issues here?
REP. HOEKSTRA: I didn't --
SEN. COLLINS: I didn't hear the beginning of the question.
Q The beginning was how did we lose the momentum from of August and late July when the report came out and everybody-you know, all of you said you were behind the recommendations and getting them enacted before the election. How did we get to this point where there's basically no bill, no agreements on the major issues?
SEN. COLLINS: Well, I don't think there has been a lack of effort or a loss of momentum. If you look at when the report came out, which I believe was July 22nd, the Senate started to work right away, immediately, holding eight hearings starting with the very next week. The House soon followed suit also. Both the House and the Senate devoted eight days in floor debate, rather than doing many other pressing issues in order to get this bill to conference. The House also worked very hard to get it to conference. I think what has happened is just that the issues have proven to be very difficult to resolve, because the House and the Senate passed bills that took a very different approach. But I think that the Congress actually-and Congress meaning both House and Senate-actually acted remarkably swiftly in response to the commission's report, and the commission thinks so also, even though there's obviously disappointment with where we are now.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: I agree-this is Joe Lieberman. I agree with everything Susan has said. Let me just add this word: W e focused on Title I, so-called, on the powers of the intelligence director and the Counterterrorism Center, and intelligence reform generally, I should say, and we put the other parts to the side. And in focusing on intelligence reform, we focused on the most central and difficult part of the conference process. But I want to assure you that there have been discussions on every other part of the bill, and on some there is substantial progress made, including I'd take the liberty of saying where you have some hope and appreciation of what's happened on the foreign policy sections, which Congressman Hyde and Senate colleagues have come to-have had very productive discussions on, I'll say. And the same is true of transportation security. So if we can get the intelligence reform pieces to a point of common ground, I think we'll quite rapidly be able to incorporate the progress that's been made on other parts, or frankly just throw overboard for the moment some of the sections we just agree we're not going to be able to reach agreement on, non-intelligence sections, and that we'll save for another day.
REP. HARMAN: And if I could just add to that-it's Jane Harman-the letters I referenced at the beginning of the press call, the October 18 letter from the White House, the October 20 letter from the 9/11 commission, which I think are critical letters and could help us forge common ground, address what we call the global bill. And just reading from the 9/11 commission letter of October 20, with respect to what they call "additional measures," they say, quote, "Finally, we believe strongly that this bill is not the right occasion for tackling controversial immigration and law enforcement issues that go well beyond the commission's recommendations," unquote. And I do think, as everyone else has said, that if we could get through Title I-again, I urge reference to these two letters as our road map - and get to agreement there, we could get to agreement on the rest of it, because there is a lot we do agree on. And then we could put these more controversial provisions off for another day.
Q Chairman Hoekstra, this is Emily Pierce with Roll Call. Senator Lieberman has been talking about perhaps sort of jettisoning these controversial things, and how he got a sense from the conference call today that perhaps there might be some thought amongst other conferees to do that. What's your opinion of that? Do you think that it is possible to jettison these other controversial things, the Titles II and III, the stuff that does not have to do with intelligence reform?
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Please notice that I didn't specify.
REP. HOEKSTRA: That's right, the senator didn't specify. As we've gone through the discussions, I think that there are lots of different views on what might be extraneous materials. There are lots of things that we agree on in the other titles. There are certain things that House members feel very uncomfortable with in Title I which they believe are extraneous. So the process we are now going through and the agreement that we had as we have been negotiating this, and as we will move forward, is that we don't have agreement on any section until we have agreement on the entire bill. And so that's the process that we're going through. Mr. Sensenbrenner has made some, I think, some good moves in the campaign the right direction. Representative Menendez has had the opportunity to input. Those discussions are continuing.
And, you know, what is in the bill and what is not in the bill-you know, that is what this is all about, as well as resolving some of the issues really around the authorities of the NID.
Q But do you think it's possible to get rid of some of these provisions? I mean, do you think that it is even remotely something that you guys could come to an agreement on?
REP. HOEKSTRA: Well, I mean, as I said today, the offer that the Senate will receive this afternoon removes the death penalty from Title II. We have-Representative Sensenbrenner believes that within our conference he can get rid of the expedited removal provisions, and also address the cap on aliens that are granted asylum. So it is clear that there is a willingness on the House to move on some of these. They will be part of the offer that will be coming over to the Senate. And we recognize, as we all certainly began this process, that there are compromises that are going to be made by all the participants, and they're not-we might not put it in the same language that Joe said-we're just going to jettison them. But, you know, as I said, there are things in the offer coming over today that we saw-we recognize that maybe-you know, that are not going to be acceptable in a final agreement with the Senate. We recognize that. They're being removed, even though we haven't formally gone through a negotiating process on that.
REP. HARMAN: Thank you all very, very much.
REP. HOEKSTRA: Okay, thank you very much.

subset: commoncrawl


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UFC on FX 1 Results: Did Melvin Guillard Make a Mistake Leaving Greg Jackson's?January 23, 2012
You'd think that a move from Jackson's MMA to Imperial Athletics, aka The Blackzilians, would be the reason why Melvin Guillard dropped a second straight bout by rear-naked choke at the UFC's debut on FX, but the reality is that the move had nothing to do with Guillard losing to Jim Miller.
Guillard lost because when the time came to answer questions about his submission defense, his submission defense just was not there. But, there are a few other things to consider.
Guillard had a shot to put it all together, and he was on his way to winning the fight with a big knee and a few punches that would have knocked anyone else out. So, definite props go to Miller for showing that he's still got a hell of a chin.
Also, Guillard does still have a good wrestling game—which he has used in the past—but many figured that he was probably going to want to stand with Miller; as good as Guillard's wrestling was, he would still be playing into MIller's strength by trying to work his wrestling game on a talented submission artist like the Sparta-born Miller.
So on one end of the spectrum, Guillard hurt Miller and did what he needed to do once he realized that his opponent was injured, which was to finish him on the spot.
On the other end of the spectrum, however, he handed Miller his back on a silver platter, and the result was another highlight-reel-submission win for Mr. Miller.
Don't get it twisted, though; Guillard's departure really had nothing to do with this because Guillard had lost fights as a Jackson boy as well.
Guillard has a great camp with some great fighters, but he still was unable to defend Miller's submission attempts. And that's why we wonder exactly what is going on in Guillard's head, considering he has come all this way, and yet, he's still unable to avoid submissions on his own free will.
If the move to the Blackzilians isn't the problem and if submission defense isn't the problem, Guillard would be wise to figure out what the problem is and fix it. Otherwise, he might find himself out of the UFC before he knows it.


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Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'Industry Surveys & Polls' started by LawnStars2012, Mar 3, 2014.
I know all advertising works together, but which type shows best results for you?
Our Lawnsite customers have found our door hanger special for $79 very helpful. You get 1000 of our full color Band-it door hangers that stay on the door like they're supposed to, full color, 4.25 x 11 and you can utilize our online designer. If you need help with a design, for $20 more our graphic designer will create a professional door hanger design for you. That's just one of several products we offer. If you want more information request free samples at www.adeasprinting.com/freesamples or go to www.adeasprinting.com/doorhangers and see if there are any other options that may interest you. Hope this helps. Thanks Glenda. firstname.lastname@example.com 866-778-4254
I'm planning to order the special deal from Adeas Printing for 5,000 door hangers in the next week or so. Never tried that method before...look forward to good results!
Last year I went cheap and threw out my business card in a sandwich plastic bag with a rock in it so the wind wouldn't blow it. I actually got several calls out of it and it more than paid for itself.
3 summers ago I printed out a bunch of full color very nice flyers and put them on mailboxes. I got very few calls, but one call I did get was from the postmaster telling me I can't do that or I could get fined next time, so I won't do that again!
Craigslist gets some customers (lots of them are looking for the cheapest price, but there are some really good ones I have gotten from there.) Tried yellow pages for three months last year, and I got 2-3 calls a month, but just can't really justify the price to use it again. Getting website listed on the Google local thing or whatever it's called, that always gets me several calls at the start of every season and then a handful throughout the summer. Ran a classified ad at some newspapers last summer. Got a couple calls from that, so it more than paid for itself. I will be doing that again, and I may put a larger ad in my local newspaper as well to give it a shot this summer.
I have used door hangers in the past and the usual 1-2% is what I experienced. Worth it in the end because those customers have been with me for years now and have allowed me to open up and expand in one of the nicest subdivisions in my town. I have printed my own in the past and they looked "ok". That deal above for $79 sounds like a pretty good deal. I don't think that sandwich bags, rocks, and a business card could be done for less.
It shocks me no one ever says a full truck? Trailer wrap.
It puts you in front of 10000 people a week , atleast get a vinyl name and number.
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I agree. With most types of advertising, after you stop pouring money into it, it'll instantly stop being effective. However, your name and number plastered on your vehicles is a lasting investment.
Plus if they see you parked in front of a job and working they can see the results of your work while knowing what company to call for the same amazing work!
Having a website that ranks well has been the best investment for me.
Door to door with flyers (if allowed in your area). Especially if you are just starting out, it worked great for me.
I have been thinking of doing this as well. This will be my 2nd year in the business and I'm only 17. I was think about just using my business cards to pass out as I went door to door. Do you think that will be effective? How many houses would you hit?
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Michael I. Friswell
Michael Friswell has a BA in Mathematics from Oxford University (1982), a PhD degree in vibration engineering from Aston University (1990) and a DSc from the University of Wales (2000). He has been the Sir George White Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Bristol University since 2002, and before that he was Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wales Swansea. He has been awarded an Advanced Research Fellowship from the Engineering and Physical Research Council (1996-2001), Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award (2002-2007) and a European Marie-Curie Excellent Grant Award (2005-2008). Michael Friswell has a rather eclectic mix of research interests, primarily involving structural dynamics although recently expanding to morphing aircraft. His long term and continuing interests include the improvement of finite element models using measured data, the identification of damage location and extent using model based algorithms, rotating machinery dynamics, model reduction methods, the modelling and analysis of structures with viscoelastic damping, the dynamics of non-linear systems, acoustic emission and active vibration control. Recent work on morphing aircraft includes various methods of introducing compliance into aircraft structures (aeroelastic tailoring, bistable structures, topology optimization), the design of novel control effectors, the flight control of morphing structures, and conceptual design aspects. The theme running throughout these topics is the modelling and analysis of dynamic structures and systems, and links both experimental data and numerical predictions. The research covers a wide range of traditional engineering disciplines, from civil to aeronautical engineering, and a wide range of topics within these disciplines.
Biography Updated on 18 October 2010


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The place known as the Ether Dome stands as a monument to solace from pain. It was in this space — the operating theater of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston — that the anesthetic ether had its first successful public demonstration in surgery.
The play "Ether Dome" explores the story behind that landmark 1846 event — and it's a saga that delves into its own varieties of suffering.
"The play started out just being about Horace Wells, this (real-life) dentist in Hartford, and his student, William Morton, who takes his discovery of using laughing gas as an anesthetic and turns it into discovering ether," explains Elizabeth Egloff, whose world-premiere work hits La Jolla Playhouse this week.
"(That) resulted in Wells' feeling very betrayed, because William Morton never gave him even a slice of the credit for anything."
Egloff, on the other hand, is happy to give credit where it's due. The playwright, who was last at the La Jolla theater 22 years ago with "The Swan," cites the Julie Fenster book "Ether Day" for the revelation of another major player in the story: a Boston surgeon named Charles T. Jackson.
"William Morton also stole Jackson's idea (for how ether could be used)," Egloff says. "So both the dentist and Jackson were beyond furious."
Those bitter conflicts and their lasting consequences (which turned out to be particularly tragic for Wells) play out in "Ether Dome," a co-production with the Alley and Huntington theaters and Hartford Stage, where director Michael Wilson was previously artistic director. (Wilson's successor in Hartford is former Old Globe resident artistic director and 2014 Tony Award-winner Darko Tresnjak.)
Did you know?
"Ether Dome" playwright Elizabeth Egloff earned an Emmy nomination for co-writing the controversial 2003 TV movie "The Reagans."
It was Wilson, says Egloff, who first hit on the idea for the play, after spotting a statue of Wells in a Hartford park and finding himself intrigued at this relatively little-known figure. (Morton fought successfully to get most of the glory for the ether discovery.)
The story has personal interest for Egloff as well; her father is a psychiatrist who did his residency at Mass General and took her to see the actual Ether Dome years ago, an experience that made a deep impression.
Besides telling the story of ether's tortured discovery, "Ether Dome" also examines the deeper philosophical impacts of anesthesia's arrival: "It really turned society on its head," because in keeping with Christian teachings, suffering "was how you validated yourself," Egloff says. "And suddenly suffering was no longer necessary, and it was even a choice."
The Playhouse production has a 16-member cast that includes two seasoned San Diego actors, Kevin Hafso-Koppman and Linda Libby.
Egloff describes the play as "often very intense, because there are several surgery scenes in it. There's less blood than there used to be. (But) what I've always done is sort of a black humor. So it can't really help but be funny (as well)."
And, she hopes, faithful to its real-life inspirations.
"I have a love for my characters," Egloff says, "and I feel as though I owe them an honest portrayal."
"Ether Dome"
When: Previews begin Sunday. Opens July 18. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through Aug. 10.
Where: La Jolla Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Forum, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive (UC San Diego campus)
Tickets: About $15-$56 (discounts available)
Phone: (858) 550-1010
Online: lajollaplayhouse.org


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U.S. Rep. Ron Kind and U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (WA-08) today introduced the S Corporation Modernization Act (H.R. 1478), a tax relief proposal that would make it easier for S corporations to access capital, compete, and hire new workers by modernizing outdated rules that currently stifle their growth. Among many findings, an independent study released this morning revealed how S corporations employ one out of four private sector workers (31 million) in the United States.
"This bill is a commonsense update to the tax code that will give S corporations the ability to grow and prosper especially in this tough economic environment," Rep. Kind said. "It is critical that we ease the tax burden on our small and family owned businesses who are driving our economic growth. Under this legislation, S corporations will be better able to access credit, invest in their business, and create the good paying jobs that we need."
"S corporations and other similar businesses are responsible for more than half of the jobs in Washington State and across America," Rep. Reichert said. "As our economy struggles to get back on sound footing, I'm proud that this bipartisan legislation will help these proven job creators access the capital needed to grow, compete, and help get more and more Americans back to work. I remain committed to supporting these bedrocks of our economy by advocating for pro-growth tax policies from my position on the Ways and Means Committee."
"Tax reform should seek to make the entire U.S. economy more competitive, not just a subset of large corporations," stated S Corporation Association Executive Director Brian Reardon. "If you're going to tackle tax reform, it must include both the corporate and individual tax codes in order to assist all employers. In the face of proposals that would make the majority of America's employers less competitive, the Reichert-Kind legislation presents a realistic set of reforms that would improve the ability of 4.5 million S corporations to access much-needed capital and increase their hiring capabilities."
Specifically, H.R. 1478 would make needed changes to keep S corporations competitive and help ensure the continued success of America's predominant private business model by:
* Increasing the ability of S corporations to access much-needed capital;
* Modernizing the rules that apply to firms that have selected S corporation status; and
* Enabling IRAs to hold stock in S corporations.
These reforms would improve the ability of S corporations to respond to the demands of the current business environment and remove impediments that prevent them from competing on a level playing field here in the United States.
Source: http://kind.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=52&parentid=149§iontree=149,52&itemid=772


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cutting programs (Income Statement).
This tug of war has left the S&P stuck in a trading range for a few months now, from say 1260 to 1360 – until we break out or down from this range medium and longer term fundamental traders need to trade around a core position.
The high levels of cash available combined with low interest rates have allowed companies with strong balance sheets to go out on a buying spree. This is usually a sign of two things: Companies have cash on the balance sheet they are using for expansions, and companies see value in the companies they are buying. Plenty of sectors have participated, recent names in play: BJ, JCP, HK, NSM, TBL, LZ, CEPH, CLX.
Warren Buffet has been involved, as have some activist hedge funds managers, as has Carl Icahn. The flip side of M&A activity is the impact it normally has on the employment front, as consolidation usually brings a reduction in the workforce.
As earning season kicks off, we will be getting a better insight into companies' margins as well as CEO/CFO guidance for the balance of the year.
The easiest way to see relative strength is from a picture – as you can see YTD 2011 performance has given back some of the gains we obtained starting from the middle of last year. Worth noticing is the drop in Basic Material performance (1yr +32% vs YTD +1.8%), suffice is to say that 2011 has been a difficult start of the year for some sectors.
Another way you can look and follow sector performance is to select liquid sector ETFs, and use a watch list like the one you can create on www.finviz.com to track performance.
Three sectors stand out so far year-to-date Financials (NYSE:XLF), Retail (NYSE:XRT), and Commodities (NYSE:GLD, NYSE:XLE, etc). Financials continue to be under a great deal of pressure as the uncertainty on the regulatory front is reducing valuations and expectations.
Two pieces worth monitoring are: Capital requirements – the Basel III is asking for higher quality capital that could result in banks having to raise equity by secondary offerings or retained earnings; and the second part is the Dodd-Frank rules that have yet to be completely interpreted, for now most banks have been reducing and eliminating exposure to any division related to proprietary trading (including private equity funds), which in the past have produced up to 30% of profits.
The Retail sector has seen an improvement that can be attributed to a couple of reasons: Employed people are starting to feel somewhat more secure and are starting to spend again, a second reason is that credit cards companies have loosened up somewhat their criteria allowing credit expansion, and lastly retail companies were very aggressive during the crisis to improve margins, which is starting to pay off on the bottom line.
On the Commodity front the road has been somewhat bumpier mainly resulting from attempts to slow down some emerging market economies that are concerned on the inflation front (mainly China, India, and Brazil) (XME is only up 1% ytd yet is up 50% yoy). Gold and silver are seen as alternative currencies and as inflation protections so will continue to play an important role as the macro and geo-political issues continue to show negative headlines.
The other sectors that are benefiting similar to the retail sectors are the consumer staples (NYSE:XLP) and consumer discretionary (NYSE:XLY). The technology sector (NYSE:XLK and NYSE:SMH) has been mixed this year with a few M&A activities and some specific stories doing well but for the most part a bumpy sector. Healthcare (NYSE:XLV) is also a sector with a positive return, some of this is due to some M&A activity in the sector, as well Obama care benefits coming down the line (this is a double edge sword since possibilities of reversal of Obama care would result in a revaluation of the sector).
There are plenty of opportunities within these sectors, in the next blog I'll look at specific names in these sectors.
By: Mario E. Carias, CFA
*DISCLOSURE: No relevant positions
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The IRS has been busy adding to its regulatory agenda. Here's the latest news from the regulations front.
1. Temporary regs authorize voluntary withholding. Temporary and proposed regulations allow the IRS to designate payments that parties—employers and employees (for payments not already subject to income tax withholding) or payers and payees—can agree will be subject to income tax withholding. The IRS will designate the payments that may be subject to voluntary withholding in its weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin. The temporary regs became effective Nov. 27, 2013, and will expire Nov. 25, 2016. (78 F.R. 71476, 11-29-13)
2. Final regs allow agents to report FUTA for recipients of home care services. Under final regs, third parties who already act as withholding agents for recipients of government subsidized home health care services may act as agents for FUTA purposes and file Form 940 on recipients' behalf. Agents can file...(register to read more)
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Featured Photographer
Igor Shpilenok
Igor Shpilenok lives in the Bryansk Forest on the western border of Russia, not far from Ukraine and Belarus. Igors family his wife and four sons make up more than half of the population of the tiny village of Chukhrai, which is surrounded by impassable floodplain forests and to this day lacks even a road. Therefore, three horses are still the most reliable form of transportation for Igors family.
Website: www.shpilenok.com/
Why nature photography?
What's best about it?
What's worst about it?
Favourite species and places in Europe?
What's in the bag?
Your specialities / skills?
What will you do in your next life?
In May 2009, I will photograph the endangered saiga antelope Europes only antelope in their native and disappearing steppe in Kalmykia, a region in southwestern Russia. Because of poaching and other pressures, there are fewer than 20,000 saiga remaining in Europe down from more than 2 million animals in the middle of last century. I hope that by showing these unique, hump-nosed antelope to Europeans and the world, I can evoke in people the desire to help the animals in their fight for survival.
Best Picture
What's cool about it?
Could it be better?
Behind the Scene
Date: May 21, 2006
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Lincolnshire admission authorities are now consulting on any proposed changes to their admission arrangements for the 2014 school intake.
To check whether a change is proposed to a school admission policy, go to www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/admissionsconsultation Arrangements for schools that remain unchanged are not displayed.
The website includes school admission policies where a change is proposed and the coordinated schemes that set out the timetable for applications and offers.
Anyone wishing to comment may do so through the website or contact the admission authority direct.
The consultation closes on February 28, 2013.
Final policies for the 2014 intake will be available both on the consultation website and admission authority websites from May 1.


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Advancement through the USSA's Athlete Development Pipeline is based on tangible, objective selection criteria. At each level, from grassroots club-level events to Olympics, athletes advance based on athletic performance in events as well as on ranking or points lists. Selection criteria for different events, teams or projects may be different. Athletes, coaches and parents should read the criteria carefully to learn exactly how athletes will be selected. In some cases it may be results from specific events. In other cases it may be an athletes ranking on a USSA or International Ski Federation (FIS) points or ranking list. Most athletes are selected by specific objective criteria, but there may also be discretionary selection if noted in the criteria. Click on the tabs above to access selection criteria for specific teams or development projects.
My Account
Need to renew your membership, get coaching tips or work on your technique? Want to check rankings or results? Find all that and more on your My Account page.
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U.S. Ski & Snowboard's athletes get no government funding. Their success is dependent on passionate fans, like you! See how you can help athletes achieve their dreams.
Child Protection
Help raise awareness about misconduct in sport and promote open dialogue. Together we can build a game plan to make sport safe—for everyone.


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Remember back in elementary school when you used to propagate a foul stew of cafeteria castoffs in the hopes of bribing or pressuring some unfortunate soul to dine on it? That nauseating mélange of pizza crust, corn, chocolate milk and (ideally) mashed potatoes became an unholy course fit only for the iron guts of G.G. Allin. But don't feel too bad, as you were obviously making an esoteric comment on race relations by mixing components into one. Food is food as people are people. Misunderstood and clever; that's you. Un Jung Lee, a Korean-born artist, has similarly seen the light with an exhibition called MABI (it's short for Made in America by Korean in Dallas) at Gallery_010 of Texas Woman's University. The reception is Tuesday at 4 p.m., so you can be one of the first to see her interpretation of cultural differences and human similarities through totemic imagery/materials and the conscious use of black-and-white. You know, like, "one color" in a Bono kind of way. This and other earth-shattering revelations are available throughout March in Gallery_010 on Bell Avenue in Denton. Call 940-898-2530. --Matt Hursh
Model Students
New set of fashion plates
You can always find young, tall, starved blondes on the runway, but how often do you see a high-fashion show featuring African-Americans? The 46th Annual Fashion Fair Color Splash, which features African-American women and men of all ages and sizes, comes to Dallas on March 7. The Links Inc.-sponsored event begins at 5 p.m. at the Music Hall at Fair Park. Past shows have featured extravagant numbers from everything from kimono styles to two-piece wraps. This season's traveling show displays colorful silk chiffon designs from Hanae Mori and Zang Toi and the brocade fabrics of Oscar de la Renta. Embroidered and denim designs of Christian Lacroix will also be on display. General seating is $20; reserved seating is $30. Each ticket includes a subscription to Ebony Magazine or Jet. Music Hall at Fair Park, 909 First Ave. Call 214-529-4956 or 972-709-7745.--Jenice Johnson
Soul Food
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We are victims, tortured by foul-smelling vegetables, urged to choke down brussels sprouts as a child, haunted by the imminent fear of the deprivation of dessert. Our parents, passing the blame, exploited the phrase "Be thankful you even have food!" We still wonder what these vegetables--fed to the dog under the table--could actually do to affect the world. Taste of the Nation Mystery Chef Dinner fuses the fight to end world hunger with the enjoyment of fine cuisine from top chefs across the country. The benefit begins at 6 p.m. with cocktails and a lottery that matches chef teams with connoisseurs. Partake in an elegant and gratifying evening, knowing every bite you take provides nourishment for someone in need. Tickets are $250 per seat Saturday at The Wyndham Anatole Hotel, 2201 Stemmons Freeway. Visit www.strength.org/taste/dallas or call 214-443-9300.--Danna Berger


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*Starting Christmas Day, you'll be seeing a lot more (or less) of ex- NBA great Charles Barkley.
Barkley is the newest spokesperson for Weight Watchers, and commercials featuring the former pro athlete's weight loss will be flooding the small screen during the holidays.
The now used-to-be "round mound of rebound" and TNT basketball commentator said that after retiring from the league in 2000, he packed on 100 pounds to his 6' ft. 6" frame, ballooning to 350 pounds.
Barkley said he got his 'wake up call' when he paid a trip to the doctor.
"The doctor said, 'Hey, dude, if you don't lost some weight, you're either going to get diabetes, have a stroke or drop dead. It's either A, B, or C," Barkley told USA Today.
Weight Watchers approached him, and Barkley has signed on for the organization's newest campaign entitled "Lose Like a Man."
The campaign is targeted to the male population to urge them to get into a healthy eating lifestyle, according to People magazine.
"I felt bloated and big," says Barkley, who said he lost 14 pounds on his own, then shed another 27 pounds with the help of Weight Watchers.
Barkley said he had to weed out junk foods like pizza and cookies, and now swears by yogurt and oatmeal. He's also been eating cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and asparagus and enjoying them for the first time in his life. Barkley said that before vegetables, he admitted 'I thought vegetables were all nasty."
"Diet is not a man's world because we don't like to diet—we like to eat," Barkley said in a press release. "Like a lot of athletes, I've gained weight since I've retired. But, I don't want to be a fat old man taking lots of pills. Weight Watchers is helping me change my lifestyle and learn how to make smarter eating choices anywhere I am."
Barkley, who has been a popular on-air basketball commentator and formerly played with the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns and the Philadelphia 76ers, said he has noticed the change in his body.
"Now I have more energy!" Barkley confessed.


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Boxfulls of thanks
A group of about 35 teachers and volunteers packaged Thanksgiving dinners at Fareway Sunday night. The 174 dinners will be given to families in need Tuesday night.
The Washington Education Association pays for the meals. The teachers have raised money for the dinners for the past eight years. The teachers began doing the event to coincide with National Education Week in November.
Mike Zahs, a retired teacher who helps with the meal giveaway, said the teachers wanted to do something for the community.
"A lot of places like to have banks bring in food to the teachers," he said. "I've heard people say, 'Our bank took us out for this,' or 'Our bank gave us cookies.' We decided not to worry about what was being done for us and instead focus on doing something for somebody else."
The first step in the process is identifying the families who need the Thanksgiving dinners. The education association raises money for the event and buys as many dinners as it can with the donated funds.
In the program's first year, the teachers collected enough money for 45 dinners. The program has grown almost every year since then. The number of meals given away is down slightly from a year ago when the teachers handed out 185 meals.
Junior high teacher Sue Spencer said that, fortunately, the price of the meals has only increased $1 in those eight years, from $16 a meal to $17 this year.
Zahs said, "We've added more to the meal, too."
The meal includes the traditional turkey plus a turkey roll and cranberries. Gravy will go well with the sweet potatoes in the bag. The dinner includes canned goods and vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, corn and beans.
The meal is designed to feed four people. Large families might receive more than one meal.
Fareway manager Dave Waite said he's glad his company can be a partner in the food drive.
"Some families who are a little less fortunate wouldn't get a Thanksgiving meal if it wasn't for this," he said.
Spencer said that the educational association is not the only organization buying dinners for needy families this Thanksgiving. First Baptist Church in Washington has purchased 40 meals they will give away this week. Another 12 came from a local church youth group.
The teachers gathered at Fareway at 5 p.m. Sunday. They packaged all the non-perishables for all 174 meals in just 13 minutes, which Spencer said was record time. The teachers had not yet completely cleared out when members of First Baptist Church entered the doors to do their own packaging.
In the early years of the program, the teachers delivered all the meals. Zahs said that was difficult because it got dark early in the evening and some houses were hard to find.
"A family might live in an upstairs apartment and you don't know where the door is," he said.
Zahs said that he has been moved by what he's seen on his deliveries.
"I can remember taking food into a house, and the family sat down and started eating it right then and there," he said. "It was the only food they had. It wasn't Thanksgiving yet, but the meal came when they had nothing."
Zahs said he knows of families who have repaid the favor done for them.
"We've had people receive a meal one or two years, and then the following year they'll say they don't want one and that they will buy a meal for somebody else," he said.