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After serving multiple tours of duty in Iraq, dodging mortars and roadside bombs, Army Cpl. Stephen Fox came home to Tarzana with a traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and a host of additional ailments.
"We got blown up, like, every day, and then there was other stuff, too," said the 26-year old former infantryman, recalling the time he was among the first responders to arrive after an explosion in Kirkuk that left 80 dead and 170 wounded.
"It was terrible," he said quietly.
Even though the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was well aware of his returning condition — providing him with free medical treatment at its Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center — it still took two years to process his claim for disability benefits.
For most veterans, however, that is the norm.
Of the 700,000 nationwide claims pending before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, almost 400,000 are considered backlogged, according to Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village, who sits on the House of Representatives' Veterans Affairs Committee.
The VA is stretched thin, she said, because of the high volume of claims being filed by those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, many for multiple conditions.
The department is supposed to address claims within 125 days, but California Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Keith Boylan said the average wait time in Los Angeles is closer to 500 days.
"CalVet offers many of the benefits, but it's predicated on the veterans first receiving disability from the federal government," he said. "We realized we needed to get involved."
In September, CalVet and the VA signed a memorandum of understanding to expedite the process.
Under the Joint Claims Initiative, CalVet would provide each of the VA's regional offices in Los Angeles, San Diego and Oakland with 12-member "strike teams" to look at claims pending for 125 days or longer and prepare them for adjudication.
The federal shutdown, however, interrupted efforts to hire and train those strike teams, so to date only about six or seven people — about a fifth of the total required by the initiative — have been able to begin reviewing claims.
"Once our folks are in there and are able to access the claims, we can probably review 1,500 to 2,000 claims a month," he said.
CalVet believes the backlog can be cleared within a year or two, bringing the average wait back down to 125 days.
In the meantime, frustration mounts.
Marine Cpl. Chris Duarte, 35, works as a claims assistant and liaison navigator with the Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. "One of my clients now is the widow of an Iraq veteran who passed away six months ago," he said.
"She's still waiting for his benefits to go through. In the meantime, she has no income and is on the verge of being homeless. It's horrible."
Fox's second application for disability claims — this time for service-related injuries to his shoulders, knees and ankles — has been pending for two years.
Fortunately, he said, he was able to support himself by going to school under the GI Bill and by earning $8 an hour as an intern at the Chatsworth Veterans Resource Center.
Asked his feelings on efforts to expedite the processing of veterans' benefit claims, he responded, "I'm not hopeful."
Recounting a military buddy's experience, he said, "I have a friend who got shot three times in the abdomen and two times in the leg. He lost his leg, and it still took two years for his disability claim to go through.
"He had to rely on the kindness of family and friends because he wasn't able to work — he was in a wheelchair. After all that happened to him, I can't understand why the VA took so long to make a decision about his benefits."
The VA has set a goal of ending the backlog by 2015.
Brownley is among several lawmakers pushing the agenda on a federal level. "The House is considering a package of more than 10 bills aimed at tackling the VA claims backlog step by step."
One such measure would require the Defense Department to dispatch electronic health records more quickly to the VA, while another seeks to automate the processing of certain claims.
"On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind," Brownley said in an email. "As a nation, we must pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind."
In spite of all he's been through, does Fox have any regrets about enlisting? "Not at all," he said. "I think I made a difference. I'm very proud of what I did."

subset: commoncrawl


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I'm not bad, it's just been a while so trying to get back into it. No prob if you just want to rally a bit. But I'm down to play a set or two, too. Wanting to get out there any way possible! Holla!
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What's a good time for you? I'm looking free most of the week. Do you know any good, free courts? I'm down to meet wherever so if you know any... it's your pick! Let me know...
hi there looking for more hitting partners. Name is Nam. you can reach me at email@example.com. Hit me up and lets see when we can hit
Hey Doug, I'm free on the weekends to hit in the silverlake, echo park, los feliz, highland park area. Let me know if you want to go hit.
Free to play tomorrow by chance? I am a 4.0+ player. Let me know
Yeah..early afternoon work?
sure what time exactly were you thinking?
Hey Doug, can you hit next week during the day or morning?
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I'm sure it's not terribly exciting, but maybe a useful reference for someone. I found this pair of Candlesticks in a local Charity shop for 50p - and still in their box. Anyone have an idea of their date?
I've some of these square ones in Smoke and Aqua, and they both bear pre-1965 labels, so the Smoke ones must have first been in circulation sometime between 1964-65. So that's pinned that down a little further.
After some consideration.... as full as the 1957-65 reprinted catalogue is, it doesn't seem to be complete. When Holmegaard were compiling it for publication, they missed a lot out - for example, there is nothing from the pressed glass 'Skjold' series (1963) in it, also the 'Flamingo' vases are absent.I agree, though - Christer Holmgren is the most likely designer for the candlesticks.
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In June, the Department of Prints, Drawing & Photographs (PDP) at the BMA launched its first social media account with a Tumblr dedicated to highlighting captivating works on paper from the collection. With the Museum's online collection constantly growing, this new space offers PDP a chance to give a more intimate glimpse into the Department's daily meanderings through the collection. It is also a place for interaction and research where you can ask questions about the works you see on the site, or other works on paper from the BMA collection. What do you want to know?
To find out more about this new project, we spoke to Benjamin Levy, Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Prints, Drawings & Photographs:
Ben, the BMA has more than 65,000 works on paper in the collection. What are some of the highlights of this collection? What might surprise me about the collection?
The size is normally the first thing that surprises people; works on paper make up about 70% of the collection. The works on paper collection ranges from the 15th century to yesterday. It is really a hidden gem. Every box and drawer has something unexpected, and that discovery is what is so exciting and surprising on a daily basis.
The core of the print collection, which you will see as the Tumblr chugs along, is made up of two collections – the Garrett and Lucas collections, both of which contain between 15,000 and 20,000 prints. They came to us in the 1930s. We are strong in Old Master, 19th century French, Modern and Contemporary works of art.
You've just started a Tumblr to share some of these works with the public. What can people expect from the Tumblr?
Because works on paper are sensitive to light they can't be out in the galleries for extended periods of time. The way the public, classes, and scholars get access to the collection is through our Study Room. People can expect a parallel experience, showcasing works from the collection that are not regularly on display in the galleries for a personal viewing.
You can also expect to see the collection through my eyes, as an artist going through the boxes. Sometimes there is a visual theme that seems to come up often, like death and skulls, shipwrecks through the centuries, or just scrumpy mark making!
Have you been surprised by anything that you've found so far when choosing works to appear on the Tumblr?
My colleagues and I are surprised by the depth and variety of the collection daily, as we go about caring for it. This is exactly what we would like to share with a larger audience – a peek into what we see every day – the beautiful and the strange, and everything in between.
It's probably the strange that catches my attention more than anything. Since prints are "The People's Medium", you can really get a sense of the popular culture and the sociopolitical currents of a place and time so far removed. Some things translate well, but others come off as completely alien, especially those involving scenes of everyday life, like Callot's etchings of Italian street performers or Daumier's lithographs caricaturing the people of 19th century Paris.
In the opening post for the Tumblr, you mention that you want the Tumblr to be a daily dose of inspiration, but I'd like to know what inspires you. What catches your attention and inspires you, online and offline?
What jumps out of the boxes and drawers most of the time will land on the Tumblr. The selection process is more or less visual, and while the works on the Tumblr are things that stand out for one reason or another, very few of them were specifically sought out for research.
What is inspiring is the amazing stories that arise when we go into research. It is so exciting learning about small moments in history, bits of biographies, myths and lore – not to mention the amazing diversity of artistic expression over the last 500 years or so.
The inspiration comes full circle when classes, especially studio art classes, come to the Study Room and that inspiration is shared and utilized to make new work. This is a working collection; not works entombed, but a vibrant place for learning and education that will inform the next generation of artists, art historians, and anyone who has a passing interest. We also get to make connections between historic works in the collection and contemporary works, and there is no better place to do that than the biennial Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair, scheduled for March 28-29, 2015.
What do you think? Is there anything you'd like to see on PDP's new Tumblr? What kinds of works on paper inspire you?
Benjamin Levy is a native Baltimorian, printmaker, critic, and curator. He is a 2009 graduate of MICA and since then has been at the BMA in the Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs. At the Museum he works with the works on paper collection, teaching in the department's study room and is also the co-organizer of the Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair with Associate Curator Ann Shafer.


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Sentinels and School Boards: South Dakota House Bill to Arm Schools Falls Short
Much of the appeal of empowering school boards to decide whether armed personnel belong in their buildings has been that it provides for local control. In theory, anything that brings decision making closer to the public, better approximates town hall style democracy, and therefore should be a step in the right direction.
However, this situation serves to highlight how the theory and the reality of the democratic process differ substantially.
Some of the problem stems from the way the polling schedule is set up. Beyond the obvious problem that compared to the elections for President or Congress, very few people actually vote for school board representatives, especially when those elections don't coincide with those for higher office.
More importantly, the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary that has been the driving force behind the efforts to place 'sentinels' in schools has only happened so recently that no one currently serving on a school board was elected to that office based on their position on this issue.
If this were a question of lesser importance that might not be concerning, but it is not hyperbole to declare that this issue could literally be a matter of life and death, and as such, probably the most important decision school boards will make in the near future.
It stands to reason that voters ought to know how current and prospective school board members feel about this matter and get a chance to vote first, so that the decision made by the body can be said to accurately reflect the will of the community.
Another problem comes out of the way the bill passed by the South Dakota House has been drafted. In order to keep potential mass murderers unaware as to whether there actually are sentinels in any given school, school board deliberations on the subject are not to be a matter of public record.
This essentially prevents voters from being able to make informed choices as to who to elect or re-elect. More importantly this takes away the last resort option of concerned parents, the potential to vote with their feet. Anyone who feels strongly enough in whatever direction to want to move their child to another school, has no basis by which to decide upon where to enroll.
Both generally speaking and with this issue in particular, while there is good reason to want communities to have a more direct influence on the decisions that they will have to live with, the House bill falls far short of those lofty aspirations and its advocates are misleadingly trumpeting it as providing for local control.


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Lake Tahoe boat inspection stations open for season
LAKE TAHOE — Three of the roadside stations for inspections and decontaminations of motorized boats and watercraft for Lake Tahoe opened Wednesday for the 2013 boating season. The following three locations are open Sunday-Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Thursday-Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the Tahoe Conservation Resource District:
Meyers, at the junction of U.S. 50 and Highway 89
Spooner Summit, at the junction of U.S. 50 and Highway 28 in Nevada
Alpine Meadows: Highway 89, off Alpine Meadows Road north of Tahoe City
The other two roadside stations will open May 23, and will be open Thursday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., and will be closed Monday-Wednesday:
Northstar: Highway 267, at Northstar Drive south of Truckee
Homewood: Highway 89, at Homewood Resort on the West Shore
All motorized boats and watercraft require inspection for aquatic invasive species prior to launching into Lake Tahoe. According to TRCD, boats and other watercraft are the largest transporters of AIS, and the inspection program is critical to preventing their spread into Lake Tahoe and other water bodies. Knowingly transporting AIS into Lake Tahoe is against the law, and violators may be subject to monetary penalties.
Annual watercraft inspection fees remain unchanged from 2012. The "Tahoe In & Out" sticker ranges from $35 for personal watercraft and vessels shorter than 17 feet and up to $121 for vessels longer than 39 feet. The "Tahoe Only" sticker fee is $30. An additional fee of $25 is being charged for any boat requiring decontamination, and an additional $10 fee for the decontamination of each raw water system such as ballasts, generators, live wells, etc.
Visit TahoeBoatInspections.com or call 888-824-6267 for more information.


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There is nothing quite like a quick dessert or an afternoon treat any day of the week and today I was craving for a treat I remember from my childhood - köyhät ritarit, or Poor Knights, as it would translate in English. As so many sweet treats, this one too I think originally came to Finland from Sweden, and was often made using either day-old white bread or sweet cinnamon roll, pulla (or cut-up braided pulla).
Of course I had to modernise the traditional recipe a bit - I used my healthier spelt pulla instead of the traditional all-white, I replaced whipped cream with yoghurt and used berries instead of jam. The traditional version of this would be something similar to that of French toast - white bread dipped in milk and egg mixture, fried in butter and topped with berry jam and whipped cream - you get the idea. I can tell you, however, that I wholeheartedly enjoyed this lighter version of my childhood treat, and it was just as nice as I remembered! This really is the simplest dessert, but what a special treat to have every now and then!


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Regarding to the important demand on C&C Store - except contra-indicated on the description of the item - it takes a 1 week before receiving your order. In times of heavy traffic, please, allow between 15 and 20 days.
Nevertheless, C&C offers you FREE WORLDWIDE DELIVERY, with NO order minimums!
C&C Team wishes you good shopping!


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Dear Loyal Readers,
As of today, May 23, 2014, we have a new, beautiful home on the web! http://etsyny.com
Our new website is a hub for all things Etsy New York including the blog, that you have come to know and love. Please visit us at our new home going forward to read new posts, as well as some of your favorite old posts and to subscribe to the new site, too!
Thank you so much for reading our blog. We love having you as part of our community!
The Etsy New York Team


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Simcoa Operations is an Australian based company committed to producing the world's highest quality silicon to meet customers' precise needs.
Silicon plays a key role in the production of many industrial and lifestyle products that play an important role in our everyday lives.
Some of the world's highest quality silicon is produced in the south west of Western Australia, at Simcoa's Kemerton-based silicon smelter, north of Bunbury. Simcoa produces enough silicon to meet Australia's total demand whilst still being able to export most of its production to the rest of the world.
The Kemerton site consists of two charcoal retorts, three submerged arc electrical furnaces, a filter plant for cleaning the furnace off-gases, and packaging and distribution facilities. Simcoa uses the highest quality raw materials available; low ash charcoal and high quality quartzite.
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The Local BrewBy Bryan Harrell
Nagai Shuzo, Kawaba-mura Gunma
Beer is made from grain, and wine is made from fruit.
So what's up with the common practice of calling sake, made from rice, "rice wine?"
Who knows?
Especially since sake is brewed, it has more in common with beer than anything else, though the fact it is made of grain, from which the starch is converted to sugars, is where the similarity ends.
Without going into a lot of technical details, sake is fermented by a process in which enzymes work in tandem with yeast.
No other alcoholic beverage is produced this way, making sake one of those Japanese things that actually is unique.
In this issue, we are going to feature
"the other beer," so to speak, with a visit to Nagai Shuzo, a very typical regional brewer that, some 12 years ago, re-invented itself as a producer of premium sake created for the more demanding palates of today's somewhat savvier sake drinkers.
The brewery, along with a splendid restaurant specializing in country cooking of the region, is located in the smallish village of Kawaba in the hilly northern part of Gunma Prefecture.
It's just to the west of Nikko Kogen,
with its extensive hiking and a few golf courses, and a little to the east of Minakami, Gunma's adventure capital, making it an ideal stop on an outdoor weekend in the area.
Like many small local breweries, Nagai Shuzo offers tours of the brewery which take about two hours and explain (in Japanese only) the basics of how sake is made. However, with modern equipment, not much of the process can actually be seen, though getting a whiff from the huge fermenting tanks is certainly a pleasing experience.
The brewery has two distinct lines of sake, Tanigawadake and Mizubashou, with about six varieties of each. The Tanigawadake line is generally dry and straightforward, with a refreshingly crisp aftertaste.
I recommend the Tanigawadake Chou-karakuchi-junmaishu (see photo), an extra-dry sake with a light body and brisk finish. This is available in Tokyu Dept. Store for the surprisingly reasonable price of ¥1,150 a bottle.
Mizubashou, on the other hand, is generally softer, fruitier and sweeter. It seems to be aimed more toward the connoisseurs who are primarily in urban areas.
I recommend the Mizubashou Junmai Ginjo a fruity and somewhat complex sake with lower-than-average alcohol of just 14 percent.
The Koshinkan brewery restaurant is a real treat. Created in the building that housed the original brewery which was replaced in 1995 with the new plant, the restaurant offers a great dining experience in traditional décor, with tables that have sunken charcoal pits in the middle. Diners grill their own specialties – meats, seafood and vegetables – at their table.
Brewery tours are offered to the public, but are in Japanese only.
Call well in advance (in Japanese) to arrange a visit. Tel: (0278) 52-2311.
Nagai Shuzo / Koshinkan Restaurant
713 Monzen, Kawaba-mura,
Tone-gun, Gunma-ken
Tel: (0278) 52-2313
Web: www.mizubashou.co.jp (Japanese)
Call ahead for operating hours and other information.


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copyright © 2002 Ken Franckling
from Jazz Notes 10/2002
PLAN AHEAD FOR IAJE: The 2003 edition of the world's largest jazz industry conference, put on by the International Association for Jazz Education (formerly known as and still called by many, The International Association of Jazz Educators), is set for Toronto on January 8-11, 2003. Those going north of the U.S. border will find the usual non-stop blend of workshops, panel discussions, band showcases, and concerts. More than 7,000 attendees from 35 countries are expected.
CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN: What's it like to tour the world with Wayne Shorter in 2001 and 2002? "With all my experiences I have had, playing with Wayne and this band was like doing post post-graduate research,"reports pianist Danilo Perez. "The music kept developing and growing. It really reflected my dream for the perfect community, where everybody makes a vital contribution. There was an incredible mysterious feel to this. It's like climbing a mountain. When you reach the top, you want to see what's on the other side. And there is such caring for each other in this band. We are celebrating the music."
WHAT'S IN A NAME -- IT NEVER ENDS: The eBay grammar horrors continue.
Art Sandoval. Close, but no Cuban cigar.
"Lonious Monk." He remembered the "u," but forgot the "The." Still better than "The Loneliest Monk."
Then there's "Cannball Adderly." And here I always thought Cannonball Adderley's name derived from his appetite for food, not his sex life.
Then there's Cassandra, unrelated to Joe or Andy, Williams.
And Sony Rollins. Just don't tell JVC.
How about Jerry Mulligan. I'll take a "G" for $300, Alex.
And there's "Zoot Simms in Copenhagen." Anyone willing to buy a spare "m"?
C o m m e n t s
thnx 1 of 1 isaac stull December 17, 02
i cant beilieve im the first to say something but yeah im doing this reaserch project for social studies abd some research on wherre to find the best books and it was here so i just like to say thanks!! = )
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The home stretch
Too...tired...to...type. {gasp!} Can't...seem...to...get...off...the...couch....
Next up, floors... Gasp!
Too...tired...to...type. {gasp!} Can't...seem...to...get...off...the...couch....
Next up, floors... Gasp!
Posted by Greg at 6:31 PM
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How many weeks/months/years do those photos encompass? It looks gorgeous, all of it! I really like the paint colors you chose.
un-freaking-believable! Wow- just wow!
I think this is a little over six months.. I would say I have another three of four weeks before I can put furniture in.
I think you could tack on another two or three months of work that was done over the years, prior to the official project starting. This includes removing old wallpaper and flooring. New wiring, switches, and outlets. New networking, cable TV, and phone. Rewiring the two chandeliers. Getting millwork redone, and maybe a few other things.
omg. the light in there is awesome. your travail has been epic. so happy to see the process. how nice. i hope you will have alittle pot luck partay in there to celebrate (make other people do some work).
Gorgeous! Love the colors!
Amazing! I love the colors you chose too!
The walls look gorgeous. Great job.
Looks great so far! Restoration can be a large job to take on, great work!


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"Big Labor" has been on the wane for decades. A bill by Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, and John Lewis, D-Georgia, would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to make labor organizing a "fundamental right." Is that a way to level the free-speech playing field against corporations? Or would the law coerce workers into joining unions whether they like it or not?
Rights for all
Before we answer the question of whether union organizing should be covered as a First Amendment civil right, let's consider who has seen such rights affirmed or expanded in recent years.
• Corporations. Thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, corporations are now guaranteed the First Amendment "free speech" right to spend as much as they want to influence political campaigns. The ruling triggered a fierce backlash, but it remains in effect.
• Hobby Lobby. The craft store may not have a soul of its own, but it is free to ignore federal laws that conflict with its owners' religious beliefs, including the mandate that employers offer birth control as part of any health insurance plan they offer employees.
• The rich. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court struck down limits on how much an individual can spend during a campaign cycle, deeming the previous $123,000 limit an infringement on America's essential freedoms.
What, exactly, would be the justification for leaving union organizers off this list? Aside, of course, from naked partisanship and class warfare waged from above.
Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Z. Marvit originated the idea of treating unionization as a civil right several years ago in a New York Times op-ed.
"Some might argue that the Civil Rights Act should be limited to discrimination based on immutable characteristics like race or national origin, not acts of volition," they wrote. "But the act already protects against religious discrimination. Some local civil rights statutes even cover marital status, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, source of income, or place of residence or business."
Corporations, in the end, are groups of individuals who have banded together for a specific purpose — usually profit. Unions are the same thing. They deserve the same rights as their richer colleagues. Of course, union organizing is a civil right.
— Joel Mathis
Right to coerce
Obviously, union organizing is a First Amendment right. We can argue whether public-sector workers should be unionized, but nobody today disputes that private-sector employees have a right to form or join a labor union.
Freedom of assembly should be free. Shouldn't that be indisputable, too?
Unions aren't especially interested in workers freely choosing to join their ranks and pay dues. With membership dwindling and the legal tide turning, they need government protection to remain viable. The "civil right" labor organizers seek is really a new right to coerce workers into membership whether they want it or not.
It's not as though unions don't have extensive legal rights and protections right now. The National Labor Relations Act effectively enshrined the right to collective bargaining 79 years ago. Subsequent laws exempted unions from most trespassing and anti-monopoly laws, as well as whistle-blower protections.
The Supreme Court's 1973 Enmons decision even carved out a union exception from federal racketeering and extortion laws. Incredibly, five justices endorsed the view that economic gain through violence is permissible when unions seek "legitimate" objectives. Thousands of acts of union thuggery, intimidation and assault have gone unpunished as a result.
Liberals appear happy to endorse the principle of freedom of association until it runs afoul of their more beloved shibboleths. Then a corporation such as Hobby Lobby — for which exactly no one is compelled to work — becomes Public Enemy No. 1. Then a court decision like Citizens United — which, contra President Obama, did not undo "a century of law" — becomes the worst assault on American democracy since Dred Scott.
Truth is, labor unions are failing the basic test of survival in the marketplace of ideas. Workers are no longer buying what Big Labor is selling.
Freedom of workers to organize? More like freedom of unions to extract more dues. This isn't about civil rights — it's a license to commit extortion.
— Ben Boychuk
Ben Boychuk is associate editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal. Joel Mathis is a contributing editor to Philadelphia Magazine. firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com


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ReleasesBack to
Kenny Burrell
Softly As a Summer Breeze is one of Jimmy Smith's more obscure Blue Notes. The six-song trio program finds the organist joined by either guitarist Kenny Burrell and drummer Philly Joe Jones or guitarist Eddie McFadden and drummer Donald Bailey. In the original liner notes, Leonard Feather makes it seem like a ballad-oriented set, but "Hackensack" really cooks, "Sometimes I'm Happy" struts, and "One For Philly Joe" (a familiar but unplaceable melody used for a later pop tune) has its exciting moments. What is unusual about the set is the absence of any blues. The CD is augmented by four other selections that were originally released as 45s and are features for Bill Henderson's vocals; the singer is joined by Smith, guitarist Ray Crawford and drummer Bailey. Henderson's debut, a version of "Senor Blues" with Horace Silver, had been a hit, but lightning would not strike twice, although the he would have a productive career during the next four decades. Overall, this CD is not too essential, but it does fill in a few gaps. ~ Scott Yanow


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The Republican Party's newfound political assault on Ben Bernanke is a grim reminder of the actual conservative economic agenda for the next two years. The midterm elections taught Republicans a destructive lesson: With Democrats in power, the worse the economy gets, the better Republicans do at the voting booth. Economic sabotage is the essential Republican strategy for winning the White House in 2012. They will block every effort to actually improve the economy they can, and make a big show out of criticizing any economic aid they can't block.
The Party's hypocrisy on the economy has been clear for months. They scream about the deficit when a few billion dollars worth of unemployment benefits are at stake, but deficit worries disappear when the $700 billion in Bush tax cuts for the rich are under discussion. When they do muster an economic defense of the Bush regime, it's the line that a recession is no time to raise taxes. This is a fundamentally Keynesian argument—a bad Keynesian argument, but Keynes through and through. And it's the same argument Republicans and conservative pundits deployed to enact the Bush tax cuts back in 2001 and 2003. It's a bad argument because tax cuts aren't particularly effective at stimulating the economy, especially when they target the rich. Unemployment benefits, in fact, would be a staggeringly more efficient mechanism, as former John McCain adviser Mark Zandi has repeatedly detailed.
Which brings us to Ben Bernanke, the most conservative candidate that President Barack Obama could possibly have appointed to head the Federal Reserve. The current Republican uproar against Bernanke shields the fact that he is, in fact, a Republican himself. He was a top economic adviser to President George W. Bush, who appointed Bernanke to the Fed's Board of Governors and eventually to Fed Chairman post. When Obama reappointed him to the job, a handful of Republicans objected on the grounds that Bernanke had approved generous bailouts of financial firms. Nevertheless, a majority of Senate Republicans still voted to reconfirm him—making his reappointment the most popular decision that Obama has made among Republicans. Republicans got their man, and they let him through.
But now Bernanke is taking a beating from conservative pundits and Republican politicians for the Fed's latest round of "quantitative easing." It's not just coming from the crazies, either. Even relatively milquetoast Senators like Bob Corker of Tennessee have threatened to strip the Fed of its mandate to promote full employment. Don't worry about whether people actually have jobs, you nervous Fed ninnies. Just focus on inflation, whatever the economic cost.
The timing of this argument is particularly instructive, since, right now, we are not experiencing inflation. We are, in fact, dangerously close to deflation, as rampant foreclosures continue to drive down home values.
But the Republican assault is not an attempt to fix the economy or even say intelligible things about the economy. It's straightforward political payback. Bernanke is directly contradicting the Republican midterm message, exposing the Republican anti-spending mantra as an economic disaster, and Republicans aren't going to stand for it.
Republicans just convinced a lot of voters that socialist intergenerational thief Barack Obama caused high unemployment with his budget busting economic stimulus. Government spending is the villain– not the Wall Street excess or predatory lending that Republicans shepherded for eight consecutive years, not even the generous bank bailouts that Republicans approved.
But last week, Bernanke gave a speech emphasizing that the Fed's actions to revive the economy require Congressional help. Quantitative easing is basically an interest-free credit card for the U.S. government, allowing it to borrow money at negative real interest rates in order to spend that money on job-creation efforts. Since already record-low interest rates on Treasury bonds haven't been enough to convince congress that now is the time to borrow and spend, the Fed is driving those rates even lower. But for this credit card to work, Congress has to use it. It has to enact further economic stimulus, spending money to create jobs.
This kind of talk makes Congressional Republicans look stupid. Now it's not just Barack Obama and his anti-colonialist father who support government spending to boost the economy, it's a very high-profile Republican economist, too. Obama can't be a radical socialist when top-ranking Republicans agree with him. And God forbid that Bernanke's recent statements actually create pressure for Congress to do something about jobs. Lowering unemployment means reelecting Obama.
None of this is to say that Bernanke is some kind of liberal savior, or even a particularly good Fed Chairman. He oversaw bailouts that could have been much more effectively designed, to say the least, and he has not been open about those packages with Congress or the public. He's resisted calls for Fed transparency and waged misleading attacks on financial reform legislation.
But he isn't toeing the Republican Party line on Big Bad Government Spending. And Republicans are going to keep hammering him until he does.


text:
Photodegradation of polymers: physical characteristics and applications
Springer, 1996 - Science - 212 pages
In this book on physical characteristics and practical aspects of polymer photodegradation Rabek emphasizes the experimental work on the subject. The most important feature of the book is the physical interpretation of polymer degradation, e.g. mechanism of UV/light absorption, formation of excited states, energy transfer mechanism, kinetics, dependence on physical properties of macromolecules and polymer matrices, formation of mechanical defects, practics during environmental ageing. He includes also some aspects of polymer photodegradation in environmental and space condition.
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Kabul is a bustling city, full of people who want to see their country become less violent and more stable.
As I documented life in the capital in March 2014, I met lots of young people who shared their thoughts about the future of Afghanistan: painters, actors, musicians, even a rapper.
Many had once lived as refugees in my own home country, Iran, and some were even born there. But now they were back in their troubled homeland, Afghanistan.
I asked them what had made them decide to come back to Afghanistan, a country that is far from being safe or comfortable? The nation has lived through decades of war and violence after the Soviet invasion of 1979, civil war, militant rule and the U.S.-led invasion of 2001. Now Afghanistan is preparing for an election on April 5, it has been hit by a new wave of violence from Taliban militants who want to disrupt the vote.
In addition to this, people face practical problems. One person I met told me that sometimes, especially during the winter, electricity cuts here can last up to 12 hours a day.
And yet the people who I met said: we love our country. If we leave it, it will collapse. A hairstylist told me he felt free in Afghanistan because he was not treated like a stranger.
Kabul is a city with many faces. One of its less-known sides is highly modern, full of educated people, rap and rock musicians and buildings with modern facades. People eat out in luxury restaurants, visit shopping malls and young people speak English. The culture is very different to that enforced by the Islamist Taliban when they were in power and banned cinema, music, theatre and some kinds of painting.
On the other hand, many people – even young men – still have a problem with having their picture taken. People are very conservative here. For me as a photographer, it seems that when a society doesn't want to be seen by others in pictures, it means it is in hiding, and perhaps still living in the past.
Something that affects everyone's lives here is the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, most of whom are scheduled to withdraw this year. The people I met were thinking about it a lot.
Some believe foreign troops should leave and let Afghans decide on their own future. They think that Afghanistan is a powerful nation capable of making itself safe. They are convinced foreigners are meddling in Afghan politics, trying to influence who should be the next president. They think their votes are not important and accuse the West of failing to bring democracy.
Others believe that once foreign troops leave there will be more instability because the Afghan army is not strong enough yet to provide security. They believe their country will return to where it was 10 or 15 years ago, and that fragile recent gains in human rights and the rule of law will be rolled back.
Some of the artists I met were particularly worried that they may face a choice: living in their own country without art, or having to emigrate once again.


text:
Kangaroo gut microbes make eco-friendly farts
Studying marsupials' low-methane gas could help researchers lower livestock emissions
When kangaroos let one rip, the gas may be offensive to the nose but easy on the planet.
Marsupial toots and burps contain little or no methane, a potent greenhouse gas. A new study suggests that the scanty emissions are thanks to the distinct mix of microbes in the kangaroos' gut. The study appears March 13 in the ISME Journal, a microbial ecology journal. By sniffing out the microbes responsible for the "green" gas, Australian researchers hope to glean ways of curtailing methane blasts from other grazing animals.
Fumes from farm ruminants, such as cows and goats, account for up to 25 percent of methane emissions per year from human-related activities. Since methane can cause about 20 times as much atmospheric warming as carbon dioxide, curbing methane would help slow global warming.
To get to the bottom of


text: Can 18F Learn From the Failures of GDS? June 22, 2016 by Niko After a failed attempt to improve their national healthcare website in 2010, the UK's Government Digital Service (GDS) was formed in 2011 as an agency under the Cabinet Office responsible for the government's single website, building new digital services, and tracking how people use government services in an effort to improve them. In five years, the agency expanded exponentially and now employs over 700 workers. At the same time, 18F is facing many similar questions. At a recent House hearing, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighted a series of concerns that range from a lack of outcome-oriented goals and performance measures to the cost-recovery capability of 18F's programs. more


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A gunman opened fire on a town supervisors meeting north of Philadelphia on Monday night, killing three people and wounding two others, police said.
Pennsylvania state police dispatcher Tyler Graumenz confirmed that three people were killed and said a suspect was in custody at an area hospital.
The gunman reportedly was shot by a local official.
A Pocono Record reporter at the Ross Township meeting said the gunman shot through the wall with an automatic pistol outfitted with a scope.
"I saw smoke and plaster flying out, blowing out through the walls," reporter Chris Reber wrote in a first-person account.
After the fusillade, the gunman retrieved a second weapon from his car and returned to the building, Reber said.
Inside, the executive director of the West End Open Space Commission, Bernie Kozen, was tending to one wounded man. Kozen then "bear-hugged" the gunman, took him down and shot the suspect with his own gun, Reber reported.
The identities of the dead and wounded were not immediately released, Graumenz said.
The county's emergency management chief, Guy Miller, told CNN the shooting happened just after 7:30 p.m. ET. The supervisors meet the first Monday of the month in the municipal building in Saylorsburg.
Contributing: William M. Welch, USA TODAY


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- Leave fabric in your car. You are probably the only one who cleans it out anyway.
- When you no longer have room for passengers, move fabric to trunk.
- When trunk no longer closes, bring fabric into the house, but be sure all bags are sealed. Never bring in a bag with a quilt shop logo. It's a dead giveaway.
- Get a fabric cupboard with doors that lock. Store fabric inside.
- When fabric cupboard is full, pack more in, have a friend lean on the door, then lock. Open cautiously to avoid a fabric explosion.
- Hide fabric in closet behind and in shoes. Men never look at women's shoes unless shapely legs are in them.
- Hide fabric behind clothes on closet shelves.
- Use fabric as shelf liner in closets. He won't notice.
- Put false bottoms in clothes hampers. No one digs deeply in them except you!
- Lay fabric on dryer as folded clothing.
- Store it in rubber tub. Mark as women's clothes.
- Store in plain sight, possibly as a dresser scarf. Say it's a new style.
- Hang as a shower curtain. He won't know the difference.
- Use as a curtain for a window on the shady side of the house.
- Place between sheet and comforter on the bed for extra warmth.
- Repeat with teenager's beds, but fabric may need to be washed frequently.
- Layer under cushion on sofa. Explain it's needed because some remote control-punching, chip-munching, sweating couch potato is squishing the cushions. His mind will turn to processing these comments, and he won't remember the fabric is even there.
- Use as a tablecloth.
- Use smaller pieces as place mats.
- Put in closed box under sink marked "Cleaning Supplies." That should keep him out.
- Fill another box and mark as "Feminine Supplies." For men, worse than cleaning supplies.
- Fill your cedar chest.
- Store in bottom half of the china cupboard.
- Use a divider between plates in china cupboard.
- Use as a drawer liner.
My ramblings on family, sewing, quilting, machine embroidery, cooking, and life in general.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Hiding Fabric
11 comments:
- Tonya said...
I seen this the other day....love it..lol
- November 2, 2011 at 6:46 PM
- Karen L R said...
I have a friend who's trunk is PACKED with fabric, don't know how she finds anything!
I do not hide fabric. My husband has known me for 33 years and so is used to stacks of supplies here and there. And fabric is cheaper than diamonds, designer shoes and cruises...
- November 9, 2011 at 12:47 PM
- Roberta said...
Dana, Thanks for the great ideas!
- November 17, 2011 at 5:07 AM
- Roberta said...
I don't hide fabric either but I do have my ways to make my stash look smaller. I always have an empty spot on the shelf - it is the shelf at eye level that you see when you walk into the closet. As a matter of fact all the shelves you see when you first walk in the closet are not jammed packed. There is room for lots more fabric. He (and other family members) interpets this as how well I practice restraint. The shelves on the side are more bountiful. Another thing is to not to keep all your fabric in one place like Dana does. You must spread it out so it looks like less of a collection. And the most clever thing to do is to NEVER buy fabric with hubby along. This way he thinks you only buy a yard or two here or there.
- November 19, 2011 at 7:40 AM
- Roberta said...
I meant to say to follow as Dana does - don't store your fabric all in one place.
- November 19, 2011 at 7:41 AM
- DKB said...
i sometimes have my online orders sent to work. Now i have 2 drawers at work full of fabric. coworkers think i am just a little bit nuts
- January 21, 2012 at 11:25 AM
- Ocean Peg said...
How often does hubby go into the linen closet? A good place to store shelves and shelves of fabric.
- January 22, 2012 at 12:16 PM
- calli3 said...
When I first looked at this house, I didn't look in the closet of what was to become my craft/sewing room. When I moved in, I thought this closet was perfect to store the ironing board etc. When I opened it imagine my surprise to find floor to ceiling shelves!! I had donated a lot of fabric to the local quilters guild when I moved, so I actually had room... for awhile :)
Hubby makes a big (4 ft high) "fashion doll" house and uses upholstery velvet for floor covering since reg.carpet is too high and frays easily.He also makes all the furniture for the houses ( and individual sale) He prefers the bright lite weight cottons for the couches, beds etc.He is almost worse than me in a fabric store, so I no longer worry about "hiding" it haha
- January 22, 2012 at 1:45 PM
- liniecat said...
There has to be some advantage to not having a chap any more....now I know what it is!
But when Im gone....my kids will have a fit................lol
- January 22, 2012 at 3:27 PM
- Nee Vov said...
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- August 19, 2014 at 2:56 AM
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- May 2, 2019 at 4:40 AM


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text:
Statement by the Principal Deputy Commissioner of Social Security
On Agency Management
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here today to discuss management of the Social Security Administration.
As you are aware, we have been devoting a lot of attention and effort to the President's recent proposals aimed at preserving and strengthening Social Security. We have been participating in activities across the country aimed at informing the public about the Social Security program currently and the implications of various reform proposals. I plan to devote my remarks today to our management strategies and accomplishments in ongoing program areas, as well as some of our efforts at addressing management challenges.
Over the past decade we have focused on improving customer service. In the past few years we have also broadened our focus to include increased management attention to improving our stewardship of the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs.
The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University recently gave SSA the highest marks among federal agencies surveyed, in one of the most comprehensive studies of government management ever conducted. All 50 State governments and 15 federal agencies were graded on the management systems critical to effective public service. SSA was the only federal agency awarded an overall "A" grade on the study, which evaluated the five critical areas of financial management, human resources management, information technology management, capital management and managing for results. This is a high honor indeed, and a tribute to the dedication of every SSA employee.
Certainly, the interest and support of this Committee over the past several years have played a large part in the management successes that SSA has achieved, and we are very appreciative-not only for the budgetary support, but for our joint early efforts to move to performance budgeting. These efforts have paid off by giving you a better basis on which to make your funding decisions and helping us identify and demonstrate results.
We handle enormous workloads, many of which we delineate in multiples of millions. In fiscal year (FY) 2000 we will pay benefits to more than 49 million people every month, issue over 16 million new and replacement Social Security number cards, post 259 million earnings items to workers' earnings records, and handle nearly 60 million calls to SSA's 800-number. Our overall budget for FY 2000, at roughly $441 billion in total outlays, represents about one-fourth of all federal spending.
Strategic Management, Accountability and Performance
SSA is committed both to the concepts of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and to improving our ability to manage for results in improved customer service, as well as strengthening the integrity of our programs. SSA has been operating with an Agency Strategic Plan (ASP) since 1988 and has led the way in producing an annual Accountability Report, which includes audited financial statements.
SSA's financial statements have been audited since FY 1987. We have received an unqualified opinion on our financial statements for each of the past two years from PricewaterhouseCoopers, an independent public accountant. We are proud of our financial management program at SSA and strive to lead the way in new and innovative financial management programs.
SSA's Annual Performance Plan (APP) for FY 2000 was recently forwarded to the Committee. We have changed the APP significantly this year to make it more useful as a management tool and as a primary means of communicating overall direction and specific agency performance targets to our employees, the Congress and our stakeholders.
Last year, we made workload and performance commitments for FY 1998 and FY 1999. The FY 1999 Operating Plan subsequently revised certain commitments to reflect the enactment of SSA's FY 1999 appropriation and updated workload estimates. Our current FY 2000 commitments are based on our analysis of past performance and reflect what we believe can be accomplished at the resource level reflected in our budget request.
We are pleased to report that, in FY 1998, we met or exceeded our commitments in initial disability claims pending and processing time; hearings pending; CDR case processing; SSI non-disability redeterminations; 800-number service; Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statements (PEBES) issuance; and the length of time the public spends waiting in a field office. Although we did not meet all of our ambitious hearings and appeals commitments, we were able to meet the goal of reducing our hearings backlog.
Ensuring Secure and Effective Automated Systems
SSA's ability to provide world-class customer service depends on a complex infrastructure that is crucial to our ongoing operations. Power, data, and voice telecommunications, along with the Agency's computer operations hardware and software, are essential to ensuring that SSA's business processes are able to continue uninterrupted. Our automated systems are the means by which SSA is able to provide service on demand to the public.
Year 2000 Compliance: SSA has been at the forefront of government-wide efforts to ensure that our systems are Year-2000 compliant. We are proud of our long-standing reputation as a leader when it comes to providing customer service and we are confident that we will be prepared to continue that tradition when the new millennium arrives.
As President Clinton recently reported, our benefit payment system is 100 percent Year 2000 compliant. SSA has worked closely with the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and the Postal Service to ensure that the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit payments due in January 2000 will be paid on time. Since last October our payments have been made with Year 2000 compliant systems at both SSA and Treasury.
In the event that some banks are not able to credit direct deposit payments, SSA has worked with Financial Management Service and the Federal Reserve to develop a Benefit Payment Contingency Plan. It provides alternate ways of getting payments to Social Security beneficiaries. In dire need situations, SSA field offices can issue third-party payments immediately.
All of SSA's mission-critical systems have been made Year 2000 compliant, tested and implemented. The automated systems for 50 State Disability Determination Services (DDSs) have also been made Year-2000 compliant. In addition, we have been working with all of our trading partners, and I am pleased to say that over 99 percent of our data exchanges are Year-2000 compliant. We are working with our partners to test the remaining exchanges and get them implemented as quickly as possible.
Our independent verification and validation contractor, Lockheed Martin, completed a comprehensive review of SSA's Year 2000 program and submitted their finding in October 1998. Their report covered all aspects of Year 2000 preparedness activities and found our Year 2000 methodology to be sound and feasible.
Acknowledging that our systems are dependent on infrastructure services beyond our control, such as the power grid, the telecommunications industry and third parties, SSA has developed a Business Continuity and Contingency Plan. The plan was first issued in March 1998 and is updated quarterly. The plan is consistent with General Accounting Office guidelines and is being used as a model by other agencies and private sector organizations.
To sum up our Year 2000 compliance status: we are confident that the January 2000 payments will be issued on time, that our systems will function smoothly and that we will deliver all of our services to the American public.
Automation Investments: SSA is completing installation of the Intelligent Workstation/Local Area Network (IWS/LAN), which establishes a national computing network of intelligent workstations for SSA and the State DDSs that moves the Agency toward cooperative processing in a paperless environment.
The IWS/LAN is one of several automation initiatives SSA continues to employ to save workyears and achieve service delivery improvements. In comparison to FY 1997, which was the base we used to build the FY 2000 budget, we expect our investments in IWS/LAN to save more than 2,500 workyears. Other investments bring the total savings to 5,100 workyears. If we hadn't made these investments, we would be asking for $300 million more in FY 2000 to deliver the same level of service.
Systems Security: In a FY 1998 audit report, the public accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers said that SSA had made "noteworthy" progress in strengthening controls to protect our information and in improving and fully testing our plan for continuity of operations. They also said we had improved significantly in the area of software development and change control procedures to the extent that this area was no longer a reportable condition.
We have taken both preventive and enforcement actions to protect information in Social Security files from any wrongful use by our own employees and from unauthorized access by outsiders. It is important to emphasize that SSA's mainframe computers have never been successfully penetrated by outside parties. That is not to say that we are resting on our laurels. We constantly reevaluate and, when necessary, upgrade the security features necessary to maintain the public's confidence that our systems are secure.
Anti-Fraud Initiatives and Program Integrity
Because the public rightfully expects us to be vigilant stewards of its tax dollars, SSA has a policy of zero tolerance toward fraud and abuse in our programs. A strong Office of Inspector General (OIG), working together with SSA employees, is the most effective means we have to control fraud and abuse in the programs we administer.
To strengthen the OIG's capacity to accomplish its mission, SSA has continued to increase the resources available to the OIG, effectively doubling its investigative staff.
Our FY 2000 budget supports increased attention by both the OIG and Social Security offices across the country for deterring fraudulent activities and identifying and bringing to justice those who commit fraud, whether members of the public or employees. SSA's anti-fraud activities include:
- Enhancing on-line access to State records;
- Expanding residency verifications for SSI applicants and recipients in our border offices;
- Establishing additional State Disability Determination Service (DDS) fraud investigation units to detect and prevent fraud at the initial disability decision; and
- Improving systems security measures.
Evaluation Plan: SSA has an extensive evaluation effort based on annual plans developed jointly by our Offices of Inspector General, Quality Assurance, Workforce Analysis, Policy and Disability and Income Security Programs. Our evaluation efforts have helped us develop targeted plans to address two areas requiring special attention: management of the SSI program; and our disability program, where most of our discretionary resources are expended.
Stronger Management of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program
Our plan to strengthen management of the SSI program is embodied in the report "Management of the Supplemental Security Income Program: Today and in the Future," which resulted from a comprehensive review of the SSI program released by Commissioner Apfel last October. Our review identified areas in which the SSI program can be better managed: improving overall payment accuracy, increasing continuing disability reviews, and expanding our efforts to combat program fraud and improving debt collections. In each area, we have set aggressive but achievable goals to improve our management of the program.
We have always been committed to administering the SSI program as efficiently and accurately as possible. It is important to our nation and to the needy aged, blind and disabled individuals that the program serves.
In FY 1997 the payment accuracy rate-a widely employed gauge of how well the program is being administered-increased to about 94.7 percent. However, we believe we can improve our administration of the SSI program in ways that will further increase the accuracy rate and reduce erroneous payments. Our goal is to increase the accuracy rate to 96 percent by 2002 through management improvements and through the changes that we have recommended in our legislative proposals.
Electronic Information Exchange: As part of our effort to improve payment accuracy, we have expanded our electronic information exchanges significantly over the years. These matches have proven very successful. By FY 2002, we estimate that they will prevent about $230 million in overpayments each year.
Processing Additional Non-Disability Redeterminations: Redeterminations are periodic reviews of SSI beneficiaries' non-medical eligibility that focus on income and resource factors affecting eligibility and payment amounts. These reviews have proven to be the most effective tool available to SSA for improving the accuracy of SSI payments.
We are grateful for the FY 1999 funding provided to help SSA conduct additional redeterminations. Our FY 2000 budget request includes resources to enable SSA to continue to increase the number of redeterminations conducted-from 1.9 million in FY 1998 to 2.1 million in FY 1999 to 2.2 million in FY 2000. SSA plans to increase the number of redeterminations with a high risk of overpayment. These increases could result in an estimated annual reduction in overpayments of $260 million by FY 2002.
Proposed Legislation: Our budget also includes some important legislative proposals, which we believe will give SSA valuable tools to further our efforts. Three of the proposals are intended to improve SSA's ability to gather information that is material to an individual's eligibility or correct amount of assistance. These improvements will enable us to identify unreported changes earlier so we can prevent overpayments or reduce the amount of overpayments flowing from the unreported event. The proposals would expand the pool of data available to SSA or make the data available on a more timely and economical basis.
Another proposal would allow SSA to improve efforts to collect SSI overpayments by extending to SSI all of the debt collection authorities currently available for the collection of overpayments under the Old-Age and Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) programs.
Two of the Administration's proposals are designed to strengthen program provisions that now allow individuals to qualify for the program by disposing of resources for less than fair market value, and by transferring assets to a trust.
The Administration has also advanced a proposal that would authorize SSA to impose specified periods of ineligibility for SSI and OASDI benefits. These
administrative sanctions will provide SSA field office employees a tool that they can use to respond appropriately to individuals who knowingly furnish inaccurate or misleading information material to eligibility or payment amount. These sanctions will act as a disincentive for those who may mislead SSA in their attempt to claim benefits.
These proposals were sent to the Congress in May 1998, and included in H.R. 631, the SSI Fraud Prevention Act of 1999, pending before Congress. These proposals have received bipartisan support.
Improving Administration of the Disability Programs
Earlier this month, SSA issued a plan called "Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Disability Programs: Managing for Today, Planning for Tomorrow," which presents a broad, comprehensive framework for improving the management of the disability program which provides benefit payments to over 10 million disabled at an annual cost of over $75 billion. The plan addresses several areas for improving disability program management.
Improving the Disability Decisionmaking Process: SSA proposes changes that will improve the disability decisionmaking process to ensure that decisions are made as accurately as possible, that those who should be paid are paid as early as possible, and that the adjudication process is consistent throughout. The plan incorporates the results of the various pilots we conducted over the last two years in looking at how to improve the processing of the more than 2 million new disability claims per year. SSA will conduct prototypes in 8-10 States, combining process improvements including pre-decision interviews and elimination of the reconsideration step in the appeals process.
Enhancing Beneficiaries' Opportunities to Work: As a nation, we are best served when all of our citizens have the opportunity to contribute their talents, ideas and energy by removing barriers to work. SSA will work to improve the return-to-work opportunities for disability beneficiaries so that individuals who want to participate in the nation's workforce may do so.
The cornerstone of our return-to-work strategy remains our commitment to the "Ticket to Work" program, which was first proposed in 1997, and is the basis of the bipartisan proposal included in the FY 2000 budget. Under this program, all disabled Social Security and SSI beneficiaries will be eligible to participate. Beneficiaries can use the ticket to obtain services from any enrolled public or private provider of their choice. The provider of services would be paid only after the beneficiary returns to work.
The incentives to work also include a proposed rule change which would increase the substantial gainful activity level, permitting some individuals with disabilities who have earnings in excess of the current regulatory monthly limit ($500) but less than the amount in the proposed rules ($700), to receive benefits.
Safeguarding the Integrity of Disability Programs: While committed to providing timely and compassionate service to claimants, SSA is equally committed to ensuring that only those individuals who meet program eligibility requirements come on to the rolls and that only those who continue to be disabled remain on the rolls. In support of that objective, our budget plan calls for processing additional Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) in order to ensure program integrity, to rebuild public confidence in our programs, and to carry out congressional mandates. We are proud of our recent accomplishments and confident that our CDR strategy will lead to reliable and cost-effective monitoring of the disability rolls.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the Committee for providing additional funds for this crucial workload. We are now in our fourth year of a seven-year plan to become current in processing periodic CDRs and have made very good progress towards our goal. In FY 1996, the first year of the plan, we processed approximately .5 million CDRs. By FY 1998, we had increased our processing to almost 1.4 million per year. We expect to complete 1.6 million CDRs in FY 1999 and 1.8 million in FY 2000. Over the course of our 7-year plan, we expect, on average, to realize lifetime program savings of about $6 for every $1 in administrative cost.
Creating a Knowledge Base for the Next Century: SSA is committed to increasing understanding, through research, of both the incidence of disability in the U.S. and disability programs, in general, so that policy makers can craft more responsive policies and legislation to assist individuals with disabilities.
Our research budget will support major projects to (1) improve the disability decision methodology, (2) estimate the size of the population potentially eligible for disability, and (3) create a Disability Research Institute to ensure a continued infrastructure to provide policymakers with the best information possible.
Conducting Effective Research for the Future
SSA has established a new Office of Policy, which has already taken significant strides to strengthen our policy research, evaluation and analysis capacities. We have several simulation models being developed to inform policy makers about the impact of various proposals. Many of the nation's top Social Security scholars are associated with a retirement research consortium we have established under cooperative agreements with Boston College and the University of Michigan to broaden and deepen the scope of our research.
We have also awarded a contract to undertake the Disability Evaluation Study, the most far-reaching disability survey in decades, to help us understand potential disability growth and also what enables individuals who are disabled to remain in the work force.
Our proposed FY 2000 research budget will enable SSA to continue research efforts on long-range solvency issues, the effect of demographic and economic changes on program beneficiaries, and return-to-work strategies for disabled beneficiaries.
SSA's goal is to be considered by the public to be among the most responsive public service agencies in government. The recent Syracuse University report would indicate we have the management processes in place. Critical successes notwithstanding, we recognize both our continuing obligation to be responsible and careful stewards of the programs we administer, and the ongoing challenges in managing for results.
Before I conclude I would like to say a word about our outstanding workforce and the need for workforce planning. SSA's greatest strength lies in the attitudes, skills and drive of its employees. However, we know that we will experience higher-than-usual workforce retirement attrition over the next decade. Our number of retirees will grow gradually each year from about 1,000 in 1998, to a peak of approximately 3,000 workers in 2007. We expect that over 2,500 employees will retire each year between 2004 and 2012.
Our analysis of this upcoming "retirement wave" shows that the losses will be relatively balanced among SSA components and major occupations. We have paid special attention to looking at the impact of retirement losses in operational components that provide direct service to the public. Our overall conclusion is that the gradual and even nature of the losses should not impede the delivery of SSA services.
We have started to develop a Workforce Transition Plan as part of the Agency Strategic Plan. The plan will consider the changing nature of SSA customers, workloads and technology, and identify new strategies for employee development and training. The primary focus of the plan will be to assure that the strong skills and abilities of our workforce are fully utilized.
The approach in our FY 2000 budget plan calls for maintaining level staffing and overall workyears, which will permit us to replace losses to continue to do our work.
Commissioner Apfel is scheduled to appear before this Committee next month and will be prepared to discuss how our overall budget request will provide the resources needed to respond to the challenges addressed today.
Thank you for this opportunity to highlight some of SSA's management accomplishments and challenges. I welcome any questions you may have.


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1,600 people in 24 cities living 4 values for 1 goal:
To use design to help our clients succeed.
We create exceptional environments that meet our clients' most complex design challenges.
We inspire people through our work by expressing timeless cultural, organizational and personal values.
We connect people and place with ideas that come from many minds and imaginations.
We care about serving our clients, enriching lives, improving communities and protecting our natural environment through design.
We are a global architecture, design, engineering and planning firm.
"The [Lab of the Year] judges were impressed with KAUST on multiple fronts. The total flexibility, high hat areas for research, ability to attract world-class talent, LEED Platinum status, livability, and sustainability all contributed to its selection as a winner."
The mission of KAUST's internationally renowned scientists is to address humanity's most urgent scientific challenges related to energy and the environment. Interdisciplinary research being conducted at KAUST includes pursuing sustainable solutions for water, energy and food.
The project team had less than 30 months to design and construct 5.5 million square feet of complex space across 27 buildings. The campus features 2 million square feet of laboratory space spread across four interconnected, 500,000-sq.-ft. buildings. Exceptionally flexible building shells and universal floor plates accommodate virtually every lab type.
R&D Magazine reported that "KAUST contains just about every modern lab concept known today. Just a few of the notable features include interchangeable lab neighborhoods, changeable lab support zones, grid planning, kit-of-parts lab furniture, walkable interstitial space, overhead lab services, MEP systems integrated with lab grid, heat recovery wheels, lab visibility/transparency, collaboration spaces, simple and large circulation spines, high-height pilot areas and lab daylighting."
The campus is Saudi Arabia's first LEED certified project and, at the time of its certification, was the world's largest LEED Platinum project.
LEED-NC Platinum
5.5 million sq. ft. / 511,000 sq. m.
27 buildings
Construction Administration
Facility Programming
Interior Design
Laboratory Planning
Landscape Architecture
Lighting Design
Master Planning
Structural Engineering
AIA/ALA – Library Building Award
AIA Chicago – Design Excellence Awards – SustainABILITY Leadership Award – Citation of Merit
AIA Committee on the Environment – Top 10 Green Projects
AIA Houston – Design Award (KAUST Library)
AIA St. Louis – Honor Award
AIA San Francisco – Energy + Sustainability Merit Award (KAUST Library)
AIA San Francisco – Excellence in Architecture Merit Award (KAUST Library)
ASLA Georgia – Honor Award
Association of University Research Parks – Emerging Research and Science Park
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design – International Architectural Award
Congress for the New Urbanism – Charter Award
European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies – Green GOOD DESIGN Award
IIDA Northern California – IIDA Award (KAUST Library)
Interiors & Sources – Top 10 LEED Projects (#1 Ranking)
R&D Magazine – Lab of the Year
Sustain Magazine – International Project of the Year
Amount of wastewater that is reused
Reduction in water use
Annual energy cost savings
Amount of on-site renewable energy
Amount of glazing that is shaded year-round
1 December 2011
"Interview: HOK's Bill Odell on the Design of Saudi Arabia's KAUST University, the World's Largest LEED Platinum Project"
9 June 2011
"Rising from the Desert: 2011 Lab of the Year"
R&D Magazine
November 2010
Architectural Record
1 October 2010
"King Abdullah University of Science and Technology"
Interiors & Sources
July 2010
"King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)"
Watch a video celebrating the 5th anniversary of the opening of the LEED Platinum KAUST campus in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
Landscape Middle East describes how KAUST has set a strong precedent for environmentally responsible large-scale developments.
Architectural Record profiles HOK's integrated design of the 5.5-million-sq.-ft. KAUST campus in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Read the story online or download a PDF of the print version.


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Jim Koenigs, McIntire, IA, tried Bt corn when it was first introduced, in 1996. "We had heavy corn borer pressure and saw enough in our plot to know we wanted to plant half our acreage to Bt corn in 1997," says Koenigs. "The top two hybrids in our 1997 plot were Bt hybrids. We had light corn borer pressure, but we still saw an 8.3 bu./acre yield advantage for N4640Bt compared to the same hybrid without the Bt gene. Having corn borer resistance gives the plants more stress tolerance. Four out of five years, I expect to get a strong yield advantage from the Bt corn," he predicts. This spring, Koenigs will plant 75% of his corn acreage to Bt corn.
Reports of 20 to 25 bu./acre yield advantages for Bt corn in western Minnesota and northwestern Iowa, where European core borer (ECB) pressure was high, are bound to spur Bt corn plantings this spring. In fact, researchers estimate that, in 1998, 15 to 20 million acres of Bt corn will be planted - a three- to fourfold increase over last year. Entomologists worry that, as more farmers become enamored with this new technology and plant a majority of their acreage to Bt corn, ECBs will develop resistance to Bt corn. Many say that it's not a question of "if," it's a question of "when."
"Farmers must accept that corn borers can become resistant to Bt and that they may lose this powerful tool if they don't implement a resistance management plan when they plant Bt corn on their farm," says Kevin Steffey, extension entomologist, University of Illinois.
When the EPA granted conditional registration for the four different Bt corn events approved to date, it stipulated that companies must develop and implement an insect resistance management plan by the year 2001. Companies must also monitor ECB populations to determine if resistance is developing.
Legitimate concerns. Insects are known to be highly adaptable. More than 500 species of insects and mites have developed resistance to insecticides and miticides. While no insects have developed resistance to transgenic Bt plants, lab studies in Minnesota and Kansas have produced colonies of ECB that are moderately resistant to Bt insecticides.
"We don't know if field resistance will develop, but the lab studies show there is a genetic potential for ECB to develop resistance to Bt corn," says Bill Hutchison, extension entomologist, University of Minnesota. "To preserve Bt as long as possible farmers need to limit their Bt corn acres. If all farmers planted 95% of their corn acreage to Bt corn, there's a good chance we could have some form of resistance in five years."
High-dose/refuge strategy. Leading university and industry experts believe that planting a refuge of non-Btcorn on every farm where Bt corn is planted will help delay the onset of resistance. The goal is to have a high population of susceptible ECB moths live and reproduce with any rare resistant ones that survive the Bt corn.
Bt corn produces very high levels of Bt Cry proteins (the toxins that kill ECB). The intent is to kill all European corn borer larvae with no genes for resistance, plus those with one copy of a resistant gene. This high-dose/refuge strategy should result in a higher percentage of susceptible moths in the population and prolong the useful life of Bt corn.
20 to 40% refuge. Research and Extension entomologists of the North Central Regional Research Project (NC-205) released their resistance management recommendation last month in a publication titled Bt corn and European Corn Borer: Long-Term Success Through Resistance Management.
The NC-205 recommends a 20 to 30% refuge of non-Bt corn in areas of continuous corn and corn-soybean rotations. In areas where ECBs are typically sprayed with insecticides, the refuge should be increased to 40%.
The publication notes that in any given year, approximately 20 to 30% of the ECB larvae should not be exposed to Bt Cry proteins from transgenic plants or from insecticides. To be effective, ECB moths must emerge from the refuge at the same time that resistant moths emerge from the Bt field. And, they must be close enough to mate with resistant moths. Many moths fly less than a mile from their emergence site. Consequently, each farm should have one or more refuge within the same half-section (320 acres) as the Bt corn. The refuge should be planted at the same time as the Bt corn to a similar maturity hybrid, and it should be managed the same way as is the Bt corn.
While industry and university researchers agree on the high-dose/refuge strategy, they disagree on refuge size. Authors of the NC-205 report admit they don't know exactly how large the refuge should be, and that's one reason for the wide range (20 to 40%) they recommend.
"Research on ECB resistance management is ongoing. Our recommendations may be conservative but are based on our most current knowledge of ECB biology," says Hutchison. "We'll update our recommendations as we learn more."
Novartis Seeds and Mycogen Seeds recommend that growers follow the NC-205 insect resistance management recommendations when they plant Bt hybrids. "We support the NC-205 recommendations because they represent the consensus of the best scientific research on this subject," says Jack Bernens, director of product management, Novartis Seeds.
The other resistance management plan, promoted by Monsanto and most of the licensees of its YieldGard Bt gene, requires a minimum refuge of 5 to 20%, depending on whether an insecticide is used. "While we can debate the size of the refuge, it's important that farmers establish a non-Bt refuge on their farm when they plant Bt corn," stresses Steffey.
Take responsibility yourself. Some farmers may believe that, because non-Bt corn is being planted in their area, they don't need to plant a refuge on their farm. "Resistance management is each farmer's personal responsibility," says Steffey. "Refuges need to be planted adjacent to Bt corn, to hybrids with similar maturity, and they must be managed similarly. Relying on neighbors to provide this refuge is a recipe for disaster." If growers fail to implement resistance management plans, the EPA may not approve future transgenic crops like the much-anticipated Bt corn that will control corn rootworm, he suggests.
Farmers seem willing. An Iowa State University survey of 750 Iowa farmers who planted Ciba (now Novartis) and Mycogen Bt hybrids in 1996 showed farmers' willingness to follow a resistance management plan. Three out of four farmers said they would follow a recommended resistance management strategy, notes Marlin Rice, extension entomologist, Iowa State University. In response to another question on the survey, 53% of the farmers said they'd be willing to limit Bt acreage to half their total acres if scientists determined it necessary to prevent resistance.
Economic benefits of refuges. Preliminary research by economist Terry Hurley, Center of Agriculture and Rural Development at Iowa State University, shows that planting a refuge of non-Bt corn offers a strong economic benefit to farmers. "Computer model estimates indicate that planting Bt corn exclusively resulted in a $20 to 30/acre increase in annualized profits compared to planting conventional corn, but the return was even higher if farmers planted a non-Bt refuge," says Hurley. "Including a non-Bt refuge results in an estimated $50 per acre increase in annualized profits compared to planting all conventional corn." Without a refuge, farmers' returns are reduced over time because Bt corn becomes ineffective as resistant corn borers proliferate.
To obtain a copy of the NC-205 report (#BU-7055), contact your local extension service, or call 800/876-8638. Price is $3.50 plus shipping and handling. Updated versions will be available at the Northern Plains Crop Base Internet site at: www.mnipm.umn.edu