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1. Dusk on May 13. Mayor Manny Diaz is aboard the Island Lady, an executive yacht that sails from the Miami River behind the Hyatt Regency in downtown Miami. Hizzoner is playing host to several dozen high-ranking officials from the international consulates, like Finland's then-Consul General William Spohrer; Germany's Consul General Volker Anding; Peru's Gustavo Gutierrez Pizarro; and Ecuador's Leonardo Tamariz. The occasion is yet another opportunity for Diaz to promote the ballyhooed renaissance taking place in his Magic City.
Dressed impeccably in a dark green pinstripe power suit, Diaz takes a drag from a Salem, and follows it with a nice swig from a tumbler filled with his signature drink: Pinch on the rocks. Standing by the door entering the vessel's cabin, he is commenting on how the public's perception of Miami has changed since he took office eighteen months ago. "The image of the city improved day and night," Diaz expounds as the Island Lady sloshes under the Brickell Avenue bridge and bumps into Biscayne Bay. "We are no longer the brunt of national jokes."
Indeed it wasn't too long ago that Miami fueled many a monologue for Jay Leno and David Letterman. After all, this is the city where dead people vote, citizens hurl bananas at city hall, cops shoot unarmed suspects, and politicians spit venom at each other on Spanish-language radio. This is the city that breathed life into the political careers of Joe Carollo and Xavier Suarez, the city's two most recent leading men, who hugely fueled the ridicule. The former is the stiff-coifed-upper-lip-twitching-egomaniacal demagogue who regularly butted heads with his fellow commissioners, former city Manager Donald Warshaw, and anyone else who got in his way. The latter is Miami's other "Mayor Loco" who, upon serving three months in office, was unceremoniously dumped in 1998 after a court ruling determined he had been propelled into his job mostly due to rampant voter fraud. Poetically, Suarez's demise put Carollo back in office. Meanwhile Miami became America's poorest city, a place where roughly half the residents don't own a home or have never completed high school.
Tired of ineffective leadership, Miami voters took a chance and gave Diaz the keys to the city on November 13, 2001, when he defeated former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferré in a runoff. Along the way, Diaz has built a political machine rivaled only by county Mayor Alex Penelas and Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez. And halfway into his term, Diaz has convinced people he's done good in the city.
"Manny is a vision of stability in a town long noted for its instability," opines Coconut Grove activist, local attorney, and Carollo confidante Tucker Gibbs. "That in itself makes the guy extraordinary. He's the right mayor at the right time."
"You guys in the media are used to having Carollo, Suarez, and all these other yahoos that have come and gone," chants city Commissioner Johnny Winton, Diaz's biggest ally among the serious pols. "But Manny is not the type of guy to insert his foot in his mouth. He's going to be the best mayor Miami ever had." Of course that theory assumes Diaz won't jump into next year's race for county mayor -- a competition political pundits say he would win hands down.
Back on the Island Lady, just as a thunderstorm rolls in, Diaz dances around the subject of his political future. "It's all I hear from people," he complains. "It wasn't in my plans to run for mayor of Miami, yet here I am. What the future holds, I have no idea. But right now I'm happy where I am."
And why shouldn't he be? Diaz has benefited from Miami's recent good fortune. For one thing, the city's bond rating on May 9 was elevated to A3 by New York-based Moody's Investors Service for the first time since Miami was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1996. The rating means the city can borrow money at lower interest rates. The city estimates there are four billion dollars' worth of development projects on the drawing board or already under construction from Edgewater (Blue, a 36-story condo on NE 36th Street) to East Little Havana (Altos de Miami, 133 high-rise units on Flagler) to the Miami River (the 21-story Neo Lofts on South River Drive). Going into its next budget cycle, the city boasts between $120 million and $140 million in reserves.
Furthermore, Diaz has a relatively harmonious relationship with the city commission because he spends a considerable amount of time meeting and listening to its members, including his most vocal critic, Commissioner Angel Gonzalez. Carollo, on the other hand, couldn't buy his way into a private meeting with commissioners Tomas Regalado, Art "Houdini" Teele, and Johnny Winton.
As a result Diaz has had no problems pushing his initiatives through, from his reorganization plan to overhaul city government using a private-business model; to his transportation master plan for downtown Miami; to his pick for city manager, the ever-controversial and combative civic leader Joe Arriola. His choice for police chief, John Timoney, a big Irishman from New York City, was expected to cause strife in the PD among entrenched Hispanics loyal to former Chief Raul Martinez and his backers (like Angel Gonzalez, who wanted another Cuban), and powerful black officers; that failed to materialize. Timoney was that adroit in handling new appointments and promotions.
Most important, and rather magically, Diaz has avoided serious scrutiny during his first eighteen months in office. No one pressed him about "overstepping" his powers as an executive mayor by taking a direct role in the hiring of city employees such as Timoney and Linda Haskins, the city's chief financial officer (by law the province of the city manager). No one questioned his bringing in private consultants who'd worked on and donated to his mayoral campaign. No one complained about the huge amount of airtime dedicated to Diaz's appearances on Miami TV, the city's public access channel (while local government proceedings' airtime coverage was cut).
No, as long as Diaz isn't showing up at constituents' homes in the middle of the night, as Suarez used to do; or hurling a tea canister at his wife's head, as Carollo infamously did, Miamians seem to figure they're ahead of the game. So Manny is king of the city.
2. In 2001 Diaz told New Times his motivation for running was intertwined with his father's death in 1999. "I felt a void in my life," he said then. "I looked around the city, to the place where my parents had invested their dreams. It felt different, like someone had over the years taken something from it. People have forgotten what I knew growing up here. Neighborhoods are the heart of a city. There's a woman who couldn't get out of her apartment for three days because of flooding; elderly people who don't have furniture or air conditioning; people won't leave their homes at night for fear of being a crime victim. The streets are torn up, garbage isn't picked up on time."
Now, of course, Diaz is in charge and addressing those issues. "People have been very supportive because I stuck to what I said I was going to do," he says today, sounding as if he hadn't yet stopped campaigning. "I've kept my promises."
One of those promises was to re-engineer the city's government structure into a private-sector corporate model. The change turned the city manager into the chief administrator, and eliminated three assistant city manager positions. Those jobs were replaced by the chief information officer, the chief financial officer, and the chief of neighborhood services. The better part of Diaz's first year was spent developing this plan. The idea was specificity and responsibility, instead of vague lollygagging and political patronage.
Gail Sittig, the former executive director of the state oversight board that monitored the city's finances from 1996 until 2001, was hired as a consultant to help develop the new organization. Sittig, Diaz, Winton, and former city Manager Carlos Gimenez, a leftover Carollo man, met every weekend for six months at Winton's downtown Miami office to work on the plan. "It was clear from the beginning that the city's old organizational structure created a communications breakdown between department heads and elected officials," Sittig says. "This lack of communication caused divisions with everyone from the mayor's office down to the clerk's office."
Gimenez, now a consultant for the Miami law firm Steel Hector & Davis, concurred with Sittig's assessment. "We had a lot of personality clashes at the assistant city manager level," Gimenez recalls. "I certainly bought into the reorg."
Diaz, however, was not satisfied with just changing the city's organizational plan. In August of last year he forced Gimenez, who had been credited with bringing stability and integrity back to the city, to resign. Diaz says now that despite Gimenez's input on the reorganization, the former city manager was not the right man to implement the changes. "Carlos is a decent human being," Diaz says, "but I don't think there was a willingness on his part to change the status quo."
Gimenez declined to comment on what led to his departure, but according to some former city employees and political insiders who don't want to be identified, Diaz forced Gimenez out simply because he was Carollo's guy. "Manny really didn't have a reason to let Carlos go," says a source. "They were on the same page 97 percent of the time."
Of course one could argue that Diaz wanted someone who would be on the page 100 percent of the time. Last August Diaz and the city commission made it clear it was time for then-Police Chief Raul Martinez to go after New Times reported, among other things, that the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, an organization that evaluates police department standards, had yanked Miami's certification in 2001 for noncompliance. (In the same year, voters approved a Civilian Investigative Panel to monitor city police, and thirteen officers were hit with federal indictments for planting evidence at the scene of several questionable shootings. Two initially pleaded guilty and four others were found guilty at trial, while three were acquitted and mistrials were declared on the remaining four, making a retrial likely.)
Gimenez, however, supported Martinez and would not fire him. Under the charter, Diaz and the commissioners cannot order a city manager to ax the police chief. Eventually Martinez saw the writing on the wall and resigned last November. With Gimenez leaving in January, Martinez could not count on the support of the new city manager, who of course is going to do the king's dirty work. Ironically, Gimenez, in one of his last official acts, hired the high-profile John Timoney, who rose through the ranks to become second in command of the New York Police Department and went on to reform the Philadelphia Police Department as that city's top cop from 1998 to 2001. Naturally Timoney's hiring came with the king's blessing. "The bottom line is that we believe he's the best cop in the country," Diaz proclaimed in a Miami Herald article following Timoney's hire on December 19. (Timoney was given a $173,000 salary and $10,000 in moving expenses.)
Timoney's appointment was a true test for Diaz as black activists, the Miami chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and its local president Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, the Fraternal Order of Police, and Commissioner Angel Gonzalez attacked the decision to bring in the Irishman. Black activists and the ACLU raked Diaz and Gimenez for not undertaking a broader national search. They also criticized Timoney's track record in Philly, where he butted heads with the city's Police Advisory Commission, a civilian review board that recommended police reforms and investigated allegations of police abuse. The police union and Gonzalez criticized Diaz for not hiring a new police chief from among the ranks of the department. Timoney quashed the rhetoric days after taking the job on January 2 when he promoted two department vets: Hispanic cop Frank Fernandez to deputy chief, Timoney's second in command, and black officer Gerald Darling to assistant chief in charge of criminal investigations. He also promoted officers George Cadavid, Craig McQueen, and Juanita Walker to major to round out his management team.
"Everyone knew that I wanted Carlos to hire someone from outside the department," Diaz says. "It was no secret. The city can do a lot of great things by bringing in people who will change the attitude of the rank and file. For a long time, we've had people who were not being [pointed] in the right direction."
Former employees also say Diaz and Gimenez had problems just talking. "Carlos is a very direct guy," one employee says. "Manny's not. You tell Carlos to go cut the lawn and he does it. But Manny is the type of guy who will say: "'Boy, that grass sure is high, isn't it?'"
In January, with Gimenez's last day coming up, Diaz picked a guy who has no problem seeing eye to eye with him, Joe Arriola. The bombastic millionaire who made his fortune when he sold his family printing business, Avanti/Case-Hoyt, for $42 million two years ago seems to share a strange symbiosis with the mayor.
"I had interviewed a number of candidates," Diaz explains. "But the difference was that Joe had been here for six months already. If I had picked someone new, they would have needed to go through a learning curve. I wasn't going to wait. Joe was the guy who could jump on this train and keep it chugging in the right direction."
Arriola, a man not known for his subtlety and with an inveterate distrust of bureaucracy and unions, is famous for butting heads with Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Merrett Stierheim and Public Health Trust reformer Michael Kosnitzky, publicly calling the former a "horrible leader" and the latter a "cancer." Despite Arriola's penchant for abusive tactics, Diaz enlisted the millionaire as a dollar-a-year consultant to help with the reorganization last summer. Diaz and Arriola had only met once before during a mayoral runoff meet-the-candidates forum in 2001 for Mesa Redonda, a group of highly influential Hispanic businessmen, which, in addition to Arriola, includes Miami Herald publisher Alberto Ibargüen and prominent businessman Carlos Saladrigas. Ironically, at the time Arriola supported Ferré. Some political insiders think Mesa Redonda, which is pro-business, is now setting the agenda for the city with Arriola calling the shots. Diaz says only: "We've formed a common bond; we share the same vision for the city."
3. Miami postman Mariano Cruz, who serves on the civil service board and the homeland defense bond committee as Angel Gonzalez's appointee, is watching the city's cable access channel in the living room of his Allapattah home. Suddenly Manny Diaz appears on the screen. Cruz claps his hands together and lets out a sigh. "I don't know how this guy gets away with it," he vents, "but he does."
Cruz, a long-time supporter of ex-Mayor Xavier Suarez, can't understand why no one has realized that Diaz may be violating the city charter by taking an active role in the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor and the commission are supposed to be the policymakers, he insists, but aren't allowed to micromanage the administration, according to the charter. The mayor can hire and fire the city manager, but he cannot tell the manager who he can hire and fire. The mayor is also not supposed to get involved in contract negotiations or department decisions, something Diaz does on a regular basis. "What Manny Diaz is doing may be good for the city," Cruz says, "but if Arriola is just doing what Diaz tells him to, then that is against the law."
Furthermore, Cruz rambles, when Suarez was doing his 111-day stint between 1997 and 1998, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle didn't hesitate to step in when it appeared he was trying to usurp the city manager's authority and fire then-Police Chief Donald Warshaw. Her office filed a violation-of-city-charter charge against him, which Suarez settled by agreeing to stop his interference. The Miami Herald, which broke the story on the voter fraud, eviscerated Suarez's actions on a daily basis, Cruz continues. "Is Manny Diaz being held to a different standard?"
In reality, Diaz may not be in violation of the charter, but is treading the line rather closely. For example Arriola picked Linda Haskins, the mayor's former financial advisor, to be the city's chief financial officer. Haskins also worked closely with Diaz, Gimenez, Sittig, and Winton on the city's reorganization. Prior to her job with the mayor's office, she was the city's budget director. Diaz said he didn't need to tell Arriola that Haskins was the right person for the job. "Joe and Linda were already working with me," Diaz counters. "So it's not like I had to introduce them."
Diaz adds that being an effective mayor has little to do with what's written on paper, everything to do with character. "You can have a strong-mayor form of government and be a weak mayor," Diaz theorizes. "But I have a fairly strong character. And I'm not afraid to use my bully pulpit to make my agenda clear and [state] what my vision is."
"Manny is certainly a better handler of the media than I ever was," offers Suarez. "But Manny now has a strong manager in Arriola who is implementing his agenda. And that is how the executive-mayor form of government is supposed to work."
Suarez actually complimented the synergy between the mayor's office and the city administration these days. "I was at a commission meeting recently," Suarez says. "I was amazed at how well both interact. I saw a great environment at city hall, an atmosphere of stability." Coming from Suarez, that's a mouthful.
Some of Diaz's supporters do note that on the surface one could view him as the guy calling the shots, not the city manager. "When the mayor and the manager are sitting side by side, going through the process of choosing the best candidate for a city position, that is when you get pretty close to stepping over the line," says Winton. "But Manny is not a guy to overstep his bounds."
Of course Diaz doesn't need to cross the line to spell out what he wants done. For example, shortly after taking office, the mayor introduced a friend and campaign supporter to Gimenez. That friend is Stuart Myers, a retired insurance sales executive who has known Diaz for the past six years and who contributed to his mayoral campaign. The mayor wanted Myers to help Gimenez clean up the city's risk management department, which for years has been a golden piñata for legal claims against the city. "Manny called me up one day about a year ago and told me the city was having some problems," Myers relates during a phone interview from his West Palm Beach home. "He asked me to take a look."
And just like that, Myers was put on the city's payroll, although it's hardly the kind of dough that would raise eyebrows. Myers earns a ten-dollar-a-year salary, in addition to his annual health benefits package worth three thousand dollars. Nevertheless Myers was instrumental in bringing in two other insurance consultants who gave to Diaz's mayoral campaign. One of those experts is Elliott Fixler, a New York lawyer and former assistant U.S. Attorney who earned $60,000 in consulting fees plus $7371 in living expenses from the City of Miami over the course of five months. Gimenez hired Fixler last October based on Myers's advice. "Fixler took over the department when I had no one," Gimenez says defensively. "We tried to hire a new director but all the people fell through." (The city has since hired Diane Ericson as its risk management director.)
Myers, Fixler, and the third player, John Petillo, a New York-based accountant who was recently appointed to the city's police and fire pension board at Diaz's request, were instrumental in putting out new bids to hire an insurance broker for the city; the contract ended up going to a company whose executives contributed generously to Diaz's campaign.
For years AON Risk Services of Florida had a lock on the contract because the city curiously did not put out new bids for insurance broker services to see if it could get a better deal. Last year the firm was up for contract renewal when the insurance experts discovered the city's premiums would skyrocket if the deal went through -- from $2 million to $3.7 million next year. Myers says instead of renewing the contract, which would have paid AON a significant commission, they convinced city officials to put out new bids. Three firms responded. The winner would be picked by the standard means: lowest fee. AON bid the highest, coming in at $312,000. The second company, Arthur Gallagher & Co., bid $247,500. The winning outfit, Tampa-based Brown & Brown Inc., said that it could do the job for $106,000. Coincidentally, Brown & Brown executives had donated about $6500 for Diaz's mayoral run.
On its face, this would appear to be classic Miami: friends and campaign supporters of the mayor getting the inside track on lucrative public contracts. But Myers insists the city's deal with Brown & Brown will save it $622,250 a year. "When most municipalities are facing increasing insurance costs, we were able to get a decrease," he says. Brown & Brown vice president Gerard Fiacco, the company's point man with the city, declined comment. Fiacco and his wife Heidi each personally donated $500 to Diaz's campaign.
Diaz acknowledges introducing Myers to Gimenez, but says he didn't tell the former city manager to hire him, Fixler, or Petillo. He defends the decision to award the contract to Brown & Brown. "There was a competitive process," says a visibly irked Diaz. "Their bid was the lowest and represents more than a half-million-dollar savings to the city. So, I guess, shoot me."
4. When Diaz delivered his state of the city address earlier this year, he called on Arriola to analyze compensation, benefits, and pension programs to reduce personnel costs. "The fact is, no business, public or private, can guarantee its long-term financial health when its personnel costs exceed 80 percent of its revenues," Diaz proclaimed during his speech.
Yet Diaz has shown he's not so frugal when it comes to his own personnel costs. This year the mayor's office budget totals $1,032,940, up $204,005 from last year. When Diaz took office in 2001, the mayor's budget stood at $653,935. About three-fourths of Diaz's costs, $772, 645 to be exact, is for salaries and fringe benefits. On the administration side, Arriola is receiving a $177,385 salary, which he is donating to the local chapter of the United Way. Gimenez, by contrast, had a salary package of $163,209. The three former assistant city managers under Gimenez each earned an annual $141,653, compared with the $160,000 annual salary for chief operating officer Victor Monzon-Aguirre (who has since been terminated by Arriola following his arrest on charges that he committed forgery and grand theft on business unrelated to the city); the $155,000 salary for chief financial officer Haskins; and the $150,000 salary for chief information officer Peter Korinis.
Diaz defends his personnel costs and those of the new city administration. "Being efficient is not a function of how much you spend," he asserts. "It's about spending money well by bringing in the right people. You attract the best people by paying them good salaries."
For instance, Diaz points out, his decision to hire Otto Boudet-Murias as his economic development advisor has paid dividends. The mayor hired Boudet-Murias, a building contractor, this past March to act as a liaison between developers and the city's building, economic development, and planning and zoning departments. For this, Boudet-Murias earns $90,000 a year from the city. "Developers are thrilled that the mayor's office in Miami," Diaz says, "unlike other cities, goes out of its way to meet with them, welcome them, and help them get through bureaucratic red tape."
Daniel Pfeffer, president of Midtown Equities, a New York development outfit, says he wouldn't be doing business in Miami if it weren't for Diaz. Pfeffer's company is developing the old Florida East Coast Industries railroad yard between NE Second and North Miami avenues and NW 36th and 29th streets, into a mixed-use project zone featuring a big retail outlet like Target and single-family residences. "He made a lot of promises to get the project moving," Pfeffer says during a phone interview. "He and Otto have come through every single time. You really have true businesspeople running city government now."
Of course there are always exceptions. Carlos McDonald, the city's communications director and a childhood friend of Diaz, earns a $105,000 salary from Miami, as well as a car allowance. In addition the city covered $12,552 in moving expenses for McDonald when he relocated from Tallahassee; he previously worked for former Attorney General Bob Butterworth, a Diaz supporter. Technically, Gimenez hired McDonald, but everyone knows McDonald is Diaz's boy. And since McDonald took over, the city's communications department has come under fire. Citizens and commissioners have complained that it doesn't interact well with the public. "The city's cable access channel is now more devoted to airing social gatherings and documentaries than to actually informing the public," complains Commissioner Tomas Regalado, who earns his living as news director of two Spanish-language radio stations in Miami. The department has stopped airing meetings of the code enforcement board and the waterfront advisory board, as well as planning and zoning hearings. "McDonald has been censoring parts of the city commission meetings they don't want the public to see," Regalado charges. "The people need to be informed on these issues."
If that is the case, Diaz says, then McDonald needs to correct the situation. "Yes, it needs to be addressed," he says.
In his defense, McDonald insists all board meetings went back on-air this month. "Code enforcement is back on," he says. "Planning and zoning is back on. The problem is that we had a number of bugs to work out in our new system." As part of the $1.6 million restoration of city hall, McDonald's department spent $300,000 on a new broadcasting system. He adds that his department has gone out of its way to air city board meetings held outside city hall. "We've transmitted meetings of the Community Redevelopment Agency," he says. "The city never did that before. We're doing all of this with a staff of nine people."
5. Early on May 7, Manny Diaz, sweating profusely in gym shorts and a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase "One City, One Future," methodically slaps another coat of salmon-colored paint on the exterior of Robin Miller's new Overtown house. Diaz, Arriola, and their staffs have taken the morning off from city hall business for a little community-building with Habitat for Humanity (the nonprofit organization founded in 1976 to help poor families build their own homes).
Diaz doesn't say much, instead focusing intently on the task at hand. Within five minutes, he's painted an entire wall. He stops to take a deep breath as he wipes the perspiration from his pronounced widow's peak. Then he deliberately dips his brush into his paint bucket and smears chief of staff Francois Illas's right arm. The mayor chortles heavily, then takes a few whacks at Arriola: "Hey Joe, does your wife know you're out here doing manual labor?" he cracks. "I bet this is the first time your fine French-manicured hands ever touched a paintbrush!" But Arriola is no chief of staff. Wordlessly he slops his brush on the mayor's dome.
Diaz roars, then swears that he's going to paint "I'm staying put!" across his chest to stop people from bugging him about the county mayor thing. Despite a looming battle with the city's unions over pension benefits, and recurring questions about his meddling with the city's day-to-day operations, the biggest distraction for Diaz in the coming year will be the county race.
As he lights a cigarette and takes a puff, Diaz turns serious again, rattling on about the agenda and vision he's laid out for the city. There's a lot of unfinished business to attend to: In addition to reforming the city politically, he's trying to secure the headquarters of the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) in Miami, a proposed trade zone among 34 nations. The agreement has been under negotiation since 1998 as a way to eliminate tariffs and create common trade and investment rules among the Western Hemisphere countries. If the FTAA headquarters is located in Miami, it would lend legitimacy to the city's long-standing claim that it is the Gateway of the Americas. Only recently, Diaz convinced the city commission to approve a traffic plan for downtown Miami that calls for building a tunnel to ease Brickell Avenue traffic and lowering the I-395 overpass that cuts through Overtown to grade level to create a grand boulevard that would help revitalize the area. This summer Diaz plans to develop a long-awaited master plan for the entire city. "[So] I would hate to leave the city midstream," he volunteers.
But there is still plenty of time to convince the mayor to make the jump to county. One scenario has Diaz waiting until December, the month after the upcoming city elections, to announce his candidacy. The qualifying date for the county mayor's race is July 13, 2004. Dario Moreno, however, a political science professor at Florida International University and part-time campaign consultant who worked on the Diaz campaign, says Diaz would probably have to declare his intentions by September. "It takes more than a year to raise the kind of money [about two million dollars] to organize a campaign for that race," Moreno suggests. "There are people waiting on the fence to see if Manny will run. But I don't think contributors and campaign consultants are going to wait past the fall."
A former city administrator who doesn't want to be named is convinced Diaz is going to go for it based on a poll taken last year that showed him as the front-runner -- should he choose to jump. This source points out that the poll was conducted by Campaign Data, the political consulting firm that garnered a lot of work from Diaz's mayoral campaign in 2001. "Why would they do that poll if it wasn't a trial balloon?" the source asks sarcastically. "Besides, if he doesn't run, he misses his window of opportunity for the next eight years." (Whoever wins in 2004 would have the inside track as the incumbent in 2008.)
And, as mentioned, it doesn't appear that Diaz has ever left the campaign trail since he was elected eighteen months ago. Everywhere you look in the City of Miami, there's the mayor: hizzoner donning a football jersey and tossing the pigskin with players from the Miami Fury at Curtis Park, on the Miami River at NW 24th Avenue; Diaz holding court with black ministers during monthly pastoral roundtables, orchestrated so he can hear the concerns and views of Miami's faith-based blacks; Diaz crowning the oldest man and woman in the city.... And should you miss any of these, you can always catch the mayor on the city's cable access channel, which (unlike city board and commission meetings) has no problem televising most of his public appearances. Lastly there's the Mannymobile, a campaign-style bus with Diaz's cherubic mug plastered on its sides, ratcheting around town like a crazed beetle ...
Although Kevin Hill, political science professor at FIU and part-time consultant for Campaign Data, affirms that the Manny-will-win poll was commissioned by BellSouth and not by anyone in Diaz's camp, BellSouth flack Marta Casas-Celaya coyly dismisses the notion that her employer wants Diaz to run. "From time to time we conduct random polls just to get a lay of the land," she explains deftly.
But BellSouth isn't the only one scanning the lay of the land. Winton, who is running for re-election this November, has commissioned a poll that asks whether voters would go for Diaz if he ran. The man in charge of the poll? Diaz's campaign manager and long-time friend Alberto Lorenzo, whom political insiders say may be the main guy pushing Diaz to go for it. "Manny is Lorenzo's prize pony," sums up another shy political consultant. But Winton insists he inserted the question as a way to gauge Miami voters' feelings about county government.
"Obviously, if pollees think Diaz would do a good job at county," Winton rationalizes, "it speaks volumes about Miamians' attitudes about the responsiveness of county government. We pay a tremendous amount of money for services that we often question."
If he were to run, Diaz would be the clear favorite, not only among voters, but among the big-money players hot to bankroll sure-fire candidates. "He's determined not to run," adds Seth Gordon, a Miami publicist and an old Diaz buddy, "but people keep showing him polls [where] he's in the lead."
Moreno, who also works for Campaign Data as a part-time consultant, believes the people who want Diaz to run, namely lobbyists like Chris Korge, Rodney Barreto, and Brian May -- who have ties to current county Mayor Penelas -- are not thrilled with the current slate of mayoral candidates: county Commissioner Jimmy Morales; school board member Marta Perez; former county Commissioner Miguel Diaz de la Portilla. (Another name that's gaining steam is Dexter Lehtinen, the former U.S. Attorney and husband of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.) But for the record, Korge et al. have not come out as publicly supporting anyone.
"In his own quiet and deliberate way, Manny has moved the city forward," Moreno says. "He's made the city important again. Part of the reason is that he's a normal businessman, and not Carollo or Suarez."
Diaz has already shown that he can raise gobs of campaign money. In 2001 he generated a little over one million dollars. Just about everyone with political juice supported him, donating thousands of dollars personally and through their corporate entities. For instance, real estate developer R. Donahue Peebles gave $6000. Architect and Grand Prix Americas goddaddy Willy Bermello kicked in $4500. Anthony Mijares, a residential builder, donated $5000, and commercial developer Alan Potamkin popped for $3000. "No one has the appeal that Manny has right now," Moreno says. Hill adds that the poll shows Diaz would be the front-runner among all three Miami ethnic groups. "I've never seen that before," he says.
Still Diaz and his inner circle, including Winton and Lorenzo, insist Diaz is more likely to stay put than run. The allure of the county mayor's race lies in becoming the leader of a local government with a $5.5 billion budget serving more than two million people. Moreover, the county mayor has power over vital economic engines such as Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami. The downside is the cauldron of Miami-Dade politics. Despite the real and perceived reforms that have taken place at county hall, M-D government remains a Southern poster child for public-corruption scandals and government waste and mismanagement. Then there's the fact that the current county commission stripped away much of the county mayor's power during the last general election. The mayor can no longer appoint the commission chair or appoint commissioners to serve on committees. As a result, the mayor can't set the commission agenda as Penelas did prior to the 2002 elections. And Diaz would have to deal with the personalities of thirteen commissioners, as opposed to the mere five in the city. So there is no guarantee that Diaz, even if he won, could duplicate the harmony he's established in Miami. Yet he does have an ace in commission Chairwoman Barbara Carey-Shuler, a long-time friend and confidante.
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Winton says he and Diaz have debated his entering the county mayor's race. "I don't believe he's going to run," Winton says. "But he doesn't put a silence to all the rumblings."
Lorenzo says he's certainly not pushing Diaz. "I don't think I can objectively tell Manny to stay or go," he says. "Both jobs have their pros and cons. I think he has a lot going for him in the city. He's getting the job done. The county is a whole different ball game." Still, Lorenzo grinningly admits, he's been holding out on doing campaign work for other candidates. "I haven't made a commitment yet."
Diaz's failure to declare so far only stokes the rumor mill. But he truly doesn't seem to know which way to jump, to get to what political friends and less-than-friends alike project as his ultimate goals: governor, or maybe even U.S. senator. "I don't want to be called a liar, so I am not going to say never," Diaz says. "But my inclination is to stay where I am."


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The Difference Between Guys And Girls Getting Ready For The Night [VIDEO]
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Guys and girls are different in so many ways. Here is just one more way we are different, especially when we are getting ready for the night. I've never really seen a female get ready for the night. All I do know is, if you tell your girlfriend/wife to be ready for 7 pm, she'll start getting ready at 5 pm. I usually just put on what ever fits and matches the best. If I'm not sure if it's clean, I usually smell it then put it on.
It usually takes me about 30 minutes total to get ready. Ladies, on the other hand, not so much! It takes an average of 60 to 75 minutes to get ready from start to finish. Not too bad. I will say this much, it's well worth the wait.
This video shows what happens when ladies ask their girlfriends to come over and get ready together! This is so funny and right on point, at least to some extent!

subset: commoncrawl


text: I have rules and such for the challenge spoken about earlier this week on my blog. Note that this is just a challenge to people who *want* to do it...you don't have to. I really hope to get some participation from here as well. More people doing this means more awesome photographs to look at! Oh yeah...and if you are going to participate, do me a favor and post a comment. That way I can keep track of everyone who decides to do this. Make sure to post your forum name as well if you use a real name or a different nickname to post the comment.


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- June 11, 2014, 11:00 AM
Lancashire, England-based Euravia has appointed Dave Wark after-sales support director for North America and Asia-Pacific. Previously Wark has held positions with Mint Turbines, Vector Aerospace and North Star Aerospace. At Euravia, Wark will consolidate engine support to new and existing customers to strengthen Euravia's after-sales activities. "Euravia is entering an exciting development period requiring a focused approach to managing the increases in volume associated with the continuing success of our PT6A, PT6T and PT6C MRO business," said Dennis Mendoros, managing director.


text: PinkSpeedos Posted April 3, 2012 First off this isn't a whinge or a moan about the game just an observation. Usually I play with Leeds (life long fan) and I have always thought the amount they get is pitiful but then again Master Bates is chairmen so maybe not a suprise. However in my new save I decided to play as MK Dons, I wasn't suprised to find I had no money to spend in my first season and very little in the way of wages spare to get a couple of freebies. However after a pretty successful first season I got them promoted and was looking forward to a busy transfer window to bring in 3/4 half decent players to make sure I secure a spot in the championship by the end of the coming season. The board gave me 38k transfer money and 2k LESS wage budget than i had the previous season. Now I know that MK Dons have money issues on the game, think their finances are insecure at the start of 2011/2012 campaign (half the reason i chose them, for the challenge) however i was expecting a bit of a financial gain after being promoted to the championship. Anyone else got any thoughts on the transfer/wage budgets on this game? 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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A man facing a charge of animal cruelty used a modified can of oven cleaner, which could be activated without removing the lid, to spray a dog's face, a jury has been told.
The red can of Easy Off oven cleaner has been submitted as evidence in the trial of 59-year-old Sergey Zhernov, who is accused of spraying the substance into the eyes of a dog - Toko - on January 8 last year.
Toko's owner, Donna Peiwharangi, gave evidence at Wellington District Court earlier today, showing Zhernov - who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of ill treatment of an animal - sprayed oven cleaner into her dog's face twice while they were out walking in an off-lead area of Ascot Park in Porirua.
Ms Peiwharangi, who also had her sister's dog Tiki with them at the time, believed Zhernov used the spray unnecessarily, as she said her dog did not come within more than a metre of him that day.
She also said Zhernov was wearing safety glasses when they saw him in the park.
ESR forensic specialist Dr Sally Coulson, who examined the can following the incident, told the court this afternoon the can used by Zhernov had been modified after it had been purchased.
"The lid of the can has had two holes made in it. One hole is on the side, which allows this colourless spray nozzle to poke through the side of the lid and the other hole has been made in the top of the lid, and this allows the original spray nozzle of the can to be depressed or pushed down when the lid is still in place."
Unlike the cans made available in stores or straight from the manufacturer, the one used by Zhernov had a small tube inserted into the nozzle, which could poke through the hole created on the lid's side. Because a hole had been made in the top of the lid, the substance could be sprayed - through a small tube - without ever removing the cap, Dr Coulson said.
Zhernov, who is due to give evidence once the defence case opens, will argue he sprayed Toko in self defence.
His lawyer, Michael Bott, questioned Ms Peiwharangi's memory of the incident during cross-examination today, saying his client had a very different account of the day.
Zhernov felt threatened and said he was trying to spray his own clothes with oven cleaner to scare the dog away.
He also had a walking stick, which he used to try to fend off the dogs. Zhernov also submits that Toko was biting his boot, forcing him to use the spray to scare it away.
Toko is a cross between a staffordshire bull terrier and a labrador, and was 11-years-old when the incident occurred.
The trial, before Judge Chris Tuohy, is due to finish tomorrow.


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Iraqi Vice President Discusses Political Crisis in Baghdad
[Sorry, the video for this story has expired, but you can still read the transcript below. ]
RAY SUAREZ: President Bush has been busy the past two weeks, reaching out to key Iraqi political leaders. Last week at the White House, the visitor was Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Iran-backed Shiite party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Hakim is a rival of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who controls a militia known as the Mahdi Army. Sadr's allies are a major part of the current Iraq government.
Hakim's visit came amid reports that several Iraqi factions were maneuvering to reduce Sadr's political clout and the role of the Mahdi Army, which has been accused of deepening sectarian violence and killing Sunni Arabs. In an interview with the NewsHour, I asked Hakim about Sadr's Mahdi Army.
Would you like to see them disarm?
ABDUL AZIZ AL-HAKIM, Iraqi Shiite Cleric (through translator): I want to see all committed with the political process, with the law, with order. This is the will of all the Iraqis.
RAY SUAREZ: Tuesday, the president hosted Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi at the White House. Hashemi heads the Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni group in parliament.
GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States: And I thank you for being a leader of one aspect of Iraqi society. You're the leader of the many Sunnis. And you're committed to a government that is Shia, Sunni, Kurdish and everybody else in your country, every other group in your country, that will help achieve peace.
A unity government
RAY SUAREZ: I spoke with Hashemi earlier today.
Mr. Vice President, welcome to the program.
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI, Iraqi Vice President: Thank you very much.
RAY SUAREZ: Are you among those Iraqi politicians who are supporting factions, who want to reorganize the governing coalition in Iraq?
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: We do have current dialogue, in fact, between the majority of the political entities that are already in the government to strengthening the political ties, on the assumption that this might lead, in fact, to mitigate the current violence in Iraq in general, and Baghdad in particular.
RAY SUAREZ: When you say a majority of entities are being consulted, would this result in a government that would not need Muqtada al-Sadr's deputies or his cabinet ministers to govern?
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: Well, this is the hard decision that has to be taken, in fact, by the prime minister himself. So, if we have to break up this coalition, in fact, and to have a unique coalition dedicated for what could be described as a moderate political entities, this automatically means that somebody else, in fact, would be out of this coalition. And, yes, Sadrists, in fact, should be out of that.
RAY SUAREZ: I understand it's not your call, but you think it's a desirable thing to form a government that still keeps the same platform, that still is a government of national unity, but doesn't include the Sadrists?
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: Well, I am just reading the consequences of this sort of a proposal. I am really, in fact, very, very worried on that.
One side, in fact, I would like to get rid and to try to challenge the militias, which they introduce themselves that they are Jaish al Mahdi -- they are the Mahdi Army. Al Mahdi Army is part of the Sadrist organization. This is part of the current dilemma in Baghdad, in fact, and we have to stop that.
If Muqtada al-Sadr is going to tackle this problem, it's well and fair, in fact. I would be very happy, in fact, and if Sadrists should continue their representation in the cabinet, as well as in the parliament, as well, and to continue being a major player in the political process.
I don't want, in fact, to be Sadrists out of the political process and without studying carefully, in fact, the consequences and the reaction from the Sadrists that they are becoming isolated from the political process.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
RAY SUAREZ: Would you say that the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is doing a good job and doing a good enough job to remain in his post for the future?
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: I do have reservation about his performances so far. And we were very frank with him, in fact, in tackling various issues that are still pending.
First of all, we should have, in fact, for all what we could describe, in fact, or categorize as a strategic and quite important national issues that has to be addressed and agreed upon on consensus basis. This has not been honored. Many, many decisions taken on the ground of non-consultation with us, for instance. This is one.
Second, we should have what we call it, political council for national security. That national security should be in charge of all security matters in Iraq. Again, the mission of this council being aborted deliberately, in fact, and not being taken seriously, in fact, no even significant decision taken. After five months of continuous meetings, in fact, the result of this council, in fact, is meaningless.
The other important issue is, in fact, we agreed, many ministries being closed, not only to sects, but a party in a sect. Like, for instance...
RAY SUAREZ: One particular Shiite faction would take over a ministry?
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: It's already done, in fact. If you have -- what is the ministry of health is being closed for Sadrist. Ministry of transportation closed for Sadrists, for instance. The most striking issue of minister of interior and the minister of defense, as well, in fact. They are loyal to the sects and to the parties that they belong to.
RAY SUAREZ: Did you share your concerns with President Bush? Because he's called the prime minister the right man for the job.
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: Well, I don't want to talk anything on behalf of the president. In fact, I think it's better to ask him personally about that.
But I could say one thing, in fact, one, the president, I found him very, very concerned about the current situation. He's concerned about the government and their performances. And that revealed to me that he's indirectly unhappy about all in the cabinet time being.
Withdrawing American troops
RAY SUAREZ: In the past, you've said publicly that you'd like American troops to leave Iraq. How do you feel about that now? And do you think a date is necessary?
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: There are foreign troops on my territory. This in itself is damaging the sovereignty of the -- the dignity of the country, the dignity of the people, and the sovereignty of the country. This is one. So I would be very happy, in fact, to see my country, in fact, free from any sort of presence of any foreign troops.
On the other hand, I am a man of practicality. I am quite worried time being, because of the worsened situation in security. I am worried about this security vacuum.
So I am sincerely looking now for a plan that, one, gives the message to the Iraqis that the existence of the American troops will be temporary. This is one.
But there, whatever the time will take to restructure, retrain, supply equipment, armament for a newborn army, and the security forces of MOI. If it takes one-and-a-half years or two years, in fact, after the completion of this program -- and I am expecting the American administrations going to contribute and finance and offer their expertise -- and finals, and offer their expertise, in fact, to have a professional and patriotic security forces.
Once you complete that, there will be no need, in fact, to keep the American troops on the Iraqi territories. So what I am calling now is a timetable-conditional withdrawal, basically to have other national troops to replace the American army. Once you finish that, definitely there will be no need, in fact, for the Americans to stay in Iraq.
RAY SUAREZ: What have you been telling officials in Washington about your own plan to reformulate the Iraqi army?
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: The solution for that, in fact, to have a reliable, well-experienced army, in fact, to call units of the ex-army of Saddam Hussein, for instance, kick out those who are loyal to Saddam Hussein, the higher ranks officer, and you could call units other than to individuals.
In calling units, in fact, back to service, this means that you will call a bunch of people, some of them Shiites, some of them Sunnis, some of them Christian, Muslim. So you will go automatically, in fact, get rid of this sectarian division and tension that's going on time being.
This is just a major ingredient in reforming the current national armed forces in Iraq.
Who are the perpetrators?
RAY SUAREZ: Final question: Who is killing whom in Iraq? Americans turn on their television, and they see Iraqis killing Iraqis. Who are the attackers? Who are the victims? And what are they trying to accomplish?
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: Iraqis, unfortunately, are becoming just an instrument in the hand of foreigners to kill each other, like a few neighboring countries, they don't want, in fact, to see Iraq strong, healthy and prosperous. They do want to, in fact, to make things difficult to Iraqis, to destroy this model that has been seen to be quite encouraging to the Iraqis after the collapse of Saddam Hussein. They don't want, in fact, to see a strong, democratic and modern Iraq in the Middle East.
RAY SUAREZ: Vice President al-Hashemi, thank you very much.
TARIQ AL-HASHEMI: You are most welcome. Thank you very much.


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If the goal were security, Israel would have built the fence a few km inside its borders. It could then be a mile high, patrolled on both sides by the IDF, mined with nuclear weapons, utterly impenetrable. Perfect security.
The problem would be that it would not take valuable Palestinian land and resources (including control of water), drive out the population, and lay the basis for still further expansion as Palestinians flee from the dungeons that are left, like the town of Qalqilya. So to interpret as a land grab seems appropriate.
Doubtless a side benefit is to increase a narrow form of "security," while probably in the long run seriously increasing insecurity not only because of the regional impact but because sooner or later it is likely to inspire terrorist acts against Israelis abroad in revenge. But terror and security are not driving concerns, any more than they have a high priority in the planning of "the boss-man called `partner'," as more astute Israeli commentators describe Washington.
Sharon's strategic thinking seems straightforward enough. There are excellent descriptions in recent books by Tanya Reinhart and Baruch Kimmerling. It is also not radically different from that of Rabin and Peres. The goal is to take over the valuable parts of the West Bank (Gaza is mostly a burden), and to leave the population that remains under local administration, to rot and decline.
The basic principle was explained to the Cabinet of the Labor Government 30 years ago by Moshe Dayan, perhaps the most sympathetic to the Palestinians among the Israeli leadership: we should tell the Palestinians in the territories that "You shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wishes, may leave, and we shall see where this process will lead."
The occupation should be "permanent," he believed, in one or another form, and to the objection that Israel must consider its moral stand, he responded that "Ben-Gurion said that whoever approaches the Zionist problem from a moral aspect is not a Zionist."
There have been differences as to how these principles should apply, but a fair consensus among leading political echelons that if they can be applied, that's fine. Sharon's basic conceptions were outlined years ago, and he is pursuing them systematically, relying on the material and diplomatic support of the boss-man.
Across the spectrum, the "ideal" solution might well be something like Ben-Gurion's expansive vision that goes far beyond anything currently considered even within the realm of dreams.


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I think parents who want to home school should have to take a class to see if they can or not.
- 129 Replies
Poll Results
Question: Should a mom who home schools have to pass a test or have a degree?
Yes, they should have to pass a test.
They should have a college degree.
Both A & B.
They should not have to have a degree nor pass a test.
Total Votes: 152
Question: Should a mom who home schools have to pass a test or have a degree?
Total Votes: 152
Do you agree or disagree?
I'm sorry. That really stinks.
My Aunt home schooled 5 of my cousins and her oldest actually graduated with honors and is ahead by one year and now in a public christian college, he's a pianist. Not sure how he graduated with honors, but I think some of their classes were integrated with the public school.
Quoting CheesyKitty: I Agree. My parents could NOT and my education suffered tremendously because of it.
I agree. you have to got to school to be a teacher. so you should have to take a course to homeschool. just so they can learn the right things whether they go through it fast or not.
100000000% agree. I can NOT understand how a parent feels they are capable of teaching without at least a minimum of some type of prep course or something!


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An increasing number of businesses and freelancers rely on email marketing to generate leads. But how do you make sure that your email gets read?
It is likely that your unsolicited message will be competing with hundreds of others in the inbox of your recipient. So we have compiled a list of top tips to help make sure that your email stands out from the crowd.
1. Write a great subject line
The subject line is perhaps the single most important factor in determining whether or not your message is read.
There is an art to writing a great subject line. It is extraordinary how many people do not use a subject line at all. This is a fatal mistake that will frequently mean your email is deleted without having been seen – so you should make sure you use this important field.
Subject lines are like headlines. They need to grab the reader's interest. In order to do this, you need to think about their needs. Your subject line should explain why the email is useful to the recipient, why it is relevant to them, and why they need to look at it right this minute. Don't talk about yourself – talk about them.
2. Avoid 'red flag' phrases
Spam filters, while a godsend for recipients, are a perpetual problem for those who send unsolicited email. Unsolicited email isn't necessarily spam, but automated filters often treat it as such. You need to learn how to avoid being caught by those filters.
There is a range of 'red flag' phrases that will, if contained in your email, often mean that it heads straight for the spam folder. These phrases change all the time, but include things like 'lottery', 'pharmacy', 'guarantee' and (somewhat annoyingly) 'urgent'.
If you are sending unsolicited email it is vital that you avoid these phrases in order to maximise your chances of having your message reach a human recipient.
3. Frontload your messages
People are bombarded with hundreds of emails every day, and your potential clients have neither the time nor the inclination to read through each message in its entirety.
So, you need to frontload your messages. This means that you get the juicy, interest-grabbing bits in at the beginning. So, if you are offering a deal or something for free – tell them right at the start. Make sure that the recipient knows exactly what the purpose of the message is from the first paragraph. If they are interested, they will read on. If they're not – then they were never going to reply anyway.
4. Request an action
Simply having a message read is normally not enough. Instead, you want to encourage an interaction. You might want the recipient to click on a link, or reply to the email. You need to make this explicit in the body of your message.
Whatever action you choose, you should make sure that you are encouraging the recipient to do something. If they are interested, and your proposition is exciting enough, they will respond to your call to action – and this is the first step towards making a sale.
5. Target recipients
Your choice of recipients is important. Why waste resources sending emails to people you know won't be interested? This wastes your time and money – and, at worst, can mean that you are blacklisted for spamming by filters.
Of course, working out who to email can be difficult. Some firms choose to buy data sets from marketing companies, while others build up their own lists organically. However you choose to determine your recipients, you should be wary of looking like you are spamming. This is a significant danger for those engaging in email marketing, and can cripple your prospects of success.
6. DO NOT over-use CC
The CC function might be your friend in some cases – but in email marketing it is your sworn, mortal enemy. Do not use CC to send the same email to multiple recipients. I repeat: do not do it.
Instead, if you must send multiple emails at once, send the message to yourself and use the BCC function. This will obscure the other recipients' addresses. Even better, send personalised emails one by one, or invest in mailing software that will do this for you.
7. Double-check before hitting send
Finally, make sure that you check and double-check your emails before sending. The worst crime? Getting the recipient's name wrong. This makes your message look like it has been copied and pasted from your Sent folder (which might well be the case) – and is the quickest way to destroy trust in the eyes of the recipient.
Email marketing is a dark art. The key is to concentrate on the needs and interests of the recipient. Remember that you are entering their inbox unbidden – so you'd better give them a good reason to click on your message.
Ready to set up your cover?
As the UK's biggest business insurance provider, we specialise in public liability insurance and protect more trades than anybody else. Why not take a look now and build a quick, tailored quote?


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|Gillen, Robert
|Sims, Phillip
Submitted to: Wildland Shrub Symposium Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/12/2004
Publication Date: 8/1/2004
Citation: Gillen, R.L., Sims, P.L. 2004. Long-term response of sand sagebrush to grazing intentisy [abstract]. Wildland Shrub Symposium. p. 54. Interpretive Summary:
Technical Abstract: Sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia Torr.) commonly dominates vegetation on stabilized sand dunes in the Southern and Central Great Plains. Little research information is available on the reaction of sand sagebrush to grazing intensity but the shrub has been considered by land managers to increase as grazing intensity increases. We monitored sand sagebrush canopy cover in four separate long-term grazing studies, ranging from 9 to 20 years in duration. All studies included moderate and heavy grazing intensities. The studies encompassed both wet and dry precipitation periods. In 3 studies, grazing intensity did not affect canopy cover of sand sagebrush in pastures which had never been subjected to sagebrush control. In the fourth study, grazing intensity did not affect the rate of re-establishment of sand sagebrush in pastures from which the shrub was initially removed. Canopy cover of sand sagebrush was twice as high during wet periods as dry periods but these fluctuations were independent of grazing intensity. Weather was a much greater influence on the dynamics of sand sagebrush canopy than grazing intensity.


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Reverend Bell said Reed had no compassion for his voters in the third district.
The pastor of a local Baptist church wants to recall KCMO Councilman Jermaine Reed recalled.
Jan. 20, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Reverend L. Henderson Bell is trying to help his church thrive. However, the location of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church has made that difficult. He says his congregation is commuting to church because everyone is moving out of the third district.
So, Bell was disappointed when he saw Councilman Jermaine Reed's response to upset homeowners.
He said, "I still recall people who were protesting and his response was 'Get over it', 'It's going to happen.' But because of his youth, he didn't understand that many of those people have invested their lives there."
The homeowners and renters will lose their homes in May to make way for the city's new crime lab and police station.
Bell said, "They can't find a place where they can actually maybe actually maybe live at the same quality of life. So, those people are going to be greatly disadvantaged."
Bell wants to recall reed and has waged a campaign to make that happen. On Friday, there were 'Recall Reed' signs all over the third district. Bell's group was responsible.
Meanwhile, the people in that neighborhood wait to learn what kind of cash the city will offer for their homes.
Homeowner Arleatha Mays explained, "I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do whatever I can to survive."
Mays has put years of blood, sweat and tears into restoring her historic home. She recently received the city's appraisal.
She reacted to the appraisal, "To see that a group of individuals just wants me to give it up and then they are not offering me what I've put into it. It kind of feels, it's rough."
It is stories like Mays' that bell says have to be turned around. He said the change will have to start with elected officials.
Bell said, "You can't come in and say I'm in office and sit down. No, you're not in office to sit down. You're here to do something."
According to the city clerk, recall requires at least a thousand voter signatures.
It's important to note, Bell originally campaigned for Reed's opponent, Michael Fletcher. Fletcher was disqualified from the race.
Bell said the idea to recall Reed came after a decision was made about the residency of Kansas City Municipal Judge Elena Franco. He thinks there was a double standard created between Franco and Fletcher.
Reed responded in a statement on Friday:
"Citizens are certainly welcome to avail themselves to the processes available in the City Charter concerning a recall.
"However, I'm laser-focused on creating jobs in the 3rd district, reducing crime and restoring economic development. The G.R.E.A.T. Jobs program is currently training hundreds young people to work on weatherizing homes and they are still recruiting more. The Bright Futures Program is getting underway, which will put our youth to work during the summer months.
"My office is working with the Jackson County Neighborhood Prosecution Teams to make business owners, with a tract record of violations, clean up their act and become responsible citizens of the community. We've seen successes with that program.
"Our community needs economic development. My office is working with public and private entities to get grocery stores in the food deserts. Again, I'm laser-focused on fulfilling my promises to the people to re-energize, restore and revitalize the 3rd district."


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'Leaves are a valuable source of all crop nutrients'
April 3, 2012
I have over 40 trees on my property providing lots of leaves to amend my soil. While I know that leaves increase soil organic matter, improve water-holding capacity and soil structure, I have wondered if leaves provide much in the way of nutrients. According to a research study at Rutgers University by Drs. Joseph R. Heckman, Daniel Kluchinsh and Donn A. Derr (http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/Plant_Nutrients_in_Municipal_Leaves.htm), "leaves are a valuable source of all crop nutrients." They point out that "only a portion of the nutrients are available immediately after application for use by the crop." However, long-term fertility is improved as nutrients are released over time.
The reason for this slow release of nutrients is that the nutrients are part of the plant tissues and need microbial decomposition to be released. In addition, dried leaves are primarily carbon, which supply energy-producing carbohydrates, attracting fungi and bacteria in the soil to start decomposition. These microbes initially use up available soil nitrogen in their development and may cause a temporary nitrogen deficiency. The researchers say that crops grown on soils one year after leaves are added will probably need extra nitrogen fertilizer to compensate for the increased microbe use. As the decay of the leaves continues, the process starts to reverse and the microbes add nitrogen back into the soil. While a one-time application of leaves might deplete soil nitrogen in the following growing season, yearly additions of leaves build soil fertility.
"Of the three major nutrients, (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), potassium is the most easily released from leaves and is the most readily available to crops in the first year after leaf waste application," say Heckman and partners. Their research indicated that after three years of applying leaves, the pH (acid or basic) did not change. Over many years, the addition of leaves will eventually start to lower the pH slightly.
Nutrient concentrations in leaves vary widely. The researchers suggest putting down a 6-inch layer annually. Shredding the leaves in a chipper or running over them with a lawnmower will allow them to break down more quickly. Shredded leaves are easier for microbes to decompose. They have to use less energy, which reduces depletion of soil nitrogen.
Remember, healthy soils mean healthier plants. Feed your soil, not your plant.
JoAnne Skelly is the Carson City/Storey County Extension educator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and may be reached at email@example.com or 887-2252.


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dhcpd can't do dns lookups?
Here's an odd one...
First, for those who don't know, dhcpd.conf has a keyword called "fixed-address" that allows administrators to assign specific IP addresses to specific MAC addresses. With this, we don't have to configure address pools. Along with other keywords (including "host," here), all hostname and network information can be kept in a central location for pickup by the individual hosts via DHCP. In Enterprise-sized networks, this is a huge time saver. Also, according to the dhcpd.conf man page, "[e]ach address in the fixed-address declaration should be either an IP address or a domain name that resolves to one or more IP addresses."
So, what I have is a bunch of entries like this:
host wrkstn01.q.d.n {hardware ethernet 01:02:03:04:05:ff; fixed-address workstn01.q.d.n;}
However, dhcpd appears to be unable to resolve the hostname. So, I'll get
dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 01:02:03:04:05:ff via eth0: network 192.168.15/24: no free leases
Weird, huh? I've verified spelling in dhcpd.conf and in the zone files. As I mentioned, I can do command-line lookups all day long. The only problem appears to be that dhcpd can't resolve the host name.
What'm I missing?
|All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:25 AM.


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Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: The Motherland
Posts: 38,824
Mentioned: 46 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 147 Post(s)
|View Poll Results: We would like to change the name of the from from "Dads" to "Fathering." How do
|I like it!
|I don't like it!
|Doesn't matter.
|Voters: 81. You may not vote on this poll
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My wife is due Sep 1, but I still replied even though I'm not technically a Dad. Been reading this website for a couple weeks now.
In any case, I feel that naming this Fathering is needlessly exclusionary. With the way the forum is named currently, the "Dads" area is not necessarily oppositional to the rest of the forum. Fathering makes it much more a direct split between this and "Mothering" being the other couple dozen forums.
I, for one, would like to see a dad-specific place, where the gender of your sign-in (log-in) allows your posting rights to the forum. If your gender, as recorded in your log-in (user CP) is female, you can read the dad's forum, but not post in it.
There are a dozen other forums to post about and reply to specific issues, but the ONE place that dads have to for-sure (try to) get another dad's input is this forum. And 9.9 times out of 10, that topic gets trampled by mums. In fairness, they sometimes try and impart what their husband does/says/feels about the issue. But that's not the point.
If you want to increase the profile of the site, foster more active participation from men and let us have a dad's/fathering zone where men can stop in and discuss with other men, then you have to figure out how to keep the threads from being trampled by non-men.
As for the name? It doesn't matter. A name is a name and it's what's inside that counts.
My concern is that putting Dads or Fathering as a sub forum will ultimately lead to a slow death for this forum. It makes it not so obvious and that much more difficult to find for new dads / fathers. It's never been the most active forum, and I fear it will become even less active because of the move.
sorry, but sometimes men do have clearer views on things than other women.
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September 15, 1999
Today, host Jerome McDonnell talks with Doug Cassel of Northwestern University's Center for International Human Rights about UN authorizes peacekeeping force for East Timor. Then Claude Barfeld resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute discusses China's prospects for entrance into the World Trade Organization. And Helen Womack hosts the BBC documentary, "Moscow and the Mercedes."


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CableTV.com Recommends DIRECTV for your TV service
Independent consumer survey results declare DIRECTV the best TV service provider
among satellite TV or cable companies in Selma, CA. This information can help you make a more informed
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Turn your front line employees into productive, positive and proactive customer service representatives. Through open discussion, group exercises and teamwork building, your employees will be ready for any customer service situation that arises. Our instructor, a former consultant and instructor of the Dale Carnegie program, will use principles derived from this professional training such as 6 Rule Workout, Life Applications, Future Goals, My Gripes, and more to work hands on with your team. After a day at this customer service "rehab", your employees will be true ROCKSTARS! The Result – Confident and enthusiastic employees!
Please click the link below to begin the registration process. The Kilgore College SBDC will contact you for payment and additional registration information. To pay by check, print registration form here.


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LL 2950 - American Sign Language I
Credits: 3
A critical skills course in a major communication system for those preparing to work with the deaf and hard of hearing. Grammar and vocabulary are emphasized in both the receptive and expressive modes of language transmission. Falls. (DICO)
*All course information is from the 2016-2017 Catalog.


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Results 1 to 2 of 2
Thread: Shipping Problems
- Join Date
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Shipping Problems
Hey everyone,
So I recently completed a trade with a SCF user from the USA and therefore the package had to come through customs. I know through a buddy who works Canada Border Services that in the mail section they will scan and/or open anything they deem a suspicious package. The package was labeled as a hockey card and still the package appears to have been opened and the card taken out. Now I get the package today and there is a large crease along the top of the card. I know it wasn't the SCF user that I traded with fault because there is also a large crease in the top loader in the exact same spot as the card. Has anyone had something similar happen and is there anything I can do about it? Its not like its a huge big money card its a 2012-13 Upper Deck Young Guns Jordan Nolan. I'm more so just pissed at the whole way that Border Services handled the card and want to know make sure it doesn't happen again to a more $$$ card.PhotoBucket:Hidden Content
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Stop using customs forms. Americans get $350.00 Duty Free, no questions asked, you don't have to declare a damn thing.
Just get the correct postage and send it. As soon as you identify something worth stealing, it will be stolen.


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Best Colors for Resale
Stick with neutrals and a surprising splash of color.
Repainting before selling your home is an easy decision. Choosing the right colors is trickier. But that doesn't mean it can't be fun. The rules are changing to allow a little more variety.
A coat of paint is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to spruce up a home. It covers picture holes, cracks and scuffs, and makes the home look newer and cleaner.
Christina Kittelstad, a Denver color consultant and home staging expert, said new paint is likely to shorten a home's sale time between 10 and 40 percent. It can also boost resale value. If a home staging expert is in your budget, a quick meeting could yield valuable specific colors for your situation. Here is some general information:
Mix Up Your Colors Inside
Neutral is the classic bottom line for painting before a home sale -- maybe a tan or creamy beige with yellow or pink tints. Some even suggest painting the entire house's interior off-white. It's still solid and safe advice, but the rules are becoming less rigid. A bright but tasteful mix of colors can set your house apart and attract buyers. Selling a potential starter home is particularly an opportunity to be a little bold, as younger families are likely to look at the house.
Christina Kittelstad said calming blues and light sage greens are attractive options for bedrooms and bathrooms, making them more like a "spa retreat" than an empty white space. On the other hand, keep the trim white. Anything else might be a little too bold and off-putting.
Fit in with the Neighbors Outside
For the outside, studies say blue houses do not sell for some reason. Instead, choose a bright color that matches the rest of the neighborhood, and express your creativity with accents on shutters and doors. Look for an eye-catching hue on another neighborhood house, and ask the owner or homeowners' association for the exact color. You will know the color suits the neighborhood, and you have previewed the tint in full sunlight.
Think About Online Pictures
Most home buyers take virtual home tours before taking personal home tours. Internet pictures are another reason to carefully choose colors. A blank white wall could just look like an image that never loaded. On the other hand, dark paint can camouflage every item in the room, and an odd color can make a buyer skip to the next house.
If you don't have the time or budget to paint the whole interior, start with the kitchen and master bedroom or any unique areas that would be featured in the online gallery. Use paint selection software to preview the color on your walls. Our favorite is CBN Selector, which lets you upload digital pictures and "paint" the walls in one of thousands of colors. You can see exactly what buyers will see before you commit to a color.
Repainting for resale is a no-brainer, but choosing colors can be taxing. You'll be safe sticking with neutral colors and a few brighter rooms or accents.


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Research Compliance Administrator - Archive
Research Compliance Services
Posting: 12194AF
Location: Eugene
Closes: 2012-08-23
Title: Research Compliance Administrator (multiple positions)
Type: Officer of Administration
Duration: One year contract, renewable
Pay Range: Range $35,000 to $50,000; Commensurate with skill level and experience
Annual Basis: 12 month
Est. Starting Date: July 15, 2012 or as soon as possible
The University of Oregon (UO) seeks a Research Compliance Administrator (RCA) to serve as a member of a team of professionals in the Research Compliance Services Office (RCS). RCAs serve as an important resource providing guidance to the research community on regulations which govern compliance in the areas of conflict of interest, human subject research, research misconduct and responsible conduct of research. Additionally, RCAs interface with other services under Research Administration, which may include work with Sponsored Project Services, Technology Transfer Services, and Research Development. In this position, there is a significant emphasis on customer service, managing processes related to human subject protections and protocol facilitation, compliance and monitoring activities and operational reporting. RCAs must possess current content knowledge in Federal and State regulations related to Research Compliance and are required to adhere to Institutional Policies and procedures. RCAs must have the ability to interpret and apply research compliance regulations as well as the ability to develop best-practices for continuous quality improvement of the program. The successful candidate will have the ability to work within a team and must possess excellent communication skills to work effectively with faculty, staff, students, and research representatives from a variety of diverse backgrounds and will maintain the highest ethical standards.
RCS reports to the Vice President for Research and Innovation, and Dean of the Graduate School and serves as the central administrative office for research compliance. RCS provides a full range of services from faculty guidance, human subject determination and IRB review, conflict of interest reporting and management, and other functions related to the responsible conduct of research. The UO received $124 million in awards in FY11 with the majority of the funding coming from the federal government: Department of Health and Human Service/National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Department of Education.
The UO is a vibrant and intellectually stimulating campus in a region noted for its dynamic quality of life and progressive cultural environment. Balancing life and work is extremely important to UO employees and the university provides ample support and encouragement for its employees to enjoy the environmental and cultural opportunities offered in Eugene and the larger Willamette valley. We encourage candidates to learn about the benefits of working at the UO by reviewing relevant pages on our Human Resources website such as http://hr.uoregon.edu/worklife/ and http://archive.hr.uoregon.edu/benefits/
Principal Responsibilities
Core Responsibilities will include a combination of the following, dependent on assigned area:
- Initiate and provide procedural oversight of review processes related to conflict of interest disclosures and human subjects protocol review
- Collect, manage and appropriately disseminate information to ensure compliance with applicable UO, State, and/or Federal guidelines and requirements
- Review, evaluate and interpret submissions to determine appropriate level of review; coordinate with other committees, the IRB and other institutions (as applicable)
- Act as an expert resource for researchers regarding ethical standards and Federal and State regulations, and University policies and procedures governing research compliance; advise and assist in the preparation of submissions to RCS
- Provide professional guidance to review committees regarding ethical standards and Federal and State regulations, and University policies and procedures governing research compliance
- Appropriately revise and implement process quality improvements; implement and manage policies and procedures
- Perform pre-committee analysis of submissions to RCS; coordinate and manage review processes
- Engage in reporting to Sponsored Project Services regarding training and required compliance approvals
- Compile and update information for reporting to Federal, State and other regulatory agencies and administrative entities regarding research compliance activities
- Audit and monitor research activities to ensure compliance with internal procedures and University and OUS policy, and State and Federal Regulations
- Collaborate with peer programs and institutional leadership in the review of incidents, event reports and allegations of research misconduct, as delegated; exercise fair facilitation and maintain confidentiality
- Prepare operational and management reports for various levels of UO administration
- Maintain cooperative working relationships with researchers and serve as a liaison between compliance committees, committee members and researchers in relation to determinations and other administrative actions; compose complex, technical correspondence to communicate review outcomes
- Participate in and/or develop professional trainings, workshops and seminars in issues related to research compliance administration
- Other duties and special projects as assigned
Minimum Qualifications
- A BA/BS from an accredited institution of higher education and two years of experience in a professional setting focused on research administration, research compliance or in an active research setting that included human subjects research; OR Six (6) years or more of experience within the fields of research compliance, research administration or in an active research setting that included human subject research.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and set appropriate priorities between multiple concurrent tasks
- Solutions oriented customer service, team oriented, detail and outcomes focused
- Facility with information technology, including web, word processing, data entry, managing electronic information
***All or some experience may be gained concurrently
Preferred Qualifications
- Professional experience in a research-intensive higher education setting or other research institution
- Professional experience in a research compliance office that focused on human subjects protection; conflict of interest or the responsible conduct of research.
- Experience in an office with a formal team workflow process
- Experience with electronic research administration software and protocol submission systems, or related databases
- Experience with federal reporting systems
Position Details
This is a full-time administrative position. Salary will be commensurate with experience, skill set and previous salary history. The UO has a strong benefits package accompanying employment. Potential candidates are encouraged to review the benefits options at http://hr.uoregon.edu/benefits/.
Application Process
To ensure consideration, application should be received by June 18, 2012; position will remain open until filled. A complete application will include a cover letter specifically addressing how your professional experience qualifies you for the position and a current resume. References will be required of those individuals considered as finalists. Materials should clearly indicate to the review committee that you meet the minimum qualifications. Electronic submissions are preferred. Please email your application to Kim Newell at email@example.com ; please include ATTN: RCA Search Committee in the subject line.
Paper applications should be sent to:
Kim Newell
ATTN: RCA Search Committee
1266 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1266
The Finalist for the position must successfully complete a criminal background check.
The UO is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. We seek candidates with demonstrated potential to contribute positively to the University of Oregon's diverse community.
Office of Affirmative Action & Equal Opportunity
· 677 East 12th Ave., Suite 452 · 5221 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5221
Office (541) 346-3123, Fax (541) 346-4168, Jobline (541) 346-2957 · This announcement is available in alternate formats upon request.
If you are a qualified applicant with a disability and need accommodation with the application process, please contact us for assistance.
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Lululemon Athletica: Founder Abdication Boosts Still Pricey Shares
If Lululemon Atheletica (LULU) thought that having its founder step down as chairman and naming a new CEO would take the heat off its stock, well, it was right.
Lululemon has gained 0.7% to $70.80 at 10:24 a.m. this morning, bucking widespread weakness among retailers--the Gap (GPS) has dropped 1.9% to $38.84, Aeropostale (ARO) has fallen 0.7% to $8.90 and Express (EXPR) has declined 1% ti $18.83.
Bloomberg has the details about the comings and goings at Lululemon:
Lululemon Athletica Inc., the retailer that earlier this year recalled yoga pants for being too sheer, said founder Chip Wilson will step down as chairman.
Michael Casey, lead director of the board, will take over as chairman, the company said in a statement today. Lululemon also named Laurent Potdevin chief executive officer to replace Christine Day, who said in June that she would leave the retailer when a replacement is found.
Canaccord Genuity's Camilo Lyon and Patrick O'Brien call Wilsons departure good news:
[Founder] Chip Wilson is also stepping down as chairman of the board in June 2014. Given Mr. Wilson's misplaced comments and the corresponding public backlash, we view this as a positive for the stock, as it indicates the board is exercising its fiduciary responsibilities to the shareholders. We also believe this will allow the new CEO to operate free from the founder's micro-management style.
Belus Capital's Brian Sozzi offers four reasons to like the new CEO:
He's an operations guy: this is a critical time for Lululemon, it has to ensure its brand message (well-made technical product) is able to be driven consistently on an increasingly global scale. The new CEO has an extensive background in ground level retail operations.
He's an easy sell to the upset Lululemon customer base: the new CEO comes from the socially responsible Toms, helping I think to smooth over the multiple of media flubs by founder Chip Wilson.
He will have full control, sorta: the founder will still have a spot on the Board, but it would appear the new CEO will be the first outsider in the company's history to have full control (founder loomed large over outgoing CEO Christine Day).
He was announced during the holiday season: this is probably a decent sign that the holiday quarter is going according to plan as what incoming person to a historically strong company financially would want to assume the post in a new year following an earnings miss.
Still, Lululemon trades at 27.3 times forward earnings, well above the Gap's 14.6 times. Even with the new CEO, that's still mighty pricey.