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Home » Opinion » Editorials
Grabbing gun makers NH's big opportunity
Maryland is home to Beretta USA. The Baltimore Sun reported in early March that "the governor of Texas, West Virginia's House speaker and an Illinois congressman" had already contacted the company to invite it to their state. LWRC International, an arms manufacturer also based in Maryland, "received offers, some including tax incentives, from elected or government officials in Nebraska, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nevada, Texas and West Virginia," The Sun reported.
Notice what gun-friendly New England state is glaringly absent from those lists?
Gun manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Co. is headquartered in Connecticut. It has manufacturing facilities in two other states: Arizona and New Hampshire. Bill Ruger Jr., former company president and son of Ruger's founder, is retired - in New Hampshire.
Yet as far as we can tell, Gov. Maggie Hassan has not shown up on his doorstep each morning with flowers and chocolates.
Colorado is home to a big gun-accessories manufacturer. All of these companies are being heavily recruited by public officials from states other than New Hampshire, which already is home to Sig Sauer and to manufacturing facilities for Heckler & Koch USA, Sturm, Ruger and other parts and accessories makers.
New Hampshire has low taxes, a good port, good access to major interstate highways and a culture supportive of responsible gun use and the Second Amendment. It is a great location for manufacturers of guns, gun parts, gun accessories and ammunition. So why is the state not aggressively pursuing these companies and the jobs they would bring with them?
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La Concha Resort has opened a new, $100 million, all-suite guest tower along the shore of San Juan's Condado Beach. The 235-room tower is ideal for groups, and part of the 483-room hotel. Each suite features a full balcony, sleeper sofa, kitchenette, and high-tech amenities. Added recently as well are "spa suites," each of which includes an outdoor terrace hot tub. The new tower comes with a dedicated concierge, adults-only pool and lounge, and private parking facility. ...
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Purveyors of '60s Garage/Psych, Incredibly Strange Music and Radically Fresh Soundz
The Freeborne: Peak Impressions
1968 Crown Jewel from Boston
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Aficionados of 1960s psychedelic rock recognize the Freeborne's 1968 album Peak Impressions as one of the best and most collectable records in the genre. Formed in 1966 as an offshoot of two Boston-area garage bands (The Missing Links and the Indigos), the Freeborne have remained something of an enigma; avoiding both the limelight and the eventual stigma associated with the "Bosstown" fad. Their eclectic musical vision, which incorpo- rates complex musical textures, sophisticated composition, creative studio effects, elements of jazz, rock, blues, and free-form sounds, all create a truly ambitious period piece from the turbulent day-glow Sixties.
During their prolific two-year lifespan, the Freeborne performed constantly throughout the New England region and in August of 1967 opened for the Velvet Underground at the Boston Tea Party. They made the connection with local music impresario Barry Richards who secured a record deal with the New York-based Monitor label as their sole rock act. The band was booked at CBS Studio in NYC which resulted in a remarkably well-produced, ten-song audio document of their full-blown imaginative compositions—an impressive and ambitious feat for a quintet comprised of high school seniors.
While numerous unauthorized reissues of Peak Impressions have appeared over the years, this substantial upgrade is taken directly from the original mastertapes and includes six bonus and enlightening alternate mono mixes. In addition, the package concludes with three recent "Reborne" compositions from 2010 that involve three members of the original band and pay homage to the their original adventurous musical spirit. This quality 78-minute CD edition comes packaged in an informative 24-page booklet chock full of pictures, memorabilia, and liner notes by noted archivist Gary Burns culled from insightful interviews with all five members of the ensemble.
Garageaholic! Psychedelic! Outsider Music!
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This 30-track sampler features one representational boss track from each one of the 30 most recent Arf! Arf! CD releases. On it you'll hear exceptional '60s Garage and Psychedelic Rock, Outsider Music, plus Radically Fresh Soundz—the genres which comprise the musical focus of Arf! Arf! This budget-priced collection is a must for anyone who wants to check out an overview of the archival label and is a companion disc to the previously released The Arf! Arf! Blitzkreig 32-Track Sampler and The Arf! Arf! [El Cheapo] 2-CD Sampler.
All of our new CDs, as well as our entire catalog, are listed on this web site and are available to you via mailorder. They are primarily distributed by Allegro/Nail of Portland, OR, and Clearspot Distribution in Europe. You can also find our releases in a variety of smaller online stores such as Stanton Park Records of Boston. More information about distribution is available via email. Arf! Arf! also markets all of it's products via a mailorder catalog. Web users can request a catalog which is available by email or snail mail.
Built and maintained by Aram Heller


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Prosecutors rested their case Thursday in the trial of Marissa Devault. She's a former stripper who is accused of killer her husband with a hammer while he slept in their home to collect life insurance money.Now the trial focuses on Devault's attorneys who have their turn to present her defense. This has been a dramatic trial with a cast of colorful characters taking the stand including Devault's so called sugar daddy lover and her strip club ex boyfriend. Allen Flores is a key witness in this case. Prosecutors say Flores was Marissa Devault's lover they met through a website called seekingarrangements.com.Flores described how it worked on the website, "typically the women who go on it say they're needing financial assistance of some sort and typically the men as part of the arrangement would offer some sort of contribution towards their expenses". Prosecutors say he loaned her nearly 300 thousand dollars and the motive behind the murder was so that Devault could collect her husband's life insurance money and pay him back. Jurors also heard from an ex boyfriend who met Devault while she worked as a stripper. Travis Tatro testified that Devault asked him to "take care" of her husband. "It didn't sound like she wanted a hitman just sounded like she wanted someone to slap him around a little bit... She had told me once she was trying to poison him with Tylenol (expletive) to wreck his stomach or something," he said.
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If You Stopped Sharing Your Voice Tomorrow What Would the World Be Missing?
Every day brings with it highs and lows. This summer I had my share of highs and lows that I'd like to share with you.
I helped three powerful women from across three generations illustrate the great amount of impact and influence they have to offer others and the world. These were my highs this summer.
My lows involved the anxiety I felt as I began to move away from my comfort zone and into a whole new realm – thought leadership. This terminology does not sit well with everyone, I know, and this realization is where many of my hesitancies stemmed from. However, what I've come to realize is you can assign whatever terminology you like, but the importance still stands. If you want to get ahead in any desired field for any reason you must have some influence. This is being a thought leader, an influencer, whatever you feel comfortable calling it.
I came to terms with a great deal this summer and as we move into Fall I am confidently moving in the direction I had been temporarily set back from. I've been getting a tremendous amount of wonderful feedback on my article, "If You Stopped Sharing Your Voice Tomorrow What Would the World Be Missing?", and I would love for you to read it and share your thoughts as well.


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MCS Solar Installers for PV Panels
Solar Panels; An Increasingly Familiar Sight on the Roofs of Britain
Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels have become a viable energy source in recent years. People are attracted to them for several reasons including environmental and financial factors. Solar panels create renewable energy as they use the energy found in natural daylight and convert it to electricity. The UK government is keen for more people to use this energy to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and to try to meet their own green targets. As a result, under the Feed-In Tariff Scheme, the government offer financial rewards for businesses and residents who install solar panels. This is all very well but as solar panels are a relatively new technology many question their - and more importantly, their installers - reliability. The term MCS approved is thrown around, but many may not understand what this means. In this article we will look in more detail at MCS approved solar panels.
So what Does MCS Approved Mean?
MCS is an abbreviation of the microgeneration certification scheme. Microgeneration, in this case, refers to renewable energy which is created by small companies or individual residents. So, for our purposes, solar energy is classed as microgeneration.
The MCS is an independent board which scores the products used to create renewable energy, i.e. the solar panel, against a certain set of criteria. If all the qualities and criteria are met, then the solar panels are awarded with MCS status. So in short, MCS approved PV solar panel installers are companies which use approved solar panels in their work.
Is it Worth using a MCS Approved Installer?
In short, yes. As the scheme is independent, there is no bias towards any company and, therefore, only the companies who are actually capable of providing quality PV solar panels will be awarded the MCS stamp of approval. It not only acts as reassurance for the customer, but also provides the company an opportunity to prove its credibility. PV solar panel installation is a new technology so many customers may not have used a solar panel installer before, or even had one recommended to them. The MCS will attract customers to a business in such cases.
How do I Find Out if a Company is MCS Approved?
MCS has its own website which lists registered MCS approved companies. It allows a visitor to search for approved installers by company name or locality. The website also has a function allowing companies wishing to apply for the MCS to do so. MCS approved companies are also invited to register their details on this online database.
Any individual or business wishing to purchase PV solar panels should contact a MCS approved installer. They will have the reassurance that the company will use industry approved equipment and materials. The MCS approval is also a reflection on the installer as they have taken steps to meet, and apply for, the scheme. As PV solar panels are a new, growing technology it is important to use the best available company to install them. Using a MCS approved company is a large step towards this goal.


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A History of Housing Prices in Australia 1880-2010
AbstractThis paper introduces series of house and land prices for Australia's major capital cities for the period 1880-1970 which, spliced to modern data, give series spanning 1880-2010. The broad trends in prices for houses, land and rents highlight no significant movement in real prices for the first seventy years followed by a persistent and significant trend rise in prices. Cycles in house prices and housing activity played a major part in each of the seven major economic cycles in this period, the first associated with the 1880s boom/1890s depression and finishing with a major cycle which commenced in the mid-1990s.
Download InfoIf you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Bibliographic InfoPaper provided by School of Economics, The University of New South Wales in its series Discussion Papers with number 2010-18.
Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2010
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Handle: RePEc:swe:wpaper:2010-18
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Web page: http://www.economics.unsw.edu.au/
More information through EDIRC
Related researchKeywords: Australia; house prices; land prices; gross dwelling rents; price and rent controls; housing cycles; economic cycles.;
Find related papers by JEL classification:
- G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
- N97 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Africa; Oceania
- R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
- R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
- R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2010-11-27 (All new papers)
- NEP-HIS-2010-11-27 (Business, Economic & Financial History)
- NEP-URE-2010-11-27 (Urban & Real Estate Economics)
ReferencesReferences listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- John Simon, 2003. "Three Australian Asset-price Bubbles," RBA Annual Conference Volume, in: Anthony Richards & Tim Robinson (ed.), Asset Prices and Monetary Policy Reserve Bank of Australia.
- Leo Grebler & David M. Blank & Louis Winnick, 1956. "Capital Formation in Residential Real Estate: Trends and Prospects," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number greb56-1.
- Neutze, Max G, 1972. "The Cost of Housing," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 48(123), pages 357-73, September.
- Ernest M. Fisher, 1951. "Urban Real Estate Markets: Characteristics and Financing," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fish51-1.
- Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 8973.
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I have been harping lately on the US approach to international crises being to first ask "Which group should we arm?" and how this strategy has come back countless times to bite us in the ass, as seen most spectacularly in Osama bin Laden. Further, in Afghanistan, the dual problems of failed training and insider attacks have demonstrated that Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) are ineffective and now even require a separate layer of security between them and US forces.
Back when there was a stronger push for the US to arm and train "moderates" in Syria, I noted the poor record-keeping that was being put into place, where we were being assured by those doing the training that they were getting handwritten receipts for the weapons they were handing out. Who could have known that in our much larger program of handing out weapons, in Afghanistan, that records were not much better? The 2010 NDAA required that DOD establish a program for accounting for weapons handed out in Afghanistan. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released a report today (pdf) on how that accounting has gone. And the answer is not pretty:
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 required that DOD establish a program for registering and monitoring the use of weapons transferred to the ANSF. However, controls over the accountability of small arms provided to the ANSF are insufficient both before and after the weapons are transferred. Accountability over these weapons within DOD prior to their transfer to Afghan ownership is affected by incompatible inventory systems that have missing serial numbers, inaccurate shipping and receiving dates, and duplicate records, that may result in missing weapons prior to transfer to the ANSF. However, the problems are far more severe after the weapons are transferred to the ANSF. ANSF record-keeping and inventory processes are poor and, in many cases, we were unable to conduct even basic inventory testing at the ANSF facilities we visited. Although CSTC-A has established end use monitoring procedures, the lack of adherence to these procedures, along with the lack of reliable weapons inventories, limits monitoring of weapons under Afghan control and reduces the ability to identify missing and unaccounted for weapons that could be used by insurgents to harm U.S., coalition, and ANSF personnel.
This graphic from the report shows the insanity of how three completely independent and incompatible databases are used to track the weapons:
Seriously, who comes up with these acronyms? The database used by the military in shipping the weapons out is the Security Cooperation Information Portal, or SCIP. This name seems designed to let us know up front that these weapons are skipping town and there is no prospect for tracking them. And to make sure they can't be tracked, once they arrive in Afghanistan, the weapons are logged in, but they go into a completely different database incompatible with SCIP. In Afghanistan they use the Operational Verification of Reliable Logistics Oversight Database, or OVERLORD. SIGAR tells us "SCIP is used by DOD personnel to track the shipment of weapons from the United States, while OVERLORD is used for tracking the receipt of weapons in Afghanistan. Errors and discrepancies often occur because these two systems are not linked to each other and require manual data entry."
Perhaps if we were dealing with the relatively smaller number of weapons for an operation like our death squad training in Syria, manual entry into a database might make sense. But here is a photo from SIGAR of one of the weapons caches that they attempted to audit in Afghanistan:
But perhaps even worse is that SIGAR has found Afghan forces already have far more light weapons than they need. From the databases they determined that there are 112,909 weapons in excess of stated needs for the Afghans (and 83,184 of them are AK-47′s that many Afghans learn to handle practically from birth) already in country.
As if that is not enough, more weapons will keep flowing even though ANSF force size is projected to shrink:
The problems posed by the lack of a fully functional weapons registration and monitoring program may increase as plans to reduce the total number of ANSF personnel proceed. According to our analysis, the ANSF already has over 112,000 weapons that exceed its current requirements. The scheduled reduction in ANSF personnel to 228,500 by 2017 is likely to result in an even greater number of excess weapons. Yet, DOD continues to provide ANSF with weapons based on the ANSF force strength of 352,000 and has no plans to stop providing weapons to the ANSF. Given the Afghan government's limited ability to account for or properly dispose of these weapons, there is a real potential for these weapons to fall into the hands of insurgents, which will pose additional risks to U.S. personnel, the ANSF, and Afghan civilians.
What could possibly go wrong?
Reuters brings us the shocking news that the election commission in Afghanistan has just fired over 3000 staffers even though the runoff election for President is only about three weeks from now on June 14:
Afghanistan's election commission said on Wednesday it had fired more than 3,000 staff accused of fraud in the first round of the country's presidential election, as it sought to quell fears that it might fail to deliver a legitimate outcome.
Spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said the Independent Election Commission had blacklisted the fired staff, so that they would not be hired in the second round.
"Some fraud was reported from those polling stations," he added, referring to the sites where the fired staff had worked.
Independent election monitors say many complaints were ignored in the effort to meet deadlines and the decision making process lacked transparency.
It appears that threats of violence may have been behind the earlier decision to ignore the fraud:
Runner-up former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani said most fraudulently cast votes were included in the final tally because of threats from rival candidates.
"Threats of violence, where the opposing team promised rivers of blood, created a chilling environment," Ghani said in a statement after the final results were released.
"Close to 800,000 votes that should have been declared fraudulent were included in the final count."
Although Reuters says that the election commission announced the firings today, ToloNews carried the story on on May 18:
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) sent out a notice on Sunday to their staff warning them that any sort of fraud happens during runoff under their staffs' supervision will be terminated.
"This time we will seriously deal with the issue," IEC Spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said. "Those staff members who were found guilty in the first round of elections have been dismissed."
The IEC has identified and dismissed 3,300 IEC employees who were involved in the manipulation of the first round of presidential elections.
Firing thousands of staffers just before the runoff has to be unprecedented. Except that it isn't. It turns out that the same thing happened just before the scheduled runoff in 2009:
Half of the most senior Afghan district election officials will be fired, U.N. officials said on Wednesday, to prevent more fraud in a run-off presidential poll crucial to the country's credibility and foreign support.
That announcement came on October 21, 2009, when the runoff had been scheduled for November 7, so it came even closer to the date of the runoff than this year's firings. Since Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from that election on November 1, citing fraud, we do not have a track record for how the current runoff might proceed in light of so many firings.
Despite all the rosy claims from the US military and the Obama administration for how well the Afghan election process has gone so far, there is very little reason to expect a fair election. Afghanistan has become the most corrupt place on Earth and it is the direct fault of the US and its military that this has happened.
The latest quarterly report (pdf) from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction opens in this way: Continue reading
Saturday will mark the first time Afghanistan has gone to the polls to choose a new president since the US overthrew the Taliban and put Hamid Karzai in charge. This will hardly be an accomplishment to herald in the US press, although I am sure the military will attempt to get major outlets to tout it as so after the fact. In fact, even the rosy "look what has been accomplished in Afghanistan" fluff piece published today in Khaama Press cites a paltry list of accomplishments, such as 50 television stations and not quite half a million Afghans on Facebook. Tellingly, though, a closer look reveals that the piece is attributed to Dr. Florance Ebrahimi. It turns out that even though she is originally from Kabul, she practices in Sydney. And why shouldn't she? Afghanistan is tied with North Korea and Somalia at the very bottom of the list when countries are ranked for their level of corruption. And it appears that even before the election takes place, ten percent of the planned polling stations have been closed due to security concerns. And what of the candidates? The top three are profiled here by the New York Times. All three of the leaders have already pledged to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement, keeping US troops in Afghanistan beyond the end of this year–and thus assuring the maximal continuing flow of US funds to fuel even more corruption. The candidates are noteworthy to me only in that two of them have running mates that would rival Dick Cheney as the most notorious war criminal to be Vice President of a country in the past 15 years.
Today's New York Times piece cited above on the closure of polling places due to anticipated violence is devastating. For example:
One of the few polling centers in this part of Logar Province is the government's district headquarters, a building so devastated by rocket attacks and Taliban gunfire that it looks more like a bomb shelter than an administrative office.
As the body count for security forces has risen over the past few days in this embattled district, a stretch of dusty farmland surrounded by mountains, it has become clear that no one here is going to vote on Saturday, either for president or for provincial council delegates.
So far, that has not stopped security officials from proclaiming the district open for voting: It is not among the roughly 10 percent of 7,500 total national sites shut down as too dangerous to protect. The Charkh district center has been pumped full of security forces to keep the vote a nominal possibility, but residents know that within a day or two after the elections, the guards will be gone and the Taliban will remain.
"The government has no meaning here," said Khalilullah Kamal, the district governor, who was shot two times in the stomach a few months back while speaking in a mosque. "If there is no expectation that we will arrest people who break the law, then how do we expect the people to come and vote?"
Think about that. The polling place in this passage looks like a bomb shelter and life has gotten so violent there that it is clear nobody will vote there Saturday. And yet this site isn't included among the 10 percent of sites that won't be open Saturday. Further, "government has no meaning here" reflects the utter failure of US efforts to establish a unified government in Afghanistan. But does that apply only to a small area? Hardly. Consider that the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction stated back in October that it is likely that no more than 21 percent of Afghanistan will be accessible to SIGAR (pdf) to carry out oversight functions (and the State Department warned them that the 21 percent figure may be overly optimistic) by the end of this year.
Since the US has already formally handed over security operations to the Afghans, what are they doing to make the election safe? On Tuesday they announced that 60,000 "fresh" (I presume this means newly trained? How well were they screened?) Afghan National Army troops were deployed across the country for election security. Then, on Wednesday, the figure was increased to 195,000 total security personnel when ANA figures were joined with security personnel from the Afghan National Police and the National Directorate of Security. That's quite a force. So for roughly 7500 polling stations, that gives about 26 security personnel guarding each site if they are distributed evenly. Oh, and to protect Westerners before the election, places where they tend to gather have been closed.
Whatever the outcome on Saturday, I see little reason to be optimistic that there will be any improvement in living conditions for the average Afghan citizen.
Back in July of last year, SIGAR issued an alert (pdf) regarding what SIGAR head John Sopko termed "a potentially troubling example of waste that requires your immediate attention". That statement was in Sopko's cover letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Head of Central Command Lloyd Austin and ISAF Commander Joseph Dunford. It would appear that the folks in the Department of Defense missed that key word "immediate", as the subsequent responses from the Defense Department have been both troubling and, at least on the most important move, slow.
First, to set the stage on the evidence of wasteful spending in constructing a building that had no use at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province. From the alert letter linked above:
I was told by senior U.S. military officials that the recently completed Regional Command-Southwest (RC-SW) Command and Control Facility, a 64,000 square feet building and related infrastructure with a contract award value of $34 million that was meant to serve as a command headquarters in Helmand to support the surge, will not be occupied. Based on documents provided to SIGAR, it appears that military commanders in Afghanistan determined as early as May 2010 that there was no need for the facility, yet the military still moved ahead with the construction project and continued to purchase equipment and make various improvements to the building in early 2013. Based on these preliminary findings, I am deeply troubled that the military may have spent taxpayer funds on a construction project that should have been stopped.
In addition, I was told that U.S. military officials expect that the building will be either demolished or turned over to the Afghan government as our military presence in Afghanistan declines and Camp Leatherneck is reduced in size. Both alternatives for how to resolve this issue are troubling—destroying a never-occupied and never-used building or turning over what may be a "white elephant" to the Afghan government that it may not have the capacity to sustain. Determining all of the facts on how we reached this $34 million dilemma and what can be done to prevent it from happening again is the reason for sending this management alert letter to you.
Even though the Camp Leatherneck Commander determined in May, 2010 that the building was not needed, construction began anyhow after February of 2011. Ironically, Sopko notes in his letter that this may well be the best-constructed building he has toured in his many inspections in Afghanistan, even though it was known before construction began that there would be no use for the building.
Sopko's letter continues, citing information collected that the building can accomodate 1200 to 1500 staff but that at the time of writing, only 450 people were available to use it. Furthermore, there was nobody on the base qualified to maintain the expensive HVAC system. But it gets even worse:
According to a senior U.S. military official, as the footprint of Camp Leatherneck decreases, the building could be outside the security perimeter, thereby making it unsafe for the U.S. military to occupy it. This leaves the military with two primary options—demolish the building or give it to the Afghan government.
However, to make it usable for the Afghan government, the building would require a major overhaul of existing systems, including the expensive heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. A high-ranking, senior U.S. military official also advised me that the facility was built to U.S. construction standards rather than Afghan standards. For example, the power runs at U.S. 60 cycles versus Afghan 50 cycles and U.S. 120 volts versus Afghan 220 volts. Therefore, it would not be easy to transfer the building to the Afghan government. These were some of the reasons why the U.S. military officials we spoke with believe the building will probably be demolished.
It appears that the Defense Department reacted to Sopko's letter, because Sopko states in a subsequent letter that he was informed that an investigation was underway and that his questions would be answered. But that process seems to have directly contradicted earlier work from DoD. Sopko wrote a new letter (pdf) to the same recipients on November 27 of last year: Continue reading
The United Nations is the best source of information on the impact of the war in Afghanistan on civilians. They released their latest data this weekend (pdf), and their results show that the vaunted "surge" of US troops into the country in early 2010 through late 2012 failed to protect civilians. In fact, the data show that civilian injuries have shown a steady rise from 2009 pre-surge levels through 2013′s post-surge period. Civilian deaths rose in 2010 and 2011. They went down slightly in 2012 before rising again in 2013.
Despite this clear indication that the surge was a waste of lives and money, recall that the Pentagon continued to spew its positive spin as troops were drawn down. From September, 2012 as the surge ended:
Very quietly, the surge of troops into Afghanistan that President Obama announced to such fanfare in late 2009 is now over.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said today that 33,000 troops have been withdrawn, calling the Afghan surge "a very important milestone" in a war the Obama administration is winding down; there are sill 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The "surge did accomplish its objectives of reversing the Taliban momentum on the battlefield and dramatically increase the size and capability of the Afghan national security forces," Panetta said.
As seen in the UN data, the surge did nothing to reverse attacks on civilians, with civilian casualties continuing a steady increase. How about Panetta's other claim, the one about dramatically increasing the size and capability of Afghan national security forces? To answer that, we depend on data supplied by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Their latest report can be found here (pdf). Once again, the target for ANSF size was not achieved, even after moving the goalposts (footnotes removed):
This quarter, ANSF's assigned force strength was 334,852, according to data provided by CSTC-A. This is short of the goal to have an end strength of 352,000 ANSF personnel by October 2012. That goal had been in the Department of Defense's (DOD) April 2012 Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan. When that end strength was not met, DOD revised the goal to 352,000 ANSF by 2014 (187,000 ANA by December 2012, 157,000 ANP by February 2013, and 8,000 Air Force by December 2014). Neither the ANA nor the ANP met their end-strength goal by the revised deadline, as shown in Table 3.6.
But the reality could be far worse than those numbers indicate. While the force size falls just barely short of the target, the functionality of those troops is suspect. Further, it appears that Afghanistan may be playing games with the meaning of "available" (sorry, this bit of text won't copy, so I have to use images instead): Continue reading
Back in June, I wrote about the deceit employed by the Pentagon in going against the advice of SIGAR (pdf) and explicit language in the NDAA to purchase Russian Mi-17 helicopters through the arms dealer Rosoboronexport. Because Rosoboronexport has been supplying weapons to the Assad regime in Syria, the helicopter purchase took on additional levels of outrage. It appears that the Pentagon did get about half of the helicopters it wanted by claiming to use leftover 2012 funds (use of 2013 funds for the helicopters was banned in the NDAA), but they have now cancelled plans to use 2014 funds for the remaining helicopters that had been planned.
Both AP and Reuters inform us of the cancellation of the order. The Reuters story notes that the procurement system for the helicopters is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation:
Reuters reported in August that the Defense Criminal Investigative Service had opened a criminal probe into the Huntsville, Alabama, Army aviation unit that oversees the Mi-17 program, and ties between the unit's former chief and two foreign subcontractors.
Texas Senator John Cornyn did a bit of a victory dance over the cancellation. As described in the AP story:
Bipartisan opposition to the Mi-17 acquisition grew as the violence in Syria escalated and U.S. relations with Russia deteriorated. A growing number of lawmakers from both political parties objected to acquiring military gear from Rosoboronexport, which has provided Assad's regime with weapons used against Syrian civilians.
"I applaud the Defense Department's decision to cancel its plan to buy 15 additional Mi-17 helicopters from Rosoboronexport," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in an emailed statement. "Doing business with the supplier of these helicopters has been a morally bankrupt policy, and as a nation, we should no longer be subsidizing Assad's war crimes in Syria."
But this victory by opponents of the sale comes after a large victory by the Pentagon in the earlier battles:
Rosoboronexport announced Monday that 12 of the Mi-17s had been delivered to Afghanistan in the month of October. The shipments, the export agency said, reflected the joint effort between Russia and the U.S. to combat international terrorism.
The AP story spends a bit of time on how Mi-17′s were chosen: Continue reading
Reuters has a riveting exclusive today in which they have been given a treasure trove of documents from which they have reported on documentation that a contractor involved in USAID highway construction in Afghanistan is employing a subcontractor who is a member of the Haqqani network:
Much of the evidence against Zadran is classified, but the cache of documents given to Reuters by U.S. officials on condition of anonymity show that he has close business ties with the Haqqani network's leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The Haqqanis, Islamist insurgents who operate on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, are believed to have introduced suicide bombing into Afghanistan.
The links between Zadran and the insurgency include him teaming up with Saadullah Khan and Brothers Engineering and Construction Company (SKB), believed to be one of Sirajuddin Haqqani's companies.
Together they won a $15 million contract to help build a road between the towns of Gardez and Khost in Afghanistan's east for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2011.
"The owners of these companies are facilitators and commanders of the Haqqani Network," one U.S. government memorandum says.
This problem fits into the overall work that SIGAR has been doing recently in which they comment on the lack of control and auditing on funds once they are turned over from USAID and other agencies to the Afghan government for disbursement. And huge amounts of money are involved:
The inability over many years to stop firms believed to be supporting the insurgency from winning multi-million-dollar contracts exposes the lack of control that donors have over cash once it is handed over to the Afghan government.
Those transfers make up an increasing proportion of aid. U.S. federal agencies want more than $10.7 billion for reconstruction programs in 2014, SIGAR says, and the government has promised at least half will be granted directly to Afghan institutions to spend as they see fit.
SIGAR has clearly upset a number of folks with their work on this front. Back on October 10, the Atlantic carried a hit piece against SIGAR (I owe Marcy a huge thank you for alerting me to the article) in which we are supposed to believe that USAID has built a public health system in Afghanistan that in just a few years has added 20 years to life expectancy while dropping child mortality by half. And the article would have us believe that this wonderful new system is at risk of being shut down because of SIGAR's campaign against funds being disbursed by the Afghan government without an audit trail:
John Sopko is the U.S. government's chief auditor for Afghanistan and a former prosecutor with years of experience on Capitol Hill. In September, Sopko's office—the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR—issued a report calling for the suspension of USAID's $236 million in aid for basic health care in Afghanistan.
Why shut down such a successful program? The short answer is that SIGAR's is a peculiar concept of caution.
Strikingly, the auditors' report calling for the funding freeze for the health program doesn't claim any evidence of serious fraud or waste. Instead, it raises hypothetical concerns about the Afghan government's ability to manage aid money well, including evidence that some salaries were paid in cash, as well as the absence of double entry bookkeeping.
There is a huge problem with the underlying premise of "such a successful program", though. It is fabricated bullshit. Here is how the hit piece frames their argument on the successes: Continue reading
A single line item in the latest quarterly report from SIGAR (pdf) has my blood boiling. The report states that among the up to $7.73 billion that the Defense Department has requested for fiscal 2014 in Afghanistan, a single item of $886.9 million is listed as being for Mobile Strike Force Vehicles. A quick look with teh Googler gives us this page where we see details on just what the Mobile Strike Force Vehicle is. A Marine Corps photo of an MSFV appears here to the left. Here is the caption that the Marine Corps provided for the photo on Flickr:
Cpl. Damario Tillman, vehicle commander, Mobile Strike Force Advisor Team, observes his surroundings as a Mobile Strike Force Vehicle assigned to the Afghan National Army (ANA) Mobile Strike Force Kandak, navigates through a series of obstacles at a rough terrain driving course on Camp Bastion, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 13, 2013. The course was part of a three day training package that the Marines with Mobile Strike Force Advisor Team conducted for their ANA counterparts.
The stupidity of spending nearly a billion dollars on new armored vehicles for Afghanistan is mind-boggling. I have been haunted for several months by this photo:
Here is the caption provided by the Defense Video & Image Distribution System where the photo can be found:
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles wait in a staging area for onward movement at an undisclosed base in Southwest Asia March 20, 2013. The joint team of Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Central Command's DDOC will play a major role in moving the more than 50,000 Coalition (U.S. and NATO, of which 28,000 are U.S.) military vehicles in Afghanistan that will need to be recovered or pre-positioned in contingency stocks abroad.
Although I am far from an expert on defense equipment, it appears to me that the MSFV is merely the latest version in the wide array of MRAP vehicles. Here is a snippet from a press release relating one of the major purchases of MSFV's:
Part of the TM&LS COMMANDO Select line of armored vehicles, the MSFV is derived from the combat-proven M1117 Armored Security Vehicle (ASV). All MSFVs are configured with Enhanced Survivability (ES) capability, which increases blast protection to mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) levels. The ES-equipped vehicles continue to possess the ASV's original, all-important V-shaped hull design, in addition to innovative protection design features that enable them to meet MRAP blast protection standards.
Note that the date given for the photo of MRAP's that have already been shipped out of Afghanistan is March 20 of this year. It would appear that the Defense Department is engaging in a bit of misinformation to make it look like there isn't an excess of usable MRAP's, given this Marine Corps Times article dated less than a week later on March 26. The title of the article is "Most MRAP's won't be coming home from Afghanistan" and it is accompanied by this photo of several disheveled, out of service MRAP's that look nothing like the shiny, functional ones already shipped out of the country in the March 20 photo.
The article states:
Very few of the Marine Corps' 1,200 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles still in Afghanistan will be traveling back to the U.S., the Corps' deputy commandant for installations and logistics said this week.
Speaking at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Wednesday afternoon, Lt. Gen. William Faulkner revealed elements of a plan to donate unwanted MRAPs to partner nations within Central Command as Marines balance efforts to retrograde from Afghanistan with a mandate to get lighter and more compact as a service.
"The bottom line is, we don't need them," Faulkner said of the MRAPs remaining in Afghanistan. "We don't need as many as we have today."
The Marine Corps has about 4,000 MRAPs in its inventory, Faulkner said, and officials have calculated they want to keep fewer than 1,500 of the 14-ton machines after Operation Enduring Freedom draws to a close in 2014.
So the Marines have an excess of 2500 MRAP's and Faulkner even admits we want to give them away. So why haven't these MRAP's been donated to the ANA instead of the US sending them brand new MSFV's?
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has discovered that the State Department has awarded a sole source contract for nearly $50 million to provide training on the rule of law in Afghanistan. Remarkably, the State Department ignored its own rules for contracting and provided no mechanism for verifying spending under the contract. SIGAR also has found that the International Development Law Organization, which was awarded the contract, is particularly ill-equipped to manage such a large contract and is refusing to cooperate with SIGAR's investigation.
From the alert letter (pdf) sent to Secretary of State John Kerry from Special Inspector General John Sopko:
I write to alert you to serious deficiencies related to the Afghanistan Justice Training Transition Program administered by the Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). In the course of performing an audit of rule of law programs managed by INL, SIGAR became aware of INL's sole source award to the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) for Afghan justice sector training services. This award does not appear to contain basic provisions that would allow INL to ensure proper monitoring and evaluation of a project expected to cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $50 million.
On December 27, 2012, INL offered IDLO $47,759,796 in exchange for work on a project titled, "Completing the Transition in Afghanistan: Justice Training Transition Program (JTTP)" (see attached). On January 2, 2013, IDLO accepted INL's offer by initialing a two-and-a-half page Letter of Agreement. According to INL, this is the largest project IDLO has ever worked on and the United States has already obligated $20 million towards its completion.
It is very easy to see that this is the largest project IDLO has ever worked on. Their website is pathetic. The "people" section lists only one person, Irene Khan, noting that she served as Director General of Amnesty International from 2001-2009. The page fails to mention that she was removed from that post and caused quite a scandal with the huge payout she forced Amnesty International to give her in order to leave.
Returning to Sopko's letter, we see that IDLO was chosen to replace another organization, PAE (whose new Executive Chairman just came from CACI, scary folks there…) and that SIGAR had "significant concerns raised regarding award and management of the PAE contract". It appears that the State Department can't quite figure out how to observe the law in giving out grants to train Afghans on the administration of justice. Further, SIGAR found that the State Department ignored its own rule in awarding this contract in a manner that makes oversight almost non-existent, even though it did require oversight on the portion of the program that is contracted to the Afghan government.
Regarding IDLO itself, the letter is devastating (emphasis added): Continue reading
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, (SIGAR) issued a report (pdf) yesterday that serves as microcosm of the bumbling ineptitude and denial of reality that has characterized the entire US military's misadventure in Afghanistan. Subtexts running through this scandal run the gamut from US think tanks cooking up unworkable plans to the vast network of international arms dealing (replete with counterfeit parts), Russia supplying arms to Syria, possible blow-back from the arrest of Viktor Bout, the US Congress remarkably trying to exert a bit of power and finally DoD declaring that they will continue with their schedule for claiming Afghanistan can provide its own defense operations despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
At issue here primarily is a contract for 30 Russian Mi-17 helicopters. Despite the fact that the US has been at war in Afghanistan continuously for almost twelve years now, and despite the spectacular failure of US helicopters under haboob (dust storm) conditions in the failed April, 1980 Iran hostage rescue attempt, it appears that Russian helicopters are more reliable in desert conditions and easier to maintain in flying order with a less sophisticated ground crew than US helicopters
The route by which we got to this contract is remarkable. The helicopters are to be supplied to the Special Mission Wing, which is the air support group for Afghanistan's Special Operations forces. But how this group came into existence is very important to the current scandal. From the report (footnotes removed in this and all subsequent quotes):
At a December 2011 Special Operations Summit, ISAF senior leadership identified the development of air support capacity as a priority for improving Afghan military capabilities for counterterrorism and other special operations missions. To respond to this need, NTM-A [NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan] sponsored a RAND study to assess requirements and provide recommendations. The study's recommendations discussed different scenarios for the planned size—in terms of both personnel and aircraft—of air support, the command structure, and scope of operations.
NTM-A determined that the Afghan Ministry of Interior's (MOI) existing Air Interdiction Unit, a counternarcotics-focused unit, would provide the best foundation to develop an Afghan counterterrorism and special operations aviation capability, while maintaining critical counternarcotics efforts. On May 12, 2012, NTM-A issued a military order identifying its concept for the establishment of the SMW. On July 18, 2012, the ANA commissioned the SMW, which replaced the Air Interdiction Unit.
That's all fine and dandy, except that the geniuses at RAND didn't allow for the fact that they created a destructive turf war inside the Afghan government. The new SMW is to be housed within Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense (MOD) since that is where Afghan Special Operations resides. The turf war over moving the existing unit has not yet been resolved: Continue reading


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This review is outdated. Information may be inaccurate.
Unfortunately, although the dates appear to imply weekly, or every two weeks, updates, I noticed some similar content from our last visit that had just been re-dated. This would seem to imply that VictoriaRedd is rotating some of the content.
On her site tour, Victoria suggests that she likes to play with men, women and herself. She seems to like to play with herself and other women more than men though as there are only two picture sets that feature her in hardcore action. That's not to say that the other content isn't hot though, because it certainly is.
We all know that you can only really get up-close-and-personal if the quality of the content is high enough to allow you to do so. Luckily, the 19 videos on the site are offered in average to great-quality Windows Media files, so when you watch them, you'll feel like you're right there with Victoria as she slowly strips out of her sexy clothing and opens her moist, juicy pussy, begging you to lick it. The videos are available in one very large, full-length file or as several clips.
There are also 55 sets of pictures and they each contain amazing-looking, high-res images. You can download each of the sets as convenient Zip files. Most of the content feature the sultry brunette on her own, but in addition to the solo posing and the two hardcore sets that I mentioned earlier, you'll also get to check out 16 sets of Victoria playing with some of her incredibly sexy gal pals.
Included with memberships to this site is full-access to another 13 bonus sites. You'll get sexy solo-gal sites from the likes of Jesse Capelli and Lonnie Waters as well as sites featuring lots of sexy babes like Glamour Models Gone Bad. You'll find most of the sites still do some updating and there is a lot of content when you add everything from all those sites together.
This site probably had a lot of potential at one point, but the fact that it has possibly stopped updating/rotating some content makes it much less appealing than it was back then. Nevertheless, the great-quality content on Victoria Redd wil entice you and the bonuses attempt to sweeten the deal.
|By: Rabbit
|Number of Reviews: 205
|Average Score: 66.2
|$29.95/30 days
|$59.95/90 days
|$99.95/180 days
|Cross Sales: No
|Pic sets: 55+
|Pics per set: 100
|Zip sets: Yes
|Pic Res: N/A
|High Res: Yes
|Number of movies: 19+
|HD Porn: Yes
|Streaming: No
|Average Length: 20 mins
|Full length videos: Yes
|Download Limits: No
|Video Formats:
Windows (320x240; 1526k)
|Preview VictoriaRedd.com members area
|Independent Biller(s):
|NetBilling, Epoch
|Customer Service:
Pros & Cons
-great-quality videos
-bonus sites
-zipped photo sets
-rotating some content
-no streaming
-needs more content
01/24/2010- From 71 to 69: Updates and amount scores adjusted to reflect current standards. -Chris
06/19/2009- Stays at 71. -Sloth - Initial review: 5/18/2008
|Content Quality
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On The Block
Real estate news and housing blog from the San Francisco
Posts filtered on Category
William Wurster-designed Pacific Heights property sells 70% over asking
We all know that multiple over-asking offers are the norm in San Francisco these days, but it still came as somewhat of a shock last week when 2514 Gough Street in Pacific Heights sold for $3.4 million—or 70% over its $1.995 million asking price. The home came to market on April 21 and one week […] [Read More]
Sex sells…real estate?
We seemed to agree in a previous blog that real estate agent ads in which the agent is pictured in a semi-erotic glam pose were of little value to potential clients. What really matters, we decided, was word of mouth: a good reputation would bring more clients than a sexy picture of an agent slapped […] [Read More]
Crazy reactions to a crazier market
Patrick Spence The national real estate market has been likened to a roller coaster from hell, strapping down its riders with a cold steel-like grip, rising and then plunging with sickening speed. Not all riders sit quietly in their seats. In fact, the craziness of the market over the past few years seems to have […] [Read More]
Does your bank need to know if you can't get pregnant?
CNN First, tell me all about yourself… We can all agree that stricter loan standards, though late in coming, are only a good thing for this troubled national market. What we might not agree upon are the critera banks now use. We might even say some of those critera are none of the bank's business. […] [Read More]
Home sellers and home buyers don't see eye to eye on pricing
The troubling housing market doesn't seem to have helped align the opinions of home sellers and home buyers when it comes to pricing. Although people putting their home on the market today are more realistic about what it might fetch, especially compared to the "good old days", buyers still tend to think homes are overpriced […] [Read More]
When a New Listing is Not Quite What it Seems
Don't always believe what you read on home listings. These days there are all sorts of ploys used to pull in potential homebuyers, including the claim that a house is new to the market when it isn't. If, like me, you are keeping a fairly close eye on the real-estate market, you can't help but […] [Read More]
Reforming Real Estate in 10 Difficult Steps
Discussion about the business of real estate in the Comments section of this blog can get heated — particularly when the subject under discussion is brokers' pay or dual agency representation, for example. So it's interesting to learn that when brokers themselves get together to debate these issues, emotions can run equally high. Reporting on […] [Read More]
The Broker Hating Has Begun
Few people are happy to part with their hard-earned money. And in times like these, many sellers are extremely reluctant to pay brokers the standard five to six percent closing fee. Craigslist One seller unleashes the hate in this Craigslist ad. We understand why people would choose to sell on their own, without the help […] [Read More]


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Your votes tell us what designs you want printed!
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"Jet Set Radio HD" Trailer
Sega is releasing the Dreamcast classic sometime this summer for XBLA and PSN. And the title is receiving a nifty HD touch.
In addition, Sega also announced a special graffiti contest that will have participants submit their own piece of graffiti artwork to be placed in the game. Prizes will include copies of the game, a Jet Set Radio Hoodie and beverage shaker, and an Eton Rukus Solar-Portable Blue Tooth Sound System With Solar Panel.
You can click here for details.
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Buzzfeed's Most Dishonest Headline Attacking Romney
July 10, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Buzzfeed, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Mitt Romney, President, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off
-By Warner Todd Huston
Buzzfeed sure seems to be just another arm of the Obama re-election campaign with a piece today attacking Romney over Bain outsourcing… even though Romney did not work at Bain when the outsourcing happened.
One of Obama's most cynical campaign tactics of late has been to try and link GOP candidate Mitt Romney to jobs outsourcing that the company he once worked for undertook after the candidate left the company. Buzzfeed is simply following the Obama game plan by aiding the President with these outright lies.
Today the popular site posted a misleading headline about Bain outsourcing, illicitly linked that outsourcing to Romney, then buried the truth that Romney really didn't have anything to do with it at the bottom of the story.
The headline screams, "Bain & Co. Employed 'Director Of Outsourcing'."
Then there is a nearly full screen image of Mitt Romney with a sign on his podium saying "Putting Jobs First." (The choice of that photo is also key as we are supposed to scoff at that picture and hold Romney up as a liar)
Then we get five paragraphs detailing the fact that Bain Capital had a guy that was in charge of outsourcing jobs to other countries.
It isn't until the second to last paragraph that we are finally told that "Romney was not at Bain & Co. nor Bain Capital in 2004."
It's like a headline, a photo, and five paragraphs essentially screaming that Romney was the king of outsourcing and then a last paragraph saying, "never mind, he really wasn't."
Burying the actual truth in the last paragraph is called burying the lede in the news and it is the perfect way to tar someone with guilt by association. You can have a whole story leading readers to imagine the subject of the story is a mean, rotten guy, then at the last second, after you've already built the subject into a creep, you then casually refute your own story knowing full well that the reader already gained a negative viewpoint and won't notice the correction at the end.
Combine that with the fact that many readers never read all the way to the last paragraph and you're sure to realize that most readers will never see the contradiction, anyway!
As Big Journalism's John Nolte points out, this is a "phony story" and lambasts Buzzfeed's objectivity.
Oh, and don't forget that BuzzFeed Politics poses as an "objective" news outlet.
Exactly so!
On the other hand, the REAL outsourcer is our President. http://www.obamanomicsoutsourced.com/
The GOP-sponsored website shows where many millions of Obama's "stimulus" dollars went overseas instead of staying here and helping Americans.
"The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it."
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany's Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.
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Fast Pack Swap Event from Tesla Motors on Vimeo.
Exchanging a depleted battery for a fully recharged one in half the time it takes to full a gas tank is great, but how much will it cost?
(Source: TechCrunch)
It will help us understand our cars better, guide us to be better drivers, save us money, and could posible save a life or two. Preordered!
NY Times public editor Margaret Sullivan defends Mr. Broader's review of the Tesla Model S:
I am convinced that he took on the test drive in good faith, and told the story as he experienced it. Did he use good judgment along the way? Not especially.
In addition, Mr. Broder left himself open to valid criticism by taking what seem to be casual and imprecise notes along the journey, unaware that his every move was being monitored. A little red notebook in the front seat is no match for digitally recorded driving logs, which Mr. Musk has used, in the most damaging (and sometimes quite misleading) ways possible, as he defended his vehicle's reputation.
Not knowing that every move was being monitor allowed Mr. Broader to openly interpret his review and not use the real facts; and that's having integrity? Who is the one misleading who here?
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors laid out the cold hard data that proves John Broder of the New York Times was being dishonest in his review. Tesla started keeping logs for vehicles loaned to the media after the Top Gear incident, I guess Mr Broder had no idea. I can't ever trust anything he writes again.
Toyota and Tesla announced a new partnership at Tesla's headquarters in Palo Alto today, the auto makers will collaborate on technology, the development of new electric vehicles and Toyota will purchase $50 million of Tesla's common stock (to be completed after Tesla's pending IPO). The press conference featured the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk and TMC President, Akio Toyoda.
This is great news. Hopefully, we'll see more affordable Tesla cars is the very near future.
Buying a car in America is (usually) never a good experience, car salesmen always looking to up-sell you accessories / features you don't need and basic negation of term / price of vehicle is not for the faint-of-heart. Having been through the process of purchasing both new and used cars, I am speaking from first hand when I say it takes a good amount of effort to get a good deal. Sticker Price is usually what all dealers profess their price is and your job is to lower that price as much as possible. Of course there are cases when the Asking Price is higher than Sticker Price, but your key to getting the best deal is researching the current demand and having the data to backup your offer. TrueCar is making that effort easier on the consumer, they collect and analyze data from 25% of the automotive sales in the US and they paint a clear image of what cars are really selling for.
You enter your zip code and search for the make and model of car you are looking to buy. TrueCar weeds through the data and provides you with an easy to read bell curve, showing you the average paid relative to the vehicle's Dealer Cost, Factory Invoice, and Sticker Prices. They also provide sales history for the past six months so you can get a picture of where the price is heading. Their interface is very intuitive and the service they provide is very beneficial to consumers. It's free and a must for anyone looking to purchase car.


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New Brevoort Formspring
Whatever happened to the framing story from the OG Point 1 issue with the dudes who broke into the Watcher's tower? Was that story attached to Brubaker and now won't see the light of day because he left?
Still in the works, never fear.
May 14, 2013 (9:27 am)
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Jurassic Parks And Rec Shirt
In a small island off the coast of Indiana, life finds a way with the Jurassic Parks And Rec shirt. This glorious shirt perfectly mashes up Jurassic Parks with Parks and Recreation by featuring Ron Swanson's overwhelming manly moustache on the iconic movie logo.
$24.54352 saves


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The ABC National Safety Excellence Awards recognize companies who exhibit a
continued commitment to jobsite safety and whose safety performance and programs
are judged to be exemplary by the ABC National Environment, Health & Safety
(EH&S) Committee. Awards are based on data submitted via STEP applications, essay questions and video interviews with company Presidents/CEOs/Principals about their corporate safety culture. Award categories are
based on a company's total work-hours per calendar year and placement within the
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
The deadline to submit 2013 National Safety Excellence Award applications has passed. Winners will be announced at the 24th annual Excellence In Construction Awards banquet Tuesday, February 11th, 2014 at the Grand Wailea Resort on Maui, Hawaii.
Applications for the 2014 National Safety Excellence Award competition will be available in September 2014.
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national construction industry trade association representing nearly 21,000 chapter members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC and its 70 chapters help members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically, profitably and for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work.


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14 days ago
Hey peeps ! I'm a swede who have walked on this planet for 16 years. I post my own pics here, and SOMETIMES i heart others :) haha !
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Typically Unobserved Variables (TUVs) and Selection into Prenatal Inputs: Implications for Estimating Infant Health Production Functions
AbstractWe examine the extent to which infant health production functions are sensitive to model specification and measurement error. We focus on the importance of typically unobserved but theoretically important variables (TUVs), other non-standard covariates (NSCs), input reporting, and characterization of infant health. The TUVs represent wantedness, taste for risky behavior, and maternal health endowment. The NSCs include father and family structure characteristics. We estimate effects of prenatal drug use, prenatal cigarette smoking, and first trimester prenatal care on birth weight, low birth weight, and a measure of abnormal infant health conditions. We compare estimates using self-reported inputs versus input measures that combine information from medical records and self-reports. We find that TUVs and NSCs are significantly associated with both inputs and outcomes, but that excluding them from infant health production functions does not appreciably affect the input estimates. However, using self-reported inputs leads to overestimated effects of inputs, particularly prenatal care, on outcomes, and using a direct measure of infant health does not always yield input estimates similar to those when using birth weight outcomes. The findings have implications for research, data collection, and public health policy.
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Bibliographic InfoPaper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12004.
Date of creation: Feb 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12004
Note: HE
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Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Phone: 617-868-3900
Web page: http://www.nber.org
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Other versions of this item:
- Nancy E. Reichman & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Dhaval Dave, 2006. "Typically Unobserved Variables (TUVs) and Selection into Prenatal Inputs: Implications for Estimating Infant Health Production Functions," Working Papers, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Migration and Development. 930, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Migration and Development..
- I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2006-02-26 (All new papers)
- NEP-ECM-2006-02-26 (Econometrics)
- NEP-HEA-2006-02-26 (Health Economics)
ReferencesReferences listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Robert Moffitt, 2005. "Remarks on the analysis of causal relationships in population research," Demography, Springer, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 91-108, February.
- Grossman, Michael & Joyce, Theodore J, 1990.
"Unobservables, Pregnancy Resolutions, and Birth Weight Production Functions in New York City,"
Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 983-1007, October.
- Michael Grossman & Theodore J. Joyce, 1991. "Unobservables, Pregnancy Resolutions, and Birthweight Production Functions in New York City," NBER Working Papers 2746, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Geoffrey Warner, 2003. "The association between maternal depression and prenatal care adequacy," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 39-53, December.
- Hope Corman & Theodore J. Joyce & Michael Grossman, 1985. "Birth Outcome Production Functions in the U.S," NBER Working Papers 1729, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Hope Corman & Theodore J. Joyce & Michael Grossman, 1987. "Birth Outcome Production Function in the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 22(3), pages 339-360.
- Kelly Noonan & Nancy E. Reichman & Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave, 2007.
"Prenatal drug use and the production of infant health,"
Health Economics,
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(4), pages 361-384.
- Kelly Noonan & Nancy E. Reichman & Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave, 2005. "Prenatal Drug Use and the Production of Infant Health," NBER Working Papers 11433, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Evans, William N. & Lien, Diana S., 2005. "The benefits of prenatal care: evidence from the PAT bus strike," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 207-239.
- Theodore Joyce & Michael Grossman, 1990. "Pregnancy wantedness and the early initiation of prenatal care," Demography, Springer, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 1-17, February.
- Joyce, Theodore, 1999.
"Impact of augmented prenatal care on birth outcomes of Medicaid recipients in New York City,"
Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier,
Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 31-67, January.
- Theodore Joyce, 1997. "Impact of Augmented Prenatal Care on Birth Outcomes of Medicaid Recipients in New York City," NBER Working Papers 6029, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Karen Smith Conway & Lisa DeFelice Kennedy, 2004. "Maternal Depression and the Production of Infant Health," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 260-286, October.
- Diana S. Lien & William N. Evans, 2005. "Estimating the Impact of Large Cigarette Tax Hikes: The Case of Maternal Smoking and Infant Birth Weight," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(2).
- Ted Joyce & Robert Kaestner & Sanders Korenman, 2002. "On the validity of retrospective assessments of pregnancy intention," Demography, Springer, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 199-213, February.
- Teitler, Julien O., 2001. "Father involvement, child health and maternal health behavior," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, Elsevier, vol. 23(4-5), pages 403-425.
- Kaestner, Robert & Joyce, Theodore & Wehbeh, Hassan, 1996.
"The Effect of Maternal Drug Use on Birth Weight: Measurement Error in Binary Variables,"
Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International,
Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(4), pages 617-29, October.
- Robert Kaestner & Theodore Joyce & Hassan Wehbeh, 1996. "The Effect of Maternal Drug Use on Birth Weight: Measurement Error in Binary Variables," NBER Working Papers 5434, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
CitationsCitations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
Cited by:
- Del Bono, Emilia & Ermisch, John & Francesconi, Marco, 2008.
"Intrafamily resource allocations: a dynamic model of birth weight,"
ISER Working Paper Series
2008-27, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
- del Bono, Emilia & Ermisch, John F & Francesconi, Marco, 2008. "Intrafamily Resource Allocations: A Dynamic Model of Birth Weight," CEPR Discussion Papers, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers 6970, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Del Bono, Emilia & Ermisch, John & Francesconi, Marco, 2008. "Intrafamily Resource Allocations: A Dynamic Model of Birth Weight," IZA Discussion Papers 3704, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- repec:ebl:ecbull:v:9:y:2008:i:22:p:1-14 is not listed on IDEAS
- Wehby, George L. & Murray, Jeffrey C. & Castilla, Eduardo E. & Lopez-Camelo, Jorge S. & Ohsfeldt, Robert L., 2009. "Prenatal care demand and its effects on birth outcomes by birth defect status in Argentina," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 84-95, March.
- Sankar Mukhopadhyay & Wei Yang & Wai Lee & Jeanne Wendel, 2008. "Analyzing the impact of prenatal care on infant health: do we have useful input and output measures?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 9(22), pages 1-14.
- Sankar Mukhopadhyay & Jeanne Wendel, 2008. "Are prenatal care resources distributed efficiently across high-risk and low-risk mothers?," International Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics, Springer, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 163-179, September.
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Health & Balance
Jimmy Fallon Has a New Show and a New Health Regimen
What causes stage fright? continued...
Caroline Hirsch, owner of the legendary Caroline's Comedy Club in New York City, where Fallon "cut his teeth before he hit it big," says, "Most comedians get that rush of adrenaline before going on stage -- it's part of the process. Jimmy did a lot of TV and movies [before taking the Late Night job], which could explain his nerves now. If you're doing concerts and personal appearances before live audiences all the time -- well, the more you do, the easier it gets.
"He was on the road a lot earlier this year, and it's paid off," she adds. "He's so charming, endearing, and at ease on his show."
Dealing with stage fright
Whether you're a stand-up comedian or simply standing up to address a crowd of your peers, speaking in public can send a shiver down your spine -- and make your hands shake, voice crack, heart race, or body break into a cold sweat. The good news? There are methods you can learn to lessen these symptoms or even stop them altogether.
Before taking the stage: If you're prone to sweating it out, be prepared: Dress in loose-fitting garments or a sleeveless shirt to prevent this particular symptom from going public.
Practice deep breathing (inhaling slowly through the nose, exhaling through the mouth) before your presentation. And, most important, prep yourself for success even if you should panic. In other words, give yourself permission to experience a quivering voice or butterflies in your stomach. "It's a bit of a mind game with yourself," says Witt, "but it can work. When these symptoms appear during your speech, you've already mentally prepared yourself for them, so you simply plow through. And the symptoms lessen as you relax."
While on stage: Dry mouth is a common symptom of stage fright. Bring a glass of water with you to the podium whenever possible. Also, volume makes a difference in how your audience reacts to you. You might consider skipping a microphone because speakers who go without are forced to project loudly, which requires deeper breathing. As a result, you relax much sooner. (If you do use a microphone, be conscious of breathing slowly and deeply.) If your hands are shaking, remember: Few in the audience will notice. Simply fold them, hide them behind your back, or place them on the podium.
After your performance: Listen to feedback of your presentation. "If your audience praised you afterward, or if they laughed a lot during it, you know you've done a good job," says Witt, "and you realize your fears were irrational. This will help prepare you for the next time you have to do it."
Fallon's LASIK surgery
Fallon is nothing short of serious when it comes to doing whatever it takes to ensure the success of his new venture. He even got LASIK. "Yeah, the vision thing has been a problem for years," he admits. "I can only see up-close, so I decided to go for it." And? "It's worked out great!"


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Two young farmers will be able to attend the event courtesy of Dekalb. ' />
Check back on this blog for information about the event as well as reports from Corn College.
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JSmartCardExplorer: Cross-platform, low level APDU smart card development
JSmartCardExplorer is a cross-platform (Java), graphical, low level (APDU) smart card tool aimed to help developing of smart card applications and understanding of ISO-7816 protocol.
It allows (APDU) communication with any T=0/1 smartcard, being able to forge APDU requests (see the screenshot) and dissect the responses received.
It's build on top of Sun's smartcard API(s) so it does not require any dll or framework.
The application can be particularly useful when developing / studying / smart cards technologies.
- Supports T=0 and T=1 communication protocols
- Command history (with save/recall capabilities)
- Hex data viewer
- ISO7816 FileSystem explorer
- Does NOT require any particular PC/SC driver (other than the smartcard reader's)
Compiled binaries
The compiled .jar archive for running the application. Requires a Java™ runtime installation (either Oracle's or OpenJDK).
SVN tree on SourceForge.
The applications are released under the terms of the GNU GPL


text: FOR THE MOST COMPLETE VIEW OF THE PAPAL VISIT, you will want to watch EWTN (check your cable listings), where Father Neuhaus will be cohosting with Raymond Arroyo the coverage of all events in Washington and New York. We are hopeful that Father Neuhaus will also have some daily postings on this website. 0 Print Email Prev Article Next Article Articles by Anthony Sacramone Show 0 comments


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Science takes Center Stage
Imagination and curiosity were on display Thursday at Gothenburg Public School's annual seventh and eighth grade science fair.
A total of 142 students developed science projects where they formed a hypothesis and then set about testing.
Coordinator Cathy Larson said three areas of competition were judged—group, life science and physical science. The top three places received medals.
Latest Headlines
- Brady blanks Wallace Eagles behind strong ground game
- Learning to teach a new way
- First State Bank buys branch bank in Mullen
- Local business not compliant during check
- Gothenburg girls finish 2nd at Bow, boys are 9th
- Strong Swede 'D' makes the difference at Scottsbluff
- Swedes nearly sweep Sutherland triangular
- Eagles volleyball flies at .500


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Emptyset video exclusive: Function from Demiurge
December 2011
Watch an exclusive stream of Emptyset's first video, for the track "Function" from their Demiurge album.
Emptyset is James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas. Their Demiurge album was reviewed in The Wire 329 by Joe Muggs, and is available to stream here.
Video by Clayton Welham and Sam Williams.


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This is a good, quick lunch. The serving size of 3 tacos each, is generous and welcome if you are dieting. With less than 10 minutes prep, it is a quick one to fix. You could easily add seasoning to the beans for more zip, sprinkle cilantro on it, etc. As is, it's the salsa that adds the interest. But, really, it is tasty as is, and with it being so simple and healthy, it is a simple go-to diet lunch that is filling.
Black Bean Tacos
Quentin Bacon
Yield: 2 servings
More From Health
Recipe Time
Prep Time:
Nutritional Information
Amount per serving
- Calories: 380
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated fat: 5g
- Monounsaturated fat: .5g
- Polyunsaturated fat: 1g
- Protein: 18g
- Carbohydrate: 69g
- Fiber: 17g
- Cholesterol: 25mg
- Sodium: 780mg
- Rs: 4.7g
- 1 15- ounce can black beans
- 6 (6-inch) corn tortillas
- 6 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese
- 2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1/4 cup salsa
- 1. Microwave beans on HIGH 2 minutes, or until heated through.
- 2. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add tortillas, one at a time; cook 1 minute on each side.
- 3. Divide beans evenly among tortillas. Top with even amounts of cheese, lettuce, carrot, and salsa.
My Notes
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Black Bean Tacos Recipe at a Glance
- COURSE: Main Dishes
- CUISINE: Mexican
- MAIN INGREDIENT: Beans
- DIETARY CONSIDERATION: Meatless
- PUBLICATION: Health
More Recipes Like This
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text:
August 13, 2008
Devout fans from all walks of life gawked in awe as the Divine Ms. M first graced the stage of the new Venue theatre with her tantalizingly sassy rendition of "Kiss My Brass". With her uniquely aggressive humor, she opened the show by declaring, "I've finally made it! I'm performing in the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana!" The crowd, a good chunk of which hailed from Indiana, loved every minute of it. "Thirty years ago my audiences were on drugs. Now they're on medication," she commented when finding her lifelong groupies in the front row.
She is a divalicious Broadway, film, and music legend that is all too rare these days. Her lovingly brazen personality couples with her exceptional vocal chords to provide a performance experience that is absolutely exceptional. It also makes you understand how this former 'Bathhouse Betty' went onto win four Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmys, and a Tony.
Her scaled-down adaptation of Caesar Palace's "The Showgirl Must Go On" included the live Horseshoe Band and Midler's own "Harlette" trio of multi-talented chorus girls. Providing vocal harmonies that perfectly cushioned Midler's brassier sound, the Harlettes assisted the diva in performing such greats as "For the Boys", "Stuff Like That There", and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B".
Having yearned to be a showgirl since she was a young woman, Midler capitalizes on the fun and frenzy to be found in the cheap and tacky. With sexy costume pieces and sets galore, every part of the show simply dazzles. Oh and trust me, she's not afraid to tell a few jokes that will make your grandmother want to do more than blush.
Also, I must give the designers and architects over at the Horseshoe some much deserved kudos. The performance space at the new Venue theatre catered to Midler's sequined affairs while also providing an uncommon sense of musical intimacy.
Midler seized the stage alone to belt out her most famous, captivating ballads. The audience fell completely silent and reverent during such greats as "The Rose", "From a Distance", and "The Wind Beneath My Wings". Midler proved herself an unequaled pro at presenting some of the kitschiest numbers to date while simultaneously reeling the audience in for more humanistic and affecting pieces.
She is both flashy and poignant, hilarious and severe. Experiencing such a seasoned legend perform the hits that have made her nearly immortal is nothing short of marvelous. Her fans know it too; so if you're planning a trip to Vegas anytime soon, be sure to book in advance.
Touting herself as the "People's Diva" (because she actually sings- a rarity in this day in age, she reminds), Ms. Midler simply ate up the stage, and the audience was mesmerized every step of the way. But don't worry if you were unable to make the trek out to our neighboring state; Midler has declared that she has no plans to retire anytime soon. She is one of the industry's last remaining illustrious stars, and long may she reign.
Written By: Alissa Norby for ShowBizQ


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By Gene Cherry
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Former Olympic and world 400 meters champion Jeremy Wariner will miss this month's world championships with a foot injury, his agent said on Tuesday.
Wariner, a three-time 400 meters global champion and a key player in the United States' Olympic and world 4x400 meters relay victories, tore a ligament in the second toe of his left foot while training in July, his agent Deon Minor told Reuters.
"Jeremy said he felt a pop while he was training," Minor said in a telephone interview. "Then it was like he could not even work out."
The injury will not require surgery, but recovery time of eight to 12 weeks will be needed, Minor said.
Wariner, 27, had hoped to compete in both the 400 and 4x400 relay at the August 27-September 4 world championships in Daegu, South Korea.
"He really wanted to get back out there because it has been a tough year," Minor said of the small injuries that have plagued Wariner.
The world's top-ranked 400 meters runner in 2010, Wariner had just the 12th fastest time this season and was beaten in the U.S. championships/world trials by collegian Tony McQuay.
"I am disappointed that I will not be able to try to regain the world title in the 400 meters in Daegu," Wariner said in a statement. "Right now my focus is to get healthy, prepare for the 2012 season and try for my second Olympic gold medal in the 400."
Wariner won the 2004 Olympics 400 meters title and followed that with world championships in 2005 and '07. He was runner-up to fellow American LaShawn Merritt at the 2008 Olympics and '09 world championships.
He also helped the Americans to 4x400 relay gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and the 2005, '07 and '09 world championships.
Wariner is expected to be replaced on the U.S. team by fourth-placed trials finisher Jamaal Torrance.
Merritt, who is returning from a doping suspension, McQuay and Greg Nixon also will run the event for the Americans.
(Editing by Ian Ransom)